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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Florida Governor Expected To Sign Voter Restriction Bill; Russia Retaliates For U.S. Expulsion Of Russian Diplomats; Number of Migrant Children In Border Patrol Custody Dropping. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 30, 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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[05:32:07]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, happy Friday. 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.

All right, new voting restrictions about to hit a key battleground state. Florida governor Ron DeSantis expected to sign a bill passed along party lines in the Republican State Legislature.

It's going to add new I.D. and signature requirements for voting by mail and limit who can return a mail-in ballot. The measure also expands the powers of partisan observers during ballot counting and adds new restrictions on the use of ballot drop boxes.

ROMANS: The bill is part of a Republican-led effort nationwide to restrict voting access at the state level.

A pair of voting bills could pass the Republican-controlled Legislature in Texas as soon as next week. The bills would end 24-hour and drive-thru voting. That's how many people of color voted last year. The growing Texas population is becoming more diverse. Texas picks up two congressional seats thanks to the census count.

JARRETT: President Biden visits Pennsylvania today, the next stop on getting American back on track tour. He'll be promoting trillions of dollars in spending that he says is needed for forgotten Americans.

Jasmine Wright is live at the White House with the very latest for us. Jasmine, good morning to you. The president is going to be attending an event for Amtrak so he should feel right at home.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right -- Amtrak Joe is going home, Laura. President Biden will be in Philly today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Amtrak but also a part of this sales pitch of his massive two-pronged infrastructure and jobs package.

Now, negotiations seem like they're starting to kind of get on their way. Yesterday, President Biden told reporters that he invited Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito to the White House to discuss, after she really led the effort on Republicans to send him a counterproposal to just the first part of his two parts of that infrastructure plan.

But, President Biden drew a line in the sand yesterday, saying that Republicans have to meet him halfway -- and if they don't, he said it's a no-go. But, Laura, that Republican proposal came $1.7 trillion short of President Biden's 2.25 initial proposal, so that ain't halfway.

And the question now going forward is where is that middle ground, right? Biden says he wants to be at the middle. Will Republicans meet him there and does that mean that they have to accept that he wants an expansion of what is traditionally infrastructure, and will they be willing to pay for it? And including, Biden wants tax hikes; Republicans don't. Where is the compromise there, Laura?

So that's really where we stand right now.

JARRETT: All right. We know you'll be keeping your eye on that.

While I have you Jasmine, Sen. Tim Scott, who gave the Republican rebuttal the other night to the president's speech -- he's the only Black Republican in the Senate. He got some attention for something he said that night. He said that American is not a racist country. It raised a lot of eyebrows, especially given slavery, mainly.

[05:35:00]

But the president and the vice president responded. They were asked about this in different interviews and they said they actually agreed with him. What are you learning about why they're giving these answers?

WRIGHT: Look, President Biden and Kamala Harris, they need Tim Scott, right? They need him to come forth on policing. He is leading the charge for Republicans. They need him to bring his group along so that they can find some compromise and deliver some sort of win -- some sort of reform to the country.

Now, this White House has been really clear from the start that they are trying to put equity and equaling the scales at the top of their administration. It's always inside of their packages they roll out. They said that this is one part that is going to beneficial for the Black and brown communities, trying to create some equity.

Now listen, them saying that they agree to it, does that probably release some collective sigh from those on the left who don't agree with that stance? Yes, I'm sure it does.

But the president and the vice president say that they are very clear that they know that, yes, this country's not racist, they say, but they made the distinction that history cannot be ignored. That this country has functioned in a myriad of ways that are racist and they cannot ignore that. And so this is what they do with their platforms, their plans. They try to creating equity within there, right? They say they try to rebalance those scales.

So that's kind of why -- how we can look at this -- at their response to it. Them agreeing but making that distinction that there is racism in this country and they need to combat it -- Laura.

