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The Situation Room

Interview With Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Interview With Former CDC Director Thomas Frieden; Trump Addresses CPAC; Senate Gets Biden's COVID Relief Bill; Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Begins Shipping Out; Second Governor Cuomo Accuser Says, He Has Refused To Acknowledge Or Take Responsibility For His Actions; Rising Young GOP Star Facing Troubling Allegations About His Past; First Glimpse Of New Harry & Meghan Interview On Royal Split. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 01, 2021 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Also, as the CDC director has an urgent new warning against loosening pandemic restrictions, as COVID variants are spreading, Dr. Rochelle Walensky fears the U.S. could lose hard-earned ground that's been gained against the virus.

We're also following the fallout from Donald Trump's first big speech since leaving the White House in disgrace, the former president still brazenly promoting the big lie that he won the election, while targeting Republicans who voted to impeach or convict him.

This hour, I will talk to GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger about his inclusion on the Trump's enemy list.

But, first, let's go to our national correspondent, Erica Hill.

Erica, a third lifesaving vaccine now is in the mix. The supply, though, at least for now is limited. What's the latest?

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is somewhat limited. Still a lot of hope and excitement about having a third vaccine.

But as you point out, just under four million doses of that Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine available initially, the company promising to have 100 million by the end of June. Meantime, the WHO noting for the first time in seven weeks a rise in new cases, which its director general calls disappointing, but not surprising, and noting a vaccine alone can't save you. Public health measures still need to be in place for this virus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILL (voice-over): The first Johnson & Johnson vaccines could be an arms tomorrow.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: It's very good news. Now we have three important tools in our armamentarium of capabilities against this virus.

HILL: The advantages of this latest tool? Just one shot and no need for special freezers.

DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, PROVIDENCE ST. JOSEPH HEALTH: This really eases the capacity to get the vaccine where it's needed.

HILL: Three-point-nine million doses to start.

JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: So, that was the entire J&J inventory.

HILL: With promises of 20 million by the end of the month, the vast majority going to state and local health departments and pharmacies, about 4 percent marked for community health centers.

J&J already testing a booster for variants and hoping to expand its trials to children and infants this summer.

PAUL STOFFELS, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, JOHNSON & JOHNSON: We are working with the NIH to accelerate that as soon as possible.

HILL: The U.S. now averaging 1.7 million shots a day, 10 percent of the adult population now fully vaccinated, hospitalizations nationwide dropping below 50,000 for the first time since November.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL HEALTH, EMORY UNIVERSITY: We're vaccinating more and more people over the age of 60. Hospitalizations should continue to drop and mortality should continue to drop.

HILL: But we're not there yet. The seven-day averages for both new cases and daily reported deaths increasing these.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Data are evidence that our recent declines appear to be stalling. Please hear me clearly. At this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.

HILL: And yet states continue to ease restrictions.

FAUCI: It is really risky to say it's over, we're on the way out, let's pull back.

HILL: Indoor performance venues can now open at 50 percent capacity in Massachusetts, South Carolina eliminating COVID restrictions on alcohol sales and large gatherings, Florida bracing for spring break.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just asking for cooperation from our college students that do decide to come to Fort Lauderdale.

HILL: Experts urging just a bit more patience.

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I'm very bullish on where we will be in May, June, July, but March/April look like tough months that we still have to get through and be very careful about.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL: And an interesting note, Wolf. One year ago today, New York City

confirmed its first coronavirus case. Of course, here we are now, a year later, Mayor Bill de Blasio calling this the city's longest, toughest year, but also noting today, Wolf, that nearly two million vaccine doses have been administered in the city, a step in the right direction.

BLITZER: Yes, that's important, indeed.

Erica Hill, thank you for that report.

Now to President Biden. He's ramping up his sales pitch for his COVID relief bill, holding talks with key Senate Democrats today.

Let's go to our chief national affairs correspondent, Jim Zeleny -- Jeff Zeleny, I should say.

He's joining us right now.

