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New Day

Mariners Offer Vaccines at Games; America's Reopening at a Glance; Americans Aware of CDC Guidelines; Cheney Triples Down Amid Criticism; Anti-Trump Candidate Loses in Texas Special Election. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 04, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Park, Mariners fans can get a vaccine at three locations before the first pitch. Fans are going to have the choice of either the first dose of the Moderna vaccine or the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine. The Mariners the first team in Major League Baseball to make shots available right before a game. They're going to host the Orioles tonight.

All right, here's an inspirational story for you. Golfer Amy Bockerstette set to make history, becoming the first person with downs syndrome to compete in a national collegiate athletic championship. The 22-year-old is going to join her teammates from Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix at an event in Florida later this month.

You might remember, Amy made some headlines for a viral video two years ago when she played a hole during a practice round with pro- golfers Matt Kutcher and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. She said, I got this before just knocking down an eight-foot putt.

Amy and her family then created the I Got This Foundation, which helps provide instruction and playing opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

So here's wishing Amy luck later this month at her championship in Florida.

All right, NEW DAY continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman in New York with Brianna Keilar in Washington on this NEW DAY.

A big step forward on America's road to reopening, when the first coronavirus vaccines could be available for children.

Mask confusion. The CDC's changing guidance leaving many Americans wondering when and where to drop the mask.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And new details on the war boiling over within the GOP with party leaders turning on each other.

And a mysterious string of sonic attacks now reaching U.S. soil. Details inside the classified briefing that turned tense.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. It is Tuesday, May 4th. May the fourth be with you.

Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine expected to be approved for 12 to 15- year-olds by this time next week. As my 14-year-old told me, that is awesome.

And it could fuel a trend we're now beginning to see. America is opening up. The data, which we'll show you in full Technicolor in just a moment, tells the clear story.

KEILAR: Pfizer says its clinical trial involving more than 2,200 children showed 100 percent efficacy. Medical experts believe vaccinating kids is a key step to raising the level of immunity in the population and bringing down hospitalizations and death.

Right now new cases in the United States are dropping or they're holding steady in 43 states. As of this morning, nearly 250 million vaccine doses have been administered across the country. But, still, less than a third of all Americans are fully vaccinated, which is well below the threshold needed for that so-called herd immunity.

And along with these positive trends, the latest data shows a growing number of Americans are leaving their homes and participating in daily activities again.

BERMAN: I promised you full Technicolor. Harry Enten is here with that to look at the numbers.

At least by two measurements you look at all the time, Harry, Americans are much more out and about than they have been.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: That's exactly right. So we're going to take a look at two of them that really start to curb during the pandemic. Dining out and flying. And what did we see? During the bulk of the pandemic, look at this, dining out was down 59 percent, flying was down 70 percent. But look where it is right now. Dining is down just 25 percent, flying is down just 41 percent. So the shift upward, what we see is a 34-point shift, people more likely to dine out, a 29-point shift, people are more likely to fly. So they're still not at their pre-pandemic levels, but they are getting back to it.

BERMAN: Rising. Look at those two numbers here at the end, basically a third more people are doing these two things than were doing a year ago. That is a huge increase, not where we started from, but things clearly headed up.

I'm curious, Harry, is there like a partisan split as to who's doing this?

ENTEN: There is, right, and it's not necessarily too surprise. So let's look at dining out in particular. We'll look at April, 2021, compare it to April, 2020 to March 2021, the average and compare it to the 2019 equivalent. And what we see is in the Biden won states that people are dining out somewhat less, right? The decline is 28 percent compared to the 2019 equivalent, versus in the Trump-won states it's down 15 percent.

But, again, it's that same shift that we're seeing about a third more people are willing to go back out there. They're covering that decline in both the Biden-won states and the Trump-won states. But, again, in the Biden-won states, people are a little less likely to go out and dine.

BERMAN: But a third more no matter where you live doing these things anew and again.

Do we have a sense that people are getting less worried about this?

ENTEN: Yes. So, part of the reason why people are going out more is because, simply put, they're less worried, right? So, look at this, the coronavirus outbreak, are you extremely or very concerned, 47 percent. Look how large this number is.

