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The Trump Vs. Pence Proxy War In Arizona Heats Up Today; Soon: WH To Update Biden's Health After He Tested Positive For COVID; White House Updates Biden's Condition After COVID Diagnosis. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 22, 2022 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BILL GATES, SUPERVISOR, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: And I think the endorsement of Governor Ducey, the endorsement of Vice President Pence are making it even closer. But what is important about her campaign is she's really focusing on the issues that Republicans are concerned about, while Kari Lake is, as was mentioned earlier, is trying to continue to relitigate the 2020 election.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And that happens, of course, as the country is watching these hearings from the January 6 Committee. The eighth hearing last night in primetime, some compelling evidence. Is any of that resonating with Republicans in Arizona?

GATES: I think that there are some that -- here's the thing. Those who are loudest would tell you, they're not watching it. But those who are quieter, they come up to me, they talk to me in events, they say that they're paying attention to this. And what they want to see the Republican Party do is stop talking about 2020 election, claiming that there was fraud, and instead talk about what the vision is for the Republican Party for our country. And I think we've got a great story to tell.

BLACKWELL: One of those witnesses at the hearings was Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers. And he testified that he would not, as requested, claim that the election results in Arizona were fraudulent. He would not overturn the will of the people and say that Rudy Giuliani did not have evidence to supply.

Well, this week, the state party there in Arizona, Republicans, censured Rusty Bowers. This is what the party chair tweeted. He is no longer a Republican in good standing. And we call on Republicans to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary. If doing what Rusty Bowers did -- and this is not a rhetorical question -- if that makes him a Republican in poor standing, what's the definition now in the state of Arizona of a Republican in good standing? Do you have to buy and sell the lie?

GATES: Well, so it depends upon who you're asking. If you're asking Kelli Ward, yes, you do. You have to accept the lie. There's no basis for it. Again, Republicans, you know, former members of the Trump administration have rejected it. Bill Barr and so many others have rejected this time and time again. But unfortunately, Kari Lake, Kelli Ward, and their ilk, they continue to push this forward.

And look, Rusty Bowers is a friend. He's a good man, and he's a good conservative. He's accomplished so much in the Arizona legislature. And to censure him is absurd. That's not what the Arizona Republican Party should be doing. They should be staying out of primary elections. And then whoever wins that primary, supporting them.

But Kelli Ward and her team, they're getting involved in the middle of these primary elections. It's wrong, and it needs to stop.

BLACKWELL: The last quick one for you. We learned from the Wisconsin speaker of the assembly there that just -- within the last week, former President Trump reached out to urge him to decertify that the 2020 election. Have you anyone on the board, anyone you know there in the state have been pressured by the former president or his allies recently?

GATES: Well, yes, not recently. No. Back in late 2020, you know, President Trump tried to contact our chairman of the board then, Clint Hickman. Rudy Giuliani called me on Christmas Eve, trying to get help with basically getting the materials, you know, the ballots in the tabulation machines, because they wanted them for January 6.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Of course, we remember that recount that went on for so long across the state. Bill Gates, good to talk to you. Thank you, sir.

GATES: Thank you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): President Biden is in isolation with COVID at the moment, but he just appeared on video meeting with his economic team remotely to talk gas prices. We have a live update from the White House coming up.

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[15:35:00]

BLACKWELL: We're waiting for a White House briefing to start any moment now updating us on the President's COVID symptoms.

CAMEROTA: President Biden's doctor says the president ran a slight temperature overnight but responded well to Tylenol and his symptoms have improved. And just a short time ago, President Biden met with his economic team remotely to discuss gas prices. He told them he feels much better than he sounds.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's bring in Dr. Peter Hotez, a former -- he's a professor and dean of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Also joining us emergency physician Dr. Megan Ranney. She is the academic dean of Public Health at Brown University. Welcome to you both.

Dr. Hotez, let me start with you. This detail about the President's temperature reached 99.4 degrees last night. They gave him Tylenol. It came back down. Is that of any concern? It's a little elevated but not a fever.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, he has COVID-19 and he's -- it looks so far like a fairly mild case. So, that's a Very modest fever, barely a fever at all. And the fact that he's doing well today in the second or third day of the illness is a very, very positive sign because if he were going to progress and have worsening illness, there's a good chance you will start to see that by now.

