Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tiger Woods Awake and Recovering After Emergency Surgery; Pence Tells Group of Lawmakers He has Close Friendship with Trump; DOJ Facing Tough Climb As it Argues to Keep Riot Defendants in Jail; Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Meets Requirements for Emergency Use Authorization; Tiger Woods in Recovery After Surgery Due to Serious Car Crash. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 24, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:28]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good Wednesday morning to you. We've got some good news for you this morning. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We do have some good news. I'm Poppy Harlow. We're so glad you're with us.

Here is the breaking news this hour. A big step in the push to vaccinate the entire country. The FDA just moments ago saying Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine does meet the requirements for Emergency Use Authorization. That authorization could come as early as next week. If that happens, J&J would become the third vaccine for COVID-19 available in the United States joining of course Pfizer and Moderna. All three companies vowing to roll out a combined 240 million doses by the end of next month.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and this one has an advantage. It's a one-dose vaccine.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: It makes a lot of difference. A source tells CNN that President Biden's coronavirus advisers believe that roughly two million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses will be available next week pending that FDA authorization.

But even as infections across the U.S. fall and more Americans are getting their vaccine, we're watching that number closely, experts are still fearful that variants could possibly fuel another surge in the coming weeks. So that means don't let our guard down.

We are also learning more about the scary rollover crash involving golf legend Tiger Woods. We're told that he is awake, he is responsive after surgery to have a rod inserted into his right leg. We're going to have more details on that in just a moment.

Let's begin, though, with that breaking news. And joining us now to discuss is chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, are you there? There he is. OK. Sanjay, so this is great news. Option number three in terms of vaccines. Looking at the numbers here, 66.9 percent effective, specifically against moderate or severe disease. Tell us the significance of those numbers.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is an interesting trial as you point out. You know, a one-shot vaccine. They looked at the efficacy of this at 14 days after someone received the vaccine and again at 28 days, and they broke it down, as you point out, between more moderate disease up to severe disease, and then people who develop severe or critical disease.

And that first number you sort of cite, that's sort of the protection against moderate disease overall. But we can show you some of the numbers here if we have this graphic. There were two things that really jumped out. One is that there was sort of differences in how effective this vaccine was against moderate disease, depending on where the vaccine was trialed. So in places where some of these variants were circulating more widely like South Africa, you can see there was clearly a drop off in terms of the effectiveness against this.

This is very much in parallel to the data that Johnson & Johnson released. The FDA has now analyzed this data and they're going to be reviewing it on Friday. The right column there I think is a critically important column. They find that after 28 days, there was a significant protection against severe disease. No hospitalizations at 28 days. There were two hospitalizations within the first 14 days which means that the protection from this vaccine seems to grow between two weeks to four weeks and sort of maxes out at around four weeks.

So really that four-week mark after you get vaccinated is when you get the most protection. No deaths in the placebo -- I'm sorry, no deaths in the vaccinated group as well. So this vaccine seems to be an effective vaccine. It seems to protect against what people care about the most, getting really sick, needing hospitalization and-or dying.

HARLOW: You know, Sanjay, that last point you made is so important. Zero deaths in people that got this vaccine. And I say that because a lot of folks have come to me and said, well, you know, if I have a choice, which vaccine should I get? And I don't know if they're lucky enough to have a choice but there is some worry that they see that 66 percent number and they think, well, that's not as high as Pfizer and Moderna. But it's not really apples to apples, right? It's not at all apples to apples.

GUPTA: No, it's not apples to apples, and part of it is for the reason you mentioned. I mean, you know, what do you really care about in terms of what you want out of a vaccine? You know, my parents got vaccinated. You know, they worried about getting sick and maybe needing hospitalization. Any of these vaccines seem to be very good at protecting against that. But I think there's a larger point to the one that you're making here and that is that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, they were trialed at different -- at an earlier phase in this pandemic.

[09:05:08] And at a time when there weren't as many of these variants circulating. So in some ways, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was trialed against a more serious disease. There was more viral transmission and there were more of these variants. How would the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine stack up if they had been trialed at the exact same time in the same places? We don't know. But it might be very, very similar.

