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Biden's $1.9 Trillion COVID Relief Bill Heads To Senate; Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Could Get Final Green Light Today; Trump To Make First Post-Presidency Speech Today; Second Ex-Aide Accuses Gov. Cuomo Of Sexual Harassment; Republican State Lawmakers Push For Voting Restriction; Trumpism 2021 Voter Test. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired February 28, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:28]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST (voice-over): The COVID relief bill takes a big leap forward without any GOP votes.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: We're one step closer to vaccinating the nation, one step closer to putting $1,400 in the pockets of Americans.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The Democrats' spending bill is too costly, too corrupt and just too liberal for this country.

PHILLIP: Progressives are furious that it likely won't include a minimum wage hike.

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): It is unacceptable for us to continue to come up with excuses on why we can't do the right thing.

PHILLIP: Plus, the MAGA faithful gather in Florida.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Let me tell you this right now, Donald J. Trump ain't going anywhere.

PHILLIP: The ex-president speaks publicly for the first time since the election later today.

And good news on the COVID fight, a new vaccine is on the verge of approval.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We now have three highly effective vaccines, each of them are very effective against severe disease and you get essentially no hospitalizations or deaths.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Abby Phillip.

To our viewers in the United States and around the world, thank you for spending your weekend with us.

President Biden spent his first month in office pushing a nearly $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. It's one of the biggest pieces of legislation in the history of this country and after the House passed it early Saturday morning, it's one big step closer to becoming law. The next step, the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We have no time to waste. If we act now, decisively, quickly and boldly, we can finally get ahead of this virus, we can finally get our economy moving again and the people of this country have suffered far too much for too long. We need to relieve that suffering. The American Rescue Plan does just that, it relieves the suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And here is why this bill matters to you, it includes $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans, more money for unemployment aid, for state and local governments and for schools that are struggling to reopen, plus $60 billion for vaccine distribution and COVID testing. The bill also includes a minimum wage hike which is all but certain to be left out of the Senate version of the bill. We'll have more on that later.

But Republicans say either way, it's a liberal wish list that's not focused enough to fight the actual COVID-19 pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: It is the single most expensive spending bill ever, but will it help people get back to work? No. Will it help students get back in the classroom immediately? No. Will it help get vaccines to those who want it? The answer is no.

It is entirely partisan and has the wrong priorities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Zero Republicans, zero, voted for the bill in the House, and Mitch McConnell says that President Biden can expect a similar outcome in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Having chosen the progressive route he's certainly made it a lot easier for me to unify my members in opposition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And joining us now with their reporting and their insights, Seung Min Kim of "The Washington Post" and CNN's Phil Mattingly.

Thanks both of you for getting up early for us. So, Phil, the minimum wage is all but certain to come out of the

Senate bill due to the parliamentarian's ruling that it can't be in a bill that's going to pass via reconciliation. Now that it's headed toward the Senate, do you see its fate being a little bit easier, especially given that the Biden administration -- they were sort of dreading having to bring moderate Democrats along with the minimum wage hike in the first place?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, there's going to be a number of issues that the Senate is going to have to work out here, it's not going to be as clean as picking up the House bill without the minimum wage and moving it forward. But there's no question about it, from the White House perspective, you can track back, Abby, when this was actually put together, when the $1.9 trillion proposal was built from the ground up by the White House and the $15 minimum wage was not considered a central or crucial component of it.

It was an acknowledgement that it was something that progressives want. It was an acknowledgment President Biden supported, but when it was put in the plan my understanding from the people that were working on that plan is there was no expectation necessarily that it was going to be there by the time this reached the finish line and the reason why it's so important for it to come out from a math perspective is there are two moderate Democrats that are opposed to the $15 minimum wage. Had this stayed in the proposal, had the parliamentarian ruled that it was okay, they had a vote problem in terms of getting the entire package over the finish line.

[08:05:05]

So there's still going to be some machinations going on behind the scenes, particularly from progressive Democrats trying to figure out a way to address the minimum wage, maybe through another avenue that would meet Senate rules, but having this out of the proposal makes it a lot easier to get 50 votes in the U.S. Senate for the White House.

