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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Biden Promotes Sweeping Big Government Agenda In Joint Speech; COVID Cases And Deaths In India Skyrocketing Day After Day; Alexey Navalny Back In Court After Ending Hunger Strike. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 29, 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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[05:31:55]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett -- about half past the hour here in New York.

Well, shots, checks, and jobs. In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden bucking a decades-long trend in both parties towards a smaller, less interventionist Washington. Instead, he's pushing sweeping changes to close the wealth gap and improve Americans' lives, including arguing for higher taxes on the rich.

With his $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill already done, he's now pressing for $4 trillion more in new spending.

President Biden pitching most of his proposals with a common refrain -- jobs, jobs, and more jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd like to meet with those who have ideas that are different -- that they think are better. I welcome those ideas. But the rest of the world is not waiting for us. I just want to be clear. From my perspective, doing nothing is not an option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's time for three questions in three minutes, so let's bring in CNN economics commentator and "Washington Post" opinion columnist, Catherine Rampell. So nice to see you this morning.

You know, this is -- underpinning all of this is this Biden philosophy, right, that he wants to tilt the scales back toward working families and American workers and have companies and the rich pay for it -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: I'm not looking to punish anybody but I will not add a tax burden -- additional tax burden on the middle-class in this country. They're already paying enough.

My fellow Americans, trickle-down -- trickle-down economics has never worked and it's time to grow the economy from the bottom and the middle out.

(Applause)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And you see it in so many of his proposals. Really, if all of this happens, Catherine, it would be a remaking of sort of how we think about supporting working families, especially with that child tax credit -- if that becomes permanent. You know, community college, universal childcare, universal pre-K. There's so much in here.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS COMMENTATOR, OPINION COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes. One of the things that Americans learned in the past year is that in a time of a major crisis or even personal financial stress it is helpful to have not only a competent federal government but one that provides a robust safety net. And recent polls have shown that Americans are not only more tolerant of a bigger government -- things that I think that used to sound scary -- but they're enthusiastic about it.

And that's basically what Biden is counting on -- that he can make the case here for a more robust social safety net in investments in things like childcare, paid leave, greater access to higher education, et cetera. And even though they will be costly, Americans will support it -- those kinds of ideas -- because it will help make their lives better.

JARRETT: So, Catherine, the big Trump tax cuts of 2017, as the president points out, were supposed to pay for themselves. But instead, big business reaped huge benefits, the wealth gap expanded, and the deficit ballooned -- and yet, nary a word from Republicans.

[05:35:00]

Now, all of a sudden, the GOP is worried again about big spending? That doesn't seem at all plausible to me.

RAMPELL: Yes. You know, it's just clockwork. A Democrat reenters the White House and suddenly, Republicans pretend to care about deficits again.

It's worth remembering, of course, that not only did Republicans inflate deficits through their massive tax cuts, as you just mentioned, but all through -- also through additional spending. Under Trump, the federal spending side of the ledger also went up by some two or three trillion dollars even before COVID.

So I'm not sure that they have much of a leg to stand on here when it comes to these proposed expansions of the federal safety net and investments in things like infrastructure, particularly since Biden is proposing to pay for at least some of them.

ROMANS: You know, it feels like there's a moment here, right? You've got a generational health crisis, the correlating economic meltdown. President Biden wants to fix all of this at once.

He keeps suggesting that these investments at home -- you know, infrastructure, healthcare, childcare -- they're a way to fend off competition from the rest of the world. Can he do both at the same time?

RAMPELL: That's certainly the argument that he's making, right? That if we invest in American human capital -- that is, educating our workforce, making it easier for people to hold down good-paying jobs because they have childcare, because they have access to paid leave, because their roads can get them to work more smoothly and more quickly -- all of those things will make the United States more productive and more competitive.

Republicans, of course, have argued that the pay-fors matter here as well, and that if you raise the corporate tax rate then that makes the United States less competitive because it's a less attractive place for businesses to locate.

Now, if you look at the comments of former President Trump's own chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, he said a year ago he was OK, in fact, with the level of the corporate tax rate that Biden was proposing.