There is one other point that I think is worth pointing out and we were just sort of digging into this data. The vaccines help protect against illness but how well do they protect against getting infected and possibly transmitting the infection. This is going to be an increasingly important point. And what we're finding is that in the vaccinated group, small numbers here, but in the vaccinated group there were 10 people who were still carried the virus in their nose and their mouth versus 37 people in the placebo group.

It's about a 74.2 percent reduction in overall infection from the vaccine as well. Keep in mind, you tell people, you still got to wear a mask, right, if you've been vaccinated because you can still spread it. This at least in small numbers seems to be protective against getting infected and transmitting the virus as well. We're going to keep digging into that but that's going to be an important point that the FDA looks at.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Sanjay, just quickly, because we're watching the rate of overall vaccination. We've got two vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer, are already out there. Adding a third, and particularly a one-shot vaccine to the mix, how much does that juice the pace of the vaccinations in this country over time?

GUPTA: Well, you know, we're hearing that the overall number of J&J vaccines, at least initially, is going to be pretty small. Maybe four million doses between the states and the federal government. Overall, I think it's going to make a significant improvement because 100 million doses means 100 million people will be receiving this Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States. And people have told me they may be able to increase that number even more in the months to come.

The big question, and this is going to be a big one that we need to answer over the next couple of days is, who, what, where? So we got this other vaccine. Who -- you know, the people who benefit from it the most should be the ones who get it. We know now, in this country, who is most likely to get sick. If this vaccine prevents people from getting sick, hospitalized and dying we need to give it to the people who will benefit the most from it and that's going to be a big point of discussion around the distribution.

HARLOW: For sure. Huge challenge ahead. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you for the good news on another vaccine close to being able for folks to use. We appreciate it very much.

Well, this morning, thank goodness, Tiger Woods is recovering. He's awake and he's responsive at a Los Angeles hospital following a lengthy emergency surgery to repair what doctors said were significant orthopedic injuries to his right lower extremity. He suffered all of this in yesterday's really terrifying, Jim, rollover car crash.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now is CNN's Josh Campbell. He is outside UCLA Medical Center where this operation took place.

So, Josh, doctors say multiple open fractures to his lower right leg. The initial information had been about injuries -- serious injuries to both his legs. Do we know any more? Do the injuries extend to his left leg as well?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're waiting for an update from hospital officials here regarding the details of what transpired after that accident. We know that he was taken to this level one trauma facility. Whenever first responders arrived they deemed his injuries severe enough to move him to this enhanced facility where he received treatment. Here's what we know about his condition. As you mentioned, he is -- what's being described as awake, responsive, recovering. That according to a statement on Tiger Woods' Twitter account.

We also know that he underwent that operation which included having a rod and pin inserted into his leg in order to try to stabilize that extremity. Also we know that his right foot and ankle were also treated as well. But whether that actually also includes his other leg, we're still waiting for those details. But again, very serious injuries. And you only have to look at those images of this vehicle to see what he went through.

Authorities say that this stretch down in Rancho Palace Verdes is prone to accidents. There have been a number of high speed collisions there in the past. Authorities say that what they believe is that as he was traveling down, that he crossed over the road, went into this field and again, you look at some of those images. You look at some of the trees and everything surrounding him, nothing short of a miracle that he wasn't more injured, even more severely than he was.

Finally, it's worth noting that, of course, Tiger Woods is no stranger to injury. Just last month he underwent a back operation, which was the fifth operation of his career. CBS Sports talked to him on Sunday and asked whether he would be playing in the near future. He said that he actually hoped that he would be well enough to take part in the masters at Augusta in April. Of course, this incident yesterday, this violent collision, raising serious questions about his future -- Jim and Poppy.

[09:10:05]

SCIUTTO: Josh Campbell, good to have you there.

Well, investigators at the scene of the Woods crash say that his SUV, as Josh mentioned, was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of the accident. Deputies responding, however, say they saw no evidence of impairment.

HARLOW: Let's go to Dan Simon, our colleague. He joins us from the crash site. There obviously the sun not even fully up this morning. It's in Palos Verdes, a suburb of Los Angeles.