PHILLIP: Yeah.

And, Seung Min, you know, it's not hard to see the Republican approach that opposing what the opposition party wants to do would be good politics for them, it's something that they did back in 2009 with the Obama administration, but at the same time, you know, the view from within Biden world is that things are different this time around. The circumstances on the ground for people are tougher.

And what you're seeing at the state level -- take a listen to this from the Oklahoma City mayor, a Republican and his response to the COVID bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DAVID HOLT (R), OKLAHOMA: I think this is a no-brainer. I mean, it's a very popular issue in my community regardless of your party registration and certainly that's why we would encourage -- we think it's good public policy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So is the politics of this, let alone the policy of it, is it as clear-cut for Republicans as it may seem?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's yet to be seen certainly in the coming days and months because, you're right, the Biden world strategy hasn't been to paint, you know -- has been -- part of the Biden world strategy has been to paint this bill as bipartisan because of the support that it's getting from, for example, Republican governors, Republican mayors like the one you played earlier and just the general public. If you show the polling on this legislation, it is broadly bipartisan, it is broadly popular, particularly with Republicans.

But that hasn't translated into Capitol Hill and it is yet to be seen whether it will take up any Senate Republican votes. Even with the minimum wage increase out it does seem very unlikely that any Republican senators at the end of the day will vote for it, but it's not for a lack of trying on the Biden administration's part. Obviously, we saw that big meeting earlier, you know, several weeks ago with ten Republican senators and president Biden and top White House officials.

As Phil and I have both reported over the last couple days those talks had trickled down to the point that Senator Susan Collins who is probably seen as the most likely candidate to vote for a bill like this said that -- said the talks were stalled, that they were now focused instead of talking to the White House on making changes to the legislation when it came over to the senate. So, as a test of President Biden's ability to win over -- win over a natural Republican vote, it doesn't seem like it's going to be ending that way.

PHILLIP: Yeah. I mean, you know, to that point Democrats are now it seems focused on what's happening within their party and what's best for their party going into the midterm elections. You're hearing a lot of complaints that if they don't get the minimum wage in there, the $1,400 will get spent immediately, people will not have things in their pocket books going into the midterm elections.

I want to pull up this tidbit here about what happened in Florida in 2020 when it comes to the minimum wage alone. It is an enormously popular thing. That state 61 percent of voters voted to raise the minimum wage in 2020, and on that same ballot, only 48 percent of Americans voted for Biden.

It's probably one of the reasons why you're seeing Democrats and progressives really pushing hard on this minimum wage issue. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): It is essential that we deliver on this promise. Voters are not going to understand if we go back in two years and say, do you know what, there's a -- there's a parliamentarian who told us we couldn't do it, so, I'm sorry, we couldn't deliver what we promised. That is simply not going to cut it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So, Phil, what is the Biden administration's reaction to that which seems to be actually a pretty reasonable concern from a political perspective that they might lose power in two years if they don't deliver on their promises.

MATTINGLY: So I think there's a couple things. One, you are not going to see President Biden or his team drop the idea of increasing the minimum wage. Again, they went into this not expecting it to be in the final package, however, they thought it was important, one, to have it in there from the beginning and two to stress throughout the process that the president supports it.

Now, there's realities here when it comes to the United States Senate and I think this is why progressives are so fired up, they know if this isn't in a reconciliation bill, if this isn't an aircraft carrier that has to pass, that it's not going to pass on a stand-alone basis. But you will see, I'm told, the White House and President Biden get behind trying to take the avenue of a standalone a minimum wage increase here.

I think it's all relevant to, when you talk to White House advisers they recognize it's early.

[11:10:00]

There's a lot -- while it seems like the midterms might be coming up quickly and with CPAC and everything else going on right now, it seems like perhaps we are never going to get out of campaign season but there's a lot of time left to go. And I think, there's a couple of thins -- one, there are certainly going to be more fights between progressives and moderates and the White House is going to have to manage all of those things.

But I also think that there will be more time for the White House maybe to shift the focus away from what they didn't get in this package towards what they did, and connect to your earlier point, Abby, that the fact that the Republicans who they will be running against in 2022 or at least on the congressional level voted against that.

