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Should Vulnerable Americans Get Third Vaccine Shot?; First Child Tax Credit Payments Hit Bank Accounts Today; Russian Hacking Group Behind U.S. Attack Mysteriously Disappears. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 15, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:30:00]

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CDC (via Skype): Particularly, to prevent severe illness and death.

The Delta variant appears to be about twice or even more than twice as infectious as other strains. There are a few theories for why that is so -- not definitive. But basically, you have more virus and, in a way, it's stickier. It gets into your lungs and invades the lung cells more effectively.

So if you are not vaccinated already, please get vaccinated soon. Because the sooner you're vaccinated, the sooner you'll be protected against this and other strains.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: You said that if the Delta variant is not controlled it will beat us. What does that look like -- this variant beating us?

FRIEDEN: Unfortunately, we're going to see increases as has already begun. First, in cases, then in hospitalizations, and then in deaths. Those increases will be largest in the communities with the lowest vaccination rates because vaccination is our way to defeat Delta. That's why it's so important that we get more people vaccinated as soon as possible.

Although no vaccine is 100 percent effective, it's extraordinarily rare to have someone get severely ill after vaccination, even if they do have the misfortune of getting infected again.

KEILAR: As we have this discussion that is going right now about a third shot -- a booster shot -- and the federal government says that's not necessary yet, we hear these stories about Americans with compromised immune systems. Maybe they are cancer patients or they are transplant patients and they don't actually have, even with the vaccination, the immunity that, say, a healthy person would have.

So there's a question about are they going to need a booster before other people. When do you expect that is going to happen? It must be soon.

FRIEDEN: Brianna, there are really two different issues here. One is about boosting -- and I'll come back to that in a moment -- and the second is about the right vaccine schedule or dosing for people who have serious problems with their immune response or maybe some people who are much older or who have other problems.

What we've seen is that some people with some forms of immunocompromise really don't appear to respond well to the vaccine. And for them, a third dose or a three-dose series may make perfect sense.

That's not a booster. A booster is if the vaccine immunity wanes after months or years, then you might get another shot. Or if something worse than Delta comes along -- because Delta may not be the worst this virus deals us -- then you might need a tweaked vaccine that would boost your response.

In terms of when we'll know, we're going to have to be a little patient here because there's no blood test that can perfectly tell you what is protective.

And I think the companies are jumping the gun. We don't know if people will need boosters. We won't know that until we find that gee, after eight months or 12 months, people are having more and more serious breakthrough infections.

Maybe that will happen and we'll need periodic boosters, or maybe the vaccine is so good that it's going to be lifelong. We just don't know yet. Science will determine whether, when, and who is going to need to get a booster shot.

KEILAR: OK, children. When will children be vaccinated, do you think?

FRIEDEN: Well, 12 and over can already be vaccinated. That's really important.

It depends on the clinical trials and the approvals by the FDA. I think the hopes are that by the end of the year, maybe even into October-November, you might see approvals for younger kids. It will basically be a walked-down age group.

KEILAR: What age do you think, sir? What age -- what age are you thinking by October-November?

FRIEDEN: Well, I'm not going to predict because it really depends on the trials and the FDA. But what you'd expect is nine to 12, six to nine, two to six -- kind of walk it down the age groups.

But the bottom line here is that schools can be open more safely. They're very important that we get schools open for in-person learning and you need a layered level of protection. Anyone who can get vaccinated should be.

Masks need to continue to be worn unless there's universal vaccination. You also need to increase ventilation and distancing. And test and prepare for cases and the response to cases so you can limit any spread if it does occur.

We can tame this virus even with the Delta strain, but that means working together, vaccinating, and following the data so we adjust our policies and our programs to protect people as effectively as possible.

KEILAR: One of the most insidious things that we're seeing right now as we have these miracle vaccines is Fox and other right-wing media outlets and politicians who kind of have this feedback loop with them creating this anti-COVID vaccine and even anti-vaccine period message and just perpetuating it.

[07:35:00]

How concerned are you about that?

FRIEDEN: It's very worrisome. We used to say about foreign policy that partisanship stops at our shores, and that's long gone. But at least we should say when we're coming to the human race, our -- all people -- all humanity against a virus -- we're -- we should all be in this together.