So, you know, it's a delicate balance. It does look like the kinds of things that Biden is proposing have the ability to make the United States more competitive, particularly if the pay-fors don't weigh on our competitive landscape as well. But the devil is really in the details here. It matters how efficiently these programs are executed.

ROMANS: You know, can I just say something about the corporate tax rate? I mean, back when we were talking about that tax reform -- Laura's heard me go on about this so many times, Catherine.

You know, companies are saying 25 percent would be -- would be what we would like and get rid of all the loopholes -- the 25 percent corporate tax rate. And they got 21 percent and literally didn't know what to do with all the extra money. They had to give it back to shareholders.

RAMPELL: Exactly, exactly, which is part of the reason why the proposed corporate tax hike, at the very least, doesn't seem like it's something that's going to cause the economic Armageddon that Republicans are scaremongering about.

ROMANS: All right, Catherine Rampell, CNN economics commentator. So nice to see you this morning. Thank you for getting up early for us.

JARRETT: Thanks, Catherine.

RAMPELL: Of course.

ROMANS: All right. More evidence of how disastrous the pandemic has been for women. Globally, women lost at least $800 billion in income last year -- $800 billion. That's more than the combined GDP of 98 countries, according to a report from Oxfam International.

Just another reminder that the coronavirus recession was a she- session. Millions of women worldwide have been disproportionately affected by job losses and many left the labor force entirely to take care of children, education, and eldercare from home. Data shows women account for more than 64 million jobs lost globally last year. That's five percent of all jobs held by women compared to a 3.9 percent loss for men.

The economic fallout could have long-lasting consequences. The pandemic has only amplified gender inequalities and could make the gender pay gap even worse.

JARRETT: Well, as the world battles the pandemic, the contrasts are stark here. In countries like the U.S. and the United Kingdom, newly- vaccinated people hug their loved ones after a long time apart. In other places, distraught families count their dead.

India reported record numbers of cases and deaths again overnight and experts fear the true case count in a country with such a low rate of surveillance could be up to 30 times higher than we know, meaning more than half a billion infections.

We want to warn you some of this is going to be hard to watch. CNN's Sam Kiley is on the ground for us in Delhi. Sam, what are you seeing?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, I'm in the Kina Pori (ph) crematorium where there is a queue of people waiting for their last rites, to be burned and continue with their journey in the Hindu tradition. These are all victims of the COVID pandemic.

This crematorium reckons it's dealing with about 150 a day. This is one of several crematoriums in the city. Disconsolate people have been turning up in taxis, in tuk-tuks with their dead relatives, in ambulances, in personal private cars.

[05:40:00]

And the crematorium is having to order in extra wood and create this queuing system. You actually get a number here like you would waiting to be seen in a bank. But this is not the antiseptic environment of a financial house. This is literally a charnel house for burning victims of India's pandemic.

Now, the pandemic has been, for much of this year, something that Indians thought that they had bypassed. Indeed, Narendra Modi, the prime minister of the country, pretty much announced earlier this year that they'd beaten the pandemic. For that reason, they've been behind the curve in terms of vaccinations. They've been behind the curve in terms of social isolation.

Indeed, they've been campaigning, Laura. Many members -- particularly of the BJP, the main party here -- have actually been campaigning, creating effectively super spreader events. And at the same time, massive Hindu festivals on the Ganges have been conducted with millions of people (INAUDIBLE) plunging into the holy river in again, what can only be described as super spreader events.

This is a country that has a space program that is the center of I.T. technology and innovation but has manifestly failed to get to grips with a catastrophic second wave in this pandemic, as is so visible here.

These -- each one of these pyres represents somebody who has been killed by this pandemic. The people who run this institution are not used to anything like the numbers here. Indeed, they've had to expand. If you look into the middle distance here, just the other side of the wall here, there's been an extension created to this crematorium with I'd say at least a dozen burnings going on simultaneously. Others waiting to be put on the pyre.

And all of these fires now burning late into the night, breaking with normal tradition here, as this capital city struggles, Laura, to cope with the consequences of effectively, a public health system being catastrophically overwhelmed.

The official figures for India are relatively low in terms of deaths and infections compared to the 1.4 million people that live in the country. But there are estimates that these figures could be out by factors of 20 or 30 percent. Even if they're out by 100 percent, they're probably woeful underestimates. But the real issue here is that the public health system is being overwhelmed -- Laura.

