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Amazon's Bezos Completes Historic Space Flight; Tokyo 2020 Chief Not Ruling Out a Cancelation of the Olympic Games amid Rising COVID Cases; Fauci to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), You Don't Know What You're Talking About. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 20, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

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JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And going into her primary next year, which obviously is going to be a fight for her political life. It's easy to see a scenario where Republicans on this committee put out their own report and the probably two separate reports.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we'll see this one, as we go forward. At least we have the names, finally.

Thanks for joining us today on Inside Politics. I appreciate your patience for the breaking news. Ana Cabrera picks up right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you so much for being with us.

Today was a big day. Exactly 52 years since the first moon landing, another landmark moment in space exploration. Here you see billionaire Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and crew when they reached the edge of space here and floated in zero gravity.

They're so giddy. That was on the New Shepard, the first manned flight by Jeff Bezos' company, Blue Origin. And on board was Bezos, his brother, Mark, plus the oldest and the youngest people ever to go to space, 82-year-old Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.

Now, missing from that list, a pilot. This was an autonomous craft rocketing to suborbital space before detaching the capsule for a few minutes of weightlessness. And then roughly ten minutes after launch, a return that was almost as impressive as the liftoff.

Take a look at this, as the booster comes back to the surface with that pinpoint accurate upright landing, and then just moments later, the capsule followed, the parachutes deployed and the crew arrived with a soft touchdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome back to Earth. Congratulations to all of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: 82-year-old Wally Funk, talk about a spry 82-year-old, right? After taking it all in and then they toweled off after the champagne, Bezos spoke to our Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER, BLUE ORIGIN: Best day ever. And I couldn't pick a best part. Could you pick a best part? It was really -- and I don't have the talent to put into words what we just experienced. I'll try, but I don't.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Was it different than you thought it was going to be?

BEZOS: My expectations were up here and they were exceeded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN's Kristin Fisher was there for the launch. What was that like, Kristin, seeing this historic mission from the ground in person?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: I got to say, it was pretty cool. We all got to watch the New Shepard reusable rocket system lift off from the launch pad just about two miles behind me. And we also just watched all four of those crew members officially become astronauts in Blue Origin's eyes. Some people say they're tourists. They say they are astronauts.

And moments ago at this press conference, they earned their astronaut wings. Only, instead of your traditional NASA astronaut pin, they got a pin that is in the shape of a feather, which you'll see all over the West Texas complex. A feather, of course, Blue Origin's logo symbolizing the perfection of flight, and, boy, what a perfect flight Blue Origin had today, a textbook takeoff, liftoff, a textbook landing for both the capsule and this booster.

And, you know, during this press conference, we got to hear from the astronauts about what they thought it felt like to be weightless. And the 18-year-old, Oliver Daemen, said it felt way cooler than it looks because it does look kind of cramped in the capsule.

And then Jeff Bezos, he described it as feeling completely normal. He said that zero gravity felt in a way like how it should be, that that is how humanity and humans are intended to evolve. And so this really fits in to this big picture vision that he has for Blue Origin.

And earlier, he tied it back to how he built up Amazon. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEZOS: Big things start small. And -- but you can tell, you can tell when you're onto something. And this is important. We're going to build a road to space so that our kids and their kids can build the future.

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And we need to do that. We need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth. This is not about escaping Earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FISHER: So, not about escaping Earth, it's about building a road to space for future generations.

One more thing, Ana, I know a lot of space journal is are kind of frustrating they didn't get more questions in during the press conference, but you know what, Blue Origin is a private company, this is not NASA, they are not beholden to taxpayers and they're allowed to do it.

CABRERA: Kristin Fisher, thank you for that reporting.

Let's talk more about this with former NASA astronaut, he's also the only NFL draft pick to fly in space, Leland Melvin. It is so great to have you with us. I see you are dressed for the occasion today. What are your thoughts about this launch today?

LELAND MELVIN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: You know, Ana, this is a great day for everyone, because it allows you to see a woman, Wally Funk, who outdid all the men in all the training back in the Mercury 13 program, and now she's finally getting her chance to go to space, but also a private company sending people to space, astronauts, tourists, and we're going to have more people getting inspired, the next generation of explorers, to have an 18-year-old boy flying in space for the first time.