So, we'll see how that plays out. I think progressives are staking out a pretty firm position and you will see that play out over the course of the next couple of months but the White House acknowledges, look, we're going to get as much as we can right now and we will play it by ear after that.

PHILLIP: And one of the stand-alone options you're referencing is one from Senator Bernie Sanders which would basically tax larger corporations for not raising the minimum wage. Seung min, what do you think are the prospects of that stand-alone proposal actually turning into something? Is that actually a feasible option for Democrats at this point?

KIM: Well, right now with Senate Democrats, as we know, the $15 minimum wage as is written is going to be out of the Senate version. Now, Senate Democratic leaders have talked about writing a potential $15 minimum wage in different ways that could perhaps pass parliamentarian muster such as changing it so it's not a mandate on businesses. But, ultimately, I think it's pretty clear that this is probably not going to survive at the end of the day.

So, obviously, you're going to be looking towards other stand-alone options that could perhaps get 60 votes in the Senate. So that comes to the question of would President Biden when this discussion and debate happens, would he be willing to step, for example, a $12 per hour minimum wage increase that somehow phases it in over time?

Senator Joe Manchin when we have talked about this issue with him several times, he has been open to a lower level as has, again, Senator Susan Collins from Maine. But, again, it's just that constant tension between the progressives who are very -- aiming very high, having these ambitious goals, having a $15 per hour minimum wage increase against, first of all, a president who is always kind of open to compromise and willing to negotiate with Republicans.

And whether the broader Democratic Party is willing to kind of accept something that is not perfect to get something done. So, it will be interesting to see if those -- if those debates happen, how far they actually go, how many Republicans are actually willing to increase the minimum wage at least a certain amount phased in over time. But, again, that's obviously a debate for another time.

PHILLIP: I mean, the surprising number of Republicans have put forward their own minimum wage type proposals which goes to show they don't think this issue is completely anathema right now politically for them as well.

Seung Min, Phil Mattingly, thank you both for going being here this morning.

And coming up next, America is about to have a third vaccine to fight COVID-19. It is easier to administer and it could save your life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:25]

PHILLIP: America is on the verge of having a third officially authorized vaccine to fight COVID-19. The FDA approved Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine yesterday and the CDC is expected to follow as soon as tonight. That means the first shots could be in arms in the next few days.

This vaccine joins versions from Pfizer and Moderna that have already vaccinated tens of millions of Americans and as of this morning more than 72 million doses have been administered in the United States. That means about 15 percent of Americans are partially vaccinated, but just 7 percent are fully vaccinated. A long way to get to that herd immunity threshold that many public health experts say ought to be between 75 percent and 80 percent of the U.S. population. But things are getting better. If you look at this chart here we've

been averaging well over a million vaccinations a day since January and right now as we stand here today we are at 1.6 million vaccinations a day, that's enough to hit President Biden's goal of 100 million shots in 100 days, but even at this pace we will only be at around 200 million people fully vaccinated by the fall. So clearly to get to herd immunity things will have to pick up.

The limiting factor up until this point has been the supply of doses. Not enough doses for the people who want it from Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson we are expecting by the end of march to have about 130 -- enough doses to vaccinate 130 million people by the end of march, but that's getting better over time. By the end of July you will have 400 million doses available. That's enough to fully vaccinate 400 million people.

So things are getting a lot better, but the issue will also be whether or not we will be able to get those shots into arms. And the NIH director said this past week that things are improving, we are not out of the woods yet, but that Johnson & Johnson vaccine that is just one dose will help us get there a lot faster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, NIH DIRECTOR: But we have had two vaccines now it looks like we are going to have three and that means we can get more doses into arms.

Even though the numbers of cases are coming down, they've kind of plateaued in the last week. We are not done with this and the best way to get done is with this vaccine being added to the others.

This one, by the way, is a single dose. So it's a little less complicated, you don't have to have that second dose three or four weeks later.

It also doesn't require fancy freezers, it can just be kept in the refrigerator so it has some real advantages there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Joining us now with more on this is Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

Thanks for being with us this morning.

