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White House's Immigration Reform Bill; Texas Families Still Without Power; Scrutinizing Nursing Home Death Data in New York; Women Out of Workforce During COVID Crisis. Aired 9:30-10a ET.

Aired February 18, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Members and children of legal residents in the United States, enhancing technology and border security at border control areas.

But there is not really a lot of funding for actual border security measures, which is something that Republicans are likely to demand in exchange for many of the things that President Biden is asking for in this piece of legislation.

But, again, very, very steep climb for President Biden to be able to get this through Congress. And administration officials told us yesterday on a briefing call that, look, they are not going to get into whether or not this is something that can be done through reconciliation. They also said that they're going to leave it up to Congress as to whether or not this is something that could be split into smaller bills. That is something, of course, that President Biden signaled earlier this week in a CNN town hall that he might be open to doing.

Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Jeremy, thank you very much for the reporting at the White House.

Dozens of people, as we've said, have died from this devastating winter storm system across the country. Sixteen of those deaths directly from the weather are in the state of Texas. Across the state, hundreds of thousands of people are still this morning without power in freezing, below freezing temperatures really. Our next guest says he's been without power. It's been spotty on and off at home. He has an eight-month pregnant wife and an 11-month-old baby.

Philip Shelley lives in Fort Worth. He joins me now from his car because you're going to work because you have to go to work in all of this but you've got your pregnant wife at home with barely any heat, if that, on and off, on and off, and a baby who's reliant on formula that you can't even heat up.

What are they going through?

PHILIP SHELLEY, FORT WORTH, TEXAS, RESIDENT WHO LOST POWER: Correct. Yes. I mean it's tough on everybody. You know, it's -- And I don't like to -- to -- you know, there's always people that have it worse, but it's bad. I mean it's -- and, you know what, and the worst thing is, nobody has answers. The electric companies don't have answers.

The leaders that we -- that we rely on don't have answers. And so we're just left sitting in a cold, dark room in the middle of the night with a crying baby and a -- and a -- you know, and an in-pain wife. And that's -- that's what hurts the most is there's nothing we can really do besides sit and wait.

HARLOW: Yes, of course. I mean you deserve answers from the people in power on all of this and resolutions.

SHELLEY: Yes. Yes, we do.

HARLOW: I've been eight months pregnant before. I know how hard it is. And, you know, just tell me, for your wife, as she's home, you're going to work, trying to take care of an 11-month-old and being pregnant and having those, you know, Braxton hicks contractions.

SHELLEY: Yes. Yes, she relies on that heating pad at night when she lays down. And I'll tell you this, she's tough. I mean now I've seen her go through the first -- the first pregnancy with Ava. But now, I mean, she's tougher than nails.

And I feel bad for her because there's -- you know, she's in pain and all she talks about is wanting a warm bath. And, you know, we can't even have that, you know, without -- without the power. And that's the scary thing. And it's more of -- she's in pain, and I don't like seeing her in pain. And I don't, as a man, it's just -- it's hurtful to see my family struggling and I can't do anything about it.

HARLOW: How are you keeping warm? I mean I know you were trying to make fires, but the firewood ran out?

SHELLEY: Yes. So we -- we -- I went out a couple days before the storm hit to try to find firewood. And they were out. I was able to get one bag of barbecue wood. But as a lot of my fellow Texans will know, that stuff burns quick. And we were probably out of that wood within an hour on Monday. So at I -- at that point I just started burning bills. You know, I started burning newspaper. The ads that they send, the coupons. But we ran out of that by early Tuesday morning. And it's been, you know, hey, where are we at now? We try to go to friends' house, but they're out of power.

HARLOW: Right.

SHELLEY: We try to go to family's house, but they're on a boil water, and I -- and I -- like you said, my daughter's on formula. I can't trust the water if it's not safe to give that to her in the formula.

HARLOW: Yes. Of course.