[07:05:00]

I love large numbers. Forty-seven percent say they're extremely or very concerned. That is the lowest since March of 2020. That's still a significant chunk of folks, right? Forty-seven percent is still a large number, but that is much, much lower than where it once was.

BERMAN: Where was it? It was like living in the 60s and 70s?

ENTEN: It was living in the 60s and 70s. It was -- exactly right.

BERMAN: All right, so this is a big number in terms of its size, but a much lower number in terms of where we've been.

Now, vaccines clearly playing a role in this, yes?

ENTEN: Yes, it is, right. So essentially you take a look at the polling, right, and what does it tell you about who is less likely to be isolating? Those who are fully vaccinated or those who are planning to be fully vaccinated? And it turns out that those who are less likely to vaccinate -- or less likely to isolate are those fully vaccinated. It's about by a 10 to 15-point margin they're less likely to isolate. And what is so important here is that those fully vaxed people are becoming a larger share of the population, right? Especially among adults what we're seeing is it's starting to approach, we already know that now, 50 percent or more of all adults are at least partially vaccinated. And as that number goes up, as more and more people get fully vaccinated, they'll be isolating less. At least that is what the numbers tell us.

BERMAN: And that's the way it's supposed to work.

ENTEN: That's exactly right.

BERMAN: If you're fully vaccinated you don't need to isolate. We're seeing more people fully vaccinate. We're seeing overall people isolating less.

Harry Enten, full Technicolor, you delivered.

Thank you.

ENTEN: I try my best.

BERMAN: All right.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Full Technicolor. Great to see him.

All right, to wear a mask or to take it off? That is really the question that is consuming Americans right now. As vaccinations rise and coronavirus restrictions ease, folks are struggling to translate the changing guidance and apply it to their everyday lives.

So CNN went to find out exactly what people know or at least what they think they know.

Miguel Marquez is live for us in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Miguel, I am -- I've been curious about what you found. What are people telling you?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, one, we are in this semi-fog of confusion here in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where people are getting their morning exercise. Some wearing masks, some not. It all depends on one's level of comfort, basically. The CDC saying that you no longer have to wear masks outside if you are vaccinated. But because it's not clear if you get coronavirus still with the vaccination, can you still pass it on? Well, maybe. So people are being extra cautious. I will say, this is the first time in about nine or ten months that I have done a life shot with my mask on my wrist. But lots of people around the country aren't so sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's a good idea because if they don't lift some of the restrictions it -- there's no incentive to get vaccinated. There should be some reward for going through all of that if they're going to convince us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, it's kind of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) cause I know -- anyone should just be able to do what they want outside, you know. But I'm still going to do it with mask -- no mask outside, you know, but everyone can just do how they -- how they want to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My father passed away to COVID in January. So I just want to be extra sure everyone to make sure that we're not -- you know, none of us die from this disease more. It's just easier to prevent stuff happening like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think saying that people no longer have to wear masks outside doesn't -- isn't going to change people's behavior because I think a lot of people already felt comfortable not being in a mask outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, you know, to protect your neighbor, not -- it's not a problem. So, I'm OK with it. I still do. I'm fully vaccinated, still like to wear my mask just to make sure I'm doing my part.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am pleased to not wear my mask outside. We're both fully vaccinated. And I am looking forward to breathing some fresh air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am -- don't want to take my mask off. I -- it still makes me nervous. I don't -- even though the CDC says that and I'm very happy that they did and I'm happy we're vaccinated, I don't know about these variants. I don't quite understand how protected we are against them with the vaccines that we've taken. So, I feel quite paranoid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On this, everyone is feeling collectively safe, it's both I don't want to contribute to fear and someone else's feeling of unsafety, or actual unsafety. We don't know so much about this virus. The situation is so terrible in India with the variants, we're still in a global crisis. And if we just flatten down to me and my neighborhood feeling safe, I feel like it's not a holistic long- term solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: So, I think bottom line is, we are still PTSD nation after this horrible year. If people feel comfortable not wearing a mask outside while they're walking around with nobody else around, great. If you want to wear the mask, great. If you don't want to shave and don't want to put on makeup and you want to wear a mask, great. But, for now, I think it's pretty much whatever you want to do and, in a month, in two months, when it's summer and beautiful out here, it will all be different.

[07:10:02]

Brianna.