Jeff, the Senate plans to take up COVID relief this week. The House passed it, as you know, last week. The president needs every Democratic vote, right?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in a 50/50 Senate, he absolutely needs every Democratic vote.

He also needs that tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris. Now, that's presuming that only Democrats support this measure. The White House is still opening the door to Republican support. But the reality is they know that time is ticking away for that.

There were no Republicans from the House who voted for this plan over the weekend. So, the president, I'm told, is going to be meeting with senators all week long, trying to win over every single one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY (voice-over): At the White House tonight, President Biden intensifying his efforts to push his signature COVID relief bill through yet another hurdle in Congress.

After returning from a weekend at his home in Delaware, the president meeting virtually with nine Democrats senators, whose votes he needs, along with all Senate Democrats, to pass the $1.9 trillion package.

[18:05:07]

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have reserved time in his schedule to ensure that he can be engaged, roll up his sleeves, and be personally involved in making phone calls, having more Zoom meetings, potentially having people here to the Oval Office to get this across the finish line.

ZELENY: With some benefits to Americans expiring on March 14, the clock is ticking for Biden to make good on his pledge. There is no room for error in the closely divided Senate, after the House narrowly passed the measure over the weekend, with no Republican votes.

Tonight, progressives are seething over the $15 federal minimum wage law being stripped out of the Senate version, after the parliamentarian ruled it did not meet the strict requirements to be included in a budget bill; 23 congressional Democrats sent a letter to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris urging them to override the decision and keep their campaign promise of raising the minimum wage.

The White House says it's committed to doing so, but not in the COVID bill.

(on camera): Progressives don't understand this. In some respects, they're like, why not fight for this? So, why is the White House not more aggressively challenging that and sending the vice president to try and potentially overrule that with a vote?

PSAKI: The decision for the vice president to vote to overrule or to take a step to overrule is not a simple decision. The president and the vice president both respect the history of the Senate, and they are -- both formally served in the Senate. And that's not an action we intend to take.

ZELENY (voice-over): It's the first legislative test for the White House, maintain support from moderate Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who do not support the $15 federal minimum wage, without alienating other Democrats who do.

Tonight, the White House also still reconciling Biden's tough talk on the campaign trail with his decision as president to stop well short of punishing the Saudi crown prince for his role in the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We were going to, in fact, make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.

ZELENY (on camera): How does this come anywhere close to his pledge to Americans in November of 2019 at that debate?

PSAKI: The president has been clear to his team and he has been clear publicly that the relationship is not going to look like what it's looked like in the past.

ZELENY (voice-over): The White House insisted the relationship with Saudi Arabia would be recalibrated, but the move underscored how Biden's advisers see the partnership with a key Arab ally as to critical to break.

Meanwhile, as former President Donald Trump delivered a blistering assessment of the Biden administration at his weekend speech at CPAC, the Biden White House declined to take the bait.

PSAKI: I think we're going to spend more of our time focused on communicating about our agenda for the American people than responding to criticism from the former president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: And President Biden meeting tonight virtually with the president of Mexico. The meeting started about an hour or so ago, Wolf, and they're talking so much about immigration, borders.

You can see some pictures there in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. And there was a question here earlier from the Mexican president if the U.S. would help its neighboring country with the COVID-19 vaccine. The president said, "We will talk about it," but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said earlier today, no, the administration's priority is getting those vaccinations here in the U.S. -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff Zeleny, reporting from the North Lawn of the White House, thank you.

Joining us now, Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Frieden, thank you so much for joining us.

Let's talk about this new Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It becomes the third coronavirus vaccine distributed now here in the United States.

First of all, what are the advantages of this shot compared to the other two? And how quickly will we start to see a real impact?

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: Well, first off, it's more good news.

Really, if you go back and think of what we thought a year ago, nobody thought we'd have three great vaccines today. And we do. And what we're seeing is that the J&J vaccine has been 100 percent effective at preventing serious illness and death.

