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The Situation Room
Interview With Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); FBI Director Testifies On Capitol Hill; Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Rollout Begins; White House Official Very Frustrated By Texas And Mississippi Decisions To Lift Mask Mandates; "New York Times:" Third Woman Accuses Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) Of Unwanted Advances As Calls To Resign Grow; White House Plans To Withdraw Tanden Nomination; At Least 13 Dead After SUV Carrying 25 People Collides with Semitruck in Southern California. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired March 02, 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]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
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.
Tonight, President Biden says the U.S. will have enough COVID-19 vaccine for every adult by the end of May, two months earlier than he predicted before. But this progress may be threatened, as one of the biggest states in the nation is now defying the CDC warnings that the U.S. is not out of the woods, not yet.
The Texas governor is now lifting mask mandates and declaring his state can reopen, in his words, 100 percent.
We're also following the FBI director's first testimony about the capital insurrection back on January 6. Christopher Wray declaring it was an act of domestic terrorism, his words, domestic terrorism, but failing to explain intelligence failures ahead of the riot.
Wray knocked down the conspiracy theory that fake Trump supporters or the left-wing group Antifa were behind the attack. And he confirmed that quite a number of those involved were, in fact, violent extremists motivated by their racial hatred.
Let's go right to our senior White House correspondent, Phil Mattingly.
Phil, the president spoke about the vaccine rollout just a little while ago, and he made some news.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Wolf.
Look, the White House, the president himself have been very cautious with predictions about where things may end up in the months ahead. But there's no question about one thing. With a new vaccine now online, the supply is ramping up and that means the administration is in position to hit all sorts of new projections over the course of the next several months.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have always said this is a wartime effort.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Tonight, a White House-brokered historic partnership to ramp up vaccine production.
BIDEN: Two of the largest health care and pharmaceutical companies in the world -- that are usually competitors -- are working together on the vaccine, Johnson & Johnson and Merck.
MATTINGLY: President Joe Biden negotiating for pharmaceutical giant Merck to help fierce competitor Johnson & Johnson produce its single- shot vaccine.
BIDEN: This is the type of collaboration between companies we saw in World War II.
MATTINGLY: Biden deploying the Defense Production Act to help Merck secure equipment for production, underscoring the administration's push to surge the vaccine in the coming months.
BIDEN: We're now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May.
MATTINGLY: And pressing states to prioritize vaccinations for educators and staff and directing the federal pharmacy program to prioritize teachers throughout the month of March.
BIDEN: Let's treat in person learning like an essential service that it is.
MATTINGLY: All as Biden continues to push to pass his $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, a central component to the administration's plans to vastly expand vaccine distribution infrastructure.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In the past two weeks alone, we have engaged with over 375 members and offices, over 100 of which were bipartisan.
MATTINGLY: Biden meeting virtually with Senate Democrats as the clock ticks down towards his March 14 deadline, the day emergency unemployment benefits expire, with all eyes on the 50 Senate Democrats and no margin for error for the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We need strong relief to get the economy going so it can continue on an upward path on its own. That's what this bill is designed to do.
MATTINGLY: But clear disputes between moderates and progressives in the caucus remain, with Senator Bernie Sanders continuing to press to ignore the ruling that stripped the $15 minimum wage from the bill, a move the White House and many Senate Democrats have already rejected, and ongoing negotiations over a federal unemployment benefit, one the White House has set at $400 per week.
PSAKI: The president obviously had a discussion with a number of senators just yesterday. Senator Manchin was certainly one of them. And he's long said that he would be open to hearing ideas that make the bill and the package stronger.
MATTINGLY: All as moderates, like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, press to lower it to $300 per week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: And, Wolf, the administration right now, I'm told, very frustrated by what we have seen in least two states in the country, mask mandates likely to be taken down in the state of Texas and the state of Mississippi.
What I'm being told right now is that there's extreme frustration because they feel like, in the words of one aide, people are spiking the football on the 20-yard line. They feel like progress is being made. They feel like they're on the cusp of finally getting a handle on the pandemic. And now the very restrictions that have been laid out by the CDC are starting to be rolled back.
[18:05:00]
One thing that we heard from Andy Slavitt, Wolf, when you interviewed him just a short while ago, top White House adviser, said it's a mistake; right now is not the time to be taking their foot off the gas -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Well, yes, it's still a very, very dangerous pandemic.
Phil Mattingly at the White House, thank you very much. We will have more on that coming up.
But, right now, I want to get to the FBI director's testimony about the Capitol insurrection.
Our justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider, is covering that for us.
