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Fully Vaccinated Americans Will Soon Be Able to Travel to Europe; Hospitals Buckle, Oxygen Runs Out, Crematoriums Overwhelmed in India; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is Interviewed About Global COVID Surges; Demand Intensifies for Release of Bodycam Video in Shooting Death. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 26, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar. On this NEW DAY, states may be panning vaccine passports, but Europe is granting them. A turning point this morning after a year in lockdown.

[05:59:25]

Plus, hospitals are buckling, crematoriums overwhelmed as coronavirus explodes in India. We'll take you there.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: In just hours from now, the family of a black man shot and killed by police may see the body cam video for the first time.

And he's done more defending than Dikembe Mutombo. Why Kevin McCarthy is once again revising history on the insurrection that targeted his workplace.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. And Dikembe Mutombo.

KEILAR: That's right.

BERMAN: Well done.

It is Monday, April 26. Dust off those passports. A European vacation this summer. It's a real possibility more than a year after travel was shut down. The head of the European Union Now says it will be restarted but with one catch. You must be fully vaccinated.

Andy Slavitt, the senior White House advisor for COVID response tells CNN that vaccines are the only way for Americans to get back to normal life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SLAVITT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR FOR COVID RESPONSE: I think we're increasingly going to see a world where people who have been vaccinated are going to enjoy a lot of freedoms. They're going to feel like they can take on a lot of activities with low risk. They can reunite with families. And the cases are going to continue to be there for people who haven't been vaccinated yet. So whether traveling to Europe or whether it's just seeing your family and friends without having to worry, vaccination's the key.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're all ready for some normal.

And as of this morning, nearly 29 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated. Forty-two percent have received at least one dose. But vaccination rates are slowing from their peak levels, with the average dipping under three million shots per day.

And CDC data also shows that about 8 percent of people who got the first dose failed to get their second dose on time.

Melissa Bell is joining us from Paris with the developing news out of Europe. Melissa, tell us what's happening there.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the hope for the president of the European Commission is that Europe will be able to offer Americans the opportunity of returning to Europe after a long year spent without all that tourism revenue on which so much of Europe is so heavily dependent.

The first thing the head of the European Commission's going to have to do, though, is sort out Europe's internal borders. What we've seen, Brianna, over the course of the last year is, essentially, Brussels' hold on the free movement of people evaporating. Countries have put up barriers where there weren't. Countries decided on restrictions, rather than allowing Brussels to do it. It's been pretty uncoordinated.

If she can manage to do that, the idea is that by mid-June, Europeans will once again be able to cross borders if they have these green certificates, those vaccination certificates that can prove that they're either immune or negative or have been vaccinated.

And what the commission's trying to do is negotiate with America to try and see how the United States could have a certification process that could then be translated into something that would allow Americans to once again get across European borders.

There's no specific timeline for this, and the conversations are ongoing, but there are, of course, a number of hurdles, not least of which that Europe itself has essentially found it hard to stay open even to Europeans.

But clearly, this is of massively importance to so many countries. Greece, Spain, Portugal. So many of those southern Mediterranean countries that are so dependent on tourism.

When you look at the number of people before all this happened who were traveling, 1.5 billion tourist arrivals worldwide in 2019, half of those, Brianna, were to Europe. That is how dependent Europe is on this. That's how keen they are to get Americans back. But it could take some time before this is able to happen.

And then Americans are able to come back to cities like Paris that really, for the last year, have been very different how they normally are. A city without -- that is the most visited in the entire world. Without any tourists at all. It's been feeling pretty French and very, very quiet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Indeed. Melissa, thank you so much.

Overnight, India breaking the daily global coronavirus case record for the fifth consecutive day. Just look at this. More than 350,000 new cases. The Biden administration says it's sending supplies and support to India. You can see they need it there. Hospitals are facing devastating oxygen shortages.

CNN's Anna Coren joins us now. That graph says it all, Anna. This is a disaster.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's nothing short of catastrophic, Brianna. What is unfolding right now in India. This second wave turning into a tsunami. And health officials say that the numbers, the real numbers could be five times higher, with testing limited in the cities and virtually nonexistent in rural areas.

Now, anger is growing at the government for its mishandling of this pandemic, and it's now trying to silence its critics. Its told Twitter to remove dozens of tweets from lawmakers and journalists. This censorship occurring as people are dying.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (voice-over): As smoke rises over a pile of ashes, another family huddles over the remains of their loved one. A son says farewell to his 49-year-old mother who died of COVID a day ago, while his twin brother fights for his life in hospital. Another body draped in marigolds is led into the crematorium. An assembly line of death and misery on an insurmountable scale.