SHELLEY: So --

HARLOW: There's been a lot of finger pointing in your state from lawmakers.

: SHELLEY Yes.

HARLOW: Pointing at each other or pointing at the regulator.

SHELLEY: Yes.

HARLOW: The energy provider or pointing at the wind turbines and blaming green energy for all of this. I just wonder what you say to them right now?

SHELLEY: I hope they're enjoying their nice cozy mansions, you know. I don't know if it's true. I saw a photo circulating on Twitter and I don't know if CNN can help, you know, verify it but -- that Ted Cruz is in Cancun right now. And if that's true, I mean, people are going to remember this, you know.

HARLOW: We don't -- so, we -- we don't -- we don't know, Philip. We're working to verify that.

SHELLEY: Yes.

HARLOW: We welcome the senator's office to give us an answer. We don't know yet, though.

SHELLEY: Right.

HARLOW: So let's wait for the -- for the facts on that.

SHELLEY: Right. And it's just -- it's frustrating because you have our governor who's pointing at these wind turbines. I live in Texas. You know, it's -- people here are oil and natural gas people. That's what this state runs on. It's not the wind turbines. It's, hey let's blame a deal that's not even -- you know, it's not even past legislation yet. How are you going to blame something that isn't even a thing, you know?

[09:35:04]

And that's the frustrating -- it's like they need to point the finger at themselves because they failed. We didn't fail and we're the ones suffering. So --

HARLOW: I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

SHELLEY: Yes.

HARLOW: But I'm glad you have a wife who's tough as nails, Philip. She sounds pretty great.

SHELLEY: Yes. She -- I love her to death, that's for sure.

HARLOW: Congratulations on your little one on the way. Good luck. SHELLEY: Thank you.

HARLOW: And we're always here. So feel free to reach out.

Philip Shelley, thank you.

SHELLEY: Thank you so much.

HARLOW: OK.

That sums it up, doesn't it?

All right, well, federal prosecutors and the FBI are now scrutinizing the handling of data around nursing home deaths from COVID in the state of New York. This as a local lawmaker says that -- a local Democratic lawmaker in this state says that Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo threatened him, said he would destroy him over this scandal. We'll have more on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:15]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

Well, this morning, pressure is mounting on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York, are now investigating how and why the Cuomo administration allegedly undercounted COVID-19 deaths in the numbers they released from nursing homes publically. A law enforcement official tells CNN this inquiry is preliminary. There's a lot we don't know about this yet.

Anne McCloy is with me this morning. She's an anchor and reporter at our CBS affiliate in Albany, WRGB.

But, Anne, I wanted you to be here because you have been covering this story from the beginning, truly. You have been going to every press conference. You have been raising your hand and pushing the governor for answers.

So thank you for being with me this morning.

And let me just lay out what we know for our viewers.

OK, so Governor Cuomo, on March 25th, issued an order saying nursing homes had to let COVID positive patients back in. And then he offered the nursing homes and hospitals qualified immunity if patients got sick and died.

Reporters, including yourself, have been asking the governor, OK, how many people died in nursing homes after this order and you've had a hard time getting a straight answer and getting the numbers.

Now, the state attorney general is saying the numbers that the Cuomo administration released were only around half of what actually happened. And now we've learned this morning the FBI and the DOJ are at least looking at this.

So when you put all of this together, can you explain the latest on where we stand, and if you now have clear answers from the Cuomo administration?

ANNE MCCLOY, ANCHOR AND REPORTER, CBS 6 ALBANY: We don't have clear answers at this point, Poppy. Some reporters have been able to ask questions. Lawmakers have been able to ask questions in a closed door meeting which was actually leaked to the media. And that's what kind of unleashed this firestorm.

