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Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) Says He Will Not Resign; Russia Spreading Disinformation On Vaccines; Expert Warns We're In The Eye Of The Hurricane With COVID; Highly Contagious Variant Spikes As U.S. Races To Vaccinate; NBA Stars Highlight Political Issues On All-Star Weekend; Palace Braces For Harry And Meghan Interview With Oprah. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 07, 2021 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela brown in Washington. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You are live in the CNN Newsroom on this busy Sunday, because there are explosive developments in New York as Governor Andrew Cuomo digs in his heels in the face of new allegations of inappropriate conduct.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY) (voice over): There are some legislators who suggest that I resign because of accusations that are made against me. I was elected by the people of the state. I wasn't elected by politicians. I'm not going to resign because of allegations.

Anybody has the ability to make an allegation in democracy, and that's great. But it's in the credibility of the allegation.

No, there is no way I resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And now there are mounting calls from key Democrats where Cuomo's resignation despite his vow to stay in office. The state Senate majority leader is telling CNN in a statement a short time ago, New York is still in the midst of this pandemic and it's facing the societal health and economic impacts of it. We need to govern without daily distraction. For the good of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign.

The back and forth sparked by accusations from a third woman, former Cuomo staffer Ana Liss tells The Wall Street Journal that the governor asked her if she had a boyfriend, called her a sweetheart, touched her on her lower back at a reception and once kissed her hand when she rose from her desk.

CNN's Alexandra Field joins me now for more. So, what can you tell us about these latest accusations and Cuomo's response today, Alexandra? ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Pamela. We are hearing more from some of these women. They continue to come forward. You have four now who are alleging inappropriate conduct from the governor. Three of them are former staff members, including Ana Liss. She spoke to The Wall Street Journal. She was reportedly with the administration from 2013 to 2015.

She tells The Journal that she did not file a complaint at the time. Instead, she requested a transfer of office. But she says she considers the governor's behavior to have been inappropriate. She details a time at the executive mansion during the reception when the governor kissed her on both cheeks, put his arms around her back, touched her waist. The Journal has a photo of the two of them together.

The governor was asked about those interactions with Liss this afternoon, and he described those interactions as being comparable to interactions with dozens of staff members over a period of decades. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO (voice over): I say to people in the office, how are you doing, how's everything? Are you going out? Are you dating? That's my way of doing friendly banter.

I take pictures with people at ceremonial events. That is a very common practice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: So, the governor went on to say that if the, quote/unquote, customs change, his behavior would change. He has maintained that he never touched anyone inappropriately, but he has apologized for making anyone feel uncomfortable, saying that that was unintentional.

But, Pamela, as for those people who are calling on the governor to resign, he says there is no way he's going to do that. He says that is not due process. Instead, he says the state's attorney general, Letitia James, must be allowed to thoroughly conduct her investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. The findings will dictate what happens next. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Alex Field live for us from New York, thanks so much.

And now let me bring in someone who has covered New York politics for many years, CNN Political Commentator Errol Louis. Errol, how significant is it that the New York Senate majority leader is now calling on governor Cuomo to resign?

[18:05:00]

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's very, very significant. She had resisted going quite that far. She had originally called for an investigation. But as the leader of the majority conference in the Senate and a similar statement came out from the speaker of the assembly, not quite as forceful but saying he essentially agreed with it.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate majority leader has a veto-proof majority if she were to mobilize just Democrats even without help from the Republicans, all of whom dislike the governor, she would, in fact, have the votes to sort of move an impeachment forward. So, it's very, very significant.

It's also significant, Pamela, because we have a lot of problems, which was alluded to in her statement. We've had 47,000 people die of COVID in the last year. We've got this budget that's due in three weeks, very little progress has been made on it. When I interviewed Andrea Stewart-Cousins just the other day, she said she had not spoken to the governor in two weeks. This is not the time for that.

And there are, of course, other issues going on with nursing home deaths, with those -- just something that was revealed today, a major investigation about safety problems possibly being covered up on one of the most important bridges in the state.

So, her statement was saying, like, listen, we just don't have the time to go through all of this stuff. You, Governor Cuomo, are not able to do your job because of this cloud hanging over you.

