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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Biden to Lay Out American Families Plan in Speech to Congress; Main Street Finally Starts Catching Up with Wall Street; Daily Vaccinations Drop As White House Battles Hesitancy. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 28, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:23]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, April 28th, 5:00 a.m. in New York.

President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress is tonight. He will seize a once in a generation chance to change America for working Americans. His case, bigger government solves problems like ending a pandemic, equalizing the economy and making life better for millions of working people.

We have brand-new details this morning on the president's $1.8 trillion American families plan. It calls for low and middle income families to pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care for kids under five. It also provides paid family and medical leave. It would make two years of community college free and provide $200 billion for universal pre-K and extend or make permanent several key parts of Democrats COVID rescue plan, including that expanded child tax credit, Affordable Care Act subsidies, and the enhanced tax credit for workers without children.

Now, the president wants to finance this by hiking taxes on the wealthy, to tackle inequality in an economy that is working poorly for millions of Americans.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more this morning from the White House.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christine, we know that President Biden has spent weeks preparing for this speech, going over it with his aides and his speech writers and policymakers, talking about what he really wants to be in this and what's important as he looks back and reflects on his first 100 days in office, that's that mile marker he's going to reach on Thursday, but also looking at what he wants to do going forward.

And so, that's really going to be the substance of the speech. He is going to be unveiling this American family plan, that's going to be talking about what they are referring to as human infrastructure, child carry, education. It's got a big price tag so the way he wants to pay for it by changing those tax rates is something that Republicans have been critical of but of course the question is going to be what does it actually look like in the end? How does that plan come out?

This is going to be the starting point of all of that. So expect him to not only talk about that but also his infrastructure plan that he recently rolled out and in addition to several other topics.

Of course, the pandemic is going to be a big one, foreign policy will get a mention as well but in addition to that we are being told by sources he will reference that January 6th riot where rioters stormed the Capitol building, tried to disrupt the process that cemented his presidency. We were talking to sources they say it's a backdrop you just can't ignore.

Speaking of back drops, you can't ignore also as he is speaking you will see something historic, that's two women behind him, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Harris seated on either side of him as he is giving these remarks. Of course, the first time that you have had two women behind a president giving his address to Congress.

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ROMANS: All right. Kaitlan, thank you for that.

You know, because of the pandemic, this will not look like the usual presidential address to Congress. In the past, a typical audience would be 1,600. Tonight's event is capped at only 200. Masks required, no guests allowed, only one Supreme Court justice will be in attendance and no cabinet members will be there, meaning no need for a designated survivor.

After the worst year for Main Street since the Great Depression, the American comeback is here. GDP Thursday expected to match the best of the Clinton boom and could even be the strongest since the Reagan administration. The government has doled out historic amounts of money to rescue the economy and address income inequality.

President Biden raised the way for federal contractors to $15 an hour a move that advocates say gives a raise to 390,000 working Americans just like that with the stroke of a pen. A billion dollars of new funding is being made available for construction and renovation of community health centers. That's brand new. There's more money going to feed kids this summer and eviction help is available.

The child tax credit payments start flowing in July giving working families a guaranteed income for the year and there is a critical new funding to boost enforcement at the IRS. The IRS budget has been cut for decades but this is the agency responsible to enact all of these tax cuts for low income families, to send out the stimulus checks, to make the jobless benefits tax free, the first $10,002 of them, and to crack down on tax evasion.

At the same time, vaccinations and historic stimulus driving stocks to record highs. I want to show this, this got a lot of traction yesterday. JPMorgan notes the Biden stock market from election day to the first 100 days is the strongest for any president in 75 years.

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Even with corporate outcry over the potential for higher taxes on companies and rich people, markets are focused on the scope of the recovery.

The vaccine rollout in the United States hitting a wall of hesitancy, though. The fewest shots in nearly a month were administered yesterday. One reason, no question, misinformation about the pandemic and the vaccines.

And it's coming from conservative commentators and radio hosts like Joe Rogan, one of the world's highest paid and popular podcast hosts, he's telling young people not to get vaccinated even though it's safe.

And now, some Republican governors are behaving like the crisis is over.

EARLY START has the pandemic covered from coast to coast.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Martin Savidge in Atlanta.