And so I think if more people can see the type of technology that's been applied to this, autonomous rockets that are taking off and landing, we have a whole spectrum of people that are going to be thinking, hey, one day, I may start my own company and build my own rocket. And maybe that's a kid from a zip code that doesn't usually get a chance to do some of these things, and so seeing this access and opportunity and belief that anything is possible for all kids.

CABRERA: Gosh, isn't that so, so true? Just the dreams that this helped to show can become reality.

Of course, any space flight is dangerous. And for you, having your experience at NASA, I mean, this isn't NASA. This is also using brand new technology. It was an autonomous craft. Would you fly on it?

MELVIN: I would. Because, I mean, right now, when we fly to the space station on a SpaceX rocket, that's an autonomous docking to the International Space Station. So, all of this technology is being used on the new versions of spacecraft and it saves time, it saves resources, it saves training. And we do have people that can fly in a backup situation, but the software is great, the technology is great. We're going to probably be in Ubers that are driverless, you know? We're going to have airplanes one day that are pilotless. And so this is the -- this is kind of how the evolution of the revolution of technology will take us even further.

CABRERA: And to have a rocket and a capsule that can be reused, how significant is that?

MELVIN: That's a game-changer. All of our boosters from the space shuttle era, they were solid rocket boosters with jettison of two and a half minutes, and they fell down in the ocean. We had a barge guard get them and take them back and refill them. So we had been reusing the boosters but not the rocket engines.

And so I think this is going to be making space more affordable. The price point will come down for more tourists to be able to go to space. Richard Branson is 250,000 now. The Jeff Bezos flight was 28 million. But, hopefully, those numbers come down so that more people can have the opportunity.

And then also the philanthropy just going on, SpaceX is launching Inspiration 4 with three people, one a former St. Jude's cancer surviving patient, is going to be flying in space to raise money for St. Jude. And so I think if the billionaires want to do something really powerful, it's to use their dollars and their philanthropy to help more people that don't have the resources to get this chance, to get the overall perspective that I got from space.

I mean, look behind me. There's Earth and there is Mars. I saw the planet going around it every 90 minutes, saw a sunrise and a sunset every 45 while listening Sade's Smooth Operator. That's what blew my mind. But it inspired me to think about coming home to do better to help more kids, see that these are opportunities for everyone.

CABRERA: And I just have to quickly ask, because I am so darn curious to know, like, what does it feel like to be traveling at more than three times the speed of sound, which is what this rocket, this mission ended up traveling at? And we hear from Wally Funk, I want to go again, fast, what is that like? What does that experience feel like?

MELVIN: Yes, Ana. You launch and you're feeling three Gs. You feel your chest getting compressed and a little hard to breathe at times. And then you're going three times the speed of sound over 2,000 miles an hour. And you're just seeing the planet as you're getting closer to this Von Karman line, I'm seeing the curvature of the space and seeing the darkness and the blackness of the space, it's just -- it's almost surreal.

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And it does change the way you think about yourself with humanity on the planet, because now you are one of, I guess, 574 people have gone off the planet into space. And these new four astronauts are some of them.

CABRERA: Leland Melvin, it's such a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for sharing your insights, your expertise and this moment with all of us.

Now, to another major story we are watching today in Tokyo, where the Olympic Games is just three days away. But the CEO of the games says he is not ruling out an 11th hour cancelation as COVID cases rise.

More than 70 COVID cases are now linked to the Olympic Games. One public health expert in Tokyo says the Olympic bubble is kind of broken. It looks like the plan to keep interactions between certain people to a minimum is harder than it looks.

Now, this comes as more than 1,400 new COVID cases were reported in the city again three days out from the games. And CNN's Selina Wang has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Three days before the opening ceremony, Tokyo is trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as cases creep up among athletes and those connected to the Olympics. That includes Kara Eaker, an alternate for the U.S. gymnastics team. Eaker will return to the U.S. after ten days isolation. Her unvaccinated teammate, 17-year-old Leanne Wong, is in isolation as a close contact, according to her coach.

The so-called bubble of the Olympic Village has also been punctured with several positive COVID cases detected among the South African soccer team. Tokyo officials insist the village is still safe.

MASA TAKAYA, TOKYO 2020 SPOKESMAN: -- at the IOC in Tokyo 2020 are. Obviously, it is clear that the Olympic Village is a safe place to stay.

WANG: But health experts say the wider strategy of keeping foreign visitors away from locals is failing.