BROWN: Yes. What do you make of the timing? Like, what do you think it was that sort of moved the needle enough for her to come out and release this statement? It struck me that she did it after Cuomo was pretty defiant today and basically saying he is not going to resign, and there should be an investigation.

LOUIS: Yes. My guess is that the governor was trying to get ahead of the news, that he knew what she was going to say and got tipped off and wanted to try to beat her to the punch.

I do think that one of the factors here, and I'd urge everybody to take a look at it, the paper in the state capitol, The Times Union had this major investigation in which between 1 percent and 50 percent of the bolts on a major bridge, apparently, there's paperwork suggesting that experts say that they could fail, that there could be a catastrophic failure on a heavily used bridge, and the investigation today, which took quite a long time because the administration didn't want to turn over data, appeared to have downplayed or even covered up part of it. There's going to be a whole look at all of that on top of everything else that's been going on.

And so when the governor appears to legislative leaders to be an unreliable negotiating partner, our whole system breaks down. We have a system that really requires close cooperation between the leaders of the legislature and the governor. That right now is in shambles.

BROWN: All right. Errol Louis, thank you for bringing us the very latest there.

And tonight, I'll speak to Yuh-Line Niou of the New York State Assembly. She has called for Governor Cuomo to resign in the wake of these allegations. And she'll explain why in the next hour. So stay with us for that.

But, first, I want to turn to the coronavirus pandemic, and one of the medical communities' worst fears right now. Super-spreader events, large gatherings of people paying little attention to social distancing or wearing masks. Look here, this is Daytona Beach, Florida, where the annual bike week is in full swing. You see people there not wearing masks, although this month, hundreds of colleges will send students on spring break.

The CDC director has a blunt message for Americans considering vacation plans right now. Do not travel, she says.

CNN's Natasha Chen is in Atlanta for us now where the NBA All-Star game is being played tonight. So, Natasha, safe to say not everyone is heeding that message. Plenty of people traveled to All-Star weekend in Atlanta.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that's even in spite of the fact the NBA did not invite the public to come watch this game that's happening behind us. So it's rather quiet right where we are. But in the rest of Atlanta, that's where we're seeing the activity. In fact, we found some promotions for events online. We'll show you some of these here.

CNN has reached out to Shaquille O'neill to see if he's aware that his face is on one of these ads. I've reached out to other event venues and promoters that you're seeing here. Most of them have not responded to us. But the one that you're seeing All-Star Baller Weekend, they actually picked up the phone and told me, no comment, when I asked whether they had protocols in place for the health and safety of their guests.

So you can see there's just a lot of demand for people wanting to socialize, understandably. But health experts also say that doing so could really reverse a lot of the positive strides we've taken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN (voice over): Outside tonight's NBA All-Star game in Atlanta, no fans. It's a made-for-T.V. only event. The NBA and the city of Atlanta have asked people not to come.

ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: There will be nothing that we will be doing in Atlanta, unfortunately, that's open to the public. So I want to discourage people from coming to Atlanta for the All-Star festivities.

CHEN: Atlanta is not alone. Officials in popular vacation spots like Florida worry they could see potential super-spreader events as college students pack beaches and resorts for spring break.

[18:10:06]

MAYOR DAN GELBER (D), MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA: We are very worried that there's going to be a convergence of people here and a real problem in the aftermath of that. CHEN: One of the big problems is some states like Texas and Mississippi are dropping mask mandates. It's a move that other governors say they won't follow.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I have a great deal of respect for my colleagues in Texas and Mississippi.

With the vaccine, we're now on the offense. That's the great thing. But in Ohio, we can't give up the defense. We have found that these masks work exceedingly well.

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MI): Our approach has been to not only protect lives but to also protect livelihoods. We have to get our economy rolling so that individuals can get back to work.

Statewide mandates have not been in effect in our state over the last six months and we're not going back to that.

CHEN: On Saturday, according to the Daily Camera, hundreds showed up for an outdoor gathering near the campus at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Fireworks from set off. Police said three SWAT officers were hit with bricks and rocks and were hurt while trying to break this gathering up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN: So, it's really a push right now for authorities to try and prevent these mass gatherings before everyone is vaccinated.