And it's one more tool in the toolbox to fight COVID. The benefits are that it only needs routine refrigeration, it only needs a single shot, and it's less expensive. So, a lot of benefits there. And the big picture is, it expands our supply.

And over the next few months, we're going to see a steadily increasing supply. That's why it's so important that people stick with it, use those masks, maintain distance for the next few months, at least, because we do have variants spreading.

We do have, as you covered earlier, what appears to be a stall in the decline in many parts of the U.S. So we're not out of the woods yet. But the vaccines are kicking in, are saving lives, and are going to be increasingly available.

BLITZER: Yes, this is no time to let up at all.

As you know, Dr. Frieden, Dr. Fauci is warning against comparing the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine, for that matter. He says they were not necessarily measured head to head. [18:10:07]

Explain to our viewers what this means as far as the efficacy of these three vaccines.

FRIEDEN: I think we're really excited by the mRNA vaccines, because they're so good. They seem to be so effective.

But the fact is, we're not sure how long the immunity will last. We're not sure what the long-term assessment will be of each of the vaccines. And the assessment of the different vaccines was a little different.

What it what does appear is that, with the mRNA vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna, you need two doses. And two weeks after the second dose, you're considered fully protected by that vaccination series. So that's five or six weeks in.

Interestingly, in what are called the vector-based vaccines, like the J&J vaccine and the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, immunity seems to increase for about two months. So, the real apples-to-apples comparison would be comparing risk six to eight weeks after the J&J vaccine vs. after two doses of the Moderna vaccine, plus another -- or Pfizer vaccine -- plus another two weeks.

And the fact is, no one's done that study. What we do know is that, for all three vaccines, the protection against severe disease was superb. So, the bottom line, whatever vaccine you can get when it's your turn, get it.

BLITZER: You should.

I was really encouraged to hear, Dr. Frieden, that Johnson & Johnson says they will actually start conducting vaccine trials in pregnant women, people under the age of 18, immunocompromised individuals.

What do we still need to learn about how this vaccine will impact these specific groups?

FRIEDEN: Well, the biggest group that we don't have information on so far is his kids.

So there are studies being done now on 12-to-16-year-olds. Already, 16-plus for some of the vaccine is approved. But for younger kids, we don't have those studies even under way yet. So that's very important.

It's a complicated decision for women who are pregnant. It needs to be discussed with their doctor, because there's such limited data. And we always want to be very careful for women who are pregnant, but no suggestion that there's a problem with either vaccine.

We're just super careful during pregnancy.

BLITZER: Dr. Frieden, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

FRIEDEN: Thank you. BLITZER: Just ahead: Donald Trump tightens his grip on the GOP, while

threatening to punish Republicans who oppose him.

I get reaction from a GOP lawmaker who says he's proud to be on the former president's so-called enemies list, Congressman Adam Kinzinger. There you see him. He's standing by live.

We will discuss when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:38]

BLITZER: Tonight, former President Donald Trump is feeding his supporters' greatest hopes and his opponents' worst fears about his political future.

He made it clear this weekend that he and his false claims about the election are not going away.

Let's bring in CNN congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles. He is joining us from Capitol Hill right now.

Ryan, based on what we saw and heard from Trump at CPAC, how much influence does he have over the Republican Party right now?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no doubt that, after this weekend, he is coming into the next two years with a great deal of momentum.

There certainly seems to be the energy in the Republican Party behind the former president. And he's trying to tap into that. He is teasing the possibility of running once again in 2024, saying that his journey is far from over.

But where he will really be able to wield his power over the next two years comes right here on Capitol Hill. And the president is promising to be actively involved in the midterm process, not just in the general election, but in the primary process as well.

On Sunday, he listed some of his enemies, people that he is upset with, because they either voted for impeachment or voted to convict him here in the Senate during his impeachment trial. The president making clear that he is keeping a list of all of those names and he is ready to seek retribution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Democrats don't have grandstanders like Mitt Romney, little Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey.

