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W.H. Seeks To Clarify Biden's Stance On Vaccination For Teachers And Reopening School After Shifting Messages; Biden Getting Pushback From Some Progressives After Sticking To The Center On Key Issues In CNN Town Hall; Trump Repeats Baseless Claim He Won Election In Remarks About Death Of Rush Limbaugh; Biden Promises 600 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses By July; Source: McConnell Laughed At Trump's Attack On Him; Power Outage Crisis Grips Texas Amid Historic Winter Storm. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired February 17, 2021 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @TheLeadCNN. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're following breaking news.
A new study just released suggesting that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is, repeat, is effective against the South African variant of the coronavirus. The news comes amid growing concern about multiple variants with the CDC warrants could least lead to a rapid rise in new COVID cases here in the United States.
Meanwhile, on the heels of last night's CNN presidential town hall in which President Biden tried to sell his COVID relief plan, Mr. Biden said a short time ago that Americans, "want everything" in the $1.9 trillion package.
At the same time, the White House is trying to clarify some of the shifting messages of recent days, including the President stance on reopening schools and vaccinations for teachers.
Let's get straight to the White House right now. Our Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins is joining us.
Kaitlan, the President is strongly defending his pandemic stimulus package. Update our viewers.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He is, Wolf. And what President Biden said in the Oval Office tonight is that he doesn't understand how Republicans can oppose this plan, though we should know they do, for the majority, since no congressional Republicans have actually embraced or signed on or said they would vote for this bill. But President Biden is touting it as integral to his pandemic response and how the next few months are going to look like and how this plan could shape that. But Wolf, that also comes as there are new questions tonight about the White House's embrace or I guess rather lack thereof new CDC guidance on reopening schools and whether or not teachers should be vaccinated in order to do so.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS (voice-over): On track to get his coronavirus relief bill passed by next month, President Biden said today Republicans who don't support it are making a mistake.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I asked a rhetorical question. Those who oppose the plan, what don't they like? What particular program don't they like?
COLLINS: As lawmakers are putting together the final legislation, Biden said voters are on his side with the $1.9 trillion proposal.
BIDEN: I learned based on the polling data they want everything that's in the plan. Not a joke. Everything is in the plan.
COLLINS: Still dealing with the crisis of the moment the White House gave its most direct answer yet on whether they believe schools can safely reopen without vaccinating teachers first.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Neither the President nor the Vice President believe that it should be -- it is a requirement. It's not a requirement to reopen schools, but they believe that teachers should be prioritized.
COLLINS: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki endorsing the conclusion from the CDC, after top White House officials had avoided doing so.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENTIAL OF THE UNITED STATES: The states are making decisions individually about where they will be on the list of who gets vaccinated. I believe they should be a priority, the President believes they should be a priority.
COLLINS: Last night, Biden corrected the record after a top aide defined his goal of reopening a majority of schools within his first 100 days is having kids in class at least one day per week.
BIDEN: That was a mistake in the communication. But what I'm talking about is I said opening the majority of schools in K through eighth grade, because they're the easiest to open. The most needed to be opened in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home.
COLLINS: After a second grader told her mom she was worried about getting COVID-19 and dying, Biden sought to reassure her.
BIDEN: Don't be scared, honey. Don't be scared, you're going to be fine. And we're going to make sure mommy's fine, too.
COLLINS: Biden pledge that there will be enough vaccine doses for all Americans by July, but he was less optimistic about when Americans can expect life to return to normal.
BIDEN: By next Christmas. I think we'll be in a very different circumstance, God willing, than we are today.
COLLINS: Biden also reiterated his support for raising minimum wage to $15 an hour.
BIDEN: It's about doing it gradually.
COLLINS: Moderate Democrats have said they don't want the rays included in his relief bill. While progressives have pushed for it.
PSAKI: It's up to members of Congress to determine what the final package looks like. It's a priority to the President. That's why he put it in the package.
COLLINS: Biden is also feeling the heat from progressives today after quickly rejecting a plan to wipe away $50,000 in student loan debt.