The governor of Tennessee says it's time for all COVID restrictions in his state to end. Governor Lee says he's removing the authority of most Tennessee county to impose mask mandates and is urging the few remaining large cities with mandates to lift them by the end of May. He says a widely available vaccine changes everything and as a result he claims COVID-19 is no longer a health emergency in Tennessee.

It should be noted, per the CDC, Tennessee has one of the slowest vaccination rollouts in the country and is near the bottom when it comes to rankings for shots given.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brynn Gingras in New York City.

New York state is making a big step when it comes to vaccinations. The Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing starting Thursday state-run mass vaccination sites will accept walk-ins, that means no longer having to go online to make an appointment to get your vaccination. The appointments are not necessary. This will be on a first come first served basis and it's for New Yorkers 16 and older.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS REPORTER: I'm Vanessa Yurkevich in New York.

The $28.6 billion restaurant revitalization fund will open Monday May 3rd according to the Small Business Administration. This fund is aimed at helping restaurants and bars who have been affected by the pandemic. Now, this is a grant which means it doesn't have be to paid back.

Restaurant owners who are women, people of color and veterans will be able to apply first through a three-week priority window. The hospitality industry has lost more jobs than any other industry last year.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lucy Kafanov.

Burning Man, the annual gathering in the Nevada desert that focuses on community, art, self expression and self reliance has been canceled for the second straight year, according to organizers. As it did for the 2020 event organizers are announcing a virtual Burning Man which will begin on August 21st. There will be no charge to participate online although donations are encouraged to help organizers make up for two years of lost revenue on the event.

Burning Man began in 1986 and takes place in the desert of Nevada where it attracts tens of thousands of people.

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ROMANS: All right. Thanks to our reporters for those.

A New York post reporter quits. What she claims the paper made her do.

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ROMANS: Welcome back.

New video obtained by CNN shows the moments leading up to the fatal police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr. Video from the street pole cam shows the police truck driving up to brown's home, it's not clear what's being said in the video or when the shooting started. The Brown family's attorney says no more than four seconds passed between the sheriff's deputy's arrival and when shots began to ring out.

The attorneys shared results of an independent autopsy, they say Brown was shot four times in the right arm and was trying to drive away from the deputies when he was shot in the head.

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WAYNE KENDALL, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: A suspect who is there being arrested or being searched, police would normally give a command, that person would be given the opportunity to comply with the command. If the person complies with the command, then there's no need to use force of any type.

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ROMANS: The police body cam video still has not been released. Immediate petition will be heard in court today. The FBI says it has opened up a civil rights inquiry into this event. A curfew for Elizabeth City, North Carolina is in place from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. until further notice. Protests last night went past curfew about the protests remained peaceful.

A woman's right to choose under assault in several states. Arizona's governor signing a bill that bans abortion based on genetic abnormalities such as Down's syndrome. The new law threatens doctors who knowingly perform such a procedure with felony charges.

Idaho, the second state this week to enact a so-called heartbeat ban. It prohibits most abortions where there's fetal heartbeat, that's something you can detect six weeks into pregnancy.

And in Montana, the Republican governor signing a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, and two other anti-abortion measures into law.

A "New York Post" reporter behind a bogus story that went viral in conservative media, well, she's quitting after she says the paper ordered her to write that bogus piece. Laura Italiano's story falsely claimed migrant children were given copies of Vice President Kamala Harris' children's book, that her book was part of a welcome kit being given to children in shelters in Long Beach, California.

In fact, there was one copy of that book, it was donated by a community member. It was placed in the shelter library after the "Washington Post" published a fact check "The New York Post" edited and reposted the story and the reporter resigned tweeting she failed to push back hard enough on being ordered to write that incorrect story.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asking the state attorney general to review the state's legal options after it lost one of its House seats in the 2020 Census count. As we reported yesterday, New York came just 89 residents short of maintaining a congressional seat out of more than 20 million people who responded. The count came in the middle of the pandemic, a count former President Trump ended early you will recall.

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Since 1960 New York has dropped from 41 to 26 congressional seats.

So he says rioters tried to kill him with his own gun. Next, a powerful message from a police officer about the rioters and the people who spurred them on.

