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Lauren Boebert Apologizes For Anti-Muslim Remarks; New Omicron COVID Variant Raising Alarm. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 26, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: This move comes just minutes after the World Health Organization designated a new variant of concern with COVID and named it Omicron.

Concerns over this new variant has already led to multiple international travel events, to global markets tumbling today, and to scientists already testing the impact of this variant on the vaccines' effectiveness.

The fear is that Omicron could evade immunity and spread more easily. This was first detected in South Africa. The health minister there issued an alert yesterday, saying this variant has had an unusually high number of mutations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: B.1.1.529 is named as a variant of concern because it has some concerning properties. This variant has a large number of mutations. And some of these mutations have some worrying characteristics.

Right now, there are many studies that are under way. There's a lot of work that is ongoing in South Africa and in other countries to better characterize the variant itself in terms of transmissibility, in terms of severity, and any impact on our countermeasures, like the use of diagnostics, therapeutics or vaccines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: CNN has a team of correspondents covering this breaking news for us.

We have David McKenzie in South Africa. Pete Muntean is tracking this at the airports.

But let's begin with Arlette Saenz. She is in Nantucket with the president.

Arlette, what does President Biden want Americans to know at this hour about this new variant?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, President Biden is trying to show that they are taking this new coronavirus variant seriously and is enacting these travel restrictions to try to keep people safe.

The president released a statement saying that he was briefed this morning by Anthony Fauci, his top medical adviser, and that after those discussions, they determined that this was the appropriate course, to ban travel from South Africa and seven other nations in that area.

I want to read you a bit of the president's statement. He said: "As a precautionary measure, until we have more information, I am ordering additional air travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries. These new restrictions will take effect on November 29," which is Monday. "As we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advises."

The president in that statement also urged the unvaccinated Americans to go out and get their shots, as well as calling on people to get boosters to ensure that they are having maximum protection against coronavirus and any variants that may come. He also called on the global community to really expand access to vaccines, as it's not just critical to have people vaccinated here in the U.S., but also abroad.

Now, this new travel ban applies to South Africa and seven other countries in the Southern Africa region, including Zimbabwe and Botswana. There's a map there that gives you an idea of the countries that will be touched by this.

This will not apply to American citizens. And as they travel back to the United States, they will need to undergo a negative coronavirus testing in order to be able to return here. Now, one thing on the timing. The White House has said that -- or officials say that they're trying to act as quickly as possible, but it does take time to implement this. And that is why it will be going into effect on Monday, as they're trying to act fast to get this variant and address it and keep Americans safe.

CAMEROTA: OK, Arlette, thank you.

Let's talk about how complicated this is for airlines and airports.

Let's go to Pete Muntean.

Pete, how are the airports handling this? And what does it mean for anyone who planned to travel from one of those countries on Monday?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we were wondering when those come would come down after all these restrictions popped across Europe. We now know that the federal government is formulating guidance to give to airlines about how exactly to deal with this.

We know that there was a call earlier today between the White House and the airline industry. Why is this popping on Monday? Well, it's because they wanted to give them enough time to have -- not to have to scramble to deal with this.

We saw exactly how that went down earlier today. Not only had these restrictions popped up in the U.K., but also in the Netherlands. And those were with immediacy. They went into place right away. And on a flight from South Africa to the Netherlands, everybody on board found out all at the same time and they had to get cordoned off in one particular part of the Schiphol Airport while officials tried to figure out exactly how to deal with this.

Here in the United States, there are only two airlines, U.S. airlines, that operate flights from South Africa to the U.S. Delta operates a flight to Atlanta three times a week. United operates a flight to Newark five times a week. We're still waiting on reaction from them and the airline industry as a whole.

But we know that they are just now finding out about this. And the federal government is working on ways to direct them on how to exactly go through with this, a huge gut punch, though, for the travel industry.

Remember, it wasn't even three weeks ago that restrictions were relaxed for foreign nationals coming into the United States. They just had to prove that they were fully vaccinated and take a negative coronavirus test.

[15:05:03]

This just shows how quickly things can change in the travel space in this pandemic era, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, such a good point, Pete. OK, stand by, if you would.

I want to go to David McKenzie.

So you're hearing, in South Africa, the response from South Africa. What is it there?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're calling it a knee- jerk reaction, Alisyn.

There was some level of anger, I have to say, a short time ago from the minister of health, saying that South Africa is being responsible, in their view, for giving quick indication, using the science as quickly as possible to alert the world to the possible danger of this new variant.