BIDEN: I don't think I have the authority to do it by signing the pen.
COLLINS: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley disagreed, tweeting that Biden does have the authority to do so with the stroke of a pen. Adding, "He can and must use it."
(END VIDEO TAPE)
[17:05:04]
COLLINS: And Wolf, it took a month but President Biden has now spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that happened today. And it came amid questions about why there was such a delay in the phone call.
Critics raising questions about why Biden had not placed that call yet, that the White House had insisted time and time again he was just making his way around world leaders and he would get to Netanyahu sooner rather than later. That happened today in the oval office today.
President Biden said that they had a, "good conversation." But Wolf, he did not add more details than that.
BLITZER: Yes. Netanyahu open up a statement saying they spoke for about an hour and he said it was a very, very good conversation.
All right, Kaitlan, stay with us. I also want to bring in our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger, and our CNN Senior Political Commentator, David Axelrod.
Gloria, we've now heard many clarifications from the White House and from President Biden on school reopenings, teacher vaccinations, there's still some confusion out there. What's behind the confusion?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I think what's behind the confusion is politics here. You have the teachers unions, who are supporters of the President, who say very clearly they want much more, and not any less. They want teachers vaccinated. And the White House has said, look, we'd like teachers vaccinated, too, but it is not a prerequisite to opening schools.
Where they agree is that you have to have a lot of preparation to open schools. You have to cleanse the schools, you have to make sure that kids are masked, you have to practice distancing, et cetera. But you can't make sure all kids are masked, unless they're in the school. So, I think that that it's a complex issue.
And that the teachers unions are saying to the administration, you know, wait a minute here, we have to make sure the kids are safe, we have to make sure their teachers are safe. And the White House is saying, look, let's start with K through eight. Let's make it a priority to vaccinate teachers. But we know these younger kids do not transmit the diseases readily. So, let's start there. And I think there's an awful lot of back and forth going on.
BLITZER: There certainly is.
You know, David, Biden is also facing some backlash from progressives, among Democrats for not going bigger on student loan forgiveness. And it sounds like he could back away from including a $15 minimum wage increase in his COVID relief bill as well. So how does he navigate this?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, let's talk about the second first. You know, a lot has been made about whether he can get Republicans on board for his package, or whether he's going to go it alone through reconciliation with only Democratic votes. But that would mean he needs all the Democrats. And the Democrats are not united on what this minimum wage should look like and whether it should be included.
Senator Manchin, for example, from West Virginia says my state doesn't -- has lower wages, and it would be convulsive for our state to go to a $15 minimum wage. And so he's not for including this. It's not clear the Senate parliamentarian will be for it either.
So Biden has to ease think about how am I going to pass my package. And he's looking for ways to compromise.
I would bet that it's not going to be in the package when they vote on it, and that he'll have to take the minimum wage outside that package.
On the student loan issue. He's been very consistent on this issue. He doesn't think he has the authority to do it. Democrats disagree.
It's also not, while there's strong support for some student loan -- student debt relief in the country, support for kind of universal forgiveness of loans up to $50,000 is not as popular among all segments of the country. He's probably reflecting the mainstream of the country when he presents some more moderate proposal, but he's going to get some pressure.
Now, you know, Senator Schumer is one of those who's been pressuring him. He's worried about a progressive challenge in his primary in New York in 2022, which is why he's aligning himself closely with AOC and others who are pushing hard for the larger number.
BLITZER: You know, Kaitlan, does all this potentially overshadow Biden's efforts to gain support for his COVID relief plan? If he's not going to get any Republican support, he needs all 50 Democratic senators. If he loses, one or two, Senator Manchin, Senator Sinema from Arizona, for example. He's going to lose
COLLINS: Right. And the White House can afford that because that's just how slim their majority is. And I think President Biden is aware, I think he actually got a little bit of ahead of this when he had that interview, where he said he did not think that $15 minimum wage was going to survive in the bill. That's not really helpful for those critics of it who wanted to come out against it.
