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Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson Pledge 240 Million Vaccine Doses By End of March; Water Service Still Disrupted for Nearly 9 Million Texans; Futures Down Slightly Ahead of Market Open; Senate Holds First Hearing on Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 23, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:33]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

We're just seven weeks since the Capitol saw the worst violence it has ever seen. And Americans want answers. One hour from now, lawmakers will have their first chance to get some of those answers. The Senate will hold its first hearing on the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection. Left five dead, you'll remember. The big question, why was there such an overwhelming security failure that left those people dead and more than 130 -- 130 police officers injured.

HARLOW: That's right. Four law enforcement officers will break their silence about what happened that day. Some of them under intense scrutiny for decisions that they made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Exactly what sort of tactics, what sort of preparation was made. There's a lot of questions related to the National Guard. Why they did not respond more quickly? These are important questions that deserve serious answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And this is just one of several high stakes hearings on the Hill today. We're covering all of it. Let's begin with CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz.

Shimon, good morning to you. We're glad you're here. It's a really significant day. And this is a really significant hearing to get the American people those answers they deserve, questions about security failures, all of this. We are learning that one of the officials that is going to testify today is Steven Sund. He is the former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. And it is expected, your reporting is, that he will shift a large part of the blame to some of those that he is testifying with saying across the board intelligence failed. What can you tell us? SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, and what the

former chief there, Steven Sund, is referring to is that he has spoken out already. He has done interviews with "The Washington Post," "60 Minutes," and he's basically laid some of the blame on the sergeant- at-arms that we're going to hear from, particularly two individuals, one by the name of Paul Irving and then the other one is Michael Sanger. Both now former Senate sergeant-at-arms and the House sergeant-at-arms.

And what Sund has said publicly is that he went to them and said that he wanted the National Guard in place ahead of time before the event on January 6th, before the rally that the president, the former president held, and that they sort of denied him. You know, one of them said, well, maybe we'll have an informal request put into them. But they were concerned, he says, over some of the optics perhaps of having the military outside the Capitol.

So that is where there may be some difference. Of course, the big question in all of this, and this goes really to the former chief, Steven Sund, is the preparation for this event. There was enough intelligence to indicate that something was going to perhaps go wrong here. There were some concern over the people that were going to be attending the rally. And so, therefore, they should have known that perhaps or should have been prepared for some of this.

Now, of course, the former chief will say, well, we didn't have any information that says directly that individuals were going to overtake or try to overtake the Capitol. But besides the point, the big question here, obviously, is the preparation. Why weren't there more officers in place to deal with some of the growing crowds? They knew a lot of people were coming. They had enough information to indicate that more and more people were coming and that the crowd was going to grow.

And the other thing, Poppy and Jim, is the question of the National Guard, of course. When were they asked for, why were they denied some of those requests, and even on the day of the insurrection, when the chief was asking for the National Guard, there was hesitation and resistance, according to him from the military?

HARLOW: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: So there's a lot we're going to hear here that's very, very important as you guys said.

SCIUTTO: Failure at multiple levels and it costs lives. Shimon Prokupecz, thanks very much.

For more on today's hearings, we're going to talk to some folks who know very much about Capitol security. We're joined by retired U.S. Capitol Police Officer Butch Jones, who also helped found the Black Police Association on Capitol Hill. Thank you, sir.

And former U.S. Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow. Thanks to both of you. Butch, if I could begin with you. You cite several really just obvious

security failures in preparation for this. One, for instance, the lack of mounted police. They were deployed during the Black Lives Matter protest but not anywhere around the Capitol.

[09:05:01]

Also basic things like police lines were one officer deep. You know, real basic failures. You've heard the finger pointing already leading into today's hearings. Who do you blame for that? Who should we hold responsible?

THEORTIS "BUTCH" JONES, RETIRED U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: First, I think you should hold the United States Congress and the senators blame. Number one. The sergeant-at-arms of the House and the Senate have to go to Congress. They work with Congress. So they allowed them not to be prepared. I look at Congress being at fault just as much as I do the sergeant-at-arms.