[15:40:16]

So, the fact that he's even able to work and on Zoom, although I don't necessarily recommend it, but the fact that he's able to do that, the fact that he coughs when he talks, well, you know what, that's what often happens as well. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad prognostic sign. So, I have a lot of optimism at this point that he's going to do well now that we've had a little bit of time, 24 or 48 hours, to watch them how he's doing.

And all of -- all of it, we can, I think, ascribe it to the fact that he's had two boosts which we know from CDC data makes a big difference having four immunizations rather than two or three, number one. And number two, the Paxlovid is kicking in. So, I attribute a lot of his success to the fact that one, he's kept in good shape, but also the medical interventions and the vaccinations.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Ranney, this is just a reminder that COVID is everywhere it seems right now. First, if we look at the map, the map of transmission around the United States, the whole country looks red. I'll try to pull that up for us. I mean, that's pretty telling what's on our screen. That's high transmission, community transmission rate everywhere.

And then more concerning, if we look at the hospitalization rate over the past seven days, I mean, look at how steeply it has climbed since April. And so, when we look at hospitalizations, which are now up above 40,000, does -- are those all unvaccinated people or are we getting less protections now from our vaccines?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, ACADEMIC DEAN OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BROWN UNIVERSITY: So, this is a reminder that President Biden, like celebrities, is just like us. He like all the rest of us is at risk. When there's a surge in cases that puts all of us at risk of catching COVID. We are seeing about a 20 percent increase in hospitalizations over the past couple of weeks.

But your question is a really important one, Allison. Who is being hospitalized? We are seeing that it is largely folks who are either unvaccinated, period, or who are vaccinated and have only received one or two of those extra booster shots, particularly that age 65-plus age group for whom to booster shots are recommended. Unfortunately, only about a quarter of those folks have received both booster shots. And it's that second booster with these new sub-variants of COVID that is so important at protecting from severe disease hospitalization and death. The other part about who's getting hospitalized is it is not folks who

are on Paxlovid. So, this reinforces why that test to treat program why folks knowing if they've been infected to ask their doctor or their pharmacist whether they're eligible for Paxlovid is so important because that's an added level of protection regardless of your vaccination status against hospitalization.

BLACKWELL: We do not know specifically the strain that President Biden has. Dr. Jha says that will be sequenced, could take a couple of days. But BA.5 is the dominant strain across the country. Dr. Hotez, we've learned from Helix, this gene sequencing company, that more people now are catching COVID-19 for the second or third time, although it's not happening at a quicker pace. The share of reinfections doubling during this strain are twice as much as they were during the strain in May. Why and what's the significance? I didn't know people weren't getting it for a third time now.

HOTEZ: Well, one of the things that we know, Victor, is that the Omicron BA.1 sub-variant, which was the dominant one when Omicron first hit the United States in December and January earlier this year, that one is not protecting very well at all against a BA.5. So, we're seeing lots of people who've been infected but who failed to get vaccinated on top of that, thinking that Omicron was good enough to prevent reinfection and they were wrong.

And so, the key there is, if you've been infected with Omicron, you still need to get vaccinated. And think -- I almost think of like a single infection as almost like a single dose of vaccine which we know is not very protective against BA.5. Again, these vaccines were designed against the original lineage and that's why we need the original boost to get enough spillover virus neutralizing antibody to get the BA.5 sub-variant.

The good news, and the CDC came out with very strong data for those over the age of 50, whether or not you get two boosts really makes the difference both in hospitalizations and mortality. And so, if I sound a bit like a broken record, it's deliberate. The single most impactful thing you can do to keep yourself safe is to be mindful of your vaccination status and if you've gotten two immunizations, even though the CDC calls that fall immunization which I think is a big mistake, get your boost. And if you've gotten a single boost and you're eligible, get your second boost.

