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Variant Spreading in New York City; White Supremacists in Military; Tiger Woods' Rollover Crash; Minimum Wage Debate; Microwave Weapon Used Against CIA Agents. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 25, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Hundreds of millions of people become infected with this virus. There's a lot of opportunity for the virus to make mistakes. So the best way to put down these mutants is to decrease transmission and to vaccinate people.

The other thing to remember is that there is a strong suggestion now that even if one of these variants is more resistant to the vaccine, if you've been vaccinated or if you've had the wild type virus, the illness, in the past, you're probably relatively protected from severe illness or death with one of these variants. The same way we've told people for years that even if you get the flu, after you've had the influenza vaccine, that vaccine is likely to prevent you from getting severely ill or dying from influenza. Same holds true for the coronavirus.

So the best way to prevent these variants from continuing to mutate is to prevent transmission. So let's continue to mask up, not let our guard down and be very careful about opening places where this happens in greatest frequency, restaurants and bars. This is not the time to start ratcheting down those restrictions. I would be very wary particularly, particularly if I had not been vaccinated, about eating in a restaurant and I would not go into a bar.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, those restrictions are being lifted. I mean that's just -- that's what's happening now around the country, movie theaters, bars, restaurants. Leaders are starting to open those up, so it is something to watch very carefully.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thanks so much for being with us.

REINER: My pleasure.

BERMAN: The deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol leading to new questions how widespread white supremacy is inside the U.S. military. Disturbing details in a new report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:50]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, CNN has obtained a Pentagon report that reveals the prevalence of white supremacists in the U.S. military.

CNN's Oren Lieberman has all the disturbing details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID BROWN, REDEMPTION INK: The cover-up was I want to say six total sessions.

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The ink can hide the symbols of extremism, but the damage runs far deeper.

BROWN: When he first came in and showed us the work that he had, I think everybody's jaw kind of hit the floor.

LIEBERMAN: At Redemption Ink in Colorado Springs, Dave Brown has covered more than 70 extremist or hate-inspired tattoos, more than 20 he estimates were military. And he has a waitlist of 635 people.

BROWN: We have covered everything from portraits of the founding fathers of the KKK, to swastikas. I've covered up a human trafficking branding.

LIEBERMAN: The Army veteran camouflages the tattoos of hate for reformed extremists, but these ideologies and their symbols are still spreading in the military. Tattoos can be a calling card for white supremacists and extremists in the military, a way to grow their own ranks in secret amidst a nationwide surge in white nationalist activity.

But according to a Department of Defense report on extremism obtained by CNN, some of their recruiting tactics are more brazen and more open. One example in the report, a military member and co-founder of the Neo-Nazi group known as Atomwaffen Division, told another member that he was open about everything with his friends at training. They love me too cause I'm a funny guy, he wrote in a message.

The Defense Department determined that other find each other through obscure fascist symbols on t-shirts or simply connect on social media and messaging apps. U.S. troops are primary targets for many extremist groups who want their training, their combat experience and the legitimacy they bring to an organization. The report found that members of one far right extremist group shared military manuals, including an Army manual on IEDs, improvised explosive devices, on the encrypted messaging app known as Telegram.

The Capitol riots of January 6th put a spotlight on military extremism. A CNN analysis has shown that at least 27 people facing federal charges in connection with the riot are current or former members of the military.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has made the fight against domestic extremism one of his top priorities.

LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This tears at the fabric -- very fabric of cohesion and it's important for us to be able to trust the men and women on our left and right. LIEBERMAN: Extremism has been a problem in the military for decades.

Austin says he believes the number of extremists in the military is low, but there is no data to back up his assertion. Austin has ordered a review of policies on extremism, but extremism expert Heidi Beirich says this will take time.

EIDI BEIRICH, CO-FOUNDER, GLOBAL PROJECT AGAINST HATE AND EXTREMISM: This is a massive management task and it's not going to be something that's done very easily at all.