HARLOW: Jonathan, what is the most important question you think needs to not only be asked today, but really pressed on for answers? Right? Because it's one thing to ask a question and get a non-answer or deflection but what do they need an answer to?

JONATHAN WACKROW, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Well, good morning, Poppy. And really what I want an answer to is understanding how intelligence that, you know, even as Shimon has stated in the reporting beforehand, intelligence that we know that was out there, why was that not acted upon? This was not a failure of intelligence. This was actually a failure to act on the warnings provided by intelligence.

And this failure to act on credible intelligence warnings is, in my opinion, negligence by everybody that's testifying today. And I want to know who bears that responsibility for the leadership failure, not the failure of officers, but the leadership of the Capitol Police, the sergeant-at-arms and, you know, just as was stated, members of Congress themselves.

SCIUTTO: I mean, and listen, when we say intelligence, let's not mistake this. These weren't like secret communications between spies in trench coats.

HARLOW: Right.

SCIUTTO: Right? I mean, these were public social media postings. And by the way, the president saying let's march to the Capitol, you know, and calling people to D.C. on that day. I mean, so much of it was public.

Butch, if I could go back to you, you also cite this troubling fact. How some officers confronted -- most confronted the rioters. Sometimes fighting with them. But several helped them along the way. Led them through the halls of the Capitol. And I just wonder, in your view, how serious is the problem of extremist sympathies within the Capitol police force? JONES: Well, number one is I think that Capitol Police allowed their

men to be treated in a way where they didn't have enough men on post. So you did whatever you have to do to go home. Number two is, Capitol -- I mean, Congress, there's no check and balance. So when you have no check and balance, they don't have to answer to no one. And it's time that the public demand that there be a check and balance on Capitol Hill because something went wrong.

We all saw it. And yet they turn around and voted not to charge the former president for inciting a demonstration. But yet policemen got hurt. Members were scared for their lives. So something has to be done and there must be a check and balance.

HARLOW: An officer got killed and you had an officer suicide afterward.

Jonathan, can we step back, big picture here, because this comes in the lens of what Jim wrote so well about in the op-ed he wrote in the "Washington Post" over the weekend, and that this huge danger of domestic extremism that DHS says is the most pertinent and lethal threat right now. So how much of today is about tackling that beyond what happened on January 6th and how should that tie in to this 9/11- style commission report, the bipartisan one that will come out?

WACKROW: Poppy, it's really important because security measures that are put in place need to match the threat environment. And what we now know is that law enforcement has highlighted the threat of violence from these domestic extremists. Merrick Garland even this week, you know, vowed to -- if confirmed, that he would stamp out the rising threat of domestic terrorism.

Why is this warning not to be taken so slightly? Because these groups are anti-government, anti-authority, violent extremists. They are part of militias that all have this apocalyptic and revolutionary ideology. And for law enforcement, why this is really important, is that law enforcement no longer has to make an assessment as to the likelihood that these groups will, you know, cause or engage in violent acts. We know they will. They showed us.

HARLOW: Right.

WACKROW: So this is a clear and persistent threat that faces not only Washington, D.C., but across the country.

HARLOW: Yes. And not for nothing, I think, Silicon Valley, too. In a big, big, big way. Like what are you going to do about this online?

[09:10:05]

Thank you. We'll have you back for that conversation another time. Thank you, gentlemen, very, very much.

Well, today's hearing is consequential for all of our future, for America's future. But what about for the future of the Republican Party? Keep in mind, this is all happening against the backdrop of former President Trump's acquittal and as the former president turns his attention to the midterm elections.

Our chief political correspondent Dana Bash is with us now.

Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HARLOW: What do you think? I mean, how does what happens today in this hearing tie into that bigger picture?

BASH: Look, it's absolutely inextricably linked what happened that day to politics. But probably in a way that people looking at it from a truly objective point of view might not see. And I'll just give you an example. Roy Blunt is the top Republican on the Senate Rules Committee. He's going to be one of the senators chairing this joint committee hearing today. He's up for re-election in 2022.

