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The Lead with Jake Tapper

More States Announce Plans To End Mask Mandates As COVID Cases Drop; Putin Appears To Insult Zelensky With Crude Language; WaPo: Army Report Reveals Frustration With White House Over Afghan Evacuation; Biden Touts Plans For Rebuilding American Manufacturing; Biden Touts Plans For Rebuilding American Manufacturing; Supreme Court Sides With Alabama Republicans In Election Map Case; Deadly Car Crashes, Pedestrian Deaths Skyrocket During Pandemic. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 08, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:01]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: I'm not sure.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: What's your favorite?

CAMEROTA: I guess figure skating. How about you?

BLACKWELL: I love the summer sports. I'm that a big fan of the winter sports. I went skiing one time and I spent all that money to fall.

CAMEROTA: Right, the first time really is rough. Anyway, Leslie Jones is the best.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: School kids might finally get to see what their classmates look like.

THE LEAD starts right now.

More and more Democratic states are getting rid of school mask mandates as the U.S. waits for guidance from the White House and the CDC. But it might be too soon to throw those masks out.

Is Vladimir Putin's mind in the gutter? The Russian autocrat makes a seemingly sexual joke about the Ukrainian president, all while diplomats are desperately trying to keep Russia from invading Ukraine.

And the pandemic side effect no one saw coming. More and more pedestrians are being killed on the road. CNN visits the so-called highway of death. We'll try to find solutions.

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We start with the health lead and a turning point in this pandemic with a growing list of states making plans to drop their mask mandates. California, the most populous state in the country, will end its indoor mask mandates next week. Delaware will do the same and lift its mask rules for schools soon, along with Connecticut, New Jersey and Oregon. This shift at the state level is coming as case counts are starting to go down as the public has increasingly voiced discontent with the status quo, and while the Biden White House and the CDC have been slow to offer any transition plan out of the pandemic.

But as CNN's Alexandra Field reports for us now, a group of pediatricians is sounding the alarm, noting that COVID cases among children remain way too high.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A mask off. Tensions in schools erupting at a school board meeting in Illinois. Outrage and confusion reigning after a judge temporarily halted the governor's school mask mandate, leaving school districts to call their own shots.

DR. ALI RAJA, EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: What we really need is we really need good criteria by which local agencies can actually make those decisions. Otherwise you have individual parents trying to gauge whether or not they should listen to the CDC or whether or not they should listen to their school board, and that's a really tough decision to make.

FIELD: Nationwide, the American Academy of Pediatrics says COVID cases among children are extremely high, though they are falling fast, down about 40 percent from the peak two weeks ago. Governors in Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey and Oregon announcing plans to end school mask mandates.

DR. JENNIFER KNIPS, INTERNAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST: I don't think we've even fully realized the damage that we have done to our children with masking these past two years. I think we're probably just beginning to see the beginning of it. So I do not think that the risk is worth the benefit.

FIELD: But the White House is still encouraging masks in schools while issuing no clear guidance yet for when states should roll back restrictions or how to do it.

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: It really depends on what is the rate in the community. When the rate goes below a certain threshold, then it makes sense to dial back on masking.

FIELD: A new study on the effects of COVID on kids, the largest of its kind, looks at pediatric COVID infections before omicron, finding 6 percent of children who tested positive were hospitalized. Nearly 14 percent of those children had severe illness with about 1 percent of hospitalized children losing their lives.

DR. LUCY MCBRIADE, PRACTICNG INTERNET: You have to think about the risk in general to healthy children. Extremely low for severe outcomes and you have to recognize the best way to protect kids is by vaccinating them if that's appropriate for them and then vaccinating the adults around them. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (on camera): Vermont's governor is saying that every state needs to make its own decision about mask mandates. Vermont doesn't have mandates. Instead, they make recommendations to schools which have been widely adopted. The governor says he'll issue no mask guidance to schools at the end of the month, Jake.

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

Let's bring in CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, new COVID cases are down 42 percent since last week. Hospitalizations are down 20 percent from last week. COVID deaths are up a bit. They're up 3 percent in the last week.

Yet we have this growing list of states that are planning to drop mask mandates in the coming weeks. Are these decisions happening in spots where COVID is less of a problem?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In some cases, they are. But you have to keep in mind, Jake, that the entire country still really falls into this category of high transmission. There's still a lot of virus out there. That's true. And at the same time, the numbers are coming down, as Alexandra was just talking about. So, you have two of these happening at the same time. So people are trying to project now what the next few weeks will look like. And, you know, using lots of date.

