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Biden Turns Focus to Pandemic Fight on First Day in Office; Confirmation Hearing for Transportation Pick Buttigieg; U.S. Reports More Than 400,000 Deaths One Year after First Known Case. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired January 21, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: No vaccine rollout plan.

[10:00:00]

One source is saying, quote, it is further affirmation of complete incompetence.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: Hard to believe that is the fact, but it is this morning. His first fully day in office all about fighting this pandemic, we'll learn more about Biden's plans and new executive actions later today.

Happening right now, the president is participating in a virtual inaugural prayer. Also this hour, a key Senate hearing will get underway for transportation nominee and former presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg.

Our reporters and correspondents all standing by covering all of these new angles in the new administration. John Harwood and Jessica Dean are in Washington.

Let's begin at the White House. Our White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond joins us now.

Jeremy, a new pandemic strategy document says goal one is to, quote, restore trust with the American people. I mean, that -- isn't that amazing that so much trust has been broken over the last year with this administration, this pandemic, that they not only have to focus on the science of it but they have got to restore just basic trust in science?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Unfortunately, so much of the misinformation around the coronavirus came from the previous president, President Trump, and many other White House officials. And so one of the first goal that the Biden administration is laying out here in their national strategy to combat the coronavirus is restoring public trust. And one of the ways that they intend to do that is with regular briefings led by experts, those coronavirus briefings that we used to see under the Trump administration but without the misinformation coming from the former president.

They will start today at 4:00 P.M. with Dr. Anthony Fauci joining the White House press secretary for a briefing on coronavirus.

And as you can see the other goals here, mount a safe and effective vaccination campaign, issuing guidance to help schools safely reopen, taking the politics out of the coronavirus response and focusing on the science.

Now, President Biden is going to be addressing much of his coronavirus strategy today at 2:00 P.M. is when we're expecting to hear from the president on this new strategy and where he's expected to offer more details.

He will also be signing ten executive orders all aimed at the coronavirus. So the president's first full day in office entirely focused on this pandemic, on combating this pandemic. And some of the main goals that they are looking to accomplish here.

And the reason why it is such a stark contrast from what we've seen from the previous administration is they are laying out a national, federally coordinated strategy. That is something that was lacking in the previous administration, where, really, so much of this, including vaccine distribution, most critically.

There was a federal plan to distribute vaccines to the state, but then from there, it was entirely left up to the states. And that is something that is changing now under President Biden.

But that is why we are hearing from sources close with knowledge of the Biden planning here, that they are starting from scratch, as it relates to vaccine distribution. Again, not to say that there was no plan at all under the Trump administration but it certainly wasn't working as effectively as it should based on the number of people who have been vaccinated already.

So we are seeing a sharp turning of the page today and, again, a focus on the pandemic throughout the day.

SCIUTTO: And based, by the way, on the Trump administration's own stated public goals for vaccinating people, right? At least 20 million by the end of December, here we are January 21st and well below that. Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much.

Well, President Biden is dismantling some of his predecessor's work with a flurry of executive orders working to undo some of Donald Trump's signature policies.

HARLOW: Our John Harwood is following the latest at the White House. Good morning to you, John.

Aside from orders on COVID-19, what are the biggest reversals in course that he is taking here?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, the President is trying to generate momentum and make change where he can on issues that go beyond those immediate interrelated crises of COVID- 19 and the economy. But the further you get away from those immediate crises, the choppier political water you get into this. So, for example, the president has executive orders on climate. He's rejoining the Paris climate accord. That's something where the wind is at his back globally, praised from the conservative prime minister of Britain, Boris Johnson, for that step today. But he also is canceling the permission for the Keystone XL pipeline. That's something that's more controversial, some resistance from Canada. The president will talk to Prime Minister Trudeau today and that is one of the topics that will come up.

More politically problematic is going to be the issues related to immigration. So he's got an executive order strengthening protections under DACA for those DREAMERs, revoking the president's attempt to divert funds to the construction of that border wall and also eliminating the Muslim ban travel from some majority Muslim countries, as well as the attempt by the president to exclude non-citizens from the census.

Now, all of those steps are overwhelmingly popular within the Democratic Party and they have majority support nationally.

[10:05:04]

President Trump faced resistance from both courts and some Republicans on the steps that he took. But these go to the heart of the questions of national identity that fueled that insurrection that we saw two weeks ago and those are things that are going to become a flashpoint for the administration the more they focus on immigration.

