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Jury Selection for Derek Chauvin Trial Moves Forward Today; Biden to Mark One Year of Pandemic with Primetime Address Thursday; Texas to End Mask Mandate, Fully Reopen Business Tomorrow; House Gears Up for Vote on Biden's $1.9 Trillion Relief Bill; Taskforce Report Recommends More Officers and Security Upgrades After Capitol Hill Attack; Prince Charles Ducks Question About Harry and Meghan Interview. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 09, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:07]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Very good Tuesday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Poppy Harlow.

So starting next hour, jury selection will begin in the trial of Derek Chauvin. That is the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd. This follows yesterday's surprise delay in that trial. Chauvin is facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges but now the judge is considering reinstating a third-degree murder count. We'll have a live update from Minneapolis in just a moment.

Also this morning the White House has announced President Biden will deliver his first primetime address since taking office. That will be this Thursday. Of course, that day very significant. It marks one year since the COVID-19 shutdown.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Can you believe it's been a year? Well, that milestone comes as health experts are signaling really a brighter future ahead in this pandemic fight. The CDC says that more people in the U.S. have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 than those who have confirmed infected with the virus. It's really a huge development when you look at the numbers, as health experts do warn Americans to keep their guards up in the coming months.

The CDC has also now released new guidelines for those who have been fully vaccinated. Some things they don't -- some think they don't go far enough. What can you do? What can't you do?

A lot of news to get to this morning but let's begin with CNN's Omar Jimenez in Minneapolis as jury selection in Derek Chauvin's trial get sets to begin. And, you know, this is a long time coming, as you know, Omar. You were there in the immediate aftermath of this. A lot of anticipation for this trial. OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim and Poppy. A long

time coming, plus a day. Because, of course, we were supposed to be beginning this jury selection yesterday. We went through that delay. And now this morning, in about an hour, we're expecting jury selection to officially move forward.

Lawyers for Derek Chauvin and for the state are filing into court right now to meet with Judge Peter Cahill to take care of pretrial matters. And again, this process is expected to move forward, mainly because the judge in this case said he wanted to proceed while we waited to hear what was going to come down from an appeals court potentially on whether a third-degree murder charge was going to be reinstated.

So while we wait on that we look at the charges of what Chauvin is currently facing. So he is currently facing second-degree unintentional murder charges. Manslaughter in the second degree as well. Both of which he's pleaded not guilty to, but the first of which carries a maximum penalty of up to 40 years in prison.

And, of course, that third-degree murder charge is what has been so controversial here or what they've been trying to figure out. It was of course in the original criminal complaint. The judge dropped it in October. An appeals court this past week said well, this should now be reconsidered because a separate case now created a potential case precedent for this.

And the reason that is tied to the jury selection process is prosecutors don't want to move forward until that appeal is settled on whether this third-degree murder charge is reinstated. For now, jury selection moves forward.

HARLOW: Omar, can I just ask you a question? I grew up in that city and it's notable to see behind you all of the barricades and all of the fencing. You've got the National Guard there. You've got a different situation because of COVID where, you know, regular folks can't just come into the courtroom to watch this trial, right? I mean, I just wonder if you could you explain, given the national, global interest in this, how so much is different now for this.

JIMENEZ: It's -- you really nailed it here. When you look at the physical difference around a place like the Hennepin County Government Center where the trial is taking place, barricades up, there are National Guard that you see are present just behind the barricades. Thankfully they have not had to deploy the up to 2,000 that are available as we have told -- been told, but there is a stark difference and you can feel the tension in the people even as they came to protest outside the courthouse yesterday. A lot of eyes on this incredibly huge moment -- Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Let's hope that it keeps calm and peaceful. Omar Jimenez, thanks very much.

On Thursday, President Biden will deliver his first primetime address to the nation since taking office. HARLOW: Right. And that is the one year mark since the pandemic really

shut down so much of the country. Jeremy Diamond joins us at the White House.

Jeremy, good morning. A, what are we expecting to hear from the president and, B, I should note, you know, yes, it's a primetime address but he's yet to hold a press conference?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is true. And we've been asking and pressing the White House on that question of a press conference. But for now, what we will be getting is this direct to camera primetime address from the president of the United States on Thursday, commemorating one year since a government shutdown of restrictions, of everything that this country and this world has endured with this coronavirus pandemic.

It was a year ago on Thursday that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus officially a pandemic.

[09:05:06]

A year ago to the day as well since another president, the former President Trump, also addressed the nation in a primetime address from the Oval Office, expressing more concern than he had previously about the coronavirus pandemic. And so what you will hear from the president during this primetime address on Thursday is looking back at the last year, talking about the sacrifices that Americans have had to make over the year.