But let me show you, Oregon is one of the states you mentioned. Let me show you what happened in Oregon because they've gone through this before.

[16:05:03]

If you look back right in the middle of June there, you will see that's when the mandates for masks were lifted at that point and, you know, you had a significant peak. Some of that because of people not wearing masks. A lot of it because of the delta surge. But that's sort of the point.

You have to be nimble here. You have to almost look at this like weather events. It might change. It might start to rain again. You might have to mask up or take out an umbrella in case of rain.

So that's sort of the, you know, the pattern that we're sort of falling into. I think, you know, the quicker we come out of these mitigation measures, the more prolonged the descent of this current surge will be.

Here's how Dr. Tom Frieden puts it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: The risk is that you prolong the tail, as it were, of this curve, longer out, and that means more people sick, more people with long COVID, more people hospitalized and sadly, more people dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Over 100,000 people still in the hospital. The numbers are coming down but that's a lot of people. So, if you start to create even minor surges in an already sort of full system, that's a problem. That's why you want to go slowly.

TAPPER: And again, of course, for anybody watching, the best way out is for everyone to get vaccinated and boosted.

Sanjay, a new study published today in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," or JAMA shows 6 percent of kids who got COVID ended up in the hospital and of those hospitalized, nearly 14 percent had severe COVID. Yet several states are ending mask rules in schools. Is this premature?

GUPTA: I think it is the same thing. We're in a place where there's a lot of viral transmission. We know kids are at much lower risk of getting ill. But, you know, we're starting to get larger data sets of how much of an impact this really is on kids. We can show those numbers.

Of the kids who tested positive, about 6 percent ended up in the hospital. Of them, close to 14 percent had severe disease. These are significant numbers. You know, there's been over 100,000 children that have been hospitalized since August of 2020.

So, it's -- these are numbers that certainly add up. And again, you know, I have kids, you have kids. We've thought a lot about this. Kids are at far lower risk.

When you talk about very large absolute numbers, hundreds of thousands of people who are becoming infected in any given week, children, then even small percentages really do add up and that's the point of this particular study.

TAPPER: Right. One percent of 300 million, that's a lot of people.

Throughout this pandemic, doctors have said children are less impacted by COVID than adults as you note. So, how many weight should we put on this new study?

GUPTA: Yeah, that is a good question. The thing about this is this comes back to what I've called the original sin, which is lack of testing or inadequate testing. Six percent of children who tested positive for COVID ended up being hospitalized, but there are probably a lot of kids out there who have maybe had it, never got tested, never really had much in the way of symptoms.

So I don't think we know what the denominator is here. How many children actually would have tested positive for COVID if people were getting tested very broadly and widely. I think it's going to be a much smaller percentage, is my point.

But, you know, I think this is the largest study that has been done really looking at this. It's shown who is at most risk, the risk factors for hospitalization even among children. So those things are important in the study.

But again, we are still dealing, as we always have been the last couple years with inadequate data sets here.

TAPPER: Today, the CEO of Pfizer said that Pfizer scientists do not believe COVID will be fully eradicated, at least not in the foreseeable future. So, Pfizer is now focusing on what they're calling a next generation of vaccines and treatments. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: We believe these tools will help allow us to go back to normality and spend time with family and friends, travel, dining and concerts and many other activities while lowering the risk of overburdening hospitals and health care systems around the world.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TAPPER: So he's talking about a new generation. But only 27 percent of Americans have gotten the booster shot. So, how do companies such as Pfizer make a plan for those who didn't get the booster or the tens of thousands who haven't even gotten vaccinated?

GUPTA: Yeah, that was what I thought of as well. There are already these tools in place. If people had been vaccinated and boosted, we would be looking at much smaller numbers overall. So, you know, whether this turns into something that becomes more like a yearly flu shot in anticipation of variants, I don't know. I'm not sure that will be the case.

What I'm most optimistic about, when talking about the future here, are some of the therapeutics as well.

[16:10:02]

You know, the vaccines we know are very effective. There has been limited uptake, especially when it comes to the boosters. Medications like Paxlovid which seems to be very effective not only against the current strains of circulating virus but also against, you know, potential future variants, I think, is very promises. And as you know, tens of millions of these doses should be available in the country by the middle of the summer.

