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3 of Biden's Cabinet Nominees Facing Bumpy Ride to Confirmation; Tiger Woods Injured in Serious Car Crash. Aired 2:30-3p ET.

Aired February 23, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:13]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Just over a month into his presidency and three of Joe Biden's cabinet nominees are facing a bumpy and maybe even doomed ride to confirmation.

Today, two of those nominees faced a grilling on Capitol Hill.

Republicans are raising doubts about Xavier Becerra, who is Biden's pick for Health and Human Services secretary. Critics say critics say Xavier Becerra doesn't have the background in health care.

And Deb Haaland, who is Biden's choice for Interior secretary, is also under some growing scrutiny. Some Republicans say she is an extreme opponent of fossil fuels.

The nomination of Neera Tanden, Biden's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, is in deep peril after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he would not support her. And a string of Republicans, including moderates, also said they couldn't support her.

Deb Haaland, the New Mexico congresswoman, is also an historic pick. She would be the first Native American cabinet member if confirmed.

But today, she faced tough questions about her support for clean energy and how her views could harm the gas and oil industry.

She also came under fire for her past criticism of Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Just a couple of months ago, you tweeted, "Republicans don't believe in science." Pretty broad statement that you made there. And it was on your -- this was in October of 2020. So not too long ago.

Now, we're also Republicans. Do you think, as medical doctors, we don't believe in science? How do you stand by this statement?

REP. DEB HAALAND (D-NM): Senator, I -- I -- I -- yes, if you're a doctor, I would assume that you believe in science.

UNIDENTIFIED SENATOR: Do you personally support a ban on fracking and no new pipe pipelines?

HAALAND: Senator, if I can, if I'm confirmed as secretary, I would be serving at the pleasure of the president and it would be his agenda that I move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Kristen Holmes is with us now.

Kristen, Haaland will be back for what will be another grilling tomorrow. How is her confirmation looking?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. Just to keep in mind here, there's no surprise this got a little bit heated. Even before she took the chair, I heard from White House officials as well as Democrats, who said this is going to get tense.

Keep in mind, if she becomes interior secretary, if she is confirmed, she would have a large role in President Biden's agenda on climate. This is a sprawling agenda that we've already heard Republicans express opposition to.

So even before she set up for her hearing, we were hearing Republicans calling her views extremist and radical.

But that gets to the question here: Can she actually get confirmed?

Well, one person we're watching -- and I know we said this a lot lately and we're probably going to be saying it down the road for the next year -- is Joe Manchin.

He's the chairman of the committee she was in front of today. And he hasn't said how he's going to vote when it comes to Haaland yet. In fact, in past interviews, he's indicated their agendas don't really line up.

Another person we've been watching a lot across all of these different nomination hearings is Mitt Romney.

Romney came out and expressed a lot of concern about Haaland, actually looping her in with Neera Tanden, who he already said he's going to vote against.

A couple of things we're watching, a couple people, just to see exactly how this will look.

But, again, White House officials, they believed that this was going to get tense and this could have some hiccups along the way.

One thing I want to point out -- and you mentioned the historic nature of her nomination. As interior secretary, you oversee national resources, public lands and Indian affairs. Having a Native American in that seat is something that indigenous

leaders have been fighting for, for years. So this would be a major victory on that front if she is confirmed.

KEILAR: Certainly will be. We'll be watching.

Kristen, thank you very much. Kristen Holmes.

And as support for Neera Tanden, Joe Biden's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, teeters on the brink of collapse, supporters are accusing her critics of a double standard for bashing the candidate for her mean tweets while giving white men a pass for the same behavior.

Not only are Republicans criticizing Tanden's tweets but Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a crucial swing vote in the evenly split Senate, opposes her confirmation over her history of inflammatory tweets.

Today, Manchin dismissed accusations that his concerns about Neera Tanden is sexist. What do you make of that?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There's been some complaints that your opposition to Neera Tanden is sexist.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): Oh, come on.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Manchin also said he has doubts on the confirmation of Deb Haaland.

That report sparked a fiery response from progressive Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted, "Jeff Sessions was so openly racist, even Reagan couldn't appoint him. Manchin voted to confirm him."

[14:35:00]

"Sessions then targeted immigrant children for widescale human rights abuses with family separation. And yet, the first native woman to be cabinet secretary is where Manchin finds unease."

With me now is CNN political commentator, S.E. Cupp, and Kirsten Powers, who is a CNN senior political analyst, and columnist for "USA Today."

I have been waiting for this segment, you guys. I'm so curious what you have to say about this.

Look, both of these nominees are women of color. Yesterday -- Yesterday, we actually played for our viewers some of the tweets that were told to Neera Tanden that were said during her confirmation hearing.