LIEBERMAN: The military has strict, legal limits on the screening and background checks it can do of applicants and service members. Deeper, more intrusive investigations require working with the FBI, a key recommendation of the DOD report. Beirich says the military needs a better screening process to root out extremism before it enters the ranks.

BEIRICH: I would say you need to fix your screening procedures immediately. Social media accounts need to be taken a look at, not just voluntarily but seriously. You need a functioning tattoo database for your recruiters and they need to be trained in the signs of white supremacy.

LIEBERMAN: Even beyond the challenges of rooting out domestic extremism within active ranks, there's the issue of veterans, more than 18 million of them, who are also prime targets for domestic extremists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Our thanks to Oren for that really illuminating report.

So, up next, we have the latest for you on Tiger Woods' crash investigation. What he remembers about the accident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:43:47]

BERMAN: Several new developments this morning in the crash that left Tiger Woods seriously hurt. The Los Angeles County sheriff tells CNN that Woods had no recollection of the rollover crash. Police are ruling out any kind of impairment, simply calling it an accident. And this morning we're learning from officials what Tiger Woods remembers about the crash.

CNN's Stephanie Elam live in Los Angeles with the latest.

Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

At this point, you're right, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department saying that this was an accident and so, therefore, they do not expect to see charges against Tiger Woods.

Nevertheless, there are still so many questions about why the iconic golfer ended up in this accident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice over): Two days after the golf legend's devastating car crash, investigators are still looking for answers. Officials say they're looking at speed after no skid marks were found at the scene where Tiger Woods first hit the median and then rolled his SUV hundreds of feet.

DEPUTY CARLOS GONZALEZ, OFFICER WHO RESPONDED TO TIGER WOODS' CRASH: This stretch of roadway is downhill, it's sweeping. Speeds there, the speed limit is 45 miles per hour. Myself, when I'm doing speed enforcement, I will sometimes catch people going 80 plus miles per hour.

ELAM: And they believe the recovery of a black box in the vehicle could help explain what happened.

[06:45:01]

SHERIFF ALEX VILLANUEVA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Sort of a black box perhaps. It will give us a cause of the accident. There's a variety of factors. It could be inattention. It could be speed. We don't know yet but this will be treated strictly as an accident.

ELAM (on camera): Have you subpoenaed phone records to see if he was possible distracted while driving?

VILLANUEVA: Again, to get to the point of issuing a subpoena, we'd have to have some sort of probable cause to ask for it. And we have no elements that would give us a probable cause to get to that.

ELAM (voice over): Woods was responsive at the scene of the crash, but gave authorities no indication of the cause of the accident. After he was taken to a local hospital, L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he became less aware of what happened to him.

VILLANUEVA: At the scene he made no comments regarding that. He was then questioned at the hospital. He was asked about it by the investigators and he had no recollection of the crash.

ELAM: This comes as the road where the accident happened is coming under closer inspection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those of us who live in the area and travel this road, we go through brakes a lot. We spend a lot of money on brakes per year because you really need to ride them as you're going down this grade.

ELAM: The Los Angeles County supervisor is ordering a safety review of that stretch of Hawthorne Boulevard. Authorities say the particular median Woods hit is downhill and on a curve. The area has seen 13 accidents in the last 13 months.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brakes, my wheel locks, and I hit the curb and I flipped about five to six times down the hill, landing upside down and terrified. It's good that this is being talked about.

ELAM: Woods remains in the hospital, recovering from the extensive orthopedic injuries to his right leg.

JON RAHM, WORLD NUMBER 2 GOLFER: Personally, I'd love to see him win again and accomplish more things. Now, being realistic, with everything that's happened, at this point I just hope he can have a healthy life.