So that's, you know, I think that's pretty hopeful. I think that's the therapeutic that could really change how we think about COVID in this endemic phase. Being able to have an oral pill that you take at home, dramatically prevents likelihood of hospitalization I think is going to be key.

TAPPER: All right. Sanjay, good to see you. Thank you so much.

Coming up, who needs to come one a budget when you're a member of Congress. Lawmakers shrugging off another key deadline. Plus, Vladimir Putin firing off a rather crude insult at Ukrainian

President Zelensky, leaving many Westerners to wonder, did Putin just make a sex joke on the cusp of a potential war? That's next.

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TAPPER: Topping our world lead today, President Putin making a crude, possibly sexual joke at the expense of the Ukrainian president. Putin used condescending coarse language to demand the President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine submit to terms of a years old cease fire deal that Zelensky doesn't like.

Here's what Putin said translated to English. Quote: Like it or don't like it, it is your duty, my beauty.

Zelensky firing back saying: We are not his.

This as European diplomats blitzed the continent, trying to take the high road in what could be the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.

CNN's Alex Marquardt joins us now live from Kyiv, Ukraine.

And, Alex, why were Putin's comments so insulting. And how can he do that in the middle of this armed stand-off?

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Jake, these comments were absolutely insulting and condescending if not sexist and misogynistic, and very much in keeping with what we know Putin believes about Ukraine, that it's not even a country, that it's inferior, that it's a place where he can walk into it and just annex an entire peninsula. It's in keeping with the way that he talks. This sort of boorish crass language that he's been known to use in the past.

This was a comment that he made in the press conference with President Emmanuel Macron last night, after midnight in Russian. And I think it took some time for people to really fully understand what he said. I doubt President Macron understood in the moment what was being said and there has some dispute over how it is being translated.

But this comes from a folk saying in peasant culture when there are arranged marriages, when women did have to submit. And, Jake, there's no doubt here that President Putin is telling Zelensky that he has to submit. Now, the Kremlin was asked whether there was any sexual intent here. They denied that. They were saying that they were telling Zelensky that he has to abide by what is known as the Minsk agreement.

Zelensky, as you noted, did have a classy response saying that indeed, Ukraine is a beauty but we are not his, Jake.

TAPPER: Why is Macron suddenly in the middle of all this and has he made any progress? MARQUARDT: He's really thrust himself into the middle of this process

to try to de-escalate and prevent a war in Ukraine. He's become really a middleman, as go-between, and someone who's really trying to broker the two sides. He is, you know, he's obviously more on the side of NATO and the United States, but he has perhaps a closer relationship to Putin than most. He has spoken to Putin more times than other Western leaders during this crisis.

And so he has -- you know, there's been this flurry of diplomatic activity. He was in Moscow yesterday, Kyiv and Berlin today. And today here in Kyiv, he really did lay out what he believes could be concrete practical solutions to solve this crisis.

One, he says, the violence and the fighting in eastern Ukraine needs to end. That needs to be done through that Minsk agreement. That's the agreement to end the fighting, he says.

And the other is to create a security agreement and guarantees for Russia and Europe. That of course is something that Putin really has been after. He has been accusing Europe of threatening Russian security. So, Putin is taking part in these talks. Talks are progress. The question is, is Putin simply biding his time before he decides to eventually invade Ukraine -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Alex Marquardt in Kyiv, Ukraine, thanks so much.

A new unreleased report from the U.S. Army obtained by "The Washington Post" is detailing just how frustrated military leaders were with the Biden administration and other U.S. diplomats over the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan last summer. The U.S. military is accusing senior White House and State Department officials of underestimating the Taliban and resisting efforts by military leaders to prepare for a smoother, more competent evacuation.

Let's discuss with the "Washington Post's" Dan Lamothe. He covers the Pentagon and he and his colleagues obtained this 2,000-page report.

Dan, thanks so much for being here. We appreciate it.

So, this is the most comprehensive look from the Army's point of view about what happened during those final days in Afghanistan. There are military leaders on record in this report who say try to get the embassy to engage in the evacuation planning was, quote, like pulling teeth. And, quote, the NSC, the National Security Council and the White House was not seriously planning for an evacuation.

DAN LAMOTHE, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes. That's right, Jake. Thanks for having me.

