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Lawmakers Grill Dr. Fauci On COVID Response, Origins; NYSE Stops Trading Of Some Stocks Due To Tech Issue; Jury Selection Underway In Hunter Biden Federal Gun Trial. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired June 03, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:18]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now. You're looking at live pictures of Dr. Anthony Fauci, testifying up on Capitol Hill. He's facing a grilling from Republicans about the origins of COVID-19.

Also today, for the first time in history, the son of a sitting president of the United States is on trial. Jury selection now underway in Hunter Biden's federal gun case. And history is being made, Mexico electing its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum. We'll have a live report.

Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. And you're in the CNN Newsroom.

Happening now up on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers are turning up the heat on the man who led the U.S. government's response to the COVID pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci faces more questions on that response and the origins of the virus that killed nearly 1.2 million Americans.

Dr. Fauci will also face questions about e-mail exchanges involving one of his top advisors. A subpoena from the Republican-led committee turned up e-mails where Dr. David Morens appears to be trying to avoid public record laws. CNN's Lauren Fox is up on Capitol Hill for us. CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is also joining us along with Dr. Paul Offit, he's the director of the Vaccine Education Center of the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee. Lauren, what will Republican lawmakers underscore in today's hearing?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I just left the hearing room, Wolf. And one thing is very clear, they are trying to lay out in specific detail why they believe Dr. Fauci has not been entirely honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, for his part, Dr. Fauci in his opening statement defended his actions during the beginning of that pandemic, laying out in details precisely the steps that he took in trying to understand the origins of the pandemic. He also made clear because of questions about some of his subordinates e-mail practices that he, to the best of his knowledge, he said this in his opening statement, never used his personal e-mail to conduct official business. That obviously is going to be something that Republicans are going to continue to press him at in this hearing.

We should note that this is the first time that Dr. Fauci is appearing before a public committee hearing since he retired from NIH in 2022. He did appear, though, back in January in two subsequent days, private testimony behind closed doors, 14 hours in total, where he answered some of the same questions we expect he will get again today. For their part, Democrats are defending Fauci, saying that he is not some kind of villain, that Republicans are trying to paint him as. Here's Representative Raskin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD), RANKING MEMBER, OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY CMTE.: This investigation of Dr. Fauci shows that he is an honorable public servant committed to public health, and he is not a comic book super villain. He did not fund research to create the COVID-19 pandemic. He did not lie to Congress about gain of function research in Wuhan, and he did not organize a lab leak suppression campaign to cover his tracks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And the questioning is just beginning in this hearing. But already you're seeing from Democrats that they are thanking Dr. Fauci for his service during the pandemic, for his long tenure at NIH. They are also laying out the importance of the vaccine that helped shepherd through the process over the course of the pandemic, saying that it saved lives. That is something else that you can expect Republicans are going to be pressing on in the days and hours ahead. Fauci, or excuse me, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Lauren, stand by. I want to get back to you. But I want to bring in Meg right now. Meg, what are the medical topics likely to be covered in today's hearing?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I mean, what you heard from Lauren is really what the focus is today. There isn't a lot of scientific discussion going on, at least good faith efforts, it seems, to talk about the origins of this virus, necessarily, or scientific questions about actions taken early on in the pandemic. We did hear an exchange between the chairman and Dr. Fauci about the efficacy of the COVID vaccine. The Republicans have pressed Dr. Fauci on claims at the beginning of the pandemic that the vaccine prevented transmission and things like that.

Dr. Fauci says at the beginning it did look like the vaccine could stop cases of COVID but as time went on, it became clear that didn't last. But what he did point out is that the vaccine has proven to be quite durable in terms of preventing severe disease and death from COVID. He was then asked, is the vaccine 100 percent effective? And he said, I don't think any vaccine is 100 percent effective. So we are hearing some scientific and medical questions peppered in here, but primarily the discussion really has been about Doctor Fauci's oversight of questions about the origin of the virus.