BERMAN: I don't want to shave or put on makeup ever, but I do every morning.

Look at his smile (ph).

MARQUEZ: Yes. Exactly.

KEILAR: And, you know, I will say, Miguel, I haven't seen your face in so long. It is lovely. It is lovely to see you in your entirety.

MARQUEZ: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right.

KEILAR: Miguel Marquez, thank you so much.

MARQUEZ: You got it.

KEILAR: Yes, change is hard. I think that's what we're learning here as people are adjusting. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us now to talk about this.

What's your reaction here? I mean it's the confusion that we're still seeing surrounding masks. It's also just people not being sure they want to adjust so soon.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, there's all sorts of different reasons that are sort of, you know, driving people's behavior right now. A lot of it is, as Miguel said, the sort of post-traumatic stress of all this as well. People have gotten very used to it. I could tell you, I have three kids, 12, 14 and 15, they still put on their masks, you know, every time they go outside. They're so trained to do this that they're very -- that's just part of their behavior now. So I think part of this is going to be sort of coming down off of this and recognizing how much safer it is outside versus inside.

Let me show you something because the data around this I think is interesting overall. When we got the data on vaccinated people, what we knew was that it was really protective at actually preventing people from getting sick. That's what we knew. The big question has always been, what about asymptomatic infection. Could you still carry it and potentially transmit to someone else. What we now know, and this is -- this is, again, real world data that came out after the clinical trials, look at that number far to the right there, asymptomatic, after you've been vaccinated, 90 percent reduction in asymptomatic infections as well. Almost as good as the reduction in symptomatic infections.

So the point is that we now have a much clearer idea of how effective the vaccine is in terms of actually preventing people from transmitting the virus to someone else.

BERMAN: I bet you over time people play attention to that data because the people Miguel heard from, I didn't hear confusion, I heard people making decisions based on what they know at this point and just what they feel comfortable with, which I get and people will change their behaviors over time.

Let's talk about the news, which is big in my household, Sanjay, this news that Pfizer -- I'm not joking, this is a --

KEILAR: Sure. Of course.

BERMAN: We've been waiting for this. We really have been waiting for this for a long time. The news that Pfizer is soon going to get approval for giving the vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds as early as next week. I got two 14-year-olds, so this hits me right in the wheelhouse, Sanjay.

You know, what do we know about this and what kind of an impact it can make?

GUPTA: Yes, no, look, I'm right there with you, I have a 12-year-old, 14-year-old, 15-year-old, so they're all in this age group.

It looks really promising. I mean we've been following this -- frankly, we were ready to report this last week. You know, I've been talking to sources at the FDA, this will happen, you know, really any day. They're saying next week now. But the point is that the data is out there. And it looks really promising.

In fact, what they did for this study was they basically took a few thousand kids, half got the placebo, half got the vaccine, and they compared it. Similar to what we saw with the larger trials, but this is much smaller trials. They were looking at how -- how much antibodies do these kids who were getting vaccinated produce. And what they found is that the 12 to 15-year-olds were actually producing more neutralizing antibodies than the 16 plus age group. So it seemed to be very effective. Nobody got sick in the vaccinated group among these 12 to 15-year-olds. There were 18 people who got sick among the placebo group.

So it's -- I -- you know, the safety issues were -- there was really none. So it's -- you know, there's no reason you can't imagine -- this will happen very, very soon. And there's plenty of vaccine out there. So, kids should be able to get vaccinated even, you know, going into the summer of that age group.

And I can tell you as well, Brianna, you know, I know you have a two- year-old and a four-year-old.

KEILAR: Yes.

GUPTA: The studies are now happening for children as young as six months. So by the end of the year, perhaps, early next year, they could be in line as well for vaccines.

KEILAR: Yes. You know, it just is about peace of mind, right, because I've got both kids who are going to be in school in the fall. I want them as protected. I want people protected from them. You know, that's one of the things we were talking about, John, our kids could be vectors. We want to protect people from them as well.

But, Sanjay, I wonder, when you're looking at places that actually are ahead of the U.S. with vaccinations, and I know that we're ahead of many countries, does that tell you anything about where we might be headed?

