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U.S. Olympic Gymnast Simone Biles Withdraws from Team Competition at Summer Games; Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams Interviewed on Possible Measures to Mitigate Spike in Infections of Delta Variant of Coronavirus. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 27, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: NEW DAY continues right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman. Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, July 27th. And we're beginning with some major breaking news. This is huge. Out of the Olympics, gymnastics superstar Simone Biles has dropped out of the team competition. The decision announced after she stumbled following a vault. Coy Wire is live for us in Tokyo. Coy, what do we know about what precipitated this decision?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: We do have team members, Brianna. They're inside the Ariake Gymnastics Center, saw her on the sidelines in a tracksuit with her foot in strapping. She was replaced by Jordan Chiles in the competition. But NBC has talked to her coach who said this is not a physical issue. NBC reports a mental issue, they said.

Simone Biles had a bit of an off day, Brianna and John, during qualifications. She missed a landing. She stumbled back on a dismount. And afterwards, she posted about her performance, saying in part "wasn't an easy day. I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders as times." And she wrote, "I know, brush it off, make it seem like the pressure doesn't affect me. But damn," she wrote, "sometimes it's hard."

Those are powerful words that are ringing a but louder right now, wondering what may be going through her mind, what the situation really is here in Tokyo. We have to remember, as invincible as Simone Biles seems, she is widely regarded as the most dominant gymnast of all time if not the greatest athlete on the planet right now. She is 24 years old, and she's looking to become the first woman in 53 years to repeat as the all-around Olympic gymnastics champion. That is a lot of weight when almost anyone out there and everyone out there would guarantee that you're going to win, to have that pressure, certainly, you can't ignore it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We don't know at this point, Coy, do we, about the next few days will hold for Simone Biles? I'm asking, she is out of the team competition. An alternate moves into her place. The U.S. still has the chance to win the team competition, even, without the greatest gymnast in the world, Simone Biles, although it will be much harder. But what about Simone Biles in the individual competition, what you're talking about, the idea of repeating?

WIRE: So what would be going through her mind right now as an athlete, this is, as you mentioned, the team final. And she wants to be there for her teammates. They often talk about how they're like family. This is a group who moved from the Olympic Village and they went and stayed in the hotel together. They are their own unit, very tightly knit. So she has to feeling that pressure about not being able to be out there to perform in this big moment with her teammates.

But then, as you mentioned, John, this has nothing to do with the individual competitions, which she has qualified for in those events as well. She does have the opportunity get back out there if she is feeling well enough to do so. And that's the big question that everyone here in Tokyo and around the world are wondering about, are you really the greatest gymnast of all time?

BERMAN: She is the greatest gymnast of all time no matter what she decides to do, and I think it's fair to say what we should all want for her is to be well more than anything.

KEILAR: This is going to be difficult news, I think, though, Coy, for a lot of people who are watching this, a lot of questions still, and certainly she has a lot of pressure on her as those questions as well are going to be asked. Coy Wire live for us in Tokyo, thank you so much.

And we do also have some more breaking news this morning. Top federal health officials are close to announcing their decision on new guidelines for mask wearing. Sources tell CNN that we could hear something as soon as today. And right now, the pandemic is on a dangerous collision course with the start of school in the fall. Just listen to this chilling warning from the former head of the CDC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOME FRIEDEN, FORMER CDC DIRECTOR: We're heading into a rough time. It's likely, if our trajectory is similar to that in the United Kingdom, that we could see as many as 200,000 cases a day, four times our current rate, within another four-to-six weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The seven-day average of news cases is now over 55,000. And just to put this into context here, one month ago it was less than 12,000. So this is a spike that has a growing number of cities and government agencies responding. They're taking action. You have New York's mayor ordering all city workers to get vaccinated or to be tested once a week. California's governor is doing the same as well. And the V.A. is the first federal agency to mandate vaccinations for all of its frontline health care workers be vaccinated.

BERMAN: The Department of Justice says it is legal to mandate vaccines. There is a long history here, Supreme Court precedent. Some other major developments, the cities of Provincetown in

Massachusetts, Savannah, Georgia, St. Louis, all implementing new requirements for indoor masking.

