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500 Candles At The White House Mark 500,000 U.S. COVID Deaths; England's Road Map Out Of Restrictions; Trump's Legal Jeopardy; What Follows His Tax Returns?; Biden Honors 500,000 Americans Lost to COVID; Baghdad Intensive Care Unit Strained by Infection Surge; Dozens of Boeing 777 Planes Grounded after Engine Failure; Authorities Search for Source of "Ecological Disaster"; NASA Releases First Video of Spacecraft Landing on Mars. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 23, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
TIMESTAMPS
JOHN VAUSE, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. Welcome to a second hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
And coming up. 500 candles, 500,000 dead. A staggering loss of life marked by a message of empathy from a new U.S. president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: (...) all been fighting this pandemic for so long, we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Roadmap to freedom. The British prime minister lays out his plan to end pandemic restrictions, a journey back to normalcy -- criticized by many as taking way too long.
And why the images from Mars on this mission will be like none you have ever seen before.
No country seemed better equipped to deal with the coronavirus pandemic; the very best scientists and doctors, a strong economy, weeks to prepare for this mystery new virus.
But on Monday, the numbers of lives lost in the U.S. to the coronavirus reached half a million.
And like it has now, for the best part of a year, that number just kept ticking upwards, relentless, seemingly unstoppable.
The U.S. president and first lady marked this day with a somber ceremony at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (Music)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Five hundred candles were lit to mark a thousand American lives lost to the virus. Followed by a moment of silence after President Biden spoke to the country's collective grief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We often hear people described as ordinary Americans. There's no such thing, there's nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary; they spanned generations, born in America, emigrated to America.
But just like that, so many of them took their final breath alone in America.
I know all too well, I know what it's like to not be there when it happens. And I know what it's like when you are there holding their hands as they look in your eye and they slip away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Earlier the bells of the national cathedral in Washington rang out 500 times. Flags were lowered to half staff at federal buildings including the U.S. Capitol.
Despite all of these dramatic losses there are some hopeful trends in the U.S.
We have been seen sharp drops in the number of deaths world country wide and the CDC says the cases are at their lowest level in weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, U.S. CDC DIRECTOR: We consider to see trends head in the right direction but cases, hospital admissions and deaths remain at very high levels.
COVID-19 in the United States has been declining for five weeks with the seven-day average dropping 74 percent since the peak seven-day average on January 11th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Health experts and public officials have long said this COVID crisis in the world's richest country did not have to be this bad. It was because of a failure of leadership.
Also, more Americans (inaudible) if they'd only worn masks and followed social distancing.
Ryan Young reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: An unthinkable marker.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: People decades from now are going to be talking about this as a terribly historical milestone in the history of this country.
YOUNG: Half a million Americans dead from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than the number of Americans who died in battle in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined.
SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Rise for a moment of silence.
YOUNG: The house paused Monday morning in honor of those who died.
ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR ADVISER TO WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM: The occasion makes us more determined to turn the tide on COVID-19 so the losses can subside and healing can begin.
YOUNG: The grim milestone comes with signs of hope and news that the new COVID-19 cases are on the decline.
New average daily cases are below 70,000 for the first time since October. Hospitalizations have declined sharply and COVID deaths are down 24 percent from last week.
But with hope comes caution from medical experts.
[01:05:00]
DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I am worried about this variant, the B117 variant from the United Kingdom. If that takes over, the numbers are going to start to spiral up again.
YOUNG: There are questions still about the impact of COVID-19 variants and whether they could cause another surge before Americans are vaccinated.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: The more we can suppress it, the fewer mutations it has. So I'm optimistic we're going to get there.
YOUNG: Vaccines are on the move again after a week of severe weather caused delays.
The Biden Administration expects the backlog to be gone by mid-week, saying at least 2 million out of the 6 million delayed vaccine doses have already been delivered.
Helping to clear the backlog, the opening of new mass vaccination sites this week in New York, Texas and Georgia.
LINDA HOLDEN, RECEIVED FIRST COVID-19 VACCINATION: Getting the shot today is just the first step at maybe starting the beginning of return of normalcy. YOUNG: More than 44 million people have been able to receive a least
one dose. While demand for doses continues to outpace supply, for those able to get the vaccine it's a relief.
DON HOLDEN, RECEIVED FIRST COVID-19 VACCINATION: But it's so easy to fall into not doing anything. And I'm definitely hoping that that is going to get a lot better. We're really glad to have the shot.
YOUNG (On Camera): And across the state of Georgia, mass vaccination sites like this one have started to open up. This is the first day that this site is open and they expect to do more than 1,000 shots.
The plan is to do 22,000 over the next week across the four sites, this one being held outside the Delta Museum.
There are plenty of people who are excited about turning this page when it comes to facing the pandemic. This is been a tough year for all of us, especially with us reaching that high number of more than 500,000.