JARRETT: You look at a scene like that and you just can tell this is just an unmitigated disaster. Sam, thank you.

And overnight, we should mention, the White House announced more than $100 million worth of supplies to get to India. It can't get there soon enough, needless to say.

Sam, thank you, again.

ROMANS: All right.

Competition with the rest of the world, not each other. The president is taking on China. CNN live in Beijing.

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[05:47:07]

ROMANS: Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny back in a Russian courtroom this morning after nearly dying from a hunger strike.

Frederik Pleitgen is outside the courthouse in Moscow with the latest. And Fred, I'm looking at that still photo of him from that -- from that court appearance. He looks gaunt. But he has stopped his hunger strike, yes?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's stopped his hunger strike but he's clearly still recovering from it Christine, and certainly, he seems to be in a -- in a somewhat weakened state. I mean, looking at him sitting there, his head's shaved. He's wearing a prison uniform -- a black prison uniform. He's obviously on VideoLink coming there from the prison.

So certainly, he says that he still is quite weak. He said he currently weighs about 140 pounds. That's at six-foot-three, six-foot- four. So clearly, still very much very thin from that hunger strike. He told the court that he's currently only eating about five tablespoons of porridge a day.

This, of course, is an appeals hearing for a defamation case against him. But really, the big news here in Russia and around the world is we'll be seeing Alexey Navalny for the first time since he survived that hunger strike.

There was one interesting sort of private anecdote because Alexey Navalny's wife is actually inside the courtroom here. At some point, he asked her to get up and to take off her mask so he could see her. Obviously, he hasn't seen her in a very long time. That was sort of an interesting kind of emotional moment here.

But in general, you can really feel how the Russian State continues to go after Alexey Navalny and his movement. On this day as well, by the way, Christine, Alexey Navalny's headquarters has announced that they are disbanding all of their regional headquarters after being ordered to suspend operations by the Russian State as well. So really like -- almost like lead -- the Russian State falling on Alexey Navalny's movement and trying to quell him.

He is certainly looking like he still has a long way to go until he'll be 100 percent again, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Frederik Pleitgen for us -- thank you -- outside the courthouse -- Laura.

JARRETT: President Biden is sending a signal to the world and specifically, China's Xi Jinping, that perceptions of America's decline are mistaken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: He's deadly earnest of becoming the most significant consequential nation in the world. He and others -- autocrats -- think that democracy can't compete in the 21st century with autocracies because it takes too long to get consensus.

There is simply no reason why the blades from wind turbines can't be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing. No reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: That Pittsburgh comparison there with the president trying to recast Trumpism to his own benefit.

CNN's Steven Jiang is live in Beijing for us. Steven, good morning to you. The president says America is back. Query whether China feels that way.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: You know, China is certainly not happy about what he said. The Foreign Ministry has responded, calling his speech basically a reflection of America's sour grapes mentality, saying Washington's China policy is based on cold war psychology and ideological bias.

[05:50:11]

But, you know, you hit the nail on the head there in terms of why Biden framed China the way he did in his largely domestically-focused speech. Because remember, he and his team actually agreed with Trump when he assessed China as a strategic competitor of the U.S. What they disagreed was the approach to address this problem, especially the scorching the earth tactics we saw toward the end of Trump's tenure.

Now, Biden and his team say that America needs to compete with China from a position of strength. That's why you heard the president stress the importance and urgency of investing in research and development in infrastructure and education because these are the areas that Chinese have not only caught up but also, in many cases, surpassed the U.S.

So, Biden obviously was trying to reach out across the political aisle during his speech so that's why China is being one of the rare bipartisan consensus now in Washington. So his message to the Republicans is if you want to get tough on China, if you want to see the U.S. gain the upper hand in this competition with China, you endorse my agenda and pass my bill.

Now, obviously, even when he says he wants competition, not conflict, it's increasingly clear that the world's two most powerful nations have increasingly clashing views about themselves and about each other and where the world is headed -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right, Steven. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right, let's take a look at markets around the world. Asian shares have closed for Thursday trading and closed higher. European markets have opened mixed this morning.

