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Doctor: Tiger Woods' Right Leg Stabilized with Rod, Screws and Pins; Mike Pence Touts Close Relationship with Trump Despite Insults, Failure to Check on His Safety During Riot; Bipartisan Backlash over GOP Sen. Ron Johnson's Capitol Riot Denial; Awkward Moment Between GOP Leaders over Trump's Role; House Expected to Vote on Biden's COVID Relief Plan; Both Republicans, Some Democrats Show Opposition to $15 Minimum Wage Increase. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 24, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

DR. JOSEPH PATTERSON, ORTHOPEDIC TRAUMA SURGEON, KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, USC: When muscles and other tissues swell in response to injury, think of muscles like a sausage lined with a casing, called facia, that can't go anywhere, pressure builds.

If pressure rises higher than blood pressure blood and oxygen can't get to the tissue. You have a few hours before that, tissue starts to die and additional permanent damage happens. It's a surgical emergency.

So for a patient with multiple open fractures in the leg involving the tibia and fibula, with a, open at the, the compartment syndrome requiring a fasciotomy is a very serious, possible devastating injury.

(CROSSTALK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Let me -- let me jump in, Doc. You have me at devastating injury. And even looking at the remnants of the car, one could deduce that would be the situation.

It's my understanding he has pins, screws and rods in his body. I'm wondering what that's holding together. Might there be other injuries we haven't learned of? And might this have been the first of multiple surgeries that he has to endure?

PATTERSON: A great question. We do know that he's had a fasciotomy. He'll need one additional surgery to close or cover the area of his leg where the skin and facia were released.

Fractures, it depends on the pattern and how it's been broken. Frequently, we frequently use pins or wires, screws, rods, plates, and other devices to reconstruct the bone skeleton in a way to make it functional.

Sometimes if there's a really bad injury to muscle and soft tissue around the bones, it may make multiple stages and multiple reconstruction operations. And the clock for recovery can only start when the reconstructions are done.

If the joints are involved, the bone is unstable, in many pieces, may limit standing on walking on the leg from a few weeks to a few months.

And then, only if they're healing well, can we really start physical therapy in full.

BALDWIN: Wow. What I'm hearing from you is he may not be walking for quite some time, let alone, the idea of playing golf.

Dr. Joseph Patterson, thank you so much for your expertise. And thank you for doing what you do. Appreciate it.

PATTERSON: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I want to get to politics. Republican Senator Ron Johnson is facing bipartisan backlash for spreading wild claims that "fake Trump protesters" that's his quote -- led the U.S. capitol riots. At least one Republican calling him disgraceful.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:26]

BALDWIN: Former Vice President Mike Pence is making a surprising statement. We are learning that Mike Pence told a group of conservative lawmakers Tuesday he maintains a close, personal friendship with Trump.

I want to start with our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash.

Dana, all of this comes as Mike Pence prepares his return into the political scene. If he has bigger political ambitions, obviously, he knows he needs Trump and Trump voters.

But Pence's life was threatened mere weeks ago. Trump didn't really kind of seem to care. So what? They're, like, buddies again?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I wouldn't go that far. They're not -- I wouldn't say they're buddies again.

But Mike Pence is a -- a politician who knows how to read the room. And in this particular case, the room in which you're talking about a group of members of the Republican Study Committee, which he chaired about, I don't know, 15 years ago.

Back then, the group was really focused on core conservative principles, fiscally and socially conservative principles.

Now, you know, it's -- it's very focused on being Trumpy, and he understands that.

And, you know, the praise that we are told that he was giving the president was -- you know, talking about them being friendly and so forth -- is him on the politics of this. Keeping his powder dry, trying to lay low and kind of, you know, reach out to different constituencies in the GOP as he figures out what happens in 2024, if the former president is going to run again.

And if not, you know, he certainly, I'm sure, would be pleased with the endorsement.

BALDWIN: Senator Ron Johnson is full-on spouting these conspiracy theories and then you have Republican Senator Adam Kinzinger calling his words "disgraceful, dangerous" in these tweets we're showing.

Let me just play for everyone, this is some of what Senator Johnson is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI) (voice-over): One thing is -- and this will get me in trouble, but I don't care. Again, I condemn what happened. It was reprehensible. It never should have happened.

But there were groups of agitators that were the tip of the spear that caused that. Not the tens of thousands of Trump supporters who would never even contemplate that.

And quite honestly, where the video edited where people were helping police. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-huh.

JOHNSON: But the fact of the matter is, this didn't seem like an armed insurrection to me. I mean, armed. When you think of the word "armed," don't you think of firearms?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: How is this even allowed to happen?

BASH: I mean, that's a really good question. Look, it's a new, sad world when you're talking about, you know, members of Congress being in it -- this is on a radio show.