JARRETT: All very interesting. Jasmine, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

ROMANS: All right, don't take medical advice from Joe Rogan. Even Joe Rogan says so. The comedian and podcaster is now walking back -- actually, running away from something he said on his podcast. He said that healthy young people should not get vaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": I'm not an anti-vax person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

ROGAN: In fact, I said I believe they're safe and I encouraged many people to take them. My parents were vaccinated. I just said I don't think that if you're a young healthy person that you need it. Their argument was you need it for other people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you don't transmit the virus.

ROGAN: That makes more sense. I'm not a doctor, I'm a (bleep) moron. I'm not a respected source of information, even from me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: "I'm not a respected source of information, even from me." A reminder. If you read three articles on the Internet you don't have an M.D. behind your name.

There is growing concern about vaccination rates declining in the U.S. Michigan has a plan to get more shots in arms. It ties reopening measures to people getting the vaccine.

CNN has the pandemic covered coast-to-coast.

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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Alexandra Field.

Michigan's Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has unveiled a new plan that will tie the easing of COVID-related restrictions to the state's vaccination rates. Michigan has announced a goal of vaccinating 70 percent of all Michiganders age 16 and up. The governor says you'll see some restrictions ease once they've vaccinated 55 percent of that population, then fewer restrictions at 60, 65, and ultimately, 70 percent. LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Lucy Kafanov in

Oregon where daily COVID-19 cases are rising faster than any other state. As a result, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is ordering 15 counties into extreme risk category starting Friday, which will ban indoor dining at restaurants and significantly reduce the number of people who can be inside a gym or an indoor entertainment space.

Cases in Oregon are at their highest level since mid-January, doubling from around 400 per day in the first week of April to over 800 per day.

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Erica Hill.

As Connecticut works to expand vaccinations, one site doubling as a food pantry. Governor Ned Lamont was on hand Thursday morning in East Windsor. No appointments needed there. First-come, first-served for both the shots and the food being distributed. At this point, more than 50 of Connecticut's vaccination sites are now allowing walk-ups.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (on camera): I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.

Undergraduate enrollment in colleges and universities for the 2021 spring semester saw the steepest decline since the start of the pandemic.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, overall enrollment fell by 5.9 percent compared to last spring, with community college enrollment down over 11 percent. Native Americans experienced the largest drop in enrollment at 13 percent, followed by declines among Black, white, and Latinx students.

One potential bright spot, graduate school enrollment in education programs rose by nearly four percent for those seeking masters' degrees and around eight percent for those seeking doctoral degrees.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Jean Casarez in New York City.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is announcing he plans on fully reopening this city July first. He says the goal is to open at 100 percent capacity -- restaurants, stores, businesses, and offices. He says that he anticipates about 400,000 jobs, and the subway will get back to its regular schedule, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

[05:40:06]

He does say the plan for a Broadway restart is September. And also, the governor of the state has to authorize any of these plans.

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JARRETT: All right. Thanks to Jean and the rest of our correspondents for those reports.

It could get a lot easier for younger teens to get vaccinated against COVID pretty soon. A government official says the FDA should be able to skip the time-consuming advisory process when it comes to making the current vaccines available to those who are 12 to 15 years old.

Since the current vaccines already have what's known as emergency use authorization, the official claims the process should be pretty straightforward, but extending the EUA to younger children under 12 will take a lengthier review.

ROMANS: All right, this just in to CNN. Russia is retaliating for the U.S. expulsion of its diplomats a few weeks ago.

Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is live in Moscow. Fred, what's going on here?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Christine.

Yes, this has some pretty real implications for U.S. citizens who are here in Russia, who are living here in Russia, and who potentially want to stay in Russia as well. The U.S. is drastically cutting its consular services here in Russia and only emergency services for U.S. citizens.

And the U.S. Embassy here in Moscow is also urging all U.S. citizens whose visas are expiring or have expired to leave the country by a deadline set by the Russian government for June 15th. On top of that, also no non-immigrant visas are going to be given out to Russian citizens unless it's for diplomatic reasons. And so, you can see a drastic cut in the consular services here in the Russian Federation by the U.S. Embassy.