[15:45:14]

CAMEROTA: OK, really helpful information. Dr. Megan Ranney and Dr. Peter Hotez, thank you both.

BLACKWELL: Well, there's a lot of money in politics, especially in Texas right now where one longtime Republican compares it to a Russian oligarchy. CNN follows the money next.

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[15:50:00] BLACKWELL: A new CNN Special Report airing Sunday looks at big money deep in the heart of Texas politics. Texas is one of only 10 states with no limitations on individual campaign donations to candidates.

CAMEROTA: And because of that, a few wealthy donors have been able to have an outsized influence on legislation in Texas. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Your voting record is just as conservative as many of the people who might be supported by these West Texas billionaires. You voted for the abortion bill. You voted for the no-permit gun carry bill. In the bill that limits the discussion of race and gender in classrooms, you voted for that as well.

So, why haven't the Tim Dunn's in the Farris Wilks supported you? It seems like you're doing stuff that they would agree with.

KEL SELIGER, TEXAS STATE SENATOR: My voting record is very conservative. Is it 100 percent Conservative? No. They're 100 percenters and you're either owned or you're not owned.

LAVANDERA: So, the way you describe this is it almost sounds like, you know, Senator Joe Smith to make up a name, if they've got a ton of money that's coming from these West Texas billionaires, those billionaires are really the elected official.

SELIGER: It is a Russian-style oligarchy, pure and simple. Really --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Deep pockets in the -- Deep in the Pockets of Texas airs Sunday at 8:00. Here's Karine Jean-Pierre here at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- reasonable to add low-dose Aspirin as an alternative type of blood thinner. As I stated previously, the President is fully vaccinated and twice boosted so I anticipate that he will respond favorably as most maximally protected patients do. There has been nothing in the course of his illness thus far which gives me cause to alter the initial expectation.

Early use of Paxlovid provides additional protection against severe disease. He will isolate in accordance with CDC recommendations and he will continue to monitor him closely during this very common outpatient treatment regimen. As promised, I will keep your office updated with any changes in his condition or treatment plan. Respectively, Kevin C. O'Connor.

So, I also wanted to update you on what the President has been up to and how he's continuing to work hard on behalf of the American people. Last night, the President signed the Baby Formula Bill Congress passed. He also spoke with Senator Carper to see how he was feeling and to the hosts of yesterday's DNC event to thank them for their flexibility.

This morning, the President received the President's Daily Briefing virtually as you all know. He also met virtually with his economic team on the progress being made to lower gas prices for American families as you all saw yourselves. Doctor Jha and I spoke to the president over FaceTime this afternoon. I asked him if he had a message for the American people. The President said he is still -- he's still putting in eight-plus hours a workday, and that he wants to remind Americans to get vaccinated because, in his own words, it matters.

Look, the President hopes the country will see that while we should continue to take COVID very seriously, we have the tools we need to deal with this. President Biden is benefiting from two vaccines, two boosters, and he's advocating for every American to take advantage of these vaccines and boosters, which we have made available for free at 90,000 convenient places nationwide. And he's benefiting from Paxlovid, a powerful antiviral we've made available at 42,000 locations, including local pharmacies across the country.

All Americans have access to the same vaccines, boosters, treatment that President Biden is receiving right here at the White House. And the President hopes that all Americans who are over 50 get boosted now if they haven't already and get Paxlovid if they test positive.

Now, I'm glad to return to the briefing room Dr. Jha, the White House COVID Coronavirus Response Coordinator who is joining me today and we're happy to take some questions. Dr. Jha, I know you have a few things that you wanted to share.

DR. ASHISH JHA, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: All right, good afternoon, everybody. I'm going to make a few remarks, some things similar to Karine. First of all, good to be with all of you today. Just -- you just heard Karine give an update on the president. And I'm happy to answer questions about his health in a second. We -- as you heard, we FaceTime with the President earlier today. I also spoke at length multiple times today with Dr. O'Connor.

