Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Biden getting more opposition from Republicans after the jobs numbers came out; Gaetz and Taylor Greene getting ready for their America First tour; Republicans are ready to move on from Liz Cheney to Elise Stefanik; The House passes H.R. 1 John Lewis Voting Rights Act; Secret Service Director testifies about events of January 6; More discussion about the jobs report; Governors in Northern U.S. Sharing Vaccine Doses with Canada; Canada's Vaccine Demand Outpaces Supply as U.S. Demand Lags; Japan in 4th Wave of Infections as it Preps for Summer Olympics; Asian American Diplomat Describes Experience at State Department as Traumatic. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 07, 2021 - 17:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead, I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, one ex-diplomat calling the experience traumatic, multiple U.S. diplomats telling CNN they are being held back because of discrimination.

Their stunning stories ahead. Plus, I'm horrified. That's what one Florida resident has to say about Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz launching a speaking tour today, even after the feds launched an investigation into whether he broke sex trafficing and prostitution laws.

And leading this hour, a major disappointment, and that's our money lead. Today's new jobs report revealing the U.S. added substantially fewer jobs that had been projected, just 266,000 jobs were added in April instead of the 1 million jobs expected by economists.

And today President Biden trying to downplay the lackluster performance saying, quote, "we knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it'd be a marathon" unquote. President Biden also using this underwhelming jobs report as an opportunity to push his $4 trillion worth of economic proposals saying the investments are needed to dig the U.S. out of an economic collapse.

As CNN's Phil Mattingly now reports.

[17:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSEPH BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it'd be a marathon.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): President Biden with a soaring stock market and weeks of positive economic news driving his agenda now grappling with a jobs report that fell well below expectations.

BIDEN: Today, there's more evidence that our economy is moving in the right direction. But it's clear we have a long way to go.

MATTINGLY (voice over): Economists forecasted a gangbuster's report, 1 million jobs added. Instead, it landed with a thud at 266,000. The lackluster report also showed the steadily declining unemployment rate actually tick up to 6.1 percent.

Biden's top economic officials cautioned against reading too much in to a single report, particularly as the flurry of economic data in recent weeks has pointed to an economy primed for a post-pandemic takeoff.

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: The best thing is to average through and say we have been creating over 500,000 jobs a month on average over the last three months.

MATTINGLY (voice over): But the disappointing numbers are fueling GOP criticism of Biden's economic efforts to this point, the seeds of which have been growing for week as Republicans gear up to oppose Biden's sweeping $4.1 trillion economic plans.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R;KY): Many Kentuckians and Americans look at the situation and find they're better off financially to stay home rather than go back to work.

MATTINGLY (voice over): But Biden making clear today he's unbowed, seeking to directly rebut the criticism about the enhanced unemployment benefits when asked if they disincentivize work.

BIDEN: No, nothing measurable.

MATTINGLY (voice over): And addressing the brewing criticism, including from some Democratic economists, that his proposed trillions in new spending would drive crippling inflation.

BIDEN: Today's report also puts some truth to some loose talk that we've been hearing about the economy lately. First, that we should stop helping workers and families out for fear of overheating the economy.

MATTINGLY (voice over): And he made clear the report and the uneven recovery from the pandemic-driven economic collapse is more evidence for his proposals.

BIDEN: We still have a job to do here in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (on camera): And Jake, that job includes the president pushing forward on that $4 trillion legislative agenda and bipartisan talk, something the president has said he's seeking will kick into high gear next week, a real crucial time period to see if there's any potential compromise at least related to one piece of that plan, the physical infrastructure piece.

President Biden is slated to meet with Republican Shelley Moore Caputo, the top Republican negotiator, as well as congressional leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, trying to figure out if there's anything that they can agree on going forward.

Obviously, Jake, Republicans making clear that they are opposed, in broad, to what the president has put on the table. The president making clear he wants to push forward on all of those proposals at some point, but at least at this moment is willing to talk about breaking off a piece of them if there is a chance for a bipartisan agreement, still a long way to go.