And, of course, all of this is in the wider play of the diplomatic spat that's been going on between the United States and Russia. Of course, you had the Biden administration issuing some pretty strong sanctions against the Russians for the SolarWinds attack and, of course, also for the 2020 election meddling.

Now, the U.S. said that those measures were non-escalatory but the Russian then, for their part, did now escalate. They have declared an array of nations led by the U.S. as unfriendly nations and those nations are not allowed to employ Russians at embassies here in this country. As a result, the U.S. says that it has 75 percent less capacity in its consular services and therefore --

ROMANS: Wow.

PLEITGEN: -- drastically has to cut down.

So some really real consequences for U.S. citizens here in this country.

ROMANS: Yes, and a real chill between Washington and Moscow, no question.

Fred, thank you so much.

PLEITGEN: Yes.

ROMANS: Laura.

JARRETT: All right, programming note for you here. The stories of all your favorite late-night legends, from Johnny Carson to Jimmy Kimmel, are coming to CNN. "THE STORY OF LATE NIGHT" premieres Sunday night at 9:00 p.m.

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[05:46:54]

JARRETT: Signs of progress at the southern border. The crisis is by no means solved but the number of unaccompanied children in border patrol facilities is dropping dramatically.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez covers immigration. She now joins us.

So, Priscilla, I can remember not that long ago talking to you about tens of thousands of kids stuck in border patrol custody. What changed?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN IMMIGRATION REPORTER: Laura, the administration has been able to solve the key problem, which was the bottleneck in the system, and they did that by expanding bed capacity.

So like you said, in March, we were reporting about the thousands of children who were arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and were getting caught up in border patrol facilities simply because the administration couldn't keep up. So that meant that children were staying in jail-like conditions and often overcrowded conditions until the administration could place them around the country.

So what they have done in recent weeks is set up temporary facilities across the country for these children to accommodate them, and those facilities are overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.

So, some numbers to really capture the progress here. A White House official tells me that on March 28th there were nearly 6,000 children in border patrol custody. That's a record high. And now, on April 28th, there was less than 1,000 -- somewhere around 954.

That is considerable progress. And again, the reason for that is they have been able to build out their temporary facilities across the country.

Now, the next challenge for the administration is going to be sustaining that because we are still seeing children come to the U.S.- Mexico border alone. So they will have to continue to work to get these children out of border patrol custody within the 72-hour window put in -- according to federal law -- to HHS custody. And then from there, reunite them with family or relatives in the United States.

So the problem continues in terms of having children arrive alone to the U.S.-Mexico, but the administration at least seems to have a handle or at least a better handle of getting them to facilities that are equipped to take care of them, Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, no question this is significant progress. But as you say, the question is how do you reunite them with their families so that they are out of those shelters entirely.

Priscilla, thank you so much for getting up with us.

ALVAREZ: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, going up in smoke. Menthol-flavored cigarettes and all flavored cigars could be banned in the next year under a plan from the FDA. The goal is simple -- reduce disease and death by reducing the number of people who start smoking at a young age. More than a third of all the cigarettes sold in the United States are menthol- flavored.

We'll be right back.

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[05:54:04]

JARRETT: Kamala Harris has had many firsts in her time and soon she will become the first vice president to have her figure on display at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York. The principal sculptor says he's working on capturing the twinkle in Harris' eyes. He and his team are working on the clay heads of Harris and President Biden in London using hundreds of photos.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Looking at markets around the world on this last trading day of the month, you can see Asia closed down and Europe has opened mixed here. On Wall Street, stock index futures at this hour leaning lower here.

The stocks closed higher Thursday after that first-quarter growth showed the economy on the path to recovery. The Dow finished up 239 points. The S&P 500, an all-time high. The Nasdaq also closed higher, just shy of a record. The S&P, if you're keeping score here, is up 12 percent so far this year.

A change for the gig economy. Labor Sec. Marty Walsh said gig workers should be classified as employees. Stocks of Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash all promptly fell.

[05:55:03]

Walsh told Reuters the department will reach out to the companies to make sure gig workers have access to benefits like healthcare. The comments show how this administration is taking a look at the gig economy and how the economy should work for everyone.

