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Inside Politics
WH Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal Plan Gets Mixed Reactions on Capitol Hill; CDC Advisers Seek More Info before Resuming J&J Vaccinations. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired April 15, 2021 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
MANU RAJU, CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are also some democratic critics like Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire criticizing the president, also, the Bob Menendez, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman raising concerns, as well. And also the Republican side overwhelmingly, there have been criticism from Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Senate Republican leader, but they're also some support like Senator Ted Cruz, who is behind the idea of bringing back troops from Afghanistan, but a sampling of the reaction here this morning on CNN, Jason Crow was a congressman from Colorado on the Democratic side, said that the folks left behind, nobody wants to be the last person out because that's a very dangerous place to be. We have to make sure that we're doing right by that.
Look at Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican hawk from South Carolina, saying President Biden unfortunately has chosen the highest risk option available, which is to leave no matter what. And then Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker called it an important and welcomed development. So you're seeing a mixed reaction on both sides just show the complicated legacy left behind on Capitol Hill from the nation's longest war, some wanting to continue, some uncertain what it would bring, others worried some still saying they're not certain if they'll get behind this, like one Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential nominee for the Republican side. I asked him if he backs this move, he said he'll wait and see what the conditions are on the ground when it is finally time to remove all troops. And he said if it's safe, then he'll support it. If it's not, he will oppose it. John.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Manu Raju, live for us on the Hill. It is a remarkable conversation still 20 years on. Manu, thanks so much for the live reporting. Up next for us, Dr. Anthony Fauci also testifying on Capitol Hill today, defending his public health recommendations throughout the COVID crisis.
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[12:36:15]
KING: Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine pause continues because government experts say they need more time to study some rare episodes of severe blood clots. A CDC committee looking at those safety concerns says it will reconvene in the days ahead, meaning that pause could last seven to 10 days, perhaps more. Supplies of the J&J vaccine are low. But the pause still takes one of three U.S. approved vaccines off the shelf at a time. Let's look at the numbers the case count is stubbornly high. And you look at it right here the Wednesday new infection 75,375. Remember, we will head up to the horrific winter surge. We started about 60,000 new infections a day. We're still at 71,000 is the average, 71,282 is your seven-day average of new COVID infections in the United States, still a number way too high. This playing out of course, just watch this, this is community transmission. You want to be yellow or blue? Watch the red especially up here.
Community transmission over the past month and you see filling in red, more red, more red, especially in this part of the country. COVID cases running higher, community transmission still a problem. The hope is the vaccine rollout mitigates some of that and 23 percent of the American population 23 percent now fully vaccinated 37 percent in the United States have received at least one dose, among adults ages 18 and over about half of the population, 48 percent have at least one dose, and nearly two-thirds of those over the age of 65 the most vulnerable, 63 percent have been fully vaccinated of those 65 and over, so some progress in these numbers even though the case counts are still very troubling.
If you look at the vaccines by maker, Pfizer, Moderna, again, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine now on pause, was already a smaller piece of the market. It was later to the market and besides the supply issues, mostly Pfizer, and Moderna, in the marketplace right now. And if you look at the weekly allocations, especially with the J&J pause, it is up to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to make up the gap, if you will. This is just for a first dose. But you see back on the week of April 5, 4.7 million and 3.5 million, April 12, the next week, the same. The administration has been able to ramp it up a bit, a little more Pfizer up to 5 million, a little more Moderna up to 3.7. So this is more trying to boost the numbers of these two as J&J is off to the side for a little bit. As all this plays out, the administration having to explain its actions today. Dr. Anthony Fauci among the administration, witnesses on Capitol Hill, getting a little testy at times with Republican Congressman Jim Jordan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM JORDAN, (R) OHIO: What measure, what standard, what objective outcome do we have to reach before Americans get their liberty and freedoms back?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: You know, you're indicating liberty and freedom. I look at it as a public health measure to prevent people from dying and going to the hospital. You don't -- you're making this a personal thing, and it isn't.
JORDAN: It's not a personal thing. No, you are, that is exactly what you're doing. We're not talking about liberties. We're talking about a pandemic that is killed 560,000 Americans, that's what we're talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Our CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is with us now. Elizabeth, I want to talk about the science and the data, and the vaccine roll up. But there you see again, evidence that we've seen throughout the past year plus of, let's just call it political disagreements, but it's more important than that?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is. I think what that exchange that very, very heated exchange, John, shows us is the fight between sort of two different parts of America, many Americans feeling the way Dr. Fauci does, which is we need to do what we can to save lives. You've got more than half a million dead Americans because of this virus. If you have to wear a mask to save lives, wear a mask, darn it, and darn it's my second choice of words. The other half of America saying, you're taking away my liberty by telling me to wear a mask or telling me that I shouldn't go here or shouldn't go there or that I shouldn't convene in large groups indoors, that exchange really crystallized that debate within the United States.