They may agree on the top lines on physical infrastructure, but the pay for as well, the president wants to change the Republican's 2017 tax law, which McConnell has made clear, that is a complete non- starter, Jake.

TAPPER: A nonstarter. All right, Phil Mattingly at the White House for us, thanks so much. Turning now to our politics lead, embattled Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz is gearing up for his most high-profile appearance since he became publicly embroiled in a scandal. Federal investigators in the House Ethics committee are, of course, looking into sex trafficking allegations.

Gaetz, seemingly unbothered, he's about to hit the stage with another controversial member of Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, who traffics in all sorts of bizarre conspiracy theories, both are also super spreaders of the big lie about the election. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins us now live from the villages in, you guessed it, Florida. Donie, Gaetz and Taylor Greene say they're rallying Trump supporters. What are they saying?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're cashing in on the big lie, Jake. This is the first stop on what they are calling their America First tour. And speaking to some folks who are due to attend this event, which is about to kick off in an hour, attendees here want to hear that. They want to hear that the election was stolen.

And look, there would've been a point in the recent history of the Republican Party that two controversial members like this holding an event like this would be considered fringe, but we now know, of course, that from CNN polling just last week, 70 percent, 70 percent of Republicans believe in some way that the election was stolen and that Biden is not -- did not win the election, which, of course, is false.

Speaking to folks here, that is what they want to hear tonight, and they're very, very excited about hearing from both these members of Congress and do not seem, at all, bothered about Marjorie Taylor Greene's QAnon conspiracy theories and the allegations leveled against Matt Gaetz.

TAPPER: I'm sure they're not. All right, Donie O'Sullivan, thanks so much. Let's discuss with our panel Let's discuss with our panel. Amanda, you're a Republican. This event is being billed as an America First rally for Trump supporters. What's your take on this, and also is it smart, even, for Matt Gaetz to be doing this while under investigation?

[17:05:00]

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, a bunch of people that will -- who believe in QAnon and that there's a global cabal of Satanists controlling the world and eating children are probably pretty easy marks, pretty easy political marks that will pay money, that will give money to the joint fundraising committee that Gaetz and Greene, Matt and Marjorie, are setting up.

And here's my concern, why is there no competition on the Republican side? How come there are not Republicans willing to compete with these bottom-barrel ideas? It really should not be hard. When are we going to reach this point because Matt and Marjorie are going to go there, fire them up, tell them what they want to hear about MAGA, and all these other follower Republicans are going to say well, you know what, we can't cross this space.

Look at this amazing coalition that Trump has built, we need them to win, and that's because these people who want to run, they're not leaders, they're followers. They are basically followers of the "Q" cult because they can't give them a better story, and so I'm waiting for someone to try to tell a better story because until then, Matt and Marjorie are the leaders of the party.

TAPPER: Wow. Ashley, today Matt Gaetz came out in favor of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik who's all but certain going to take over Congresswoman Liz Cheney's leadership seat. Gaetz tweeted "There will be circumstances where we'll have some disagreements, but what I can say about Rep. Stefanik that she will always be prepared, sharp and effective."

It seems Gaetz is acknowledging the fact that Elise Stefanik's voting record is really not all that conservative, she didn't vote with Trump as much as Cheney did, that all of this is really just about Stefanik's support for Trump and the big lie.

ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS DIRECTOR FOR BIDEN-HARRIS 2020: You're right. I mean, I'm not surprised that Matt Gaetz is now supporting Stefanik, but, you know, his tweet that he wrote could've also been written about Liz Cheney. She will be prepared.

I don't agree with Liz Cheney on almost anything except for the fact that Joe Biden actually won the election, but Gaetz's attempt to support Stefanik is just a part of big lie, a part of folks only supporting people who will fall in line and support Donald Trump.

But I just also want to say is that Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Stefanik, they are all elected officials, they are all Republicans, they are all supposed to be leaders, and they are not leading now, they are followers, and so - but behind each one of them, there are voters that seem to be supporting them. And so I'm less concerned about those three, and more concerned about the thousands of people that are buying into what they are selling.

