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Tension, Resistance Flare As Vaccine Mandates Start Kicking In; Albany County Sheriff Gives Update On NY Gov. Cuomo Sex Charges; NY Attorney General Announces Bid For Governor; Queen Elizabeth II Advised To Rest For At Least The Next Few Weeks. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired October 29, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:34:44]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Any moment now, we could get major news from the FDA. The agency is expecting to grant emergency use authorization for Pfizer's vaccine for 5 to 11-year-olds.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: After that, the last hurdle is a green light from the CDC. And then 28 million kids could be eligible for a shot as soon as next week.

[14:35:01]

CNN's Nick Watt has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just over two hours from now, all New York City employees must have had at least one vaccine shot. As of this morning, more than 10,000 NYPD employees have not.

The commissioner seems calm.

DERMOT SHEA, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: From the police department perspective, we're going to be OK.

WATT: Out here in the Los Angeles, the sheriff is not calm.

The vaccine mandate kicked in October 1st, a mandate he says he will not enforce. Still, apparently, it is an imminent threat to public safety. He says he's shedding staff.

"Unless something changes," said the sheriff, "homicide rates will continue to rise, response times will increase, solve rates will diminish, arrests will decline."

Vaccine mandates the hot-button issue right now.

Florida's governor just filed suit to halt an upcoming mandate for federal contractors.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You know, many people have recovered from COVID and also have strong immunity through prior infection.

WATT: A CDC study of 7,000 people hospitalized with COVID-like illness published at lunchtime states, "We now have additional evidence that reaffirms the importance of COVID-19 vaccines even if you have had prior infection."

"Vaccination can provide a higher more robust and more consistent level of immunity."

In Rhode Island, a mandate kicks in for state health workers Sunday. There are holdouts.

GOV. DANIEL MCKEE (D-RI): We'll work on other plans to activate strategies, including the National Guard if necessary.

WATT: In Iowa, lawmakers passed a bill granting unemployment benefits for anyone fired for failing to get a shot.

And in Oakland, California, the school board voted to unenroll unvaccinated currently eligible but unvaccinated kids come January 1 or teach them online only.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Now, you guys mentioned that we're waiting on that authorization from the FDA for the Pfizer vaccine for those younger kids.

Why that is important? Well, as soon as that EUA comes out, Pfizer could start shipping the smaller kid doses.

CDC advisers meet Tuesday. And if the CDC director then signs off, we could see shots going into little arms as early as Wednesday -- Guys?

BLACKWELL: Nick Watt, thank you.

Buckingham Palace said the queen will need at least two more weeks of rest. A lot of questions about her health. We'll have a live update from London.

CAMEROTA: And any minute, we're expecting to hear from the Albany County sheriff's office for an update on the criminal complaint against former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

We'll be right back.

Oh. Actually, here they are now.

This is the Albany County Sheriff's Department and we're waiting to hear about this criminal complaint against former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

CRAIG APPLE, SHERIFF, ALBANY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: -- if you can bear with us.

CAMEROTA: They're saying they need another minute here.

And so -- OK, we're going to get in a very quick break. We'll be back in one minute.

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APPLE: Thank you for coming out.

I apologize for making you drive out to Clarksville. But things get a little restricted down in Albany.

CAMEROTA: All right, we're back now with the Albany County sheriff who is going to update us on charges against former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

APPLE: So I'll kind of run through the series of events that led up to yesterday.

I could take some questions but I will not be able to get into deep dive into the facts and circumstances of the investigation.

As you know, early August, we received a complaint and a report was placed on file from a young woman who worked for the governor's office.

As I said, that following Saturday, our investigators were going to conduct a very comprehensive and methodical investigation. We were not going to be rushed and we would not be delayed.

So over the course of the nearly four months that follow that, we have done just that, a very come prehensive and methodical investigation.

Our investigators have sifted through hundreds of documents, if not thousands, executed several search warrants, and interviewed numerous witnesses, including our victim.

