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Inside Politics
Moderna: COVID-19 Vaccine Safe & Effective In Adolescents; Interview with Gov. Ned Lamont (D-CT), CT To Pay $1,000 To First 10,000 Residents Who Get Jobs; Blinken Meets With Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Amid Gaza Ceasefire; White House: Biden & Putin Will Meet Next Month In Switzerland; Biden Administration To Issue New Cybersecurity Rule For Pipeline Companies. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired May 25, 2021 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: A major positive COVID announcement today, the drugmaker Moderna says it's corona's vaccine -- coronavirus vaccine is safe and appears off the charts effective for children as young as 12. In a trial for kids 12 to 17, none developed COVID after being fully vaccinated. The findings have not been peer reviewed yet, but Moderna says it plans to ask the FDA next month for authorization to offer its vaccine to those 12 and over. Remember, Pfizer already has that OK, and adding Moderna would help the push to get more children vaccinated heading into summer activities and next year's school year as well.
Let's look at the latest numbers and they are overwhelmingly positive. Look at our 50 state map. You see all that green, 37 states, 37 of the 50 reporting fewer new COVID infections now compared to a week ago. Three states trending up. You see the gray, Alabama and Delaware, that just means they have a glitch in their data. So we're not looking at their data today. They're just trying to fix an anomaly.
Thirty-seven states trending in the right direction. That's because of this, the case count nationally is way down 25,925 new COVID infections reported yesterday. Look up here, the seven-day average is below 25,000. The last time that was true, was almost a year ago, back in June of 2020. A dramatic drop. Why the dramatic drop? Well, in large part because of this. 131 million almost, 130 plus million Americans fully vaccinated. Partially vaccinated? 164 million Americans. The vaccination rollout is helping push the cases down.
Now let's look at vaccination by age. Half of American adults, by the end of this day, half of American adults will be fully vaccinated. You see 19.5 percent among those aged 16 and 17, this age group 12 to 15 just now eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. By next month, maybe the Moderna vaccine as well. So the 12 to 15 age group will see that go up, age 12 and younger, we're still waiting for the vaccine to be approved. So you have the zero here.
So younger students probably don't get a vaccine by the time they go back to school. But listen to Dr. Fauci here, he says the situation is improving so much that he believes, yes, this group's going to have to wait a bit, but that everybody should be able to go back to school come September.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: I don't believe that they're going to be able to be vaccinated by the time the fall term comes. We certainly will get high school adolescent individuals vaccinated then given the number of and the percentage of teachers that will be vaccinated that are already vaccinated, that there should be no reason not to get children of any age back to in- person school by the time we get to the fall term.
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KING: With us to share her expertise and insights, the former Baltimore City Health Commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen. Dr. Wen, it's great to see you. Help me with the context of this moment. It is a remarkable moment in that the vaccine rollout has been largely successful. Now it appears you'll have a second vaccine for those in the 12 to 16, 17 age group, but the younger group, I have a fourth grader will be in fifth grade next year, they're going to have to wait a little bit.
So we're in this odd place where you and I can go outside, we can take our mask off because we're vaccinated even in some indoor settings. We take our mask off because we're vaccinated, but the little guy still has to wear a mask. How long are we in this strange period?
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think we first have to celebrate where we are, John, because we've been talking about bad news for so long. And now there's finally excellent news that finally the rates of infections, hospitalizations, deaths are trending down quite substantially. I think the worst is behind us and we're going to have a much better summer ahead. I also think it's really promising that we now are able to get 12-year olds and above vaccinated with Pfizer, maybe soon with Moderna. They can go back to their normal lives and have sleepovers and parties and enjoy get togethers again, which is going to be really important and come the fall.
I do think we're going to be in an even better place because we'll have a much lower rate of infection hopefully across the country. And then younger kids, even if they're not yet vaccinated, will feel a lot safer, too. But I do think it's important to note, as you said that young kids are still at risk because they're not yet vaccinated. And actually, unvaccinated people across the country are still at risk for contracting coronavirus. So get vaccinated if you can. But if you are a person under the age of 12 and cannot be vaccinated, you should still be taking a lot of precautions including masking, physical distancing, and avoiding indoor crowded settings.
KING: So help me with this one. I want to play a little bit for my hearing this morning. A long term issue, I know we're both parents. This is not asking for a friend, this is asking for myself, and for every parent out there. How do we deal with this?
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REP. JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER (R-WA 3RD DISTRICT), APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: The mental health and developmental issues that these kids have been through in the last year, like I took one -- I took my youngest to Costco, she hadn't been in a big box store. It kind of flipped her out seeing many people.
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DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: I think we're all really concerned about this, people sort of shrug and say, well, you know, kids are resilient. But wait a minute. This is really an incredible, unprecedented challenge to their life experience. There's a lot of unanswered questions we are going to be studying.
