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Divided America: Biden Confronts Partisan Fractures; Republicans Distrust Govt. To Provide Info on COVID-19 Vaccine; Partisan Divide Poses Hurdle for Biden Agenda; Many GOP Candidates Embrace Trump's Election Conspiracies; Is Enough Being Done to Protect Capitol?"; New Concerns About Capitol Safety 6 Months After Insurrection; GOP Rep. Katko: U.S. Capitol Police "Need a Radical Restructure"; Capitol Officer: We're "Losing Guys Left and Right" Since Attack; Feds: 500+ Capitol Riot Arrests, Hundred Still "Unidentified"; GOP Rep. Brooks Pushes Election Lie in Response to Jan 6. Lawsuit; President Pleads with Public to Get Vaccinated; COVID-19 Infections Rising Where People are not Vaccinated; New COVID Cases 3x Higher in States with Low Vaccination Rates. Aired 12-12:30p ET.

Aired July 06, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We also should tell you that we are monitoring Tropical Storm Elsa as it barrels towards Florida. This is a live look from Key West. Stay with CNN for the latest on the storm and don't go anywhere, Inside Politics with John King starts right now.

[12:00:05]

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm John King in Washington. Big swaps (ph) with Florida, now under a hurricane watch. The outer bans will hit Surfside where rescuers are now scouring the rubble and racing the clock. Plus today marks six months since the capital insurrection.

The FBI is still looking for 300 suspects. Republicans are still denying the truth. And now law enforcement officials are warning the capital may still be vulnerable. And the president delivers a COVID update soon. Another plea to Americans to get vaccinated will be part of it. As new data makes crystal clear the risks of skipping your shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SLAVITT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO BIDEN COVID-19 RESPONSE TEAM: If you haven't been vaccinated yet the new things we're seeing around the world should add to the weight of evidence to convince you to go talk to your doctor, go talk to your pharmacist, get whatever questions you might have answered. And get vaccinated.

If you live in a community with lower amounts of vaccination rates, generally speaking, the Southeast, it is much more likely that you're going to see outbreaks. In fact, it is guaranteed you're going to see outbreaks over the course of this late summer and in the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And we begin right there with the Biden administration's struggle to reach vaccine-hesitant Americans and what the divide over getting your shot tells us about the country's fault lines. Here's a quick snapshot, take a look at this. In the new "Washington Post"/ABC News poll 93 percent of Democrats say they are or will get vaccinated.

Only 49 percent of Republicans say that. With me to share their reporting and their insights this day Margaret Talev of Axios, Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times," Zolan Kanno-Youngs also of "The New York Times," and Seung Min Kim of "The Washington Post."

Polarization has been with us since back to the Clinton presidency and it keeps progressively getting worse. I just want to show up, this is from the poll, how do you rate the -- how Biden is handling things? Ninety-four percent of Democrats approve of his presidency, only eight percent of Republicans.

Ninety-five percent of Democrats approve of his handling of COVID, now 33 percent, that is significant, a third of Republicans do give the Democratic president some credit on COVID. But you look at crime lopsided, Democrats say great, Republicans say horrible. This has been with us in the issues for a long time. The challenge is on a public health crisis.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, THE NEW YORK TIMES, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

KING: On an issue of life and death, safety -- is a vaccine safe? Should we follow science? How and why has polarization crept into that?

MARGARET TALEV, AXIOS, MANAGING EDITOR: Yes, I mean, look, you -- there's no two ways to read these numbers. These numbers are very clear and they mirror -- Axios and IPSOS have been doing a survey for more than a year now on how Americans perceive Coronavirus.

How it affects them, what they want to do about it, and consistently the most divisive issue is not socioeconomic, it's not gender, it's not age, it's not race, it's political partisan ID. And with that, it is where do you get most of your news? Which media is your preferred news outlet?

And those two issues go in tandem and they go hand in hand and they split, they cleave through every issue. But particularly vaccinations and how afraid of you -- how afraid of the virus are you and how will you dial back your life and modify your interactions with people in order to limit the spread of the virus?