And when it comes to some of the misinformation that we're seeing, I think we need to do a much better job at prevention. Prevention is better than treatment here. Once a rumor gets out it's very hard to confront it. It's important to do that quickly with facts, with actual stories of actual people.

But at the same time, I think any responsible news or social media outlet needs to do much better at reducing just false claims. There are false claims about the virus, about the vaccine, about the variants.

And we need to, I hope, tone done the partisanship. This is not about Democratic or Republican. There's no Democratic or Republican way to get vaccinated. There is just vaccination that protects us against the virus.

And the better we do with that, the better people will do regaining our jobs, regaining our economy. Going back to schools, going back to the activities we love. Having more freedom.

And instead of having, as we are increasingly seeing, two Americas -- one vaccinated, one unvaccinated -- one having more and more COVID, one able to get on with more of life -- we'll have one America united, fighting not just COVID but I hope other public health threats as well.

KEILAR: Yes. As we've heard some experts say, two Americas -- one vaccinated, one infected.

Dr. Tom Frieden, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

FRIEDEN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Why did the world's biggest ransomware gang suddenly just go dark? We're going to ask the White House, next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, just in, the world has been waiting to hear whether Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire. Now, a CNN reporter just got the first interview with him about those plans. You'll want to hear this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:19]

KEILAR: President Biden is set to deliver remarks touting the expanded child tax credit from his coronavirus relief packages -- a historic effort to reduce child poverty. And starting today, American families should expect to see these payments on the 15th of every month, providing them with extra funds through the end of the year.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus live in Chicago with more on this. I know a lot of people are going to be watching their bank accounts for a direct deposit or the mail for a check, Adrienne.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. If the IRS already has your banking information on file you should expect a direct deposit.

And one mother we heard from says this will be a big boost for her family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROADDUS (voice-over): The continuing challenges of the pandemic.

MARGARET MCGAW-SULLIVAN, MOTHER OF FOUR CHILDREN: We've made ends meet but it's been really difficult with the kids not being in school and just kind of all the struggles of COVID. And, you know, I had a baby in October.

BROADDUS (voice-over): And raising four children, three who live with autism, weighs heavy on Margaret McGaw-Sullivan.

MCGAW-SULLIVAN: We just have a lot of medical appointments and a lot of medical costs. And they're kind of -- that's what keeps the bills coming.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Now relief is on the way. President Joe Biden has promised an enhanced child tax credit, even for those who pay no taxes, starting Thursday.

Parents who qualify will receive $3,600 per child under six and $3,000 per child between the ages of six to 17.

Sullivan, who works part-time in Rockford, Illinois, knows how she and her husband will spend the money.

MCGAW-SULLIVAN: We're looking forward to just kind of having -- being able to pay our property taxes and pay on the mortgage. You know, get ahead on utilities.

BROADDUS (voice-over): The tax credit is available for joint filers earning up to $150,000 a year, and heads of households making up to $112,500.

In Youngstown, Ohio --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like these in the front seat?

CASSANDRA SINGH, MOTHER OF THREE CHILDREN: Yes, that's fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

BROADDUS (voice-over): -- mothers like 28-year-old Cassandra Singh said the pandemic forced her to choose between parenting or a paycheck.

SINGH: I have three children -- 20-month-old twins. It's been really tough on everyone not being able to go to work because we don't have a babysitter and when all the daycares closed down.

BROADDUS (voice-over): The credit equals several hundred dollars in monthly payments for Jasmine Hollinshed and her three children.

JASMINE HOLLINSHED, MOTHER OF THREE CHILDREN: My checks only be like two -- a little bit over that. For that, that would be a big, big difference.

BROADDUS (voice-over): Hollinshed said she recently started working 20 hours a week at a deli after staying home during the pandemic to care for her kids.

The money will more than double her monthly income but it won't last long.

HOLLINSHED: I have a car now that's $250, then my rent, then my electricity. Clothes for them, shoes -- because they're growing every day.

BROADDUS (voice-over): The White House says the enhanced credit will help more than 39 million American families at a cost of an estimated $110 billion. But critics say it discourages work.