TAPPER: Amanda, here's what Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who also pushed the big lie, here's what he had to say about the Trump litmus test. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no. I've always liked Liz Cheney, but she's made a determination that the Republican Party can't grow with President Trump. I've determined we can't grow without him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You disagree though, Amanda?

CARPENTER: Yes. I mean, Lindsey Graham disagreed with that on January 7th when he stood on the Senate floor and said that's it, after the insurrection, count me out. Well, things changed. Why did things change? It's because, still, the Republicans who don't like this are staying on the sidelines. You have to speak out. It didn't have to be this way.

The worst quote that came out of election last cycle was "what's the downside of humoring Donald Trump and letting this play out after the November elections?" The downside is people like Mitch McConnell on down said let him have his days and days and days and days and days in court, and maybe it'll just resolve itself and go away. It is never going away.

The big election lie never had to happen if the Republican Party would have stood up and said in unison you know what, Joe Biden won the election, he's the rightful winner, we - Donald Trump should concede. Nobody did that. Nobody did that, and the cost of that was an insurrection, and the continued cost of that is that Donald Trump is still the leader of the Republican Party.

And so all these Republicans that say, you know, Liz Cheney, you should really show some humility, you should really be quiet, quit re- litigating 2020. Why? So they can keep campaigning on the 2020 election lies to win in '22 and '24. That's what the plan is, is to keep going with this. And so if Republicans don't like it, you have to stick your neck out and say no. Otherwise, you have surrendered to it.

TAPPER: Ashley, Speaker Pelosi called Cheney courageous. When asked about Stefanik, Pelosi said maybe she's more, shall we say, complaint. Stefanik went on to Twitter and said that Pelosi was pushing a "sexist smear." What do you make of this, and should Pelosi stay out of it?

[17:10:00]

ALLISON: Well, first, sexism is when they won't give you a seat at the table, and then when you do have a seat at the table and you speak your opinion, they want you to be silent, and that's what the Republican Party is doing to Liz Cheney. Nancy Pelosi can say whatever she wants to say. She's in leadership, she's an elected official, and if Stefanik doesn't like what she has to say then she can just ignore her.

But I do think, you know, when you stand up to a bully, and Liz Cheney is standing up to a bully, Donald Trump, that is courageous. And so I do think she is taking a political risk by pushing back on this big lie, and that Stefanik and Gaetz and all the other - Lindsey Graham, the whole list of characters are being complaint, but I also think that they are bought into the fact that the big lie is actually existing.

And so that again is the most troubling component is that if you do not have trust in our democracy, then what are you even doing in Congress? Why are you even trying to be an elected official?

TAPPER: Power I think is the answer. Ashley Allison, Amanda Carpenter, thank you so much, appreciate it.

Coming up, new charges, a federal grand jury has indicted all four Minneapolis police officers, including Derek Chauvin, in connection to the death of George Floyd. Plus, Democrats in Washington forced to change a key bill after backlash, some of which was from Democrats at state level. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

TAPPER: In our politics lead today, Texas state Republicans just passed an election overhaul bill in the House that would add new voting restrictions and penalties - it's just the latest in a slew of Republican pushed initiatives nationwide to make it more difficult to vote.

And while Republicans are trying to change voting laws at the state level, Democrats are seeking to change federal voting rules in Congress with a bill headed for a Senate Committee vote next week.

But as CNN's Ryan Nobles reports for us now, Democrats in the Senate are making last minute changes to the legislation, not just to get Republican support, but to assuage state election officials, including many Democrats who are raising major red flags. RYAN NOBLES, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Expanding voting rights,

limiting partisan gerrymandering, and reducing big money's influence in politics - all so important to Democrats, it's the first bill they took up this year.

PRES. JOE BIDEN: Congress has passed H.R. 1, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and sent it to my desk right away.

NOBLES: But after passing the House, it's now stalled in the Senate with Republicans calling foul.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: This is clearly an effort by one party to rewrite the rules of our political system.

NOBLES: The current Senate version of the bill pushes back the deadline to require automatic voter registration from 2022 to 2025. It gives states more time to purchase and implement new voting machines, and makes accommodations for rural voting communities.