They were not pretty, some of the things she said. One that stuck out to me was calling Mitch McConnell "Voldemort" and "Moscow Mitch." And she had many, many tweets.

But when you look at who Manchin has confirmed, it's odd this is the standard for him, I think.

And I just really wonder what you guys think about sort of what is appropriate for confirming someone or dismissing them on this, and if there's a double standard?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Kirsten, you first.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think obviously there's a double standard.

You look at other people who have been confirmed, like Ric Grenell, for example, who was confirmed to be the ambassador to Germany, something usually an ambassador requires like a certain temperament, right, for diplomacy and he is on Twitter doing, you know, mean tweets up the wazoo.

So if that's OK, then what's the problem with Neera?

I think Neera should be judged on her experience and she's a very experienced person. She has a lot of experience working in the government.

She was, you know, in the Obama White House. She used to work on Hillary Clinton's staff. She obviously ran the Center for American Progress. So I think that should be the standard that she's held to.

And I think there's no -- there really isn't an explanation. Like I tried to think of one but you cannot raise her temperament as it's been raised based on her tweets.

If you confirmed Ric Grenell, those two things just don't add up.

KEILAR: Yes.

S.E., temperament should be a part of the discussion here, but it wasn't in other cases.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & CNN HOST, "S.E. CUPP UNFILTERED": Yes. I don't think that means it shouldn't be here, right?

Aren't we supposed to be trying to get away from what we have done in the past and mistakes we've made in the past?

I think temperament absolutely can be and should be part of this. But it's not just the tweets. Believe me, listen, I am the first to acknowledge the sexism and racism and hypocrisy inside the GOP. And just how hypocritical it sounds to be so outraged over her tweets.

But there are plenty of substantive concerns about Neera Tanden's work at cap. And Kirsten points out there were complaints of ethics violations and conflicts of interest, problems I will tell you progressives are worried about with the Neera Tanden pick.

So I don't know why Republicans are fixated open the tweets when there are actually I think substantive criticisms.

And where Deb Haaland is concerned, I think has e as Kristen Holmes said, having a Native American in that role would be critically important.

However, it should not be surprising that Republicans are going to push back on someone so far to the left on environmental issues, who would be nominated to that post.

Again, I am quick to see the sexist and racism, especially inside the GOP. I think these just happen to be two people that deserve some scrutiny for all kinds of reasons.

And I will just point out that today, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an African-American woman, who's incredibly experienced, was confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

KEILAR: I have a question for you, Kirsten, about Neera Tanden but I have one I want to follow up with S.E. on about Deb Haaland.

She was asked in that hearing about tweeting that Republicans are against science. And you could tell she was trying to kind of step around that.

But having looked at some of what Republicans say about climate change, what many Republicans have either kind of just gone along with, that they haven't in a full-throated way said about coronavirus, what did you think of that moment, S.E.?

POWERS: Honestly, I felt like it's so overblown. And it's really hard to listen to after what we just sat through with Donald Trump.

So if people like S.E., who criticized Donald Trump on Facebook, I will listen to that.

But I will not listen to what people who enabled him the last four years and continue to enable him, and those are the Republicans in Congress. And even Joe Manchin enabled him as well.

[14:40:09]

So you do have to have one standard. And you can't suddenly just decide that you have a standard for these women of color that you don't ever hold anybody else to. So that's the problem.

And so, yes, it would be great if we could have a world where everybody is always civil and they don't say harsh things.

You know, that's not politics. I'm sorry, men are always saying harsh things and nothing happens to them.

So why are women held to this?

I have been looking at what Neera said, it's like OK, what did she say about Ted Cruz? That he has left heart than a vampire. I mean -- and? I don't understand. These are people who feel --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: And she said something about Bernie Sanders too, to be clear.

POWERS: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: But S.E., what do you say to Kirsten's point?

CUPP: I agree it's preposterous the men of the GOP are feigning outrage over the tweets of Neera Tanden, which is why I said they should be looking at more substantive criticism of her leadership at cap, the way progressives are.

But I don't think that means we sort of lowered the bar. And, say, well, they did it so who cares?

I really do think -- especially I think Joe Biden agrees, we should be efforting at better. And, again, the criticism of Deb Haaland is not the same as the criticism of Neera.

But I just, again, I get the frustration that Kirsten is feeling. And, believe me, I feel the same frustration.

But I think it's not out of bounds to talk about a woman's temperament when her temperament has been very publicly problematic. I think we shouldn't just ignore it.

POWERS: Can I add one thing to that quickly?

KEILAR: Very quickly.