We see Democrats in New York who are tweeting that they actually would consider impeaching Governor Cuomo because they don't feel like he's telling the truth about some of the policies that were made at the beginning of the pandemic, and they don't feel like he's telling the truth about why he didn't give the death toll, the full death toll when he was asked for it, not only by lawmakers, but families have pushed for this who lost loved ones in nursing homes, and the media has been repeatedly asking for the true death toll, which we now know is more than 15,000 from nursing homes.

HARLOW: We did hear Governor Cuomo say earlier this week, you know, we made a mistake. Mistakes were made. But now, on top of that, there is a New York Democratic lawmaker, Assemblyman Ron Kim, who now tells CNN that the governor called him at home and threatened him, saying something to the effect of, you know, I will destroy you if you're not behind me on this.

What do you know about that, and what is the governor's response?

MCCLOY: Well, that phone call that Assemblyman Ron Kim says happened occurred after that leaked video came out where you heard the top aide to the governor making comments about the nursing home scandal. And lawmakers were pressing her for answers on why they didn't release the numbers and she's heard on this video saying that, you know, we freaked out.

We froze because the feds were looking into this and she says on that transcript that, you know, we didn't know what information we were going to give the feds. We didn't know what information we were going to give state lawmakers. And that comment really launched a lot more questions, I think, for the legislature in New York.

And Ron Kim was the one who was outspoken about this. And then he drafted a bill to strip away Governor Cuomo's executive powers. And so Ron Kim says that once he started being vocal against the governor, that the governor called him and threatened him. The governor and his staff say that didn't happen because Ron Kim specifically said that Cuomo said, I will destroy you.

HARLOW: Right.

MCCLOY: The governor's staff disputes that claim.

HARLOW: So, Anne, I mean, let's just finally take a step back for a moment because that's a lot of politics, right, and politicians pointing fingers at one another. It's really a he said/he said scenario.

But behind all of this are families in despair who lost people they loved in places they hoped would be safe and protected as much as possible. That's the crux of the story. And that's why you've been literally raising your hand at all of these press conferences, leaving vacation to go to press conferences to press the governor. And you've even said you've been muted on Zooms and video press conferences where you've been trying to ask a question.

Yet the narrative for Cuomo through a lot of this has been that he did an exceptional job leading New York through this and in some ways that can -- both can be true at the same time, but everyone deserves answers.

[09:45:06]

MCCLOY: Right. At the beginning of the pandemic, when I was going in person to ask questions of the governor, I was called on pretty frequent to ask questions. And I was one of the people who asked about nursing homes. And I haven't been called on in a couple of months now. And so, you know, I'll never know why I'm not getting called on anymore, but a lot of members of the Albany press corps are not getting called on by the governor who have been reporting on this story from the beginning.

And, as you stated, you know, we've been muted. This is all happening virtually now. The press conferences have gone to Zoom. And the governor is controlling the show. Some people refer to it as the Cuomo show because he literally can press mute. And yesterday, during his briefing, reporters got to ask a question, but they were muted when they tried to ask a follow-up question to try to push the governor to get real answers on this scandal.

And so, you know, there's a barrier. They're stonewalling when we're trying to get answers on a huge issue and scandal. And there are people who have lost family members that just want to know the truth, was there something -- was this just mismanagement by the Cuomo administration at the beginning of the pandemic when nobody really knew what COVID was, or is there something more here behind the scenes?

HARLOW: Anne, thank you for this, for your reporting and, of course, we welcome the governor to join us on this show or on any show on this network.

Anne, thank you.

MCCLOY: Thank you.

HARLOW: Millions of women, many, many of them mothers, have lost their jobs since this pandemic began. More than 5 million. President Biden and Vice President Harris are calling this now a national emergency. What is being done to help? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:20]

HARLOW: Just in, a very difficult new jobs report this morning. It shows the economic crisis caused by this pandemic is far from over. And 861,000 more people filed for first time unemployment benefits last week. That's nearly 100,000 more than even economy have predicted.

