Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
Biden Speaks on COVID Response, New Mask Guidance; CDC: Vaccinated People Don't Need a Mask Inside or Outside; TSA Requiring Masks on Planes, Trains & Buses Until Sept 13; Cheney Doesn't Rule Out a Run for President Against Trump; U.N. Warns of "Full Scale War" Amid Israel-Gaza Violence. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired May 13, 2021 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:03]
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In less than four months, we've gone from 5.5 percent to nearly 60 percent of the adults in America with at least one shot in their arm. We've gone from stagnation to an economy that's growing faster than it has in nearly 40 years. We've gone from anemic job creation to a record for job creation for a new administration.
All of this is a product of prompt action to roll out the vaccine and boost our economy.
As I said in my joint address to the Congress, this vaccination effort has been historic logistical achievement for the United States of America. Over the past 114 days, our vaccination program has led the world and that's due to the incredible hard work of so many people. The scientists and researchers, the drug companies, the National Guard, the U.S. military, FEMA, the nation's governors, doctors, nurses, pharmacists -- everyone who has moved heaven and earth to get as many shots into arms of as many Americans as possible. And it's truly been an all-hands-on-deck-for-the-country effort.
You know, some people said we could don't this. That it would not be until the fall that we had this many people vaccinated. That 2021 might be a lost year for our country as 2020 was. But we have proved the doubters wrong.
I need to single out one more group to praise -- the American people. The American people.
For more than a year, you have endured so much and so many lost jobs, so many businesses lost, so many lives upended, and so many months that our kids couldn't be in school. You couldn't see your friends or family. All the moments that mattered so much from birthdays to weddings to graduations, all postponed. And most tragically of all, the lost lives.
As the press here knows, I carry a card in my pocket with the number of lives lost to COVID as of the close of business yesterday -- 580,073 lost lives. So many empty chairs. So many times, a husband or a wife leans over to touch their spouse and they're not there. Moms and dads, sons and daughters, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Your neighbors, your co-workers.
Having been there in other circumstances, I know it's of little solace right now, but I promise you, the day will come when the memory of a loved one you lost will bring you a smile before it brings a tear to your eye. That's when you know you're going to get through it. You will get through it but it's a long haul. You have endured all this.
When your country asks you to get vaccinated, you did. The American people stepped up. You did what I consider to be your patriotic duty. That's how we have gotten to this day.
As president, I can say I'm pleased but I'm sure the vice president agrees with me, we're not surprised. Pleased but not surprised. Because the simple truth is this -- the American people have never ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never.
This country is proving what we've known, and we have all known for so long. There's nothing we are unable to do when we put our minds, our hearts and our souls into it and we do it together.
Now, I want to be clear about what the CDC is saying. And what the CDC is not saying. The CDC is saying that it's concluded that fully vaccinated people are at a very, very low risk of getting COVID-19.
Therefore, if you have been fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask. Let me repeat, if you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask. But if you've not been vaccinated or if you're getting a two-shot vaccine and you've not gotten your -- you only had your first shot, but not your second, or you haven't waited the full two weeks after your second shot, you still need to wear a mask.
Look, we've gotten this far. Please protect yourself. Until you get to the finish line, because as great as this announcement is today, we don't want to let up. We all know how tough this virus has been.
The safest thing for the country is for everyone to get vaccinated. And getting vaccinated is easier than ever. We have worked so hard. We have 80,000 locations, 90 percent of you live within five miles of one of those locations.
You can find a vaccine site near you by texting your zip code to the following number, 438829. Let me repeat. Text your zip code to 438829, and get the place nearest you and you can go and get vaccinated now.
And many places don't require an appointment. It's free. Just walk in. Get the shot. Anyone 12 years or above in age is eligible.
And for now, after a year of hard work and so much sacrifice, the rule is very simple. Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do. It's vaccinated (ph) or mask. Get vaccinated. If you're vaccinated you can be around the vaccinated or unvaccinated people, but if you're not vaccinated or not fully vaccinated, you should wear a mask for your own protection and protection of other unvaccinated people.
The choice is yours. You all made this possible. Now, let's finish the work of beating this virus and getting everything back to normal. Remember, as fast as we have gone, most people under the age of 65
aren't vaccinated yet. We've opened vaccinations nationally to all adults just four weeks ago. It's going to take a little more time for everyone who wants to get vaccinated to get their shots.
So, all of us, let's be patient. Be patient with one another.
You know, some may say just feel more comfortable. Continue to wear a mask. They may feel that way. So if you're someone with a mask, you see them, please treat them with kindness and respect.