And now we're seeing it. With a -- this has been a -- this is a threshold that public health officials and politicians have known for more than a year was coming, that as soon as the vaccine goes out there will be some period of time where we'll see how many Americans are willing to get vaccinated. We saw that number go way up and then we saw it peak and now what we're seeing is the opposite, which is that -- anyone can get it now in the United States. So, if you haven't had it yet and you don't have some specific health reason, it is by choice and it is almost certainly tied to your political beliefs.

KING: It is by choice and the president pretty much on a weekly basis, sometimes more than once a week, gives these updates. He's trying to urge Americans to get your vaccine, the data's overwhelming. Ninety- nine percent of the recent deaths people who are unvaccinated, the Delta Variant taking hold, the case count going up, where is it going up fastest?

In the states where the vaccination rate is low. The science is unmistakable. But it was interesting, you heard Andy Slavitt, the former Biden adviser at the top of the program saying go talk to your doctor, find somebody, ask your questions. That's because you all have a Democratic president, the president of the United States, party labels should not matter in a pandemic.

But we went through this in the Trump presidency, now we're going through it in a very different context in the Biden presidency. Who do you trust for vaccine information? Your own doctor, this is among Republicans, 82 percent of Republicans say they trust their doctor. Only 48 percent trust the CDC, only 22 percent trust their president.

Only 30 percent trust Dr. Fauci, only 45 percent state government officials. So, Republicans are incredibly skeptical of any institution, any political institution. Anybody with a title or a label.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. And that's why you see -- we saw the White House roll out new details of how they're going to encourage more vaccinations. Now we -- now that we entered this new phase and a lot of it is relying on your primary care doctor.

Making sure that the vaccines are available at your general, you know, general practitioner, your primary care doctors.

[12:05:00]

And really relying on local community leaders. And that's been their tactic for some time, they're also going to -- the White House said this morning that they were going to also employ more door to door tactics to make sure you are proactively, really directly reaching out to people who have not yet been vaccinated.

But that is why kind of trying to take politics away from this, you know, trying to take president Biden out of the equation. You know, Dr. Fauci, the political institutions it's so important for the administration to keep reaching that vaccination goal number. And you have seen politician -- Republican politicians --

KING: Yes. KIM: -- in Congress who are encouraging vaccinations take on that task (ph). I remember one of the more successful ads where the Coalition of Republican Doctors in Congress all wearing kind of their medical coats and encouraging people to get vaccinated. So, the Biden administration is hoping for more of that kind of messaging. But, again, as Margaret pointed out, how effective it'll be is yet to be seen.

JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And this is a real threshold moment where you've got these -- 99 percent of those who die were not vaccinated. If that's not enough to scare people straight then there's nothing that's going to move them.

I mean, you've seen sort of even a timeline the first half of this year of the Biden folks and the CDC in May realizing, look, we've got to incentivize people to get the vaccine. Maybe if we do the sort of masking issue, you know, you're free to go maskless.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Incentivizing it away, right.

MARTIN: If you get the vaccine --

TALEV: How about the water --

MARTIN: Didn't really work. Next up, let's give away money, lotteries, right. Didn't really work. So, you know, now we're at the point of OK, will death overwhelmingly move people and to be -- to be seen.

KING: Yes, TBD. And, look, the public health challenge is obvious. The White House is worried that you'll have regional outbreaks. That in these states where you have a lower vaccination rate, they've come -- return of school, return of colder weather you'll have these regional outbreaks.

Now, it'll be easy for Democrats to say well those are in red states or those are in Republican states but Joe Biden's the president of the United States, if the country goes back through another COVID crisis, he's the president --

MARTIN: Right.

KING: -- he will suffer just as Donald Trump suffered.

MARTIN: Right.

KING: Because you're the president of the United States and the country's in trouble. But you -- but the question is how do you break through if you're the Biden White House where you did have a great vaccine rollout to begin with but you've plateaued if not hit a wall?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes, and, you know, this has been a top concern for the White House for months now. As Seung Min was saying, you saw that it wasn't just going to be them dispatching political figures, the president, the vice president, Dr. Fauci, but also relying on religious leaders and communities, even GOP strategist Frank Luntz trying to get folks like Chris Christie to go out as well and talk to people. Now, that's separate from the White House's effort but not (ph) moving forward, especially as you have a Delta Variant that is not going to know partisan lines when it comes down to this. I mean, when you -- there is possibly no more risky kind of area when we talk about the agenda right now where having a polarized divided society can make such a -- an impact and have such harm than a public health crisis that really is going to impact everybody despite what geographic area you're in.

