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New Day

Golfer Breaks Down after Earning First PGA Tour Start; Eve of Biden's 100th Day, Here's What's Happened so Far; States Respond to CDC's New Guidance on Outdoor Masks. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 28, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: So after nearly a decade of trying, a pro golfer finally makes his dream come true. Andy Scholes has more in the Bleacher Report.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. So Michael Visacki is finally going to get to play in a PGA Tour event eight years after turning pro, and Visacki knocking down a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to qualify around Monday to make it to his first ever tournament.

And check out his emotions when he called his dad to tell him the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL VISACKI, GOLFER: Hey, dad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey.

VISACKI: How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.

VISACKI: I made it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. Before this, the 27-year-old only played in one web.com tour event, but Visacki said he never thought about quitting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VISACKI: A lot of people give up on their dreams probably because they can't avoid it, but I've been lucky enough to be with my parents and being able to help me out sometimes to keep living it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Good luck to him this weekend. The NHL, meanwhile, is getting a new T.V. home. Starting next season, the League and Turner Sports announcing a new seven-year agreement yesterday, the deal includes regular season, playoff, and Stanley Cup final games televised on TNT and TBS, as well as the NHL Winter Classic, the annual New Year's day outdoor game. Turner Sports is owned by CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia.

All right, New Day continues right now.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this New Day.

The president gearing up for his first speech to Congress tonight, what he's planning to reveal about his next 100 days.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: As the right-wing is spreading lies, a New York Post reporter says she's quitting after the paper forced her to write a false story about the vice president.

BERMAN: Plus, new video sheds new light on what happened in the moments leading up to the death of a black man at the hands of the police in North Carolina.

KEILAR: And the brawl between billionaires, why Jeff Bezos is livid at NASA and how Elon Musk is trolling him in the process.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It's Wednesday, April 28th. Greetings from Washington, I should say.

KEILAR: That's right.

BERMAN: Tonight, President Joe Biden will address the joint Congress on the eve of his 100th day in office. In case you missed those 100 days, here they are, all of them.

KEILAR: Day one, Biden presidency begins like no other in modern history, masks, gates, empty green acres.

BERMAN: Among those in the crowd, the former first second gentleman, a lonely Vermonter, former president, but not the 45th.

KEILAR: However, three of his Supreme Court picks were there and so was Lady Gaga just before 12:00 and, of course, Jenny from the block.

BERMAN: Biden retires the sharpie and unravels his predecessor's record with a ballpoint, climate, Keystone, the wall, health care, equity, the economy, COVID.

[07:05:05]

His administration accelerates the vaccine rollout pointing fingers in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: But the process to distribute the vaccine did not really exist when we came into the White House.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We certainly are not starting from scratch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The haunting milestone of half a million lives taken by the virus marked by morning after states lift mask mandates despite the rise of variants, a frustrated Biden delivers an adjective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So after four years of I'm not listening to any kind of insults, all of a sudden, Republicans hear stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): Neanderthals are hunters, gatherers, they're protectors of their family. They are resilient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And this just in, they're also extinct.

KEILAR: True. At this moment, more than 200 million vaccine doses, the CDC publishes a review concluding the obvious, that the Trump administration's guidance lacks science.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear.

It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Biden's first legislative success, the COVID relief package, is the biggest cash infused into Americans in history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Let me be clearest on this point. Help is on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, the relief checks did not actually include Biden's signature, nor the support of a single Republican.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): It is a left-wing giveaway, it is a left- wing social agenda.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: This is out of control liberalism.

As reparations, what has that got to do with COVID?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But instead of thoroughly explaining the votes on their Fox tours, they largely just focus on culture wars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): First, they outlawed Dr. Seuss, and now they want to tell us what to say.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): No woman has ever run faster than Flo-Jo. You know who has run faster than Flo-Jo? 76 high school boys in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Daily White House briefings return as do impeachment trials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Donald John Trump, president of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article 1, incitement of insurrection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Biden is careful with his words. He's afraid of Trump's second trial becoming a distraction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: That's a decision for the Congress to make. I'm focused on my job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The dragnet of the insurrection escalates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for allowing us to (INAUDIBLE) the communists, the globalists and the trotters within our government. We love you and we thank you. In God's holy name we pray.

