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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Protesters Preparing For War, Capitol Police Are In The Dark; Tiger Woods Is Recovering From His Horrifying Rollover Crash In California; From The Hearing About The Riots It Comes To Light That There Were Communications Failures Putting Lives At Risk; A Global Shortage Of Computer Chips Gets Joe Bidens Attention; 600,000 Doses Of The COVID Vaccine Has Arriva In Ghana, West Africa and Akara From AstraZeneca. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 24, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:30:54]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Laura. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty -- 31 minutes past the hour.

We're going to have live updates on Tiger Woods' condition. New details overnight after his car crash -- that comes in a moment.

But first, we begin with protesters preparing for war, but Capitol police in the dark. Former security officials paint this damning portrait of a historic security failure before that deadly attempt to overrun the U.S. Capitol.

Three former officials testified they did not receive a critical FBI memo saying these protesters were preparing for war. Lapses included a larger failure to act on the threat posed by right-wing extremists.

JARRETT: Two top officials were at odds on a critical piece of the law enforcement response here when exactly was the National Guard requested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL IRVING, FORMER HOUSE SERGEANT AT ARMS: Senator, from my recollection, I did not receive a request for approval for National Guard until shortly after 2:00 p.m.

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): Mr. Irving, do you know when you asked for National Guard assistance? Was it 1:09 or was it 2:00 p.m.?

STEVEN SUND, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: It was 1:09, sir.

BLUNT: One zero nine. And who did you ask for assistance at 1:09?

SUND: It was from Mr. Irving. I believe he was in the company of Mr. Stenger at the time, as well.

IRVING: The first conversation I had with Chief Sund in that timeframe was around -- was at 1:28-1:30. And at that -- in that conversation, he indicated that conditions were deteriorating and he might be looking to -- for National Guard approval.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The fuzzy timeline here raising the stakes even more for next week's hearing. That one focusing on the Defense Department on all the delays in deploying the National Guard. We'll have more on this in a few minutes.

ROMANS: All right. New this morning, Tiger Woods is awake, responsive, and recovering from surgery in a Los Angeles hospital after a horrifying rollover crash on a dangerous stretch of California road. Downhill and winding, local authorities say the stretch is known as a spot where it's easy to pick up speed.

Overnight, Tiger's management team tweeted that he had been through extensive surgery on his lower right leg and ankle for quote "significant orthopedic injuries."

JARRETT: Tiger was trapped but conscious in his battered SUV when emergency responders reached the scene early yesterday morning.

CNN's Josh Campbell is live at UCLA Medical Center in L.A. Josh, the L.A. sheriff says this could have killed Tiger who, thankfully, was wearing a seatbelt.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You look at some of the images of that crash that occurred yesterday here in the south Los Angeles area, it is nothing short of a miracle that these injuries were not more severe.

Tiger Woods was traveling in an SUV going down a hill. He crossed over into incoming traffic and into a wooded area. That vehicle flipping, rolling multiple times. Again, just a sheer miracle that the injuries were not worse than what they are at this hour.

He's recovering here at this level-one trauma center where he was taken after that crash. Now, as far as injuries, we're told that he has received severe injuries to his foot, fractured legs. They've been stabilized with the insertion of rods and pins. Again, that surgery occurring yesterday and he is recovering now.

Now, this happened just after 7:00 a.m. yesterday -- authorities received that call. They said within a matter of about six minutes EMTs were on the scene.

Take a listen here to what the responding officer said -- the first person who arrived at this crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLOS GONZELEZ, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPUTY: I asked him what his name was. He told me his name was Tiger. And at that moment I immediately recognized him.

I asked him if he knew where he was and what time of day just to make sure he was oriented. He seemed as though he was lucid and calm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, authorities said that there were no signs of impairment. That's typical in an accident. They will try to investigate to determine whether the person was under the influence or whether there was some type of impairment. Authorities saying that they did not notice that.

But again, just a very violent incident yesterday. It appears as though speed was likely the issue. Authorities say that their investigation continues as they continue to determine the cause of that accident.

[05:35:01]

Tiger Woods is here at his trauma center recovering at this hour from those very serious injuries.

JARRETT: You look at that crumpled car and you just realize how much worse this could have been.

Josh, thank you so much.

ROMANS: The accident adds more questions about his future. I want to bring in Andy Scholes. You know, Andy, his legacy extends far beyond the golf course. I was talking to my sons about this last night. They say Pele, Ali, Tiger -- this is someone who is larger than life in sports.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: He certainly is, Christine. And, you know, arguably, no one in history has changed a sport the way Tiger Woods has for golf. He brought so many eyes to the game. So many people growing up wanting to be like Tiger.