I mean, the word, Dan, from police is that he is very lucky to be alive this morning.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it, Poppy and Jim. You know, the question remains, how and why did Tiger Woods lose control of that SUV? And as you said, it is just before sunrise this morning. It's a bit difficult to see, but having seen the images yesterday myself on television, now being here in person, what I think you don't fully appreciate seeing it on TV is just the downward slope of this particular boulevard, Hawthorne Boulevard.

It is quite steep and having driven it myself, I can fully understand that if you're not cognizant of your surroundings and if you're traveling at a high rate of speed as Tiger Woods apparently was, you can understand how he could lose control. As we heard Josh say just a moment ago, he was traveling down this roadway. Hit the median. Obliterated a sign and then obviously toppled trees. The car rolling over several times.

And as we heard the sheriff say yesterday, because Tiger Woods was wearing a seat belt, it likely saved his life. You also saw all of that damage to the front of the vehicle. The vehicle doing exactly what it was designed to do, absorb the impact of the crash. The air bags were deployed. The cabin seemed to be in pretty good shape but, of course, Tiger taking that serious injury to his right lower leg -- Poppy and Jim.

HARLOW: Yes. All right, Dan, thank you very much for the reporting. We're hoping for the best for him for sure.

Joining us now, happy to bring in, Jemele Hill, contributing writer for the "Atlantic" and host of "Jemele Hill is Unbothered," a fantastic podcast.

It's great to have you. Thanks so much for coming on.

JEMELE HILL, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: Good. I'm glad you can hear us. Sorry about that. You said something last night to our colleague Don Lemon that really struck me. And I think it's important. And you said that Tiger's experience and all that he has been through, through his golf and more, shows us excellence that people were able to view a black man in a different way.

What did you mean by that?

HILL: Well, I mean, we're talking about Tiger being in a sport that was predominantly, overwhelmingly white. And I think it was just this assumption that that kind of excellence that Tiger showed that that was something that was, you know, for a long time, it was obviously not permitted in the sense that you have many golf courses that didn't -- didn't even allow black memberships or black golfers, and under the brand of Jim Crow and segregation and all those other things. But I do think because of what the sport has been known for in terms

of being white, being rich, being more upper echelon and elite, this was something that was not considered to be of interest to black people and also to be something that, you know, somehow we weren't able to be good at or to achieve. And so it often happens in sports that when you have black people who excel in a way that is, you know, very palatable to mainstream America suddenly and unfortunately, they begin to look at black people as a whole differently.

And in some cases they don't but sometimes when there are transcendent athletes it forces people into a different view of racial thinking. And while unfortunate there is a maybe, there is some people who were able to look at Tiger Woods and understand black excellence in this arena in a way that they hadn't understood it before.

SCIUTTO: You know, Tiger has been counted out before after both personal issues but also severe physical injuries, multiple back operations. The truth is we don't know the true extent of his injuries now or the prognosis. But I wonder, knowing him and his career, too early to count out a comeback, or rule out, rather, a comeback?

HILL: I mean, it would be probably, you know, pretty irresponsible to speculate. I'm certainly not a doctor. I can't speak to it. But, I mean, I think it's fair to wonder what a cumulative effect of the damage done to his body will do. I mean, we're talking about somebody who has undergone five back surgeries. That alone has been very difficult for Tiger to come back from, and now you add this compound fracture and these severe, you know, issues.

And we've seen some other athletes go through something similar and some have been able to make it back and some haven't. I mean, the most recent example is Alex Smith who is the quarterback for the Washington football team. He had a compound fracture as well. Took him two years, and this is considered to be one of the most extraordinary comeback in all of sports.

[09:15:00]

And when you read what Alex Smith went through, and you consider the fact that Tiger Woods is 45 years old, you start assessing the probability, and you think to yourself, it doesn't look good. But then again, this is also somebody who came back, won the Masters in 2019 after having not won that same tournament in 11 years. And so, I think given the extraordinary level of determination that Tiger Woods has shown throughout his career, it would probably be foolish to rule him out at this point.