This report was delivered to "The Washington Post" through Freedom of Information Act on Friday. It's the same day that the Pentagon kind of rolled out some of their findings on that awful bombing we had in August where we had 13 U.S. troops killed.

This report focuses on the bombing itself. But is much wider than cast at the pentagon briefing on Friday. It includes witness statements from the two top generals and the top admiral on the scene throughout the evacuation.

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And yes, there's a great deal of frustration there.

TAPPER: And up the Navy Rear Admiral, Peter Vasely, the top U.S. commander on the ground. He told Army investigators, quote, military personnel would have been, quote, much better prepared to conduct a more orderly evacuation, quote, if policymakers had paid attention to the indicators of what was happening on the ground.

Who is he talking about? And I mean, I find this incredible. It's not like you and I hadn't been covering since February that this was going to happen and people were worried it was going to be a disaster.

LAMOTHE: That's right. It is deliberately vague. But I think certainly, other parts of the report it surfaces that he was quite frustrated with the acting ambassador Wilson. There was frustration with the National Security Council, and sort of this understanding that if you were going to evacuate and you new you needed to evacuate, needed to stage people, you needed to stage food, you need to be ready. And there was friction to that in terms of when you would sequence evacuation and start making it more obvious that you needed to do it.

TAPPER: So classic, Pentagon, they don't call out the administration officials by name. I mean, you and I know this from covering the military. They tend to criticize vaguely, right? They don't want -- they don't want to offend anybody so they don't get promotion. Is that how you look at it?

LAMOTHE: I looked at I as trying to say what they felt they could while adhering to nonpartisan criticism that the military tries to go with. Certainly, it's going to be read in Washington as something different.

TAPPER: According to the report at the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, one army saw some State Department personnel, quote, intoxicated and cowering in rooms. This was on August 15. Tell us more about that.

LAMOTHE: Yes. Another shocking detail, Tenth Mountain Division officer who was interviewed, and I don't know his name because anyone below the rank of general officer, their name was redacted.

TAPPER: Right.

LAMOTHE: But the Tenth Mountain Division officer --

TAPPER: I'll laughing because, to be clear, anything general officer and below, you know, send them to the wolves. But above that, including senators, members of Congress, et cetera, they have to be protected. Go ahead. Sorry.

LAMOTHE: So, you've got -- assume it may be a colonel talking about what his soldiers did, and at least describing this effort to go room to room in the embassy, find people who had not left the rooms, basically get everybody out. And yes, there is the allegation that some were drinking and some of the embassy personnel that they found were more or less cowering in their rooms.

TAPPER: And the response from the administration was, we never heard this so it must not be true.

LAMOTHE: Yeah, I was surprised by the reaction. But yes, I posed this question about this bit in the report. And yes, the response was more or less, we haven't heard about it. If we hadn't heard about it by now, more or less, questioning the veracity of what was said.

TAPPER: Right, certainly, the system was not built upon only presenting the rosiest scenarios of people in the White House. That's never happened before.

LAMOTHE: I would add that there are a number of thing in this report that none of us heard now either. So it didn't strike me as a stretch that that would have been true as well.

TAPPER: Dan Lamothe, great reporting. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

Who new the postal service could actually get Congress to agree to changes that could be coming to your mailbox?

Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our politics lead, it's like kicking the can is the new normal for Congress. Today, the House of Representatives is voting on yet another short-term funding bill allowing the government to stay open through early March and the current February 18 deadline, a temporary solution while negotiations for a full funding deal continue.

But as CNN's MJ Lee reports for us, this move also puts a longer hold on getting President Biden's agenda through Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to buy American. American products made in America, including American component parts.

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden pivoting back to his domestic agenda.

BIDEN: The new manufacturer's facility announced today is more than just great news for Tennessee. Yes, it's going to create more than 500 good-paying jobs in Tennessee, but it's going to deliver greater dignity and a little more breathing room to workers and their families. LEE: Biden attempting to cut through ongoing tensions in Russia and

Ukraine, and shining a spotlight on jobs and wage growth during his first year in office.

BIDEN: My first full year as president, the economy created 6.6 million new jobs, 6.6 million. That's never happened before in American history.

LEE: But despite some promising economic data, the Biden administration confronting serious headwinds -- inflation at historic high levels, with everyday goods like gas and groceries, costing more for American families. Goldman Sachs warning in a new report that substantial increases in retail food prices are expected to continue this year.