As a result of all of that information, a packet was sent down to Albany city court for review. As a result of that review, a criminal summons was issued.

[14:40:11]

I will back up and talk about the review.

That is standard in police work. Drop the information off, they'll review it, and if there's any questions, they could call.

Normally, takes a little bit of time. This was -- this came back at a relatively accelerated rate. Kind of caught us by surprise as well.

And needless to say, the document was then released to the media and posted online.

So, sometimes in police work with investigations things don't go how you want them. You have to be ready to pivot and that is exactly what we did.

So a criminal summons was issued. I would have liked to at that point had a deeper conversation with the district attorney. I would have liked to reach out to Cuomo's attorney and explain what was going on. But needless to say, the document was signed. The document was leaked. So again, things don't always work out as planned. So, that is where we are today.

Mr. Cuomo is scheduled to appear November 17th in Albany city court at which time he'll be processed and assumingly released.

Any questions?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You say that accelerating, so was -- (INAUDIBLE)

APPLE: Much.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

APPLE: Well, we had numerous conversations with the victim.

But we would have liked to have presented everything, sat down with the D.A. Explain what we had.

I would like to have, as a courtesy, reached out to Miss Glavine and explain what had and explain what the next processes would be. Bur again, things change and it doesn't always work out as planned.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

APPLE: We've had conversations every day with the victim. I have not spoken to the D.A. today, no.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) -- fruits of the poisonous tree.

APPLE: That is a good pun.

This is how they play. I mean, you guys have been in the business, you've seen some of the tweets that come out of -- from the party and the governor's office.

Listen, this is my job. I would you rather they flow it at me than revictimize the victory over and over and over. I've been doing this a long time. I've been called much worse.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

APPLE: Well, as far as the election comment, I have no idea what that is. I don't know if they were trying to muddy the water saying this was an election ploy or something to that effect.

People always try to distract or detract away from the real investigation. So I'm not really concerned about that.

We have a solid case. Our investigative staff did a marvelous job. I'm very proud of the work they did. Again, they took a very high-profile investigation, they methodically broke it down.

And I couldn't be more proud of them. They executed a lot of search warrants. They went through a lot of data.

And I would like to say thank you to David Pope Law Firm down in the city. They were very valuable and a substantial asset to us during this, as well as the New York State attorney general.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And what does it demonstrate? And do you think it will go to trial? And why or why not?

APPLE: You know what? I don't know. I don't know if will go to trial. I think we have an overwhelming amount of evidence. We have a victim who has been cooperating fully every day, every step of the way.

As far as conviction or something to that effect, that is really going to come down is it a jury or a judge and as well as the district attorney's office.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sir, could you talk a little bit more about what happened yesterday? Is this basically a miscommunication that occurred? And also could you talk a little bit about the evidence in this case?

APPLE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I mean, that one criminal complaint, there was a list of things. But anything additional --

(CROSSTALK)

APPLE: I don't want to get into -- do a deep dive on the weeds into the investigation and the facts and circumstances of the case.

As far as miscommunication, I don't want to say it was miscommunication. I will say that, again, we did not anticipate a quick return like that, nor did we anticipate everything would be posted on the Internet.

And again, and just out of common courtesy, we would have liked to have made some notifications.

[14:45:00]

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, I have two questions for you. One, you said a criminal summons was issued. Who did the issuing in that case?

APPLE: City court judge.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The city court judge.

APPLE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And that happened how soon after you filed?

APPLE: Five minutes. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It was -- is that unusual.

APPLE: It is relatively unusual, yes. Again, the Internet knew about it before I even knew about it.

I was in my office and I received a phone call and looked on the Internet and it was posted on the Internet. So that was problematic. I think it was improper.

But again, sometimes things don't go as planned and you have to roll with it and get ready to pivot and move on.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Another question. So the complaint lays out a very specific day and a very specific time frame for this to happen. The attorney general office struggled to nail that down.