YOUNG (On Camera): Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Over the next four months, England is aiming to roll back all pandemic restrictions. The precise timetable will depend on the number of new infections as well as hospital admissions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the success of the vaccination rollout is paving the way to what he says is freedom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: With every day that goes by, this program of vaccination is creating a shield around the entire population.
Which means that we're now traveling on a one-way road to freedom, and we can begin safely to restart our lives and do it with confidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
England's journey out of lockdown begins March 8th with the planned reopening of schools and universities. If all goes well, most restrictions could be eased by the end of June.
CNN's Nic Robertson has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, this really was the long-awaited roadmap out of lockdown from the prime minister. He said the end is in sight, but it's not going to be that close.
The 21st of June he said -- and that's with a lot of conditions and steps and the data being correct, the 21st of June before all sort of limits on social gatherings will be lifted.
The first thing people can expect is the 8th of March when children will be allowed to go back to schools and two people will be able to meet, sit on a park bench for a coffee, share a picnic together in a park; until now, that's been off limits.
But caution has been the prime minister's watch word here. And he laid out just why.
JOHNSON: I will make a statement on the roadmap that will guide us cautiously but irreversibly towards reclaiming our freedoms while doing all we can to protect our people against COVID.
Today's measures will apply in England but we're working closely with the devolved (ph) administrations who are setting out similar plans.
The threat remains substantial with the numbers in hospital only now beginning to fall below the peak of the first wave in April.
ROBERTSON: So hairdressers to open on the 12th of April, people be able to go to pubs and restaurants outside after the 12th of April. The third step -- that would be the 17th of May, that five-week gap to allow for adjustments depending on how the data looks -- but people then will be able to have meals inside restaurants, to have drinks inside pubs.
ROBERTSON (On Camera): And the limits are going to slowly change on the number of people that can gather, up to 30 people being able to gather outside homes at that stage.
So this is that slow and careful and cautious roll out.
ROBERTSON (On Camera): Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, to La Hoya, California now and Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research.
Doctor, thank you for being with us.
DR. ERIC TOPOL, PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE, SCRIPPS RESEARCH: Thanks, John. Great to be with you.
VAUSE: OK. Here's a little more from the British prime minister on life post lockdown. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: There is a therefore, no credible route to a zero-COVID Britain or, indeed, a zero-COVID world. And we cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that debilitate our economy, our physical and mental well-being and the life chances of our children.
[01:10:00]
And that is why it is so crucial that this roadmap should be cautious but also irreversible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: it seems we're back to the old days of this sort of cost- benefit analysis of opening up and taking the risk. In other words, COVID is here to stay; get used to it.
TOPOL: Right. Well, at one level, it may be, John but it's not going to be anything like now.
We're going to see because of the vaccination and suppression, we'll see excellent containment, hopefully by year end, in fact, even perhaps well before year end.
So yes, the term endemic means it's going to be around but at levels that's not going to be a problem like what we've lived through over the past year.
VAUSE: Much of the plan relies on the vaccines. Boris Johnson referenced data which shows just one shot instead of two from the Pfizer vaccine is very effective. Is it this plan too reliant on those vaccines?
TOPOL: Well, it's very interesting that you bring this up. Because in the U.K. there's been a dramatic decline, descent of cases.
And it's hard to dissect how much of that was a lockdown which has been very effective, more so than Israel, and also the vaccination program which has been very aggressive and certainly more than in the United States.
So it looks as if the lockdown is playing a significant role. And on the other hand, the vaccination, that part is perhaps equally as important.
But the idea that it's a slow reopening because you can't tell which of these -- and the vaccination, obviously, has a ways to go to get more complete -- is a good idea.
So I think the way he described it in that clip is really the right way going forward.
VAUSE: You mention it is a slow sort of return to normalcy, if you like. So here's -- let's look at the timetable.
So next month, schools reopen. A few weeks later, there'll be limited outdoor gatherings as well as sports will be allowed. Pubs, restaurants, retail shops, gyms, they remain closed for more than a month now. Then, a month after that, international travel actually could be back by May, we're looking at.
Almost all restrictions lifted by June 21st, that is the goal. Or as "The Sun" newspaper put it with one headline, "The Wait Escape: Boris gets England on snail-paced return to freedom."
There's a lot of growing criticism that this is all too slow. I gather you don't believe that's the case.
TOPOL: Well, it can be adjusted. If the cases come down like we are seeing globally right now in a fast descent and this virus is at peak fitness and is going down in the damage it can do, it can be accelerated.
But unlike the U.S., where we erred by reopening too quickly -- and this happened, of course, in many other countries -- in Israel, during its second lockdown and between the next one. So it's wise to be prudent.
And you can always go a bit faster but setting expectations for a careful watch because if this is more of a lockdown effect then there will be a resurgence of cases if it's attributable to that.
The vaccine is unquestionably having an impact but that's mostly in people who are older. And obviously, there's a ways to go to get the herd immunity population level vaccinated there.