He's up for re-election in a state where, if he had a credible, viable Republican primary challenge, he could be in big trouble. So I'm not saying that he doesn't want to get to the bottom of what happened. Of course, he does. Every senator does. But then the next question is culpability, and he just like even Rob Portman who is retiring and doesn't have to face the voters who is the other Republican chairing this, they voted to acquit because they are -- seem to be very eager to separate the former president and his actions from the rioters. And we'll see if they're going to be able to do that after they hear testimony today.

SCIUTTO: Dana, forgive me. Is it true that every senator wants to get to the bottom of this? I just ask. I don't doubt their motives. There are many good men and women in that chamber. But we're already hearing overt historical revisionism on January 6th. Senator Ron Johnson, a sitting senator, has questioned whether it was an armed insurrection in total contradiction to the facts. I mean --

BASH: You're right.

SCIUTTO: And you're seeing this in the FOX News bubble. Right? You know, Tucker Carlson challenging that there were white supremacists. I mean, we saw the confederate flags march through the Capitol. I mean, it strikes me, they won't even grant the facts of this.

BASH: You know what? That is such a good point, Jim. You're exactly right. And we can't forget that there are deniers, that there are people who are not living in reality. That there are elected officials who were potential victims no matter where they sit or stand on the political spectrum of these rioters who are now trying to remake history. Having said that, the better way to say is the vast majority of these lawmakers want to do it.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BASH: If for no other reason than it is their own personal safety. It is very, very personal to them. And one thing I will be looking at on that, that is very interesting, as somebody who's covered the Hill for many years, is that the Capitol Police Force is kind of directed by the sergeant-at-arms. The sergeant-at-arms is directed by the political leaders. And one of the questions that we still don't know the answer to as we see the kind of finger-pointing today is whether or not the sergeant-at-arms, either in the House or the Senate or both, actually did ask the political leadership about adding presence of the National Guard and that they were told no.

And one of the consequences of this I think will be the push to separate the law enforcement aspect of Capitol Hill from the political aspect.

SCIUTTO: That's a huge question. A huge question.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Did they get asked and say no? Right? I mean, it's right up to the White House. We'll be watching.

Dana Bash, thanks very much.

BASH: Thanks, guys.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, Dr. Fauci tells CNN this morning that the CDC guidance for fully vaccinated people is coming out soon. So what can people who have received their vaccinations do safely? We'll discuss.

And new clues give significant insight to what went wrong when an engine failed midair on that United Airlines flight. Look at those pictures there. Just imagine being inside that cabin. We're going to have details ahead.

HARLOW: Also happening today on Capitol Hill, another hearing. The heads of SolarWinds and Microsoft set to testify on the largest cyberattack in U.S. history with Russia believed to be responsible. The Biden administration vows a response both, quote, "seen and unseen." What does that mean? We'll have that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CO-ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: This morning, manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines are on Capitol Hill where they are expected to announce that the U.S. will receive 240 million vaccine doses by the end of March. I mean, that's huge. Pfizer and Moderna will provide 220 million of them. Poppy, I mean, that's enormous progress.

POPPY HARLOW, CO-ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: It's making me smile this morning --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

HARLOW: That's for sure. Johnson & Johnson expected to provide the other 20 million. And remember, the J&J vaccine is only one dose, not two. The company is now awaiting emergency use authorization from the FDA, that could come as soon as this weekend. Let's bring in Dr. William Schaffner; professor in the division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It's great to have you. Just your reaction to the J&J news and where all these numbers actually put us as a country on our desired path toward normalcy.

[09:20:00]

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES DIVISION, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Yes, well, Poppy, we'll be, right? We could use all the vaccine we can get because the demand at the moment exceeds the supply. That's the bottleneck. We would like vaccine as much as possible. And we would like it delivered on time in the amounts that are announced. But we can use as much vaccine as we can get. We want to vaccinate as many people, including minority and disadvantaged communities. Very important. The more vaccine we have, the less we have to prioritize, the easier it is for anyone who wants the vaccine -- we hope that's everyone, to come in and get it.