And, in the House, Tom Rice, South Carolina, Adam Kinzinger, Dan Newhouse, Anthony Gonzalez -- that's another beauty -- Fred Upton, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Peter Meijer, John Katko, David Valadao, and, of course, the warmonger, a person that loves seeing our troops fighting, Liz Cheney.

How about that?

Hopefully, they will get rid of her with the next election. Get rid of them all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: It seemed at times that President Trump was actually more focused on his Republican enemies than he was Democrats.

And Trump rejected the idea that there is some sort of a schism in the Republican Party, saying that the Republican Party is completely behind him and that there is no dissension.

The question, of course, Wolf, is, if Trump plans to mount primary challenges against all of these incumbents in the House of Representatives and in the United States Senate, how does that help them regain the majorities in 2022?

There are a lot of Republicans here on Capitol Hill worried that that will just make the process that much harder -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly is true.

Our Ryan Nobles up on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

Joining us now, a Republican on Trump's enemies list, Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Congressman Kinzinger, thanks so much for joining us.

What went through your mind hearing the former president single you out, as he did yesterday?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): It was no surprise.

I mean, it was -- what was an honor was to be listed with such good members of Congress and other senators like Bill Cassidy and Murkowski and Liz Cheney and Jaime Herrera Beutler, these people that stood up and voted their conscience, despite the tough political thing that they knew would come from that.

And that's what leadership is about. When we lead, whether it's in the House or Senate or even on the local level, it's not about just reflecting people's fears back to them, so that we can get votes. It's about showing people a brighter, better future.

[18:20:12]

And so, look, it didn't surprise me in the least. But it was also something that I fully expect from him, because he wants attention. And he feels like he's losing that attention now.

BLITZER: The intimidation tactics don't -- clearly don't work, as far as you're concerned. But how do you move the GOP forward, when so many of your Republican

colleagues clearly are still scared of the former president's wrath?

KINZINGER: I think you have to -- you have to president a competing vision.

For four years, we haven't had anybody really presenting a competing vision. And it's a vision that's based on optimism, based on the future, based on looking at, frankly, the great history of the Republican Party and saying, how can we apply that to 21st century problems, and less about fear and division and darkness?

And that's why, in fact, I just launched a new video on Country1st.com -- 1st.com. I would encourage people to watch it, because what I talk about on there is how fear has infected our politics for the last decade or two, honestly. And it's a very compelling thing.

You can easily get votes if you scare people onto your side. But the problem is, is that, election cycle after election cycle, it leads to really the destruction of democracy. And we're starting to see real signs of that, of that failure, when we see so much violence out there.

BLITZER: It's true. It's scary.

And when the former president uttered those words yesterday about a -- that he was that he won the election, clearly, the big lie, as you will, unfortunately, it does encourage some of those elements who still support him to go out there and do some bad things, as we saw on January 6.

It's not necessarily simply also an empty threat against you. If Trump is determined, could you or other Republicans on his so-called enemies list, those who voted to impeach or convict, actually lose your seats over this?

KINZINGER: Yes, it's possible.

I mean, look, first off, I think anybody, especially a former president, that has something called an enemies list, those enemies should probably be leaders of bad countries and those -- or terrorists, not fellow Americans, and, especially surprising, fellow Republicans.

And when we talk about needing to have addition vs. subtraction as a party, I mean, quite honestly, saying you have no place in the party if you vote your conscience, I mean, I got 65 percent of my district. He got 56 percent.

It doesn't take a math genius to figure out what the better winning solution is. But, look, for me, I'm pivoting to what is next for this party. How can we present an optimistic vision? And in terms of what the election looks like, that will be, I think, what the next year or two years determine.

And I think it's a message you have to take to the Republican voters and those that are longing and could vote Republican that either haven't or have left.

BLITZER: Yes, as I have said before, you and Liz Cheney and others, you guys are courageous. You guys have guts to do what you're doing right now.

