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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Allies Search for Primary Challenger to Cheney; Rep. Elise Stefanik Pledges GOP Party Unity while Casting Doubt on Election Integrity; President Visits Louisiana To Push His Plans For The Middle Class; Study: One In Five Health Care Workers Suffered From Anxiety, Depression, PTSD During Pandemic. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 06, 2021 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And leading this hour, New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik's campaign to replace Congresswoman Liz Cheney as the House Republican Conference Chair. There are concerns among some Republicans that Stefanik may not actually be conservative enough for the job. But will her unrepentant willingness to lie about the election be sufficient?

Cheney is on her way out of leadership largely because she has refused to lie about the election and the insurrection. And now Trump allies are looking to push her out of her House seats as well, not just her leadership position. Remember, Wyoming's population is so small, it only has one at large member of the House of Representatives, Liz Cheney.

It's also a state so ruby read, it gave Trump his strongest win in the 2020 election percentage wise. Seventy percent of voters chose Trump 27 percent chose Biden. So does this spell trouble for Cheney? Let's get right to CNN's Gary Tuchman who's live from Cheyenne in Cheney's home state of Wyoming.

Gary, what are the voters they're saying to you?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we've talked to a lot of voters today in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And I think what surprises me a little bit is it's been very difficult to find a loyal Republican who says, I'd like Cheney. I like Trump. Let's try to get it together. People are extremely dug into their positions.

And what I can tell you at this point is that anyone we've talked to who says that -- who lies, who says the election was stolen, or that may have been stolen while they are shedding no tears for Liz Cheney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: In this dispute? Do you think Liz Cheney has the right to be angry with Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TUCHMAN: Why? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I don't think he's wrong.

TUCHMAN: Do you think the election was stolen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's possible. Yes.

TUCHMAN: Whose side are you on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Liz Cheney's.

TUCHMAN: Tell me why.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just think she doesn't divide her thoughts along political lines. She speaks her truth. And I appreciate somebody with that type of integrity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I don't think she did the right thing for the Republican Party.

TUCHMAN: But she says that Donald Trump is lying about the election being stolen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agree.

TUCHMAN: Agree with what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agree that the election was stolen.

TUCHMAN: There's no evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, eventually it might come out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Now in February, the Wyoming Republican Party voted to censure Liz Cheney. A couple of weeks later, the county party here in Laramie County did the same thing. The local paper says it was a vote of 38 to 19 to censure Liz Cheney.

Now, today we interviewed the Vice Chairwoman of the County GOP. Now, she was elected to her position in March, so she wasn't able to participate in the vote. But her personal opinion we got today is very interesting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLIE TAYLOR, VICE CHAIRWOMAN, LARAMIE COUNTY: You got to respect Cheney and she's not -- she's telling her truth and what she believes to be true.

For myself as a woman in politics and watching her as a woman in politics, it's something that I respect.

TUCHMAN: So does that mean you do not respect what Donald Trump is trying to do to her?

TAYLOR: Yes, I guess you could say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Wyoming has not sent a congressman or senator to Washington, D.C. since the 1970s. The last time it's selected a Democratic presidential candidate was LBJ over Barry Goldwater in 1964. The Republican Party has long been very united here, but not right now. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Gary Tuchman, thanks so much.

Let's discuss, Manu Raju, you have some new reporting, suggesting that Trump allies are in fact on the hunt for a viable Republican candidate to run against Cheney in the primaries in Wyoming. Who are they considering?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're still assessing the field. Some candidates are still considering jumping in and they're looking at the existing candidates as well. I'm hearing that there are interviews that are happening including some outside groups at the Club for Growth that are no fan of Liz Cheney are interviewing candidates as well.

The hope among the Trump ally -- Trump forces is that they can consolidate their support behind one specific candidate. And then after Donald Trump endorses that candidate, others will fall out of the race, therefore the anti-Cheney vote won't be split up.

Now, there was a setback earlier this year when Donald Trump Jr. had actually pushed a bill to the Wyoming state legislature to create a runoff in the primary system that would actually make it easier for a Cheney and anti-Cheney candidate to merge. That bill failed. So now they're looking into Plan B.