BIDEN: We're going to create thousands of additional jobs, helping build America's products here in America, manufacturing automobiles and appliances and so much more. And it's going to help ease inflation.

LEE: Meanwhile in Washington, Biden's Build Back Better agenda in limbo.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In terms of the mechanisms and the legislative process, I just don't have any more predictions in terms of how it will proceed.

LEE: With the economy poised to be a top issue in the November midterms, and with another government shutdown on the horizon, the House today voting on a short term solution that would make its way to the Senate.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It is the responsible and prudent path forward that eliminates the risk of a shutdown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE (on camera): Now, something that we've heard president Biden say recently is that he would like to get out there more. He wants to travel more, see people, talk about his administration's accomplishments. While White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki just told reporters, he does have a lot on his plate. She pointed to a Supreme Court vacancy, the situation in Russia and Ukraine and she said that she does think he will have more responsibility in time to travel more especially after he has delivered his State of the Union Address next month -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. MJ Lee, thank you so much.

Let's discuss with Democratic Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence of Michigan. She's the vice chair of the all powerful House Appropriations.

Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. If this CR, this continuing resolution passes, it will be the third time Congress approves a stop gap bill in the absence of a larger bipartisan agreement on government funding. Why are the two sides having such a difficult time getting any agreement on a long-term bill?

REP. BRENDA LAWRENCE (D-MI): You know, we are in the most partisan state that I can recall. Everything is about partisan. But our budget is where we come together, Democrats and Republicans. It's about where our values in America.

And this budget that I firmly support will address childcare issues, clean water, which, you know, being from Michigan is a priority for me, and investing in our economy of small businesses.

We're almost there. You know, this is the grind. We're making sausage. It's painful to live through. But however, we are going to do the CR and continue to fate for another day where we can get this passed this budget. And also, what's included in here is our community project funding.

And Democrats and Republicans have project that are in this bill. It is something in here for all of us. So, it's not just a Democratic bill. And I'm looking forward to us passing -- it's an amazing budget.

TAPPER: You were able, not you personally but Congress was able to pass an immense bipartisan defense spending bill though, right?

LAWRENCE: Yes.

TAPPER: I mean, what do you say to somebody who looks at Congress and says, so you guys can all come together to spend an unbelievable amount of money on -- for weapons contractors and guns and the military but you can't come together when it comes to funding any other domestic priority.

LAWRENCE: Well, I can ask you, why haven't you passed the voting rights bill, one that historically had been passed. Why didn't we address the George Floyd injustice bill? When we know that this entire country, every single state, had outpour of people to come and address this.

We have to keep pushing, and that's the responsibility of us in Congress to keep pushing it, to keep challenging it. And hopefully, reach some kind of consensus that at the end of the day, we're taking care of the American people.

TAPPER: So, Congresswoman, how does this delay, stalemate, whatever you want to call it. How does it impact some of President Biden's other legislative priorities such as, for example, the Build Back Better Act?

LAWRENCE: So, the Build Back Better is something that we should pass. We work very hard only. We know some of the naysayers had their piece of the pie because they have the influence of shaping Build Back Better. But the reality is, if we have to tear it apart and vote one piece at

a time, we've got to get some of the things passed. Childcare in America is a direct impediment to women working and women going back to work. We have to address that.

And we have to address the fact that childcare in America is not affordable to so many people. And that affects the father, the mother, the entire family. Those are things that we must come together and address.

But Biden is doing some great things. I mean, the transportation bill, you can't just blow that off. It is transformational. It's the first time since the New Deal. And then you add to that the rescue plan.

So many people say Biden hasn't done anything. Did you get a stimulus check? Did you get unemployment supplement? Did you get a vaccine for free? Did we hold this country together where we are now seeing the jobs grow every single reporting period, where people are going back to work?

And so, the Biden administration has to be given the credit of all the things they're doing. And when you're in this seat, you always have a challenge and you always have something new to work on. And we're doing the work.

TAPPER: You're a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service. Today, the House is set to vote on a bill that might help the Postal Service save billions over the next decade and ensure that mail is always delivered on time, along with other issues.

[16:35:06]

This is legislation that has wide bipartisan support.

Explain why it's important.

LAWRENCE: It's important. You know, when I -- when you say 30-year, I'm the only member of Congress right now who has ever had a career in the Postal Service. The Postal Service is mandated by the Constitution. And we know during COVID, when the Postal Service were having its challenges, all of America was screaming, wait a minute. We need our Postal Service to work -- our medicine, our bills, our checks, how small businesses operate.