Then you saw subsequently that we did have now two Democratic senators saying that they don't want it to be included in this bill, but he's got to balance that with the progressives like Bernie Sanders, who say they've room full of attorneys and they're fighting to get it included in there. And so, I think in the end, the White House is under this belief that it's not going to wind up in there, but I do think President Biden got a little bit ahead of it when he made those comments.
[17:10:11]
The question of whether this overshadows it, I do think if Democrats can't agree of what the final version of this is going to look like, you know, that's a little bit separated from the Republican demands of what they want this to look like. It doesn't look like anything what like a Republicans had proposed.
And you heard President Biden there in the Oval Office, basically saying that it's at their own risk to not support this because he is judging it based on the internal polling that he's seen that other outlets have put out, that this is a popular bill with the American people. And he is basically saying they need to get on board or risk voting against a bill that's popular.
BLITZER: Yes.
You know, Gloria, progressives clearly are frustrated a bit right now. But so far, Biden hasn't won over any Republicans at his COVID relief bill. Does he think he'll win Republicans support for other issues down the road, like immigration reform, for example, or infrastructure spending if he stays in that so called moderate link?
BORGER: Yes. I had a conversation with a senior White House adviser who said, what we're -- what they're doing now on COVID relief, it doesn't have anything to do, for example, with how people are going to vote on infrastructure.
And by the way, internally at the White House, they do not believe that it's necessarily a great vote for any Republican to vote against this COVID package. They believe that to be the case very strongly. But they also say, what Republicans tell me if they bring back earmarks, which are things where a member of Congress can say, I want this bridge in my district and make it very transparent so that they actually have a stake in a piece of legislation like infrastructure.
Why wouldn't they get support that way so that people can bring things to their districts and to their states that I think that they believe are much needed? So they don't seem to be concerned about it at all, Wolf.
BLITZER: You know, David, what do you think? Are you optimistic that there can be some bipartisanship moving forward? Because as you know, Biden ran on this notion, he's going to work with Republicans and create bipartisan cooperation.
AXELROD: Yes. And I thought it was really interesting last night when Anderson invited him to join with Speaker Pelosi and calling the senators who voted against convicting President Trump cowards. And he said, I'm not going to call names. He's been very assiduous about not personalizing his differences with Republicans. And I think he's doing that for the express purpose of keeping open the prospect of agreement on some other issues.
And I think infrastructure is probably top on the list. There are a lot of Republicans who want some infrastructure in their own states. They think it'd be good, and they'd like to work with him on it. And I think that's where the White House is going to target its efforts.
BLITZER: You know, Kaitlan, what is the time -- timeline look like right now when it comes to COVID relief? And for that matter on Biden's next items on the agenda?
COLLINS: Well, they're hoping that this bill, this coronavirus relief bill is going to be on President Biden's desk by next month. March 8 is when they think there's going to be final passage, maybe March 14 is when he actually signed this into law.
And so, clearly the White House is already looking to their next priorities and what's going to be after this. Because they're expected to unveil their immigration plan. Starting tomorrow you're going to start to see pieces of that.
And then you saw him meeting with those labor leaders in the Oval Office earlier today. That's talking about infrastructure, not just weighing in on this relief bill. They're already looking ahead to what's going to be next up on his agenda.
BLITZER: There's going to be a lot on the agenda coming up. A lot of stuff that needs to get done.
All right, guys standby.
Up next, President Trump's blistering attack on Mitch McConnell highlighting how deeply divided the Republican Party is right now in this post Trump era. We'll talk about that and more with a Republican governor who's standing by, Republican Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:17:50]
BLITZER: Former President Trump repeating his baseless claims about the election in his first interview since leaving office, prompted by the death of the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Our Chief Domestic Correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us right now.
Jim, President Trump is continuing to say he won the election despite being impeached for inciting a riot over that false claim. So what's the latest?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf, it was in this tribute to Rush Limbaugh, the late radio host who passed away that Donald Trump, once again, was peddling these lies that he won the election in 2020. He was also stoking anger out there among his base of supporters.