We have had too much conflict, too much bitterness, too much anger, too much politicization of this issue about wearing masks. Let's put it to rest. Let's remember, we're all Americans. Let's remember that we are all in this together.
If you're fully vaccinated, and can take your mask off, you've earned the right to do something that Americans are known for all around the world -- greeting others with a smile. With a smile.
So it's a good day for the country. We aren't done yet, we're still losing too many Americans because we still have too many unvaccinated people. We have to get to 70 percent of adults, starting on vaccinations and by July the 4th. And we have to take this pandemic, tackle it, not just here but overseas as well, to truly be safe in the long run.
There's still more work ahead. But I've said many times, as tough as this pandemic has been, we will get through it. We will rebuild our economy, reclaim our lives and get back to normal. Laugh again, we'll know joy again, and we'll smile again.
You know, now, see one another's smile. Look at the smiles on the people's faces.
Better days are ahead. I promise you. And the best days for America are still to come. I promise you that as well.
Thank you. God bless you and remember, it's never, ever, ever been a good bet to bet against the American people. Thank you.
REPORTER: Mr. President (INAUDIBLE) masks?
BIDEN: I don't -- we don't enforce it. We, in fact -- if you don't -- if you haven't been vaccinated, wear your mask for your own protection and the protection of the people who are also have not been vaccinated yet.
[16:10:11]
It's not an enforcement thing. We won't go out and arrest people.
But the fact of the matter is, I still believe the vast majority of the American people care about the safety of their neighbors and care about the safety of their families. And like I said, if you've been vaccinated, you don't have to wear your mask and you can shake hands. You even give each other a hug.
But if you've not been vaccinated, please wear the mask. Please wear the mask. Thank you.
REPORTER: Is there any update on your meeting with the Republicans, sir?
BIDEN: Very, very good meeting. You know, it was great to be back with so many of my colleagues that I had served with in the Senate and I am very optimistic that we can reach a reasonable agreement. But even if we don't, it's been a good faith -- it's a good faith effort that's been started.
REPORTER: Compromise on anything other than the corporate tax?
BIDEN: We didn't compromise on anything. What we did was I laid out what I thought we should be doing, how it should be paid for. And my colleagues in the Senate came back and said they'll come back to me with a counteroffer of what they are prepared to do and fund and how to fund it, and then we'll talk again next week.
So, thank you all very much.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
You've been listening to President Biden speaking in the Rose Garden at the White House, walking out without a mask on, walking back into the White House without a mask on. He heralded the very new CDC guidance saying those who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks in almost every single situation, indoors and outdoors.
He said, you can shake hands, you can give each other hugs as long as everyone is fully vaccinated. The president also praise the people who have been fully vaccinated, saying they did their patriotic duty, got the country to this point, while noting that many other countries are still struggling with new outbreaks or a slow vaccine rollout.
Let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk more about this incredibly important moment. Perhaps the most important since we learned that there actually was a vaccine that worked.
Sanjay, tell us how important this moment is, this decision by the CDC.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It feels like a very big moment, Jake. I mean, I think for the long time, we've been wondering when we'd get to the point like this. Some people are going to think, maybe it was rushed a little bit, although we'll think that it's been a long time coming.
What I would say is that the science I think has been clear for some time on not only how well these vaccines work as you alluded to. But also, how well they protect you -- how well they work in terms of preventing you from getting sick, but also how well they work in terms of preventing you from getting infected and most importantly and most recently, how well they work in terms of making it unlikely you would pass the infection on to someone else.
Remember, Jake, you say, well, I'm vaccinated, why do I need to continue to wear the mask? Well, the idea was that maybe you could be an unwitting carrier --
TAPPER: Right.
GUPTA: -- a silent carrier of the virus still.
I think the data -- I just got off the phone with Dr. Walensky, I tell you as well, I called her because I still had some questions after these announcements. But one of the big things was, the data that came out over the past couple of weeks really showing that even if you have been vaccinated, even if you tested positive for the virus after you have been vaccinated, which does happen, rarely, but does happen, the data is now increasingly clear that you'll be very, very unlikely to then transmit the virus to somebody else. And I think that was a crucial ingredient here, Jake, in all this.
It wasn't known for sure. There was an increasing sort of anecdotal evidence around this, but now, a couple of papers, one out of "The Lancet," one in the "New England Journal of Medicine", based on Israeli study, really makes this point and I think it's what swayed many people at the CDC.