So we just heard from Dr. Collins, the J&J vaccine is easier to distribute and to administer. It's 66 percent effective overall, but 85 percent effective against two things that really matter which are illness and death.

And some people see that 66 percent number and they say, wow, this vaccine is really not as good as the other ones. What do you say to those people?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Good morning, Abby. Thank you for having me on.

I start off by saying to those folks those are not apples to apples comparisons, right? The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was tested against the South African variant in South Africa, tested against the variant in brazil. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines weren't. We are not comparing the same thing.

The second is when you look at what we really compare about which is preventing hospitalizations and deaths, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes in at 100 percent once it's had a chance to work. So this is a terrific vaccine and I would certainly -- I would take it, I would recommend it to my family and I think people who are worried about that headline number I say ignore it because that's not really what you care about.

PHILLIP: You just made the point that we know how the J&J vaccine performs against these variants and the CDC says there are more than 2,100 confirmed cases of the more contagious variants already circulating in the United States, the number is probably far higher than that, it appears that this vaccine is less effective against them but at least we know that. And the J&J vaccine was only 57 percent effective against the south African variant which is one of the more concerns ones.

Do these numbers overall, though, worry you that we are about to head into a phase here where we could have some vaccines that are not quite ready to deal with the rise of these other variants that seem to be giving it a tougher time?

JHA: Yeah, so here is the bottom line on variants, the variants are important, we have to pay close attention to them, but there are several of them now and many of them do seem to challenge the efficacy of the vaccine.

But here is the way to think about it, not a single variant so far has rendered any of our vaccines useless. What they have done is, you know, if the vaccines were -- really were highly, highly effective, they still appear to be effective but maybe a little bit less so.

But here's the key bottom line, on the J&J vaccine against the South Africa variant, not a single person died who was vaccinated. So I remain really confident, Abby, that these vaccines are going to hold up against the variants, but we have to monitor this very closely.

PHILLIP: I can't stress that enough. What we want to avoid is people going to the hospital and dying and this vaccine does that, but what about transmission? What can you tell us about whether this vaccine helps people stop spreading the virus in addition from stopping them from getting sick?

JHA: Yeah, so we're still learning about all three of them, but the best data we have says that all three of these vaccines, including the J&J, reduces transmission probably 70 percent, 80 percent. Again, we're trying to nail that down, the science on that is not totally clear yet, but all the data, all the evidence, all the science we have suggests that all three vaccines will reduce transmissions quite a bit.

PHILLIP: So, right now, where we are it seems like the winter surge that we had seen was subsided, the cases are down from 300,000 a day almost to around 70,000 a day, which is pretty high still, but we are looking at the six-month chart right now and you see how far we've come.

But if you zoom in just for the last two months you see that we have hit a plateau in recent days at a very high level. The CDC director calls it, quote, a very concerning shift in the trajectory and some experts say it could be the beginning of a new surge that's driven by these variants we've been talking about.

But you have been pretty optimistic about where we are headed, you've been talking about hosting a Fourth of July party with family.

What do you think the future holds for the next couple of months?

JHA: Yeah, so the next four to six weeks remain concerning, partly because of all these variants and particularly the B.1.1.7, the variant out of the U.K., probably about 10 percent of infections now are starting to become dominant over the next few weeks. I think we will have to watch things very carefully. This is why I've been advising governors this is not the time to relax restrictions. We have to get through the next couple months.

I'm very bullish on where we will be in May, June, July, but March/April look like tough months we have to get through and be very careful about.

PHILLIP: Thanks, Dr. Ashish Jha, for joining us this morning.

And coming up next, President Trump will address CPAC this afternoon -- his first public appearance since leaving the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:30]

PHILLIP: Former president, Donald Trump isn't speaking until later today, but he's been center stage all weekend at the annual CPAC conference in Orlando.

A golden statue of his likeness greeted conferencegoers and prominent Republicans lined up to praise the former president and echo his rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX): Let me tell you this right now, Donald J. Trump isn't going anywhere.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): The left is telling you to submit or they will cancel you.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Speaking of people who ought to lose primaries, if Liz Cheney were on this stage today she'd get booed off of it.

SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I objected during the electoral college certification, maybe you heard about it. I was called a traitor, I was called a seditionist, the radical left said I should resign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: And that was senator Josh Hawley showing no regrets over peddling the lie that the election fraud cost Donald Trump reelection and there are nine CPAC panels dedicated to that topic alone with names like why judges and media refuse to look at the evidence, and a, quote, "Pandora's Box, what's next?"

Joining me now Amy Walter of "The Cook Political Report" and Republican strategist Scott Jennings.

So Scott, we are not going to pretend that we don't know what Donald Trump is going to do today at CPAC. We have all been here enough to see enough CPAC speeches, but Maggie Haberman is reporting and confirming this morning, this is what she's hearing from her sources.

She says "Mr. Trump is set to deliver a closing speech at CPAC that is expected to be a withering critique of President Biden's first few weeks in office touching on topics ranging from shuttered schools to immigration policy, said an adviser. He isn't expected to deliver a lengthy list of his own accomplishments in office and will aim to sound more like the candidate he was in 2016 than the campaigner he was in 2020."

That will be the aim to, I guess, perhaps not have a grievance-driven address, but what are you expecting today?

SCOTT JENNINGS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I mean, I guess it would be better to sound like 2016 than 2020. I mean, he wasn't much of a campaigner in 2020 at all.

He tried hard on his own campaign for about two weeks. He had no agenda, the RNC had no platform. He didn't run on much of anything at all.

Now, in 2016 running on immigration, that was a motivating item and that worked for him. And so getting back to that kind of 2016 fighting spirit might be better tactically for him.

Now, for the Republican Party at large is this smart to put Donald Trump at the center of our national electoral strategy, someone who has never gotten more votes than another Democrat ever? I would submit that it's not smart.

But the reality is going back to immigration, fighting the media, attacking the political establishment in both parties, that will work for him inside of a Republican primary heading into 2024 even if the Republican Party is still a little bit in the wilderness as it relates to a national governing strategy to win the national popular vote.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean I think the question right now is where exactly is the Republican Party in terms of whether they are on the verge of a civil war, Amy. And you this past week have posited, I think pretty smartly, that the civil war may be a little too soon to declare, quite frankly.

Let me just pull up a little bit of what you wrote. You said, "A midterm election is not a contest between two different visions of America, it is a referendum on the sitting president and his party. The party out of power is unified not necessarily in what they are for, but what they are against, namely the other side's policies."

So this does really put it on the Democrats here that it might be easier for Republicans perhaps to unite because they've got to just unite against Democrats, not necessarily sort out their own differences.

AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Right. And unite around policies that other voters, not just voters within their own base, think are unpopular. Why were Republicans successful in 2010 and in 2014? It was about jobs and the economy and it was about Obamacare. Two things that especially Independent voters felt frustrated about with the Obama administration at that time.

Democrats did really well in 2018. One, it was a backlash to Donald Trump personally, but also, again, the issue of health care. So let's see where we are by the end of this year. How successful has the economy come back? Do people feel better about how vaccines are being distributed? Are we back in schools?

It's also remarkable, Abby, to think that we have only been in the Biden administration for a month. Now, I realize time moves now like every day is 100 dog years or whatever, but we have a long way to go before we declare that one party has totally, you know, abandoned any opportunity to win again and the other one is the permanent majority.

PHILLIP: That is such a good reminder, it has been a month of the Biden administration. But I think today we will hear almost as if he's been in office for four years from President Trump in his speech.

But to your point about the policies that might be good for Republicans to run on, whether it's in 2022 or even 2024, take a listen to South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and how she framed this conversation.

[08:34:50]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): COVID didn't crush the economy. Government crushed the economy.

I believe South Dakota has been an example to the nation this past year. People used personal responsibility to protect their family's health and their way of life while the government respected their rights and their freedom.

I don't know if you agree with me, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So you hear Kristi Noem talking about the COVID restrictions but then you hear people like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz screaming about cancel culture.