This comes as we have seen women in particular are dropping out of the workforce in droves or losing their jobs altogether. We're talking about some 5.2 million women since the pandemic began and many of them are mothers.

In a "Washington Post" op-ed this week, Vice President Kamala Harris said this is a national emergency that demands a national solution.

Our Vanessa Yurkevich reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE GASAWAY, UNEMPLOYED MOTHER: Look. Whoo!

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was supposed to be one of the happiest times of her life --

GASAWAY: Want to play our favorite game?

YURKEVICH: But when Brooke Gasaway was five months pregnant with her son, Luciano (ph), she says she was laid off from her job.

GASAWAY: It was a lot of anxiety because I didn't know what was the best thing to do.

YURKEVICH: Now that her son is six months old, she's looking for work again, but the economy she's facing is still down nearly 10 million jobs since the pandemic began, 5.3 million held by women.

GASAWAY: At this moment, sometimes I am scared to say I'm a mom when I'm applying. There's something about telling an employer that I'm going to be one of those people that -- that's going to have to balance those two things.

YURKEVICH: And 2.5 million women have left the workforce altogether, many who are mothers.

ALLISON ROBINSON, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, THE MOM PROJECT: It has been, on so many fronts, such a challenging year for women. We've suffered more layoffs than men. And we've seen our already fragile childcare and education infrastructure unravel.

YURKEVICH: That very issue may have cost single mother Nicole Conner her job. She says she was fired because she could only work virtually. Her seven-year-old son Atikis (ph) is at home remote learning. She says they're surviving off food stamps and her student loans.

NICOLE CONNER, UNEMPLOYED MOTHER: I mean I'm lucky that my bills are paid during this time. But it's a sad concept that I have to be -- consider myself lucky to be able to go into debt and make sure my bills are paid.

YURKEVICH: Mother of four Michelle Mitchom is also looking for new work after she says she was laid off in July from a career in sales. The search has led her to apply for jobs she never considered before.

MICHELLE MITCHOM, UNEMPLOYED MOTHER: I've been applying for, I mean, any type of jobs. It doesn't matter if it's entry level, if it's, you know, internships, if it's janitorial, if it's anything, I've been applying.

YURKEVICH: President Joe Biden is proposing giving $15 billion in grants to working families to pay for childcare as part of his stimulus plan.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Enable parents, particularly women, to get back to work.

YURKEVICH: And some companies, like Spotify, Google and FaceBook, are offering perks, like additional paid family leave or remote work from anywhere. Accenture is committing to hire 150 moms as a start.

GASAWAY: This is where I applied to jobs while my son takes naps.

YURKEVICH: The pandemic giving new meaning to work life balance for mothers.

YURKEVICH (on camera): How are you feeling about your future?

GASAWAY: I want to be something that makes my son proud and I think he would want me to continue pushing and, you know, continue trying to help other people and just be back in the workforce.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YURKEVICH: And it's not just about the government policy and the corporate response to this mass exodus of women, it's really about changing the culture around working moms. You just heard from Brooke there at the end. She told me that she actually feels like when she became a mom she became way more efficient and she thinks that would translate directly into a job.

[09:55:04]

And, Poppy, all of the moms we spoke to told me the same thing, they said that they hope that becoming a mother can actually be a strength in the job market and not so much considered a hindrance anymore.

Poppy.

HARLOW: Well, we will talk to the top guy on the economic team at the White House, Brian Deese, about that and a lot more next hour.

Vanessa, thank you.

YURKEVICH: Thank you. HARLOW: Well, widespread power outages and broken pipes caused by these freezing temperatures across Texas have left millions there facing water shortages on top of everything else. They are at a breaking point. We'll take you there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It is the top of the hour. Good morning, everyone, I'm Poppy Harlow. I'm glad you're with me.

It is a dire, critical situation unfolding as millions face a fourth day of freezing temperatures across Texas.

[10:00:05]

More than 4 million people have been impacted by the state's electricity crisis.