Although as my colleague, Elizabeth Cohen, points out, there's still -- there was still a lot of back and forth in the last few days about this. It's not a slam dunk, everyone agrees with this decision in terms of timing, but the science I think is pretty clear, Jake.
TAPPER: Yeah, and just to remind people, the CDC as is its charge is a very cautious organization. They recommend against, you know, eating a rare steak. So it's not surprising that they would make to sure there was data that backed it up.
And we just saw, Sanjay, a maskless President Biden walking out today, declaring today a great day for America in our nation's long battle with coronavirus and, you know, obviously he's right. He's modeling the behavior that a lot of us had been wondering about for some time, which is if he's vaccinated -- and everybody in the Rose Garden is vaccinated, especially because they're outdoors but even so indoors -- why the mask and now, they're not wearing a mask.
[16:15:10]
I do want to ask though --
GUPTA: Yeah.
TAPPER: -- what about traveling? If I get on an airplane, I'm vaccinated fully and I have been for a while now. Do -- am I still not going to be expected to wear a mask?
GUPTA: So this is precisely what I was trying to get at with the director of the CDC, Dr. Walensky, when I spoke to her after. So -- and she was asked twice about this during the conference. Once by Kaitlan and she sort of dodged it, saying, you know, there's going to be more guidance forthcoming on this.
The science sort of applies still here. Still applies, right? The science is indoors, large gathering or small gathering if everyone is vaccinated you don't need to wear a mask. So the two questions that sort of come up, how do you know if everyone is vaccinated or not? Is there going to be proof of a vaccination that's required, that's been a very divisive issue, as you well know, Jake, although many businesses and institutions have sort of signaled they'll start to require a proof of vaccination.
The second issue is really, you know, what is the aviation industry have to say about this? This was directed toward individuals as Dr. Walensky told me. As far as institutions, some of them are going to make their own decisions based on the guidance but she says they're going to provide more guidance to the aviation industry and other industries forthcoming.
Keep in mind, there's even -- technically, there's still a federal mask mandate on federal properties. That has been lifted at the White House now as you have may have heard. But what about all the other federal buildings? Technically, it's still in place.
There are steps, we've seen the first step today. Hopefully, we'll see further steps over the next few days.
TAPPER: The concern I have right now is that I have two children, 11 and 13. I know you have three girls and they're not vaccinated. I'll get them vaccinated as soon as they can. But they're not vaccinated.
If I'm going to get on an airplane, I don't have to wear a mask, but I'll have my kids wear one. I'm also worried I have to say about people who don't get vaccinated for whatever reason who kind of now piggyback on the fact that people like you and my did get vaccinated and they go about their lives, maskless, even though they could be carriers of the virus.
GUPTA: Yeah. This is -- this is a really tricky sort of inflection point between science and the social psychology of the whole thing. First of all, just for clarity sake, as things stand right now, airplanes are still requiring masks.
TAPPER: Right.
GUPTA: That may change, whether you're vaccinated or not. They're still requiring masks because they don't want to get into the business of trying to prove who is vaccinated or not.
But I think the other point that you're raising is -- yeah, there are people who are saying, prove I'm not vaccinated, I'm not going to wear a mask. So the real question -- and President Biden sort of touched on this at the end of his comments is that vaccinated people are still largely protected. So the unvaccinated people who are doing this are putting other unvaccinated people at risk.
That's the real issue here. You're basically seeing two communities emerge, the vaccinated community and the unvaccinated community. As a vaccinated person, you are wearing a mask because up until recently over the last month, the concern was you could be an unwittingly spreader of the virus. That seems very, very unlikely now based on pretty recent data. But -- so you're not doing a disservice to your community by no longer wearing a mask if you're a vaccinated person.
The unvaccinated person could be putting other unvaccinated people at risk. That's the truth. And they're going to have to figure that out. Whether institutions are going to say we want to have some sort of proof of vaccination, who knows? And that's going to be a tough call for a lot of the places to sort of make.
TAPPER: And I think what's important for people to understand, look, I know people who have not been vaccinated yet who are skeptical or fearful of the vaccine. I think what's important for people to understand is not only is this vaccine safe, but if you are a carrier and you are not wearing a mask, you're not just putting children at risk and children do get coronavirus and children do get very sick and some died -- hundreds have died from coronavirus, but there are also lots of adults who might be going through chemotherapy, who might have immune problems who cannot get vaccinated, who would if they could but cannot and you're putting their lives at risk.