[11:05:28] Dr. Fauci really coming in and wanting to address four topics off the top, which really had to do with that, as well as people on his staff who have come into attention for potentially behavior that was not seen as the right way to be transparent about the early days of the pandemic and grants to a certain group, EcoHealth Alliance. But, Wolf, folks I've talked with on both sides of the aisle in the public health community, not expecting a ton of scientific revelations coming out of this hearing today more sort of political focus.

BLITZER: All right, Meg, standby. I want to quickly listen to at least part of this hearing that's ongoing right now. Let's listen.

RASKIN: -- with a copy to Kristian Andersen. But you sent it to Professor Jeremy Farrar. Jeremy, I just got off the phone with Kristian Andersen and he related to me his concern about the furine site mutation in the spike protein of the currently circulating 2019 nCoV. I told him that as soon as possible, he and Eddie Holmes should get a group of evolutionary biologists together to carefully examine the data to determine if his concerns are validated. He should do this very quickly, and if everyone agrees with this concern, they should report it to the appropriate authorities. I would imagine that in the USA, this would be the FBI, in the U.K., it would be MI5. It would be important to quickly get confirmation of the cause of his concern by experts in the field of coronaviruses and evolutionary biology.

In the meantime, I will alert my U.S. government official colleagues of my conversation with you and Kristian and determine what further investigation they recommend. Let us stay in touch. Best regards, Tony. Was this the e-mail where you were putatively trying to cover up the possibility of a lab leak?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASE: Yes, Congressman Raskin, and that's the reason why I mentioned in my opening statement that is it inconceivable that anyone could get out of that I was covering anything up?

RASKIN: Would you have any reason to cover up any new scientific evidence relating to the origins of the COVID-19 virus?

FAUCI: Absolutely not. And that's the reason why it was important to get people together that to discuss this in a transparent way.

RASKIN: Have you spent your whole life trying to determine the causes of infectious diseases and then to stop them to protect the American people?

FAUCI: Yes, I have.

RASKIN: Well, Dr. Fauci, I want to join my colleague from Florida in apologizing to you that some of our colleagues in the United States House of Representatives seem to want to drag your name through the mud. They're treating you, Dr. Fauci, like a convicted felon. Actually, you probably wish they were treating you like a convicted felon. They treat convicted felons with love and admiration. Some of them blindly worship convicted felons. Is there anything else you would like to say to the American people about your service to America during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic?

FAUCI: My main job during the COVID pandemic was to play a role with my team at the Vaccine Research Center to develop a safe and effective vaccine. And we did that in an unprecedented short period of time never seen before in the annals of vaccinology. As we all know, that vaccine and those vaccines have resulted in saving of hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States and millions of lives throughout the world.

RASKIN: Well, you have fought AIDS and HIV, you have fought COVID-19 and you are fearless in doing so. Do you have any reason to be afraid of scientific evidence or data or the truth?

FAUCI: Not at all.

RASKIN: Thank you. I will yield back to you, Mr. Chairman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now recognize Mr. Griffith from Virginia for five minutes of questions.

REP. MORGAN GRIFFITH (D-VA): Thank you Mr. Chairman. Good to see you Dr. Fauci. So take a deep breath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, we're going to continue to monitor this important hearing with Dr. Fauci. You just heard him defend himself, Congressman Jamie Raskin asking those questions. So we're going to continue to monitor this. We'll get back to it as needed. But right now I want to bring in Doctor Offit, who's a real expert in this whole area. Dr. Offit, first of all, give me your reaction to what we just heard from Dr. Fauci.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, I think it is really important to understand the origin of this virus. You have three pandemic viruses that have all occurred in the last 20 years. You can assume there's going to be another one, so it's important to understand this. But really scientifically, this isn't a controversy. This one was animal to human spillover event that occurred in the western section of the Huanan wholesale seafood market at the end of 2019. All the original cases were there and then spread out concentrically from there.