RORY MCILROY, WORLD NUMBER 8 GOLFER: He's not superman. He's a human being at the end of the day and, you know, he's already been through so much. So, at this stage, I think everyone should just be grateful that he's here, that he's alive, that his kids haven't lost their dad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: Now, the car that Tiger Woods was driving, the GV-80, it's a Genesis car, they are saying that it's built on their all new safety platform. That includes ten airbags, including one that deploys between the two front seats. And one of the law enforcement officials who was on the scene says that he has seen fatalities from car accidents in this area and cars that were a lot less mangled than the one that Tiger Woods was driving, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Stephanie, I feel like that area, that stretch of roads just needs to have a blinking sign, high accident area, high accident area. I know we'll talk to you later in the program about what they plan to do about all this.

So, the debate over President Biden's proposed minimum wage increase is heating up with both sides digging in. So John Avlon has our "Reality Check."

Hi, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Ali.

The fate of the minimum wage could be decided over the next few days. President Biden wants to raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour phased in over four years. Now that's more than double what it is today. And this is a very popular idea.

According to a 2019 Pew survey, two-thirds of Americans support it. That's 43 percent of Republicans as well as 86 percent of Democrats. And during the pandemic, this is needed more than ever. Income inequality is on the rise and most minimum wage workers can't work from home.

But this isn't a simple question of good versus bad. There could be unexpected consequences. If you don't like policy, I'm sorry, get stupid someplace else because this debate could make a real difference in people's lives.

So let's get some facts on the table. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. Hasn't been raised since 2009. Also, it's not pegged to inflation, which means that the purchasing power declines over time. So while a minimum wage worker made $1.60 in 1969, that's the equivalent of around $12.27 today.

So how many Americans make minimum wage or less? Around 1.6 million. That translates to $15,000 a year, which, if you have a dependent, puts you below the poverty line. But 29 states have minimum wages higher than the federal level and the cost of living, of course, varies greatly by region.

The CBO says that raising the minimum wage could have tradeoffs, though. On the positive side, it would raise wages by more than $330 billion for 17 million workers. Nearly 1 million people would be lifted out of poverty. And the government would actually spend less for food assistance.

On the downside, the CBO estimates it could increase unemployment by 1.4 million and raise the federal deficit $54 billion over a decade.

Now, other studies argue it would give a boost to the entire economy and certainly doom saying about past minimum wage hikes did not come to pass. Nonetheless, this is easier said than done, especially for small businesses. Heck, get this, even Bernie Sanders ran into trouble when some of his campaign workers complained they weren't being paid the minimum wage he was campaigning on at the time. Sanders argued he was paying the equivalent of $15 an hour if you add in benefits.

[06:50:01]

Now, there's an additional hurdle, Senate rules. Even President Biden doesn't think his minimum wage proposal will survive as part of his COVID relief bill. This Friday, the House will vote, then the Senate takes it up, but they're expected to pass it on party lines through what's called reconciliation, which is only for budget items. And there's a real debate about whether this qualifies. In addition, two Senate Democrats say they won't support it.

So does that mean it's DOA? Not necessarily. Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton put forward their own proposal, raising the minimum wage to $10 but requiring companies verify their employees are not undocumented while also creating flexibility for small businesses with fewer than 20 workers.

And I know this is a lot to digest, but this is a real policy debate, not one of these fact-free food fights we've seen so much of in recent years. It would affect millions of people struggling to get by. And if that's not worth taking seriously, nothing is.

And that's your "Reality Check."

CAMEROTA: John, really helpful. Thank you. I mean the food fights, you also do well, but that was really helpful to talk policy there.

AVLON: Can't be afraid of policy.

CAMEROTA: That's right. Thank you.

Is Russia using microwave weapons against U.S. intel intelligence officials? Well, a former CIA officer tells CNN he was the victim of one of these invisible attacks. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:25]

BERMAN: CNN has learned the CIA launched a task force to investigate suspected invisible microwave attacks on U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers. The CIA believes Russia is behind it.

CNN's Kiley Atwood spoke to one victim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC POLYMEROPOULOS, FORMER CIA SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: And when I woke up in the middle of the night with an incredible case of vertigo, the room was spinning. I wanted to throw up.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Marc Polymeropoulos, a former U.S. intelligence officer at the CIA, was hit in 2017 by an invisible attack in a Moscow hotel.