And in talking to some of these candidates, it's very clear they're spearing the same election lies that Donald Trump is, the same election lies that Liz Cheney has called out. One of them is Chuck Gray, who's a state legislator, and he told me that Donald Trump, "absolutely won the election."

And I asked him who came into this building on January 6, well, you can see there was Trump supporters were in here. He would not say so, instead blaming the media, pointing to the riots in sort of the looting and other demonstration from Black Lives Matters from last summer, not blaming Trump supporters. But it lined with the rhetoric that you're hearing from Trump allies and the like as this potential, these candidates are wooing the Trump endorsement because that can make a difference here in this right (ph).

[17:05:13]

TAPPER: It's just lunacy, and Olivier, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is poised to take over Cheney's role in House Republican leadership today said she fully supports this deranged effort in Arizona, this audit, which is led by an election liar to cast doubt on Biden's victory in Arizona. They're actually using ultraviolet light to try to discern if there's any bamboo in the ballots because there's this rumor that 40,000 ballots were secretly shipped in from Asia. This is what House Republican leadership wants?

OLIVIER KNOX, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE WASHINGTON POST": It's pretty astonishing. You know, if you think back to 2006, Liz Cheney and Elise Stefanik, it's hard to imagine two people who would more exemplify the establishment wing of the party, Liz Cheney, of course, the daughter of the former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Elise Stefanik, who went right to Harvard to working for the George W. Bush White House. Now, obviously, two very different outcomes.

And yes, Elise Stefanik, has absolutely 100 percent embraced the Trumpian big lie, she's floated several conspiracy theories. One of them has, I think, something like a quarter of the ballots in Fulton County, Georgia being fraudulent, no evidence for that. It's really a remarkable turn of events.

TAPPER: Yes. And it's not clear if he actually believes these lies, or if she's lying on her way to power.

Abby, this morning, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, again, a very conservative Republican, said she's disappointed in her party. She believes sexism is at least partly at play, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Men are complaining that it's like having your girlfriend cheering for the wrong team, really? Or she's not humble enough. I mean, what that means is we'd like a woman so that we look right, we want a woman, but we don't want the woman to speak up. We don't want the woman to have an opinion of her own. We want the woman to go along, to get along with all the men. Of course, it's sexist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What do you think? Do you think there's a there's a degree of sexism at play here?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think she's right about one thing, which is that Republicans have long had a problem with the optics of the leadership of their party in Congress, and that they have tried to bring in and maintain women in these leadership positions. So, if they're going to lose Liz Cheney, they've got to bring someone else in that person just happens to be a woman, Elise Stefanik. So there is an element of that where, you know, they want to -- they want to keep those optics.

But I also think that it's not just that. Obviously, the underlying issue here is who's willing to lie about the election and who's not. And that is what has gotten Liz Cheney in trouble.

Do I think that Donald Trump would be attacking another Republican lawmaker if they were a man who was saying that the election was not rigged? He probably would be. But at the same time, I mean, you know, I think that both things can be true at the same time.

TAPPER: Yes, I mean, he always tends to go after women and people of color with a little bit more verve.

Manu, the conservative Club for Growth has come out against Congresswoman Stefanik becoming a House Conference Chair for Republicans, because they say she's not conservative enough, "She's a liberal with a 35 percent Club for Growth lifetime rating, fourth worse in the House GOP. House Republican should find a conservative to lead messaging and win back the House majority.

But frankly, it doesn't seem like any of this has to do with votes or policy. I mean, yes, Stefanik is more liberal than Cheney. And yes, she was less reliably voting with Trump than Cheney. It's really just about Trump and the lies and Stefanik has Trump's endorsement, because she's willing to do so.

RAJU: Yes. And that should be enough for her to get the votes because even though there are some reservations on the outside, like the Club for Growth, and also on the inside some members of the House Freedom Caucus, the conservative wing of the House Republican conference, they have expressed some concerns about the party consolidating behind her. Just the fact that she has Trump's endorsement in this race should be enough for her to replace Liz Cheney and have enough support across the conference, including from those skeptical about her record.