Jessica, senators, they had some pretty tough questions for the FBI director. He didn't necessarily always have the right answers.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, those senators definitely showed their frustrations here, especially that more wasn't done to alert law enforcement about online threats before January 6.
But Director Chris Wray pushed back. He said the FBI warned in three separate ways, all while Wray stressed domestic terrorism has been growing for some time, that threat, and it is not subsiding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: That attack, that siege was criminal behavior, plain and simple. And it's behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism. SCHNEIDER (voice-over): In his first congressional testimony since the
attack on the Capitol, FBI Director Christopher Wray, appointed by former President Trump, put a dagger into the conspiracy theories pushed by some Trump supporters about what happened that day.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Has there so far been any evidence that the January 6 riot here, the insurrection, was organized by people simply posing as supporters of President Trump's?
WRAY: We have not seen any evidence of that, certainly.
COONS: Is there any evidence at all that it was organized or planned or carried out by groups like Antifa or Black Lives Matter?
WRAY: We have not seen any evidence to that effect thus far in the investigation.
COONS: And is there any doubt that the people who stormed the Capitol included white supremacists and other far right extremist organizations?
WRAY: There's no doubt that it included individuals that we would call militia violent extremists and then, in some instances, individuals that were racially motivated violent extremists.
SCHNEIDER: Wray also explained in detail the warnings his agency found online before the insurrection.
WRAY: This was information posted online under a moniker or a pseudonym. It was unvetted, uncorroborated information, but it was -- and it was somewhat aspirational in nature, but it was concerning.
SCHNEIDER: The information came from the FBI Norfolk field office, warning of violent war at the Capitol.
"The Washington Post" reported the FBI bulletin quoted individuals saying: "Be ready to fight. Go there ready for war. We get our president or we die."
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified last month that the details were only disseminated via e-mail the day before the attack. But Wray disagreed.
WRAY: That information was quickly, as in within an hour, disseminated and communicated with our partners, including the U.S. Capitol Police, including Metro P.D., in not one, not two, but three different ways.
SCHNEIDER: Wray explained the bulletin was first e-mailed to members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes officers from the Capitol and Metropolitan Police departments. Then there was a verbal briefing to members of those departments at the command post. And, finally, it was posted on the law enforcement portal available to agencies around the country.
WRAY: The information was raw. It was unverified. In a perfect world, we would have taken longer to be able to figure out whether it was reliable, but we made the judgment, our folks made the judgment to get that information to the relevant people as quickly as possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER: And Director Wray laid out the numbers about how the domestic terrorism threat continues to grow.
Right now, the FBI is investigating 2000 domestic terrorism cases. That's double the number that were open in 2017, when Wray joined the FBI. And Wray also acknowledged that this violent attack, Wolf, it could serve as inspiration to foreign terrorist organizations.
BLITZER: Jessica Schneider, reporting for us, thanks very much.
Let's discuss with our reporters and our analysts.
Jim Sciutto, the FBI director, he defended the handling of this memo issued the night before the January 6 attack. But, clearly, this was a much bigger intelligence failure. Did he offer an explanation?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, he certainly contradicted the finger-pointing that we heard last week, including from the Capitol Police chief and others, who blamed this entirely on intelligence.
And he said there was intelligence. It was raw, but it was disseminated. Now, to be clear, intelligence is never black and white. It doesn't tell you exactly what's going to happen on any given day. But, clearly, there were warnings about what was being planned then.
So, when you heard leaders last week say, we didn't know anything about this, or not much, he is saying, actually, we did warn you. The question is, what preparations were then made?
But there's also a bigger point here, I think, to make, Wolf. And that is, you had Wray there repeatedly questioned by Republicans, really not listening to his answer, saying, this was not Antifa, that the biggest threat here on a par with international terrorism, principally white supremacy.
[18:10:09]
That is a threat the FBI has been warning about for years, Wolf. And in the Trump administration, you had political appointees who deliberately downplayed that threat. The point being the intelligence warnings about this, Wolf, didn't come just days or weeks before January 6. It was a brewing threat for a number of years in this country.
And there's responsibility, going to the previous administration, that they have to be held accountable for.
BLITZER: Yes. And you're absolutely right. He didn't mince any words at all. He called this domestic terrorism, meaning those who stormed the U.S. Capitol were terrorists.
Laura, the director also spoke about the challenge of trying to figure out the real threats among so much what he called chatter just ahead of the attack. Do you think they missed these threats or didn't necessarily properly interpret them?
LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, that should tell you something, that there is such a volume of chatter that they have to try to distinguish and decipher which are real and which are not.
That continues along the same element that he was speaking about, about just how much this problem has really metastasized throughout our society. And you have the volume coming, and you have to actually be able to go through and distinguish.
That is -- that bodes very horribly for many people? Also is the idea here of deterrence, though, because if he is correct that this is emboldening people, or making people feel more comfortable what they're doing, then the denial by leaders that this is actually a problem, let alone when it's metastasized, will also embolden people.
So, now they have an additional front they have to deal with and face, not only the domestic terrorism and white supremacy, but those who deny it and then embolden it, and the inability to give resources to combat it.
All of this is a recipe for disaster that I hope never gets baked.
BLITZER: I hope so too.
Director Bray -- Wray, I should say, Dana, he was very clear that there's no evidence to backup all those totally wild Republican claims about the January 6 attack, that Antifa was behind the riot, that it wasn't necessarily Trump's supporters.
How big of a rebuke did he offer today?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A huge rebuke. I mean, there was absolutely no room for any interpretation, if you're looking at it with even a remote clear lens.
I mean, you heard Senator Chris Coons ask the question. Other senators asked the question as well. And he was very, very clear that it was not Antifa, it wasn't people posing as Trump supporters. They were exactly as they said that they were both to -- both on their social media feeds and now in hundreds of accounts to investigators and also to law enforcement as they're being arrested, that they were there because they were trying to stop the peaceful transition of power on behalf of then President Trump, full stop.
And what was remarkable was to hear Republicans basically sidestep that. And some other Republican questioners were continuing to ask about Antifa and kind of ignore, not so much in the vein of what happened on January 6, but just as the threat to the country nationwide.
And it was almost too cute by half. I mean, you could kind of see and hear what they were doing, trying to insinuate the Antifa notion into this hearing, which was broad, but, obviously, for the most part, very much focused on January 6.
BLITZER: Yes, totally.
Jim, how far does Wray's testimony go with those Trump supporters who believe these wild, these crazy conspiracy theories? And how embarrassed should those Republican senators who were promoting those crazy ideas be right now?
SCIUTTO: It's delinquent, right? It is absolutely delinquent, because it's false.
And listen to Wray's words, right? He said, yes, there are Antifa activists and there have been arrests, but he placed the threat from domestic terrorism, principally white supremacy -- that is not Antifa -- he placed that on a level with the threat to this country from international terrorism such as ISIS.
The FBI does not do that lightly. And yet, no matter how many times he gave that answer, the question still came. And to Dana's point, that's deliberate messaging, right? It's attempting to create an equivalency where there is no equivalency.
And even the attack on January 6 clearly could not pierce that bubble. so, for folks at home who still buy it, I mean, they will buy it until Republican lawmakers and right-wing media are willing to tell him the truth about it, right? I mean, that's the sad fact.
BLITZER: And he was really, really blunt today in disputing all those wild conspiracy theories.
Guys, thank you very, very much.
[18:15:00]
Just ahead, we're going to more on the COVID relief package and Democrats still pushing to include a $15 minimum wage. I will speak live with the Senate Budget Committee chairman, Senator Bernie Sanders. He will join us. That's coming up.
And there are now growing calls for the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, to resign, as a third woman comes forward to accuse him of sexual harassment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The political stakes are right now are incredibly high for President Biden and the Democrats, as the Senate prepares to take up the nearly $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Could be taking it up as soon as tomorrow.
Joining us now to discuss, Senator Bernie Sanders. He's the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Senator, thank you so much for joining us.
I know you're urging your fellow Democrats to ignore the Senate parliamentarian on this $15 minimum wage increase. Certainly, that looks unlikely. So, is there any viable path right now to getting the minimum wage, which is now $7.25 -- it's been like that since 2009 -- is there a viable option to raising it in this bill?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I don't know about this bill.
We're going to bring up the amendment tomorrow. We will see how many votes we get. But this, I will tell you; $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. As you have indicated, it has not been raised by Congress since 2007. We have got millions of people in this country who are working 40 hours a week are living in poverty.
[18:20:18]
And I promise you, we are going to raise that minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. If not this week, we will do it sometime soon. We have the majority leader here in the Senate supportive of it. We have the speaker of the House, Pelosi, supportive of it. The vast majority of the American people are supportive.
And the idea that we have a parliamentarian, who is elected by nobody, who is simply a Senate staffer, making a determination that 30 million Americans are not going to get a pay raise is, to me, unacceptable.
So, we're going to win this, if not this week, in the near future.