[08:05:02]

Florida is reeling this morning, this morning with 20 percent of the nation's new cases. Every county in the state now has high levels of community transmission.

Joining me now is Dr. Jerome Adams, former surgeon general under President Trump. Dr. Adams, thanks so much for being with us. CNN is reporting that a decision on some new CDC guidelines for mask wearing among vaccinated people are imminent. What do you think they should do?

DR. JEROME ADAMS, FORMER SURGEON GENERAL: I think the new guidance can't come soon enough for public health officials, and I think we need to help people, number one, understand that we tried the honor system, it failed. The CDC guidance before said mask it or vax it. And we know just from looking around us in communities that there are many more people out there who are going without a mask than the statistics suggest or are actually vaccinated. That is number one.

Number two, this new Delta variant is 1,000 times as infectious. We are seeing breakthrough infections, not leading to hospitalization and death, but certainly cases that in theory could be causing some of the spread that we are seeing. And so we also have to take that into account when we think about masking. And I'm as anxious and excited to hear from the CDCS as you all are, because public health officials have been left in a lurch, as have citizens, who the CDC pushed this responsibility onto.

BERMAN: You'd like to see some new indoor mask guidance encouraging, I think, mask wearing inside for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people?

ADAMS: Absolutely. Again, any time you have got mixing within crowds and you don't know if people are vaccinated or not, we absolutely need to protect people with these mitigation measures.

BERMAN: So part of that is unvaccinated people are not doing what they should, which is wearing masks.

ADAMS: Exactly.

BERMAN: And unvaccinated people are making a lot of decisions here that are having an impact on the rest of us. So I'm wondering this morning, Dr. Adams, what your message is to unvaccinated people, not about what their decisions means for them, but what about the decisions that unvaccinated people are making mean for us?

ADAMS: Well, it means significant risk for my 11-year-old daughter, for my wife who is undergoing cancer treatment, for my mother who had a stroke last year, all who are at increased risk because everyone else isn't doing their part. And I understand if you have questions about vaccinations. I've never shamed anyone for that. But if you choose not to get vaccinated, then the CDC guidance, at least right now, says that you absolutely should be masking up. You should be doing that for your fellow neighbor. But what we also need people to understand is that we're going to see more closures. We're going to see more masking. We're going to see a return to some of the measures from last year, and it's happening because people are not coming together as a team. They're not choosing to either get vaccinated or to take other precautionary measures.

BERMAN: Unvaccinated people putting others in danger and in danger of new restrictions and changes to the way that we live, or we've come to enjoy, at least for a few weeks or months.

Full FDA approval of at least the Pfizer vaccine, which is the first under consideration, how much of a difference would full FDA approval make?

ADAMS: It would be huge, because even when you see the V.A. and these health institutions saying that they're going to mandate vaccines, that is frontline workers. I've heard from a number of businesses who said we would mandate these vaccines tomorrow if we had full licensure. So people think that it is just about hesitancy. It's about legally businesses being told by their lawyers we don't feel comfortable mandating a vaccine that is under EUA. And we shouldn't rush the process, but what I want your viewers to understand is there are plenty of scientists out there who believe we have more than enough evidence to have these vaccines fully licensed, and we just need an update from the FDA, a genuine update as to when we can expect it.

BERMAN: Are you one of those scientists, one of those doctors who thinks we should get that now?

ADAMS: Absolutely. I've talked to people within the FDA. I've talked to former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, and I've been assured that really they're just looking at the manufacturing processes. They're looking at the very icing on the cake right now. But the safety data, the efficacy data is there to fully license these vaccines. And that's how you get people vaccinated. Look at the U.S. military. They've said they would mandate these vaccines if and when we had full licensure.

WHITFIELD: What is your view on local or business mandates for masks? How hopeful -- not masks, vaccines. Your view on local mandates or business mandates for vaccines, how helpful do you think that would be?