Scott, what is the actual strategy for people who want to maybe be the party's nominee in 2024? Which is it?

JENNINGS: I think they are road testing these messages right now. I don't think they know quite what's going to work by 2024 so they are looking for things today to see how people respond to it.

This is not unlike what Trump did at times and he would throw out messages at his rallies to see how people would respond. I think people are picking up on that strategy.

I mean the world will change 100 times between now and 2024. I think the question for the Republicans is, though, do you think you can put an anti-strategy at the center of a national presidential election? You could certainly put one at the center of a midterm where jurisdictions and geography are more important.

But in 2024 is being anti -- anti-media, anti-Democrat, anti certain people in your own party -- is that enough or do you have to give them something further?

And what we never found in the Trump years and what we're still looking for now is what is our proactive policy platform? It doesn't have to be greatly detailed, I wouldn't offer, but certainly you have to show people what you stand for and what you would do and we don't have it yet.

And it's not clear to me really who in the party right now is sort of the ideas person or people, you know. Who is generating what we would have traditionally called the platform on which we would run an election?

PHILLIP: Well, that's a good question. I mean, ok, Amy, this past week, you know, Mitch McConnell said if Donald Trump were the nominee he would support him in 2024. Then you also had Mark Meadows saying that he believes that the future of the party has the last name Trump behind it.

WALTER: Right.

PHILLIP: Amy, is Donald Trump the front runner for 2024 right now. And if that's the case why are Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley even bothering to do what they're doing right now?

WALTER: Yes. Well, you know, the great thing about being a front runner right after an election is those folks are very rarely the front runner four years from now.

I totally agree with Scott's point, though, which is, you know, you have to understand the moment. So Donald Trump in 2016 did two things. He had the grievance campaign which had been building up for the last eight years about the Obama administration, so he coalesced the base there.

But he won over sort of skeptical voters and those who aren't part of the hard core traditional Republican base with a message of making America great and sort of an economic populism. That was the new sort of piece in all of this.

And so is that who the Republican Party is now? It's really unclear. Josh Hawley kind of thinks it is. He's pushing forward on a lot of issues on the economy that he thinks will get him into that lane.

But right now the party is much about grievance as anything else. And again, that can get you to 47 percent in a national popular election, but it doesn't get you -- you need to be able to have addition, bring more to the base than subtraction, which is try to push as many people away, which is, again, so much of these speeches are about people that they dislike, things they dislike, including things that are popular.

People aren't upset over all about a mask mandate or Dr. Fauci.

PHILLIP: Well, speaking of people who have political ambitions, this is a bit of a pivot, but Scott, I want to get your take on this. "The New York Times" had a bombshell story yesterday about a second allegation against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a second allegation of sexual harassment. This time by a former aide.

And this is in addition to some questions that have been raised about his handling of the COVID pandemic in the state specifically, the nursing home deaths. His approval rating has plummeted since last summer from 66 percent to 49 percent. How damaging is all of this for Cuomo?

JENNINGS: Well, I mean, these allegations seem very credible to me. I mean, these were first-hand accounts. I mean there's more evidence on these allegations against Cuomo than there ever was against, say, Brett Kavanaugh and we know what Cuomo and other Democrats' positions on Kavanaugh was. And if they held themselves to the same standard, his career would be toast.

Republicans have been complaining and screaming about Cuomo for a year, people are now catching up with it because his lies and his corruption and the treatment of these women is finally seeing the light of day.

So I hope this all gets thoroughly vetted, these people that have come forward seem extremely credible to me and, as I said, if Democrats want to hold their own people to the same standards they lay out for Republicans, then they would ditch Cuomo because he's clearly made a bunch of personal and professional mistakes.

[08:39:58]

PHILLIP: And Amy, does Cuomo survive this?

WALTER: I don't know. I think that Scott makes a very good point which is for Democrats who have been banging the drum on MeToo and Believe Every Woman, it gets very difficult to go and stand up and defend the governor of New York on these charges.

I think we're going to see more and more state and even national Democrats come out in the coming days or maybe even hours over Twitter. You've seen a lot of Democrats come out and suggest at least an investigation into this and some even calling for his resignation.