The former president also says he's not leaving the GOP to start a new party. You say you're clearly not leaving the GOP either. Is the Republican Party, from your perspective, big enough for both of you?

KINZINGER: I think it depends.

So, I have been a Republican far longer than Donald Trump has. He's a recent Republican. He has taken the values that we have and cloaked them in populism and fear and darkness, and made them unrecognizable. So, I'm not going anywhere.

In terms of, is there room, look, we have plenty of room for people that supported Donald Trump, of course, people that thought he was the best venue to get to a country that had a smaller government, a strong defense.

The problem is, as long as Donald Trump is there saying others aren't welcome and peddling the stark divisive, fear, I'm not sure there's room for the competing visions. And that's going to be up to the Republican voter. Do you want to just be able to go on Twitter and be angry, or do you actually believe in an optimistic future, like you used to prior to Donald Trump?

And that's where I think taking this message like I do on Country1st is so important to win this battle for the heart and soul.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to you, Congressman Kinzinger. Thank you so much for joining us.

KINZINGER: You bet.

BLITZER: We have some news just coming in from Capitol Hill right now.

The U.S. Senate just confirmed Miguel Cardona as the new education secretary. He did have bipartisan support, the final vote in the Senate 64 in favor, 33 against. Cardona, a former public school teacher, faces an immediate challenge of trying to safely reopen schools amid the COVID crisis. He's the new secretary of education.

Just ahead, there's breaking news on the sexual harassment allegations against the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo. A second accuser has a new statement that just came out tonight.

And Harry and Meghan shed new light on why they decided to step away from their royal duties.

[18:25:02]

We're getting details of their no-holds-barred interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: We have breaking news out of New York right now, where Governor Andrew Cuomo is in deeper and deeper political and potentially legal trouble.

A second woman to publicly accuse him of sexual harassment is speaking out tonight. And she's clearly not satisfied by his attempt at an apology.

Our national correspondent, Brynn Gingras, working this story for us from New York.

Brynn, what are you hearing from this accuser?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, downright not accepting that apology.

Charlotte Bennett issuing a statement, basically rejecting it, and I want to read part of it to you.

[18:30:04]

It says, it took the governor 24 hours insignificant backlash to allow for a truly independent investigation. These are not the actions of someone who simply feels misunderstood. They are the actions of an individual who wields his power to avoid justice. Her attorney adding to that statement, what the governor did was, quote, textbook sexual harassment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Good morning to everyone.

GINGRAS (voice over): New York Governor Andrew Cuomo trying to stem the fallout after a new sexual harassment allegation surfaced, the second in a matter of days, calls for an investigation coming from the biggest names in Cuomo's own party, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and even the White House.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The New York Attorney General will overseeing independent investigation with subpoena power, and the governor's office said he will fully cooperate. We certainly support that process.

GINGRAS: The most recent accusation first reported by The New York Times, 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett, a former aide telling the paper, the governor asked her personal questions in a one-on-one setting last year, like had she been with an older man or if she had been monogamous in her relationships, quote, I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared, she said.

JESSE MCKINLEY, THE NEW YORK TIMES: She'd actually gone to the Governor Cuomo's chief of staff, had launched a complaint. So this would documented and known inside of the Cuomo administration. GINGRAS: In a statement late last night, the second one issued since Bennett came forward, Cuomo apologized for what he perceived as, quote, playful comments. I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.

Cuomo's word also, in response to accusation made last week by a different former aide, Lindsey Boylan, who, in a median pose, said she received an unwanted kiss from the governor in 2018, which Cuomo has denied multiple times. Boylan and Bennett did not discuss their claims with CNN.

The governor is now asking the New York Attorney General to hire a private lawyer to investigate, but that was only after relenting to pressure from the A.G. and lawmakers, who said his earlier proposals of who would investigate weren't acceptable because none of them allowed subpoena powers.

REP. ALEXADRIA OCASIO-CORTES (D-NY): If these investigations bear out it really starts to, I think, call into question the leadership that we currently have.