And she emerged as the on Trump's radar because she just, for initially, decided to take a more prominent role in attacking Democrats as they try to move to impeach Donald Trump the first time. And as a result, that has put her on Donald Trump's radar, got her the Trump endorsement. And as you mentioned that she voted to overturn the electoral results, and Pennsylvania signed on to that Texas lawsuit, the thrall of millions of votes across battleground states. So she has made it very clear where she stands, which is opposite of where Liz Cheney is.

TAPPER: And Abby, the fact that Republican leadership would purge Cheney from leadership, but no consequences for Matt Gaetz facing this ongoing federal investigation, no consequences for Mo Brooks for inciting the insurrection, no consequences for Marjorie Taylor Greene in her incendiary comments. I mean, it's wild.

[17:10:14]

PHILLIP: Priorities, priorities. I mean, I think it actually is a real indictment, not just on the usual suspects, the folks who are on the far right of this conversation. But what we are seeing here is a shift in what we thought was the middle, the ideological middle of the Republican Party, where those people are saying, I would rather go along with the lie than, you know, then keep someone who's willing to speak the truth in a position of power. And on top of that, I'm not going to raise any concerns about, you know, what Matt Gaetz may or may not have done or is alleged to have done, or any of these other individuals who were a part of the January 6, you know, big lie.

This is the Republican Party shifting in almost entirety, all the way over to the Trump side of this lie. And that is the notable thing about what we are watching unfold right now.

TAPPER: Olivier, briefly, final thoughts on this?

KNOX: Well, Liz Cheney stands also in the way of one of the biggest post-election Republican projects, which is, of course, this state-by- state effort to restrict access to voting. And I think by reminding everyone what happened January 6, she's keeping this unpleasant truth front and center while the Republicans would rather move past who was to blame for storming the Capitol and move forward on restricting voting rights and a range of states.

TAPPER: It's just incredible. Abby Phillip, Olivier Knox, Manu Raju, thanks to all of you. Thanks so much.

Up next, the new encouraging sign about vaccine hesitancy as we get more data, but just how well these vaccines work.

Plus, the Secret Service Director testifying for the first time since the Capitol insurrection, admitting they were not prepared for the "apparent attack." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:40]

TAPPER: Our healthily today, you should expect to need a coronavirus vaccine booster shot at least once a year moving forward, that's according to the president of Moderna, who says the shots would cover the new and emerging COVID variants. Today we're also learning just how effective coronavirus vaccines are in protecting teenagers, thanks to new early data, as CNNs Alexandra Field reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All signs pointing to a turning point in America's COVID crisis.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We are not out of the woods yet, but we could be very close.

FIELD: It's been seven months since we've seen numbers this low, the average number of new daily cases falling more than 80 percent since the peak in January, from an average of 251,000 daily to 46,000 now. A CDC study projects sharper declines by July.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we really have to keep up the rate of vaccinations.

FIELD: Experts say, variants are still the wild card.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: And now, the 617 in India, it's like -- it's a wily opponent.

FIELD: A promising study out of Qatar does show strong protection from Pfizer against the variants first detected in South Africa and Britain. While a first of its kind, nationwide study in Israel shows two doses of the Pfizer vaccine provided more than 96 percent protection against infection in the real world, 98 percent protection from hospitalization and death.

President Biden now supporting a proposal to make vaccines more widely available to the world by easing patent rules.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: To me this was a value statement. I was it was a statement that put people over patents

FIELD: In the U.S., the pace of vaccinations now falling farther down 30 percent in the past two weeks, but a new Kaiser Family Foundation study does show a modest gaming willingness to get a vaccine among Republicans up 9 percent over the past month. That as we see more new signs of the return of our old lives. Broadway tickets on sale today for shows set to resume in September, New Jersey lifting restrictions on travel for indoor youth sports teams, and Chicago announcing a summer concert series for the fully vaccinated.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FIELD: And Jake, here in New York City, they are preparing for the return of tourism this summer. The mayor unveiling a plan to give Johnson & Johnson shots at major tourist attractions across the city, including places like Times Square, the Highline, even the Brooklyn Bridge, but the state would still need to approve any plan to give shots to non-New Yorkers. Jake

TAPPER: All right, Alexander Field, thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, today we got new data about how effective the Moderna vaccine is for teenagers. What is it show?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A theme is emerging here, Jake, it looks very protective, about 96 percent protective This was people aged 12 to 17. You remember the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for 16 and up, Moderna, 18 and up. So, it looks very protective, generates lots of antibodies, which is what you're looking for to make sure that you can actually fight off a potential infection. And it seemed to have a very low adverse effect safety concern.