POLYMEROPOULOS: I've been in places like, you know, Iraq and Afghanistan. I've been shot at. But this was by far the most terrifying experience of my life.

ATWOOD: It's a mystery that's plagued the U.S. intelligence community and the State Department for years. An attack which brain experts now say was likely the result of a microwave weapon hitting American personnel in Cuba, China, Russia, and other places around the globe.

The U.S. government has not identified the perpetrator, but current and former U.S. officials believe Russia is to blame. The Russian government did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

The attack impacted his balance, sight and hearing. The pain has never wholly subsided.

POLYMEROPOULOS: I couldn't, you know, make it through the day, not even close. I've had a headache every day since that night in Moscow. It's never gone away, day and night.

ATWOOD: He had to retire early and for a dedicated CIA officer who spent his entire career fighting terrorists in the Middle East, it hasn't been easy to accept that an invisible strike took him out of the game.

POLYMEROPOULOS: I rather would have been shot. This was a silent wound. You know, it's a -- it's a --

ATWOOD (on camera): You would rather have been shot?

POLYMEROPOULOS: Absolutely.

ATWOOD: Why?

POLYMEROPOULOS: Well, I mean, it's something that I could have shown people. I had a really hard time initially at the agency because people didn't necessarily, the medical staff, the senior medical staff didn't necessarily believe me.

ATWOOD (voice over): Polymeropoulos had to fight to get expert health care. Just this month he finished specialized treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center, more than three years after that traumatic night in Moscow.

POLYMEROPOULOS: When they provided me the piece of paper with the diagnosis that said I had a traumatic brain injury, you know, I had tears in my eyes.

ATWOOD: Some 40 U.S. government officials have experienced symptoms similar to his. In 2017, the U.S. embassy in Cuba slashed its staff because the attacks were so pervasive. A newly declassified State Department report points to systemic disorganization when the department began handling this crisis during the Trump administration.

New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen has been fighting to get the victims medical assistance and answers about who did this.

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): If we don't hold those responsible accountable, then we can be sure it's going to continue to happen. And that's a national security risk to the United States and to our personnel.

ATWOOD: According to U.S. intelligence documents obtained by CNN, Russia has been developing this microwave attack capability for decades.

Today, Bill Burns, President Biden's nominee to lead the CIA, telling Congress --

WILLIAM BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR NOMINEE: I will have no higher priority than taking care of people, of colleagues and their families. I will make it an extraordinarily high priority to get to the bottom of who's responsible for at tacks.

ATWOOD: Polymeropoulos created a superman mask in art therapy, thrusting a dagger through superman's skull to represent the headaches which have changed him. The CIA agency seal, cracked.

His family was emotional when he showed them his project.

POLYMEROPOULOS: My son and my daughter both said to me, you know, dad, you're -- you know, you're still my superman.

ATWOOD (on camera): Before the attack happened, how would you describe your relationship with the agency in, you know, one or two words?

POLYMEROPOULOS: It's a love affair.

ATWOOD: And after?

POLYMEROPOULOS: A divorce, with perhaps some reconciliation in the future, I would hope. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ATWOOD: Now, CNN has learned from a U.S. government official that the CIA, just in recent months, set up its first ever task force to focus on these suspected microwave attacks. Now, we should note, however, that sources tell me that what's really needed is a whole of government approach to get to the bottom of this. And we should also note that the CIA press secretary, Timothy Barrett (ph), told CNN, the agency's top priority has been and continues to be the well-being of their officers.

John and Alisyn.

BERMAN: Kylie, what a story. What an incredible story and what access to have that conversation with him and hear what he went through, what he is still going through. Remarkable. Great work.

ATWOOD: Thanks.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for being with us.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Multiple sources tell CNN, Trump's stated goal is to run for president again in 2024.

[07:00:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheney had the courage to speak out and McCarthy is too afraid to acknowledge it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a healthy amount of fear, not just of the politics of.