But it's not just the GOP that is against the bill. State election officials from both parties also worry the measure may do more harm than good.

JESSICA HUSEMAN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, VOTEBEAT: The broad strokes of what election officials told me about H.R. 1 and their concerns with it were basically that it was way too much to ask in a very short amount of time.

NOBLES: Journalist and CNN Political Analyst Jessica Huseman, who covers voting rights, says election officials nationwide worry that implementing the massive changes dictated in this bill could actually make things worse.

HUSEMAN: And I was talking to an election administrator the other day who described the changes to this bill, unfortunately, as lipstick on a pig. Because the changes are good, and it's necessary - it's a lovely shade of lipstick. But the underlying problem is still that it's a pig.

NOBLES: In order to pass the Senate, it would either need 10 Republicans votes, or Democrats would have to bypass the filibuster and pass it with a simple majority, something Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has already made clear, he won't support.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I think we can find a pathway for it, I really do. I'm going to be sitting down with both sides and understanding where everybody's coming from.

NOBLES: And while major changes have been made to this Senate version of the bill, the two sides remain very far apart. And despite this being a top Democratic priority, it's potential for passage remains unlikely.

And part of the reason that a bipartisan solution to this problem seems unlikely is that Republicans and Democrats just don't agree at the core of this issue when it comes to voting rights Democrats believe that Americans need easier access to the polls, Republicans are concerned that the process is so wide open that it is vulnerable to fraud. When you can't even agree on that basic level of understanding of this issue, Jake, it's not a surprise that they aren't able to come to some sort of consensus.

TAPPER: All right, Ryan on Capitol Hill. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

A day after the Secret Service's Director testified during a Capitol Hill hearing about the January 6 insurrection, the agency is explaining to CNN more about comments that he made about Secret Services' role on that awful day, and the civil disturbances in the previous year.

CNN's Jessica Schneider joins me now.

Jessica, you spoke with the Secret Service, tell us more. JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I did, Jake. So the

Secret Service making clear their role that day was to protect Vice President Mike Pence who was inside the Capitol, and who we saw on video being ushered to safety. They were also there to provide security for VP Elect Kamala Harris, who of course, was serving in her role as Senator.

So the director, in his testimony yesterday talked generally about how law enforcement agencies could have had more resources on January 6 if the counting of the electoral votes had been declared a national, special security event - since it would have allowed more coordination between agencies.

But it's important to note that when the director talked about the Secret Service not having enough people trained to respond to civil disturbances, he was referring to civil unrest around the White House last summer as part of the Black Lives Matter protests, but not about the Secret Service response on January 6.

[17:20:00]

Of course it's important to remember that the Secret Service was not acting as a police agency that day and they weren't responsible for the overall safety of the U.S. Capitol. Instead its protective detail was focused on keeping both Vice President Pence and incoming VP Harris, safe.

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

In the U.S., some Americans need convincing to get the vaccine, but for our neighbors to the north, it's being dubbed the "hunger games," with Canadians desperate to get vaccinated, and that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[17:25:00]

TAPPER: And we're back with our money lead (ph), President Biden trying to put a positive spin on a rather disappointing jobs report today. The U.S. economy adding 266,000 jobs in America. Economists had predicted that number would be closer to 1 million.

Joining us to discuss, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who just wrapped up an hour long meeting with President Biden. Madam Secretary, obviously any jobs added is a good thing, but economists were predicting a million jobs, even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen today said she expected a number that's, "much higher." Are you worried the economy's not bouncing back as expected? What went wrong?

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF ENERGY: Well, I mean, we are making progress. Over the past three months the average has been about 500,000 jobs created. You know, we are climbing out of this massive, COVID induced recession. So nobody expected that this was going to be fixed in an instant.

It is a process, we're still 8 million jobs in the hole from when the COVID situation started. So what it means, Jake, and this is what we talked about in this meeting with the president for the past 70 minutes is we have got to go big on America. That means we have to invest in this American Jobs Plan, we have got to get this through Congress so that every pocket of America can see opportunity in the future for them and for their families.