VAUSE: If you take a closer look at this plan, there does seem to be parts of it which are kind of very complicated, not exactly clear on how it all works.
Here's an interview the U.K. minister of vaccinations did.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: On the 29th of March and from what you seem to be saying, it could be -- if two families are more than six people, for example, 10 people they can meet, can they?
NADHIM ZAHAWI, U.K. VACCINES MINISTER: Correct. So as long as it's two families then they can meet outdoors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It went on and on. It does seems that there's a lot of complicated detail in all of this. And to me, that just doesn't seem to rest well with trying to get it across to the public how this all is going to work.
TOPOL: Well, I think your point is well taken there, John. We don't have science to tell us how many people in a gathering, and obviously the outdoor scenario is better.
But one thing that deserves emphasis. The U.K., the B117 identified in the U.K., has wreaked havoc in many countries. And so while there's been a sense that it's been squashed there, I think we're just starting to see it get seeded here in the U.S.
Israel has had a really tough time battling with it and is emerging now because of the most aggressive vaccination in the world.
So I think the idea of going slow and avoiding the indoor gatherings which we know are a liability, these are good things.
VAUSE: Dr. Eric Topol, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.
TOPOL: Thank you, John.
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Up next. End of the road for Donald Trump's legal battle over his tax returns.
A Supreme Court ruling will give investigators full access to years of Trump's most dearly held secrets.
Later, NASA has released the first video ever taken of a spacecraft landing on Mars. And it seems you ain't seen nothing yet.
[01:15:00]
The wife of convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been arrested at Dulles airport just outside Washington on international drug trafficking charges.
The U.S. justice department alleges Emma Coronel Aispuro was involved in conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana, meth. Prosecutors say she also helped her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015.
"El Chapo" is now serving a life sentence in a U.S. president.
Joe Biden's choice for attorney general has promised politics will no longer play a role at the U.S. justice department.
After his hearing on Monday, Merrick Garland appears headed for a senate confirmation with commitments to fully prosecute those who attacked the U.S. Capitol; notably, though, he refused to weigh in on Donald Trump's role.
Garland said he had not spoken about investigating his son, Hunter. He also said he'd fight discrimination in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: I come from a family where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution. The country took us in and protected us. And I feel an obligation to the country to pay back.
And this is the highest best use of my own set of skills to pay back. And so I want very much to be the kind of attorney general that you were saying I could become. And I'll do my best to be that kind of attorney general.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Barack Obama nominated Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016. Republicans denied even a hearing, since the president at the time was in the last year of his term.
A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has granted New York prosecutors access to eight years of Donald Trump's tax returns.
The former president called it a fishing expedition meant make him look bad.
But, as CNN's Jessica Schneider reports, Trump could be in serious legal trouble.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: Mr. President --
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump losing a major legal fight in a looming criminal investigation.
The Supreme Court has cleared the way for New York City's top prosecutor to obtain Trump's tax returns and financial documents dating back to 2011.
Manhattan District Attorney, Cy Vance, responding succinctly, "The work continues."
Prosecutors have been probing at least two separate schemes possibly linked to the former president's taxes for more than two years.
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: This shows me that the Manhattan D.A's investigation is getting more and more serious by the day. Now they're going to get the tax returns, and that's going to be a key piece of the puzzle.
[01:20:00]
SCHNEIDER: They first began examining hush money payments Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen, made to two women who alleged affairs with Trump to see if the Trump Organization falsified any records in connection with reimbursements to Cohen.
Then the inquiry seemed to expand when court filings from Vance's team indicated they were investigating possible tax crimes along with potential bank and insurance fraud.
Trump is responding to the Supreme Court decision saying, "The Supreme Court never should have let this fishing expedition happen, but they did."
He also accused the district attorney of being politically motivated and reiterated the witch hunt theme he's been harping on for years.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a continuation of the witch hunt, the greatest witch hunt in history. There's never been anything like it. Where people want to examine every deal you've ever done to see if they can find that there's a comma out of place.
SCHNEIDER: The criminal probe has only intensified. District Attorney Vance has been bolstering his team, adding a well-known federal prosecutor with an expertise in financial crimes.
And they've interviewed Michael Cohen who's already testified to congress about Trump's alleged schemes.
LACY CLAY, THEN U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: Did the president or his company ever inflate assets or revenues?
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Yes.
CLAY: And was that done with the president's knowledge or direction?
COHEN: Everything was done with the knowledge and at the direction of Mr. Trump.
SCHNEIDER: But the public won't get access to Trump's tax returns as a result of the Supreme Court's ruling. They'll be released to the D.A. for use with the grand jury only, a process where the proceedings are kept secret.
But if Trump or his business face charges, details could be exposed. "The New York Times" has already reported Donald Trump paid no federal income taxes for 10 of the 15 years beginning in 2000 because he lost much more than he made.