What was the breakthrough there? what allowed to you determine that day and time?

APPLE: I have great investigators.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there any evidence that helped?

APPLE: Well, again, I think there was a great focus on that date in the attorney general's report.

But if I recall and when you look at the footnotes, it goes on to say the victim is unsure of the exact date.

And I think that was -- everybody just seized the opportunity to say that it is impossible this happened because of that date. That is not really accurate.

So, again, we executed a number of search warrants. We had great participation with Davis Pope. And we're able to nail it down and come up with the time frame.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, both today and back in August, you had mentioned that it is really important to not revictimize the victim. Executive assistant number one was anonymous at the time but her identity has been made public.

What would you say the effect was that made the investigation more difficult now that the layer of protection that you had for the victim had been lifted?

APPLE: I don't think it -- well, yes, it did make it a little harder. But again, this person wanted to seek justice and has been with us every step of the way. A number of calls have gone back and forth.

And listen, this is has got to be very traumatic for her. It is easy for me to stand up here and talk about it but I'm sure it is not for her.

And again, we didn't want to -- we just handled this like a normal investigation. And it is a misdemeanor. And misdemeanors aren't normally sat down and

conferred with on every case or there could be no justice. So we handled this like we handle every investigation.

And again, I want to put an emphasize on our victim Cooperated every step of the way.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sheriff, you just said that you've been working with --

BLACKWELL: You've been listening to Albany, New York, sheriff there, Craig Apple, discussing what he said was the overwhelming investigation into the evidence that led to a filing of a criminal complaint, a misdemeanor charge there, as he reiterated, against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Let's bring in CNN correspondent, Brynn Gingras, and CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig.

Brynn, let's start with you.

First, they discussed a bit of it but not the details of what accusation this is referred to.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we know after the New York attorney put out the entire investigation and accusing the former governor of sexually harassing 11 women, one of those women, identified in the report as executive assistant number one, filed a complaint with the Albany County Sheriff's Department and with Craig Apple.

And we know, right after that, he went out in public and told everyone that he was going to thoroughly investigate this and in conjunction with the district attorney's office.

So this is why this is honestly just so confusing. It didn't get much answers because you're hearing him say we had enough evidence to file a complaint, a summons for the misdemeanor charge.

But he didn't have time to alert the district attorney for that charge or even the victim, it sounds like, before this it sounds like this was leaked.

BLACKWELL: The accusation is that the former governor groped in executive assistant --

GINGRAS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- at the mansion while they were alone.

GINGRAS: Right. That is what was laid out in the New York attorney general's report, that incident that happened in December of 20@0.

And there was a discrepancy of when did that did happen. But sometime last year, the end of the last year with this executive assistant, who came out in public and talked about those allegations on national TV. CAMEROTA: Elie, you heard the sheriff's frustration, that now how he

handled things with the chronology of events and it got leaked and it surprised him. He said the Internet knew before he did.

[14:50:58]

So what did you just hear in that press conference?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: What's so unusual, Alisyn, is the sheriff sent one of his sheriff's officers down to the court to ask a judge to issue a criminal complaint without first talking to the prosecutor, the D.A.

Normally, when you have time -- and lord knows they have had plenty of time here -- if you were a police officer or sheriff, you would talk to the prosecutor first.

You would say, hey, we think we have enough to charge here, are you on board or not?

It is very rare, it's extraordinary to see a police officer, when they have had weeks and weeks to deal with a case, go in and ask for a complaint themselves and then deal with the prosecutor afterwards.

Apparently, he hasn't talked to the prosecutor yet.

The key thing to keep in mind, ultimately, the decision about whether this case moves forward is not the sheriff's that we just saw. It's the D.A. in Albany. That's the person that's on the spot.

I think what the sheriff was doing is applying pressure on the D.A. by saying I'm not going to discuss the evidence. But he did use the phrase overwhelming, the evidence is overwhelming. He's making it difficult for the D.A. to back out of this charge.