So, much of the same data we saw for adults, much of the same data that we've seen for Pfizer that's applied for EUA for younger people. That seems to echo those same findings.

TAPPER: When it comes to vaccinating their kids, the new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that once a vaccine is authorized, 29 percent of parents would get their kids vaccinated right away. That's me, I'm in that group. Thirty-two percent would wait and see how the vaccine is working. Fifteen percent would only get their kids vaccinated if schools required it. And 19 percent of parents would definitely not get their kids vaccinated. What is your reaction to that?

GUPTA: Well, you know, first of all the 19 percent number if you start at the bottom, go to the top, the 19 percent number that tracks with what we see with vaccine hesitancy and reluctance overall, kids or adults. There's about, you know, 19 percent, 20 percent of the country that basically says they're just not going to do it. Maybe they come over at some point, maybe not, but that sort of tracks.

[17:20:00]

I think the movable middle, sort of the middle of that graph that you showed, that's more, you know, sort of obviously where the targets going to be. And I think the case has to be made. Why vaccinate the kids? I mean, haven't we heard kids are less likely to get sick, so why vaccinate them? And I think that that's the case that will have to be made.

Kids can still potentially get sick, although the risk is lower. If a kid gets sick, even with minimal symptoms, they can have long hauling symptoms, this is not a virus you want, you want to avoid this young or old.

And finally, Jake, I think more practically speaking, maybe what your daughter's reacting to, my daughter certainly reacting to is, this may allow them to do things.

TAPPER: Yes.

GUPTA: That they otherwise wouldn't be able to do. You got to make that case for people, kids or adults.

TAPPER: Yes. I'm going to be first in line with the kids as soon as they're allowed to get the vaccines.

Today, the Moderna president said that he expects that Americans who are vaccinated will need booster shots every nine to 12 months. Is this, I mean, I know it's a different kind of vaccine. But should we look at it the way we look at a flu shot, something we get once a year because as with the flu, there are new types every year?

GUPTA: You know, Jake, I can honestly say this, I don't know. And I'm not trying to weasel out of the question. But you know, some of -- this is what we do know, is that the vaccine seems to work really well against the more commonly circulating coronavirus as well as the variants. So just keep that in the back of the mind. There's no -- it works well against what is currently out there. If new variants emerge that escape immunity, then perhaps.

The second question is, how long does it last? Well, right now we know it seems to last, you know, at least six months, because that's how long we've actually tracked people, but it could last several years. We don't know yet. We only really can know that with the passage of time.

What I would look forward, Jake, is to see is there evidence of people becoming reinfected? Has someone had the vaccine and then become reinfected and gotten sick? If that's the case, I think then you're making the argument that boosters would be needed. We haven't seen that yet. So hopefully, we don't need this yearly like a flu shot. But we just don't know yet.

TAPPER: Health officials in the U.S. have been worried about Americans who get the Pfizer or Moderna shot not getting the second shot, which is necessary. There's a new study out of Israel that touches on this. What does it have to say?

GUPTA: I find this really fascinating. Let's put up this data because this answers a question that we -- two questions really, that we've been sort of trying to get at almost since the beginning. Bottom line first, so one week after two doses. Look how good this vaccine is preventing asymptomatic infection.

We knew it was really good at preventing you from getting sick, but this also seems to really indicate that this prevents you from potentially being a silent carrier of the virus. That's going to be a very, very important point, Jake.

But the question you're asking really reflects the first line, which says, OK, you get one shot, it is helpful, but a lot less helpful with the one shot versus two shots. So, you know, you remember Jake, all these people were saying, let's just do one shot as many people as possible, an understandable argument. But now we have data to show how much more of a benefit you get from having the two shots. My guess is the benefit would last a lot longer with the two shots as well.