For a fifth consecutive day, India has set a global record for daily infections and deaths, but health experts believe the real numbers could be much higher. The acute shortage of oxygen across the country is the main killer, as hospitals already over capacity turn away patients who don't have their own oxygen cylinders and supply.

[06:05:06]

DR. SCL GUPTA, MEDICAL DOCTOR OF BATRA HOSPITAL, DELHI: But here, if somebody dies, you know he dies because of a lack of oxygen. You cannot describe that feeling, but you feel like crying. You're feeling so helpless.

COREN: Unable to get an ambulance, this family takes their brother to hospital in a rickshaw, his feet protruding. But like all the others they visited, it has no available beds, let alone enough oxygen.

"I tried almost all the hospitals," he says. "Everyone told me they had no oxygen supply. So I came here, and they shooed us away at the gate, saying they don't have any oxygen."

The wait outside excruciating, but help never comes. He shakes his brother, but it's too late.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the second wave as a storm that has shaken the country and announced the construction of more than 500 oxygen generation plants.

But that's cold comfort for the families who feel their government has abandoned them and left them to fight this pandemic on their own. When critics say the government should have been preparing and stockpiling for the inevitable, it dropped its guard, allowing social gatherings, religious festivals, and political rallies to be held, some the prime minister himself attended, giving the virus the chance to spread and mutate.

In the capital, New Delhi, there is more than 30 percent positivity rate, and half the cases by the start of this month with a more contagious variant that's afflicting younger people and has now been detected in the U.K. and Switzerland.

For radio host Stutee Ghosh, whose father contracted COVID, she pulled him out of hospital, because she feared he would die there. For every 200 patients, only one doctor was available. She bought an oxygen concentrator on the black market for an exorbitant price, allowing her father to be cared for at home.

But she says if you don't have money and privilege, what hope do you have in saving your loved ones?

STUTEE GHOSH, RADIO HOST: If, God forbid, you're in -- you're in a position where you can treat someone. And your doctors are breaking vows (ph) on social media in front of the cameras, saying patients will die. Patients are being turned away, because there is no oxygen. Who will answer this? This -- this is a failure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: And just to put this into perspective, one of our producers, Suwali (ph) Gupta, who has been working tirelessly on this story and was doing interviews for this piece last night, she found out that her uncle had passed away. He'd been battling COVID. It just goes to show how widespread this vicious pandemic is and that our friends and colleagues in the Delhi bureau are also being impacted, John.

BERMAN: Our hearts go out to their families. Anna Coren, thank you so much.

I mean, the scope of the suffering in India is unfathomable at this point. The Biden administration has pledged to send India supplies, including ventilators, PPE, raw supplies to make vaccines. They're also sending public health experts from the CDC. The question is, is that enough?

Joining us now is, Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. Congressman, let me put that question to you. Is it enough? Why or why not?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): No, it's not enough. I think it's a good first step what they're doing, but we have tens of millions of doses of unused AstraZeneca vaccines sitting in warehouses. We're not going to be using them, and we need to get those out the door to countries like India and other places.

It's not only the right thing to do, but the COVID fires are raging, John, in India, Argentina, Brazil, and other places. And we need to put out the fires where -- where they are, or it will come back to burn us here and start another wave of COVID in the United States.

BERMAN: So tens of millions of doses sitting in the U.S. of the AstraZeneca vaccine. AstraZeneca not approved for emergency use in the United States. What has the Biden administration told you directly about the decision. so far at least not to use them?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Nothing so far, John. And we are planning to take this up with them this week. Look, I think that these AstraZeneca vaccines have been approved abroad for business decisions and other reasons. AstraZeneca has now sought an emergency use approval here in the United States, but they are still effective and safe.

We've already shipped four million doses to Canada and Mexico. Now it's time to get the rest out the door so that they can be used elsewhere.

BERMAN: I mean, what possible reason would there be to hold them here if we're not using them here?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I don't know. I don't want to speculate. But the main point here, John, is that it's time that we -- we save lives. You know, I have numerous family members and friends in India, as do my constituents.

[06:10:09]

And the stories are just heartrending. Not just in India, but in other places like Brazil, Argentina, Africa, and elsewhere. We have to, out of compassion, out of humanity, love, and out of our own self- interests, we need to get these doses of vaccine where they can be put to use right now.