On Wall Street, stock index futures leaning higher after a down day yesterday. Stocks closed lower Wednesday after the Fed kept interest rates near zero. The Dow down 164. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also lower.

In just a few hours, key information on how strongly the American economy is coming back. First-quarter GDP expected to potentially match the best of the Clinton years or maybe even be the best we've seen since the 80s. Weekly jobless claims are expected to hit a new pandemic low.

A great quarter for Apple thanks to the iPhone. Apple reported revenue of nearly $90 billion and a profit of $23 billion. iPhone sales jumped 65 percent of the same quarter last year. Shoppers spent big to upgrade to Apple's first 5G smartphone lineup as they spent more time inside and on their phones. New services like its Fitness Plus program also grew.

Ford posted strong earnings for the quarter but it warned the global chip shortage is hitting the auto industry and will get worse before it gets better. The automaker said the shortage will likely cut its production for the year by about a million vehicles and cost $2.5 billion in profit.

Toyota is planning to offer a new large electrified SUV and will add 1,400 jobs to a plant in Indiana to build it. Toyota said the new SUV is another step toward its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

We'll be right back.

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[05:56:34]

JARRETT: The Republican war against transgender athletes gaining more speed this morning. In Florida, that would ban transgender girls from playing on girls' public school teams and is now headed to the governor's desk. The measure would also allow another student to sue if a school allows a transgender girl to play on the girls' team.

And in West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice signed a law that bans all transgender athletes in middle school, high school, and college from women's sports.

Thirty-one states have introduced similar bills on this.

ROMANS: All right. Phillies start Bryce Harper goes to the hospital after being hit in the face with a fastball. Coy Wire has this morning's Bleacher Report. How's he doing?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Hi, Christine.

He says he's doing OK. We're going to show you the scary moment that could have been so much worse. We want to warn you it can be tough to watch.

Phillies slugger Bryce Harper there leading off in the top of the sixth inning. Card's pitcher Genesis Cabrera's first pitch, 97 miles per hour, hits Harper directly in the face. Harper was able to get up and walk off on his own. He went to the hospital to get checked out. He posted a video to Instagram saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYCE HARPER, OUTFIELDER, PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES: Everything feels good. Everything came back good -- the CT and all that kind of stuff. So my face is still there, so we're all good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now things go from bad to worse for Cabrera. His very next pitch hitting Didi Gregorious in the ribs. That caused the umpires to warn both benches. That set of Phillies manager Joe Girardi. He gets ejected.

After the game, Cabrera did apologize to Harper, saying that neither pitch was intentional.

And 50,000 fans will pack downtown Cleveland tonight for the NFL draft, a far cry from last year's broadcast from Commissioner Roger Goodell's basement. It's expected to be the biggest crowd in America's sporting events since the pandemic began.

I spoke with NFL EVP of Club Business and League Events, Peter O'Reilly. He tells us it's about moving forward and starting to be together with the right protocols in place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER O'REILLY, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CLUB BUSINESS AND LEAGUE EVENTS: There's a real opportunity to highlight the importance of vaccinations. So the fans who are closest to the stage in what they call the inner circle, all of them -- each club has chosen a set of fans. All of them will be vaccinated and then we'll have a vaccinated fan zone behind that with vaccinated fans in there -- all of them still wearing masks, but an opportunity to highlight the experiences that are ahead of us when you do get vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. It will be the Jacksonville Jaguars making the first pick, Laura and Christine. New head coach Urban Meyer and crew expected to take Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence first overall.

ROMANS: All right, Coy.

JARRETT: You know, the NFL has been really ahead of the game on vaccinating everyone. They've required it far faster than a lot of other places. It's interesting to see that.

ROMAN: All right, Coy Wire. Nice to see you. Thank you so much, sir.

JARRETT: Thank you so much -- appreciate it.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us this morning on EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar, live from the nation's capital this morning on this new day.

President Biden tells Congress how he wants to expand the power of the government, but are the plans realistic?

Plus, new details on the FBI raid of Rudy Giuliani's home and office, including what agents confiscated from one of Donald Trump's closest confidantes. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Dramatic new video of the attack on the

Capitol officer who later died after the insurrection. What this reveals and how it changes the case.

And just how big of a problem is vaccine hesitancy in America?