There's still a whole lot of unknowns about it. They are testing the next few days what it means that it has these mutations on the spike protein, and whether it is transmissible, more transmissible than the Delta variant especially and evades any previous infection.

We just don't know that at this point. But the reaction has been one of anger, saying that this is unnecessary, too hasty at this point. And that kind of meshes with some public health officials, including from the Africa CDC, saying that the travel bans won't have much of an effect in terms of stopping the variant, in their view, and that it, in fact, might stop other scientists from announcing troubling variants in the future. Right now, South Africa is not at a very bad place in its COVID-19

pandemic. They are also pointing out the irony of a raging pandemic in parts of Europe cutting off this country, which, at least at this stage, is not seeing very high infection, but it's all about trajectory, and the fact that this variant appears to be dominating the very infectious Delta variant at this stage -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, David McKenzie, Arlette Saenz, Pete Muntean, thanks to all of you for the reporting.

Joining me now is Dr. Ashish Jha from the Brown University School of Public Health.

Dr. Jha, thanks so much for being here.

How concerned are you about this new variant now called, as of about two hours ago, Omicron?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, good afternoon, Alisyn. Thanks for having me here.

I'm concerned. We have seen a lot of variants pop up over the last five, six months, and most of them have not amounted to much. This looks different. It's acting differently. It looks like it's much more contagious than even the Delta variant.

And we don't know about immune escape, but that's the thing that's got a lot of us concern.

CAMEROTA: And it looks more transmissible to you because it's -- what, it's hitting vaccinated people or it's just spreading like wildfire? What are you seeing?

JHA: Yes, so when we have looked at other variants that have popped up, the Alpha variant initially from the U.K., or the Delta variant, it took several months for them to become dominant. This one has become dominant very quickly in South Africa in the regions where it's been found within a matter of days to weeks, as opposed to months.

Now, the number of cases in South Africa is quite low. So it can be for other reasons as well, not just because it's more transmissible, but the speed with which it has taken off is really unlike anything we have seen before.

CAMEROTA: So, it's -- you think it's more transmissible than the Delta variant. Do you think that it causes more severe disease?

JHA: Well, we don't know that it's more transmissible, but that's what we're worried about. And we think it might be.

On severity of disease, we have no idea, no data at all one way or the other. And we just don't know. So we will have to -- we will get, I think, more information that in the next few weeks.

CAMEROTA: How long do you think it will take for us to know if this variant responds to our current vaccines? JHA: Well, look, I don't think we're going to see a situation where

the vaccines will be rendered useless. I think that's exceedingly unlikely.

So the question is, is there a tiny hit to vaccine efficacy? Or is there a large hit? I think we will get some preliminary data probably in the next few days when we get data back on -- basically, what is happening right now is, we're looking at the serum, antibody levels for people who've been vaccinated and seeing how well those antibodies do at neutralizing the virus.

We will get that information in the next few days. That's going to be our first real signal about how much immune escape this virus generates.

CAMEROTA: I want to talk about vaccine rates, vaccination rates.

So South Africa has a very low vaccination rate. Data shows that a third of the adults who have been vaccinated there received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Is that a concern?

JHA: It is for two reasons.

One is, again, 35 percent is really very low. We have got to do a better job of getting more people vaccinated in South Africa and elsewhere. Second is, Johnson & Johnson, while it's a very good vaccine, it's probably a two-dose vaccine. It's probably not a one- dose vaccine.

And in South Africa and many other places, it's only been given as a single-dose vaccine. And so that leaves people half-protected. So I think we have a lot of work to do on vaccinating more people in South Africa and getting people their second shots there as well.

CAMEROTA: Do you like the idea of this travel ban that President Biden just announced in the past hour?

[15:10:00]

JHA: You know, the evidence on travel bans is pretty straightforward, which is, they help a little, not a lot.

So I think this travel ban will slow spread into America probably by a week or 10 days. I'm worried about the signal it sends. We have no idea if this variant even started in South Africa. We know that they identified it because they have a fabulous testing infrastructure that finds it. So we don't want to create incentives against people reporting information.

At most, I think it'll help on the margins. It might give us a few more days to prepare for what is coming.

CAMEROTA: I mean, by the way, that's what our correspondent David McKenzie just said, that South Africa does feel as though it's being penalized for its transparency and for its excellent testing capabilities. So they identified it because they do a good job of testing. And then

they spread the word. And now they feel that they are being penalized. So we're already seeing that.