And he also takes a swipe at the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The same Mitch McConnell has been in a fight with over the last few days. Here's a bit of what Trump had to say earlier today on Fox.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we won substantially. And Rush thought we won and they thought it was over at 10:00, 10:30 it was over. And a lot of other people feel that way too, but Rush felt that way strongly. And many people do. Many professionals do.
And I don't think that could have happened to a Democrat. You would've had -- you would've had riots going all over the place if that happened to a Democrat. We don't have the same support in the certain levels of the Republican system, but we have great people as Republicans. He was furious at it, and many people are furious. You don't know how angry this country is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, we should point out, Wolf, obviously it's false what the president -- former president is saying there about the election.
But a few things we should point out. One is I talked to a Trump advisor just in the last few minutes who said that Donald Trump will not only be on Fox News earlier today, he's going to be on Fox later on this evening.
He's going to be on the other conservative T.V. sites out there, T.V. networks out there, OAN and Newsmax. And so this appears to be something of a roll out for the former president who's been quiet. He has not been out there in recent weeks since he left office. That appears to be changing this evening.
As for Trump peddling the big election lie that we've talked about so much, I will tell you talking to a Trump advisor, this advisor said Donald Trump will continue to believe this that he that he won the election until he is no longer on the face of the earth.
[17:20:09]
And as for this fight with Mitch McConnell, talked to a separate Trump advisor who said that the former president wants to flex his muscles. Show who is in charge in this Republican Party, even though there are lots of Republicans these days, who would like to distance themselves from the former president, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, there are. All right, Jim Acosta, thank you very much.
Let's get some more on all of this. Republican Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland is joining us right now.
Governor Hogan, thank you very much for joining us.
No matter what you and other like-minded Republicans may think of the former president's big lie does not appear to be going away anytime soon. You heard what he just said today. I'm worried about that. Because potentially, tell me if you agree, this could be dangerous.
GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): Well, it doesn't really come as a surprise, Wolf. I think none of us really expected Donald Trump to change his mind or to change his story. And, you know, so it's not -- it's not surprising.
It is concerning, however, that, you know, we continue to focus on this when, you know, I and others are concerned that, you know, the Republicans have got to, you know, start stepping up and telling the truth. And we've got to get back to the roots of our party and figure out how to win elections in the future. Because the longer we continue down this path, the more difficult it is for us to ever get back the House or the Senate or to elect governors and other states or to win back the White House.
BLITZER: Because if he continues to rile up his base with this big lie that he won the election, potentially there could be more insurrections down the road. That's what worries me.
HOGAN: Well, I sure hope not, Wolf. But, you know, that he's -- we've given up long ago trying to control what Donald Trump says or what he thinks. And, you know, unfortunately, he's not going to go away quietly. I don't think not too many of us expected that he would.
But I believe there's going to be a real battle for the soul of the Republican Party that's going to last for years. This is not an easy thing. And there are a lot of people who supported the president who are not crazy conspiracy theorists that did vote for him but did not believe the lie about the election. And there are some folks that in the in the Senate and in the House who did stand up. There are people like me, been willing to speak out.
And I think as time goes on, that Trump will still have a major impact on the Republican Party. But I think his influence is going to wane as the days go by.
BLITZER: It certainly hasn't waned yet. There's a new Quinnipiac University National poll that just came out, Governor, finds that 75% of Republicans want Trump to play a prominent role in the GOP going forward. So even if the majority of Republican senators, let's say, let's say they still back the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, least behind the scenes, the party is still seems to be behind Trump right now. Has your party, and I'll ask this bluntly, has your party left you and other reasonable Republicans behind?
HOGAN: Well, I guess that's the million dollar question and that's what time will tell. I mean, some people may be ready to give up. But others like me are willing to stand up and fight for the party that we've been a part of for decades that Donald Trump did a hostile takeover of.
I mean, look, we're going to figure the answer to that out, but it's going to take the next two years or four years before we really know what the end result is going to be.
BLITZER: Let's talk about the coronavirus. The President, President Biden said during last night's CNN town hall, that 600 million coronavirus vaccine doses will be available by the end of July. Once vaccine supply is no longer an issue, will you have the capability in your state of Maryland to get those doses to your citizens?