And there will also be a forward looking aspect of this. Of course, so much has happened over the last year. You have 29-plus million Americans who have come down with the coronavirus and now vaccinations are picking up. So you can expect to hear the president talk about the need to continue to mitigate because we are not yet there in terms of having all Americans vaccinated but also perhaps looking forward to the hope, the optimism that by the end of this summer perhaps most Americans will indeed have been vaccinated.

And this will also be, of course, an opportunity for the president to tout what is expected to be his signature of the first major piece of legislation under his administration. The House is expected to pass that $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by tomorrow allowing the president to sign that into law before he actually addresses the nation on Thursday evening.

HARLOW: Jeremy, thank you very much.

Well, more states are opening up. Some of them in a really big way. One week from today, Wyoming will allow bars, restaurants, gyms to all resume totally normal operations. Also doing away with the mask requirement there.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's not what the scientists or the doctors are saying to do at this point. Several other states have already announced plans to ditch mask mandates, including, of course, Texas, which will officially lift its mandate tomorrow. CNN's Dan Simon is in Houston this morning.

So, Dan, you know what the doctors, epidemiologists say about the usefulness of these continued rules like wearing masks. It keeps you safe. I'm curious how people are reacting there because the mandate is being lifted but people can still wear the things. What are you finding?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think Governor Abbott's move to lift the restrictions was certainly tone setting, signaling to the country that Texas is back open and you can go back to living like you're living in 2019.

But I think the practical implications of all this really remains to be seen. You know, across the board, pretty much all of the national businesses that do business in Texas, whether it's big box chains or restaurants or pharmacies, grocery stores, what have you, all of them are saying that customers still need to wear masks.

And you have about 75 percent of the restaurants in the state saying that they're going to tell customers to still wear masks. Now we have seen some pushback in certain quarters. We've seen at least one restaurant tell local media that, you know, they received threatening messages that their restaurant staff was going to be reported to ICE if they didn't lift these restrictions. But those kinds of complaints have been few and far between.

Meantime listen to what the Houston mayor had to say about all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D), HOUSTON, TEXAS: People are celebrating in the end zone when the virus is still saying, I'm here. And I got you. And let's not lose sight of the fact people are going to get the virus, and people are going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: And one thing we should also point out, the seven-day positivity rate in Texas has actually increased. Going from 6 percent a couple of weeks ago. Now it's at about 12 percent. So that is not a great sign and another reason why there's been some pushback here and people saying you should still continue with these countermeasures.

Guys, back to you.

SCIUTTO: Twelve percent is a really high positivity rate. Keep in mind for folks that means that the percentage of people who test positive for this, more than 1 in 10.

Dan Simon, thanks very much.

HARLOW: That's a lot.

SCIUTTO: It is a lot. Well, there is encouraging news in the push to vaccinate Americans. A

CNN review of CDC data shows that at this point about 60 percent of Americans age 65 or older have received at least one dose. That's a lot of progress in a short amount of time.

HARLOW: It's great news. This comes as the CDC releases its guidelines for those fully vaccinated Americans. The agency now says those people can visit indoors with others who are fully vaccinated without masks. It is still, however, urging people not to travel.

We're joined by Dr. Carlos del Rio, the executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine.

Good morning, Dr. del Rio. Always good to have you, especially on a pretty good news day.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Good morning, Poppy. Yes, I think it's a really good news day.

HARLOW: So let's talk about these guidelines and what stands out to you the most. There -- you can, you know, fully vaccinated people can all be together inside without masks. What else do people need to know this morning that's most important from the CDC?

[09:10:02]

DEL RIO: Well, again, they already say that fully vaccinated people, after 14 days, they can also -- there is no need to quarantine after you've been exposed. And that's pretty huge because the reality is many people were after exposure having to quarantine 14 days and missing work and other things. So this is actually really important. If you've been vaccinated, you don't need to quarantine.

And it also provides some opening to tell you, you know, you can start -- you can go visit grandma and as what you said, the fact that so many people over the age of 65 have already been vaccinated and it really is an exciting, exciting news because, you know, 85 percent of deaths in this country were people over 65.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Doctor, Sanjay Gupta has made the point that you can expect these guidelines to change over time, to become more expansive over time as more people in the country get vaccinated. I wonder if you agree with that and what kind of changes do you see as we go forward?

DEL RIO: You know, first of all, I always agree with my friend Sanjay who's done a tremendous job throughout this pandemic reporting, but, yes, absolutely. This is our guidance. This is just some recommendations. This is guidance. It's a medical word for recommendations. And as we know more, as more people get vaccinated, as we advance the science, we'll probably have more things in there.

