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House Dems Meet As Moderates Threaten To Derail Biden Agenda; Vice President Harris' Trip To Vietnam Delayed Over Health Incident; Interview With Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) About Record Number Of COVID Cases In The State; January 6 Committee To Seek Phone Records Of Some Congress Members. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 24, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:32]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Right now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trying to get members of her own party, get them in line as they struggle to move forward on President Biden's sweeping economic agenda. Moderate Democrats, one of whom we spoke to in this broadcast yesterday, are fighting to get the bipartisan infrastructure bill on the floor first for a vote before the larger budget resolution, this $3.5 trillion deal with a lot of other Democratic priorities. So far they're not backing down.

CNN's Jessica Dean, John Harwood following all this.

Jessica, they're meeting. I know there have been lots of ideas floated for how to move this forward without sinking the agenda. Where do those negotiations stand right now, and is it your sense they're going to reach agreement?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are hearing that we think we could expect something today. So it's a little wishy- washy at this point, Jim. But what we do know for sure is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working very hard to get these moderates on board.

Remember there's only a three-seat margin in the House so anything she puts forth she's going to need their support because they could tank it. They thought that perhaps they had found a solution last night with kind of this legislative cork that they had put together where they could pass what's known as the rule, and they would only have to vote on it once.

And it was put together, the budget as well as the John Lewis Voting Rights as well as infrastructure. And what that does is it sets out the terms for the debate on the bill, that sort of thing. It's a very -- it's a procedural vote. But they thought that they could get that done, that that would be enough to accommodate the moderates.

Well, midnight came around, they still had no deal, everybody went home, they're back here. Now House Democrats once again hashing it out trying to figure out what it's going to take. Is it possible that perhaps they build in, you must vote on infrastructure by X date into this? That could be, but at this point we've heard from some of these moderates. They say they're working together. That they are hopeful that they can get a deal done. But that remains to be seen.

If today is anything like yesterday, Jim, this could go back and forth and up and down all throughout the day.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I think the technical term is a fudge.

John, does the -- I'm sure the White House is frustrated by this, not to mention they have Afghanistan on their plate. Does the president, does his team believe they're going to be able to get over this hurdle?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And of course they're frustrated. And as you indicated, Jim, this is a moment of heightened vulnerability for President Biden because of the situation in Afghanistan. His numbers are down. They've been creeping down related to COVID and maybe to some degree on Afghanistan in recent days.

This is the reality of the Democratic governance in Washington. Zero margin for error in the Senate. As Jessica indicated, just a three- vote margin in the House of Representatives. Any small group of Democrats in the House can bring down the president's agenda if they want to. And the question is, do they ultimately want to? They're trying to -- Democrats are trying to keep their team together.

They've been able to do it so far on important things like the American Rescue Plan. It is critical from the White House point of view and from the view of Democratic campaigns writ large that they show the American people that they're getting things done for them. Very tangible things like in the reconciliation bill. Child tax credits, universal pre-K, free community college, expanded benefits under Medicare, and the infrastructure bill, roads, bridges, broadband, all that sort of thing.

But you've got individual members, Democrats trying to maintain their leverage throughout this process. And the moderates are trying to keep leverage over the reconciliation process, in part, because some of them, Josh Gottheimer, the leader of them, has got concerns about the tax portions, the tax increases that are in that reconciliation bill. And the longer they can hold out, they could try to squeeze some of those down.

So the question is, can they hold the Democratic team together? Joe Biden has been trying to lower the temperature between Democrats and Republicans, but especially between -- among the Democratic Party and they're betting they still can do that. We will see in the next few hours.

SCIUTTO: When lawmakers have leverage, they like to use it.

John Harwood, Jessica Dean, thanks very much.

This just in to CNN. We're learning that Vice President Harris' travel delegation was delayed from departing Singapore due to a report of a health incident.

[09:35:05]

The details of this potentially alarming. CNN's Natasha Bertrand is here to explain.

Health incident, what are we talking about here?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: An anomalous health incident. And that is what the U.S. government calls Havana syndrome. Now Havana syndrome is this kind of weird constellation of syndromes that has sickened hundreds of diplomats and U.S. government employees around the world over the last several years. Things like traumatic brain injury, headaches, vertigo, in some cases forcing U.S. government employees to retire.

This is really a remarkable incident, though, if it is confirmed. And the fact that they're kind of being transparent about it is also kind of interesting. And we have not previously reported that any of these cases have come out of Vietnam, but they have been popping up all over the world, from Europe to South America to China. And it's unclear at this point, the U.S. intelligence community doesn't exactly know what's causing it.