GINGRAS: For the governor once praised and admired globally for his pandemic response, mounting pressure and an increasingly uncertain political future.

MCKINLEY: The condemnation of these remarks has been bipartisan. Democrats are very upset. Republicans were upset even before this with the nursing home scandal. So Governor Cuomo is in a very precarious political position at this hour.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (on camera): Yes, so the governor is now facing probes on two different fronts, Wolf. One is sexual harassment claims and then the other, having to do with his administration's handling of nursing home death data during the pandemic. That one a preliminary inquiry being conducted by the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn and the FBI. The governor has said he will fully cooperate with the attorney general's investigation. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Brynn, thank you very much, Brynn Gingras, in New York for us.

Let's get some more in all of these. CNN Senior Legal Analyst, former Federal Prosecutor, Laura Coates, is joining us right now. Laura, now that the New York attorney general, Letitia James, is cleared to move forward with an independent investigation, how do you think this is going to play out?

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's about the timing of it now. Now that you have subpoena power, why this is so important to point out, as our correspondent was talking about, the idea of having somebody who is going to look over as an arbitrator of sort, to sort of look at things in a holistic fashion from one separate move is very different than having subpoena power to be able to not only look into the claims but to the subpoena documents, to be able to compel witnesses to appear, no longer on a voluntarily base, the idea that you must commend and present testimony.

And, of course, it also tells you the scope of the investigation is going to be even more than the allegations between Governor Cuomo and the two accusers. It's now going to be about how the administration actually handled it. The ideas of what people knew, when they knew it, has there been email correspond to sort of corroborate what she has said, the time this reported, there were contemporaneous email or text or conversation with her peers or perhaps family member.

They will have the ability to get all that information as well to really flush out the claims and to figure out what happened as she alerted it to up the chain of command. And why this is an abuse of power, why is this instance when, where nobody knew about it and flush all of those details out now with the power of a subpoena.

BLITZER: Should Cuomo's accusers, Laura, have faith that this investigation will be conducted without kind of serious political interference?

[18:35:00]

COATES: I hope they do have faith. Just given the conduct of the attorney general, Letitia James, who said, look, I know you wanted me to work in cahoots with somebody who was a respected judge but I, my office has the authority over this particular thing. We're the ones who are going to oversee it. We'll look now to a firm outside of even our office to try to make sure it's not even a hint of impropriety.

And all these different layers are added protection and added measures of assurance to say, if people are not going to have their thumb on the scale because of a political allegiance or a political ax to grind and will be able to look at it in a holistic manner from people who are not elected, people who are in a position to actually get the information, then that should give greater confidence in this respect.

BLITZER: The governor's office, as you know, Laura, put out a series of statements over the weekend before finally, finally issuing an apology. What does that tell you that his office seems to be fumbling the initial response to these allegations? And what happens if more women, right now, two women have come forward, but if there are more women who would do the same thing?

COATES: Well, if past is prologue and other related scandals for people who are not Governor Cuomo, sometimes when there is smoke, there is fire and there could be the opening of a flood gates. We have no information suggest that, but the fact that within days who is more than one accuser come forward and one actually, essentially implore the other to do so is right where you telling.

But also you have the idea here that this is the governor who gave and was praised over the past year for his oral statements, his actual press conferences. Now we've got a series of written statements. That is an issue for people who are trying to assess credibility, who are trying to have a checking in about confidences and people who want to hear it from the proverbial horse's mouth about what happened and to judge for themselves the adequacy of the actual apology.

You had earlier on today talking with this on CNN, Mayor Bill de Blasio on this issue on calling it a non-apology. Well, one of the reasons for that statement is in part because it's a written, because it can't be fleshed out, because follow-up can't happened, because you can't see somebody's face. And it doesn't mean that the person is lying or that somehow that undermines their integrity but it does -- it comes incumbent upon the person who is invested in due process and in his position of power to have the people perhaps hear from him on these issues.