TAPPER: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

The Biden administration wants Iran to come back to the table and restart nuclear talks. But how to do that could be rather controversial. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:22:57]

TAPPER: Some breaking news in our world lead for you now, the Biden administration is desperately trying to convince the leaders of Iran to come back to the table on a nuclear agreement. And earlier today Secretary of State Antony Blinken told BBC Radio he's not certain that Iran will come back to the table.

And now CNN is learning that the Biden administration is considering a controversial carrot to entice them. CNN's Natasha Bertrand is breaking the story for us. What's going on?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN REPORTER: Yes, so essentially, the Biden administration is considering giving Iran or unfreezing these Iranian assets worth about a billion dollars, that can be used for humanitarian relief. And it's not going to be in cash if this does happen, right? It's going to be put into this mechanism known as the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement, which was set up last year so that countries and institutions that want to provide humanitarian relief to Iran, such as food and medicine, without running afoul of U.S. sanctions can do so.

So, it's essentially -- the one line of thought is that it would be a goodwill kind of good faith effort by the U.S. to show Iran that they are negotiating in good faith, and that it could prove to Iran that look, there's an incentive here to come back to the table and negotiate with us this billion dollars, the U.S. actually has up to $2 billion dollars in Iran -- in frozen Iranian assets right now, is something that the Iranians have wanted for a long time.

TAPPER: And so, it's one to $2 billion, it's their money? It's Iranian money?

BERTRAND: It is, yes.

So, this is not coming from U.S. taxpayers. This is Iranian assets that have been frozen in accounts in the United States for a very long time. And this is something, again, that could not be used by Iran for just anything. It could not be used to boost their economy. It could not be used for malign activities, it would be going into this account that is controlled by the Swiss that can then be used to purchase humanitarian goods for Iran, again, as a kind of good faith effort for these negotiations.

TAPPER: But how does the Biden administration plan to get around the sanctions that already exist? I mean, they can't just release a bunch of cash on their own, can they?

[17:30:00]

BERTRAND: Right. And that's why this mechanism was set up essentially, so that any country that does not want to run afoul of these sanctions, because again, there was so much fear of providing any kind of relief to Iran, even though humanitarian goods were not part of the sanctions, that they needed to set this up so that they could figure out how to provide Iran with these goods, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic.

So the way that the Biden administration would do this is they would give -- they would unfreeze these assets and put it into that Swiss account, which essentially serves as kind of a middleman here. And then if the Iranians want to use those funds to purchase humanitarian goods, they can do so from that account, and then those goods are then sent to Iran.

TAPPER: All right, fascinating. Natasha Bertrand with another scoop for us, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Let's talk about all this with CNN's Counterterrorism Analyst, Phil Mudd. Phil, first of all, what's your reaction to this idea that the Biden administration might try to unfreeze this boatload of cash for the -- for Iran? It would be for humanitarian purposes through this middle ground -- middleman, but is this a good way to get the Iranians to come to the table?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: To my mind it is. Look, first of all, in terms of the amount of money, this is chump change. You could -- as -- in the U.S. government, you could shape this change out of the sofa. And as was just mentioned, this is even our money. This is unfrozen Iranian assets.

To put it in perspective, Jake, Americans got a $1,400 check in the most recent round, this comes out to $12 per Iranian. So don't tell me it's a ton of money. We divorced from the Iranians and the deal in 2018. If we want to talk, giving them $1,000,000,000.12 a person in Iran, to my mind, is a way to say, sorry, we want to talk again, come back to the table.

TAPPER: But if -- so you think it will get them to the table or you don't?

MUDD: I think eventually it will. The Iranians need us more than we need them. We need them, obviously, to get things like inspectors back into Iran to ensure they're not doing enrichment to the levels that you can make a weapon, but their economy is in rough shape. They're going to elections where leaders in power now want to say we're trying to improve the economy. They really want to trade on international markets. Most of their economy is built on oil, so they need us. This is a way for them to say, maybe the Americans are serious after withdrawing in 2018. It's a start, and I think they'll take it seriously.