Now, of course the vaccines available right now are for adults, but Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS that he believes high schoolers could be vaccinated by fall, though younger children may have to wait a little bit longer, like the first quarter of next year. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Natasha Chen, thank you for bringing us the very latest there from Atlanta.

And coming up this hour, I'm going to ask a former member of President Biden's COVID task force if vaccinations can outrun the new variants.

And LeBron James is fighting voter suppression ahead of the NBA All- Star game.

Plus, Minneapolis is bracing for the trial of an ex-police officer accused in the death of George Floyd.

And heads up for the next hour, we're going to take you to Iraq where the pope has been touring areas destroyed by ISIS.

But, first, we are following more breaking news. Tonight, a State Department spokesperson telling me tonight that Russia is deliberately undermining confidence in America's COVID vaccines. That's next. Stay with us.

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[18:15:00]

BROWN: Well, more Americans than ever are now saying that they are willing to get the COVID vaccine. But tonight, we are learning that Russia is actively working to undermine confidence in vaccines being administered in this country. This time, a State Department spokesperson tells me tonight that the Kremlin is using four online publications in a campaign to undermine confidence in COVID-19 vaccines in the west.

The spokesperson says the publications, quote, spread many types of disinformation, including about both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, as well as international organizations, military conflicts, protests and any divisive issue that they can exploit.

A Kremlin spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal, who first reported this, that these allegations are, quote, rubbish.

Former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty joins me. She is an expert in Russia and the former Soviet Union and currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Thanks so much for joining us.

Bottom line is, why is Russia trying to undermine confidence in the vaccines that have been proven safe and effective? I did speak to a source who said this is something that is right out of their playbook, and they are being competitive over its own vaccine. How do you see it?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: It is. I mean, it really sadly is kind of out of this very old playbook that goes back to the Soviet Union. And what they're doing, look, this is a very big deal for Russia. Now, they're on the world stage. Remember, go back to, like, August last summer when they announced the very first vaccine in the entire world. And they announced it even as they were carrying out major clinical trials. So they wanted to be first.

And why they want to be first is important, you know, economically because they will sell the vaccine, they will sell the licenses to produce the vaccine. Geopolitically, it's very important because they get their name out there. They are now the latest -- on their website, 45 countries that have approved the use of this. So it's very important kind of geopolitically.

And then I think the biggest thing, and look at the name of it, Sputnik. Sputnik 1957, the satellite that went around the earth, very first satellite in space, so it's significant because Russia wants to be back on the stage as a technologically sophisticated country able to come up with all of these not only this but other pharmaceuticals, so, on many different levels is very important. Pam.

BROWN: And you're right. In August, I remember when they first released it. There was a lot of skepticism for good reason because, as you point out, those clinical trials were still going on, there wasn't sufficient data according to medical experts. And so one source I spoke to said that Russia felt like it didn't get the kind of attention and recognition it deserved then. And so that could also be feeding into this disinformation campaign. Now, The Wall Street Journal reports that social media accounts affiliated with those four disinformation sites were largely removed from the big platforms. But when it comes to disinformation on social media, we often see a spark turn into a flame. How damaging could this be toward vaccine hesitancy, in your view?

DOUGHERTY: I think it's all part of this swirling anti-vax world that's really international. I mean, we here in the United States have our own anti-vaxxers, people who criticize any type of vaccination whatsoever. So I think what happens is this gets fed into having some kind of off-beat, one of them I saw in an academic journal. It gets mixed up into that world and gets spun around and picked up by various publications, tweeted, you know, the Russian government is tweeting a lot of this.

[18:20:06]

And it's a combination of the western vaccines, could be any of them, are not reliable, they have dangerous side effects, all of these misinformation about it.

And then at the same time saying, and, by the way, Sputnik is the world's best vaccination. President Putin himself a long time ago when this first came out said, hey, my daughter was inoculated with this. So it's tearing down and building up their own (ph).

BROWN: And this is obviously, as you point out, a larger pattern of behavior to sow distrust. We saw it with the election as well. What sort of response should we expect to see from President Biden, if any?

DOUGHERTY: You know, I don't see what the White House can -- honestly can or maybe even should do with this. This is just kind of part of the -- you know, what is to be expected right now, which is it is one world of disinformation. It can come from someplace, might be even hard to pin down, precisely the State Department obviously feels confident that this is coming from Russia. But these are not major publications. And it's nothing that we shouldn't expect. And I would say, my own opinion, I would say it's not any worse than anything we see here in the United States.