GUPTA: That is -- that is exactly right. That's the entire point of herd immunity in a way, right, Jake, is that, look, we look at any population of people, and realized for various reasons, even because people are too young, in some cases it's because they're too old, whatever it may be, or they have these conditions, they can't get vaccinated. So you create enough of a herd protection around the people who can't get protected so that essentially you protect the entire community.
It's a real issue, and we're not at herd immunity.
[16:20:03]
We are, you know, about a third of the country, roughly, 35 percent of the country is fully vaccinated right now. And that's what I'm hearing from some of my public health colleagues, other reporters saying this was coming based on the science but why did they decide to do this now given that we're not at that level of protection?
And, by the way, where I am in Georgia versus where you are in D.C. versus Boston, these are different communities in terms of how much protection there is out there.
So, you're absolutely right, I mean, the science is clear. It's all going to be about the implementation now and how these private organizations decide to deal with that. The one thing that I will say that's maybe a little bit of a headline is just about outside, which you and I have talked about. But I think it's very clear that you don't need to wear a mask outside regardless of your vaccination status and that's because a year into this now, we know that outdoor transmission -- we didn't know this in the beginning, but outdoor transmission is very, very unlikely. In fact, it's not clear that there's even been documented cases of outdoor transmission. So, that's good. No masks outside period, but I think it's going to be
these indoor settings which, you know, the implementations are going to be the absolute key.
TAPPER: Yeah. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up in the next hour, Dr. Anthony Fauci will join us live in his first interview since today's big CDC announcement.
So, the CDC guidelines may not mean you never have to wear a mask. One mode of public transportation is keeping that mask mandate in place as Sanjay and I just discussed. That's next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:25:37]
TAPPER: And we're back with the breaking news in the health lead in a huge announcement. The CDC says fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask inside or outside.
President Biden called this a great day for America in this long battle.
Let's bring in CNN senior White House correspondent, Phil Mattingly.
And, Phil, it's notable, President biden himself walking outside to make his remarks, sans masks.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, trying to send a clear message as possible, the vice president also standing right next to him. I don't know if you heard it, but right before he started speaking, Vice President Harris said he has a beautiful smile and there's a level of a celebratory mood here in the White House as they recognize as the president said, this is a milestone moment and it's also for White House that's been a little bit of a complicated place in terms of how they should personally adjust to CDC guidance over the course of the last several weeks.
The president has been criticized for wearing masks in meetings, for not necessarily following the exact CDC guidance that had been put out to this point and they have been waiting for this. Jake, just a couple of minutes after they finished the announcement, the White House staff got an email saying the masks mandate for the fully vaccinated was no longer in place at the White House.
Obviously, top White House officials and the president moving quickly to model the behavior that the CDC now says is in place and that didn't just happen publicly but it also happen in the Oval Office. Take a listen to what one Republican senator said when she was meeting with the president in the Oval Office when the CDC made the announcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: You guys took your masks off in the Oval?
SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): We did. We heard all about it. The president took off his too. Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Wasting no time interrupting the meeting to take their masks off. I think it underscores a couple of points. One, obviously, that the White House has been waiting for this moment and it underscores the progress they believe they made.
But I think the White House also sees this, the president also sees this as an incentive, an incentive and their a push to continue to drive people who haven't been vaccinated yet to get those shots, and try to reach that 70 percent of American adults with at least one dose by July 4th, to keep pressing towards that.
Incentives are important. They have certainly aligned with that over the course of the last several weeks in the messaging and this absolutely underscores that point, Jake.
TAPPER: This announcement comes out after, we should point, some months really of political contention over why vaccinated people like President Biden were wearing a mask in a room with other vaccinated people.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. Look, it was -- there was a recognition here in the White House that this was politically problematic that some -- to some degree. And I think they made clear they wanted to follow what the CDC had to say and sometimes, the president didn't seem to be totally aligned with that guidance when everyone was around him vaccinated.
But the White House also made the point that the president was surrounded by many people, reporters, Secret Service as well. However it's very clear there's growing political pressure and pressure from public health officials to adjust this guidance. The White House has made clear they're not going to intervene with anything that the CDC does but you have to pay attention to Capitol Hill earlier this week when Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, got hammered by Republicans for being behind the 8 ball when it came to moving guidance along for the vaccinated.
Obviously, Jake, I would note, going into today, we didn't have any idea this was coming today, the president's remarks, you saw, those weren't on the schedule. The public health official press conference was supposed to be at 4:00 p.m. All of that started shifting over the course of the day. And, clearly, the White House is moving very quickly to capitalize on what the president said is a milestone moment.
TAPPER: All right. Phil, thanks so much.