GUPTA: Yes, it really -- it really does. And I think there's two points here. The U.K. and Israel I think are good models to look at and we can see what has happened there. But, importantly, when you look at the data coming out of U.K. and Israel, you also look at the vaccination rates and sort of ask yourself, at what point did they start to actually see these significant downward trends?

So, for example, in Israel, 62 percent of the country has at least one dose of the vaccine. In the U.K., 51 percent. [07:15:00]

Look where they both are with that. That's not herd immunity. But that is a significant, significant drop.

We're, in the United States, at 44 percent with at least one shot. So, probably, you know, I mean, a month or two behind there. It's a little hard to say. It depends on how quickly the rest of the people get vaccinated.

But I think there's two important points. First of all, that's impressive what has happened in the U.K. and Israel. But, second of all, herd immunity is a term that everyone has learned over this past year. And it's a good term. We like to measure things. We like to have objective data. That's important.

But there is significant improvements along the way. We've been talking about this for months. Ten to 20 percent of the country gets vaccinated, what happens? Twenty to 40 percent, what happens? Forty to 60 percent? There's improvements all along. And it's significant. So that's good news.

BERMAN: Sanjay, it's fantastic. Thank you so much for helping us understand what we're seeing right before our very eyes now.

GUPTA: You bet. Thank you.

BERMAN: So the drums of war are growing louder within the GOP. Will Congresswoman Liz Cheney be able to survive this new attempt to oust her from leadership?

KEILAR: Plus, a prominent ally calling on former President Trump to wade into the legal battle over the Rudy Giuliani raid.

BERMAN: And wild video. An armored truck coming under attack. The driver, not going down without a fight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:04]

KEILAR: It's Cheney versus Trump. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the number three House Republican, says her party cannot accept the poison of the idea that the 2020 election was stolen and should not whitewash the Capitol attack and Donald Trump's role in it.

Joining me now with her new reporting is CNN's Jamie Gangel.

Cheney's really tripling down here on her attacks against Trump and his big lie, allies, really, all of them, there's so many of them in Congress. What can you tell us here?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So she is standing up for the truth and, as you said, tripling down on Donald Trump. To her, this is about truth versus lies. This is not about political ambition. This is about democracy. And this is what she said behind closed doors in an interview

yesterday at AEI, the conservative think tank. Quote, we can't rebuild the party or the conservative movement on a foundation of lies. We can't embrace the notion the election is stolen. It's a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy. We can't be a cult of personality. We can't whitewash what happened on January 6th or perpetuate Trump's big lie. It is a threat to democracy. What he did on January 6th is a line that cannot be crossed.

All of which sounds very reasonable unless it seems you're Kevin McCarthy, and then it's a bridge too far for him.

KEILAR: Well, so that's the thing, is it seems like he's now moved into this place where -- I mean it's not even lukewarm support. It's not even lukewarm support for Liz Cheney.

GANGEL: Yes.

KEILAR: And it just makes you wonder, does he have his eye on anything besides becoming speaker?

GANGEL: Nothing. That is exactly correct. He is going after Liz Cheney for one reason and one reason only, he wants back in Donald Trump's good graces. And by taking out Liz Cheney, who Donald Trump has targeted because she called him out and voted for impeachment, Kevin McCarthy thinks that's his ticket to getting Donald Trump's support. That is the beginning, the middle and the end of what this is about.

KEILAR: So he's eyeing speakership.

GANGEL: Right.

KEILAR: What is Liz Cheney eyeing?

GANGEL: I think that Liz Cheney has decided that if she loses her leadership position, be that as it may. If she loses her congressional seat, I don't think that's going to happen, but she has decided that this is more important, that politics take a second seat to democracy.

I will tell you, I think there's going to be a vote. I think it may be May 12th when they come back into session. And no matter what happens, I believe Liz Cheney will continue to go after Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And she will continue to be able to look herself in the mirror.

GANGEL: Correct.

KEILAR: I think that is really a big point of this.

GANGEL: Correct. Correct.

KEILAR: Jamie, great reporting. Thank you so much for being with us here.

GANGEL: Thank you. KEILAR: John.

KEILAR: All right, here's a question, so how much traction can an anti-conspiracy theory message from a Republican get in a red district? The answer is, not much at all.

Michael Wood, a major in the Marine Corps Reserves, ran for Congress in this special election in Texas. He is a Republican. He is a critic of the big lie and, to an extent, a critic of the former president. He finished ninth with only 3 percent of the vote.