HOGAN: Absolutely, Wolf. We have the capability now. You know, the big problem for every state, every county and every city, every health department and every hospital in America is that we do not have enough vaccines and that's something everybody is pressing for.
We had a productive discussion yesterday with the coronavirus team. I just got off a call with some of the leaders who, including Johnson and Johnson, who are working on the next vaccine. We hope to get that emergency use authorization.
We have an infrastructure in Maryland right now, that can do 50 to 100,000 vaccines a day. And we're only getting 12,000 a day. So, you know as soon as they -- no matter when they get us those vaccines, we're ready to put them in someone's arm.
We've delivered 100 percent of the doses we've been allocated out to our 2,300 providers across the state. And 90 percent of them are actually in someone's arm. The other 10 percent are already scheduled.
BLITZER: The White House is standing by CDC guidance, as you know, Governor, that teachers should be prioritized for vaccinations. But it is not necessarily a requirement for schools to reopen, that all the teachers have the vaccine. You're pushing schools in Maryland to reopen by March 1, that's very soon. What will happen to a teacher who doesn't return because that teacher doesn't necessarily feel safe?
[17:25:07]
HOGAN: Well, I don't think we should force people to go back into a classroom if they don't feel safe. But you know, Maryland right now -- so first of all, we were one of the first states in the country to put of teachers into the prioritization and they are getting vaccines. But as you mentioned, the CDC says that's not -- that should not be a prerequisite.
We also have some of the best metrics. We're in the top 10 in the country, our positivity rate is down to 4 percent, hospitalizations dropping, cases dropping, deaths dropping, so we're in great shape.
The CDC guidelines say every one of our county school systems can open. Twenty of them either have already brought some kids back in for in person instructions, or they've agreed to do so by March 1.
BLITZER: You've been putting some pressure on --
HOGAN: -- Twenty-five or 24.
BLITZER: Yes. You've been putting some pressure, Governor, on the Biden ministration to push for a bipartisan coronavirus stimulus deal. Have you received any assurances from the White House or from congressional Republicans for that matter that they're willing to compromise and get something, both sides or at least a majority of Democrats and Republicans can agree on?
HOGAN: Well, I had about an hour and a half meeting on Friday in the Oval Office with both the President and Vice President where I tried to make that case very strongly. The President seemed to be receptive to it.
I believe that there are Republican governors and senators and congressmen who would like to see a compromise bill. We agreed that we need help for state and local governments, that people are suffering out there that need some relief.
But I also pointed out that there were extraneous things included in this $1.9 trillion bill that weren't really acceptable to Republicans, that weren't part of the coronavirus recovery or economic -- immediate economic stimulus. And I told the president my opinion was that it was better for him if he was willing to work with Republicans on a compromise rather than kind of a take it or leave it approach where it's, you know, my way or the highway and they're going to cram it through with only Democratic votes.
I don't think right. I don't think it's good for the country. And I don't think it's good for President Biden and his future success in getting things with Congress.
BLITZER: What did he say to you?
HOGAN: He was receptive, but he didn't make any, you know, didn't make any commitments. He said, look, I do want to work together in a bipartisan way. But he didn't make any specific commitments to taking anything out of the bill, other than I think, you know, I raised the issue of, look, $15 minimum wage, we could debate whether that makes sense or not, but it is not -- it should not be part of the emergency stimulus bill. And, he said he thought that that might come out of the bill. BLITZER: All right. We'll see if it does.
Governor Hogan, good luck to you and good luck to everyone in Maryland. Thanks so much for joining us.
HOGAN: Thank you.
BLITZER: There's more breaking news we're following. More on the new study just out of the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine against one of the most worrisome coronavirus variants.