PHILLIP: Right. We have already seen the mayor who has no love loss for Cuomo, by the way, mayor of New York saying that he would back an investigation.

Amy Walter and Scott Jennings, both of you -- thank you for being with us this morning.

And coming up next, Republicans have spent months spreading disinformation about election fraud and now 33 states are trying to make it harder for you to cast a ballot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: After record setting turnout and vote by mail ballots in the 2020 election, Republicans are working to pass bills that restrict voting. In all, 33 states have introduced bills that would limit access to the ballot box.

Arizona leads the nation. Lawmakers there have introduced more than 20 such bills. That as the state narrowly-voted for now President Biden. He won there by three percentage points, the first Democrat to carry Arizona since 1996.

Joining me now to discuss the latest is Arizona's secretary of state Katie Hobbs. Secretary of State Hobbs, thank you for being with us this morning.

You know, you publicly defended your state's execution of the last election to the point where you received threats as a result of doing your job. What is your reaction to seeing this tidal wave of efforts to curtail voting especially in your state of Arizona that has such a long history of voting by mail?

[08:44:57]

KATIE HOBBS (D), ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it's, you know, not surprising that we are seeing this kind of legislation. This kind of legislation is not new in Arizona. And many of the legislators bringing it forward were some of the ones leading the charge on spreading the misinformation about the election that was held. And so again, unfortunately it's not surprising that we're seeing that here as well as in states across the country. Go, Arizona, leading the way.

PHILLIP: Leading the way and probably not in necessarily in a good way.

HOBBS: Right. PHILLIP: You know, one of the proposed bills include only counting

mail-in ballots postmarked by the Thursday before the election and allowing the legislature -- this is amazing -- allowing the legislature to overturn the election results.

In your experience would any of these proposals in the bill be effective at actually preventing voter fraud?

HOBBS: No. These bills are not intended to prevent voter fraud. They are intended to make it harder for people to vote. The legislature is directly attacking voters because they don't like the outcome of the election, so they are making it either harder to vote or if that fails just flat out being able to override the will of the voters.

And what's really concerning about the legislation we're seeing both in Arizona and across the country is that on Tuesday morning our state's attorney general is going to be arguing in the Supreme Court to uphold Arizona's felony ban on ballot collection and part of his argument will be trying to convince the Supreme Court to weaken the Voting Rights Act which in the future will make it much, much harder for any voter to challenge these kind of discriminatory laws.

PHILLIP: Wow. That will be something to watch for sure. You know, one of the lawmakers in your state, Karen Fann, who is the president of the Arizona state Senate who is a Republican, she told "The L.A. Times" this week that lawmakers are pursuing election-related legislation because, quote, "If that's what's important to our voters, we take care of it."

But hasn't this become important to Republican voters because lawmakers have been reinforcing lies about the last election? Is this sort of becoming a chicken and an egg kind of situation where they are blaming the voters for something that they put on the table in the first place?

HOBBS: Yes, exactly. I mean, I've been saying that since November 4th. So -- and I knew that they would take that -- the misinformation and flip that and use it to say, oh, we have to pass these laws because voters have doubts.

Well, you are the reason they have doubts. So it's extremely frustrating.

PHILLIP: Well, Katie Hobbs, you've been doing work on the front lines of this for years and many, many months now. Thank you for being with us this morning and getting up early for us as well.

HOBBS: Thank you so much.

PHILLIP: And coming up next, a big test of the power of Trumpism coming up this year in the Virginia governor's race.

[08:48:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIP: The talk at the conservative gathering known as CPAC is dominated by one man -- Donald Trump, his power over the party and how he can help the GOP take back Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024.

But what is not as often mentioned is that there is a test of Trump's sway over his party this year, right next to the nation's capital. The Virginia's governor's race features a MAGA-esque front-runner, more conventional Republicans trying to box her out and a Democratic party hoping this split in the GOP means their blue state transformation will be permanent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP (voice over): In just 16 years, the Commonwealth of Virginia, a long-time conservative stronghold, has undergone a major transformation from red state to blue.