POPPY HARLOW, CO-ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Yes, Jemele, that's such a good point. We can never count him out, given what he has shown us that he can do. And to the point of the pain that he's gone through in his life, both, you know, through many physical injuries, some pain, self- inflicted by decisions he's made, now this crash that he's lucky to be alive after, I just wonder what you think all of that collective pain and what he's gone through and how he has grown through it, tell us about the man aside from the athlete. HILL: Well, I think there's always going to be parts of Tiger Woods

that we aren't privy to. And you know, mostly, it's because I think he's kind of always been that way. And we have to consider the fact that he's been in the media spotlight since a very young age. I mean, he is a prodigy. And so, with all of that, and with everything that he's gone through, you know, most of us probably wouldn't handle it well if all of our -- not just our faults and our stumbles, but our entire growth process were being played out before the world.

And overall, even though, yes, I mean, he's had some very public moments that have been embarrassing for him and his family. The fact of the matter is, he's handled it reasonably well, considering how long that he's been in the spotlight. What we learned is that Tiger Woods is human. And I know that when he was holding all of the major tournament titles at once, and when he was going on a run in golf like we've never seen, people forgot that he was indeed human and people put him on such a pedestal that, there was a lot more to the story than we knew. But I think that's more of our fault than Tiger Woods. And then he just went through a growth process and --

JIM SCIUTTO, CO-ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Yes --

HILL: That's kind of what it was.

HARLOW: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Listen, personal suffering is hard enough. Personal suffering in public is just a different story. Jemele Hill, thanks so much. Great to have you on this morning.

HILL: Yes, thank you all for having me.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, despite reports of tension between the two men, Mike Pence now says he maintains a close personal friendship with former President Trump, and he has a new plan to defend their administration's record.

HARLOW: Also, three of President Biden's cabinet nominees are in jeopardy of not getting enough votes to be confirmed. A key vote on one of those nominees set for today has now been postponed. We'll tell you about that. And minutes from now, the second Capitol Hill hearing on the insurrection there begins as the Justice Department faces an uphill climb to keep some of those Capitol rioters behind bars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

HARLOW: We do have breaking news this morning. Both of today's confirmation hearings, the vote on Neera Tanden's nomination to be director of the OMB are now postponed.

SCIUTTO: And a Senate Homeland Security Committee official tells CNN the decision to delay at least one vote was made because senators want more time to consider her nomination. I imagine there's some back-room dealing going on too. CNN's Lauren Fox is following the latest. Lauren, focus on one particular Democratic senator's vote when it comes to Tanden. What do you know?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, we know that Senator Joe Manchin said he could not support Tanden's nomination on Friday. But the key vote we are looking at is Kyrsten Sinema; a Democrat from the state of Arizona who has not said whether or not she would support Neera Tanden. And her vote matters because not only is she a member of the Democratic Party, but she serves on the Homeland Security Committee. That committee, of course, like you said, has postponed their ultimate consideration of Tanden's nomination.

The Budget Committee has done the same. They are trying to give members more time. But the bottom line is, this is a significant obstacle for the Biden administration. This is their first nominee that they are coming up into conflict with members of their own party up on Capitol Hill. And then I think that this is significant in part because this is showing you just how narrow the Democratic majority really is. I mean, you have a 50-50 Senate. That means you need to hold your entire Democratic caucus together or you need to go find Republican votes. And we just have not seen any kind of sense that Republicans are going to be willing to come forward and back Tanden.

We are still waiting on whether or not Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, would be willing to do so, but she wanted to see this nomination move through the committee process, then she said she would make an ultimate decision. So, Tanden's nomination obviously in question right now, Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: And there are other two big picks from Biden. Becerra and Haaland that are now in question. There are concerns Mitt Romney has about both of them.

FOX: Well, that's exactly right. Look, this is another example. If Democrats are all united on these nominees, then they're going to move through the U.S. Senate. But I think, you know, you're waiting to see what Senator Joe Manchin says about Haaland's nomination as well as Becerra's nomination. He says he never makes these decisions before the committee hearings are over. They're going to continue consideration today in those committees in the U.S. Senate. And so, I think there's just a question mark whether or not she's going to have Democratic votes. But on the Republican side, there are deep concerns about both Becerra and Haaland, and Mitt Romney told me yesterday that, you know, he views Haaland's past positions on energy extraction, her support of the green new deal to be potentially problematic as her role is the interior secretary.