That said, all of this together can be dangerous because it could affect somebody. They will say, I don't think it's going to work, I think I'll get a side effect and not take it. And that is a danger.

BROWN: All right, Jill Dougherty, thank you so much for coming on sharing your perspective.

And up next tonight, former Biden COVID task force member Celine Gounder, I'll ask if she thinks the country is reopening too soon and whether vaccinations can outrun the variants. We'll be right back.

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[18:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL OSTERHOLM CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Let me just say we are in the eye of the hurricane right now. It appears that things are going very well. We would see blue skies. We've been through a terrible, terrible year. But what we know is about to come upon us is this situation with this B117 variant, the virus that originated in the United Kingdom that today is wreaking havoc in parts of Europe, 27 countries seeing significant cases with this really hitting hard.

Many of these countries have been in lockdown now for two months just to try to control this virus. Last time I was on your show four weeks ago, the B117 variants went up to 1 to 4 percent of the viruses we are seeing communities across the country. Today, it's up 30 to 40 percent. And when we've seen in Europe, when we hit that 50 percent mark, you'll see cases surge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Michael Osterholm there with a sobering warning on a surge in COVID variants. I want to get the reaction from our CNN Medical Analyst and Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Celine Gounder. Dr. Gounder, what do you think of what he just said?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes. Mike like me, was on the Biden/Harris COVID transition advisory board. And this is something our group has been very concerned about over the several months. I can tell you on Christmas Eve, our board had an emergency meeting to discuss this B117 variant, and we've been tracking it very closely since then.

Yes, things do look better. Our biggest surge, which was over the winter holidays, seems to be evading. But we have plateaued at about 60,000 cases a day, which is really on par with the second surge of our peak over the summer. So, yes, things are better but they're not back to normal. We're definitely not out of the woods yet.

And now with the entry of this B117 variant, which is more transmissible, so it spreads more easily from person to person, where it has hit in the U.K. and now also in Europe, it has really been catastrophic, has driven up rates of hospitalizations and deaths and is very difficult to control.

So this is sort of like, you know, we've been running this really long marathon, and we're a hundred yards from the finish line and we sit down and we give up. We are almost there. We just need to give ourselves a bit more time to get a larger proportion of the population covered with vaccines.

BROWN: And it seems like part of the country feels like they have already gone past the finish line, like they've already ran the marathon, they're over it. I mean, you see people packing into Atlanta for the NBA All-Star weekend, even though tonight's game is closed to the public. Local night clubs and bars are trying to attract fans. Some states are rolling back their restrictions. People are making spring break travel plans. How dangerous is this false sense of security right now? GOUNDER: Well, I do think we're going to see another surge. I think even without the B117 variant, because people are so letting down their guards, they're not masking, they are gathering in large groups indoors, there is no question we're going to see a surge as a result of this. And I can only hope that the rates of hospitalizations and deaths are not on par with what we've seen with prior surges.

BROWN: Well, how do the vaccines factor into this? Because I believe it's 30 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, we're averaging over 2 million vaccinations a day, so how much will that help prevent another surge or at least put a dent in it?

GOUNDER: Well, it will certainly prevent some of the worst cases, especially the way long-term care facilities, nursing homes, for example, have been hit especially hard over the course of the pandemic. Those facilities were targeted first for vaccination.

[18:30:01]

So hopefully those residents, those elderly persons, disabled persons who are living in such facilities will be insulated from some of what's happening in the general public. But there are still many people with chronic medical conditions, older people who are not in long-term care facilities who have yet to be vaccinated.

And it really won't be until May that we have enough vaccine available for every adult who wants to be vaccinated to get vaccinated. And so that really should be our target for when we should be able to hopefully lift some of these mitigation measures.

BROWN: But there's a difference between enough supply and people actually being able to get vaccinated. We heard one official this morning, Jeff Zients from the White House, he wouldn't confirm a timeline.

What do you see in terms of that timeline when everyone who wants a vaccine will be vaccinated?