[12:40:14]
KING: And as that debate continues, Elizabeth, the CDC and the FDA deciding to recommend the pause and the use of the J&J vaccine. So they could, admittedly a very rare, not a small number of rare blood clots here. But some thought it would be a day or two, now it looks like it's going to go on a little bit longer, explain where we are?
COHEN: So where we are, is that they're proceeding very carefully with this. And so the government wants to get the recommendations from a group in the CDC, their outside advisors who advise on vaccine decisions. They've been doing this for many, many decades. But yesterday, that group said, you know, we want more data. And so they want to learn more before they make a decision. But at that same meeting yesterday, a CDC official said you know what, by Friday, meaning tomorrow, by Friday, we need to set a date, when we're going to talk again. My sources telling me, there are basically two choices at this point. They say, look, this is going to go back on, they're not going to take this shot away. But should they put out a warning saying, hey, if you want to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you go ahead, but you got to know that there was this tiny, very rare number, a very small number of blood clots in the brain due to this vaccine. So take it if you want it, but we're warning you or do you do that and also say, you know what, young women, you shouldn't get this vaccine because most of the events that we've seen are in that group of women under the age of 48. That's basically the two choices. This group wanted to see if they were maybe more cases of blood clots that hadn't come up before. But I think there's sort of a push now that these folks need to sit down and make a decision, which of those two options are they're going to take or is there possibly a third one. John.
KING: I'm sure you'll stay on top of that. You'll be back with us to talk about. Elizabeth Cohen, I'm grateful for the reporting and insights there, little global perspective.
Now Norway, becoming the latest country to postpone introducing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pending these ongoing investigations, let's get more now from our CNN correspondents around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Melissa Bell in Paris, always here and you're very much on the European Medicines Agency and it's expected verdict next week, on the safety of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Many countries have pauses rollout. Here in France, the 200,000 doses already received, we're told will be administered in the same way as the AstraZeneca vaccine is being administered in France. That is to people over the age of 55.
But in many countries, we're waiting to see what the European Medicines Agency has to say about a vaccine that wants to represent a substantial proportion of those deliveries that would be used for the rollout in many European countries. 200 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson are expected in the second quarter, with many countries relying on that to try and improve their vaccination rollout.
Meanwhile, the President of the European Commission has said that the E.U. is negotiating for a third contract with Pfizer, which a commission spokesman has described as the backbone of Europe's vaccination rollout program.
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: I'm Vedika Sud. The New Delhi India cross to bring milestones Thursday, the country surpassed 14 million confirmed total cases of COVID-19. It also crossed 200,000 New Delhi cases for the first time since the pandemic began. The health ministry has also reported over 1000 fatalities for the second consecutive day, the highest this year. Due to a continuing surge in cases and shortage of beds and hospitals, India's National Capital Region Delhi and Financial Capital Mumbai are now converting hotels into makeshift hospitals a day after Delhi reported a record daily high, the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced weekend curfews over the last week several other states announced partial lockdowns. India has the second highest confirmed total cases of COVID-19 after the U.S., according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Selina Wang in Tokyo. A key figure in Japan's ruling party said the Tokyo Olympics could be canceled this summer if Japan's COVID situation gets worse. It's rare to see a Japanese government official publicly address the topic of an Olympic cancellation and Toshihiro Nikai is an extremely influential figure in Japanese politics. He was asked at a local TV interview if a cancellation of the Olympics was a possibility. He responded, of course, adding what would be the point of an Olympics that spreads the infection.
Now that is exactly the question that many people here in Japan are asking. Hosting the games this summer remains deeply unpopular among the public, as Japan struggles to deal with a fourth wave of COVID cases that experts say are driven by more contagious COVID variants. On top of that, you have less than half a percent of the Japanese population fully vaccinated. Now we know that international spectators are banned, but these games will still involve more than 11,000 athletes for more than 200 countries, who will be tested regularly but will not need to quarantine. And Nikai later watered down his comment saying he hopes that the games go off successfully this summer, but his comments still struck a chord with the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:45:11]
KING: Up next to us, some good economic news, the number of Americans filing first time unemployment claims just hit a pandemic low.
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[12:50:00]
KING: Having our political radar today jobless claims falling to the lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic first struck last spring. First time unemployment claims fell to 576,000 last week. Now, that is still historically high but it's down from 769,000 just a week before, improving jobs numbers along with a bigger than expected jump in retail sales signaling the economic recovery is gaining steam.