And that in 2016 and 2017, when Trump was in the White House, he reportedly only paid $750 in federal income taxes.
SCHNEIDER (On Camera): As for the timing of those tax returns, the D.A.'s office expects to get them in the next few days, according to our sources and they'll likely be in electronic form.
Crucially, prosecutors will also have access to work papers and communications related to those tax returns which could shed light if there was intent to commit any crimes.
SCHNEIDER (On Camera): Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Elliot Williams is a CNN legal analyst, a former federal prosecutor, a former deputy assistant attorney general. He is with us this hour from Washington.
Elliot, thank you for being with us.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi there.
VAUSE: OK. It's pretty safe to assume that the incredible lengths that Trump has gone to in trying to prevent the release of these tax records, that is a reflection just how damaging the information would be if they were seen by the public? WILLIAMS: It's hard to say. Look, the president was the first in I
think 40 or 50 years since Richard Nixon in the United States to have not submitted his tax returns for public view.
And so whether it's simply a fear of disclosure to the American public or something else, we'll never know. The simple fact is he's an outlier right now among former presidents of the United States.
VAUSE: What about from a legal point of view, from what Cyrus Vance, the Manhattan D.A., looking at here?
WILLIAMS: It's hard to see how there's anything but legal peril facing the former president of the United States because of the fact that his foundation -- the Trump Organization, the Trump Foundation, and he personally have all had investigations into them looked at.
Both in terms of financial irregularities, irregularities in how he's financed some stock financing on real estate deals. So whether one of them turns into either criminal or civil liability or all of them do, the simple fact is when multiple investigations are being brought against the same person, the risk is significantly high that one of may pan out and turn into something.
VAUSE: OK. Well, you mentioned multiple legal investigations which are underway. So let's take a look at some of them right now --
WILLIAMS: Sure.
VAUSE: -- because there are lot of problems for the former president.
-- Just like the Manhattan D.A., Cyrus Vance, the New York's attorney general is investigating how the Trump Organization valued property assets. There is also the investigation which is -- a defamation lawsuit from women who say they were sexually harassed by Trump. Trump's niece, Mary Trump, has filed a fraud lawsuit. There is also a possible charge of incitement by the D.C. attorney general.
WILLIAMS: Right.
VAUSE: There is also -- what are we also looking at here -- possibly two investigations in Georgia into Trump's attempts to pressure state officials to overturn the election results in the state.
Trump has always played the long game when it came to legal cases; delay, delay, delay and will that work this time? It's a bit harder to take on the department of justice or the Manhattan D.A. as opposed to Joe the Plumber who you paid 30 cents on the dollar?
WILLIAMS: Excellent reference to Joe the Plumber, who was someone who came up in, I guess it was the 2012 election in the United States.
What's amazing about when you read off the litany of potential legal issues against the president, they're in every facet of life for the president of the United States.
[01:25:00] So there are criminal investigations by the federal prosecutors, the U.S. government prosecutors in New York. There's civil investigations being brought by -- civil and criminal investigations, I believe -- brought by the attorney general of the state of New York.
The state of Georgia is investigating the president for election violations. And there's all of those questions about January 6th, the insurgence -- the insurrection at the United States Capitol and the president's potential role in that.
So it's a mix of different forms of liability. It's almost a crash course in the American legal system when the states can prosecute or when the federal government can prosecute.
But both personal, financial and official actions of the president are all under investigation now. And it's just hard to see how at least some of them or least one of them doesn't turn into quite significant legal peril for the president -- the former president.
VAUSE: There was them before Congress by Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, which sparked part of the property investigation which Vance in Manhattan is looking at, so too the New York attorney general.
Listen to Cohen, when he had to say on Monday. Here he is.
COHEN: One thing I can turn around and tell you, he should start maybe speaking to somebody about getting a custom-made jumpsuit because it does not look good for him. That's my prediction.
VAUSE: By jumpsuit, he met prison jumpsuit. So is he right, could this be the case that the (inaudible) sends Trump to jail?
WILLIAMS: I hesitate, I haven't been a prosecutor myself, I hesitate to say whether any one individual will be found guilty or not.
Certainly, there's a number of criminal investigations open right now into the president, and we will just have to see. As I mentioned, though, it's just hard to see given the sheer number of them how the president doesn't face some liability.
The other thing is that the Supreme Court of the United States just ruled that his tax releases, his tax forms, will need to be released to federal prosecutors.
Think about a decade or however long of the president of the United States' tax returns, given all the real estate filings and all the -- we were talking a moment ago about his valuing buildings and so on.
It's a potential trove of information for prosecutors that could lead to even more investigations. And again, into the former president's personal conduct or even actions that he might have taken as president of the United States.
And so, certainly -- Mr. Cohen was glib about the risk facing the president, is he immediately going to jail but, certainly, he has a lot of lawsuits and investigations to either cooperate with or start defending himself with.