Plus, we'll have the latest on the deadly and historic Deep Freeze gripping so much of the U.S. right now. We'll get a live update from Texas, where millions of people are without power as temperatures plunge dangerously low.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The breaking news tonight, the just released study suggesting that the Pfizer COVID vaccine is effective against the South African variant of the coronavirus. CNN's Nick Watt is joining us from Los Angeles right now. Nick, it's certainly welcome news since there's growing concern about the multiple virus variants that are now emerging.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Wolf. This is great news. So Pfizer confirming that their vaccine doesn't work quite as well against the South African variant, but still works plenty well enough to deal with this virus. We already knew that Johnson & Johnson's vaccine works against the South African variant. Moderna today also confirming theirs also works against this variant.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (voice-over): That faster spreading variant first found in South Africa now detected in nine states probably in many more. The CDC director points to what happened when that variant arrived in Zambia, average daily case counts went up 16 fold.
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I know these variants are concerning, especially as we're seeing signs of progress. I'm talking about them today because I am concerned too.
WATT (voice-over): So Pfizer and Moderna say their vaccines work against the South Africa variant. That's great. But how's the vaccine rollout going right now?
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): That entire shipment is still yet to come.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY): We're going to run out. Today, tomorrow we're going to run out.
WATT (voice-over): Terrible weather is slowing vaccine shipments across the country.
KELLY GARCIA, IOWA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES DIRECTOR: Because of where the distribution centers for both vaccine manufacturers are located in the southern part of the U.S.
WATT (voice-over): Across the heartland, some vaccine locations are closed.
JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We should across the state start getting above freezing on Saturday.
WATT (voice-over): But this weather, the tip of an iceberg sized supply issue.
DE BLASIO: We're in this ridiculous situation. We have massive ability to give people vaccination. We can be doing hundreds of thousands more each week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've acted aggressively to increase the vaccine supply.
WATT (voice-over): The pace is picking up but still only around 5 percent of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated more than nine weeks in, the President's timeline, enough doses available for 300 million Americans by end of July.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By next Christmas I think we'll be in a very different circumstance, God willing, than we are today.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST AND FORMER DETROIT HEALTH DIRECTOR: They're hedging here because they know that the variants could really mess up a lot of our best laid plans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[17:35:07]
WATT: In fact, just today, the CDC warning that these variants could cause a, quote, rapid rise in cases and the CDC Director, Dr. Walensky, saying it is more important now than ever to follow the measures that we know work like masks. Wolf?
BLITZER: So important those masks. All right, Nick Watt reporting for us, thank you.
Let's get some more in all of this. Dr. Ashish Jha is joining us, the Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Dr. Jha, thank you so much for joining us. So what is this new study from Pfizer show about how its vaccine works against this variant that was found in South Africa?
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, good afternoon, Wolf, thanks for having me on. It's really good news. This has been a pretty consistent theme of these vaccines that these variants are concerning, they clearly cause a big spike in infections, certainly the U.K. one does.
But time after time, study after study shows that our vaccines look like they're going to hold up pretty well certainly as the U.K. variant. And then the new studies showing that it's going to hold up pretty well, against the South Africa variant. I think it's sort of unabashedly good news.
BLITZER: The Pfizer study comes on the heels of another study showing similar results for the Moderna vaccine. That's a pretty encouraging development as well.
JHA: Absolutely, absolutely. And we have data from J&J. And again, we're going to get more details into the J&J data in the next week or so as FDA goes through its review. And I suspect we're going to find similar things from the J&J data, that it's pretty protective, and certainly very protective against severe disease, which is what we really care about.
BLITZER: But the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not been authorized for emergency use authorization yet. So they still have some work to do. What remaining questions Dr. Jha, need to be answered about the effectiveness of these various vaccines against these variants, which have been so worrisome?
JHA: Yes, most of the data we're looking at, and the ones that came out today are in laboratories in which have very good surrogate markers, but we do want to see how it actually plays out in real life. But again, I'm pretty confident that we're going to see that. Obviously, these aren't the only variants and there will be more. And I think one of the key things we're going to have to keep our eye on is making sure that when new variants arise, we test them against our vaccines to ensure that our vaccines remain quite effective against them.
BLITZER: The news, which is encouraging about the vaccines comes as U.S. health officials are warning that the coronavirus variants could potentially lead to a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, most Americans obviously have not been vaccinated yet, and potentially could dangerously accelerate the trajectory of the pandemic. We're awaiting the vaccine supply to catch up with demand. What should we be doing to slow the spread of these variants, especially for those who are most vulnerable and who have not yet received the vaccinations?