So that's what we talked about, and this president is a realist, and he is not - he's not a Pollyanna, he really knew that this was not going to be an easy slog, this is going to be a hard slog and he's doing all of these things right in terms of getting shots in arms, and getting the stimulus in people's bank accounts. But this is - you know, we've got work to do.

TAPPER: What do you say to the economists who say one of the problems is that $1,400 checks were sent to millions of Americans, there's enhanced unemployment insurance for millions of Americans, for many Americans they're making a calculation that it's actually better for them to stay at home where they have - perhaps they have kids doing remote education, or whatever the reason is - that this money, while obviously well intended is a disincentive for many people.

GRANHOLM: Well, two things on that, Jake. One, under unemployment if you are offered a position - first of all, you have to look. And if you're offered a position you can't just say no, I'm not going to do it I'm going to sit at home. That's under - in every state you have to take a job if it is offered to you. So that's number one.

But number two, let's get real. I mean, this virus is still raging, we haven't vaccinated to the point where we can open up fully, and I would say too - and the numbers show this that more women stayed home because their kids are not in school, and that is still - and their daycare centers may not be open. So we are not through this yet.

You know, things are going to get better, it's just a question of the impatience of some, I think is unrealistic. We have to do what we have to do - we have to get - the virus has to be under control.

This is a virus induced problem and we've got to beat the virus, and that's what all of these shots in arms, and getting people who are resistant - we need to get people vaccinated, and that's what's going to be the biggest way to turn this around before we get to the American Jobs Plan so we can move into the future.

TAPPER: Republicans on the Hill are blaming your energy policies. To remind our viewers, you're the Energy Secretary. Energy policies from the Biden administration for driving up gas prices.

Prices are about 50 cents higher per gallon today than when President Biden took office, beyond whether or not you think that your policies are to blame, are you worried that the prices could impact whether or not Americans travel, which is of course needed to put money back into the economy?

GRANHOLM: People need to travel, right. But we need to get the virus under control first. We need to get to that 70 percent, we need to get to herd immunity. You know, why has - have gas prices gone up? Could that be because of the virus itself as well? Is it - I mean, everything is tied together.

So I just want to say, this administration is totally focused on getting this virus under control which means the economy will get under control, and then investing in the nation so that we can go big on America. I mean, one of the things we talked about today Jake, for a good amount of time was hope the American Jobs Plan invests in transmission.

Of course, as the Energy Secretary, really interested in making sure we have a transmission grid that is capable of resisting the weather that we are seeing the wild weather events, but also that is free from cyber attacks. And that has the capacity that we need, because of the new renewables and additional activity on the grid.

So bottom line is, we want to make sure that we've got all of these pieces of the -- of our economy working, including getting electricity into people's homes, and the American jobs plan does that. So we can't turn our back on all of the things that need our desperate investment, whether it's roads or bridges or transmission, or broadband.

And that's really, I mean, the President has got his eye on right now. And he's got his eye on the future. And he's got his eye on going big so we can compete globally. And that competition issue is really top of mind as well.

TAPPER: Last month, President Biden virtually toward an electric vehicle company that you hold millions of dollars, invested stock options in and you previously sat on the board of the company. The top Republican on the senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is now calling for an investigation into any potential conflicts of interest. What's your response?

GRANHOLM: I am so grateful that this President makes everybody who comes on in an appointed position sign a strong ethics agreement, which requires that everybody divest of their individual stocks, which I am in the process of doing, I certainly had nothing to do with that visit didn't even know about it until the day that it happened. But the ethics agreement is important. The ethics agreement that everybody signs to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest. And I'm proud that I worked for a president that insist upon that.

TAPPER: So you're in the process of divesting?

GRANHOLM: Yes.

TAPPER: All right, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.

GRANHOLM: You bet.