But for now, he's chosen to use this mechanism and so far it has not prevailed as the best course of action according to the accusers.

BLITZER: Yes. And let's see what happens to the coming days and weeks. Laura Coates, as usual thank you very much.

Just ahead a rising young star in the Republican Party is facing troubling allegations about the past.

And the British Royal Family is bracing for, what, Harry and Meghan might say in their new interview with Oprah Winfrey. We're getting a preview, all that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: Some breaking news coming from Capitol Hill right now. Republican Senator Mitt Romney just told our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju that he fell over the weekend and was knocked unconscious. Romney says he was taken to the hospital where he, quote, had a lot of stitches but that he's doing better. That's good news.

That happened while he was visiting his grandchildren in Boston. Romney joked that it happened at CPAC, obviously, didn't. Let's hope for the best. Mitt Romney, he is doing much better right now, but there was a lot of concern over the weekend.

Also tonight, serious questions are swirling around the youngest member of Congress, an up and coming Republican with an increasingly high profile. Our Washington Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is working this story for us.

Sunlen, Congressman Madison Cawthorn, he's facing some troubling allegations about his past. I know you've been looking into all of this. What are you learning?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Madison Cawthorn, a freshman here in Congress, he's already captured national attention given that he is the youngest member of Congress. But tonight, he is facing new allegations about his sexual conduct while in Congress, which was only four years ago and also the narrative that he has so carefully crafted about his background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. MADISON CAWTHORN (R-NC): If we don't start fighting for our country then who will?

SERFATY (voice over): He is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. But Congressman Madison Cawthorn's past and the political persona he has cultivated is littered with accuracies and dark allegations.

CAWTHORN: I welcome increase scrutiny because you know I don't have anything to hide.

SERFATY: Cawthorn faced numerous allegations of sexual harassment while attending Patrick Henry College in Virginia just four years ago, accusations Cawthorn has denied.

CAITLIN COULTER, FORMER CLASSMATE OF MADISON CAWTHORN: His M.O. was to take vulnerable women out on these rides with him in the car and to make advances.

SERFATY: Caitlin Coulter went to school with Cawthorn and says she was taken on what he called a fun drive. According to Coulter, Cawthorn asked her about the purity ring and her sexual experiences. Coulter says she felt something was off and shut down the conversation.

COULTER: He got really upset and he whips the car around and started going back to campus at 70, 80 miles an hour, one lane roads. And it was really scary.

SERFATY: CNN spoke to two other women who wept to school with Cawthorn, both of them also mention his invitations of this so-called fun drives and that turning him down with result in more unwanted attention. There is a lot of sexual innuendo, Leah Petree told CNN, it got really uncomfortable walking to and from class, he would yell out are you ready to take that fun drive today?

[18:45:01]

That pestering continued, that attention was not what I wanted.

More than 150 people from the college signed on to a letter last year blasting what they said was Cawthorn's predatory behavior and urged voters in his district to reject his candidacy.

In a statement provided to BuzzFeed during the campaign, Cawthorn said I have never done anything sexually inappropriate in my life.

Meantime, fresh questions about his own account of the car accident that left him wheelchair bound in 2014. In a 2017 speech, Cawthorn claimed that he was left for dead after he and a friend were in that 2014 car accident and his friend abandoned him at the scene.

REP. MADISON CAWTHORN (R-NC): He was my brother, my best friend. He leaves me in a car to die in a fiery tomb. SERFATY: But CNN obtained the accident report which shows that

Cawthorn was not declared dead, his injuries were listed as incapacitating.

Bradley Ledford, Cawthorn's friend and the driver of the car, telling "The Washington Post" that Cawthorn's accounting of the accident was not true. Cawthorn's own parents undercutting their son's story, too, saying the driver of the car rescued him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wasn't scared and run from the fire. He helped -- he pulled Madison out of the car because he was unconscious.

SERFATY: That accident went on to be the core part of the narrative Cawthorn weaved about himself as he ran for Congress.