Is there anything else besides the travel ban that the U.S. can do? Should we be flooding South Africa with -- sharing more vaccine doses with them?

JHA: Yes, so there's a lot we can be doing right now.

If we're going to use a travel ban to prepare, there's several things we need to be doing. I mean, certainly getting more vaccines to South Africa would be really helpful. Within our own country, I think we should be getting ready to do more sequencing and more genomic surveillance of this virus.

I want to see when this variant first shows up. It is going to be here in the U.S. I want to identify it early. I want to figure out where it's spreading in the U.S. We should be talking to the vaccine companies about whether they should start at least looking at the idea of making variant-specific vaccines.

I'm not saying that's necessary, but I am saying that you can't start those conversations too early. There's a lot we can do to get prepared as we wait for more information.

CAMEROTA: OK. Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you for all the information.

JHA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is now apologizing after she said something hateful about her Muslim colleague Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

So, Congresswoman Omar is now asking congressional leadership to take action to stop this kind of hateful rhetoric.

And one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters in Congress turns on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, saying he does not have the votes to earn the speaker's gavel.

More on all this ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:48]

CAMEROTA: OK, President Biden is in Nantucket with his family. And he's talking about that new COVID variant and the travel restrictions that he just announced. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I decided that we're going to be cautious, make sure there is no travel to and from South Africa and six other countries in that region, and except for American citizens who are able to come back.

But we don't know a lot about the variant, except that it is of great concern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: The market dropped significantly today? What's your response to that?

BIDEN: They always do when COVID rises.

QUESTION: But does it worry you at all?

BIDEN: Not at all.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, why are we waiting until Monday, sir?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Why not an immediate ban? It's going into effect on Monday, but why not do it now, like other countries have done?

BIDEN: Well, because that was the recommendation coming from my medical team.

QUESTION: What do you say to questions about whether bans create an incentive for countries not to come forward with new variants, if you're penalized to for doing so?

BIDEN: That's ridiculous, because you can't hide the variants. It's not like someone could hide the fact that there's a new variant, people getting sick.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... more careful now going into the holidays? You have been telling people to...

(CROSSTALK)

BIDEN: Look, I have.

Here's the deal. Every American who has not been vaccinated should be responsible and be vaccinated from age 5 years and up, number one.

Number two, everyone eligible for the booster shot should get the booster shot immediately upon being eligible. That is the minimum that everyone should be doing. And I -- you know, we always talk about whether this is about freedom, but I think it's a patriotic responsibility.

(CROSSTALK) QUESTION: Mr. President, have you asked the Fed to singularly focus on inflation, sir, especially with the new appointments?

BIDEN: I have talked to the Fed about a whole range of things, from monetary policies to inflation.

And I have confidence that the appointees that I have made -- and I'm going to have -- excuse me -- three more -- are going to reflect that concern.

QUESTION: When do you make those appointments, sir?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... Ukraine and (OFF-MIKE)

BIDEN: I am concerned.

Look, we support Ukraine's territorial integrity. We support Ukraine's ability to govern itself, and we object to anything remotely approaching...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Have you talked to (OFF-MIKE) Putin? Are you going to?

BIDEN: In all probability.

QUESTION: Mr. President, are you thinking of any new mandates since your others were caught in court?

BIDEN: No, not at the moment.

Thank you.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy Thanksgiving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, we have just been listening to President Biden there on his vacation in Nantucket talking about the breaking news of today, including this new variant, this new coronavirus variant known as Omicron.

Let's bring in Arlette Saenz, who is reporting on the president in Nantucket.

So he felt it was important to share his thinking on why he's moving quickly with that travel restriction.

SAENZ: He did, Alisyn.

This is one of the few times we have seen President Biden while he's been here in Nantucket, and he came out and stressed that they decided to take this move out of caution over this variant. He said that there's still a lot that is unknown about what is occurring at this moment, but, ultimately, they thought this was the best protocol to put in place in order to keep Americans safe.

He said that he spent about half-an-hour speaking with his coronavirus team, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, before they reached this decision to ban a travel from South Africa and seven other countries in that region.

The president also there once again called on people who are unvaccinated to go out and get their COVID-19 vaccine. He also talked about the need for boosters. That is ultimately the White House's thinking, is that the way for people to protect themselves is to be getting these shots.