TAPPER: And let's recall, of course, former President Obama tried something like this already, releasing $1.7 billion of the Iranians assets to Iran. He did this in early 2016. He got hammered for it, of course, by Democrats and Republicans. Might that also happen with the Biden administration?

MUDD: No, might not happen, it will happen. Guaranteed people who don't like Iran, people who believe that Iran can't be trusted and will go back to building a nuclear weapon, are going to say this is a big deal, and that this helps Iran. I'm going to tell them two things. Number one, as I mentioned earlier, $1,000,000,000 for a company of eight, or for a country of 80 to 90 million people in consequential. Number two, as we discussed a moment ago, this is going through the Swiss and it's required to be used for humanitarian purposes.

It's not going for terrorism. It's not going for nukes. It's a sweetener to say, if you want to talk to the Iranians, you can trust us. This is a good faith check. Come to the table.

TAPPER: Yes. A lot of folks, of course, will argue that it's Iran that needs to convince the United States to come to the table, not the other way around.

Phil Mudd, thanks so much. Appreciate your perspective as always.

Coming up next, to look at healthcare workers, drained by the horrors they have witnessed on the job, some of them leaving health care altogether.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JUSTIN MESCHLER, FORMER ANESTHESIOLOGIST: I was scared. I literally went to work terrified every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:37:42]

TAPPER: In our politics lead today, President Biden down in deep-red Louisiana today to promote his big dollar plans. Despite a price tag around $4 trillion of these new proposals, Biden insists his jobs and infrastructure plans will do more for the middle class than the Trump tax cuts did. Biden says the Trump tax cuts mostly helped America's rich and corporations.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports for us now from Louisiana, where Biden's embracing a progressive pay plan in hopes of convincing middle class voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have failed, we have failed to properly invest in infrastructure for half a century.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden pitching his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan and a Republican stronghold today.

BIDEN: I've never seen a Republican or Democrat road. I just see roads.

COLLINS (voice-over): While in Louisiana, not only did the President defend his proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations to pay for it, he embraced it.

BIDEN: All those folks are still going to have two homes or three homes in the Jetsons (ph) won't matter. Not going to change your Stanley (ph) one little bit.

COLLINS (voice-over): Biden made the case for his plan to revamp the nation's infrastructure in front of the rundown Calcasieu River Bridge, which is 20 years past its prime.

BIDEN: It's a perfect example how we've neglected as a nation to invest in the future of our economy and the future of our people.

COLLINS (voice-over): Republicans have countered Biden's $2.3 trillion offer with a $600 billion alternative while arguing that his corporate tax hike will hurt the growth of American businesses.

BIDEN: There's just one problem with their argument, the facts.

COLLINS (voice-over): Comments like these from GOP Leader Mitch McConnell are raising questions about whether compromise is possible.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: Yes, 100 percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration, COLLINS (voice-over): Alongside Louisiana's Democratic Governor and Lake Charles's Republican Mayor, Biden argued for bipartisanship outside of Washington.

BIDEN: I find more support from Republican governors and mayors and Democratic governors and mayors around the country because they got to answer the question. Is life better in this town, this city, the state than it was before I got elected?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And Jake, speaking of bipartisanship in Washington when President Biden touchdown here in New Orleans, you saw getting off the plane he was greeted by the state's two Republican Senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy. You saw them chatting for about five minutes. They also fist bump.

[17:40:11]

Remember, when Liz Cheney had fist bump President Biden during his congressional address, she later had to defend it. But just because they had that chat there on the Tarmac, it doesn't mean they -- they have come to an agreement on infrastructure because Bill Cassidy tweeted a few minutes later defending that Republican counter offered, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins in New Orleans, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

And in our health lead today, despite the recent dramatic drops in COVID cases and hospitalizations and deaths, an alarming number of frontline workers say they're simply burned out. They've been in the thick of it from the beginning, treating the most severely ill, seeing death almost every single day. And the very personal decisions by some now could be taking a toll on the entire healthcare industry as CNN's Elizabeth Cohen now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 15 months on the front line of the pandemic, Dr. Sharon Griswold says she's tired.