DR. KENJI SHIBUYA, PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: It is obviously that the bubble system is kind of broken. And so there seems to be some sort of interaction between guest and visitors and also local people.

WANG: Tokyo officials insist they are containing the situation with only a few dozen cases among some 22,000 foreigners who have arrived for the games so far.

DR. BRIAN MCCLOSKEY, CHAIR, INDEPENDENT EXPERT PANEL FOR INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: If I thought all of the tests that we did were going to be negative, then I wouldn't bother doing the test in the first place. And the numbers we're seeing are actually extremely low. They were probably lower than we expected to see, if anything.

WANG: And the advanced testing requirement is filtering out positive cases before people even fly into Japan, including 17-year-old American tennis star Coco Gauff, who tested positive in the U.S. before flying, and Katie Lou Samuelson from the U.S. women's basketball team, who tested positive despite being vaccinated.

Two players from Mexico's Olympic baseball team also tested positive and won't travel to Japan. But with more transmissible variants, like the delta and over 11,000 athletes descending on Japan for more than 200 countries, fears are growing about the risk to those visiting Tokyo and the local population.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WANG (on camera): And, Ana, people here are anxious about those COVID cases linked to the games. And I spoke to Kenji Shibuya, a public health expert, who says he's worried about those infections spilling into the public here. Just 20 percent of people in Japan are fully vaccinated.

Now, these Olympic participants do have to follow strict protocols, they're regularly tested, contact traced, but Shibuya says, you can't control people's movements entirely. And these participants are not required to quarantine for a full 14 days.

Now, while most of these Olympic athletes are going to be fully vaccinated, as we've seen, vaccines are not 100 percent and nor are they mandatory. Ana?

CABRERA: Selina Wang in Tokyo for us, thank you.

Now, we have to talk about some good stuff with the Olympics. More than 11,000 athletes representing more than 200 countries are set to compete. This is a chance of a lifetime.

CNN's Andy Scholes is joining us now with some of their inspirational stories. Andy, what stands out?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Ana, there's just so many, right, because so many of these athletes work their entire lives to get to this very moment, the Olympic Games.

And let me introduce you to American weight lifter Mattie Rogers. The 25-year-old from Florida is going to be competing in her very first Olympic Games. Mattie grew up a gymnast, then was a competitive cheerleader, then a cross fitter, now she's a world class weight lifter.

Now, her dad tragically passed away from colon cancer in 2001. And when Mattie turned 18 years old, she was given a letter from her dad that he wrote that said, one day, she'd make it to the Olympics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTIE ROGERS, U.S. OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTER: My dad passed of cancer when I was six and I was actually a gymnast for the first 12 years of my life. So, at the time of his passing, he left kind of each of us kids a letter just so we have something to read as we grow up.

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And his to mine said, basically, I can't wait to see you in the Olympics. And I can't wait to watch, and so like that is still something that I just really hold dear to me. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. We'll certainly be cheering for Mattie at the Olympic Games.

Now, the opening ceremony is until Friday. The action actually gets started tonight. The U.S. women's soccer team trying to do something they've never done before, that's follow-up a World Cup win with an Olympic gold medal. No women's team has actually ever done it. They're looking to change that over the next few days in Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRYSTAL DUNN, USWNT WINGER: It would be an incredible achievement. It would be historical to be the first team to obviously do it. It would be really difficult but I think this team is more than capable of being able to do that just given the fact that we've had this break to regroup, reset and refocus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just want to make history and we hold very high standards and have high goals for ourselves, and one of those things is do a back-to-back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So, the women are going to get things started against Sweden. And this should be a really good game, the only match U.S. hasn't won since January of 2019 was a draw to Sweden. And it was actually Sweden that knocked out this team in the 2016 Rio games. So you know they've got revenge on their minds when they take the field in the early hours Wednesday morning.

CABRERA: I am especially excited to watch track and field. I'm a distance runner, so I know a lot of people aren't into that sport specifically, but that's my favorite. Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

It is a face-off we've seen before, but today, it got ugly. Why Dr. Fauci just called Senator Rand Paul a liar.

Plus, Speaker Pelosi today saying she is considering letting three Republican election deniers serve on the committee investigating the insurrection.

And a wildfire so large, it is creating its own weather. We explain.