So at a minimum, even if he doesn't get that jumpsuit, he better get a good lawyer.
VAUSE: Well, just very quickly, before we go. You mentioned the possibility of further investigations -- we are seriously out of time. But -- Cyrus Vance, the D.A. tweeted on Monday, "The work continues."
Is that a reference, do you think, maybe to further charges coming out of the tax returns? Very quickly.
WILLIAMS: I think so. Because just given how voluminous the tax returns are. The president is a wealthy man and has a lot of business dealings. And I know, from being a prosecutor myself, following the money leads to further investigations. And so I would not be shocked --
VAUSE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- if more came from them.
VAUSE: Elliot, thank you so much. Elliot Williams there, CNN legal analyst.
WILLIAMS: Thank you, John. Take care.
VAUSE: Well, COVID cases are soaring in Iraq. And while ICUs are maxxing out, why have many hospital wards been relatively quiet? We explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:08]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: It seems to come and go almost with a powerless acceptance or resignation that sooner or later the pandemic death toll in the U.S. would pass 500,000. It did on Monday. The number of dead has continued to tick upwards. The U.S. is seeing more loss of life than any other country by far.
A day marked by the U.S. President in a candle light ceremony at the White House. He urged Americans not to become numb to this reality. He called for unity as the country tries to heal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This nation will smile again. This nation will know sunny days again. This nation will know joy again. And as we do, we'll remember each person we've lost, the lives they lived, and loved ones they left behind. We will get through this, I promise you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: For a year now, there has been no end to the overwhelming stories of those who have gone from sick to dead in a moment's notice. A death alone, without anybody on hand, no relatives, no friends, just medical staff.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, remembers just a few of those who had lost this battle with the deadly virus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: To heal, we must remember.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No one is immune from COVID-19. Not the young and healthy, not the elderly, and not health care workers who risked their own lives to save others.
Samantha Diaz dreamed of becoming a nurse so she could help others. She was working toward that dream in her job as a medical assistant. Although worried about being in the office during the pandemic, she also needed the money to care for her children.
Then (ph) Samantha died, just nine days before her 30th birthday. The single mother leaves behind a one-year-old, a two -year-old, and a 15- year-old. Diaz's mother has quit her job, to raise her three grandchildren but worries she won't live long enough to seen them all reach adulthood.
Dr. Susan Moore was a mother, physician and advocate. When Dr. Moore was diagnosed with COVID-19, she documented her battle on her Facebook page.
DR. SUSAN MOORE, COVID-19 VICTIM: I was hurting.
DR. GUPTA: And she detailed her fight to receive equitable health care as a black woman, according to "The New York Times". The Indiana doctor loved practicing medicine, helping others, and was a member of the Delta Sigma Beta Sorority according to a GoFundMe created in her honor.
BIDEN: To shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection, remember all who we lost.
DR. GUPTA: When racial tensions in the 1970s erupted on to New York streets, Corky Lee captured it all. A crusader of photographic justice his work, memorialized the contributions of Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders -- a legacy, he thought was often ignored in American history.
He began his career photographing protests that followed the beating of a Chinese American man by New York City officers. Over the next five decades, Lee's lens exposed the hard truth of racism, labor, and housing, while capturing the beauty of the Asian-American community.
His latest work documented racially motivated attacks toward Asians during this pandemic. At the time of his death, Lee was producing a film about his life's work.
Award winning NBA reporter and analyst Sekou Smith had a career spanning more than two decades. He reported four NBATV and NBA.com and spent 11 years reporting for Turner Sports. Public tributes honoring Smith's life came from NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, and retired NBA great, Dwyane Wade. He leaves behind his wife heather, and their three children.
Marshall McKay was one of the most prominent Native American leaders in the country. "The L.A. Times" reports that McKay pushed for economic independence for his people and help set up a successful tribal casino and resort near Sacramento.
[01:34:58]
DR. GUPTA: McKay sat on the boards with the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington and the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, where he became the first indigenous person to chair the museum's board of trustees.
In December, McKay and his wife both tested positive for the coronavirus. She recovered, he did not. Marshall MacKay was 68 years old.
Jonathan Coelho was just 32 when he contracted the virus. He spent 28 days in the hospital, 20 of them on a ventilator. But he seemed to improve. Then his wife Katie got a call from a hospital nurse telling her to come quickly. By the time she arrived, he was gone.
When she got home, she turned on his phone and found he had left his life insurance information on it along with a heartbreaking final love letter. It read in part, "You are truly one-of-a-kind. Make sure you live your life with happiness and that same passion that made me fall in love with you. Seeing you be the best mom to the kids is the greatest thing I've ever experienced."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me you love so I have it on video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Iraq is seeing another devastating wave of COVID infections, averaging more than 3,000 a day this past week and while ICU units are filled it seems many others are reluctant to seek hospital care.
CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad and explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The constant beeping of the machines is mind-numbing. But at least here, there is something rarely seen inside a COVID-19 intensive care unit. Those struggling for each breath are not alone.
Amni's (ph) weak laugh is muffled, an inside joke shared with the doctors about how her daughter, Nava (ph) is constantly hovering over her. The family went to a wedding -- no masks, no social distancing, a decision they all bitterly regret. "I also have COVID, but I had forgotten about it with the state my mother is in," Nava says as her voice starts to crack.
"We filled the house with oxygen tanks, but it wasn't enough. And then, we brought her here."
Amni nods her head. She is doing much better now.
Wafat's (ph) family also tried to treat her using oxygen at home. They did not want to bring her to a hospital -- not an uncommon occurrence in Iraq.
(on camera): Why do you think people are reluctant to come to the hospital initially?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe because of the culture, Iraqi culture.
DAMON (voice over): For some, it is fear of being stigmatized, having caught a virus that has brought the world to its knees.
"There are people, even now, who say, what is this corona?" Wafat's daughter Niram tells us. "They don't believe the virus exists, until it hits them."
But, it is also a misunderstanding that oxygen and vitamins are enough to treat the symptoms of the virus. And, there is also a lack of faith in Iraq's health care system which have yet to fully recover from sanctions dating back to the Saddam Hussein era and then, nonstop war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a hard thing to keep patients at home, treatment at home.
DAMON: Iraq's first COVID-19 wave devastated the country. Hospitals were overwhelmed. This particular infectious diseases hospital in Baghdad that the government facilitator accessed to, saw its patient numbers triple in the last two weeks.
(on camera): Are you ready for maximum capacity or more?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have beds, we have doctors. We have nurses.
DAMON: And they do not have a choice.
DR. HASSAN ALAA, CHIEF RESIDENT: Two months ago, the virus nearly from Iraq deleted from all Iraq people. So all people leave face masks, leave sterilization, leave everything, neglected everything, neglected all protection.
DAMON (on camera): Does this make you stressed? Does this make you worried?
DR. ALAA: Sure. We are afraid for our family, ourselves from this new virus, but we should do what we can to the benefit for the patients.
DAMON (voice over): By new virus, Dr. Alaa means new variant. Iraq's ministry of health's recently stated that 50 percent of new infections are of the highly contagious B117 variant, first identified in the U.K. The government only just made face masks mandatory and reimplemented stricter restrictions, like nighttime and weekend curfews.
"It should have happened before, not now at the end," Niram says of the government's measures, as her mother's chest heaves with each labored breath.
She won't leave her side, no matter the risk, no matter the circumstances. In Iraq, no one stays in the hospital alone.
Arwa Damon, CNN -- Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:39:47]
VAUSE: Well, Australian -- Facebook rather has struck a deal with Australian lawmakers for (ph) its ban on sharing and viewing news links on their site. This agreement comes after the government agreed to modify a new law which is intended to force the tech platform to pay news publishers for content.
Next up on CNN NEWSROOM. What investigators say they see on that engine that disintegrated over Denver and why this is the last thing Boeing needs right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Airlines in the U.S., South Korea and Japan have grounded dozens of Boeing 777 aircraft after one of the jets suffered engine failure on Saturday.
United Airlines Flight 328 was just minutes into a trip from Denver to Honolulu when an engine made by Pratt & Whiney caught fire.
Investigators say the engine showed signs of metal fatigue. The fan blade broke free and collided with another blade. The homes below were showered with debris, the plane landed safely. No one was hurt.
Both Boeing and Pratt & Whitney say they are cooperating with investigators. Boeing actually recommended that the 777 with those engines should be grounded for now.
United, is one of several airlines with the 777 jets that have the engines. Boeing says there are 128 planes, 69 are in service.
This is just the latest problems for Boeing with the two fatal 737 max crashes. That model was grounded for nearly two years. But it also had production problems with the 787 Dreamliner, and has delayed deliveries of the new jet, these 777X.
Ryan Patel -- long time, no see -- is with us from Los Angeles. He's a senior fellow at the Drucker School of Management. It's good to see. It's been a while, Ryan.
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: Yes. Great to see you, John.
VAUSE: Ok. You know, if nothing else, after the problems with the 737 Max, it seems Boeing has learned to quickly take responsibility for a new disaster, and then quickly pass the buck.
You know, the headlines are glaring, but by comparison, this issue doesn't seem to be the biggest problem facing Boeing right now.
PATEL: Yes. You know, you and I actually were on together on the 737 the first time and they took forever to get to this. This was -- they actually went off of the United Airlines press release on a tweet and stating, you know, these are the engine problems and working real quickly.
The timing of this is not great. You know, first people, I don't want to say have forgotten the 737 Max debacle and maybe some would argue negligence in this case. Nobody got hurt which is great and this was, again, an engine failure with just a fleet of it.