In a joint statement earlier this year, Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Mike Lee called the credit, quote, "welfare assistance." Adding, "Congress should expand the child tax credit without undercutting the responsibility of parents to work to provide for their families."

Sullivan, who said she's doing her part to provide, wants a permanent credit.

MCGAW-SULLIVAN: It's such a great opportunity and we hope that it continues.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:45:00]

BROADDUS: And even though this is a tax credit, non-filers qualify. Those folks will be required to provide a little extra information to the IRS -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, so listen up to those folks.

Look, these are kitchen table issues and Adrienne, thank you so much for taking us right into the kitchen. Adrienne Broaddus live for us in Chicago.

BERMAN: So this morning, the Russian government denies it knows anything about the apparent disappearance of a ransomware gang known a REvil. The group got millions in ransom after attacking multiple companies this year.

The disappearance comes after discussion between President Biden and Putin, and also as the Biden administration prepares to announce new steps to streamline the government response to ransomware.

Along those lines, joining me now is Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for being with us.

What can you tell us about who took this ransomware group offline?

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: So, thank you very much for having me this morning.

We can't really comment on that publicly right now. But I will say the president has spoken very strongly about the fact that nation-states have a responsibility to identify and hold accountable cybercriminals within their boundaries, and that is what we are moving forward on.

BERMAN: In their boundaries. Well, that's interesting. Should I read from that that Russia itself may have played a role in this?

MAYORKAS: So, forgive me. I can't comment on that now. But we are vigilant in our nation's cybersecurity and we are working with our allies in other nation-states because this is a crime that knows no boundaries, actually.

BERMAN: Forgiven. Consider yourself forgiven.

Mr. Secretary, because the United States today is also instituting some new measures -- some new processes to deal with ransomware -- explain exactly what's happening.

MAYORKAS: So we have already begun an all-of-government effort to address the increase in cybercrime that has been trending for a number of years now.

And one of the greatest threats that we face in the cyber area is ransomware, where cybercriminals hold people, homes, small businesses, medium-sized, and large businesses hostages, their systems hostage until they pay a ransom. And, of course, we advise that they not pay that ransom.

And so, one of the things that we've done is set up a -- for the first time ever, a federal government website. A one-stop-shop for information of how one can prevent one's self from becoming a victim of ransomware. And should one become a victim, how one can work with the federal government in partnership to address the situation. And that website is called stopransomware.gov.

BERMAN: So, Mr. Secretary, you have expressed support for the people in Haiti who are experiencing now a presidential assassination and, frankly, a certain degree of chaos. And the people on the streets in Cuba protesting against the authoritarian communist regime there. So you've expressed support but you've also told them don't come to the United States, at least by sea -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYORKAS: Allow me to be clear. If you take to the sea you will not come to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You came to the United States from Cuba in 1960 with your family, fleeing the Castro regime. Is it fair to tell the people in Cuba and Haiti right now who want to flee dangerous situations not do to so?

MAYORKAS: It's a very important humanitarian message. It is a longstanding message from the United States. And the reality of it is that when people take to the sea they put their lives in tremendous peril.

Just in the last few weeks, we have seen approximately 20 people lose their lives by taking to the sea. It is extraordinarily dangerous, it is not worth the risk, and consistent with longstanding practice. People will be returned.

One cannot take to the sea and come to the United States. It won't work and it is extraordinarily dangerous.

BERMAN: So you will return them to Cuba if they leave on a boat from Cuba?

MAYORKAS: That is correct. And if they have a well-founded fear of persecution or torture they are resettled in a third country. They are not resettled in the United States.

[07:50:00]

And so, an effort to take to the seas and imperil one's life to come to the United States specifically will not work, and that is an incredibly important humanitarian message.

BERMAN: I want to ask you about immigration in general -- legal immigration. There are, what, 188,000 arrests or apprehensions or encounters at the U.S. border in June, which is an incredibly high number.

What are your concerns for the summer and, specifically -- and it's all connected because there's a lot going on right now. There are all kinds of deadlines expiring or they need to be reviewed. The ban on non-essential travel, which I think expires in days -- is that going to be extended?