SCIUTTO: Doctor, do you -- what are your thoughts on the doctors? I mean, we have Paul Offit on the air, but he's not alone, saying that more Americans have some immunity to COVID than the numbers might indicate. Perhaps, we have 28 million, right, who have been infected so far on the screen, but they theorize as many as four times, perhaps six times as many Americans have been exposed. Combined with vaccinations that, that explains the drop in new infections, and that we might be further along to herd immunity than we thought. Do you think that's credible?

SCHAFFNER: Oh, Jim, I certainly think it is. I'm singing in chorus with Paul and others who think that this virus has spread so rapidly over time over these many months. Remember, many people are without symptoms or only mild symptoms, so they never get tested. So, I think this diminution in cases and hospitalizations, and now many parts of the country, diminution in deaths is largely due to so-called community immunity, so-called herd immunity, and you add the vaccine to that, and, yes, I think the light at the end of the tunnel is pretty bright, but we have to --

SCIUTTO: Wow --

SCHAFFNER: Keep vaccinating.

HARLOW: You're the first person I've heard say that, I think in a year. You still say, though, doctor, there are two real wild cards here with COVID. What are they?

SCHAFFNER: Well, the wild cards are number one, those variants. And we have to watch those to make sure that there's no variant that evades the vaccine. So far so good. The major variant, the British one is susceptible to the vaccine. But the other one is vaccine hesitancy. Sure. A lot of people want the vaccine now, but after them, we have a lot of hesitant people --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

SCHAFFNER: Cautious people whom we have to bring in and make comfortable. That includes minority communities, ethnic communities. Because after all, we want to get to 80 percent of the adult population --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

SCHAFFNER: Vaccinated, and we've never done that before. So you all come in, let's get the vaccine when it's your opportunity to do so.

SCIUTTO: Dr. Schaffner, not to rain on the parade because we're good to hear good news, and there's a lot of evidence of that. We spoke with Michael Osterholm recently, and he said, listen, don't count your chickens before they're hatched, that with these new variants, he's worried about another rise even with more people having been exposed. How significant of a concern is that?

SCHAFFNER: It's always a concern. We could open up too carelessly in a care-free fashion, and then of course, we'll have the roller coaster going up again. We'll have more cases. And we certainly don't want that. That's why, keep vaccinating and keep wearing the mask, and then we're all interested in what the CDC has to say, right? If we're completely vaccinated, what sorts of things can we do now that we couldn't before? We're all looking forward to that.

HARLOW: Yes, and we certainly are. Dr. Schaffner, it's so nice to have you. Thanks very much. Well, to Texas now. Warmer weather, the restoration of power finally has brought some relief to Texans. But nearly 9 million people there still, Jim, do not have clean, reliable water.

SCIUTTO: Yes, just the basics. I mean, it's a failure on a stunning scale. Power has largely been restored across the state, but boil water advisories, they remain in several areas, many forced to get water through water distribution sites like the one you're seeing here, handed out bottled water. And thousands of homeowners are dealing with the aftermath of broken water pipes and flooding. It takes a long time and a lot of money to fix this stuff. My sister's family is one of them. Officials say it could be months before the state fully recovers. Still ahead this hour, three of President Biden's picks to lead key agencies are now in jeopardy in their confirmation hearings. Why lawmakers on Capitol Hill are taking notice.

HARLOW: We're also moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street this morning. You've got futures pointing lower, this is after big tech stocks fell sharply. Starting the week, today, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will testify before Congress on where this economy really stands.

[09:25:00]

And some positive signs from big companies, including Home Depot and Macy's, both reporting earnings before the bell and both topping Wall Street expectations. Meantime, investors still keeping a close eye on whether stimulus negotiations going on in Washington. A vote on that bill expected later this week, we're watching all of it. We'll be back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARLOW: Well, later today, President Biden will host a bilateral

meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The two leaders will meet virtually, of course, because of the pandemic.