CNN's Nick Watt joins me now.
And, Nick, nearly every day for the last year and change I have thrown to you and you're wearing a mask and then you take off your mask before you do your stand-up. Look at that beautiful face.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it became a sort of pathetic signature move of mine, Jake, but it was necessary. I stopped to do it a couple of weeks ago that when the CDC said if you were vaccinated, you didn't need to wear one outdoors. I'm fully vaccinated. The camera guy I work with is fully vaccinated. So I stopped.
And, listen, as Phil was just saying, they were under pressure to really update this guidance. People said it was way too cautious but also confusing. That previous guidance with, you know, little cartoon man, wearing a mask, not wearing a mask, different colors behind his head, I cover this every day and even I was confused by that.
They needed to move forward. And, you know, the governor of Utah told the president the other day, we have got people who are fully vaccinated, we should start acting like it, and the president was pretty receptive to that.
But here is one final point I want to make, Jake. I don't have to wear a mask outside anymore, but still, every time I leave my house, I have in it my pocket because --
[16:30:08]
TAPPER: Right.
WATT: - old habits die hard.
TAPPER: I got mine right here.
WATT: I'm sure I'm not alone. I'm sure there are a lot of people who feel this way.
TAPPER: Yeah, absolutely.
WATT: I'll keep it my pocket for now.
TAPPER: All right, Nick. Thanks so much.
Let's bring in CNN aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean.
Pete, you're getting new information about what airlines are going to do regarding mask requirements. Tell us.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, there's a key caveat here. The Transportation Security Administration tells me that the transportation-wide mask mandate will stay in place in spite of these new CDC guidelines. Masks are required in the Biden administration on trains, planes, buses, boats, all forms of public transportation, also in terminals. That is set to expire after September 13th and the TSA tells me it will stay in place.
The fear is that there will bring more fights on board commercial flights. The Federal Aviation Administration has received 1,300 reports of unruly passengers on board commercial flights in the last three months alone and the agency says that's a significant uptick. So these new CDC guidelines are not necessarily applicable everywhere, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Pete Muntean, thanks so much.
Coming up, how far does Liz Cheney plan to go in her effort to stop Trump? Perhaps run against him? We'll have new reporting on that next.
And then the U.N. warning Mideast violence between the Israelis and Palestinians can become a, quote, full scale war, where fighting happening in places that have frankly been peaceful for decades until this last week.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:36:32]
TAPPER: And we're back with our politics lead.
Tonight, House Republicans meet to plot out the path forward after purging Congresswoman Liz Cheney from party leadership because she told the truth about the insurrection in the election.
In her first TV interview after the vote, Cheney warned that President Trump and his lies is an ongoing threat to the United States and that she will do everything in her power to make sure Trump never returns to the White House.
I want to bring in CNN's Jamie Gangel who's been in front of this story at every turn.
And, Jamie, Liz Cheney was asked if Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican speaker, put his ambitions to be speaker, I'm sorry he's --
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Leader.
TAPPER: Leader. Let me start again, Cheney was asked if Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, put his ambitions to become speaker above principle, take a listen to her answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I think that he's not leading with principle right now. And I think it's sad and I think it's dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: You have some new reporting about the state of their relationship.
GANGEL: Not good. I have been told by a source familiar that actually, Kevin McCarthy was trying to pressure, was hoping that Liz Cheney would actually resign. That he wouldn't have to have this vote. We know from our colleague Manu Raju, they had a phone call a couple of days leading up to this.
I don't know if this is because the votes were not as lopsided as he thought they would be. Or Cheney backlash. We did reach out to Kevin McCarthy's office. They deny that he was hoping she would resign.
However, let's remember at the White House yesterday, he said I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election.
TAPPER: And he has been doing that for months and months and months.
GANGEL: This is -- yeah, this is Trumpian.
TAPPER: Well, this is the problem with Kevin McCarthy and all the other people who go along with the election lie. We know they're willing to lie and when he says, no, I didn't what to do that, or his office says that, but we know you're liars.
GANGEL: Hard to believe.
TAPPER: So Liz Cheney ducked the question if she plans on running for president in order to stop Trump and in order to enact a conservative agenda. She doesn't support the Biden agenda either. Is she seriously considering running for president?
GANGEL: So, it's worth listening to -- she ducked it three times, but she never said no.
TAPPER: Right.
GANGEL: To me in politics, in Washington, you and I have been here a long time. I think that is very seriously considered yes and what we also know is she said she doesn't want to let him anywhere near the Oval Office. That she thinks he is a clear and present danger going forward.