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ROMANS: At least 400 people have been charged in the Capitol insurrection hailing from 43 states and Washington, D.C. The Justice Department repeatedly brought up the idea that bear spray was involved in the attack on Officer Brian Sicknick and other Capitol police, but now prosecutors are backing off that idea.

[05:20:06]

CNN's Marshall Cohen live in Washington with the latest for us.

And, Marshall, this is another set back to holding someone criminally responsible for Sicknick's death, isn't it?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Christine.

Yeah, it's a bit of a clarification from the Justice Department in the Sicknick case. Prosecutors are walking away from the idea that bear spray was used against Sicknick and the other officers. Instead they said yesterday it was a smaller canister of pepper spray. You might say what's the big deal, right, it's pretty unpleasant to be hit with any of these chemicals, but, you know, bear spray is for bears, designed to repel bears, much more potent, not meant for use on humans and that's what led prosecutors to look into the possibility that it contributed to Sicknick's death.

But after months of inquiry, the medical examiner here in Washington, D.C. ruled last week that Sicknick died from natural causes, strokes that he suffered shortly after defending the Capitol. Because of that designation of natural causes, legal experts say that it's all but certain that murder charges are off the table, but the medical examiner did tell the "Washington Post" in an interview that everything that transpired on January 6th played a role in Sicknick's condition and that really left a lot of people wondering if not for the insurrection would Officer Sicknick have had those strokes.

ROMANS: So tragic. It does show intent to, I guess, bringing the bear spray to Washington -- there are no bears in Washington -- bringing the bear spray to Washington, one wonders how that will play out in the proceedings going forward since they did have it and what that means for their intent overall.

Marshall, the status of the two men who are charged in this case, what does this mean for them?

COHEN: Yeah, it's important for them, Christine, and these critical moments from January 6th are at the center of their criminal case, two men, Julian Khater of Pennsylvania, George Tanios of West Virginia, they have been charged with ten federal crimes in connection with the chemical spray assault on Sicknick and those other officers. Prosecutors have never formally linked their actions to Sicknick's death. They both pleaded not guilty. They are in jail but are fighting to be released from jail before their trial. Prosecutors say they are way too dangerous to let go.

There was a hearing yesterday with witnesses and testimony, another hearing is scheduled for next week. So on that we will just have to wait and see -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you for keeping us posted on all of those developments, 400 now have been charged. Thank you, Marshall.

It's important to keep in mind Capitol and Washington Metro Police officers are still, still coping with the trauma of January 6th on a very human level. They live with the fact that Officer Brian Sicknick died after the riot, two officers died by suicide, another one was killed in a car ramming attack and both represents face another big test tonight. Securing President Biden's address.

CNN spoke last night to D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone, you have probably already seen this horrific video, that's him surrounded by rioters who sprayed him with chemicals, battered him with pipes, tased him multiple times. They tried to take his service weapon. He said he heard them yelling about killing him with his own gun. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFC. MICHALE FANONE, WASHINGTON METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals kind of whitewash the events of that day or down play what happened. Some of the terminology that was used like hugs and kisses and, you know, very fine people, is very different from what I experienced and what my co- workers experienced.

I experienced the most brutal, savage, hand to hand combat of my entire life, let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades. It was nothing that I had ever thought would be a part of my law enforcement career and nor was I prepared to experience. I'm a pretty apolitical person, you know, my preference is -- I look at politics the same way I look at the Olympics, like I like my politics every four years and only for the month that the election season is taking place, the rest of the time I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

To have a group of individuals or, you know, someone who espoused to be a law and order official or a law and order president and then experience what I experienced on the 6th which I believe resulted from the rhetoric that was being used in the, you know, weeks leading up to January 6th, I mean, that was difficult to come to terms with.

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A lot of us are still experiencing the emotional trauma and some are still grappling with physical injuries as well. But those 850 MPD officers are heroes.

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ROMANS: He is a father of four. He said he thought he was going to die that day. He says how we managed to make it out of that day without more significant loss of life is a miracle.

Tonight, President Joe Biden gives his first address to a joint session of Congress. Join Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer for special live coverage starting tonight at 8:00 on CNN.

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ROMANS: Good morning. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.