BLACKWELL: And, Brynn, again, the former governor has denied this allegation but has also added on to that, through a spokesperson, that this is political, blaming all of this on politics.

GINGRAS: Yes, because there was so much confusion yesterday, as you just saw -- heard from Elie. This has never happened.

I was making calls to law enforcement sources and D.A.'s being like have you ever seen anything like this happen before. So unusual, again, that the complaint would be filed without notifying possibly the victim himself and it's going to move forward.

Again, as Elie is noting, now it's in the D.A.'s court. Now all the pressure is on the D.A. to decide how we're going to move forward.

The sheriff kept saying we wanted to treat this as a normal investigation, and, sure, every victim deserves a normal investigation. But we have to be honest here, this isn't a normal investigation.

BLACKWELL: Yes. GINGRAS: This is involving the former governor of New York, and the highly publicized, highly politicized case.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, simultaneously, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she will run for governor.

GINGRAS: That's right. Just to add to more of the politics, she announced that, today, after the criminal complaint was issued. This is a big deal.

She gained national attention, not just for this case, but also, you know, for her report.

But also for the ways she talked about the governor's office at the time handling the nursing home cases, right? She brought a lot of attention to herself over this past year.

There was a ton of speculation about whether Letitia James, who was endorsed by Cuomo, at some point, was going to run.

And now she's making it official again, the day after this complaint for former governor to appear in court in less than a month.

CAMEROTA: I feel like you're going to be busy for a while.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Brynn and Elie, thank you for the breaking news.

And we'll be right back.

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And we'll be right back.

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[14:55:50]

BLACKWELL: Queen Elizabeth II has now been advised to continue to take it easy. Her doctors have urged her to rest for at least the next two weeks.

CAMEROTA: She had already been on a reduced schedule at the advice of her doctors.

And, Victor, I mean, the question is, is it truly just that she's tired? She's 95 years old, and her doctors just want her to rest.

BLACKWELL: And sometimes you do need a break, yes.

CAMEROTA: Yes, yes. I mean, we can relate to that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. CAMEROTA: Or is something bigger going on that they're not telling us?

So let's try to get answers from Max Foster. He's a CNN international anchor and royal correspondent.

Max, do we know, really, how the queen is doing?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR & INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't really because the fundamental issue here is there's clearly some issue with her, a medical issue.

But they refuse to give us the details on that, around patient confidentiality. So they're trying to give as much information as they can effectively.

But they have told us in a statement the queen is being told by her doctors to rest for a few days. We knew that already. That's now being extended over the next two week. And it may continue further depending on the medical advice.

As I say, they don't give you specifics about what might be wrong with her.

The doctors advising she can continue to undertake light duties during this time, including some virtual audiences. We have seen her carrying out some video calls, engagements across video.

It looks pretty well as part of that. They're releasing those deliberately to show that she's well.

We're having to judge what we see against what we don't know. So there's some concern that the palace is trying to manage the fear, I think.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And we know the queen was looking forward to going to this COP-26.

There was a hot-mic moment a couple of weeks ago where she was irritated that the world was not taking action on climate. And she won't be going there because she will be resting at Windsor.

FOSTER: That's a really big deal for her because this was the biggest gathering of heads of state on U.K. soil ever. She was hosting an event on Monday, a main reception for those world leaders.

She was keen to go, and she has been told effectively by her doctors order to stay at home.

But, again, as a way of reassuring people, they told us today, a source told us today she has recorded a video message for that reception.

Prince Charles will be stepping in for her. William, Camila, and Kate will also be there. So a test for them as well to show that they can step up in the queen's place when she can't make it to these events.

CAMEROTA: As we know, she has longevity in her genes, so we're hoping this is just a little rest that she needs.

Max Foster, thank you very much for the update.

All right, we're going to take a quick break. We will be right back.

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