CAWTHORN: I know something about adversity. At 18 years old, I was in a horrific car accident that's left me paralyzed from the waist down.

SERFATY: His campaign website claiming that he was nominated to the prestigious U.S. Naval Academy, but his plans were derailed by the car accident. But in this 2017 deposition related to the accident obtained by CNN, Cawthorn admitted that he was rejected by the academy before the accident.

The details of Cawthorn's background part of a "Washington Post" investigation into the freshman lawmaker who at 25 years old is the youngest member of Congress.

MICHAEL KRANISH, WASHINGTON POST: There are a lot of false statements, that there are baseless allegations made. There's no question that he is trying to take that page from the Trump playbook.

SERFATY: Those false statements include Cawthorn's baseless claims of election fraud, which is spread during his remarks at the January 6th rally on the National Mall, the same day rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, and has pushed an aftermath of the insurrection.

CAWTHORN: Well, we do have concrete evidence that there were ballot drop boxes inside of Wisconsin. I don't have the right pages on me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (on camera): And just clarifying there, Wolf, that these allegations of sexual misconduct when Cawthorn was in college. That was four years ago.

Now, a spokesperson for Cawthorn tells me tonight that they believe that all these questions have been asked and answered during the course of the campaign and they note that he, of course, did win his campaign by 12 percentage points but they would not notably, Wolf, make the congressman available for comment tonight.

BLITZER: All right. Very interesting, indeed. Sunlen Serfaty, up on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

Just ahead, Harry and Meghan are opening up about their decision to split from the royal family. We're going to preview their revealing new interview with Oprah when we come back.

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[18:47:28]

BLITZER: There is certainly a lot of anticipation here in the United States and indeed around the world for a new interview with Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan. We are getting a first glimpse of what they're saying about their split from royal life.

CNN's royal correspondent Max Foster is joining us from the U.K. right now.

Max, the palace I understand has been bracing for this interview. What do we know about the details?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the network clearly feel they have very strong material here because they have announced they are extending the primetime special to two hours. What is interesting about it is that this is really the first time that Meghan and Harry have been able to speak completely freely. Only last month they confirmed they won't be returning to their royal roles so therefore in no way they represent or speak for the monarchy. They only speak for themselves.

And we know that Oprah has said that no subject is off limits in this interview. She says that Meghan says some quite shocking things and, of course, the most interesting element here at the moment is why they chose to leave the U.K.

Well, expect them to expand on this idea they were hounded by the tabloid media but Meghan has also spoken in the past briefly about how she felt unprotected by the institution. Did the monarchy let her down? I think there is some nervousness frankly in royal circles about how she may respond to this question we know that Oprah asks, were you silent or were you silenced effectively by the institution? We don't know what Meghan says but are waiting to hear what their answer is.

It is being touted already as Meghan's version of Princess Diana's bombshell interview really back in the 1990s with Martin Bashir of the BBC and Harry speaks about how his experience has been similar to Diana's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY: You know, for me, I am just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side because I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago because it has been unbelievably tough for the two of us but at least we had each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: We haven't been given any indication from the Sussex side about what else is in this but as I say, there is some nervousness in royal circles not necessarily that they felt they did anything wrong. They felt they did support Meghan and Harry but they just don't know what they're going to say.

BLITZER: We look forward to the interview.

[18:55:00]

Max Foster reporting, thank you very much.

We're going to have more news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Finally tonight, another truly heartbreaking story of a husband and wife who died from the coronavirus.

Rosie and Eddie Davenport of Texas were both 78 years old. They grew up together. They became high school sweethearts. They were married for more than 60 years. Before they retired, he was a home contractor. She was a certified nurse assistant. They leave behind five children, 16 grandchildren, and a host of great grandchildren.

After living a very full life together, Rosie and Eddie Davenport, they died just 28 days apart. May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.

Thanks very much for watching. I'm wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. You can always follow me on Twitter, and always follow me on Instagram @WolfBlitzer. You can tweet the show @CNNSitRoom.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.