BERMAN: What happens if we don't help?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, you see what's happening in India. Almost 730 different mutations and variants have now arisen. It only takes one of them to overpower the vaccines that we have here in the United States.

The second thing that I want to just say is this is all the more reason why people here in the United States, we have to get vaccinated ASAP with the doses that we have, and we can't let our guard down.

In India, they saw cases go down to a record low in February, just as recent as February, John, and now you see what's happened when they let their guard down. We can't allow that here.

And at the same time, we have to help them and others fight the COVID fires that are raging. BERMAN: It's explosive. The growth there is simply explosive, out of

control.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes, sir.

BERMAN: The thing about AstraZeneca, though, Congressman, it's a two- dose vaccine. Right? So even if we were able to send it there now, it would be weeks and weeks before it had an impact, right?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, even the first dose has been shown in the U.K. to have quite a bit of effectiveness in staving off hospitalizations and severe illnesses related to COVID.

But the most important thing is those doses can help so many health care workers all over the world get inoculated. And you stand up the healthcare infrastructure to deal with what we're seeing right now.

And it makes no sense whatsoever for these things to be sitting on shelves unused here in the United States. Get them out the door right now so that they can save lives.

BERMAN: And again, you're not getting any response from the Biden administration on your pleas?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I -- I have to say that over the weekend, I was heartened that Secretary Blinken and then Jake Sullivan and others did what they did after we put our statement on Saturday afternoon. We're going to take this up early this week, and we're hopeful for positive responses.

BERMAN: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you for being with us this morning. We do appreciate your insight.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes, sir. Thank you.

BERMAN: So a family and a city demanding answers in the fatal shooting of a black man by police. In just a short time from now, they may get them.

KEILAR: Plus, a string of attacks in New York targeting an Asian man and several synagogues.

And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plays revisionist history again on Donald Trump and the insurrection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Developing this morning, the family of Andrew Brown, who was shot and killed by police last week as they tried to serve an arrest warrant may have the opportunity to watch body camera footage of the deadly shooting today.

A North Carolina sheriff says he will ask a judge for permission to release the footage as long as state investigators say a public release will not hinder the investigation.

Natasha Chen joins us now, live from Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Natasha, what's the latest there?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. It's been five full days since Andrew Brown was shot and killed by deputies during the execution of the search warrant and arrest warrant, and nobody has seen this body camera footage. That could change today.

The family has an appointment at 11:30 here behind us with the county attorney, where they hope to see that footage in private.

The reason this could be so critical is that right now, we have very few details of what happened except for a 911 call audio where you can hear emergency responders saying that a 42-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the back. So you can imagine, if Andrew Brown was, in fact, shot in the back, the family, the community has great concerns about that.

Over the weekend, we heard from one of Brown's sons talking about how difficult this week has been.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAHLIL FEREBEE, ANDREW BROWN'S ELDEST SON: With all these killings going on, I never expected this to happen so close to home, like he left a close and tight family, with each other every day, talking to each other every day. And we, my brothers and my sisters, we is what drove him as a person. We is what made him better, and now I've got to live every day. My newborn, without even getting a chance to meet him at all, and that's going to hurt me every day. I just want justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: The sheriff has explained that in North Carolina, only a judge can grant the release of body camera footage, and so today we're going to see several entities officially file a petition in court for that to happen. That includes, as you mentioned, possibly the sheriff himself, the Elizabeth city council, as well as a coalition of news organizations including CNN.

Yesterday, the chairman of the county commission released a statement cautioning this should go forward but not be rushed. He said calling for North Carolina law to be ignored is irresponsible, and he asked the community for patience -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Natasha, thank you so much for that report.

Let's talk more about this now with Detective Patrick Skinner. He is a police officer in Savannah, Georgia. Thank you so much for being with us.

First, we do have a few details about this case, but I want to get your reaction to the killing of Andrew Brown and also the fact that there are so many things we don't know that would perhaps be helpful if we did. DETECTIVE PATRICK SKINNER, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: Yes. I mean, like you

said, there's a lot of things we don't know. I have no idea the circumstances. No one does.

[06:20:05]

Which, you know, for the family, for the neighborhood and all his neighbors is, you know, it's very traumatic. I understand that they're trying to work on releasing the videotape.

And what it shows is that, as I said before, every single city, every single small town, every single metropolis is one incident away. I said earlier, it's one video away. But now, the intro is there is no video yet. They're working on getting it, I guess.

But it's one incident away, and it's going to happen in every town. I mean, this -- you can't control come of these things, but what I would argue is that we need to control as much as we possibly can. This is a -- this is a huge issue.