But he wasn't that far off from the way he was during a -- a very important hearing on this very topic, a fact-finding hearing.

Afterwards, the chair of that hearing, Amy Klobuchar, felt the need to tweet out, "As our hearing concludes, I want to make one thing clear, provocateurs did not storm capitol. They were not fake Trump protesters."

Having to kind of correct the record."

As I was watching that yesterday, I was thinking that Senators -- frankly, it should be both sides of the aisle but Democrat are in now control.

They have to adjust their approach, like we, as journalists, adjusted our approach during the Trump era, which is to not let things stand when they are just factual -- not just factually wrong but just actual full-on conspiracy theories and done for the congressional record.

[14:40:05]

BALDWIN: You saw this earlier. Kevin McCarthy and Liz Cheney were both asked this morning whether former President Trump should speak this weekend at CPAC. Safe to say the leaders aren't on the same page.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you believe President Trump should be speaking -- or former President Trump should be speaking at CPAC this weekend?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Yes, he should.

REPORTER: Congresswoman Cheney?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): That's up to CPAC. I've been clear on my views about President Trump and the extent to which following January 6.

I don't think that he should be playing a role in the future of the party.

MCCARTHY: On that high note, thank you all very much.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mean -- I don't even have the words. Like, does that not perfectly encapsulate where the Republican Party is right now?

BASH: No, it absolutely does.

I have to say, having been at so many of those stakeouts where everybody is trying to stay on the same page and make sure their talking points are right, well, Liz Cheney doesn't care, or maybe I should say it's because she cares that she could have just said, I'm not going to answer that right now.

She did answer it. And she stood by the statements she's made, never mind the biggest statement she made with her vote for impeachment, about how she feels about the former president, and the very destructive role that she believes he has played and continues to play in her party.

And the fact she didn't back down from that, despite the company she was with, who are all much more timid to do that, was very, very noteworthy.

(CROSSTALK) BASH: And the fact she's the only woman and she's, you know, maybe, in some ways, somebody with the most -- again, we'll keep it clean -- guts to do that is also noteworthy.

BALDWIN: Noteworthy, indeed, sister. I think you are right in saying it's because she cares that she had to say her truth.

BASH: Yes.

BALDWIN: Dana Bash, thank you.

BASH: Thanks.

While the GOP may be divided over the future of their party, they appear to be united on one thing, opposing President Biden's COVID relief plan. How will that impact a planned vote on the bill this week?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:40]

BALDWIN: President Biden's $1.9 million COVID relief package is up for a House vote this week. It's shaping up to be far from the bipartisan effort the president was initially seeking.

Happening a short while ago, a closed-door meeting of House Republicans. The topic, COVID relief. According to two Republicans, no one spoke in favor of Biden's plan.

CNN's Jessica Dean is live on the Hill for us.

Jessica, we're looking ahead to a full-House vote Friday. Do party leaders have their members in line on this one?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN: Yes. And, Brooke, it sounds very much like Republicans are in line on voting against President Biden's COVID-19 relief big in the House.

In fact, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Congressman Fred Upton, two who voted for impeachment and can be bipartisan, signaled to our colleague, Manu Raju, that they will not support the COVID-19 relief plan, which really shows you that Republicans are united in this right now.

We see a party that is very fractured on how to move forward, on who's the leader of the party, how much influence should former President Trump have. Well, they're very united in that they are against this COVID-19 plan.

On the other side, the Democrats. We're told by Democratic leadership they have their caucus in order, that they are staying united and that they are going to gets they through.

But to your point, President Biden had hoped very much to have bipartisan support on this bill. But it looks like we are headed towards a very partisan vote on Friday -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Part of the piece that not everyone is pleased with.

By the way, not everyone, meaning Republicans and some Democrats, is the proposed $15 an hour minimum wage. Where does that stand?

DEAN: What we're waiting on right now, Brooke -- and this is where you get into the nitty-gritty of lawmaking on Capitol Hill -- is for the Senate parliamentarian to rule on whether that $15 minimum wage can be included in reconciliation, the methods Democrats are using to get this COVID-19 relief bill through.

So depending on what the parliamentarian says. And that ruling could come at any moment today, and no one really know how it could be. It could be more what it could be. Could be more of a gray area as to if it confirms yes or no.

Depending on that, it's going to be very indicative, of course, of how Democrats can move ahead with a $15 minimum wage under reconciliation. That's the big piece of it.

Under that, depending on what the parliamentarian says, Brooke, even Democrats are fractured over whether they support a $15 minimum wage.

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has said that she doesn't want that done under reconciliation.

Senator Manchin expressed his concerns about it.

The Democrats have their work cut out for them. Because, remember, for something to pass, they need their entire coalition to stay together.

And if they start having Democrats deflect, then they're going to be really stuck there in terms of where to find the other votes.