I was a little disappointed that they didn't say anything about travel. I think, you know, CDC is still wanting to hold people from not traveling but the reality is we see a lot of people traveling already. And I think it's important to tell people how to travel and I'm really glad that there's a, you know, mask mandate now on transportation so people that are traveling on planes, on trains have to wear their mask. But I think it's important to hear some guidance around travel.

HARLOW: Yes, I mean, they kept it exactly the same. They just said you shouldn't travel. Do you think -- you know, I know you're probably hesitant to criticize Dr. Walensky and the CDC, and I respect that. I just wonder if your medical expertise would have guided you in a different direction.

DEL RIO: Yes, I think so. I mean, I think, you know, as you said, already people are traveling. There's spring break coming up. I think it's important to tell people how to travel because they are traveling already. Might as well give them some ideas of what things to do. For example, do you test before you travel? Do you test after you travel? What kind of mask do you need to wear?

I think some idea of good recommendations for traveling, if I travel to go visit my grandma or my mother who lives in another city, what do I need to do? We're both fully vaccinated. I think a little more guidance around that would have been very useful.

SCIUTTO: So we're already seeing the deaths per day, they've declined significantly in the last several weeks and months. Now that we have really the majority of people over the age of 65 who, as you said, suffered the most deaths, you know, throughout the pandemic, do you -- they are now vaccinated. Do you see that death rate coming down even more significantly in the coming weeks?

DEL RIO: You know, I think it will, but we have to remember, there are a lot of people under 65 die because they had underlying conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Those are major determinants of the risk of death. So I'm hoping that most states would move rapidly to vaccinate people with underlying conditions. I mean, the reality is we've got to get everybody vaccinated, you know, quickly.

SCIUTTO: Well, I'm with you on that, Dr. del Rio. Can't wait myself.

HARLOW: It's someone's birthday tomorrow, I sort of think you deserve a vaccine, Sciutto, although you're nowhere near old enough. OK. They're telling me we have to go here.

Thank you, Dr. del Rio.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Thanks as always.

DEL RIO: I hope both of you get vaccinated soon.

SCIUTTO: And we do, and I'm sure folks watching, we hope they do as well.

HARLOW: Yes. SCIUTTO: Well, still to come this hour, a special task force is now

recommending sweeping changes to keep Capitol Hill safe from the kind of violence we saw on January 6th going forward. The details of that security review next.

HARLOW: Also Prince Charles, Camilla making their first public appearance this morning but not answering questions about the interview that rocked both sides of the Atlantic. We'll have more on that ahead.

Also, getting vaccines to underserved communities, particularly minority communities, challenging to say the least. That is where the vaccine hunters come in. It's a fascinating group of teaches who are on a mission to help. One of them will join us.

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[09:15:00]

HARLOW: With just five days until the enhanced unemployment benefits do expire, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi is signaling a final vote on President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID economic relief package. It will likely happen tomorrow morning at the latest.

SCIUTTO: Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill. So, there have been talk about today, now it's tomorrow. I mean, is it just procedural stuff in the final hour?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, essentially, that's what Democrats are saying at this point. They are waiting for that Senate bill to get sent over to the House of Representatives. It's taking a little longer than potentially expected.

But the house Speaker making it very clear that she expects that this bill will come to the floor for a vote no later than tomorrow morning. And of course, we expect that they are going to have the votes they need to pass this piece of legislation as we've said before. There are progressives and there are moderates grumbling about certain aspects of this bill.

It isn't exactly what every member had envisioned or hoped for. It's not perfect according to many Democrats we've talked to up here. But there's a sense that the momentum is there, that they want to make sure that the president is able to make good on that first campaign promise, that this is a final and big push for COVID relief for Americans who are waiting on unemployment benefits.

[09:20:00]

For Americans who are looking for help for their small businesses, for schools that need more money injected into their districts to make sure kids can get back into the classroom. That's what Democrats are hoping to accomplish in the next 24 hours. But, obviously, it's been a long time coming. The house passed this bill before, the Senate made some changes, including getting rid of that $15 minimum wage. Now, the house has to do one last vote. Again, we expect this no later than tomorrow morning. Jim and Poppy?

SCIUTTO: Lauren Fox on the Hill, thanks very much. Well, a taskforce is now urging sweeping changes after a security review in the wake of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol.