MAYORKAS: So, that is something that we are looking at very carefully. It expires on the 21st of this month. And what we do is we look at the data, we look at the science, the arc of the pandemic, and make a public health determination as to whether or not to continue with the travel restrictions or to ease them in some regard in the best interest of the American public.

BERMAN: You know, again, I mentioned --

MAYORKAS: And we're looking at the data very carefully.

BERMAN: OK, so no decision yet but it's going to come, what, within the next six days. We expect a decision soon then on that front?

MAYORKAS: Yes.

BERMAN: I mentioned the immigration -- the high numbers. Why does it seem that people aren't getting the message you're sending about not coming to the United States?

MAYORKAS: Well, regrettably, the smugglers are also exploiting the vulnerability of the individuals -- individuals who flee economic desperation, violence.

And so we are trying to counter that narrative and we're working very closely with the countries origin. I was in Guatemala but last week to speak with the officials, including the president of Guatemala, to address irregular migration. And we are receiving the increasing cooperation of those countries in addressing this issue.

BERMAN: Mr. Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

MAYORKAS: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: So, the former president -- we are learning more and more in a series of new books that are coming out -- brought U.S. democracy really to the brink. How do we keep that from happening again?

A reality check, next.

KEILAR: Plus, Britney Spears demanding that her father be charged with abuse in an emotional hearing. Hear what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:56:50]

BERMAN: A new book reports that top U.S. generals believed that President Trump would try to stage something of a coup after losing the election in November, and they planned for ways to stop it.

John Avlon with a reality check.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What's it going to take? What's it going to take to make Republicans realize that Donald Trump was and is a danger to our democratic republic?

How about the news that America's top generals, quote, "believed Trump was stoking unrest, possibly in hopes to have an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and call out the military to stay in power." That's called a coup and that's how democracies die.

A new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning "Washington Post" journalists called "I Alone Can Fix It" shows that weeks before the attack on our Capitol, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs was reportedly telling his staff that Trump was acting like, quote, "a classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose" -- adding, "This is a Reichstag moment."

This isn't some Democrat talking, this is a leader of our non-partisan military. And it should be a wake-up call to anyone who still tries to downplay Donald Trump and the big lie. Because we just lived through the nightmare scenario our founders feared.

"The New York Times" reporting that Trump's aides drafted an Insurrection Act order to deploy the U.S. military on American soil in response to protests. The president denied it at the time -- no surprise there. But the idea was in wide circulation because right- wing vigilante group members were caught online hoping that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act around January sixth.

But even this bombshell news about a potential presidential coup, for which there is no precedent in American history, might sound to sound folks like just another Trump scandal.

Most Republicans will react with a shrug and default to some version of whataboutism. It's because they can't handle the truth. That's why the vast majority refused to vote for a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrectionist attack. And that's one way we know that this threat to our republic is now over -- not by a longshot.

Yes, the guardrails held in the end, thanks to a few good men and women in the government. But far more in the administration were afraid to speak out, which makes them complicit, and many remain that way today. Because despite all this evidence that a manifestly unstable man tried to tear up the Constitution and overturn an election, Donald Trump is still the clear leader of the Republican Party. My country, right or wrong, has been replaced by my party, right or wrong.

So who's to say that the next time there's an opportunity to overturn the will of the people that Republicans won't refuse to certify an election if they control both houses of Congress? We can't say that it can't happen here because it almost did.

And that's why we need to strengthen democracy's guardrails right now, especially when Republicans are working overtime at the state level to pass new laws aimed at voter suppression and the partisan administration elections.

President Biden's speech about voting rights in Philadelphia was strong but it sidestepped the key question of the filibuster. And it is clear that no national election reforms will pass without filibuster reform. That includes the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which is now backed by 150 major companies.

But a full-fledged democracy reform movement needs to strengthen the guardrails around presidential abuse of power as well. Books like, "After Trump" offered dozens of ideas, including reforms to the Insurrection Act.

It also requires reforming the way Congress works and the Select Committee on Modernizing of Congress has offered 97 suggestions focused on improving bipartisanship, civility.