DR. SHARON GRISWOLD, EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: It's hard to continue to do this when there's really -- it feels like there's no end in sight.

COHEN (voice-over): Dr. Griswold works in an emergency room in Pennsylvania. At times, it all feels like too much.

GRISWOLD: I do have plenty of days when I do feel like leaving when I feel like nothing that I do is going to make a difference.

COHEN (voice-over): The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on health care workers. Worldwide, more than one in five have experienced anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder during the pandemic, according to a study in March. Also in March, a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Washington Post found that nearly one in three health care workers say they've considered leaving health care as a result of the pandemic. Dr. Justin Meschler is one of them.

In April last year, he quit his position as an anesthesiologist. He had the risky job of putting breathing tubes in patients who might have had COVID-19 and his own health problems made him more vulnerable to the virus.

(on-camera): You could have been infected.

MESCHLER: Yes. I was scared. I literally went to work terrified every day.

COHEN (on-camera): What was your motivation for handing in that resignation letter?

MESCHLER: My primary motivation was I didn't want to get really sick and die. And I didn't want to leave my family, particularly my two young kids without a dad.

COHEN (voice-over): For some, the emotional toll of being a doctor during the pandemic has been deadly. Dr. Lorna Breen was an E.R. doctor who recovered from COVID-19 and continued to treat coronavirus patients, traveling from Virginia to New York City to help during the height of the outbreak there. She died a year ago by suicide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so how's everyone doing?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hanging in there?

COHEN (voice-over): Dr. Adam Jarrett is Chief Medical Officer at Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey. He counsels doctors who are thinking about leaving.

DR. ADAM JARRETT, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, HOLY NAME MEDICAL CENTER: -- many doctors, in fact, the majority I think have decided that they're going to tough it out and they're going to try to make it work.

COHEN (voice-over): Dr. Griswold says she won't be leaving her post anytime soon. She draws inspiration from a fish in the movie, "Finding Nemo".

(on-camera): You wear Dory on your uniform that holds your ID. Why Dory?

GRISWOLD: Well, Dory's phrase (ph) is just keep swimming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

GRISWOLD: Just keep swimming is all that we can do to try to keep going forward through this pandemic.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COHEN: Jake, doctors tell us that the burnout -- Jake, doctors tell us that the burnout isn't just about the long hours or the fear, it's also about anger and frustration. Anger that people aren't listening, aren't wearing masks, aren't social distancing, which puts healthcare workers in further danger. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Florida's Governor just signed a new bill into law, but he only let certain people watch it. We'll explain next.

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[17:48:41]

TAPPER: In our national lead, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who previously heralded how efficient his state's voting system was in November, nonetheless, today signed a new voting bill making it more difficult for some residents to vote. And moments later, groups including the NAACP lined up to file lawsuits. The new Florida law expands power for partisan poll watchers, it limits drop boxes, it prohibits volunteers returning ballots on behalf of voters which advocates say makes it more difficult for people with disabilities to vote, and it adds more voter id requirements for those who want to use mail-in ballots. Almost every news media outlet in America was denied access to this morning's bill signing, instead, Governor DeSantis signed the bill in an exclusive interview on Fox and Friends, almost as if he does not think he works for all of Florida's voters, just the ones watching Fox and Friends.

More restrictive GOP backed voting bills are in the works across the country as state legislators head into their final weeks of their sessions. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Austin, Texas where the election overhaul bill vote was just postponed. Dianne, what happened and tell us about the Texas bill.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, it was postponed to start now in probably about 20 minutes here at least, that's what we were told last time they delayed this bill hearing.

[17:50:06]

And this is a bill that does a lot of different things. So if it were to pass, it would make a lot of changes to voting in Texas. And what has activists most concern is the addition of enhanced criminal penalties for both voters and election officials throughout the entire voting process. For example, if an election official sends an unsolicited mail-in ballot application, that's now a felony, but it also puts in different types of steps like disclosure forms. If you are helping somebody vote, you have to explain why that is.