ADAMS: We do it for many other vaccines out there. And we know that from a public health stand standpoint it is a valuable tool to be able to get people to do things which protect themselves and the public. But again, I understand people's hesitation until this vaccine is fully licensed. Health care workers, though, you've got a different responsibility. I work at a hospital myself, and we have a different responsibility to our patients. You need to get vaccinated. You shouldn't be putting your patients at risk.

But everyone else out there, again, these mitigation measures are going to come. And you are seeing people say you're going to get tested. You're going to have to wear a mask all the time if you're not vaccinated. It is one or the other. It's no more honor system out there when we see this Delta variant preying on our communities.

[08:10:09]

BERMAN: What about when the FDA does give full approval or full licensing, as you say, for at least the Pfizer vaccine, which we do think will come by the end of August? Then is it something that you think could be helpful to have businesses, maybe local municipalities, other places requiring vaccinations?

ADAMS: Absolutely. And I believe that businesses will do that as soon as we get full licensure. I believe it should be a local decision, a business decision primarily because people are going to push back if it is the federal government saying you're mandated to take these vaccines. But I think workplaces have a vested interest.

Look at the NFL. The NFL is saying we can't stay open, we can't make money if communities and stadiums are shut down. So they are using more and more severe measures to get people vaccinated. And I think when mandates become a tool that is legally backed up with a licensure, then I think you'll see that coming.

BERMAN: What do you think of Republican Governor Kay Ivey who basically has told people that she thinks unvaccinated folks at this point are letting us all down?

ADAMS: Governor Ivey is someone who is like my own grandmother used to be. She has got some tough love for people out there. My approach tends to be to try to bring people in by asking them what questions they have, by encouraging them, by providing them incentive. But I don't fault Governor Ivey for saying to her people in her state who elected her, look, we have got to step up. We've got to do the right thing so that we can stay open.

BERMAN: Dr. Tom Frieden, the former CDC director, said we could be at 200,000 cases by mid-September at the rate we're going if things don't go well. What do you think the number is?

ADAMS: I certainly think that is within the realm of possibility. And that's why you heard me say just this past weekend, this pandemic currently based on the projections, is spiraling out of control, and we need to figure out how we rein it back in, with increased vaccinations, with masking, with potentially closures. And I want your viewers to know, closures will be coming soon if we can't get this pandemic under control. Our kids will be at risk of another year of virtual school.

BERMAN: Who's fault is that, by the way? Who do you think should be blamed for that?

ADAMS: I think we all have to take on responsibility. You know me, John. I'm not one who likes to blame and shame. But I think we all have some responsibility from the politization this virus, from the fact that, again, we need to do more to support our neighbors, that we do more to engage people. And I think if we look at this as a team effort, then we can overcome this pandemic. I'm still optimistic because we've got the tools. We've got the vaccines, we have monoclonal antibodies. We have more tools than we've ever had before to defeat this pandemic. We have just got to use them.

BERMAN: We have got the vaccines if people are willing to take them. Dr. Jerome Adams, thank you for your time this morning.

ADAMS: Thank you, John.

KEILAR: And with cases and hospitalizations on the rise, almost entirely among the unvaccinated, there is more and more talk of vaccine mandates, but are they constitutional? John Avlon has a Reality Check.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It is often said that freedom isn't free, and that implies responsibility, a balance between the individual and the community. And that's what we're dealing with right now as the Delta variant cases spike and fill hospitals. The unvaccinated are holding America's recovery hostage.

The anti-maskers turned anti-vaxxers are not just putting their own lives at risk. If that was the issue, we could just say we could watch them compete to win, place, or show in the Darwin Awards. The problem is that we're all going to pay for the politization of science and public health.

That why after months of offering encouragement and incentives, cities like New York and states like California have decided to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing for government workers. The Department of Veteran Affairs now requiring vaccinations, raising the question whether President Biden will expand the mandate to more federal agencies.

This has provoked predictable outrage among the freedom to infect you crowd, with a flurry of so-called medical freedom bills lying in wait, which former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson calls performative libertarianism, because all this screaming about freedom ignores the fact that five routine childhood vaccines, including for measles, mumps, and polio, are required to attend school in all 50 states. No one has called for that mandate to be overturned, because it makes sense, and it works.