Why the timing is not great is because the pent-up demand for travel is opening up. Airline stocks are on the rise and that would equal to Boeing stock to be on the rise as well.
So trust and moving forward is going to be something that Boeing wants to stay out of the news at all cost, just for good things.
VAUSE: Questions (ph) like Boeing -- engine failure -- is like peanut butter and jelly. That's a problem.
PATEL: Yes. When you say it that way, that's not a great analogy that Boeing wants to be in. And you know, you think about this, when you and I spoke in 2019, their market -- you know, stock price was $439. Now it's $212 -- market cap is $124 billion. It was dropped almost twice as much.
[01:44:55]
PATEL: And you know, Boeing needs to create -- you know, another thing too, John, you and I talked about a couple of years, why I keep bringing this back up is I know you're going to ask me why haven't they gone under.
And it is because they are just that big. They have obviously policy makers, they're tied into government, there tied into countries, and to the aviation route, which they can't just go away unless something drastic and really bad happens. And I'm hoping that doesn't happen, but that's one of the ways why Boeing is still around.
VAUSE: Funny you should say that.
(CROSSTALK)
PATEL: Ok.
VAUSE: Funny you should raise that because the really big problem facing Boeing is not with the engines. There's an almost total collapse in the market for wide-bodied passenger jets.
The twin aisle planes that fly international -- that's Boeing's bread and butter. The single aisle planes are mostly the domestic and that's where Airbus has the edge.
And as we know, the pandemic has almost killed all international travel. So you do the math on that one. The company's being forced to halt the release of the 787 Dreamliner, more engine inspections are ordered by the FAA last week and then the production of the new 777X way behind. And again apparently because there's engine issues and a lack of demand.
So yes, sure, they're ok. They're very -- they're too big to fail but no one is that big. You know, no one can survive a bottomless pit of bad news forever.
PATEL: That's true and I'm with you typically on this, unless Elon Musk is tweeting he's getting into the Boeing business or the airport business, their stock is going to drop.
But I mean -- then you have this news John that Deutsche Bank just came out that airline industry back on track. You know, the pandemic wiped up the travel -- that's $1.5 trillion extra cash. And then you have airlines like Southwest getting into O'Hare and being more aggressive.
And so what my point is that there is more hope for Boeing and to that degree they have made through this disaster. But to your point, when is it enough to keep failing and have a quality (ph), and they just haven't been in the news recently too I mean in a really horrific way that they did with the 737.
And having -- again the key word here is negligence. That is something that is really, really clear on going forward with this.
VAUSE: Boeing, an engine failure of peanut butter and jelly.
Ryan, good to see you. Thank you.
PATEL: You're making me hungry, John.
VAUSE: See you soon.
Well, Israeli authorities are searching for the source of an oil spill described as one of the country's most severe ecological disasters ever. Beaches are closed, a massive clean up is under way.
We get the very latest now from CNN's Sam Kiley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Israelis have deployed an army of volunteers and indeed their own army to help clear up this oil slick that extends from Egyptian territory right in the south all the way out into Lebanon. Indeed the Lebanese authorities have accused Israel or an Israeli ship of having dumped this oil.
An Israeli judge has mysteriously imposed an injunction of reporting on details of this whole story. But for the young people here who are working incredibly hard, they're picking up almost microscopic bits of oil, tiny little half marble sizes that they then stick together into bigger pieces.
There have been environmental impacts in terms of deaths of turtles, and in the last few days also, a whale washed up on an Israeli beach. Its lung apparently filled with some kind of black matter. They don't yet know whether or not that was oil.
But clearly this is an environmental disaster, as ever in this region, with international implications.
Sam Kiley, CNN -- on Sharon (ph) Beach.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: So far so good for NASA's journey to Mars. After the break, head to mission control for the new photo images, which will give Perseverance a view of the red planet we have never seen the likes of before.
[01:48:35]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: You are watching the first video ever of a spacecraft landing on Mars.
The footage is from NASA's Perseverance rover. It shows the rover traveling through the Martian atmosphere and then landing on the Martian.
NASA is also showing off some of the rover's video capabilities with a stunning panoramic shot of the red planet. It was composed by 23 onboard cameras.
And then there are the microphones which recorded the planet's first sound we have ever heard. It's a Martian breeze.
Sounds just like wind noise.
And Perseverance is expected to send back images of Mars the likes of which we have never seen before because the two images located just beneath the masthead, cameras much more advanced than the ones fitted only the earlier rover Curiosity.
An addition which, if nothing else, makes Perseverance looks just like everyone's favorite lovesick robot Wall-e.
Joining us now from Mastcam-Z mission control at Arizona State University is Jim Bell, professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration. Jim, thanks for being with us. You know, last year, we were given a bit of a hint of what we were to expect. Perseverance tweeted out with the keen eyes I've been given, I'll zoon in on Mars with a clarity like never before. My primary camera, Mastcam-Z, will even let me see details that human eyes can't."