And as you all saw just a few minutes ago, the President is doing better. He slept well last night. He ate his breakfast and lunch fully. Yes, he showed me his plate. I didn't ask about the menu but I did see an empty plate with crumbs and I have some guesses about what was there but didn't ask.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

[15:55:13]

JHA: I didn't ask. I did ask him about his appetite. He joked that his one regret was that his appetite had not changed. Look, he is -- he was -- he is in a very good mood. I want to take a step back and emphasize the message that you heard from Karine. As the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, what I think every American needs to hear, what the President laid out, is that while we have a very contagious variant, thanks to this President's leadership, we have the ability to manage this. We are now at a point, I believe, where we can prevent nearly every

COVID death in America. That is a remarkable fact. So, if you are vaccinated, but have not gotten a booster, this is a really good time to go and get a booster. If you're over 50 and haven't gotten a vaccine shot in the year 2022, this is a really good time to go and get a shot. They are free, they are widely available. And as you heard, if you are over the age of 50 or have any kind of chronic condition that meets CDC criteria, please consider getting treated if you have a breakthrough infection. And if you don't have a regular doctor, you can go to covid.gov and find a test site near you.

I also want to share some data about the progress we are making both on vaccines and treatments just over the last couple of weeks. Over the last seven days, we've gotten 2.2 million more shots into people's arms. That's the highest we've seen in a month. More than 900,000 Americans have gotten their second booster shot in the last week. That's the highest number in six weeks.

So, as Americans go about their daily lives this summer, they're heeding the public health message. And not just on vaccinations, by the way, on treatments as well. You know, when I started in this role about three, three and a half months ago, we were seeing less than 4,000 prescriptions a day of Paxlovid. Now, Paxlovid prescriptions are at their highest level.

Last week, about 40,000 courses of Paxlovid were prescribed every single day across America. It's a remarkable fact. And if you think about the fact that we have about 120,000 identified infections, even if you assume that some infections are not getting identified because of home tests, it's a large proportion of people getting Paxlovid. I think that's really good. It's preventing hospitalizations. It's preventing deaths every day.

Overall, just so far, in the month of July, 920,000 Americans have benefited from Paxlovid. We have secured 20 million courses of Paxlovid. That's the most in the world by a lot. And again, we've made it widely available, and of course free.

All right, let me finish by providing what I think is really the bottom line. It's great to see the President doing better. He's doing better because he is vaccinated, he is boosted, he's getting treatments. He is getting world-class treatment, exactly what you would expect for the President of the United States. And the President has made clear to us that it's incredibly important to him and therefore it's incredibly important to all of us that all Americans have easy, free access to the same world-class treatment that he's getting, vaccinations, therapeutics.

So, my message to my fellow Americans really is this. Please avail yourself of this vaccine to build up your immunity. Please avail yourselves of treatments if you qualify, if you get infected. And let's continue to do everything we can to prevent serious illness and death from this pandemic.

All right, thank you very much for listening. And I'm happy to take questions as I know KJP is as well. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the White House released his elevated temperature level of 99.4 degrees. Can the White House provides specific numbers on his oxygen levels, blood pressure levels, beyond just saying that they are normal? Would you be willing to release that information?

JHA: You know what? He gets his vital signs checked several times a day. So, of course, there are multiple numbers in there. All of his vitals including his temperature, I would argue, but all of his vitals have always been in the normal range, his heart rate, his blood pressure, his oxygen level, and his temperature. The 99.4 was the highest temperature he's had in the last, well, 24 hours, but I would say since his diagnosis. But he's had normal, vital signs throughout the entire course of the disease.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: OK, you've been listening there to Dr. Ashish Jha who is the COVID coordinator at the White House talking about President Biden's condition. And basically, he has improved today. He seems to be getting better. He had a slight temperature last night but that was treated easily with Tylenol. And most importantly, no change to his appetite.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: As we learned.

BLACKWELL: Excellent treatment, Dr. Jha says. And he finished the breakfast and lunch apparently, so that's an important detail.

CAMEROTA: That was an important detail. But more importantly, what is available to him for treatment is available to all Americans. That was the message that they wanted to get across, that everyone should get vaccinated. That's why he's doing so well.

OK, have a wonderful weekend, everyone. And "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.