[11:10:11]

There were animals that were sold in that part of the market, sold illegally, like red foxes and raccoon dogs. They clearly were susceptible to coronavirus, and they were sold illegally under non- hygienic and unsterile conditions. The Chinese scientists, and now we know that, investigated that area, found evidence of SARS-CoV-2 virus on cages, on machines used to kill the animals. And we now know that even some of the animals had SARS-CoV-2 virus there. So this is not a scientific or medical controversy, but it's become a cultural controversy because we want a person to blame.

But I think if you want anybody to blame, blame the Chinese government, because first of all, they were unwilling to let international teams of scientists come in and see what was going on. We had to depend on a whistleblower in Wuhan to tell us that there was a virus that was causing people to be hospitalized and die. I think they were. And we know that in 2002, SARS-1 was animal to human spillover event. So I think China is culpable here and Mother Nature is culpable here. So let's bring those up in front of these congressional subcommittees.

BLITZER: Important point, Dr. Offit, thank you very much. Stick around. We're going to continue to monitor this hearing throughout the hour. We'll get back to you.

There's other breaking news coming into CNN right now. Dozens of stocks have been put on a pause because of a technical glitch over at the New York Stock Exchange. CNN reporter Matt Egan is joining us right now. Matt, what more have you learned? Tell us about this.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Wolf, this is a developing situation. Here's what we know. The New York Stock Exchange says that it is investigating what they're calling a technical issue involves what's known as limit up, limit down, which is really a safeguard put in place to prevent stock prices from moving too wildly. Now, in just the last few moments, the New York Stock Exchange sent out an update saying that these stocks that have been impacted, they are reopening or are in the process of reopening. And they say that the issue at the heart of this has been resolved. Now we're going to keep an eye to see how these stocks open up trading, because there was a bizarre situation where, as you mentioned, dozens of stocks were halted for no apparent reason.

Some of them were showing really unusual moves, most notably Berkshire Hathaway, that's the big holding company run by legendary investor Warren Buffett. Class A shares for Berkshire Hathaway were listed down, trading at $185.10. That would be a 99.97 percent drop because normally this stock is trading above $600,000. So clearly something weird going on. I talked to one market structure expert who told me that something is wacky is happening. Hopefully this is going to be resolved and cleared up. We showed the big board before showing the Dow about 200 points. Not a major move. It does not appear to be directly related to these individual stock issues. The broader market does appear to be holding up and we'll keep an eye as these stocks start to trade, again, hopefully at normal prices. Wolf?

BLITZER: We'll stay in close touch with you. Matt, thanks very much for staying on top of this potentially very significant story.

We're going to continue to monitor all the developments unfolding right now from the testimony of Dr. Anthony Fauci, and we'll bring you any major headlines.

Also ahead this hour, jury selection in Hunter Biden's gun trial is now underway. We'll take you live to the federal courthouse in Delaware.

[11:13:38] Plus, Mexico has officially elected its first female president. How her policies could shape American border crossings in the coming months. Stay with us. You're live here in the CNN Newsroom.

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BLITZER: This is CNN this morning, jury selection is underway in Hunter Biden's felony gun trial in Delaware. This is the first time the adult child of a sitting president of the United States has gone on trial. Hunter Biden is accused of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun back in 2018 while abusing drugs. He's pleaded not guilty. Joining us now, former assistant special Watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman and former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Renato, what are the main things you'll be watching as this trial begins?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, one thing I'm going to be interested in is, what is the defense's narrative here? You know, it's very challenging to convince the jury in this circumstance you didn't purchase the gun or that you weren't abusing drugs at that time. I think that they're going to try to have a strategy of potentially putting the prosecution on trial, arguing for something like nullification. So I'm very interested in what the defense opening statement looks like in the hours to come.