KEILAR: I want to talk about an op-ed that you wrote in the wake of the Derek Chauvin verdict, where he was guilty on all three charge -- charges. You said that police should -- that they should be taking this verdict personally.

You said they must not be defensive. We must not circle the wagons. Not all cops are like this, you said, is exactly the wrong reaction. Even though that is true -- of course, not all cops are bad -- it is irrelevant. And you talk about systemic reform that is needed.

You say the police should take this personally. That you in the past, thought, I won't take this criticism personally. This isn't about me. Tell me how about you've evolved on that.

SKINNER: Well, what I've tried do is to take it professionally, that I wasn't to blame, because blame is, you know, for a specific person, I guess. But I am responsible. I raised my hand; I took an oath. I am responsible. The whole profession is responsible.

And so I tried to maintain this separation, I guess, at least emotionally that, you know, I'm not to blame, but I am responsible.

And the more this happens, the more this -- the outrages continue, and the murder of George Floyd is a really, really bad example, I understood. I think I was wrong. I know I was wrong. But I need to take it personally.

But that means I can't take it defensively. That's the worst thing I could do. I can't say, Well, it wasn't me. Because it is me. It is all of us. And I'm not trying to make a collective blame to, you know, pass the buck or spread it out so it doesn't stain one -- people too much. I'm concerned about what I'm doing and my profession. This is my profession. And we need to take it personally. We need to be outraged. We need to act. And that means, in a lot of times, we need to not act.

KEILAR: You've written so thoughtfully about policing and what you brought from working overseas in the CIA in counterterrorism and how that has informed your viewpoint on what you bring to policing, where you -- really, I guess it can be best described as you are a neighbor in addition to being a police officer, that you very much are in touch with your community, which is yours, in which you are policing.

And one of the things that stood out so much to me was the phone call that you often make after someone dials 911. You get their cell number from the dispatcher, and you call them. And this is one of the ways that you have found can de-escalate a situation. Tell me about that.

SKINNER: Well, it was -- so in the CIA, making a phone call is a really big deal. I mean, you had to do a lot of things to make it clear a phone call to not be surveilled or monitored.

And so probably the second day of training, I'm in the car, and I look down at the computer screen. And at the bottom of the 911 call, so it will say, like, domestic. And very, very general. If you scroll down at the bottom, it will give the name of the person who called and a phone number, unless they want to be anonymous.

And so it just occurred to me, I was like, Huh, why don't I call them instead of -- because the dispatcher is not the person who actually takes the call. It's a big daisy chain, and it's a fatal daisy chain sometimes, like in the case of Tamir Rice. Someone calls 911. That call taken goes to dispatcher, then it goes to me.

And so it just occurred to me, why do I not call that person directly? And I have found that to be invaluable, because one of the things police always do is we always say, Hey, we don't have enough time. We have to make split-second decisions. And a lot of time, that is true. This is a way we can make time. We can literally make time. I can make a connection, too.

I say, "Hi, I'm Officer Skinner. I'm en route to your address. Is everything OK?"

They'll say whatever it is. A lot of the times, it's enough to slow down. Sometimes, it's -- you're going to want to speed up. But whatever it is, I can step out of that car and know what the situation is more than just this really hazy thing at the dispatch.

And I can step out and say, Hey, I'm Officer Skinner. We just spoke, and I'm not passing these opportunities up. If I have that information, it's incumbent upon me to take it.

KEILAR: As you said, most of the time you find out it's something that maybe -- that you have to worry less about. Occasionally, it is something you realize, I need to worry a little bit more about this, but it's very informative.

Detective, thanks for being with us.

SKINNER: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appearing to make up another story about President Trump's role in the Capitol insurrection.

Plus, an anti-Trump conservative group is now grading Republicans on their democratic values.

BERMAN: And rare praise for President Biden from a rising star in the progressive wing in the party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:27]

BERMAN: This weekend House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy added a new chapter to revisionist history, or tried to erase a chapter of actual history. Or maybe he just made stuff up.

This has to do with former President Donald Trump's role in the insurrection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I was the first person to contact him when the riots was going on. He didn't see it. When he ended the call, he was saying, telling me he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did. He put a video out later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Kevin McCarthy, meet Kevin McAllister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACAULEY CULKIN, ACTOR: Aaaaa!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Because there's so much going on in McCarthy's statement. You have to break it down in parts. First, the idea that McCarthy was the first person to tell.