JHA: Yes. So the rise of these variants is inevitable at this point. And the fact that, for instance, the U.K. one is going to end up becoming the dominant strain by mid to late March. I think there's very little we can do to prevent that. What we can do is keep our case numbers as low as possible. And what we can do is vaccinate as many high risk people as possible. If we keep our eyes focused on those two goals, we're going to get through this without a huge spike without lots of people getting sick and dying. But those are the two main goals we have to focus on.
BLITZER: Several members of President Biden's former Coronavirus Advisory Board who worked on the Board during the transition, for example, during the campaign, they're urging his administration to more widely recommend the use of those N95 masks, the surgical mask. Do you support that push?
JHA: No doubt about it. I mean, look, we all need to be upgrading our masks right now. The variants make that particularly important, N95s are really good. They've been hard to get because they've been mostly for health care workers. They're alternatives. KF94 is high quality surgical mask. The administration, I think can do a lot more to make these kinds of masks widely available for the American people.
BLITZER: When should we be wearing two masks?
JHA: I wear two masks, Wolf, basically in high risk situations, when I'm indoors, around people, obviously, outside of my household for any extended period of time. That's when I think two masks, a surgical mask with a cloth mask on top becomes a good idea. When you're out and about, it's not -- in the outdoors, it's not as much of a necessity.
BLITZER: And people who have been vaccinated, do you agree they still should be wearing masks, right?
JHA: They should right now because, again, they're a very small minority and until a large chunk of people have been vaccinated, I think it's important for everybody to continue wearing a mask.
BLITZER: I think you're right. As usual, Dr. Jha, thank you so much for joining us.
JHA: Thank you.
BLITZER: Coming up, we're going to Texas for a live update on the brutal winter storm that's left millions of people without power for days. Is there any end in sight?
[17:39:58]
Plus, we're getting new information about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's reaction to that scathing statement from former President Trump.
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BLITZER: We're just learning that the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had an instant reaction when he first saw the lengthy attack on him by former President Trump. Let's go to our chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, who is working the story for us. Manu, I understand you're getting some new information from your sources. What are you learning?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Mitch McConnell actually laughed about Donald Trump's statement when he first saw it yesterday, this according to a source familiar with the matter, the statement, of course, lashing out at Mitch McConnell in the aftermath of the impeachment trial. But Mitch McConnell has no plans to respond.
In fact, I'm told by multiple sources that he plans to ignore Donald Trump altogether as he tries to navigate the post Trump era. Now, though all the back and forth started when Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Donald Trump but he did so on constitutional grounds and later went to the floor of the Senate and lambasted the former president saying he was morally and practically responsible for what happened on January 6th, the deadly riot that occurred on Capitol Hill.
[17:45:08]
Then he later wrote an op-ed for "The Wall Street Journal" in doubling down on that contention that Donald Trump was responsible for what happened later prompting Donald Trump to lay out that blistering attack, personal attack going after Mitch McConnell. And I'm told riddled with falsehoods, including claiming that Mitch McConnell begged for Donald Trump's endorsement in his reelection bid last year that later according to Donald Trump led to McConnell jump in the polls.
I'm told from multiple sources that in fact, Donald Trump was presented with polling last year in the White House showing that Mitch McConnell was handedly ahead in his reelection bid. But nevertheless, Mitch McConnell is making clear privately that he does not want to get into a back and forth with Donald Trump. Instead, he wants to focus squarely on Republicans who can win key Senate races in primaries and focus intently on targeting the Biden agenda, believing that can unify Republicans going forward.
But, Wolf, there is a problem. Donald Trump has said that he plans to engage himself in Senate primaries push candidates who he believes could win. That could set up a clash between McConnell and his high spending Super PAC and Donald Trump who is trying to push the people who are in his mold.
Also, Wolf, McConnell's approach differs sharply from the House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who went down to Mar-a-Lago in the aftermath of the riot got into Donald Trump's good graces, claimed they would be unified to take back the House all shows the divide within a party about how to deal with Trump now that he's out of office.