I think it is very possible that she will consider running. We also have -- I just want to show you CNN has some exclusive behind the scenes photos of the last couple of days of Liz Cheney taken by the extraordinary photographer David Hume Kennerly --
TAPPER: Oh, I know David. Great reporter.
GANGEL: This is - that was Liz Cheney preparing the speech. This is walking to the floor and that shot is after the vote, after she's been ousted in the blue with everybody around her. It certainly looks very presidential to me. Like someone running.
But those were the moments right before she delivered the speech.
TAPPER: David Hume Kennerly, we should point out, was the White House photographer during President Ford's administration, when Dick Cheney was chief of staff?
[16:40:06]
Is that right?
GANGEL: Yeah, correct.
TAPPER: So he's known Liz Cheney for a long, long time.
GANGEL: So there's a photo of her with her father, that's where -- and you can see by what she's wearing, she went to see him at the end of the day, after she was ousted from leadership.
They talk almost every day on the phone. She is very proud of him. They wrote books together. He's very proud of her.
TAPPER: I'm sure he is. She's risking it all to save the country from what she says is a clear and present danger.
GANGEL: Correct.
TAPPER: That's no small thing.
Jamie Gangel, thanks so much. Appreciate your reporting. Great reporting as always.
Let's discuss with our panel.
Ana Navarro, Liz Cheney says she wants to be one of the leaders in the fight to restore the Republican Party. But it's clear the majority of the Republican Party in terms of party officials, in terms of Republican Party voters according to polls, they're with Trump. They're not with her.
So how do you or Liz Cheney or Mia Love, how do you begin to wage that fight?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: With principle, with conviction. Look, Jake, there's something very liberating about doing something because you believe it's the right thing to do not the politically expedient thing to do. Not the easy thing to do. It might cost you friends. It might have professional consequences but you're doing the right thing.
And there's this peace of mind and this resoluteness that coming from looking at yourself in the mirror and knowing you have a back bone and knowing you've got the principles and you're putting the country first. And I see that peace of mind in Liz Cheney. I see that resoluteness, and that belief and confidence that acting according to your conscience gives you.
So, that's how you begin to do it. You're not doing it to be in the majority. You're doing it because your conscience is dictating that you stick to the truth and to facts and to patriotism and put the country over a cult to a faux demigod.
TAPPER: Congresswoman Mia Love, former congresswoman, Republican from Utah, I want you to take a listen to why Liz Cheney say she believes former President Trump has such a hold on your party right now. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: I think it's a cult of personality and I think people were betrayed and misled by him. It's a real betrayal now that he's going to try and unravel democracy to get back into power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Do you agree?
MIA LOVE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I certainly do agree. I think that it is definitely about personality. It is not about policy. It is about 100 percent loyalty to the former president. If you step out of line, even a little bit, he will throw you under the bus as the former Vice President Mike Pence would attest to.
I have to say now more than ever it's important for GOP leadership to form a message outside of the influence of the president, and unify the party because he doesn't have Liz Cheney to blame any longer from where I'm sitting and from the things I know in being a former member of Congress, he's got a tall order. It is incredibly important for him to decide now is he's going to have to define what the Republican Party stands for.
TAPPER: And, Paul, first of all, happy birthday. You just turned 60. You don't look a day over 58, 59.
All of this Republican infighting is happening while Democrats, your party, are trying to pass two massive bills, $4 trillion worth. How do you negotiate -- how does Biden negotiate with a party that at least on the House side is led by people who refuse to tell the truth?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's very difficult. It's not really led. I think Representative Cheney is right, that Kevin McCarthy is weak and unprincipled. It's very hard to deal with someone who's weak and unprincipled.
But I think what you do -- look what Nancy Pelosi is doing. She's put forward an agenda that is broadly popular in the mainstream. In a CNN poll, 73 percent of the Republicans supported the family tax credit, 55 percent of Republicans support the $1,400 payment. An equal 55 percent supported the funding of reopening K-12 schools.
So, you put out an agenda that's going to appeal to Republican voters at the grassroots. So if they're listening to the Republicans at the grassroots who may like this Trump cult of personality, maybe they'll listen to them on issues. But there's a big risk if I can get to it.
Democrats have to have strong leadership too. I think they have it but when extremists say things like defund the police, abolish the police, that is stupid and self-destructive, and if you want moderate Republicans to lead the Republican Party because Trump is lawless, you can't allow extremists to define the Democratic Party as lawless in a different way. Now, the difference is, I think the president and the vice president, the speaker had been really strong about that, and said that they're not for any of that stuff. TAPPER: Ana, I want -- and people outside of Texas might not know who
George P. Bush is.