And, you know, I've been to a number of golf majors. It's such a different feel from when Tiger is out there competing compared to when he's not. Just the energy, the excitement is just different.

At age 45, Tiger basically already in the ninth inning of his golf career. But one thing is for sure, you can't ever count him out. In 2019, he won his fifth Masters title, which was his first major victory in more than a decade.

In December, he had a fifth back surgery. He told CBS's Jim Nance over the weekend he still hoped to play in this -- in the Masters in April despite that surgery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, 15-TIME MAJOR WINNER: I'm a little stiff. I have one more MRI scheduled, so that -- we'll see if the annulus has scarred over finally, and then I can start doing more activities. JIM NANCE, SPORTSCASTER: Seven weeks from today, the final round of

the Masters. You going to be there?

WOODS: God, I hope so. I've got to get there first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes.

Now, over the weekend, Tiger hosting the Genesis Invitational in Southern California. And yesterday he was on his way to continue shooting a series for Golf T.V. and "Golf Digest" where he gave celebrities and athletes lessons.

And, NBA great Dwyane Wade -- he was learning from Tiger on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWYANE WADE, THREE-TIME NBA CHAMPION: I picked up the golf club, like many in the black community, because of Tiger Woods. And I got that opportunity yesterday to get out there and be able -- you know, he taught me a few things. Hopefully, it translates.

But, you know, to be out there with the GOAT, in my eyes, in that sport and be able to talk to him about Sam and Charlie and his father and -- you know, just -- it was a great day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The last time we saw Tiger in competition was back in December playing alongside his 11-year-old son Charlie in a father-son tournament.

There's just so many guys on the tour that grew up idolizing Tiger. And two-time PGA Tour winner Tony Finau says Tiger's the reason he's a golfer today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY FINAU, TWO-TIME PGA TOUR WINNER: He means a lot to this -- to the game of golf. I can only speak from my experience. He means a lot to my career.

You know, I've said it, I think, time after time the '97 Masters changed the course of my life and changed the course of my career. Without that event, I probably wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be playing golf.

So he's definitely changed the course of my life and my career and I think I'm one of hundreds of guys out here probably that would say the same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, fans reacting on social media, many offering their thoughts and prayers to Woods and his family in this difficult time.

Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, who dated Tiger for about three years before they split in 2015, said she was praying for her ex-boyfriend.

Former President Obama sharing those sentiments, tweeting "Sending my prayers to Tiger Woods and his family tonight. Here's to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we've learned anything over the years, it's to never count Tiger out."

JARRETT: Never count him out.

SCHOLES: And there's so many --

JARRETT: Yes.

SCHOLES: Laura, so many people said they never thought he'd win again and he went almost 11 years without a major and then he won that Masters.

JARRETT: Yes.

SCHOLES: So that's for sure, you can't count Tiger out.

JARRETT: If you watch that documentary on HBO Max it just shows why you never count him out, right? Everything that he has come back from.

OK, Andy, thank you so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

JARRETT: Returning back now to those hearings about the mob on Capitol Hill. For every video of officers beaten or hit with tear gas, there is a real person who suffered -- a person like U.S. Capitol Police Capt. Carneysha Mendoza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. CARNEYSHA MENDOZA, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: I proceeded to the Rotunda where I noticed a heavy smoke-like residue and smelled what I believed to be military-grade CS gas -- a familiar smell. It was mixed with fire extinguisher spray deployed by rioters. I received chemical burns to my face that still have not healed to this day.

Of the multitude of events I've worked in my nearly-19 year career in the department, this was by far the worst of the worst. We could have had 10 times the amount of people working with us and I still believe the battle would have been just as devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Let's bring in CNN's senior political analyst, John Avlon. John, good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, guys.

JARRETT: A lot of takeaways from this hearing, but it seems to me the big one is communication failures really put lives at risk. This attack was coordinated, it was planned. People came armed with climbing gear, explosives, chemical spray.

But the former chief of Capitol Police said a critical memo before that attack didn't even get to him until a day before the mob. Listen to this.

[05:40:06]

AVLON: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUND: I actually, just in the last 24 hours, was informed by the department that they actually had received that report. It was received by what we call -- it's one of our sworn members that's assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is a task force with the FBI. They received it the evening of the fifth, reviewed it, and then forwarded it over to an official at the intelligence division over at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): And so, you hadn't seen it yourself?

SUND: No, ma'am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Now, that FBI memo had an explicit warning about potential violence. But also, you know, they were advertising this on social media.

AVLON: Yes.

JARRETT: So I think a lot of experts I've talked to say this is not an intelligence failure. This is a failure to act on the intelligence.