GOUNDER: Yes. I think I would anticipate some time by middle of the summer. By the time we get enough vaccine supply, ramp up our distribution, that's going to require really ramping up what we're doing through federally qualified health centers, which are these community health clinics embedded in some of the most vulnerable communities, ramping up what we're doing through retail pharmacies, through your local drug store, as well as continuing some of these mass vaccination sites.

Right now, as you said, we're at about two million doses a day. Yesterday we hit almost about three million doses in a day. So we're on track but we need to be expanding that distribution capacity.

BROWN: In the absence of CDC guidance telling people what to do once they're vaccinated, what advice do you give people watching right now who are wondering, who have been vaccinated and want to know if they can see their grand kids, what they should be doing? GOUNDER: Well, I think a good rule of thumb is if you have been

vaccinated and you are around other people, all of whom have also been vaccinated, you can go back to whatever you did before the pandemic. If you are in a group of people that's mixed, some vaccinated, some not, probably you should still be wearing masks. And of course if no one has been vaccinated, you really do need to continue wearing masks and social distancing and all the rest.

BROWN: And you're saying wear a mask because you could still be a holder of the virus, right, and spread it, is that correct?

GOUNDER: That's right. So you -- even though you have been vaccinated, you could become a carrier for the virus and not get sick and spread it to others. And so, you know, when I think about these multigenerational families, grandparents, adult children and kids, the group I'm actually most worried about, assuming the grandparents have now been vaccinated, it's those adult kids.

Many adults in the United States have chronic medical conditions. They may themselves be in their 40s, 50s, or 60s. So not young spry chickens themselves. And so very much at risk for severe disease.

BROWN: All right, Dr. Celine Gounder, as always, thank you so much for coming on sharing all of your wisdom on this. We appreciate it.

And in just a few minutes from now, I'll have a story that you don't want to miss, a single mother tells me how her teenage daughter's anxiety and depression got worse as the pandemic went on. And just two months ago the girl tried to take her own life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY PHILLIPS, DAUGHTER SURVIVED SUICIDE ATTEMPT: She kind of shut me out and, you know, would just be in her room alone and cry. She's very anxious about everything. I tried to text her back, and her phone was turned off. So, I just immediately knew, something in me told me exactly what was going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: We'll examine the mental health crisis and the pandemic among America's youth, coming up in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

But first, Lisa Racine hadn't been able to see her elderly father Harold since the start of the pandemic. And video calls, well, they just were not cutting it. So, guess what, she got a part-time job at his nursing home near St. Paul, Minnesota. Lisa is already a full-time project manager for a printing company. But since December she has been working several nights a week mopping floors, washing dishes and serving food to residents.

Apparently her 87-year-old dad almost didn't recognize her at first under the layers of protective clothing. Well, thanks to her work at the facility, Lisa was able to get the vaccine at the same time as her dad. She says she plans to keep working there even when COVID restrictions are lifted, and she can't wait to get the family together and take her dad out to dinner.

Boy, do I know that feeling.

And coming up on this Sunday evening, after the 2020 election Republican leaders in several states are looking to restrict voter access. But not if LeBron James has his say. Details on that up next.

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[18:38:54]

BROWN: It was the case that triggered a summer of social unrest in the middle of a global pandemic. The death of George Floyd last May in Minneapolis after an encounter with police. Tomorrow, jury selection will begin in the case against Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer seen with his knee on Floyd's neck for about nine minutes. Once selected, the jurors will be partially sequestered during the trial. Opening statements will begin no earlier than March 29th.

Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers face trial later in the summer.

It's an all-star weekend in the NBA, but many of the league's highest profile stars are also hard at work right now on something else. They are focused on American issues much bigger than basketball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES LEBRON, FORWARD, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: So this isn't the time to put your feet up or to think posting hash tags and black squares is enough. Because for us this was never about one election. It's always been more than a vote. It's a fight that's just getting started, and we've been ready.

Are you with us?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:40:02]

BROWN: More Than a Vote, it is a political organization founded by L.A. Lakers super star LeBron James and a long list of other black athletes and artists. Their goal is to throw a light on Republican lawmakers, the group accuses of intentionally making it harder for some people to vote.

Don Riddell is with me now from CNN Sports.

So, Don, this weekend especially more eyes than usual are on LeBron and other players involved in More Than a Vote. How are they making use of that spotlight?