And few people know that the postal service does the last mile. UPS, Amazon, FedEx. They don't drive five miles to one house. They go to the local post office. They drop it off and let the Post Office deliver it. This country would not function that we didn't have a strong and viable Postal Service.

And we're also adding transparency reports so that the public can see how are we performing and what are we doing?

TAPPER: You've been, okay, well, anyway. Thank you so much, Congresswoman. I appreciate your time. Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, I appreciate it. LAWRENCE: Thank you so much.

TAPPER: The Supreme Court decision that could change the outcome of elections before even a single vote is cast.

Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our politics lead today, a win for Alabama Republicans delivered from the conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing the state's congressional map to remain in place despite a lower court ruling that the new redistricting map violated the Voting Rights Act.

Black citizens in Alabama make up more than a quarter of the state's population, but gerrymandering in the proposed map dilutes the potential political power of black voters, making them the majority in only one of seven congressional districts.

In January, the lower court said, quote, black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect the candidates of their choice to Congress. Their suggestion, the lower court, is to redraw the lines to include another majority Black congressional district. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ordered Alabama to keep the status quo until they take up the issue next term, which means no new congressional map before Alabama's primary races in May and likely no new map before the midterms in November.

Let's bring in CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten.

And, Harry, more broadly, states have been redrawing their congressional districts since the 2020 census, as happened. How many are finished with the process as many of these primary races get closer and closer?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: We're finally getting toward the finish line. I feel like this has been a very long redistricting process. But so far, basically, we have 37 states that have finished so far. That's 31 who have finished and then six that only have one congressional district so they don't have to redraw. And that in total is 71 percent of congressional districts.

So, look, we still have about a third to go. But we're done with more than two-thirds. So we're getting there.

TAPPER: And the redistricting, it depends upon the party in charge and the legislature on the state level, the governor, both parties can be ruthless in trying to make as many congressional districts favor their voters, Democrats or Republicans. Is either party in a better position now in terms of sheer numbers?

ENTEN: Yeah. If you would have asked me before redistricting occurred which side would do better, I would have said Republicans all the time. But take a look at the states that have completed their redistricting. And what in fact we see is that the number of states Joe Biden won has actually increased relative to the number of districts that Donald Trump won. Look, the old line was 169 for Biden. The new line is 174. So, you do see that Biden is winning more districts, at least in the lines that currently have been completed.

But there's another way to look at it, right? Because there's polarization that's going on in this country right now, and what we really want to keep an eye on is what are the number of safe districts?

And what we see is that both the number of safe districts for Democrats, the ones won by Biden, 10 points or more, and won by Trump by 10 points or more, they've both increased. But the number that Trump has won by 10 points or more have actually increased more.

So, from that point of view, Republicans have actually gained more than Democrats. It's a split decision.

TAPPER: That means probably more extremists on left -- on left and the right, and less compromise and coming together.

Speaking of competitive districts, are more or fewer districts going to be up for grabs?

ENTEN: Competitive districts have shrunk considerably from the old lines to the new lines. In fact, it's one of the largest shrink that's we've ever seen. So, if we just look at the new lines versus the old lines and the states that have actually completed, what we see is that just 17 percent of the districts within the new lines are within 10 points of the national vote in 2020, versus 22 percent under the old line. That's a considerable shrinkage.

If we look historically right, there have been fewer competitive districts over the years. So, right now, it's just 17 percent. If you look back to 1982, for example, you will see that it was considerably high, it was 40 percent. That has been cut by more than half. That's partially redistricting and partially polarization that has been occurring.

TAPPER: And you said 37 states are done. So, what's left to be determined?

ENTEN: Yeah. So, there are a few big states still in the aisle. So, Pennsylvania is one, Ohio is another one, Florida is a big one, North Carolina. And Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, all state supreme courts will have the ultimate final say on this.

[16:45:03]

There's still a lot out there, Jake.

TAPPER: Harry Enten, thank you so much. Good to see you, my friend.

ENTEN: Thank you.

TAPPER: Coming up, buckle up. CNN goes to the highway of death to learn more about a deadly side effect from the pandemic that you have not heard about. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our national lead, the nation's roadways are deadlier than ever, according to new statistics. Deadly car crashes and pedestrian deaths have soared during the COVID pandemic.