CROWD: Amen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And on March 4th, the Capitol effectively shuts down over an absurd conspiracy that Trump would return as president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is my hope that President Trump comes back as the 19th president of the United States and that he is inaugurated on March 4th. That is my hope for our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So he didn't. While most of Biden's cabinet picks make it through confirmation despite delays, there is one that does not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): You wrote that Susan Collins is, quote, the worst, that Tom Cotton is a fraud, that vampires have more heart than Ted Cruz.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): You call Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Neera Tanden blocked from the budget post over her past tweets insulting Republicans and Democrats alike. Biden chats with most foes and allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's good to see you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But refuses to hold this one accountable, despite the U.S. concluding the Saudi Crown Prince approved the operation, which resulted in the murder of an American journalist and despite Biden's campaign promises.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Yes, we were, in fact, going to make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.

They have to be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, although he denies that Mohammed Bin Salman gets away with murder, Biden gets into it pretty quickly with China and Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you know Vladimir Putin. You think he's a killer?

BIDEN: Mm-hmm, I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It takes one to know one. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Putin then challenges him to a live debate. Biden declines but proposes a summit. And in the first diplomatic meeting with China, fireworks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't this the intention of the United States judging the way you have made your opening remarks that it wants to speak to China in a condescending way from a position of strength?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:10:03]

BERMAN: The White House refuses to call the border crisis a crisis after it allows asylum seekers into the U.S. while they await asylum hearings, reversing the Trump policy as thousands of migrants show up, including a record-breaking amount of children and facilities overflow.

Biden puts his V.P. in charge of pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I asked her, the V.P. today, because she's the most qualified first to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the northern triangle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, the not-a-crisis crisis quickly becomes a political grenade, Democrats dismissing it as a Republican talking point and Republicans prove that is correct.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): It's past midnight. I'm standing on the shore of the Rio Grande. The water is right behind me. I'm down at the Texas border along with 18 senators. We made the trip to see the crisis that is playing out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The Asian-American community on edge as hate attacks escalate and the shooters kills in a mass shooting spree across Metro Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Vicious hate crimes against Asian-Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated. It's wrong, it's un- American and it must stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But days later, another mass shooting, this one at a grocery store in Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take commonsense steps to save the lives in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The urgency boils for action on guns as more Democrats support ending the 60-vote filibuster to pass some kind of needed reform, but while Biden deflects on it, he does seem to be warming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's being abused in a gigantic way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The filibuster debate may tip his hand though when it comes to voting rights, Republicans turning the big lie into laws.

This is actually the governor of Georgia signing and clapping, we hear, among some of these laws.

BERMAN: 250 bills in at least 45 states making it harder to vote, the battle now turns to the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (D-NY): This Senate will once again be the forum where civil rights are debated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The Derek Chauvin trial begins and ends in the death of George Floyd convicting the former officer of murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: This can be a giant step forward and a march toward justice in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Race hits the empire when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sit down with actual royalty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: For anyone to come forward and speak about their own struggles with mental health and tell their own personal story, that takes courage, and that's certainly something the president believes.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: And despite his denials, the sexual harassment allegations against New York's Adnrew Cuomo pile up, Biden saying, wait for the investigation but taking it a step further.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Should he resign?

BIDEN: Yes. I think he probably going to end up being prosecuted too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Biden holds a presser on day 64 after being criticized for waiting so long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I don't know where you guys come from, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And he gets a good look at Mars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: There's not a damn thing we can't do as a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: His predecessor continues to pout and to putt, even moonlighting as a wedding crasher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You didn't kiss me yet. We did get $75 million. Nobody has ever gotten that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Spending time in the bridal suite, which is different than the honeymoon suite, by the way.

KEILAR: That's right.

BERMAN: Finally, returning to the White House, infrastructure talks, the climate crisis, visceral laws, the presidential portraits of Bush 43 and Clinton after Trump ordered them down. And Major and Champ, Biden's dogs, after a biting scandal, forced their removal from the grounds, then removed again after another nip. Major has yet to comment.

The next 100 days begin now.

So, that's a lot, right?

KEILAR: Oh, my goodness. BERMAN: That was a lot. Kaitlan Collins was sitting here for the entire 100 days as we laid it out there. Our Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins joins us.

Now, let's talk about tonight, president's address to the joint session. What themes are you expecting him to highlight?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think he is not only going to look back at what we just looked back at, maybe not in this great of detail as that entire opening, but I think it's also really going to be about what does he envision the next 100 days looking like in his presidency. Because, of course, so much of this has been dictated by the pandemic and the response to that and the economic recovery, which is what he has said, are his main priorities.

[07:15:03]

Despite the others that you all just talked about that happened, the shootings, the filibuster talk, everything else that has come up, voting rights act, he has really said the pandemic and the economic recovery have been his focus.

But I do think you'll start to see a shift with that tonight, his other legislative priorities, what else he wants to see come about. And, of course, he is going to be in the room where the January 6th riot happened, and we are told he is going to address that at some point during his speech tonight, but it's a really long speech.