Soon you'll be able to buy one of the first seats on a Blue Origin rocket. Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture announced Thursday that customers will be able to purchase tickets for a seat on New Shepard. The spacecraft has been on a number of test flights recently.

Blue Origin eventually wants to send paying customers on New Shepard for brief trips to the edge of space. No word on how much a ticket to space will cost. Blue Origin said they're going to release more information, Laura, next week.

JARRETT: All right.

Well, some drama and excitement -- all the things you want during the first round of the NFL draft.

Andy Scholes is at Churchill Downs for tomorrow's Kentucky Derby and has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Laura.

The first round of the NFL draft always such a great night. Thirty-two young men realizing their dreams of making it to the NFL. And we had fans back at the draft this year in Cleveland -- about 50,000 on hand for the first round. Those closest to the stage all vaccinated.

And pick one -- it was no surprise. The Jaguars selecting quarterback Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson. He was watching with his family in South Carolina.

The Jets then going with quarterback Zach Wilson out of BYU. Just last summer, Wilson was driving DoorDash to make some extra money and now he's heading to the Big Apple as the second pick.

A big question of the draft early was what will the 49ers do with pick number three. They ended up taking North Dakota State's Trey Lance over Alabama's Mac Jones. Lance started his 17 college games at the FCS level.

Now, the Bears, meanwhile, once again trading up to try to find their quarterback of the future, making a move from 20 up to 11 to take Ohio State's Justin Fields. They had to give up this year's and next year's first-round pick to get to the Giants in order to move up. Bears fans certainly hoping this move works out better than when they traded up to take Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

Now before the draft, ESPN's Adam Schefter reporting some huge news that last season's NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers does not want to play for the Packers anymore. The Packers, though, telling CNN after that report that they are committed to Rogers next season and beyond.

Now, the Jags got a new quarterback in Trevor Lawrence. Could they have a new tight end soon, too? According to ESPN, Tim Tebow reached out to the team and tried out as a tight end. The 33-year-old hasn't played in the NFL since 2012. He just retired from baseball where he played in the minors for three seasons. Tebow played for Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer at Florida.

All right, here at Churchill Downs, 40,000 to 50,000 fans are expected here at the Kentucky Derby here tomorrow. It should be a fun afternoon. The favorite of the 20-horse field is Essential Quality. His trainer,

Brad Cox, actually grew up so close to where we are at Churchill Downs he used to help park cars for the Derby in his yard. He's looking to become the first Louisville-born trainer to ever win the Run for the Roses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD COX, TRAINER, ESSENTIAL QUALITY: Well, you know, as a kid, I grew up -- I was close enough to where we were parking cars. I really wasn't into it that much as far as parking cars, but all the neighbors parked cars. I did a little bit but I was more interested in watching the races myself -- so once I got 10-12 years old.

I just really enjoyed racing. I always have. It's easy for it to get in your blood when you grew up as close to Churchill Downs as I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So post time tomorrow 6:57 eastern, guys. Essential Quality the favorite but always fun names to root for.

ROMANS: Yes.

SCHOLES: I like Soup and Sandwich, but don't sleep on Rock Your World.

JARRETT: I like Essential Quality. I think that's pretty good.

ROMANS: My house was very excited about Justin Fields last night. That's all we cared about was the draft stuff.

JARRETT: You've got Bears fans in your house.

ROMANS: I've got Bears fanatics in my house.

All right, Andy Scholes. Have fun tomorrow, Andy.

JARRETT: Thanks, Andy -- appreciate it.

SCHOLES: All right, thanks.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. Have a great weekend, everyone. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman, live from Washington on this new day.

A defiant Rudy Giuliani breaking his silence on the FBI raid against him. And new this morning is the warning that he received.

Plus, a reported confession letter implicating Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz in a criminal investigation. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The horror deepens across India as the coronavirus just explodes there. We're going to speak with an ICU doctor at the center of it all.

And the U.S. begins to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. A new warning from al Qaeda terrorists.