KING: And there's no break. There's no break today and there's no break that you can foresee in this two America conversation because we are getting closer and closer by the second to the mid-term election campaign.

This reporting in "The Washington Post" today that's just fascinating, "Of the nearly 700 Republicans who have filed initial paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run next year for either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives, at least a third have embraced Trump's false claims about his defeat. Many of them - 136 - are sitting members of Congress who voted against Joe Biden's electoral college victory on Jan. 6."

Now you can sit at home and say what does that have to do with the president trying to sell COVID vaccines to hesitant people out there? Well, a lot of those hesitant people out there are Republicans. And this is the Republican conversation, Joe Biden's not president, Donald Trump won.

Donald Trump -- some of them say Donald Trump's coming back in September. How do you break through in that environment if you're -- if you're a Democratic president and the people you're trying to reach did not vote for you?

MARTIN: Yes, and it's just tough, we've got a third of the country is sort of immune to those kinds of facts that you just mentioned. That, you know, President Biden did win, Donald Trump did lose. It creates real challenges. I think you have to go back to the stat you showed, John, a minute ago. Which is who do folks trust?

And they do trust their doctor, right. And I think that ultimately if the death stats or with (ph) as staggering as they are don't move people what choice do you have left but just trying to get local physicians and hospitals to actively encourage their patients pro- actively to get the vaccine.

KING: Right. And if you don't believe, this is, again, sometimes you're connecting dots that can't be connected. I believe this can be connected because of the environment that people out here are processing. You mentioned some people watching their own media silo, they only hear what they want to hear or they only hear people who agree with that part of it.

Let's just go back in time, again, J.D. Vance, this is October 2016, he tweets right after the Access Hollywood incident, "Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us." That's J.D. Vance then, J.D. Vance wants to run for Senate now in a Republican primary in Ohio. So, yesterday he goes on Fox News and says forgive me.

[12:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, BEST SELLING AUTHOR & REPUBLICAN SENATE HOPEFUL: I asked folks not to judge me by based on what I said in 2016 because I've been very open about the fact that I did say those critical things and I regret them. And I regret being wrong about the guy.

I think that he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people and I think he took a lot of flack. And as you probably appreciate, Alicia, you know, I've taken a lot of flack myself over the last few years for standing up for the president's voters but also standing up for the agenda. And I think that's the most important thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It would be easier for President Biden to breakthrough with at least a sliver of Republicans If the conversation among Republicans was moving away from Trump, away from denying science, away from denying election results. But the conversation among Republicans is moving exactly the opposite direction right now.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Part of a trend as well of Republicans really taking actions with a motive to align themselves with the former President Trump, right. I mean, the statements that you just saw there, that's part of a trend of Kevin McCarthy going to Mar-a-Lago to visit the former president.

Also probably why we still don't have a January 6th commission as well with Republicans not wanting to take action that will continue to prompt criticism --

MARTIN: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- of the prior administration.

MARTIN: Go ahead, Seung Min.

KIM: Yes, it's just -- one part of the J.D. Vance interview that I also found interesting what we're seeing in a lot of these Republican primary races is that he mentioned recently that he visited the former president at his home. And it's just part of this parade of Republican candidates in these primary states and swing states.

You know, Ohio and Pennsylvania and others. They are really continuing to kiss the ring of the defeated President, just really underscoring how much of a lock he still has on this party.

KING: Like the lie (ph) --

MARTIN: And because the assumption is that the voters are still with him. I think the only thing -- that there are some changes that -- all that breaks that grip is if the voters prove that they're not as attached to Trump as the candidates assume they are. How does that happen?

It would happen I think if some of these candidates win primaries who are not super pro-Trumpy and certainly it would happen in the midterms if the GOP does not have a (inaudible). I think up -- and unless those things happen I think we're going to keep seeing folks flocking to Mar-a-Lago.