I was told the biggest challenge they've had over the last few days was not really the themes or what they wanted the overall message to be, but it was pairing it down because the speech was so long.

BERMAN: How long? Are we talking like Bill Clinton hour, 20?

COLLINS: It was long last week. I was told recently that they've paired it down a lot. They feel good about it, but it was a really long speech last week. So just expect him to cover a lot, I would say.

KEILAR: Maybe record-breaking last week, maybe, hopefully, not so much this week.

And, look, this speech is going to feel different. I mean, it's dictated by a pandemic. You're talking only a couple hundred in attendance. Normally, it's this big thing.

COLLINS: Yes. It's only going to be 200 lawmakers. You're not going to see normally where you see the lawmakers and their guests, and then first lady is in a box where they bring guests that he would typically call out a lot of people that you may have seen come to the White House normally, people that instead he's been having phone conversations or Zoom virtual conversations with. So that will look different.

He also is going to be wearing a mask as he gets into the chamber, as he walks down the aisle past the lawmakers. He'll take it off while he gets to those remarks. But then he's going to put it back on, they say, before he lives the building to go back to the White House.

I think one thing that everyone will notice that will be different is who is sitting behind him. Because for the first time, this has nothing to do with the pandemic but it will be two women, of course, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the vice president, Kamala Harris.

And, of course, what was really interesting the last time we saw a president address Congress from this chamber, it was former President Trump. And remember, of course, House Speaker Pelosi ripped his speech at the end. I don't think we should expect that tonight.

BERMAN: No, I don't think so.

So, listen, I talked to Congresswoman Bass last night, who told me she wants to see President Biden directly address police reform and push for a bipartisan compromise, like now. What are expecting from him on that?

COLLINS: He is going to call for the signing of the George Floyd police bill. Of course, we know that has faced -- is going to face an uphill battle in the Senate. So where that actually ends up is still a big question.

You've heard some Democrats that they're open to certain aspects of maybe Tim Scott's bill, the Republican senator who, of course, is going to be responding to President Biden's address tonight. So that is included in the speech. He will talk about policing and police reform and where that aspect is going to be and, of course, the racial tensions that have existed in the U.S. for a long time, but especially been prevalent over the last year.

KEILAR: And so, overnight, we actually heard about the president's plans coming next, right, for infrastructure.

COLLINS: Yes. He's going to talk about his infrastructure bill but he's also going to talk about his human infrastructure bill, which is what they're calling it. That has to do with child care, education, paid family leave. That's a $1.8 trillion bill. That is going to be a big debate on Capitol Hill.

And so when you see a Republicans talking about these conspiracy theories, debunked stories about the vice president's book, meat, his climate plan, it's interesting because there are real, big proposals that he's putting on the table that the Republicans could talk about, the substance of them. So it will be interesting to see if they actually go after this because how he wants to pay for it and how they have it set up for these two massive plans is over the next 15 years. And, of course, he is not going to be in office for the next 15 years.

So I do think the way he has structured paying for the proposals that he is going to introduce tonight and talk about tonight could be a big subject of debate as we see what the next 100 days is going to look like.

KEILAR: Kaitlan Collins in real life, it is wonderful.

COLLINS: I know. It's good to see you guys in person.

KEILAR: It's wonderful to see you.

BERMAN: All right. So when is it okay to not wear a mask? Even with new CDC guidelines, there's still some confusion that what some states are doing to clear things up.

KEILAR: And conservative media goes bonkers over a Kamala Harris story that it turns out was completely false, and the reporter who wrote it is stepping down. She's claiming that her paper made her do it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

KEILAR: To mask or not to mask while fully vaccinated. The CDC has new guidance up about masking up outdoors. The rules though are still varying from state to state.

CNN's Tom Foreman is live in Washington to break it all down because, honestly, Tom, we need you to.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these new guidelines, here's one thing you have to know. This is unequivocally good news if you are fully vaccinated. Because look at all the people over here on the green zone, fully vaccinated for the outdoor activities, walking, running, biking, attending small outdoor activities, things like that. Mask only shows up down here to crowded outdoor event. If you're unvaccinated, wow, you very quickly get into the mask zone and the least safe zone.

But let's talk about those mask mandates and where they are still in the country. These are the states and territories with mask mandates. The biggest cluster from North Carolina to Maine, pushing out a little bit to the Midwest and then over here on the west coast is another cluster. That matters. And remember that as we move forward here.

Granted, as you pointed out, Bri, it's a little confusing depending where you are at the moment. For example, in Louisiana, they're lifting the mask mandate, but they're still mandated in schools, colleges, public transit, government offices, things like that, health care facilities, and as required by private businesses or local governments. So they may say in some given place, we need a mask and here you can't come in, a little confusing for a lot of people out there.