TAPPER: Canada one of the first countries to allow younger kids to get vaccinated. We'll take a look at the nation's vaccine rollout, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:36:13] TAPPER: In our world lead today, Canadians want the shot as vaccine demand starts to lag in the United States demand is far outpacing supply for our northern neighbors. Almost half of Americans have gotten at least one dose compare that to just over one in three Canadian, so American officials have now agreed to start sharing the wealth. It's not just a gesture of goodwill, we should note, Governors in northern states want to get that Canadian border opened as soon as possible.

North Dakota has already started vaccinating Canadian truck drivers and Alaska's governor shared that state's extra doses with a small neighboring Canadian town.

CNN's Paula Newton finds out why some Canadians are calling efforts to get vaccinated, "The Hunger Games."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Canadians have been primed and ready to get their shots for months, lining up, signing up. And what has been described as the vaccine Hunger Games. From Toronto to the west coast doses have been scarce until now. The vaccine euphoria here is far from over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will be safer, yeah, I'm really happy.

NEWTON: Demand still far outstrips supply but Canada is catching up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The sooner we can all get a poke the better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I trust the medicine and I'm excited to be vaccinated.

ANTHONY DI MONTE, GENERAL MINISTER OF EMERGENCY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF OTTAWA: Demand has been great. It's actually been overwhelming.

NEWTON: Anthony Di Monte runs autos rollout and like many cities, they've seen little hesitancy, confident they can get more than 80% of eligible residents vaccinated.

DI MONTE: We could certainly get that done in weeks. If we had unlimited supply, we'd run these things 24 hours a day, we get into our neighborhoods. So it really is supply that's been hindering but now we're seeing in the positive efforts that supply is coming.

NEWTON: The Canadian government promises by the end of summary, we'll have enough doses for the entire country. But it's the pace of the rollout in the last few weeks that has been encouraging. More than a third of those eligible now have at least one shot. That effort got a boost this week when Canada became one of the first countries to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for kids between 12 and 15.

NEWTON: An official saying they see no sign that demand for the vaccine will slow especially now that a painful third wave of the pandemic is taking hold in many parts of the country. NEWTON (Voice-over): Critical Care admissions remain at record levels and are increasing in some provinces, especially in the country's hotspots like this one in Ottawa, where getting those last doses into arms will be more challenging. A city councilor here tells me he's encouraged by the grassroots efforts already working to reach racialized disadvantaged communities.

RAWLSON KING, OTTAWA COUNCILOR: All levels of government are committed here in Canada to ensure that we address this challenge. And I think that that's unprecedented.

NEWTON: There's no hard sell here, a little humor instead from Ottawa Public Health prolific Twitter handle, even a cameo from Vancouver born actor Ryan Reynolds, posing as the public health intern.

Official state that's what it will take to go the last mile to deliver that last dose.

DR. VERA ETCHES, MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, OTTAWA PUBLIC HEALTH: It requires them on the ground, on the ground work door knocking to make sure that people are aware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON (on camera): So Jake, I just updated here we could be in record setting territory for daily shots and arms today. If this pace keeps up, we're going to catch up to the United States by June fully vaccinated everyone perhaps sometime in summer. And it's important to note here in Canada, if you look at polls, hesitancy is about, you know, pretty much half of what it is in the United States. And that's why that 80% figure really is something officials are aiming for.

Jake, before I let you go I have to point out look, I'm in lockdown here. A lot of cities in Canada are locked down. Think about Toronto now, in lockdown, some form of it for nearly six months. That goes a long way in describing the enthusiasm right now for those vaccines.

[17:40:12]

TAPPER: Well I'm glad shots are going in arms in Canada. Paula Newton in Ottawa, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

Also on our world lead, we're just a few months until the Summer Olympics, Japanese leaders have once again extended the state of emergency in Tokyo as that country battles a fourth wave of coronavirus. CNN's Blake Essig got rare access to an overwhelmed hospital there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. HIDEAKI OKA, INFECTIOUS DISEASES SPECIALIST, SAITAMA MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (through translation): If two patients entered today, another two patients are admitted tomorrow, and all cases turn out to be severe. The day after tomorrow will already be in a crisis.