The other thing to keep in mind is Republicans, Senator Tom Cotton and Senator Mitt Romney, have put forward their own bill raising the federal minimum wage to $10.

Brooke, again, it shows you there's a difference between $15, $10. Would it be phased in? Would it be regionally different, depending on where you live?

These are all of the questions they need to get into.

[14:50:00]

But number one, the thing that has to happen first, get that ruling from the parliamentarian if they can even move forward with that under reconciliation -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Thank you. You aced setting up my next conversation on minimum wage.

Jessica Dean, I really appreciate that. Let me bring in CNN global business analyst, Rana Foroohar. She's a

global business columnist and associate editor at "The Financial Times."

Rana, good to see you.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL BUSINESS ANALYST: Good to see you.

BALDWIN: I want to start with this proposed minimum wage hike. You know, this would be the first minimum wage increase in more than a decade.

What are the implications of raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks? Does the good outweigh the bad. Because the CBO says it would cost 1.4 million jobs over the next four years while lifting 900,000 people out of poverty.

FOROOHAR: Right. You summed up the stats well.

I think what we have to remember, yes, if you raise the minimum wage, you're going to be essentially raising wages in areas like restaurants, lower-end services. And, you know, these are areas that have been hit really hard by COVID.

There's an argument to be made, if you put too much wage pressures on these areas, you could see a loss of jobs.

Brooke, to be honest, a lot of these jobs are going to be lost by technology in the next few years anyway.

And while looking at that, you also have to look at the fact that American wages as a whole have been stagnant since the 1990s. Working- class wages have really not gone up since the early 1970s.

So, you know, people are really hurting out there.

I think that raising the minimum is a politically important statement. I think Democrats will come together on it. And I do think that the good outweighs the bad economically.

BALDWIN: What about big picture COVID relief. Many Americans are struggling and they need the help.

You heard Jessica reporting that the full House will vote on Friday. What can Americans expect to get this money?

FOROOHAR: Well, it's going to take a few weeks. You know, there's always a lag because of the way that these checks go out.

I think that, by late spring, early summer, you're going to really start to see an uptick in the economy.

And then that raises the questions, of course, of inflation. That's something that the Fed is thinking about very, very carefully.

Janet Yellen, the treasury chief, is a labor economist. She's going to be working closely with the Fed to make sure that real average working people are getting help, but that the economy is not going to be overheating.

And that's going to be a very, very tricky line to walk.

BALDWIN: I want to ask you about exactly that, about not letting the economy overheat. But at the same time, we all want this post-COVID boom.

I was reading this article in the "New York Times" earlier this week and they were talking about, all right, big picture, COVID cases are falling.

The vaccine rollout, yes, it's been slow but it's gaining steam.

Millions of Americans are about to hopefully get the COVID relief.

And this is a quote from the piece: "When the pandemic ends, cash could be unleashed like melting snow in the Rockies. Consumers released from their cabin fever compete for hotel rooms and restaurant tables.

"Businesses compete for employees and supplies to meet the demand. "Workers, who were sidelined by childcare responsibilities or virus

fears, are drawn back to the labor force by suddenly abundant opportunities."

FOROOHAR: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Sounds pretty good to me. Is that realistic?

(LAUGHTER)

FOROOHAR: Well, as I said, I think that you are going to see an uptick this summer. Just look back even last summer, when we came out of that initial crackdown, in the warmer months, people got back out. There was a little bit of an uptick.

And certainly, with the vaccine being so much online, that's going to be the case.

The question is whether it will last.

Savings rates in this country are up to levels that you haven't seen in decades because people know that things are rocky. They know that there may be future downturns coming.

We're in a K-shaped economy, right? There's a lot of us that are doing very well. There's many people that really have not felt any kind of help and that are really still struggling.

And so I think that, by 2022, you may be starting to see whatever boom there is flattening out. Let's hope it doesn't turn to a bust.

BALDWIN: Rana Foroohar, thank you so much.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let me get to the breaking news this afternoon. Tiger Woods is awake after surgery as investigators release new details about the crash saying it was purely an accident. Pictures of that have car as they are lifting it out of the scene there in southern California.

[14:54:23]

Also, the first Biden-era COVID-19 vaccine takes a huge step forward, and it only involves a single shot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The FAA is now making all air carriers inspect all Pratt & Whitney engines similar to the one that dramatically failed on a United Airlines flight on Saturday, catching fire and sending debris onto neighborhoods outside side of Denver. Miraculously, nobody was hurt.

But the FAA is now calling for carriers to conduct a special thermal- acoustic-image inspection because the tiny cracks in the fan blades that indicate wear and tear are not necessarily visible to the naked eye.

[14:58:58]

The directive effectively grounds all Boeing 777 200 planes that use the Pratt & Whitney engines.

We roll on. Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.