We're learning the Biden administration has flown more than 3000 migrants all families with children for where they crossed the border in South Texas to San Diego, California since mid-March, only to expel them to an area of Mexico those families are unfamiliar with. It said to be an effort to ease the bottleneck in the Rio Grande Valley. Mexican officials say the migrants have been transported to shelters in Tijuana by Mexico's National Institute of migration.
House and Senate Democrats, just introducing a bill to expand the Supreme Court from its current nine justices to 13, that effort is being led by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Representative Jerry Nadler or New York. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just asked moments ago if she would back this legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you support Jerry Nadler's bill to expand the Supreme Court by four seats? And would you commit to bringing that bill to the floor?
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: No. I support the President's Commission to study such a proposal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The bill also unlikely to gain much momentum on the Senate side, all Republicans and several Democrats oppose expanding the court. Next hour on Capitol Hill very important testimony, the U.S. Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton expected to testify before Congressional Committee about the intelligence and operational failures that led to the deadly January 6 insurrection. Let's bring in CNN's Whitney Wild, who is covering this story for us. What are we looking for?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're looking for details about the operational failures as well as the intelligence failures leading up to and on the day of the insurrection. So let's talk about the operational challenges they faced. The I.G. has pointed out that they had operational problems for months concerning their civil disturbance unit that is the unit that would have been responsible for a riot. They did not have a standard operating procedure in place that had been rescinded in summer of 2020. They were supposed to come up with a new one, they never did. We might hear him talk about that. We will also very likely hear him talk about other operational challenges, such as failing to keep critical equipment and temperature-controlled settings.
Now on the day of the riot operationally, more failures, leadership apparently told some of the officers on the ground responding to this riot not to use their less than lethal options, things like stun grenades, things that may have arguably helped them control this crowd as this crisis was beginning to unfold.
On the intelligence side, he points out that there was intelligence weeks before January 6, that indicated people on a pro-Trump website were talking about tunnels beneath Congress that was in a piece of intelligence given from the Department of Homeland Security to USCP apparently not acted upon appropriately. And further, one of the things he'll talk about is this confusion among USCP about what the intelligence said about the reality of the threat. Here's one of the quotes from his opening remarks. Certain officers believed USCP intelligence products indicated there may be threats, but did not identify anything specific, while other officials believed it would be inaccurate to state that there were no known specific threats to the Joint Session based on those same USCP intelligence products. A lot of conflict in the preparation of the intelligence products they were working from what the product even said. And then as we look for ways to move forward, one of the things that he will talk about is reorienting this department from a police-based agency into a protection based agency that would represent a shift in their thinking about what their true mission is on the Hill. So that's something I believe he'll speak a lot about today, John.
KING: More than three months later, still a lot of questions, lots of times and more questions. Actually, we haven't answered some of the existing questions, so we get more Whitney Wild, grateful for the reporting. We'll stay on top of that story.
Up next for us, we go to Chicago where the city now bracing for the release of a police body camera video in the death of a 13-year-old boy.
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[12:58:43]
KING: Live pictures here from Chicago, any moment now the mayor, Lori Lightfoot will join other community leaders to hold a news conference this coming ahead of the release of body camera video. The Chicago police fatally shooting a 13-year-old, Adam Toledo was shot and killed in March by a police officer who chased him into an alley. Police claimed the boy was carrying a gun. Let's get straight to CNN's Ryan Young in Chicago for us, Ryan. RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, obviously this is a tough story. You think a lot of family having to lose a 13-year-old Adam Toledo apparently had a gun in his hand. That's according to police. And an officer fired one shot that hit that young man in the chest. For weeks, there have been calls for the video have been released. We're told that video should be released today. What we do know is the family has had a chance to see this video. And in fact, they've watched it and they even released a joint statement with the city basically calling for calm. They want to make sure that his memory is not washed away with violence in the street. We know the city of Chicago has had a tough time dealing with some communities, especially when it comes to gun violence.
What we know about two weeks ago, apparently a shotspotter heard shots and when police arrived, there was this 13-year-old with a 21-year-old and apparently there was a run and a chase, and the cops ended up opening fire when they believe that young man turned around. We're hoping to get more of this video and getting idea of exactly what happened. But as of right now you see sort of a joint situation going on between the family and the city to make sure there's calm in the streets. We'll be watching, of course, for the next few hours. John.
KING: Grateful to your reporting. Ryan, thank you so much. And thanks for joining us today. See you back here at this time tomorrow. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.