One key question is going to be, does the administration insist on pursuing the broad immigration legislation the president plans to introduce or a narrower approach, which some Senate Democrats are pushing to focus on permanent protections for those DREAMERs? That is something that conceptually Donald Trump agreed to as president but never followed through on. That is going to be one of the decision points for both President Biden and the Democrats in Congress.

HARLOW: Yes, such a different political environment than it was when they got pretty close to comprehensive immigration reform years ago. John Harwood, thanks a lot for the reporting.

New this morning, we're looking from -- we're learning rather from a senior administration official that President Biden intends to keep FBI Director Christopher Wray in place in his post. It is not unexpected, Jim, right, but it matters.

SCIUTTO: It does. I mean, typically, they have ten-year terms meant to straddle administrations and not political, but, listen, it is an important role particularly today.

Also happening right now on Capitol Hill, that is live, you might recognize that man, President Biden's transportation nominee Pete Buttigieg testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee. The former mayor of South Bend would be the first Senate confirmed LGBTQ cabinet secretary in history. Lots of firsts were witnessing.

With us now, CNN's Jessica Dean. So, Jessica, a slow start no question. So far, one cabinet pick, the director of National Intelligence in place. Will this pick up in the coming days?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Biden team is certainly hoping that it will pick up. But right now, what the hang up is, is the Democrats and Republicans still haven't hashed out their power sharing agreement, so there is a little bit disorganization in terms of committees and that sort of thing.

But as you see happening right now, transportation nominee Pete Buttigieg is going through with his Senate confirmation hearing. He's actually going to be introduced by one of his home state senators, Senator Todd Young, who is a Republican. And if you read into that, having a Republican introduce a Biden nominee, that reads pretty well for Pete Buttigieg going into this confirmation hearing to get that support from that Indiana home town senator who is a Republican.

We also obtained a look at Buttigieg's remarks from later today and he is going to talk a lot about infrastructure and how that is something that not only will keep people safe but can also grow the economy. So that is what we're expecting to see out of the Buttigieg confirmation hearing.

And, Jim and Poppy, another important thing to keep an eye on today, what we are watching is also this House vote on retired General Lloyd Austin's waiver to serve as secretary of defense. He needs a waiver because he has not been out of the military for a full seven years. That is the federal law. So he needs the House to confirm he can do that, to give him that waiver.

I got off the phone with a source who told me the Biden team feels very confident that that's going to happen. And now, we can report that sources say that the majority whip, Congressman Jim Clyburn, did say on a call earlier today, they have the votes to get that waiver for Lloyd Austin and that had been something that the Biden team was very focused on. There has been a lot of outreach to members' offices to make sure that this gets done, guys. So that is certainly something to watch.

It comes later today and then we will continue to see if the Senate will take up the votes on others who have already had their confirmation hearings. So a lot of moving parts over there as they try to work these nominees through the system. Jim and Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Yes. The waiver, same as was given to Jim Mattis when Trump tapped him to be his defense secretary early on. Jessica Dean, thanks very much.

Joining us to discuss, CNN's Senior Political Analyst, David Gergen, he is former adviser to just four U.S. presidents. David Gergen, great to have you on.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

SCIUTTO: So wrote an op-ed on CNN released Wednesday, and you said, if President Biden wants to truly start healing the nation, he's got to get to work, and I'm quoting you, bring concrete results taming the pandemic, reinvigorate the economy and the like. So it is going to be about results.

GERGEN: Absolutely. And I think he's got the capacity to meet at least one goal, and that is to get 100 million vaccinations within the first 100 days. Public health experts say that is within reach. So I think, in that case, he is underpromising. It's very shrewdly, he doesn't get ahead of himself. But if he said I want 150 million and got to 110, he would look like he failed somehow.

So I think that kind of concrete result and particularly with regard to COVID. But you can't get this economy, that we learned once again today when the jobless numbers came out, 900,000, that is really a sluggish economy, you need to get the vaccinations done in order to get the economy rolling and then everything could pick up.

[10:10:03]

But there is one other aspect to this, Jim, that I think that is really important coming out of yesterday, and that was a mood and the tone that the president said and the rest of his team set. I thought -- I've been going to these, as you have, for a long, long time.

Yesterday was the most successful launch of an administration that I can remember. The speech was well put together. This young woman, Amanda Gorman, blew the socks off of everybody and then last night was extraordinarily professional. There was a competence about things as well as a theme about unity and about getting results that I thought got off to a good result.