But you'll still hear some folks wail that vaccine mandates are unconstitutional. That's just not true. That has been settled law for more than 115 years when the Supreme Court ruled that states could impose reasonable requirements for immunization during a deadly smallpox outbreak.

In many states, there are religious and even philosophical exemptions from vaccine mandates, but it's not clear that owning the libs qualifies for one of those exceptions. And let's be honest, that is what we are really dealing with here, a poisonous form of polarization.

[08:15:00] Refusing to get a vaccine during a pandemic for political reasons isn't libertarian, because it violates the basic principle that my right to swing my fist ends at your nose.

You know what also is libertarian? Making other people pay for your mistakes.

Get this. The average cost of hospital care for COVID cases is as high as $78,000 for patients between ages 41 and 60. That's according to recent analysis by fair health.

And remember, the unvaccinated now make up 97 percent of hospitalizations, virtually all preventable.

But you are going to pay for that if those patients are uninsured, they still get treatment, doing their Hippocratic Oath, presumably without complaining about socialism in the process. If they are on Medicare or Medicaid, the taxpayers pick up the tab. And if they're insured, premiums will eventually go up for the rest of us, because ironically, the unvaccinated will not pay a higher rate due to their increased risks, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which bars discrimination on insurance costs.

So, for all the talk about freedom, the free market doesn't apply here. They take the risk, the rest of us pay the cost. So much for the allegedly conservative value of personal responsibility. But then that's just been revealed to be another scam.

Speaking of which, folks who think they are partisan warriors by refusing to get the vaccine might not know that Fox News is requiring its own version of vaccine passport while bigwig Republican donors were required to show the negative test to attend the posh RNC retreat in Florida.

We know that COVID disinformation can be deadly, so, in this case, is COVID hypocrisy. But we're all reaping what they've sown, in the most absurd, self-defeating ideology imaginable, lemming scurrying towards a cliff while screaming about freedom. The dangers that they take the rest of us down with them while potentially compelling a new round of lockdowns that no one wants.

That's why we need to remember real freedom requires responsibility and connection with common sense and common good. And that's your reality check.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Very good one, John. Thank you so much for that. We are about to hear some dramatic testimony from some of the police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6th. The number three Democrat in the House will be joining us next ahead of this.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the son of Jeb Bush bets on Donald Trump only to see it blow up in his face. We have more on our big breaking news.

Simone Biles out of the team competition at the Olympics. The greatest gymnast of all time, maybe the greatest athlete on earth right now, what's going on here? We have new details ahead.

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[08:21:27]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): This is absolutely not a game. This is deadly serious. There are some in my party and including Leader McCarthy who continued to act as though this is about partisan politics. I think it's really sad. I think it's a disgrace.

You know, this Capitol was attacked. It was attacked counting electoral votes. The American people deserve the truth. They deserved to know exactly what happened. They deserved to know minute by minute, what decisions were being made both here and in the White House, and they deserve to get to the bottom of it.

And we have to make sure it never happens again. We've got to make sure that we defend our republic and that we defend the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That was Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney who moments ago fired back at fellow GOP members who criticized her role in the committee that is investigating January 6.

And in less than an hour, that committee will begin its first hearing. We're going to be hearing testimony from four police officers who were on the frontlines that day as rioters violently stormed the Capitol.

Let's talk now with the number three Democrat in the House, South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn.

Sir, thank you so much for joining us this morning. It's great to see you.

I really wonder when it comes to this committee and what they should be doing moving forward, if you think that they should subpoena Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump? Do you think so?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me.

Look, I think the committee should do what is necessary to get to the bottom of the truth. The fact of the matter is, the four people who will be testifying today will testify as to what the conditions were and how they felt when all of this was going on. I think the committee will conclude this is a serious matter of life and death.

People felt threatened with their lives and this will get to the bottom of whoever was at fault. It may be they will need to subpoena if they don't voluntarily come forward. Not just the leadership on the Republican side, but a lot of the other members of the Republican side who participated in the events that gave rise to the incident.