(CROSSTALK)

POWERS: I do think -- we do need to remember, first of all, Neera's temperament is fine. Maybe on Twitter it's not. He or she who is not bad on Twitter, cast the first stone.

CUPP: It's not just on Twitter.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: She's kind of a bully in general.

KEILAR: You guys, I have serious breaking news. I'm so sorry to break up this party.

It's great to see you. Thank you. This is our breaking news. Tiger Woods has been involved in a serious

car crash. As you can see here, the L.A. sheriff says Tiger Woods was involved in a single-vehicle rollover traffic collision and had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life.

This is according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in a statement they just put out. Woods' vehicle rolled over this morning. It was on the border of Rolling Hills Estates in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The sheriff's department said his vehicle was traveling northbound on Hawthorne Boulevard when it crashed.

Right now, Woods is at the hospital. He was transported to a local hospital for his injuries.

I want to bring in Christine Brennan on the phone.

Christine, we don't know, we are still waiting for details on this. It's hard to look at the pictures we are seeing of this vehicle and the condition it's in knowing he was pinned in there and had to be extricated from the Jaws of Life without having serious worry for the prognosis of Tiger Woods.

What are you hearing anything?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST (via telephone): Brianna, at this point, I'm just talking to a few sources. I have heard nothing yet. Obviously, this is, as you said, the visuals here, the pictures are horrifying.

This is Tiger Woods. He's 45 years old. He is one of the biggest and best names known in sports and really in our culture. And he's been a part of our culture now since the late 1990s.

And so when you say the name Tiger Woods, everyone knows who he is. Everyone knows his history. He won the Masters less than two years ago in an amazing comeback.

Of late, he had back surgery once again. He's had a lot of injuries, as you probably know. So he hasn't been playing golf.

He was in L.A. for a tournament where he actually appeared on television but did not play on the tournament, PGA tournament over the last few days.

So to see this is just horrifying. When you hear the Jaws of Life, that he had to be extricated, Brianna, with the Jaws of Life, all of a sudden you think of the athlete and this incredibly powerful man, and then you picture the concern and the fallibility of this person and is he OK?

Forget golf right now. You start thinking, is this man OK? How severely injured is he? And what does the future hold?

[14:45:58]

So certainly, everyone would be thinking of Tiger and his family and son and daughter at this moment and very concerned for his welfare.

KEILAR: So I just want to reiterate to our viewers what they're looking at now. This is aerial pictures of the area where Tiger Woods was involved in a single vehicle accident.

And according to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, he was traveling in this vehicle -- this is a residential area of southern California.

He was traveling -- you could see there's also a lot of sort of a natural environment right there off the road. And this was a single vehicle he was traveling in and it rolled over.

If you're familiar with the area, it's Hawthorne Boulevard. He was going northbound on it near what is Blackhorse Road.

At this point in time, Christine, we know he's been extricated. You can see the car is in very bad shape. Law enforcement had to use the -- or medics had to use the Jaws of Life to get him out.

And as you mentioned, he has -- he did have this comeback here somewhat recently. What has he been dealing with in the last several years?

BRENNAN: Brianna, it was back in 2017 when I think people might remember the horrifying DUI picture, and the dashboard footage from the police.

They found him asleep in his car. This was in Florida. And he lives in Florida. And he had trouble walking, had trouble following directions.

And at that point, he had painkillers, other drugs, in his body when the toxicology report came out back in 2017. He underwent rehab and clearly he got his life back together.

He has had so much pain as, I think again, a lot of people know who followed him the last 10 years or so, he's had so many surgeries, back fusion, neck fusion, leg problems, that he's taken painkillers and he described that as a situation that led to that 2017 incident with the DUI arrest in Florida.

There's no evidence right now, obviously, that what I just mentioned has anything to do with what we're seeing on the screen. But that was in his life and that was, what, four, five years ago.

And so he had come back, as we all know, because he had that magnificent victory in the Masters, something that many of us thought he would never achieve again, a major win in golf.

And he did that less than two years ago. It was really one of the crowning achievements, not only of his career but of any athlete's career, to be able to come back from so much and have another major win at the golf course, tournament he loves the most, the Masters.

So that is what he did. And we know he came back from the DUI in Florida. Now to see this, it's -- again, I have covered him since the '90s. It's scary, horrifying, incredibly concerning.

And first and foremost, you think of Tiger, as I said, and his family, and you just hope he's OK.

KEILAR: And I just want to let our viewers know, maybe who have just tuned in, Tiger Woods has been in a car crash. This is a single vehicle accident.

It was a serious accident, as you can see. He was according to the sheriff's department extricated by the Jaws of Life. He's now at a hospital.