[09:25:00]

And that, in part, is because he's from Utah, a western state where fossil fuel extraction is part of the legacy of that state, and the federal land issues has become -- have become really difficult for conservatives in that state. So I think that it's just important to remember that Democrats can do this on their own. But if they fall apart, if one member moves off that target, they need Republican support, and that's why comments from people like Romney really matter in this moment.

SCIUTTO: Yes --

HARLOW: Yes, also shows the power of Senator Manchin right now on so many things, Lauren, on these nominations, on stimulus, on minimum wage. A lot. Thank you --

SCIUTTO: You're welcome --

HARLOW: For the reporting --

SCIUTTO: And I imagine, Poppy --

HARLOW: Yes, Jim --

SCIUTTO: Had they not gotten those two Georgia Senate seats, right? I mean, imagine these confirmation process --

HARLOW: I was just thinking that --

SCIUTTO: With a Republican majority --

HARLOW: I --

SCIUTTO: Different kettle of fish.

HARLOW: Yes, such a good point. OK, well, also this development. Former Vice President Mike Pence is standing by his former boss. That's right. Pence told a group of conservative lawmakers yesterday he maintains a close personal friendship with the former president.

SCIUTTO: It's remarkable considering the threats to Pence --

HARLOW: Right --

SCIUTTO: During the Capitol insurrection, and his team saying the president didn't even check in on him. Didn't check in on him. And it led to that violence --

HARLOW: And the tweets about Pence in the middle of it.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And genuine hurt apparently from the Pence camp, but, well, short memories perhaps. Let's go to CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju. Manu, I mean, quite a turn from Pence and his team, and now he's launching a new effort to sort of sell and defend the Trump administration record.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. He told this group of conservative Republicans yesterday that he does plan to mount an organization, create his own organization to defend the Trump-Pence record. This is according to the chairman of the Republican Senate Committee Jim Banks who told me all about the meeting that occurred behind closed doors yesterday. And he made very clear, Pence did, that he and Donald Trump maintain a very good relationship in the telling of Mike Pence, according to Banks. He said that Pence spoke favorably about his relationship with Trump.

And Banks told me, I got the sense they speak often. They maintain the same personal friendship and relationship now that they have for four years. And of course, as you mentioned, this is significant because of what happened on January 6th and pro-Trump demonstrators coming into the Capitol looking for Mike Pence and Donald Trump tweeting about -- attacking Mike Pence even during the Capitol riot. But he did not express, I'm told, any ill will towards the former president. Talked approvingly about the former president, they didn't even speak about what Donald Trump did in the run up to January 6th and what he did on January 6th.

That appears to be at least publicly or at least privately behind closed doors in the rear-view mirror with the former vice president. And also a sign here of the enduring power that Donald Trump still has over the Republican Party, over his vice president, and as the party tries to figure out a way forward. As we know, guys, the party is still grappling with the former president's role, but in the house, in particular, a lot of them are still very much in Donald Trump's camp.

SCIUTTO: Guys --

HARLOW: Yes --

SCIUTTO: Remember, the vast majority of the House Republican caucus voted to overturn the results of this election. We can't forget that, and that happened the day of the Capitol insurrection. Manu Raju on the Hill, thanks very much. As Congress tries to get more answers on the violent insurrection at the Capitol, the Justice Department is having a hard time keeping defendants in jail. Why is that?

HARLOW: We're also moments away here from the opening bell on Wall Street this Wednesday morning. Futures a little bit lower after being up slightly earlier. Fed Chair Jerome Powell set to speak to Congress again today after yesterday's testimony to lawmakers and Wall Street. We'll keep a close eye on what he says today. Yesterday though, the Fed chair said the economy is a long way from our employment and inflation goals. He did add, though, that signs point to a, quote, "improved outlook" for later this year. Some good news to hang your hat on, we're watching all of it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)