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, they know, as you say, that a lot of people will be watching the All-star weekend. The All-Star Game is one of the biggest events on the NBA calendar. It did not happen last season and it might not happen this season. In fact, LeBron James was kind of annoyed that it was happening. But

since it is going ahead and since it just so happens to be in Atlanta, Georgia, of which many in the NBA are describing as ground zero in the fight against voting suppression, they are going to make the most of it.

You've just played a clip from that 30-second commercial narrated by LeBron James. It's an incredibly powerful ad. Some of the other lines he uses are, look what they're doing to try to silence us using every trick in the book, attacking democracy itself. They saw what we're capable of and they fear it.

Remember LeBron and many of the basketball players were involved in the More Than a Vote campaign which really at the time was about educating people about the importance of partaking in democracy, helping them get enrolled, and then encouraging them to go and vote. This time it's slightly different. This is less about the voters themselves and more about being aware of some of the legislation that has been discussed and considered in some 43 states across the country.

These athletes know that they have the media. They know they have microphones under their noses, and many of the players including LeBron have been talking about it this afternoon in the buildup to the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES: I think it's just been a great thing that we've been able to do More Than a Vote. Continue to highlight and continue to educate people on what's going on in a lot of our communities. With the voter suppression and things of that nature. And obviously, you know, making sure that people don't think that the job is done. The work is not completed. It's never completed.

Even if you have a victory, it's never completed. You know, we just want people to know that even with the election that happened and obviously it happened in a lot of our favor in November that there's still more job, there's still more work to be done.

Voter suppression is real in various communities here, especially in the one area and other places as well where they've voiced not having enough workers to work certain places and certain polls and certain neighborhoods, and things like that. Just a lack of resources overall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Pamela, I should say that these players have the full support of the NBA and the Basketball Players Association. And they're working closely with the NAACP in Georgia this weekend.

BROWN: All right, Don, thank you for bringing us the latest there.

Meantime, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sit down for their first interview since quitting the royal family. Tonight, Meghan says she feels liberated since leaving the family. But how is the palace responding? Details on that up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:48]

BROWN: It was a conversation where nothing was reportedly off limits. Oprah Winfrey's interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry airs tonight. And the couple is speaking up and out to set the record straight on everything from royal life to their historic move to the U.S., to the intense scrutiny from the British press.

CNN royal commentator Kate Williams joins me now from London.

So, Kate, let's just start with the very latest this past week. According to a report in the "Times of London," Buckingham Palace is looking into reports that the Duchess bullied at least one member of her staff. What do you make of the timing on this?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Pamela, the timing, as you say, that's the question. Because all week the newspapers here, they've been consumed, social media, it's all been about Harry and Meghan interview discussions, sometimes you have 40 or 50 stories about Meghan on each paper, on each newspaper Web site. And they're mostly all negative and they're mostly saying this interview's a catastrophe, bad for the royal family.

And then you have this story about bullying. And of course, everyone should be heard, anyone who suffers a toxic, difficult workplace should be heard. But these are three-year-old allegations. And what I thought was particularly curious was you don't have to go far, you don't have to Google to find examples of other royal family members, particularly Prince Andrew, there was a big story in 2019 about how he shouted at a courtier, possibly engaged in physical engagement with a courtier. And there was no immediate inquiry into that.

So really I think that this is the question. Why -- how come other royals who seem to have had shouted at staff, how come they aren't investigated but Meghan is?

And for many it did seem like very opportune moments that these three- year-old allegations which of course should be investigated, of course it's important, suddenly pop up a few days before an interview, which certainly it's been said that Buckingham Palace is concerned about, and yet the story in "The Times" was couched at saying the palace was -- people in the palace were hitting back because they felt that they weren't going to have the full story proposed.

And you simply won't think, why don't we all wait to see what Meghan actually has to say and then talk then?

[18:50:04]

But certainly it does seem as if it's all estranged. And I've seen a lot of people in America saying these in the states saying why there is no investigation into Prince Andrew but there is an investigation into Meghan's workplace? BROWN: Yes, a lot of people are pointing out that double standard.

Do you know what the royal family's plans are in terms of watching this interview?