They don't know if it's someone that is targeting these diplomats, for example. But it is notable and we have reported in the past that about 100 of the people that have experienced these symptoms and reported them have been CIA personnel. So obviously the vice president's team thought that this report of a potential incident was serious enough to delay her trip there.

SCIUTTO: So the working theory has been, or at least the possibility that this is some sort of directed energy weapon, perhaps something aimed at someone's device to steal data from it, which causes this -- you know, these symptoms. Is the suggestion that this happened to a member of Harris's team or to someone else, and they're trying to protect Harris's team from this?

BERTRAND: We really don't know yet. We know obviously that there are advance teams that are on the ground before the vice president actually gets there. But the statement that we received from the U.S. embassy there did not specify anything really. All they said was that they received a report of this anomalous health incident and basically out of an abundance of caution they delayed the vice president's trip there.

SCIUTTO: I know you've been covering this for some time and I know there are many questions about this, no definitive answers, but to date when U.S. officials you speak with talk about a most likely culprit, they say?

BERTRAND: They say Russia. Russia is the most likely culprit at this point. They have been testing these kinds of directed energy weapons for years now. They have motive obviously. But the intel community is obviously being very careful and the U.S. government officials are very, very careful to even call these attacks.

SCIUTTO: Yes. BERTRAND: They say that, you know, right now all signs point to this

potentially being Russia, but again, they don't know whether this is a weapon or just some kind of collection device that is having adverse impacts on government employees.

SCIUTTO: Right. Right. The impacts severe and lasting.

Natasha Bertrand, thanks very much. We'll bring you more details as we get them.

Other story we're following this morning, a record number of COVID-19 patients are in Kentucky hospitals and intensive care units. The state's governor is now asking for federal help with the surge in infections. We're going to speak to him live next.

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[09:42:33]

SCIUTTO: Want to know how serious the outbreak is in states with low vaccination states? Well, right now Kentucky is deploying the National Guard to help hospitals overwhelmed by the surge in COVID infections across the states. Dozens of hospitals there are seeing critical staffing shortages. At least one has been enforced to enact its disaster plans. Look at that graph. It's going in the wrong direction.

Joining me now is Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.

Governor, thanks for joining us morning.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: Good morning.

SCIUTTO: So first I want to talk about mask mandate because the court ordered you to rescind your mask mandate, but the State Board of Education, it's still requiring masks in public schools. I'm talking about a mask mandate for students. So some students have to, others don't. I just wondered, does that create confusion for parents?

BESHEAR: Well, there shouldn't be any confusion because the science is clear. School districts that require universal masking are doing all right. They're keeping their kids in class. They're keeping cases and quarantines low. But everywhere that we don't have universal masking, it fails.

It's everything from a district in Kentucky that went back for three days, masking optional, and had 700 quarantines in just the first three days. I think they're up to 1500 now, all related to just three days. That west Texas school district where the entire school district is quarantined, think about that.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

BESHEAR: And we've got studies that come out now that say 90 percent of students in a classroom unvaccinated will end up quarantined within a semester. Listen, there's the smart decision and then there's the one where we

host a giant chickenpox party, but it's with the third leading cause of death. Let's just make a smart decision.

SCIUTTO: Yes, if only. As you know, some school districts in Florida and Texas where governors have banned mask mandates said they've just gone ahead and defied the statewide bans and said, we're doing it. Would you recommend the same to communities in Kentucky?

BESHEAR: Well, there is nothing in Kentucky that prevents a school district from putting this into place. And, listen, I was willing to make the tough decision, the unpopular decision with some to require universal masking in all our schools. Why? Because I care about my two kids and I care about everybody else's, too, and I want this to work.

I want them to be in class and I want to make sure that we don't impact our work force. You know, our hospitals are overrun right now. Well, a quarantined child of a nurse is likely pulling that nurse out of the hospital.

[09:45:05]

A quarantined child of a doctor likely pulls that doctor out of the hospital. And then there are fewer staffed beds for us to take care of people. So I was willing to do it. Our Supreme Court has now said, I'm not going to have that authority, and so I very seriously hope that our state legislature will give it strong consideration because there are only two things that can blunt the Delta variant. Vaccines and masking. And we need both tools in place to protect our people.

SCIUTTO: OK. So let's talk about vaccines and the question of mandating vaccines, at least for certain categories of workers. As you know, the FDA has granted full authorization out of the Pfizer vaccine. A lot of Republican governors and others in banning vaccine mandates cited the fact that until now it had been Emergency Use Authorization.