Michigan is even moving up its mask mandate having children aged two to four now required to wear masks in public settings. So, yes, it's confusing, but the new vaccination guidelines suggest that a lot less people will have to worry about that.

BERMAN: But, Tom, what's the evidence about how effective mask mandates are?

FOREMAN: People have argued and argued about this, but the evidence is getting more and more clear than before.

[07:25:00]

Look at Florida versus California, no statewide mask mandate in Florida. Monday, 5,200 cases, a seven-day positivity rate of 9. California, almost twice the population, statewide mask mandate, reported 1,500 new cases Monday, a seven-day positivity rate less than one full percent. That's a huge difference.

Is it just masking? No, it's not just masking. Look at vaccines in the country. And remember how I said remember the northeast in this area over here, this also has, the darker color there, some of the highest levels of vaccination per 100,000 residents out here. This area is also relatively high, a little darker there, and then a cluster in here.

Put all of that together, and as I said at the beginning, the results really are clear. Yes, you can find exceptions in a county or in a town, but, generally, if you're from a state where a lot of people wore masks, where masks were mandated and where a lot of people are embracing the vaccine, your health outlook and the outlook for your friends and family is getting a lot better fast. And if you're in the states where people are still resisting vaccines and resisting masks, you're still living in the dark ages of three, four, five months ago while everyone else is moving ahead.

BERMAN: Tom Foreman, great to see you, thank you so much for that.

KEILAR: All right. Look, we have a lot of questions, right? We know you do. So let's tackle them now when it comes to this new CDC guidance with the great Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent.

Okay, here, question number one, Sanjay, CDC releases new guidelines for fully vaccinated people here. What you do make of these new recommendations from your perspective?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's obviously a step in the right direction. Some people say that we've known the science behind these types of recommendations for some time. I think it's evidence that not only the vaccines are really good at helping you from keeping you from getting sick, but there's increasing evidence that it can decrease the likelihood of transmission as well.

That's been sort of the open question here, right? When you looked at the trials initially, what were the trials studying? How well did the vaccines prevent you from getting sick? It wasn't clear at how good they could actually prevent you from potentially still carrying the virus and transmitting it. What the evidence seems to be showing is that that can happen but that's really low likelihood as well. Witness the number of cases coming in places that have lots of vaccines.

So, good, I mean, we're heading in the right direction. The CDC does not want to backpedal. So I think this is an incremental move towards an increased normalcy. BERMAN: So, Sanjay, here is a question we got, although I think it's a little off. Because if I'm fully vaccinated, can I go to a concert or a sporting event. I think that question is supposed to be, do I need to wear a mask if I'm fully vaccinated when I go to a concert or a sporting event.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, let's up the graphic and Tom just showed some of this, but this is the one situation where you still need to wear a mask. And a lot of this is because there is still this small chance that people could be transmitting. We don't know who would be vaccinated or unvaccinated in a situation like that, you could be coming in contact with people who are unvaccinated as well. That's going to raise this issue as we go into the summer months, so you're going to go to an outdoor concert. Is there going to be some proof of immunity required? I mean, this is going to be probably a next big discussion topic.

But for the most part, out of all the outdoor events, if you've been vaccinated, you really don't need to wear a mask unless you're going to be closely clustered with lots of people for a long period of time, such as at a concert. That is what the CDC is saying now. That may change even by the time we get into summer, more and more people are vaccinated and hopefully the numbers come down even further.

KEILAR: What about masks when you're doing indoor activities, like going to a museum or a movie theater?

GUPTA: Right now, it's -- basically, there's really not been any change in terms of requirement of masks for indoor activities. That's something that Dr. Walensky, the head of the CDC, talked about yesterday. I think a lot of this has to do again with -- if you are certain everyone was vaccinated in that setting, then I think probably you don't need to wear a mask. But that's -- how are you going to determine that certainty at this point? Could you potentially still be unlikely, but a source of spread to someone who's vulnerable? That's what they're trying to avoid.

And, again, just philosophically, one of the things about the CDC and this administration overall, they're cautious and they don't want to backpedal. I mean, we hope we don't have to backpedal. We've been watching what's been happening in India, but they don't want to backpedal here, so this is incremental advice.

BERMAN: We don't want to backpedal. But I do want to make one thing clear, cases are going down again in the United States. After rising, the daily case count is going down, deaths are going to down too, which is important, in which changes, I think, some of the equations here a little bit.

[07:30:07]

But, Sanjay, what if enough people?