L.A. County Fire -- and this is a new detail we've just learned. They say he has injuries that are moderate to critical.

So these are injuries that are moderate to critical, Christine, which tells us something. We don't know exactly what the injuries are. But this is serious. You can tell by the accident it's serious.

But now we're getting confirmation from L.A. County Fire, he's in the hospital with injuries that are moderate to critical. We're still awaiting details on exactly what that is.

I also just want to add here, Christine, according to L.A. County Sheriff's Department, this obviously occurred this morning. It occurred at 7:12 a.m., approximately, west coast time. So this happened a few hours ago.

And L.A. sheriffs responded to this, single-vehicle rollover traffic collision on this road, Hawthorne Boulevard, where he was traveling northbound, between the Rolling Hills Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes.

He was going northbound. He was near Blackhorse Road when this crashed. And the vehicle, of course, sustained major damage here as you can see.

He, according to the sheriff's department, was the sole occupant of the car when it rolled over here this morning in southern California.

You mentioned, Christine, some of the things that he has dealt with. We do not know, obviously, if that is connected, of course, to anything that we are seeing today.

But this is -- I will tell you myself, having been a golfer as a young person in southern California, Tiger Woods is someone who is just larger than life, always has been.

[14:50:10]

Even was -- you know, when he was younger and he was in college, everyone knew that he was going to come on to the scene like he did. He's won so many majors, such a big name.

He's the person that if you go to -- if you go to a tournament that he's playing in and you follow someone -- this is where the crowd goes. They are going to gravitate towards Tiger Woods. He's just a huge draw.

And right now, his injuries being moderate to critical, this is something that, you know, the world is going to be watching to see what -- what shape is he in at this point?

BRENNAN: Oh, absolutely, Brianna. We cannot overstate how big a deal this is.

Tiger Woods, there's a generation or two of young fans and young people around the world, not just in the United States, who have -- who have known him or a first-name basis, Tiger. They cheer for him and watch him win tournament after tournament and major after major.

They note things he's gone through, the hard times, the difficulties as we've described.

Again, I haven't even mentioned, of course, the traffic accident that was at the end of the driveway when he ran into a fire hydrant and a tree that triggered a personal scandal, the likes of which we've never seen before in 2009. And then he came back in 2010 and has had a rise up and down, as you said.

A DUI in Florida back in 2017 and now, of course, this news, this very, very difficult news today about Tiger.

And I think what we can say is he's a man. He's a risk-taker. We've seen it on the golf course.

He's one of the most talented athletes in any sport that we've ever seen, frankly, and one of the greatest names in sports history, not just golf but any sport.

As he described it himself, h was a risk-taker. It's gotten him into trouble in his personal life. That doesn't mean -- that doesn't tell us what happened. We don't know. Obviously, we'll find out all of these details and how this -- this traffic accident occurred.

But in the meantime, he has lived a life of one's dreams, but he's also lived a life of risk-taking and mistakes. And, well, obviously this is another part of the story.

And, again, I keep saying it, but we certainly hope that he's OK and the golf part of Tiger's life right now, Brianna, is almost secondary. In fact, it is secondary to, how is he? Is he going to be OK?

He's a dad. He has two kids. Obviously, he's a role model and a hero to millions. And that's what I think many of us are thinking about right now.

KEILAR: Certainly. You know, golf is the way that people have become invested in his life and have come to know him and have come to see his kids, who have been visible, of course, on the golf course when he's competing.

Look, I want to figure out maybe part of the medical piece here. So let's bring in Dr. Jorge Rodriguez to talk about this. We don't know much, Doctor. We know that he's suffered moderate to

critical injuries and that he had to be pulled from his car using the Jaws of Life. Moderate to critical injuries.

Maybe you could speak to -- I mean, look, we do not know what is happening here, but in a situation like this, in a car wreck like this, what kinds of injuries might we be talking about?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, from what I heard about where this occurred in the Palos Verdes Estates area, it's a hilly terrain.

A rolling car like that could have suffered many, many rollovers and many crashes and things of that nature. The fact that he got removed from the Jaws of Life tell you he was very accordioned into that.

Some things will be obvious. The fact that they were so general of what he could be having from moderate to critical tells you they may not know exactly.

And some of the things that could be happening right now are neurological injuries. Did his brain get injured? Does he have a hematoma, a subdural? Which means, is there blood accumulating in that area?

That is something that may not be immediately obvious and something that they would have to have MRIs for to see.

And another possibility is, did he puncture his lung from fractures? Does he have multiple fractures?

So all of these things could be possible at this point.

KEILAR: So, at this point in time, we know in this -- I do want to say a few details that we've learned now.