For proof, look no further than this, a life-sized statue of confederate General Robert E. Lee that is now a slab of cement.

(on camera): That was your call exclusively. Was there any debate?

EILEEN FILLER-CORN (D), SPEAKER, VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES: Not in my mind. It was an easy decision.

PHILLIP (voice over): Virginia house speaker Eileen Filler-Corn is the first woman to lead the House of Delegates in its 402-year history with Virginia Democrats now in control of every lever of power for the first time in a generation, they have passed legislation to legalize marijuana, instituted universal background checks, raised the minimum wage, and just this week they voted to abolish the death penalty.

FILLER-CORN: We are doing exactly what we told Virginians we would do. And I think that's important, too.

PHILLIP: On the other side of the aisle, more of the election conspiracy theories pushed by former president, Donald Trump.

(on camera): Do you agree that Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States right now?

AMANDA CHASE (R), VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR: Well, I believe he is the president, but I don't believe that the election results fully represented the will of the people.

PHILLIP (voice over): Republican state senator Amanda Chase is one of half a dozen potential candidates vying for her party's nomination in the race for the governor's mansion in 2021.

CHASE: The Democratic leadership, I believe, has taken down the wrong path.

PHILLIP: It's an off-year election that will be one of the earliest tests of strength and strategy for both political parties. And Chase is on the front lines of a Republican party at war with itself over Trumpism.

CHASE: We have fire brand Republicans, and I believe we have weak- kneed Republicans. I'm a fire brand Republican.

PHILLIP (on camera): What do you see happening here in Virginia if they follow a sort of more Trumpy path, so to speak?

FILLER-CORN: I think they will continue to lose and Virginia will continue to shift.

CHASE: I disagree with that. I think President Trump embodied a lot of the principles that Virginians feel. What they like about me is that we speak the truth. We're not afraid to say it.

PHILLIP (voice over): But Chase's views on a whole host of issues, from the 2020 election to COVID-19 were far from the truth.

(on camera): It sounds like you're saying that the strategy if you were to be governor is to expedite vaccinations, but you're not comfortable that the vaccine is safe?

CHASE: So I believe that it's everyone's personal choice whether -- you know --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: Sure, but I mean do you believe the vaccine works or not?

CHASE: I'm not a scientist.

PHILLIP: What are the other options other than vaccinations, in your view?

CHASE: Well, I do believe that, you know, that this virus is just going to -- it's going to run its course. And people are going to develop natural immunities to it.

PHILLIP: So herd immunity strategy of everyone --

(CROSSTALK)

[08:54:50]

CHASE: Vitamin D -- I mean Vitamin D when we can use supplements. There are a number of known doctors and scientists who have alternative methods. The hydroxychloroquine, for instance.

PHILLIP: Hydroxychloroquine doesn't have an effect on the coronavirus.

CHASE: So you're a scientist and you know this?

PHILLIP: That's been proven by many, many studies.

CHASE: Ok. Well, I have many studies that show the opposite.

PHILLIP (voice over): Chase's assertions are not rooted in science and are potentially dangerous. These views and others are why Virginia Republicans have been not so subtle about trying to sideline her candidacy. Several of her Republican colleagues in the state senate voted with Democrats to censure her over a series of controversial comments and actions.

And she unsuccessfully sued the party over their plan to select a gubernatorial nominee through a convention rather than a primary election.

(on camera): Do you think that the move for the convention is an effort to stop you specifically?

CHASE: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Make no mistake. If they get to the point where the 72 members don't allow the people to participate, I will declare the Republican Party is dead and I will start the Patriot Party of Virginia.

PHILLIP (voice over): Amid a divided Republican Party riven (ph) between mainstream and conspiratorial forces, Democrats are planning to solidify their power.

FILLER-CORN: What does that mean for the election? It means we have to work hard to make sure that the other side doesn't flip things around and roll it all back, because it could be rolled back like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: That's a race we'll be keeping an eye on for sure.

But that's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY today. Join us back here every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time and the weekday show as well at noon Eastern.

Coming up next "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". And Dana's guests this morning include Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy.

Thank you again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. Have a great rest of your day.

[08:56:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)