AVLON: That's right. Look, I mean, usually, incompetence is as good an explanation as anything resembling a conspiracy. This was a failure in communication and coordination.

There was this Virginia FBI memo that did not circulate widely enough. Why it was not forwarded, why it was not highlighted, who knows? Who knows why the head of the Capitol Police hadn't even actually heard about it after it was reported in the press. Because there were also reports of the chatter online in mainstream press leading up to the Capitol Hill attack.

JARRETT: Right.

AVLON: So this was a real failure and there's still a lot of questions to answer. This was an essential first hearing. There are going to be a lot more from DOD and DHS and other organizations and we've got some critical questions to answer.

ROMANS: You know, John, a few Republicans putting on quite a display here. Ted Cruz got a lot of attention from the public. He's, of course, one of the senators who objected to the election results --

AVLON: Yes.

ROMANS: -- that provoked the mob.

There he is on his phone. This is during critical testimony when they're talking about what was happening to law enforcement officers. You know, the big joke on social media was oh, he's booking a vacation to Cancun there.

AVLON: Yes.

ROMANS: You can -- you also had Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, spreading conspiracies again.

Meantime, the white supremacy threat was highlighted here. How can these senators take that threat seriously when they refuse to confront it?

AVLON: You can't take something seriously if you refuse to name it, if you refuse to deal with it.

Senator Ron Johnson's display was particularly odious. I'll give you a little preview of a reality check coming up.

ROMANS: Good.

AVLON: You know, he is absolutely continuing to double down on this denialism without any facts. And that was -- that was actually the most disturbing thing. I mean, for Ted Cruz to get attention for not paying attention, I suppose is kind of inevitable. But he even called this a terrorist attack yesterday and that seemed significant to me.

ROMANS: But, you know, Ron Johnson -- what's interesting to me about Sen. Johnson is that local Republicans in Wisconsin -- some of them have been public, saying it's very clear he's going after Trump voters who weren't necessarily Republicans before and he is completely animated by this new part of the Republican Party. That's all this is about. You might not necessarily believe it -- it's all what it's about.

AVLON: Look, I mean, that may be what's going through his mind, but the reality is that something's changed inside Ron Johnson and he is now actually, like, willfully playing to the stupid side of American politics. He seems to be totally reaching for conspiracy theories when confronted with uncomfortable facts -- and it's, frankly, pathetic to watch.

JARRETT: John, while we have you, I want to get your thoughts on this. The president is trying desperately to get his cabinet confirmed. Now, most presidents lose a nominee or two, right?

AVLON: Yes.

JARRETT: But, President Biden is not getting a lot of help with his own party. The Democrats are in control of the Senate, of course, because of what happened in Georgia. But it seems like people like Sen. Manchin are not necessarily getting in line with some of these nominees.

Are we really in a place where 50 votes means you cannot get a functional government in place?

AVLON: Well, this has been coming down the pike for a long time, obviously. What 50 means is that you don't have a lot of margin for error.

And look, I think a lot of this is about the nomination of Neera Tanden as head of the OMB -- someone without obvious experience in budgets. Someone who has been a polarizing figure on Twitter, seen as a sort of partisan warrior hitting the far-left and the far-right but nonetheless not necessarily getting uniform support for her professional opinions in this area. So losing Manchin isn't going to necessarily get you Republicans that you would normally need.

But, yes -- and pay attention to the Republicans who are voting against all of President Biden's nominees no matter how qualified because that will give you a sense of how things are going to break down a lot.

JARRETT: Experience is one thing, mean tweets I think are another. And if you look at a slew of --

AVLON: Sure.

JARRETT: -- nominees from the prior president --

AVLON: Oh, yes.

JARRETT: -- that were easily confirmed with plenty of mean tweets, I think it's pretty rich.

AVLON: Yes. Anyone who voted -- anyone who voted for Rick Grenell shouldn't be clutching their pearls about this one.

JARRETT: John, thank you.

AVLON: Thank you, guys.

ROMANS: John Avlon, nice to see you.

AVLON: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right.

Brand-new this morning, a global shortage of computer chips gets President Biden's attention. President Biden will sign an executive order for a 100-day review to identify and fix cracks in supply chains. Perhaps more critically, Biden wants to find out how these parts for American products depend on overseas suppliers like China.

[05:45:12] The effect on U.S. automakers has been dramatic with assembly lines shut down, waiting for the chips to arrive from overseas. Biden will discuss these production cracks with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Here's what's happened. A pandemic -- the pandemic cut demand for new cars, automakers cut their orders for chips, but demand surged for computers and gaming systems, leaving a shortage when auto production ramped back up.

Ford cut production of its iconic F-150. That's America's best-selling truck and its biggest moneymaker because it can't get the chips.