Now that there is full authorization for at least one vaccine, do you plan on mandating vaccines or attempting to for any category of worker?

BESHEAR: Right now in Kentucky what we are seeing is the private sector stepping up, even before this full approval and requiring it. It's all of our major hospital systems that set a deadline for it. It's a number of our major companies. It's national companies like Tyson that have large groups in Kentucky where we're seeing vaccinations pick up. But again, what we've seen across the country are court decisions that end up limiting the powers of a central executive to make the tough calls and to make the hard calls.

So it's going to be a real challenge on the authority side to be able to do that in Kentucky. But, listen, full approval ought to be a game changer because for those legitimately skeptical but open, this was the main criticism, that it was rushed, that it didn't go through what everything else did. This is now probably the most studied vaccine for this period of time in human history, and half of all Americans have taken it.

So we know it's safe. So now it's time for those folks to go in, get that shot and help us beat this variant.

SCIUTTO: You see the number on our screen, 363 million doses administered in this country so far.

Do you sense a change -- you're a Democratic governor in a red state. You have to talk to a lot of Democratic voters. You get to talk to a lot of Republican voters. Do you sense a change of view on both vaccine and masking even among even Republican voters who might have shared some hesitation to do this or even outright hostility to do this as you've seen infections ramp up, as you've seen hospitals being overwhelmed?

BESHEAR: Well, certainly the Delta variant rightfully scares people and we are at a critical stage all across Kentucky. We have multiple hospitals bursting at the seams. We've had one set of triage tents outside because they can't handle the push in the emergency room. The one that's got its disaster plan in effect has turned just about every operating room into a new COVID wing.

You go across our state and we just had another request for National Guard at another hospital that just reported being at that critical stage. So we're at the point where, in many areas, if you're in a car accident, you're in big trouble because there's not the staff and the bed to take care of you. If you have a stroke, if you have a heart attack. So the possibility for excess death and for more loss is real.

And so we're starting to see our vaccination rates pick up. We're starting to see more people masked. But we've got to have a lot more than what we're seeing. You know, ticking up and people getting a little bit more interested in wearing masks isn't going to defeat this variant. We need everybody loving their neighbors as themselves, being their brothers' and sisters' keeper and do what it takes to protect one another.

SCIUTTO: Yes. If you don't follow the science, at least follow the Golden Rule.

BESHEAR: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Governor Andy Beshear, thanks so much for coming on.

BESHEAR: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be right back.

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[09:53:36]

SCIUTTO: New developments in the House Select Committee's investigation into the January 6th insurrection. They're going after phone calls. Chairman Bennie Thompson confirms to CNN the committee will send letters to telecom companies and social media outlets to save records, phone calls and messages in fact, for people under investigation, and those people include members of Congress.

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now.

So, Whitney, how many members of Congress and what exactly are they trying to discover here?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know how many members but we know that there might be hundreds of people who are targets of this investigation. And so the first stop here is to ask these telecommunication companies and social media companies to preserve the record. Then the subpoenas come then they actually get those records then that's when they get into the meat of the investigation.

I think that what they're looking for here are communications either between these members of Congress and in the White House on the day of the riot, and then this question is, who either within, you know, members of Congress or who within Trump world was talking to people who might have actually been at the riot themselves. That is the big question.

SCIUTTO: That's been a big question. There have been public intimations raised by Democratic members of Congress.

WILD: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: Specifically about Republican members of Congress talking to some of these folks.

WILD: Right. Right. And so that's the big question. I think that's what they will drill down on. And what this does is this new piece of information that my amazing colleagues down on Capitol Hill have broken and really setting the tone for this reporting, I have to give them so much credit here, is that this is the first window into the scope of this investigation which could be massive because like I said, there could be hundreds of subpoenas, hundreds of invitations to testify.

[09:55:07]

First, though, they probably want to get the paper then ask the questions. But what we know is that the resolution that's standing up this committee, basically says take all the time you want and there is no limit on money here.

SCIUTTO: Unlike the prior bipartisan plan which was rejected.

WILD: Right. Exactly. Which have a limitation.

SCIUTTO: Which would have gotten a timer.

WILD: Yes. Had a timer on it. Exactly.

SCIUTTO: Yes. All right. So, OK, we'll see. Carries it right up to the election.

WILD: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Whitney Wild, thanks very much.

In just minutes we are going to get a briefing from the Pentagon. The latest on the U.S. Military's massive evacuation effort out of Kabul. We'll bring that you to live. That's where it's going to happen right there.

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