WILLIAMS: Well, we understand that in the case of the Queen will not watch the interview. Of course, it's on very late in Britain. We all have to stay up to 1:00 a.m. to watch it, those of us who are watching it. And so the Queen will not watch it. But they will have courtiers who will watch it.

So if they wish to, which I'm sure they will be briefed about it tomorrow morning. And of course, tomorrow evening, Monday evening, it's going to be shown on our television in the U.K. And I expect it to get absolutely really very large viewings in the U.K.

It's certainly been a conversation that's consumed the U.K. There's a huge amount of coverage about it and a lot of sympathy for Meghan, a lot of sympathy for Meghan because simply we have a situation where a woman of color, exciting glamorous lady, she marries into the royal family.

And the coverage which we expect Meghan to be talking about, the coverage in the tabloids, the coverage in the newspapers, there has been sexism, and there has been so much racism, and simply she felt, her husband felt, Harry felt it was untenable to continue.

BROWN: So, that is the question, what will come from this interview with her. Will that sympathy, will she garner more sympathy from doing this interview? Or could it backfire? What do you think?

WILLIAMS: Well, we've seen people say it's going to backfire, it's going to be -- you know, she's going to regret it. But certainly, I think people say it's going to damage the royal family and damage perceptions. The thing is that what has already happened has been damaging.

And my expectation is she's not going to talk in any way other than respectfully with some affection about the Queen, about the Duke of Edinburgh, also if there's anything to be said about Charles and William, I think -- and Harry will be saying that.

I think Meghan herself will talk much more broadly about racism in Britain, about how she suffered with racism in the coverage, this racist coverage, and the fact that what other royal women did and was congratulated floor, Meghan was attacked for, whether it was closing car door or eating avocados or editing magazines. All of that, so I believe that she is going to talk about her philanthropy, her move to America.

I do expect her to talk about her very upsetting experience of pregnancy loss and also about racism in Britain and maybe like Princess Diana, she will talk about the courtiers, the men in gray suits because we know that Harry and Meghan, they wanted a half and half, to fund themselves and also support the Queen, perhaps by doing commonwealth tours. They would have been hugely successful, and yet this was blocked and this was not allowed.

And maybe I hoped it was going to be allowed. I do expect to see perhaps some conversation, the fact that they were simply not allowed to make a royal model in the way that they wanted to and the way that would have benefited the royal family. But I don't expect to see anything disrespectful I think that Meghan will not be speaking about this. And all the panic that she's going to be saying anything about Kate or about the royal family itself. I just don't think that's the case.

I think that people really have been panicking in the country. But we need to have a little faith that it's going to be much more broad about racism in Britain and how people of color and how people of color in influential positions, what their lives are like and the coverage that they suffer in Britain.

BROWN: OK. Kate Williams, thank you so much for that.

And we have seen just how much support fringe conspiracy groups like QAnon have among some Republican members of Congress. But why is QAnon getting a pass from some people from the right?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:28]

BROWN: So we already know that the extremist QAnon cult has enablers in Congress like Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. And now FOX News host Tucker Carlson is giving the movement a pass.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Do you ever notice how all like the scary Internet conspiracy theorist radical QAnon people, and you actually see them on camera or in jail cells as a lot of them now are? Maybe they're kind of confused. Maybe they've got the wrong ideas, but they're all kind of gentle people and they're all kind of waving American flags. They like the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So when extremists attacked the U.S. Capitol including QAnon supporters, were they being gentle and confused, as you see in this video when they chanted "hang Mike Pence"? They were being gentle when they call for the execution of Democratic leaders the way that Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene did before being elected? Are they just being gentle?

For the record, that is the basic tenet of QAnon, the Democrats and the deep state agents should be mass executed. That is the movement that Tucker Carlson says is just a bunch of gentle people.

To be clear, last night I spoke to a reformed Neo-Nazi about radicalization. And I asked him if he agrees that QAnon is a domestic terrorist threat. And here's what he told me. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK MEEINK, FORMER NEO-NAZI RECRUITER: Absolutely. QAnon is a huge -- the Neo-Nazi stuff that I belonged to is manifested in the QAnon, in the Proud Boys. So it's the same -- look, what I happen to learn how to not hate was I learned facts about myself. You know, to learn facts about myself so I don't need to hate other people. And when I see what I used to be, I see it in QAnon, I see it in the Proud Boys.