Ok. What are we expecting here? What would we see that we've never seen before?
JIM BELL, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, we've got these great zoom cameras that can go from wide angle all the way to telephoto and because there's two of them like our eyes, they give a stereo, they gives us 3D.
So we're going to use these cameras to do a lot of 3D imaging. That will help the rover drivers guide the vehicle across obstacles and hazards that helps them put the arm down to drill into rocks and scoop up soil samples.
And it helps us scientifically to put the geology together, to put the story of this amazing place on Mars back together.
VAUSE: And this is what's kind of fascinating. Because we've been to Mars, you know, a lot of times, I've lost count. you probably know. But -- eight times, thank you very much.
But we shouldn't really know for certain -- or we've never seen what the Martian sky looks. What's color is the Martian sky? What does the Martian sunset look like?
BELL: Yes. Yes, it's really -- it's interesting because, you know, Mars is a lot like the earth in some ways. But it's also very different.
So on earth we've got these beautiful blue skies, the sunsets, the sky turns reddish. Mars is exactly the opposite. The sky in the daytime is typically reddish-colored, brownish to red. And as the sun sets it starts to turn blue. It's because of these fine little dust grains in the atmosphere that are there all the time.
We figure, the famous Mars dust storms -- that's what gives Mars it's really interesting sky colors.
VAUSE: And just explain -- because the primary mission here for Perseverance is to search for signs of past life. So now you've got these whizz-bang (ph) cameras or images that can actually see what the human eye cannot see. How will that actually move that mission forward?
BELL: Yes. So we use the cameras for a whole bunch of different things, and especially important is using the cameras to guide the choice of where we go to drill into rocks and to scoop up samples.
The Rover carries these little sample tubes inside, 43 sample tubes. And they're about the size of a dry erase marker. And when we drill, we'll take a piece of the rock out, we'll put it in the core sample tube. We'll keep it in the rover for a little while and then we'll set these sample tubes down on the ground in a very obvious place that will be easy to find.
In a future mission sometime in the next decade, a small rover lander, rocket on that lander, an orbiter waiting above will bring those samples back to earth.
So the difference here is that we've never sent a mission out to Mars with the goal of bringing some of that stuff back. This is the first and that's what makes this mission very special.
VAUSE: Yes. This is sort of a two-parter, if you like. This is the start and now in about what, 10 -- 20 years from now we'll have those samples brought back.
BELL: Hopefully 10 but yes.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Back to earth.
I guess, you know, the question is, in terms of, you know, the 3D technology, this is actually being used in real time right? As the drivers at mission control actually guide the rover around the planet.
BELL: Well, it's actually used on board by the rover's computer. The rover has these navigation cameras and our zoom cameras. And it builds a model of the surroundings, kind of like a video game that's going on, on board. And so it understands where hazards are, and we can flip into this mode of hey auto drive, drive yourself go from point a to point b, and take a picture when you get there. Let us know, phone home, let us know it's going ok.
Most of it happens autonomously, John, because the rover is so far away. We can't joystick it. It's too far away at the speed of light.
[01:55:03]
VAUSE: You're talking about 16 minutes or something -- 11 minutes between sending a radio signal or something?
(CROSSTALK)
BELL: That's right. It's 11 minutes to send the signal hey stop, and then another 11 minutes before we see whether that, you know, it's jumped over a cliff or something.
VAUSE: And very, very quickly, the images that you'll be getting back and the images that you're about to put out, where can we see them? Where can everybody just actually get, you know, get an eyeful of this?
BELL: Yes, if you just google NASA Mars Rover raw images, Perseverance rover images. It will take you to the NASA Website, to the Jet Propulsion Lab and they take you to our Arizona State University Website, and you can see all kinds of great pictures there, movies, et cetera --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: How important is it to get all those images out there --
BELL: What's that?
VAUSE: How important is it to get those images out there for everyone to see?
BELL: Oh, it's absolutely critical. I mean it's, you know, taxpayers in the U.S., around the world, other countries involved, we've got experts into this. We're trying to help educate our kids, and excite their teachers, get the general public involved.
There's a large number of sort of armchair astronomers and image processors out there who follow along and we want to get those pictures out there for them.
VAUSE: Jim Bell, you're doing good work. We thank you for that. And thank you for being with us here on CNN. Thank you.
BELL: Thanks John. Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Take care.
Well, you rarely saw their faces but you probably heard their music. Daft Punk, the futuristic French due redefined electronic dance music, are calling it quits after 28 long years.
Their (INAUDIBLE) publicist confirmed the split on Monday after the duo released a cryptic video called "Epilogue".
VAUSE: Whatever that was. The band is known for hits like "One More Time", "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", and "Get Lucky". Daft Punk will always be remembered though for their metallic helmets, never appearing publicly without them.
They may be gone but I'm not. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I will be back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.
Stay with us.
[01:57:13]
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