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KING: Walk us through that.
WEN: Yes, I certainly agree that it's been such a challenging year for everyone, for our children, for families, for caregivers, for people who have lost loved ones, for others that have just experienced really significant disruptions to their lives and livelihoods. I think with children, it's important to meet them where they are, to have conversations with your children and find out is, are they ready to go back to school? Are they ready to go back to normal? Are there things that they were particularly looking forward to that they can now do?
Understanding too that children just like the rest of us as adults, we need to be moving at our own pace. Some people are ready to dive in and do everything, resume all their sporting activities and extracurriculars. Others might still feel a bit of a shock at reengaging with people, especially without masks and distancing. And so, I think taking things at your own pace, opening the door to having these difficult conversations is an important first step.
KING: Great advice, as always. Dr. Leana Wen, I'm grateful for your time today.
WEN: Thank you, John.
KING: Up next for us -- thank you.
Up next for us, $1,000 if you go back to work. We'll talk to the Governor giving that incentive, next.
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GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): Do you see the big athletes get a signing bonus? Why don't you get a signing bonus as well?
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KING: Labor shortages are leading some states to try creative incentives to lure unemployed people back to work. In Connecticut this week, Governor Ned Lamont announced $1,000 signing bonus for the first 10,000 long-term unemployed workers who land full time jobs. Governor Lamont is with us live now.
Governor, walk through the challenge here. We've seen government incentives to get people vaccinated. Why did you decide it was necessary? Let's try a signing bonus -- I like that term, and I like your athlete's metaphor -- a signing bonus to get people, you know, try a little harder to get a full time job.
LAMONT: Yes, we have an awful lot of jobs that are unfilled. John, great to see you. And, yes, especially in the service sector, restaurants, stores and the such are having a hard time.
We've got some people who are sort of COVID hesitant still. So we said, look, we get you $1,000 signing bonus, make it a little easier for you to do daycare, a little easier for you to handle the transportation, make it easier for you to get to work.
We'll know in a week or so whether it's working.
KING: So you say, you know, COVID -- some COVID hesitancy, so I find that interesting. I just want to look up at the screen -- 8.1 percent is your -- in April, was your state unemployment rate. That's a little above the national average.
Some of your Republican colleagues who are governors are trying something else -- 23 Republican led states are now ending the extra unemployment benefits, the enhanced unemployment benefits that were awarded during COVID. Good idea or bad idea?
LAMONT: We're not going to do that. Look, they end by themselves in three months, which I think is probably appropriate.
Right now, we're trying to gently get people back into the workforce. I think the $1,000 incentive will make a big difference over the course of the next six weeks. And then you're going to see those $300 probably disappear in September.
KING: And another concern at the moment is, you know, the president passed the big rescue plan. Now he has other plans he's trying to get through the Congress. Most Democrats are on board.
A lot of that money would go to states like yours, some of it directly to states to help state and local governments, some of it through infrastructure projects, some of it through other economic development projects.
Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary is concerned about this, though. He says he's starting to see evidence of inflation in the economy. He says, "The moment has come to move past emergency policies and fight for our country's-long term future."
Is Larry Summers right? Has the moment come for the president maybe to say, let's put less federal money into the economy?
LAMONT: No, I think that the tax credit is important, I think -- we're able to provide free summer school, learning camps for our kids who have been out of school for -- you know, many of them for a year -- even though our schools were open. We have free daycare and childcare for everybody through the end of the year.
I think these are all ways -- we're using this federal support to help people get back to work. And I think the infrastructure money will be very helpful.
Look, if you think we should do it over six years and not three years, that makes some sense as well. But I think this is a good time to be rebuilding.
KING: We've had several conversations when things were horrible, especially your part of the country went through the first crushing wave, and then we had the winter peak as well.
Now we're in much better times. And so let's say (ph) we were talking about jobs here. What's your sense when it comes to school? So the New York City mayor just said come September, he wants all New York City kids back in the school. He thinks everything will be, you know, very safe by then -- no more remote learning. Should that be the plan in Connecticut as well?
LAMONT: That's the plan in Connecticut as well.
But John, frankly, almost all of our schools were open last September, either in person full time --
KING: Right.
LAMONT: -- or hybrid. But I do worry there were some kids that just didn't feel comfortable getting back to school. Those are the ones we're working on really hard.
KING: The New England states have outpaced the rest of the country in terms of the vaccine rollout. Why? Why do you think that's the case?
LAMONT: I think we were hit particularly hard very early. We've worked together very closely. I think that we are more likely to be wearing in the mask than they were say, in Arizona. The governor of Arizona told me something very interesting, Doug Ducey, good guy. He said, Governor, it's probably easier for you to get people to do the mask and vaccinate because everybody knows somebody who died of COVID. In my state, we tend to know somebody who lost their job due to COVID.