He was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. And fire crews were dispatched to this crush at 7:22 a.m. That was 10:22 a.m. So this was -- this wasn't -- that was 10:22 a.m. our time, so this was a few hours ago.

RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

[14:54:57]

KEILAR: At this point in time, could there still be testing that he is undergoing, that medical experts are -- you know, will need to determine exactly what they are facing.

It sounds like you're saying they may not have a complete picture of what they are dealing with.

RODRIGUEZ: It's been five hours now since it happened. Let's say it took them an hour to get him to UCLA-Harbor. I think, by now, they should have a pretty clear idea as to the degree of the severity. I mean, I'm sure they evaluated him in the emergency room. They took

immediate x-rays to see if there was anything wrong with the lungs. Any fractures are obvious. And I'm sure they immediately put him into a cat scan or MRI to see what damage they may be going.

We may not know the whole story, because they may not be ready to tell the public exactly what's going on. But right now, I'm assuming he's been in the hospital for at least three hours. They have a pretty good idea the extent of his injury.

The only thing that they may be waiting for is, some head injuries, you have to watch for at least 24 hours because the blood accumulation after a trauma happens very slowly, and that may not be apparent for a while.

But I think right now they have a pretty good idea as to what's going on.

KEILAR: Yes. And certainly, I just want to reiterate we, at this point, there's so many unanswered questions. All we know at this point for sure is that he suffered moderate to critical injuries after he was pulled from his car.

So obviously, all of these things doctors have been looking at him for. Hopefully, will be getting new details here in the short-term.

I do want to bring in Alex Field.

Alex, tell us about what we know about what Tiger Woods has been doing here in the last few days or weeks.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, you can't talk about Tiger Woods without talking about his incredible ability to come back.

He's been beset by so many challenges, not to mention all the successes over the course of his career, but so many physical challenges.

He's had five back operations. We know that he's been recovering from a procedure earlier this year. And his eyes have been focused squarely on golf as always.

We were talking just a couple of days ago about his hopes to be able to play in the Masters in April, talking about the fact that he's still working to recover, still feeling a bit stiff. But in the gym doing the rehab, doing the work.

When asked if he thought he'd make it all the way to the Masters this year he said god, I hope so. Something he seemed fully committed to doing that physical work to get there.

You saw the major comeback in 2019. You know, this is somebody dedicated to putting in that effort who has his eyes really trained on that goal.

Again, we know so little about his condition right now. Really, all we know for sure is the condition that you see that that car is in, serious damage to the car. We know that Tiger was pulled out by the Jaws of Life.

But really waiting now to hear any of the details about what he might be physically suffering right now.

You know, the great point was made earlier that golf is secondary. That is certainly the truth right now.

What's important is his recovery, his family, his fans all over the world who are pulling for him trying to find out if this is a serious injury or something he could easily recover from.

Second, of course, though is the golf and we are waiting to find out how those injuries will affect him. His back has been the issue that has plagued him for so many years now, something he's been working so diligently to recover from, to strengthen and to work on.

KEILAR: Yes, definitely, Alex.

Andy Scholes, from CNN Sports, I want to bring you into the conversation here.

And I just want to let our viewers know just some of the details, limited details that we know at this point. He's suffered moderate to critical injuries. He was in this -- he was the sole occupant in this vehicle, and it rolled over there this morning there in California.

I have a pit in my stomach, Andy Scholes. I'm sure that people all over and golf fans especially who have been following his career for so long feel very similarly.

What are your thoughts right now?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Brianna, you know, stunned I guess but not entirely surprised by, you know, what we're seeing here.

You know, Tiger, back in 2017, was found by police, pulled over the side of the road, you know, asleep in his car. You know, he had said he had taken a lot of painkillers at that time. Because we all know Tiger has undergone a lot of surgeries over the years, and pain killers become a part of his life.

You know, I interviewed him after he won the 2019 Masters, you know. It was one of the greatest comebacks in sports history if not the greatest. And after I interviewed him, you know, he struggled to get up out of that chair.

You know, playing four rounds of competitive golf was very tough for Tiger Woods this late in his career. You know, he's in the ninth inning of his career at this point. He's 45 years old.

We're all hoping that he was going to be able to come back from this fifth back surgery and compete for the Masters in April.

And as Alexandra said, Tiger, over the weekend, at this golf tournament, the Genesis Tournament, he said, god, I hope so, that I'm able to play in that tournament because it's one of the favorite tournaments of the year.

[15:00:00]

But you know, seeing the images of this crash, Brianna, it just -- like you said, it puts a terrible feeling in your stomach. You hope he's OK.