KING: You're going to keep seeing governors like Mike DeWine who distanced himself from Trump during the pandemic. Now sending Ohio law enforcement down to the border in Texas because it's -- the conversation is going toward Trump, not away from Trump. Everybody stand by, up next for us today is six months -- six months since the insurrection. There are new fears not enough is being done to improve Capitol security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

KING: Today marks six months since the shocking Capitol insurrection. In a statement this morning the Capitol Police Force paying tribute to officers who lost their lives or injured in the assault on the Capitol. And they listed enhancements to building and lawmaker security. But there are concerns not enough has been done to prevent another attack.

This latest warning comes as the Feds sound alarm about the new risk of new violence by right-wing extremists, driven in many cases by a nonsensical theory that somehow the former President Donald Trump can be reinstated in August. CNN's Whitney Wild is tracking this and joins us with her new reporting, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, there is this real concern among rank and file officers that as this threat looms in August, this potential for more violence that, you know, federal officials are warning about that they are simply not prepared to take on another wave, another January 6th.

One of the reasons for that, John, is because the department continues to lose officers and it takes a long time to get officers trained and back on the force. A union leader telling us it can take about a year from the time an officer is hired to do the background check, to do the academy, to get them trained, and get them field ready.

So, that's one element. There's an additional element here, Capitol Police is boasting that they have made a list of changes that are within their control. For example, they are doing new trainings, they've sent their civil disturbance unit officials, the unit uniquely responsible for fending off rioters, they've sent those leaders to places like Seattle, to Virginia Beach to try to train -- bring this knowledge back to Capitol Police.

They've done joint exercises with the National Guard, for example, they've bought new equipment that they were woefully lacking on January 6th. They now share intelligence from top officials all the way down to the rank and file. So, Capitol Police says look, we're making these changes that are within our control.

However, looming in the background is this major cultural and operational overhaul that has been recommended by a list of people, John. This is -- outside reviews have suggested this, inspector general reports that come out monthly have suggested this too.

And what lawmakers, as insiders and outsiders are watching for, is this big change from USCP, they want to see them become more of an intelligence-based protective agency that's going to take a lot of time. For now, there are these smaller changes, rank and file officers say those are marginal, Capitol Police basically saying they're doing everything they can but they need more funding to effect this big change everyone's looking for.

KING: More funding and bigger conversations about the direction perhaps. Whitney Wild, appreciate the reporting. Panelists back with us. Let's just step back for a little context as six months and look at some numbers. There have been 500 plus arrests in the Capitol insurrection.

A hundred arrests on charges of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, 12 of the rioters have already entered guilty please -- plea bargains. Three hundred suspects still unidentified. The FBI, for example, still seeking the bomb -- the pipe bomb suspect outside the (inaudible).

The numbers tell you that -- you see 500 arrests and you think wow, impressive job by law enforcement. You see 300 suspects still unidentified you think wow, this was a giant operation and yes, progress, but it's a lot of work to do.

TALEV: Yes, that's right. And I think, you know, as we head into August I don't want to be alarmist about this or be predictive in any kind of way but we have seen in years passed that August is this fallow time for Congress when things outside of that building happen.

And I think there are a lot of concerns about what sort of grassroots efforts are going to get mobilized over the summer and whether what currently exists in terms of a Capitol Police structure is ready to handle all of that.

[12:20:02]

KING: And it comes back to the previous conversation about the reality or the non-reality of certain conversations that happened in this town. Of the conspiracy and fiction of certain conversations that happened in this town. Eric Swalwell, Democratic member of Congress is suing Mo Brooks, Republican member of Congress.

Mo Brooks spoke at the rally before the marchers went up to the Capitol riot. Is that a legitimate lawsuit? I'm not a lawyer, I don't know. But Mo Brooks in his response says this, "In Brooks' judgment...Donald Trump won the electoral college and should be serving his second term as President of the United States.

Brooks welcomes public debate with anyone who ignorantly claims others." That is horse insert. It's just, Joe Biden won the electoral college, Joe Biden won the election. Donald Trump had every right, reason, and recourse to challenge, did, and lost.

MARTIN: Yes.

KING: A member of Congress swore an oath to the Constitution, is spewing bull, insert the rest there. That's the problem here.