[16:45:03]
He's the Texas land commissioner. He's the son of Jeb Bush and his wife Columba. And I should note that during the 2015, 2016 primaries, Donald Trump attacked Jeb Bush and his wife who is -- I believe from Mexico originally -- attacked them in very clearly racist and ugly ways. That -- and refused to apologize about it.
That said, that's who George P. Bush is. He's attacking Liz Cheney. He calls her opposition to Trump a vendetta. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE P. BUSH (R), TEXAS LAND COMMISSIONER: Instead of training fire on the president she should have been training it on Biden and the agenda. That's what you want out of your leadership and she didn't rise to the challenge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What do you think?
NAVARRO: Ay, ay, ay. Look, Jake, you know this, I have known Jeb Bush forever, he's my friend, a mentor and I love him. I've known George P. I've know P. since he was very, very young. So, it brings me no joy to say this.
But when I read the tweet this morning, it made me cringe and I think it reflects very poorly on P. He's obviously trying to position himself to run for governor or something else. And listen, he is -- whatever he is now, the secretary of waste management in Texas, nobody would be discussing this except for his last name is Bush. I think the Bushes are out here.
His last name is Bush and Dick Cheney was the vice president with his uncle. Look, it's -- it doesn't feel good. I think it's a terrible, terrible look and it's also inaccurate, because there's a lot of things you can call Liz Cheney, but to say that Liz Cheney does not represent Republican conservative ideology is hugely inaccurate. In fact, she is far more conservative than the person who they are hoping will replace her, Elise Stefanik.
TAPPER: It's definitely not a vendetta, whatever you think of what Liz Cheney is doing. I should note that George P. Bush in his statement refers to Biden as Biden, but calls Trump the president, which is a strange way to look at the world.
Ana Navarro, Paul Begala, Mia Love, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
In our world lead today, the fight between Israel and Hamas, not slowing down, only heating up. The U.N. says it could become a, quote, full scale war. The Palestinian health ministry says over 100 people have been killed
by Israel's targeted air strikes, in Gaza, including 27 children whom they named today, the youngest was a 2-year-old boy.
Casualties have been reported by Israel as well. According to "The Times" of Israel, a 5-year-old boy was killed by rockets launched from Gaza by Hamas. Hamas is using homemade drones as well, and the violence has unfortunately spread throughout Arab and Jewish towns across Israel that have peacefully coexisted for decades until now.
Five major airlines have canceled flights into Ben-Gurion Airport, which is between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem is where we find CNN's Hadas Gold.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Hamas and the Israeli military wage battle in the skies over Israel and Gaza, an alarming level of rage spilling into the streets beyond Jerusalem, mob violence, spreading through mixed Arab and Jewish cities like Lod, Acre Bet Yam.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I saw, death, death. Do you know what death is, people jumping on you with stones, throwing stones at me.
GOLD: Arab citizens attacking a man they think is Jewish. Jewish citizens attacking someone they believe is Arab. The communal violence reaching such a fevered pitch, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily warning vigilantes to stop or face dire consequences.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I do not care at all if your blood is boiling, it's boiling, it's not interesting. You cannot take the law into your own hands. You cannot come and take a simple Arab citizen and try to lynch him. Just as we cannot see Arab citizens doing this to Jewish citizens. This will not stand.
GOLD: Police getting reinforcements on horse back in riot gear in cities like Lod to quell the unrest. Sirens ring constantly, a warning from above of incoming rocket fire.
The Iron Dome stopping 90 percent of the more than 1,800 rockets fired into Israel thus far according to the Israeli military.
But Israeli air strikes targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, the casualty count is rising with each exchange. The displaced in Gaza growing with every building reduced to rubble. The threat in the skies so grave that many Western airlines have canceled flights to Tel Aviv.
And in a new front, Hamas releasing a slick propaganda video, launching what is says are suicide drones. Drones that Israeli forces say they have shot down. [16:50:02]
Diplomatic efforts under way overseas with nations weighing in on the conflict and urging calm, while in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, signs popping up urging peaceful coexistence.
SUBHI TALAIB, LOD RESIDENT (through translator): We need to live here together. Coexistence. We need to be together. Partners, to be partners to each other.