Michael Wood joins me now.

Major, it's great to have you on with us. Thank you so much for being here.

"The Washington Post" says you were the only Republican candidate who ran on the notion that the 2020 election was fair. The only one and you got your clock cleaned.

So what does that tell you?

MICHAEL WOOD (R), FORMER CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, TX-06: Yes. It's -- you know, there -- there are a number of things that went into this.

[07:25:02]

I am a first-time candidate. We were dramatically outspent, you know, unfortunate battle placement, a very crowded field.

But all that aside, yes, there's -- people didn't like my message. It's -- I don't want to make excuses. Sometimes you can run a great campaign and, you know, if the dog doesn't like the dog food, then, you know, you're not going to get many votes, which is what I think happened a few days ago.

BERMAN: The dog food was speaking the truth, though, right?

WOOD: Yes. Yes. It's very unfortunate. You know, whenever I first started get interested in politics, the debates were things about the size and the scope of the government, you know, government action versus the free market, things like that. But it seems like right now the dividing line in our politics is going to be between those who speak the truth and those who engage in conspiracy theories. And that's really unfortunate. I mean, not for me. I'm going to be fine. I am fine. But I am worried about the direction of my party and the direction of the country.

BERMAN: We heard Mitt Romney get booed at a Utah Republican convention. How were you received out on the trail?

WOOD: Well, I did get booed. I was booed whenever I stood up initially and said what I said about Donald Trump and whenever I stood up and I defended Liz Cheney.

You know, I -- it was -- it was a very hectic two months. There are people who were very grateful that I was saying what I was saying. There were people who were really upset with me. I did have people who were actually there on January 6th who were filled with conspiracy theories and lies and were very, very angry with me.

You know, I think that things are bad for my party and I am concerned about the country. This is just one data point. And I'm not sure how much it says about the rest of the country. But, you know, taking my ego out of it, I think it is very concerning how things are going.

BERMAN: If buying into a conspiracy, if believing a lie is the price of admission to the Republican Party as is constituted right now, why join the party?

WOOD: I don't know. I think -- I think a whole lot of people like me are in a really difficult spot. You know, the Democratic Party, I can't be a Democrat. I don't want to be a Democrat. I have honest disagreements with them.

But, yes, I mean I guess the question is, is this sort of a fever for the Republican Party that hopefully will break, if not this year then hopefully soon and we can start the work of rebuilding it, or, you know, is this just going to be what we are going forward completely, you know? I think that if it's the latter, we're not going to have a Republican Party for too much longer. There are people who are just simply not going to call themselves Republicans if we don't move past these conspiracy theories and this -- these -- this horrible cult of personality that we built up around Donald Trump over the past four years.

BERMAN: I read you said something interesting or interesting to me, as to who you blame for this, because there's clearly something on the demand side here, which is that voters, voters are demanding you commit to the big lie. But you said you don't blame them. You say that would be like blaming a private for losing a war. What do you mean?

WOOD: I think that elected officials, those who are in leadership positions, should act like leaders. You know, most people -- I don't want to sound condescending, and that's certainly not what I mean, but most people don't put politics, you know, at the front and the center of their lives and they look to members of Congress, they look to the president of the United States to speak honestly about what's happening. And the founders were very wise and very right to warn us about demagogues who would play to the passions of the people irresponsibly.

I think there's been a lot of that that's happened over the past five years. And, you know, one of the most disappointing things about what happened on January 6th, which was bad enough, was that it felt like there was about 48 hours there where the spell was going to be broken, where, you know, Republicans, you know, even people like Lindsey Graham and even Kevin McCarthy were going to stand up and say this is unacceptable, this is a line that we will not cross, this isn't how we do things in America. And then they fell in line really, really quickly. And then a few weeks later, Kevin McCarthy was down in Mar-a- Lago taking that stupid, horrible photograph with the former president. BERMAN: Why did they cave?

WOOD: I think leaders need to lead.

BERMAN: Why did they cave?

WOOD: Because it's not very much fun losing an election. I think that it's not very much fun being boo-ed

[07:30:01]

And -- I don't know. I think that whenever you take an oath of office, you should take that seriously. And I wish -- I wish.