The taskforce led by retired Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore is calling for a number of things, including a big increase in the number of Capitol police officers. In total, more than a thousand, better training related to intelligence gathering as well as a retractable fencing system around the Capitol complex as well as this. Funding for security when members of Congress traveled back to their home districts where many say they don't feel safe. Here with me now is the former FBI deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

Andrew, good to have you on this morning. I wonder when you look at these changes, and you look at what we saw January 6th and continuing threats to the Capitol, do these look like reasonable changes to you, necessary security changes?

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: They do, Jim. You know, it's an interesting -- it's an interesting taskforce because they begin with the prep -- with the basic assumption that what we had didn't work. I mean, I think we all saw that pretty clearly on January 6th.

So they're kind of starting from zero and going from there. What emerges from this report is an incredibly stark picture of the U.S. Capitol police. It's described as a force that is under-resourced, undermanned and as a result, poorly trained, poorly equipped and basically not capable of defending the Capitol and its members during a large crisis like we saw on the 6th.

SCIUTTO: Yes, you're right. I mean, that's the bottom line. It can't keep the Capitol safe. A big focus here. In addition to protecting the Capitol, is protecting members when they go home because members -- and we've had some on this broadcast say they don't feel safe when they go home and providing money for security, but also the availability of officers there.

It strikes me as interesting that even though that fear is shared by Democrats and Republicans, you do have Republicans here, including the speaker, you know, skeptical of the report, attacking, criticizing Honore who led the security review. I mean, can we not even be bipartisan on increasing security at the Capitol after January 6th?

MCCABE: You know, I don't remember -- I've been over the report a couple of times. And I don't remember seeing anything in there that recommended security enhancements for Democrats instead of Republicans or vice versa. So, I really don't understand those claims of partisanship. It's sad that we're at a point where you have a kind of blue ribbon panel of experts and even their opinions on something as basic as keeping everybody safe is perceived as political.

But I do think that the recommendations regarding, you know, security for members in their home districts, not every member, but those members that are experiencing significant threat activity, it makes a lot of sense and it is also a sad commentary on how highly charged our political life has become in this country.

SCIUTTO: Does that deep six this notion a number of folks have discussed of a 9/11-style commission in the wake of this? Not just to address threats to the Capitol, but what that indicates about the domestic terror threat in this country. Heck, it was only a few days ago we had another threat at the Capitol on this date, March 4th. Can you develop an effort like we saw post-9/11 where you have a bipartisan approach both to the -- to the study of this, but also to the recommendations to follow?

MCCABE: Well, we should, and we absolutely need that, right? We need that sort of all-encompassing, really no holds-barred, purely objective look at everything that went into and ultimately led to the attack on January 6th. But whether or not we can do that right now is a really good question.

You know, the 9/11 Commission report, it was -- you know, during -- in those times after the attack on 9/11, it was very easy to mobilize everyone to confront an enemy that was overseas, and clearly, you know, what didn't have any political affiliation here. That's obviously not the case with January 6th. The rioters were -- to a person, supporters of the former Republican president. So that infusion of political kind of gamesmanship is -- could really be --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

MCCABE: The undoing of our ability to get a solid, productive report completed.

SCIUTTO: The other infusion, of course, is the survival of the big lie. The president still spreading it, saying the election was stolen.

[09:25:00]

You now have the vice president talking about election irregularities that didn't exist in this election. And that was the fuel for that violent assault on the Capitol January 6th. You have dealt with terrorism for decades, you know, in the FBI. Can you successfully as a country, address it? If you won't address, what is in effect the ideology behind it?

MCCABE: No, in a word, no. It's -- you know, every stripe of extremism thrives. It's core, the fire that keeps it alive is some sort of belief, usually false. Some sort of lie. In this case, that lie about the 2020 presidential election is the thing that is fueling the threat.

That is the point of grievance, the rallying cry upon which, you know, cute unbelievers, regular conservatives are really adhering to this, and this belief that they've been wronged or that they're -- you know, they're -- what they wanted was unfairly stolen from them. And that is what's driving the ongoing threat picture. And I think anyone who supports that lie doesn't come out proactively and --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

MCCABE: Confront it. Is to some degree complicit with the threats that we see developing.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and so many are not. Andrew McCabe, thanks so much.

MCCABE: Thanks, Jim.

HARLOW: Well, Prince Charles made his first public appearance since that stunning interview from Harry and Meghan. But clearly, he did not want to talk about the interview and we haven't heard anything from the palace yet either. We'll take you live to the U.K. next.

We are also moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Take a look here at U.S. futures, they are pointing higher this morning. The Dow did rally 300 points Monday as investors cheered the Senate's passage of the COVID relief package. There are still inflation concerns and investors are watching those bond yields very closely as well. We'll keep a close eye on the markets.

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