And why is that important? It is important because Biden was such thin majorities in the House and the Senate. He needs to have the public behind him. If he can rally the public and people think they're off to a good start and tell the Republicans, hey, give the man a chance, that could really improve chances for governance.

HARLOW: That is such a good point. And exactly to that, David, I mean, the line in his inaugural address yesterday when he said, politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. We forgot that, I think, over the last --

GERGEN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: -- four years. And doesn't the question then become, okay, but can you bring most of America along with you and most of Congress along with you in that belief and that practice.

GERGEN: I think he's done a good job so far of getting the country behind him. The first numbers I've seen, he was up around 60 percent approval. That is far higher than what -- Trump never broke 50. So it makes a big difference. So if you're going to get the Republicans to come and play with you and work with you, they have to see that it is in their political interest. And if you have high numbers as president, they're more likely to work with you. They want him to reach out but he needs them to reach out in order to make this work.

And we've had four previous presidents in recent years who have made a very stirring inaugural address, appealing to a -- in a very inspirational way, appealing for unity. And we had the two Bushes as well as Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. And in all four cases they're inspiring words didn't really do the trick. There was not enough followthrough.

This is the first time I think we have a president in a long time that has the opportunity, an opportunity, the window is open, cracked open to make some progress and to really get things done.

SCIUTTO: So it is a test.

GERGEN: It is a test. It is a huge test.

And I think that --

SCIUTTO: The trouble is if I could add just because we're running out of time, is the country occupies information bubbles, right, that have two completely different realities. I looked this morning -- I mean, if you look at the covers of the newspapers, fine, big moment, unity, et cetera. I looked at the Fox News website and it was very different. I mean, it was world, right? And that is how significant portion of the country is getting its news and its views colored.

Can you have that coming together at least with a decent majority when you have these two information streams, right? Totally contradictory.

GERGEN: It is. You're absolutely right to be skeptical. I'm just saying, let's not give up hope. For a change, we have some real hope and I think that's encouraging.

But one of the things I'm going to looking to, Jim, my sense just anecdotally talking to people around the country yesterday, there were a lot of Trump people who did not tune in. They weren't interested in hearing the message. And that is where I think some real problems will arise. But that is why it is so important to get concrete results, like the vaccinations.

HARLOW: David Gergen, so good to have you on a day like this. Thank you.

GERGEN: Poppy, thank you. Thank you, Jim. Take care.

HARLOW: Still to come, 17 freshmen House Republicans have written a letter to President Joe Biden pledging to work with him but if some didn't even agree with his win and voted against it, it's easier said than done maybe?

Plus, Democrats planning to send over the article of impeachment against the president in the Senate maybe by tomorrow. Republicans now pressuring Mitch McConnell to vote against convicting Trump or some say he will face backlash.

SCIUTTO: And one year after the first known case of COVID-19, imagine that, we are seeing in this country more than 400,000 dead Americans, many of whom loss of life could have been avoided. We take a look at the historic failed response, next.

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[10:15:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, sources tell CNN that President Biden is, quote, starting from scratch on a vaccine distribution plan because he did not inherit one from former President Trump. Yet he remains confident that he can deliver 100 million doses into the arms of Americans like you within the next 100 days.

HARLOW: And there is an urgent need for that. The CDC is projecting 100,000 more Americans will die from COVID in just the next few weeks. It is a pretty unimaginable milestone and it was largely avoidable as we reflect today, one year to the day, since our first known COVID-19 case. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): January 2020, the Providence Regional Medical Center just outside of Seattle, George Diaz was about to become the first doctor to care for a COVID-19 patient in the United States. He and his team had already been running disaster drills anticipating the worst.

[10:20:00]

Remember, even though the official word out of China was that it was unclear if the coronavirus was spreading from human-to-human, we were also seeing these incredible and terrifying images of entire hospital systems being constructed.

Yes, we knew it was coming but we couldn't yet see it, feel its power. We couldn't be convinced to hunker down and take cover.

GOV. JAY INSLEE (D-WAS): On January 20th, samples were confirmed by the CDC --

GUPTA: You are looking at images of where the first patient confirmed with COVID-19 in the United States was treated, transported on a special gurney in an isolation room. This robot being used to communicate with him.

How worried were you? How sick did he actually become?