We also saw shortages of medical equipment early on in the pandemic exposing American vulnerability to crisis. Frontline workers were depending on products from abroad.

We'll be right back.

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[05:50:11]

ROMANS: All right, welcome back.

The first vaccines from the global effort to boost access in poorer countries have arrived. CNN's David McKenzie live in Johannesburg with more. David, where have they landed?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, you look at the ceremony in Ghana and West Africa and Akara, of the 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arriving.

This is a big deal. This is the beginning of the COVAX facility, which is groups of countries globally getting together to fund for vaccines to get to poorer and middle-income countries. Those will go to healthcare workers and over 60 in the coming days in that West African nation.

But this is just the first step and there is a long way to go. We've been talking about how tens of millions of people in the U.S. and the U.K. have received vaccines already -- relatively few on the African continent. And this is both a moral issue, of course, and a public health issue.

Public health experts saying until you get widespread vaccinations on every country on earth, you could have this COVID-19 pandemic continuing, giving space for the virus to continue to mutate. Develop potentially dangerous variants for the U.S. and other places, even if those places have been vaccinated.

In the coming weeks, you'll have other countries in Africa getting these vaccines. And while the Trump administration largely ignored COVAX, the Biden White House and G7 countries recently pledged $4 billion more to this facility and others like it to get vaccines into countries -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, David McKenzie. Thank you so much for that -- Laura.

JARRETT: OK. Back here in the U.S., a grand jury in Rochester, New York has decided not to bring criminal charges against the police officers involved in Daniel Prude's death. Prude died last March after officers put a mesh hood over his head and held him down naked and handcuffed in the street.

Last night, dozens of protesters breached police barricades near the public safety building in Rochester.

The Justice Department is reviewing Prude's case.

ROMANS: All right.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden traveling to Houston Friday. He'll talk with local leaders about recovery from last week's catastrophic statewide blackout.

Meantime, resignations from the chairwoman and four board members of the utility group ERCOT, under heavy scrutiny for the way they ran the power grid before and during the outage. All five of those people live outside of Texas.

JARRETT: Venomous spiders led to the closure of a campus library at the University of Michigan. Officials say the Mediterranean recluse spiders were discovered in a basement storage area last month. The building was closed for two days this week but the university now says that was a mistake because the spiders were in a non-public area. Not sure the students would agree with that.

ROMANS: You had me at venomous spiders. I stopped looking after that.

All right. Look at markets around the world, you can see European shares have opened right now mixed after a lower close for Asia. On Wall Street, futures kind of undecided here, barely higher for the Dow.

You know, stocks mixed after the Fed chief reiterated the central bank wasn't worried about inflation, more support is needed, and the recovery has a long way to go.

The S&P 500 snapped a five-day losing streak. Tech stocks fell really sharply in the morning but then rebounded after Powell's comments.

Breaking this morning, an endorsement of the president's COVID relief from more than 150 top business leaders. Among them, Goldman Sachs, IBM, American Airlines, and CNN parent company AT&T. They are all urging Congress to act.

Businesses on board, Republicans are not. They call it too big. Mitt Romney -- Sen. Romney called it a clunker that would hurt jobs in today's "The Wall Street Journal." Senator Marco Rubio tweeted this week that giving $250 to $300 a month per child for poor families, that's welfare without a work requirement.

Tesla needs a charge. The hottest stock on the market for more than a year, Tesla's stock fell again Tuesday, wiping out its gains for the year.

A few reasons for the selloff. Earlier this month, Tesla invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. But then, CEO Elon Musk said the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, quote, "do seem high" and that sent Bitcoin down.

Tesla also stopped taking new orders of the lowest-priced version of its Model Y SUV without, Laura, an explanation.

JARRETT: Well, there weren't many but they were in the building. Fans are back in the stands in New York starting with the Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets last night. Arenas with over 10,000 seats in the state can now open at 10 percent capacity. Each attendee must have a new negative COVID test.

ROMANS: Right.

JARRETT: It's crazy to see people back in those buildings.

ROMANS: It really is. And I know somebody yesterday told me dinner and a movie in New York could be around the corner. Movie theaters are opening with reduced capacity -- indoor dining. Will we get back to normal?

JARRETT: I'm staying outside.

ROMANS: Yes -- me, too, actually.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

[05:55:01]

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traffic collision, ALS now. Person's trapped. Sheriff on scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Firefighters having to break the car with an ax to get the golfer out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very fortunate Mr. Woods was able to come out of this alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of, still, questions to be answered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the first time, the key players in charge of protecting the Capitol faced a public grilling about what went wrong on January sixth.

SUND: None of the intelligence we received.