[15:20:03]

But this all comes as the White House is trying to mobilize and show how seriously they are taking this new variant that has popped up over the course of the past few days. They are acting with speed to get this out there. The restrictions won't go into effect until Monday, but they say they are working as quickly as possible, going through all the protocols to notify airlines and have that go into effect on Monday after midnight.

But this also comes -- the president was also asked about whether he's considering any other vaccine -- or any other mandates, since some of his vaccine mandates are held up in court. He said not at this time. And he also, notably, was asked about Ukraine. He said that the U.S. does continue to support Ukraine.

We know the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, spoke with a Ukrainian official today after Ukraine's president alleged that a Russian group may be trying to overthrow him in a coup, but, right now, the focus so much is on that new variant and the White House taking these new steps to ban travel.

CAMEROTA: OK, Arlette Saenz, thank you very much for all of that breaking news.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:45]

CAMEROTA: Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado is doing something unusual today. She's apologizing after she was caught on video making racist anti-Muslim comments about another member of Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers. And he and I are -- we're leaving the Capitol. We're going back to my office, and we get an elevator. And I see a Capitol Police officer running currently to the elevator. I see fret all over his face. I look to my left. And there she is, Ilhan Omar.

I said, well, if she doesn't have a backpack, we should be fine.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

BOEBERT: So, we only had one floor to go. I was like, do I say it? Do I not? I looked over. And I said: "Oh, look, the Jihad Squad decided to show up for work today."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: After that video went public, Congresswoman Boebert this afternoon, tweeted: "I apologize to anyone in the Muslim community I offended with my comment about Representative Omar. I have reached out to her office to speak directly with her. There are plenty of policy differences to focus on without this unnecessary distraction."

Let's talk about what all this means with Margaret Talev. She's our CNN political analyst and managing editor for Axios. And Dean Obeidallah is a CNN.com. opinion contributor.

Dean, Congresswoman Omar just responded to Congresswoman Boebert. And she is still calling for Boebert to be punished. She just tweeted -- quote -- "Saying that I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter. GOP leader and Speaker Pelosi need to take appropriate action. Normalizing this bigotry not only endangers my life, but the lives of all Muslims. Anti-Muslim bigotry has no place in Congress."

Dean, you are Muslim. What do you think as you listen to this back- and-forth?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CNN.COM OPINION CONTRIBUTOR: I think Congresswoman Boebert must have gotten more pushback than she expected, because, just to be clear, as Congresswoman Omar pointed out yesterday, this entire story was fabricated. This never happened.

They were never on the elevator together. This was made up by Congresswoman Boebert to entertain her far right audience there to laugh at a Muslim and say that she's a terrorist and she might have a bomb with her because she has got a backpack.

So let's put one other thing in perspective. Just last week, Boebert is on the floor of Congress defending Paul Gosar and saying Congresswoman Omar is part of the Jihad Squad. This is same Boebert who earlier this year said that Congresswoman Omar is part of -- the full-time job is to defend, be a propagandist for terrorism.

So, Boebert is horrible. One tweet does not make up for months and months of demonization furthering the worse stereotypes about Muslims. And, Alisyn, we talked about this when you are a "NEW DAY" during the Trump campaign. The words of elected officials matter. They can inspire good and bad.

In this case, they're normalizing the worst stereotypes. And they can inspire and incite hate crime. So, to me, one tweet does not make up for months and months of demonization of Congresswoman Omar and Muslims by Boebert.

CAMEROTA: Dean, I mean, tragically, you and I have had ample opportunity to talk about this, how violent rhetoric often leads to violence.

And we have seen examples of it time and again, and yet they keep doing this.

And so, Margaret, that does lead to the question, why is she apologizing? Congresswoman Boebert is no stranger to inflammatory, hateful rhetoric. What happened today? Who pushed back on this?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Alisyn, I mean, it's the most interesting political question of the moment around this.

Leader Kevin McCarthy's role in trying to respond or guide his caucus internally and deal with this segment, the sort of provocateur segment of the GOP House Caucus is really interesting.

And I think it's -- we're going to be spending a lot of time watching it over the course of the next several months, because there's a lot of pressure on him from the sort of group, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, maybe now Boebert, Paul Gosar, to go after other Republicans in the caucus, right, the Liz Cheneys, the Adam Kinzingers, the 13 Republicans who voted for a bipartisan infrastructure plan, but tremendous pressure to go after that group.

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