DR. GEORGE DIAZ, INFECTIOUS DISEASE DEPARMENT, PROVIDENCE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: Around the fifth day or so, he started developing oxygen requirements. He became more short of breath and he said it was harder to breathe. And we did a chest X-ray and saw the development of pneumonia.

GUPTA: He was discharged after two weeks. But by February 26th, the United States reported 15 cases and then President Trump tried to reassure the country.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The 15, within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero.

GUPTA: This is spreading and it is going to spread within communities. That's --

TRUMP: It may. It may.

GUPTA: Does that worry you? Because that seems what worries the American people.

TRUMP: No, because we're for it. It is what it is. We're ready for it. We're really prepared.

GUPTA: We weren't prepared, not by a long shot. 15 did not go to zero. About a year later, 15 went to more than 24 million cases, the worst in the entire world.

Make no mistake, this did not need to happen. We had met the enemy and it was us, starting with our faulty tests.

DR. NANCY MESSONNIER, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES, CDC: It wasn't working as expected.

GUPTA: March 1st, the CDC had officially counted 32 confirmed cases in the United States, but according to some estimates, there were already 28,000 cases or more around the country and nearly 10,000 fold difference right out of the gate. We had no warning signs before we saw the terrifying outbreaks in nursing homes and cases exploding in the northeast. Hospitals were overrun, short on even the most basic personal protective equipment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is like we're going into a war with no protection.

GUPTA: But while health care workers were begging for more masks, many in the public refused to wear them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not anti-mask. We're not for masks. We're for choice.

GUPTA: March 16th, for the first time nearly two months after the first patient was diagnosed, more of the country started to worry.

TRUMP: We've made the decision to further toughen the guidelines and blunt the infection now.

GUPTA: But a theme also started to emerge, personal liberty over protective stability. We didn't shut down early enough or long enough. One study found that shutting down just two weeks earlier, we would have prevented 84 percent of the deaths.

Nearly every step of the way, science was trumped by rhetoric and politics, giving fuel to the worst and most dangerous theories.

TRUMP: I see a disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way that we could do something like that, by injection, inside or --

GUPTA: We're now having 40,000- plus new cases a day. I would you not be surprised if we surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.

GUPTA: It sounded apocalyptic at the time. But since December, we've averaged more than 200,000 cases daily. As the weather turned cold, we came back indoors, fatigue set in and after not seeing friends and family, at least 7 million people traveled by air over the holidays.

And now, hospitals all across the country are buckling, similar to what New York saw in the spring.

DIAZ: When you don't have that unity across a country on a mission to reduce the impact of this pandemic, then it is going to be haphazard.

GUPTA: States like Vermont, where Dr. Diaz's home state of Washington that opened more cautiously and leaned into basic science have among the lowest death rates per capita in the country. But states like South Dakota, which openly flaunted science, never issuing mask mandates and letting people gather in mask.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me tell you, my people are happy. They're happy because they're free.

GUPTA: Have some of the highest rates of infection, hospitalization and death per capita.

This one year mark comes at a time when the calendar has flipped another year and a new president is in charge. But this virus, it doesn't care about anniversaries.

[10:25:01]

It just cares about finding more and more hosts.

By February 13th, up to half a million people in the United States are expected to die and thousands more in the weeks to come, most of them have not yet been exposed, many of them have let their guard down thinking this is all over. It isn't.

One year later, sadly, this is the worst it's ever been.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): One thing I'll tell, Poppy and Jim, putting this piece together, I sort of realize there has been no center of grief when it comes to this pandemic in this country, because the virus has kept us apart. So much of the unmanageable loss has happened behind, closed funeral home doors, hospital doors and front doors, and that's what he added to the tragedy of this, people haven't been able to share their grief.

We know with regard to the vaccines, which is one of the predominant issues right now that the previous administration's plan sort of overpromised and underdelivered. We were supposed to have 50 million doses by the end of the month but the new plan may be underpromising a little bit.

A million shots a day, maybe it could go to even 1.5 to 2 million per day because those are the sort of numbers we need in order to get to that herd immunity that everyone talks about by the end of the summer.

HARLOW: I'm so glad that you looked back in that way, Sanjay and it could have been so different, as you point out. And you were asking all of the right questions of the people in power the whole way through. Thank you for that.

GUPTA: Yes, thank you.

HARLOW: Well, as President Biden undertakes the incredibly tough task of bringing America together, a group of freshmen Republican lawmakers are vowing to join him in that effort to unify. They sent him a letter. One of them will join us next.

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