KEILAR: Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the House, has called Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, who we just heard from, Pelosi Republicans. He is threatening to punish them for participating in this committee.

If he does go ahead and strips them from their committee assignments, do you expect Speaker Pelosi would reinstate that?

CLYBURN: Well, I suspect she will. I know Leader Pelosi very well. If there is a patriot, she is one. Not a summer patriot or summer soldier sunshine patriot, but a real patriot who stands by this country irrespective of what the conditions might be.

What we see here is Kevin McCarthy and others being what Thomas Payne called sunshine patriots. They're all for the country when everything is going their way. But the moment challenges come, they retreat behind the shadow of Donald Trump in this instance. In other instances, they find some place to stay away from finding the truth.

KEILAR: I want to ask you while I have you about this fight for voting rights that we see going on across the country and in Washington.

[08:25:04]

Charles Blow, a "New York Times" columnist who I know you're familiar with, called President Biden's efforts to protect voting rights a, quote, historic failure. And he says that during Biden's victory speech, he told black supporters that they've always had his back and he has had theirs. But then Blow writes: I'm sorry, Mr. President, but that statement rings hollow because in black people's greatest time of need, you're more concerned about roads than rights.

He's referring there obviously to this infrastructure negotiation that's going on with Republicans.

You know, what do you think about what he says there?

CLYBURN: Not much. I know Charles Blow very well. And I think he is mistaken in this instance.

Yes, but Joe Biden is trying to get the economy back up and running. But Joe Biden can do more than one thing. If he is talking to the negotiators in the Senate one minute, who knows who he is talking to the next minute?

So, just because he is not standing in front of microphones doing this doesn't mean he is not sitting at telephones doing what is necessary.

So, I would say that those of us who operate in public life do not always operate in public view.

KEILAR: You famously gave Biden the push he needed in the primary season with your endorsement. I wonder as you're looking at the clock ticking here, are you worried that time is running out on the Biden agenda?

CLYBURN: No, I'm not worried at all. I've been here long enough to know that it ain't over until it's over. We're in session, the House for the rest of the week at least. The Senate, through next week.

I think a lot can get done in the week or two, and I expect a lot to get done in the next two weeks.

So, this notion that just because we're up against the clock means that we are failing, nothing could be further from the truth. If you watch -- especially the Senate -- operate over the years, you do know that a lot of things can happen in that moment just before midnight.

KEILAR: You are optimistic, I see. So, we'll see if that optimism is going to be playing out there as the Senate is working through some of the differences.

I also want to talk to you about something else. You are chairing the select subcommittee on coronavirus. And you say there is new evidence to show the Trump administration bullied the CDC and the other top health officials in charge of its COVID response.

What is that new evidence?

CLYBURN: Well, we are now seeing letters. We see emails. We are interested in talking to 11 people, two of whom we know were given warnings and they were threatened and removed from their positions. Others seem to be interfering with stuff.

So, we're interested in bringing them before the committee and seeing exactly what it is that they were doing and we want them to testify under oath so that we can get to bottom of why we are now in our fourth surge with COVID-19.

None of this had to happen. All of it is upon us because of the dereliction of duty and the interference it seems coming from the White House when the professionals, the scientists, were trying to get this under control and they were interfered with, so it seems. And we want to find out the extent of it and who was responsible for it.

KEILAR: Congressman James Clyburn, thank you, sir, so much for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.

CLYBURN: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: We'll certainly be watching this hearing ahead on Capitol Hill today. A lot of drama that we are going to see.

Meanwhile, George P. Bush just learned a tough lesson from Donald Trump, one that maybe he should have learned from Charlie Brown. What do we mean by that? We'll explain when Jake Tapper joins us next.

BERMAN: Jake is actually a Charlie Brown expert, no joke.

KEILAR: He is, that's why we're going to talk about that.

BERMAN: That's why we have, Jake. We book Jake just for that.

Also, the breaking news out of Tokyo. U.S. gymnastics star, Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast on earth, pulling out of the team competition at the Olympic Games. So, what happened?

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