BLITZER: Nick, as you know, the Biden family clearly has an extensive history in the state of Delaware. Could this impact potentially jury selection there?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR: Oh, sure. But again, I think that's going to be all vetted during jury selection to the extent that people have a prejudice one way or the other, I think that will come out for sure. But you're right. At the end of the day, I think the Bidens have a lot of connections to Delaware. Delaware's the small, one of the smallest states in the union, and everybody probably knows somebody that knows the Bidens. So it could have an impact. I mean, I really think that the only defense that Hunter Biden has is at the, at the time he signed the ATF form, at the time he owned the gun for about 10 days, was he addicted to drugs? Was he taking drugs? To me, that is the only possible defense he's got. And I agree with Renato. I'm curious to see if that comes up in the opening statement.

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BLITZER: That's a good point. Renato, the judge overseeing this trial dealt the defense two setbacks yesterday, blocking an expert witness and excluding a key piece evidence. What do you make of those rulings?

MARIOTTI: I have to say I think the judge has been very prosecution in this one. There's also some prior rulings in which, you know, the judge really didn't, I would say, seriously consider the arguments by the defense that they essentially already had completed a deal with the government and that the government essentially went back on its deal. So I actually think the defense is going through with this trial because they think they have some grounds for appealing. They also, of course, have potentially a Second Amendment argument to try to invalidate the statute. So they've got a bunch of different appellate arguments. So I think they're going through the motions in this trial and they're really trying to get an appellate victory.

BLITZER: Nick, as you know, both this judge and the judge in Hunter Biden's other case, the tax case, are both Trump appointees. Do you think this could have any impact on either trial?

AKERMAN: I don't think we should view it that way. I mean, I really kind of cringe every time people talk about Biden appointed judges, Trump appointed judges. I think we have to give these judges the benefit of the doubt. They're not necessarily even appointed by the president. They're really appointed by senators. In states like California, where you had two Democratic senators, certainly they would have had a veto power over the judge that was appointed.

So I just think it's a bad way to look at this. It does what Donald Trump does, trying to turn this into a partisan battle. It's not a partisan battle. I think it's going to come down to, if they really go to trial on this, it's going to come down to whether or not Hunter Biden can get on the witness stand and convince the jury that at the time he thought he was not addicted and not taking drugs during that 10-day period. That's what it's all about. And I certainly wouldn't look at this in a partisan lens.

BLITZER: Well, on that issue, Renato, do you think this trial potentially contradicts Republicans narrative of a so called weaponized Department of Justice?

MARIOTTI: I do. I mean, I agree with Nick that, you know, I don't generally like to look at certainly judges and our system of justice in that fashion. I do think in many ways Hunter Biden, ironically is the victim of the fact that, or is the victim, but is the -- is impacted by the fact that really both sides of the aisle have an interest in going hard against Hunter Biden. The Republicans obviously are very determined to prove that he's committed wrongdoing. Democrats, though, want to show that they're neutral and unbiased and have no real reason not to, you know, not to go very hard against them.

I do think, you know, if this was not such a charged situation, he might get a different deal. They might have gotten a deal more along the lines of what he had originally negotiated, but that's not where he's at. And I think it'll be interesting to see kind of how this all unwinds in the months to come.

BLITZER: It will be interesting indeed, Renato Mariotti, Nick Ackerman, to both of you. Thank you very much.

[11:24:06]

And still ahead this hour, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says President Biden only presented what they are calling a partial outline of a potential ceasefire deal and any claims he has agreed to a U.S. proposal are not true. We'll talk through what's missing. Stay with us. You're live here in the CNN Newsroom.

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[11:29:10]

BLITZER: Now to the historic election results overnight in Mexico. Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico's first female president. She's also the first Jewish president of Mexico. Here she is celebrating with her supporters. Sheinbaum was the mayor of Mexico City and is a scientist who served on the United Nations climate panel. She got about 60 percent of the vote in the largest election in Mexican history. Sheinbaum says her administration will lead all Mexicans, quote, I'm quoting her now, without distinction.

Other news were following turning to Israel, where two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far right cabinet ministers are threatening to try topple his government if the prime minister agrees to a new ceasefire proposal by the White House. There were reports that Netanyahu had agreed to the plan, but his office is now saying that is not true.

[11:30:04]

President Biden announced the three phase peace proposal on Friday, insisting that it's time for --