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A crisis that has the potential to explode in just a few months, when 10s of 1000s of people from more than 200 countries enter Japan to participate in the upcoming Summer Olympic Games. It's a frightening scenario for Chief Nurse, Kyoka Ioka, who has been treating COVID-19 patients since the beginning.

KYOKA IOKA, CHIEF NURSE, SAITAMA MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (through translation): I'm sorry for the athletes, but I'm terrified that the Olympics are going to happen. Is it really worth it? We are in the middle of the fourth wave and what is the point of having the Olympic Games now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ESSIG (on camera): The International Olympic Committee is not mandating vaccinations but does encourage it. The IOC says it expects a significant portion of participants to be vaccinated. Some countries like South Korea and Australia have already planned to vaccinate their delegation. As for Japan, the vaccine rollout is underway but it's going very slowly. Less than 1% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

TAPPER: All right, Blake Essig in Japan for us. Thank you so much.

Coming up next stunning, tragic stories of discrimination. Asian American diplomats telling CNN they have been trying to serve their country but they've been held back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL YOUNG, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE: How much more do I have to do to prove that I'm an American?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:21]

TAPPER: In our National League, the San Francisco man accused of stabbing two elderly Asian women has been charged with attempted murder. The brutal attack part of an uptick in hate crimes against people of Asian descent in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic. In fact, the group Stop AAPI hate says they have gotten nearly 7000 firsthand complaints of racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since last year.

And as CNN's Kylie Atwood reports for us now, incidents are even being reported at the U.S. State Department where Asian American diplomats say discrimination has been holding them back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Young calls the experience traumatic. He's an Asian American born in California and spent more than a decade serving his country both as an army reservist and a diplomat. But despite speaking Mandarin Chinese fluently, he was denied the opportunity to serve as a diplomat in China multiple times.

YOUNG: How much more do I have to do to prove that I'm an American? I don't have any relatives overseas. I felt a deep sense of fury of frustration of not knowing what my options were.

ATWOOD: Young was sent to South Korea, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but says his skills would have uniquely bolstered U.S. diplomatic efforts in China. He quit after being denied a post in China for a second time.

YOUNG: After 10 years with the war on terror, you know, giving myself to this country. Being a patriot I felt like I wasn't allowed to be fully who I could be for my country.

ATWOOD: More than 20 current and former Asian American national security officials tell CNN they face disproportionate hurdles with drawn out security clearance weights restrictions on where they can serve and a flawed appeal process. The Foreign Affairs Manual says assignment restrictions are in place to protect diplomats from being targeted or harassed by foreign intelligence services. But CNN has learned that those concerns are not applicable to every case.

REP. ANDY KIM, (D-NJ) FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: We should be proud of having so many different cultures, so many different experiences, so many different people here that know the world in different ways that can make for a strong reform policy.

ATWOOD: State Department data shows that assignment restrictions on Asian American diplomats have increased, a 166 employees were impacted in 2015, 168 in 2016, and in 2017, that number jumped to 306. That's according to a 2018 letter sent to House lawmakers, which was obtained by CNN. Efforts to change the system had yielded few results.

TONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: I am very concerned about these reports I've spoken to Asian American colleagues in the department about them and suffice to say this is something that I'm looking into.

ATWOOD: Secretary of State Tony Blinken has begun a broad effort to improve the workforces diversity. He calls it a systemic problem.

BLINKEN: The truth is, this problem is as old as the department itself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ATWOOD: Jake, I want to point out the fact that in many ways, it's not just Asian Americans who are facing these painful experiences. It is these quiet bigotries that reverberate throughout the State Department. One example is a black diplomat told CNN that one of their white colleagues handed them a set of keys in the State Department garage, the assumption there being that they worked in the parking lot instead of in the offices in this building, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Kylie Atwood at the State Department for us. Thanks so much.

[17:50:00]

And our pop culture lead today with the topic of race and discrimination at the top of many American minds, there's one musical icon, who along with topping the charts was also quite influential as an activist, speaking out on issues such as racism and poverty and police brutality and the destruction of the planet. That man, of course, was Marvin Gaye. And this Sunday CNN premieres, What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages, a look at Gaye's life and activism.