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CABRERA: Tempers flared on Capitol Hill this morning during testimony with Dr. Fauci. Senator Rand Paul accused Dr. Fauci of lying about whether COVID originated in a lab in China and whether the U.S. National Institutes of Health funded related research. Dr. Fauci wasn't having it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress and I do not retract that statement.

And, Senator Paul, you do not know what you're talking about, quite frankly. I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about.

Those viruses are molecularly impossible to result in SARS-Cov-2.

You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): And they could have been.

FAUCI: And if anybody who is lying here, Senator, it is you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: This as we learned more about how quickly the delta variant is spreading across the U.S.

In that same hearing the CDC director told lawmakers that the delta variant now accounts for 83 percent of all COVID cases in the U.S. Cases are now rising sharply in at least 20 states and hospitalizations are rising as well. Almost all of those are among people who are unvaccinated.

As parents prepare to send kids back to the classroom, Dr. Fauci separately, this morning, talked about the possibility of vaccine requirements in schools. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: I would not be surprised that in the future this is something that would be seriously considered depending upon how we handle the outbreak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: With us now, Dr. Sara Bode, she is the chair-elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health. Doctor, thanks for being with us.

You heard Dr. Fauci's comments about schools potentially requiring COVID-19 vaccines for kids. What do you think? Would you recommend schools take that step?

DR. SARA BODE, CHAIR-ELECT, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS COUNCIL ON SCHOOL HEALTH: Well, I think we really -- our priority is getting kids back into school, number one. It's so critical for them to be there for in-person learning, and that means we have to do it safely, so how do we get kids back into the classroom and, honestly, keep them there without the exposures.

And so one goal of that is vaccination, absolutely. But there's even still several kids that can't get vaccinated. They are less than 12.

CABRERA: Right. So for those, though, who are eligible currently, should vaccines be a requirement? We know that there are vaccines for all kinds of other diseases that are required, measles, MMR, polio and so forth. So why not COVID-19?

BODE: Yes. We have a long history of schools being a critical component of tracking and monitoring and encouraging families to get vaccinations, so they absolutely should be involved in this. School nurses are a key component to that. And so we should really be continuing to look at how we are going to handle these vaccinations, how we are going to know who is vaccinated, who is not and what are the other strategies we have to put into place in the meantime to keep everyone safe when school starts up this fall.

CABRERA: Sorry, just to be clear, though, real fast, to button that up, would you recommend a vaccine requirement for those who are eligible?

BODE: Well, I think that this is a complex issue, and so I think that right now is that going to happen by the time school starts in the fall, likely not. It's often different in every state. Do I think it's a good idea for everybody to get vaccinated? Absolutely.

CABRERA: I hear you. Right now, we know only 35 percent of kids who are 12 to 15 have received at least one vaccine dose.

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And that number is about 47 percent for kids 16 to 17. Why do you think those numbers are so low?

BODE: I think, in general, it was newer that it got approved a particularly for the 12 to 15, and there's still a lot of hesitancy in our community. So, we need to do a good job at getting out there, improving access, doing education, helping everyone understand these were studied extensively in kids, they're safe in kids. It's incredibly important for kids to get vaccinated.

So, a lot of work is still to be done and schools can be a big part of that. So when kids are getting back to school, using that environment to spread that word about vaccine and have opportunities for them to get it even right at their school.

CABRERA: And the American Academy of Pediatrics just yesterday urged universal masking in schools for everyone over the age of two. Now, the CDC currently says masks are not necessary for people who are fully vaccinated. We know many teachers are. We know some students are vaccinated. Why would they need to mask up as well?

BODE: Well, a couple reasons. One is practically if we really want to have a successful school environment this fall, monitoring who is vaccinated, who is not, having some kids wearing masks, some not, that is just fraught with error. And universal masking works. We know it works. It was successful last year. And kids did well with it. They put their masks on. They kept them there. So, this is a really effective strategy.

And so to have this be successful, just having every kid in school have a mask, we'll avoid bullying, stigmatizing. There's a lot of reasons just to do universal masking this fall.

CABRERA: I can appreciate that. Neither of my kids are eligible for the vaccine yet, and I just want to make sure they stay safe. Dr. Sara Bode, thank you very much for taking the time and sharing your expertise with us.

BODE: Absolutely. Thank you.

CABRERA: Thank you.

They backed up the big lie. Now they've been tapped to serve on the committee investigating the insurrection that was fueled by the big lie.

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