In Portland, Oregon, amidst a real risk to the city's homeless population, the mayor banned encampments near busy roads, after 63 pedestrians died in just one year, the highest number in three decades, 70 percent of them were experiencing homelessness at the time.

As CNN's Pete Muntean reports, the reason behind this dangerous trend could be yet another pandemic side effect.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Safety advocates call it an epidemic on our roads. This past Saturday alone, this head-on crash near Fresno killed five. And last month in Las Vegas, nine people were killed when a driver apparently ran a red light.

PAMELA GOYNES-BROWN, NORTH LAS VEGAS CITY COUNCILWOMAN: This is an unfathomable tragedy that has forever altered lives of so many people.

MUNTEAN: New numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show in the first nine months of 2021, fatal crashes jumped by 12 percent, the biggest increase in the agency's history. More than 31,000 people were killed in car crashes.

The numbers show that speeding and driving without a seatbelt has gone up during the pandemic.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is a national crisis.

MUNTEAN: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg just unveiled the Biden administration's plan to make driving safer. Billions from the bipartisan infrastructure law to help counter act for human error behind the wheel.

BUTTIGIEG: People make mistakes. But human mistakes don't always have to be lethal.

CYNTHIA JONES, SISTER KILLED IN CAR ACCIDENT It's very tough!

MUNTEAN: It was March 17, 2000, when Cynthia Jones' sister Karen pulled over to fix her gas cap when she was hit by a drunk driver. Cynthia identified her sister's body.

JONES: She would want me out here to make a difference in saving more lives because she didn't have to go that way.

MUNTEAN: The crash happened here on Indian Head Highway in Maryland.

Last year, the highest recorded speed here was 149 miles per hour. Safety advocates call it the highway of death.

RON WEISS, SAFETY ADVOCATE: A straight shot and few traffic lights, and people use it to race. If you want to speed, this is place to do it.

MUNTEAN: Some of the money from the DOT's new national roadway safety strategy will go to re-designing dangerous roads in hopes of suppressing crash numbers that were going down until now.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD CHAIR: People should be outraged.

MUNTEAN: The National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy was herself rear-ended at a Virginia intersection last year. Her agency has recommended that automakers install automatic braking and collision warnings in all cars. But regulators have not yet acted.

HOMENDY: So we have to change. We need all stake holders to come to the table and we need to build in redundancy so that people survive crashes.

REV. DR. JAMES GREEN: Both vehicles went up in flames -

MUNTEAN: Reverend Dr. James Green says 80 people have been killed this stretch of Indian Head Highway in the last 15 years. He says directing more federal funding to combat dangerous driving is only the start of a road to lasting change.

It's going to be hard to see. I mean, you're doing this interview and people are whizzing by you.

GREEN: Yes. That's part of the indifference that people have about driving. As they say, this contentious hype of entitlement mindset, you know, I'll do what I please, whatever I can get away with. So we have to hit that in some way where it won't be all way but at least most people, where we can manage it in a better way than we're doing now.

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MUNTEAN: This is the evening rush on Indian Head Highway. Clearly, more people are commuting, and the NTSB says that means these numbers are not going down any time soon. In 2022, the state of Maryland is averaging more than one fatal car crash each day. One of those crashes was here on this stretch of highway, the highway of death, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Pete Muntean in Fort Washington, Maryland, thank you so much.

The Chinese government is changing how movies are made in Hollywood. They're not doing it through censorship but they are having a tremendous influence on "Skyfall" and many more. Coming up in our "Behind China's Wall" series. Stay with us.

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[16:58:53]

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, "Ethan did it". That's the text message sent by the mom of Ethan Crumbley after the Oxford, Michigan school shooting. We have new details about what the accused shooter's parents knew and when they knew it.

Plus, the highest ranking Republican in the country takes on the Republican National Committee. We'll show you what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had to say about the RNC's censure of two Republican members of Congress.

And leading right now, Putin's crude insults. The Russian president fires off some apparent trash talk at the Ukrainian president. Putin's less than diplomatic comments leading Western diplomats to wonder, did he just make a sexual joke about a fellow head of state?

As CNN's Nic Robertson reports, President Putin's derogatory language comes as Europeans leader are undertaking a diplomatic blitz across the continent.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Close to Ukraine, Russian troops -- a clear and present threat overshadowing President Emmanuel Macron's high stakes diplomacy.