BLITZER: Yes. Such a deep, deep divide. Manu, thank you very much for that update.
Coming up, large portions of the U.S. right now facing record cold temperatures as millions of people are without power.
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[17:51:08]
BLITZER: Tonight millions of Americans are suffering through a deadly and historic winter storm. The situation is especially dire right now in Texas, where a multistate power outage is gripping the state with no end in sight. CNN's Camila Bernal is tracking the story for us from Dallas right now. Pretty snowy there, Camila, give us the latest.
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf. This is of course a rare sight in the state of Texas. And it's not just the temperatures and the snow. It's the fact that it's been about three days where millions of people have been without power. And the biggest problem is that people are asking when will the power return and as of now they're getting no guarantees.
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BERNAL (voice-over): Unlivable conditions in Texas. Frozen pipes bursting, flooding homes in bitter temperatures.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Right now there still remains about 10,000 megawatts that is off the grid and as a result is not contributing to power in the state.
BERNAL (voice-over): Substantial relief is still days away as more than 3 million remain without power. Utility companies are shut down unable to generate electricity.
TRICIA LANCASTER, LOST POWER IN TEXAS STORM: We knew for a week that this was coming. So if we knew for a week that this was coming why weren't we ready? Our house is 32 degrees inside. We're worried about the pipes.
BERNAL (voice-over): Linda Shoemaker was forced to take her 101-year- old mother to this warming shelter overnight.
LINDA SHOEMAKER, SHELTERING WITH 101-YEAR-OLD MOTHER: As a mother, you know, you could freeze in the middle of the night so we had to find someplace to go.
BERNAL (voice-over): The mayor of hard hit Austin says, Texas should have been better prepared.
MAYOR STEVE ADLER, AUSTIN, TEXAS: The community right now that is scared and frustrated, confused, angry, and I am too.
BERNAL (voice-over): Governor Greg Abbott says the dangerous lack of power is not the state government's fault but a failure by ERCOT, the state's largest power grid management organization.
ABBOTT: ERCOT stands for Electric Reliability Council of Texas. And they showed that they were not reliable.
BERNAL (voice-over): Some 90 percent of the lone star state's power is managed by ERCOT. Alone electric council operates mostly independent of other federal power grids, and thus mostly alone in its efforts to restore power quickly and safely.
BILL MAGNESS, CEO, ERCOT: The operators acted with judgment based on their training to prevent an event that would have been even more catastrophic than the terrible things we've seen this week.
BERNAL (voice-over): ERCOT says the bulk of the blackouts are due to oil and gas plants shutting down in the cold.
ABBOTT: About 19,800 megawatts of gas power generation is still offline because of either mechanical issues or the lack of the supply of gas. BERNAL (voice-over): But Abbott isn't letting his state's lucrative fossil fuel industry take all the blame.
ABBOTT: Our wind and our solar got shut down and they were collectively more than 10 percent of our power grid. It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary for the state of Texas as well as other states.
BERNAL (voice-over): The White House says FEMA is now stepping in to support critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water supply.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERNAL: And Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey telling CNN that officials familiar with all of this told him that the grid here in Texas was just minutes from collapsing on Monday. The criticism is not just coming from Democrats. It's also coming from Republicans here in the state. Of course, you heard from Governor Greg Abbott, who says there needs to be an investigation into all of this.
The CEO of ERCOT coming out defending his organization and saying that what they're doing, the work that they've done and they continue to do 24/7, it's what's kept Texas from a total blackout. So, he's saying the situation could have been a lot worse without his organization. But the bottom line is at the moment, there's about 2.5 million Texans without power. And as the days go by without getting that power restored, it becomes more and more dangerous. Wolf?
[17:55:16]
BLITZER: Camila Bernal reporting for an excellent report. Camila, thank you very much and welcome to THE SITUATION ROOM.
Coming up, President Biden trying to sell his massive pandemic relief plan saying and I'm quoting now saying, Americans want everything in it.
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[18:00:05]
BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