And joining us now is CNN Tonight anchor and the host of Sunday Special, Don Lemon. Don, thanks so much and congrats on this. I can't wait to see it. Gaye was a huge civil rights activist. What's Going On is an anthem. What can we learn from his activism, given today's political climate?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Jake, you're 100% right. He was a huge political activist. But guess what, I think people probably don't know, he never marched, he was never a marcher, never participated in any sort of active protests.

But he did it through his artistry, through his music. And I think what we learned from Marvin Gaye is that artists must reflect the times that they're in. And they also must push the culture along and to help elevate the culture. And that there were many people who were against Marvin Gaye doing this album What's Going On, or they thought it was going to, wasn't going to be great for him to do it because he was -- had a huge successful career.

You know, as this ballad singer, you know, sort of Nat King Cole he wanted -- he really wanted to be Frank Sinatra, right, the black Frank Sinatra, but he ended up doing this because he said he couldn't sing love songs any longer when there was a Vietnam War, and they were racist -- there was racism going on, watch riots, Detroit riots and so forth. And he had to speak to what was happening in the culture. And I think we all have that responsibility, especially artists.

TAPPER: After studying him for this documentary, if Gaye were alive today, what do you think he would say about the moment we're in, about policing, Black Lives Matter, the overall tone in the country right now?

LEMON: Listen, remember, he died just a little more than a decade after this album was released. His album was released in '71. He died in '84. But I mean, 50 years later, he would say, I told you this 50 years ago, I can't believe, I think he would say that. I can't believe that you would -- you didn't listen to me.

Listen, he was -- he wrote about in this album, he wrote about drug abuse, heroin, which was heroin addiction, then people coming back from war, addicted to drugs. He wrote about the Vietnam War. He wrote about police brutality, and everything, racism, everything that's happening in the culture now, the struggle that people have with, you know, where do we place God and church and all of that. He wrote about those issues. And in a time when the music industry, especially black artists just

weren't doing that. I mean, he wrote about the environment, the ecology, that entire song is about what we're doing to our planet. So well ahead of his time, he would say, I warned you, why didn't you listen?

TAPPER: Right. What was the most interesting thing you learned about Marvin Gaye?

LEMON: I learned that he was a very vulnerable man, considering the success that he had. Remember, you know, he started off with the Motown singing sort of doo-wop songs and love songs, then having a very successful career with Tammi Terrell and then heard through the grapevine, your precious love and hitchhike and all of that, and then he went on to do what's going on, sexual healing, so on and so forth, through his vulnerability, so he was able to push past that and achieve and even the drug addiction that he dealt with. So I think that's what I learned the most, is to keep pushing past your vulnerabilities.

TAPPER: All right, Don Lemon, thank you so much. I can't wait to watch it, so you can also watch it and join Don, looking at Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking album, What's Going On, 50 years after its momentous release. The CNN Special, What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern. Here's a sneak peek.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking, What's Going On.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the first time that I understood poetry.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the great albums ever made.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His melodies were like a voice of Christ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He created something that lasts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 50 years later. Why is it an anthem for a new generation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This prophecy man.

LEMON: What do you think Marvin was thinking about, What's Going On?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN Special Report, What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages, Sunday at 8:00.

[17:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Final today in our pop culture lead, I have a new novel. It's coming out Tuesday. It's called the Devil May Dance that takes place in 1962 Rat Pack Hollywood. It features Charlie and Margaret, the heroes from my previous effort the Hellfire Club. I hope you will consider reading it, you can preorder an autographed copy @jaketapper.com.

OK, that's over. Join me now for State of the Union on Sunday. My guests will include White House COVID Response Coordinator Jeff Zients, Democratic House Majority Whip James Clyburn in South Carolina, and Utah's new Republican governor Spencer Cox at Sunday at 9 a.m. and noon Eastern. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, all of them @jaketapper. You can tweet the show @theleadcnn. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

Pamela Brown is filling in for Wolf Blitzer right next in the Situation Room.