There are people who are concerned about what that means for disabled voters. And, of course, there are concerns about what this means for larger population centers because there was language included in these bills that specifically targets counties that have more than 1 million residents. I was actually speaking with Congressman Joaquin Castro today, he was down here protesting these bills. And he said that his greatest concern is that it seems to target more diverse areas that are more population dense, and it would take resources away from them. He noted that coincidentally many of these places that are targeted, of course, voted more for Democrats in the last election.

Now, Republicans here in Texas, even though they have not offered any evidence of fraud in the 2020 election say, there could have been and we just didn't know about it. So we should add new security measures, Jake. Now, look, there are still several steps even if this does pass the House here in Texas today, as it is expected to it will likely go into conference. So the House and Senate can decide what they want to do with this bill before it could ever go to the Governor.

TAPPER: All right, Dianne Gallagher in Austin, Texas, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

And in our national lead today, the Director of the U.S. Secret Service admitted on Capitol Hill today that his agency was not prepared for the January 6 insurrection. He blamed it in part on a lack of training for officers. CNN's Jessica Schneider joins us now. And we keep hearing how law enforcement across the board was not prepared for the January 6 riots, did the Director say why they weren't prepared?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a lot like all the other agencies that we've heard from. They just really weren't prepared for the scope and the scale and the duration of this attack. But in particular, the Secret Service Director James Murray, he said that his people just weren't trained for civil disturbance. They didn't have the right equipment. And this was really what this hearing was about today before House Appropriations, it was about getting more funding for the Secret Service, so they can have more training, have this equipment and crucially, you know, have better access to intelligence that could tell them about this in real time off the internet from these public sources.

TAPPER: But despite admitting the Secret Service was not prepared for the insurrection, the Director nonetheless said that if they had been in charge of Capitol security that day, it would have been safer and more secure. Explain that to me, because that's -- I'm kind of baffled.

SCHNEIDER: So, the Secret Service would have been the lead agency. If January 6, the counting of the electoral votes had been designated a National Special Security Event, they call it NSSE. That would have put Secret Service in the lead, it would have allowed for more resources, more law enforcement crucially, also, more fencing, more perimeter, a broader perimeter around the Capitol that would have kept those riders back. So in short, you know, NSSE, it allows for enhanced planning between federal, local, state officials, and it also provides for more time for them to get together and come up with a plan, something they didn't have. Notably, they did put NSSE in place before the inauguration which fell obviously just after the January 6 attack because --

TAPPER: All right. SCHNEIDER: -- then they were getting prepared.

TAPPER: Interesting.

SCHNEIDER: Yes,

TAPPER: Interesting. Jessica Schneider, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, a huge piece of a Chinese rocket is headed towards Earth and nobody knows what will land. How the U.S. military is preparing, that's next.

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[17:58:14]

TAPPER: And now our out of this world lead, it's still up there, it's still falling and word from the Pentagon is, no, the U.S. military is not considering shooting it down. It, of course, is a school bus size section of a Chinese rocket that was launched last week, and on track to fall back to Earth sometime this weekend. It's so big, smoldering chunks that do not burn up on reentry could smash into the ground or the ocean. Nobody knows where.

One astrophysicist puts the odds of it hitting you at one in several billion. We'll keep you posted.

Just into our healthy today, brand new data from the CDC shows that nearly 150 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine but we are still losing hundreds of Americans per day to the virus. We would like to take a second right now to remember just one of the more than 580,000 people we've lost to this virus in this country. Paul Oscher was a Blues musician. He was known for his soulful harmonica, but he also played guitar often, both at the same time.

When he was just 20 years old, the young talent joined the Blues legend Muddy Waters band. Waters once said, Paul Oscher plays the soul I feel. Later on, Oscher released records of his own brilliant records. Recently, he moved to Austin, he became a regular performing at various music venues.

He died on April 18th after battling coronavirus for weeks. He was 74. To all his friends and family, our deepest condolences. May his memory and his music forever be a blessing.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at JakeTapper or on TikTok at JakePTapper. You can tweet the show at TheLeadCNN. Our coverage continues now with one Mr. Wolf Blitzer who he's right next door in The Situation Room.