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KING: And lastly on this point of economic reopening, you got a lot of coordination with your neighbors because you're all held together because so many people in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and even Rhode Island, but those three in particular, commute back and forth.
Are you doing the same when it comes to this economic stuff, or is it every governor on his own now?
LAMONT: Look, we talk a fair amount, but everybody is sort of opening at their own pace. So, we've opened pretty early, we never closed construction. We've kept most of our companies going, our manufacturing never stopped.
So now we've opened everything. The only last thing is if you haven't been vaccinated, wear the mask indoors, do that a little bit longer.
KING: Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, grateful to see you, sir.
LAMONT: Nice to see, John. Thanks.
KING: Take care.
Up next for us, the Secretary of State's Mideast trip to shore up the fragile ceasefire. We'll check in on how it's going.
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KING: Well, we'll hear soon from the Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he wraps up day one of his Middle East visit. He met today with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, that amid a very fragile Gaza ceasefire. Israel Prime Minister vows a, quote, very powerful response if Hamas breaks that truth. Secretary Blinken promises the United States will now help rebuild Gaza, saying both Palestinians and Israelis suffered profound losses.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Casualties are often reduced to numbers. But behind every number is an individual human being, a daughter, a son, a father, a mother, a grandparent, a best friend, and as the Talmud teaches to lose a life is to lose the whole world, whether that life is Palestinian or Israeli.
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KING: CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson joins us now live from Ramallah in the West Bank. Nic, what are the big highlights of the visit?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think reassuring the Israeli politicians that the United States stands firmly behind them. And that's what we heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu thanking the Secretary of State for that, thanking him for the armaments for the Iron Dome missile interceptor system, which really defended and say defended many Israelis and saved a lot of lives here. So that was a big one.
You know, Biden, also -- Blinken, rather, also speaking with the Palestinian leaders and trying to sort of hold out an olive branch of something better down the road. I mean, this is the idea of keeping a band-aid on the ceasefire here, keeping both sides engaged and in support of you. What we've heard from the Palestinians this evening is they're grateful for the money the United States has given Secretary Blinken said it was a total of $360 million total going to the Palestinians for reconstruction efforts.
But what the Palestinians really want is that long-term political solution. Now, the Secretary of State not promising that, but giving them a door towards it. And I think this was a significant thing. Reopening the consulate in Jerusalem, which is where the Palestinians and U.S. officials meet and converse, and where they haven't been doing that over the past few years during the Trump administration. So that really is a reengagement that Secretary Blinken was talking about. So I think is building confidence from both sides of the United States is here with good intent for the duration, but not about to make a massive change themselves, John.
KING: Nic Robertson, grateful you are there at this important moment to give us the live reporting. Appreciate it, Nic.
Up next for us, you can mark your calendar for President Biden's first face-to-face with President Vladimir Putin. We've got the one in where, next.
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KING: Topping our political radar today, we now have a date and a location for the first face-to-face meeting between President Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin. The White House says the summit will happen on June 16th in Geneva, Switzerland. That will come at the tail-end of Mr. Biden's first international trip as President, where he will also meet with leaders of the G7 in the UK and E.U. leaders and NATO allies in Brussels.
$1 trillion for infrastructure over eight years, that is the counteroffer just in from Senate Republicans. Senator Roger Wicker says the proposal won't raise taxes through revisiting the 27 Trump tax law. Republicans plan to present the offer to the President on Thursday. President Biden has already reduced the size of his proposal from $2.25 trillion to $1.7 trillion. So, still a big gap.
The Biden administration plans to issue a new rule to try to avoid a repeat of that cybersecurity disaster involving the colonial pipeline. The Department of Homeland Security wants to require pipeline companies to quickly report cyber attacks to the federal government. That new directive comes after cyber hijackers held that colonial pipeline hostage and disrupted fuel supplies up and down the East Coast.
New information today on the federal investigation into Rudy Giuliani, the prosecutors didn't intend to make public. A new court filing contains faulty redactions that disappeared when you copied and pasted into a different document. The details under the black bold lines reveal investigators, get this, seized a far larger amount of material than initially known, including e-mails and messages and iPad and a cell phone belonging to Ukrainian officials and businessmen. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office declining comment.
Another justice related story, the Biden Justice Department is moving to block the full release of a Trump error Department of Justice memo about whether then President Trump obstructed the Russia investigation. Some portions of that memo were released last night but the Justice Department is appealing a judge's order to release all nine pages. Those remaining sections could shed light on how Trump appointees at the DOJ justified no criminal charges against the president after Robert Mueller's investigation.
Appreciate your time today. Hope to see you back here this time tomorrow. Thanks for joining us. It's a very busy day. Ana Cabrera picking up our coverage right now.
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