MARTIN: Because he wants to be a U.S. Senator. And he's in a primary for the seat that's currently held by Senator Shelby and he is trying to, obviously, take advantage of the fact that the primary in his state is going to be very pro-Trump. And so, if that means a court document that reads like that, he's obviously willing to do it.

But this is all going to play out in the mid-terms next year. You know, is this kind of (inaudible) to Trump and Trumpism still the key to win these primaries? And if it is, that's going to give Democrats, obviously, huge fodder in the fall.

They're going to run against Trump and the GOP being the party of Trump. If it's not necessary anymore and Trump's hold, you know, on the party is weaning, that creates a whole different set of questions for the GOP going into the fall and going into '24.

KING: Right, and we'll get there when we get there. One of the issues in the meantime is this -- it came up earlier, this January 6th now select committee. They couldn't agree on a bipartisan commission so the speaker went ahead with a select committee.

Melanie Zanona and Manu Raju reporting this today, "Republicans too have their own emerging plan once McCarthy names his picks: They want to focus on the steps that Speaker Nancy Pelosi took -- or didn't take --to secure the Capitol that day, according to Republican (sic) sources."

Look, the actions everybody took that day can and should be scrutinized. If you come into it with an open mind. What did the president do? What did the chief of staff do? What did Leader McCarthy do? Sure, what did Speaker Pelosi do? If you commit to it with an open mind let's gather facts, let's not look for harpoons.

KIM: Right. And it's also kind of another example of this whole whataboutism strategy that Kevin McCarthy as the House Republican leader has taken into policing, you know, behavior from his own caucus and what not. And you saw immediately in the days after the insurrection, McCarthy was concerned, he -- so, maybe if we had this vote, maybe if this -- if the bipartisan commission had been pushed much earlier this year there would have been a different outcome.

But, again, as more time passes, unfortunately, people forget about the trauma of that day. It should never be forgotten but it naturally happens and people are just more -- much more hardened into their partisan corners. So, that select committee is going to be the venue for a lot of this political infighting for the next several months. KING: Off we go. Up next for us, lost in translation, how can the president break through with those who still won't get their COVID vaccine?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

KING: President Biden later today delivers a COVID update and for all the dramatic progress in recent months, the White House is now grappling with a very frustrating challenge. The Delta Variant is taking route and raising the risk for the unvaccinated. And the numbers don't lie.

States with fewer people vaccinated are seeing three times the number of new COVID-19 infections on average. But we're going to do it in a second, when you map out vaccine hesitancy, you can see why the president has such a vexing dilemma. And let's look at the map right now.

This is the percentage of Americans state by state fully vaccinated. You want your state to be darker, Maine 62 percent, Vermont 66 percent, look down here, Mississippi 30 percent, Alabama 33 percent. All right, President Biden trying to convince the country to get vaccinated.

A lot of these states that are lagging happen to be Republican, Trump states. It's a tough argument. You look at the lowest rates for vaccination, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming. All in the 30s, again, Vermont and Maine way above 60, most of New England way above 60.

You see these states lagging way behind. And if you put it in the context of the trends map, just follow me -- follow along here. Twenty-six states in green, fewer COVID infections today compared to a week ago, 26 states trending in the right direction. You see 10 states trending up, Arkansas among them.

Let's follow through and make this connection. Vermont is green, its case count is going down, Arkansas is orange, its case count is going up. Well, what's the situation in Arkansas? Only 35 percent of the residents there are fully vaccinated. Seventeen cases per 100,000 people over the past week.

Seventeen daily cases per 100,000 people over the past week, 17, right. This is the national average here, well above the national average. Look at Vermont -- look at Vermont, you've got 66 percent vaccinated there, fewer than one case a day -- fewer than one case a day reported there, well below the national average.

If your vaccine rate is up, your case count is down, it is simply indisputable. At that point, let's bring into the conversation Dr. Leana Wen, she's the former Baltimore City Health Commissioner to help us share her insights. Dr., the data it's black and white. If you have a higher vaccination rate, you have a lower case count. The president will come out today, the White House trying to revamp its strategy to convince vaccine-hesitant Americans get your shot. What can he do?

END