GOLD: But the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman telling CNN --
LIOR HAIAT, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: We don't think this is a right time for a cease-fire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD (on camera): And, Jake, as this conflict intensifies and escalates between Israel and Hamas, especially with the possibility of a ground invasion. There is an equal perhaps even a more deep-seated concern about this communal violence, the likes of which we have seen not here for decades and what that could mean for the future of Israeli society -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Hadas Gold in Jerusalem for us, thanks so much.
Yesterday, we interviewed the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. We are joined now by Columbia professor and coeditor of "The Journal of Palestinian Studies", Rashid Khalidi. He's also the author of the book "The Hundred Years War on Palestine."
Professor Khalidi, thanks for joining us.
We should -- let's pick it up with what Hadas was talking about, the violence not just from the Gaza Strip, not just from the Hamas missiles, it's spreading all over Israel, and I want to warn the viewers what you're about to see, like so much of what's going on in the region right now is disturbing. Israeli police say that in Acre, there was a lynching attempt by an Arab mob attacking a Jewish man. Bat Yam, there's graphic video of a Jewish mob lynching an Arab driver.
Jewish and Arab communities have coexisted in these places for decades. Tell us what you think is going on here.
RASHID KHALIDI, PROFESSOR OF ARAB STUDIES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Well, I think that this started really with issues in Jerusalem, whether in Sheikh Jarrah, whether around the Al-Aqsa mosque, and they go right back to the problems that this whole conflict is rooted in.
We're talking about refugees who have lost property in Israel, who are being -- about to be evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, that's what really started it. And then the Israeli police very heavy handedly came into the mosque, came into the third holiest mosque in the entirety of Islam with tear gas grenades, with flash grenades while people were worshipping. And that set things off. And what it set off was the same kinds of
issues inside Israel with Palestinians who themselves have been displaced, who themselves has been dispossessed. It gave Hamas an opportunity to say that they were the defenders of Jerusalem. So it really goes back to issues of dispossession, going right back to 1948 of Palestinians, three-quarters of a million of whom who are displaced and many of whom are living in these houses that the settler groups are trying to take over in this Jerusalem suburb.
So, it goes right back to the roots, back to 1948, back to expulsion, back to dispossession with Hamas and Israel now engaged in this awful exchange, which, of course, I think it should be remembered, is highly asymmetrical. Look at the casualties, 13-1.
TAPPER: Yeah.
KHALIDI: And that's typical of this kind of bloodletting.
TAPPER: Obviously, literally, volumes have been written about this conflict, but we have only a little time. So I just want to ask you a couple of quick questions if I can. I've heard and seen comments from Palestinians saying they wish that Hamas had not started firing the missiles from Gaza because the focus was on what you were talking about, the six families being ejected from East Jerusalem, evicted, although that was going through the Israeli Supreme Court there hadn't been a final ruling.
Do you agree?
KHALIDI: I think that the issue is still where it was. Even though Hamas has now inserted itself as it has and Prime Minister Netanyahu for his own reasons is escalating as he was escalating in Jerusalem. I think we have to go back to the politics that are behind this. In particular for the Israeli government but I would say perhaps also for Hamas. Both of them are taking advantage of this.
But I think you have to go back, why is -- why is the prime minister allowing the police to enter the third holiest mosque in Islam with tear gas and flash grenades?
TAPPER: And let's --
KHALIDI: It's inconceivable, except for some political calculation.
TAPPER: Last question for you, sir, which is you talked about the -- you alluded to the disproportionally of the Israeli military response and Israeli military power compared to Hamas. And I hear that a lot. What would the appropriate response be to Hamas missiles being fired on civilian centers in Israel?
KHALIDI: Well, I would say ending the siege of Gaza, I would say stopping Israel's effort to keep Palestinians divided. The Palestinians have deep problems of division and Israel has been assiduously been trying to keep them apart, preventing my kind of unification, so that they can present in unified front and negotiate, as even Hamas said it's eager to do. [16:55:05]
Instead, I think Israel in some way I hate to say this, happier to have a disunited Palestinian national movement and a militant Hamas as against the Palestinian movement it's not fighting and in a situation where these issues of dispossession, refugees, Jerusalem have to finally be addressed. I think our government bears a big share of responsibility for not addressing this over the decades when the United States has monopolized the so-called peace process.
When I was a negotiator in Washington, we were not allowed to talk about Jerusalem or refugees or anything really important. I think that's up to the United States.
TAPPER: Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi, thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate it.
KHALIDI: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: Goodbye masks. Hello smiles. The CDC says if you're fully vaccinated, you don't need to wear a mask indoors or outdoors. Dr. Anthony Fauci will join us next to talk about the mask milestone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