BLITZER: There will be separate legislation if it's not included in this legislation. Is that what you're saying?
SANDERS: I am saying that we are not going to give up. This is not going to be the last vote on minimum wage. Trust me on that.
BLITZER: Yes, I know it passed the last time we went to $7.25 in 2007. It went into effect 2009.
You're warning that your members that it's a mistake to vote against raising the minimum wage. You want to see a formal roll call on this. You want to see Democrats held accountable. Is that right?
SANDERS: Well, I think it's not only Democrats. The sad -- this is really a sad state of affairs where, to the best of my knowledge, we don't have one Republican, not one Republican, who understands that we have got to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.
But, at the end of the day, this is what the working people of this country want. This is what the American people want. And we are going to pass it, period.
BLITZER: Right. A lot of them say they want to raise the minimum wage, but not to $15. They want to raise it to $11 or whatever, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: But you understand, Wolf...
BLITZER: Yes. SANDERS: ... that this is a gradual increase.
BLITZER: Yes.
SANDERS: It doesn't go from $7.25 to $15 tomorrow.
BLITZER: Right.
SANDERS: It goes until 2025. So it's a gradual increase.
BLITZER: Right.
Once it's passed, that goes to $9.50, then $11, $12. In four years, it'll eventually be $15 an hour.
SANDERS: Right.
BLITZER: A lot of people don't understand that. But that's an important point, a gradual increase.
In the previous hour, Senator, I spoke with your colleague senator Chris Coons, a man you know well. He's been talking to Republicans about the minimum wage. If $15 is really a no-go, at least in this legislation, if compromise is the only way to get an increase, isn't something better than nothing right now?
SANDERS: Well, I think we are going to get a $15-an-hour minimum wage. I think that's what the American people want. I think we're going to put that in one form or another in legislation that has to pass.
So, I don't think $15 an hour is a radical idea. As you know, Wolf, I proposed that literally five years ago, five years of coming on, and nothing has happened. So, we're sticking with 15 bucks an hour. And I believe we're going to pass that.
BLITZER: Yes, people can't make a living at $7.25. You're right.
SANDERS: No, that's...
BLITZER: They are in poverty if they're working 40 hours and only make look $7.25.
SANDERS: Look...
BLITZER: That's way, too low. And it's been like that, as we point out, since 2009.
But go ahead. Make the point.
SANDERS: And here's the point.
The point is that half of our people today, 50 percent of workers in America are living paycheck to paycheck. They work 40 hours a week, they don't have a nickel to put into the bank for the future. So, we have got to address that issue of low wages and millions of people struggling after working 40 hours a week. And raising the minimum wage would be a significant step forward.
BLITZER: While I have you, let me get you on another subject, another sensitive issue.
Today, your Republican colleague Senator Lindsey Graham, he heaped praise on the nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, hinting she'd have his support to be the director, instead of Neera Tanden, who is the president's nominee.
I don't know where you stand on this right now. But would you throw your support behind Shalanda Young as potentially the director of OMB, instead of Neera Tanden? I know you have got some issues with her.
SANDERS: Well, she made -- Ms. Young made a very strong presentation today. I think she did really, really well.
But it is the function of the president of the United States to make that nomination, not me.
But the other point that I would make, Wolf -- and I -- we can't get lost in this -- is this $1.9 trillion bill that will begin debate, being debated on the floor tomorrow is probably the most consequential and important bill for working-class people that we have seen in decades.
I mean, we're talking about $1,400 for every working-class person and their children. Talking about extending unemployment. We're talking about cutting childhood poverty by 50 percent. We're talking about dealing with a severe pension crisis, when millions of workers are facing losses in their pensions.
We're going to deal with that. We're talking about money to reopen our schools in a way that is safe, strong summer programs, so kids can gain back some of what they lost during this terrible academic year. So I hope people pay attention to what is in this very, very important legislation and help us get it passed.
[18:25:08]
BLITZER: Very quickly, have you made up your mind on whether to confirm Neera Tanden?
SANDERS: Well, right now, Neera Tanden does not have the votes. So, we will see what happens in the future.
BLITZER: Well, where do you stand?
SANDERS: Well, I will make that decision when the vote takes place.
BLITZER: All right, Senator Bernie Sanders, thanks so much for joining us.
And, as you correctly point out, these are critically important issues for the American people right now. Appreciate it very, very much. Thank you.
SANDERS: Thank you.
BLITZER: There's more breaking news we're following, the Texas governor defying CDC warnings and moving ahead to lift mask mandates and reopen his state, even as new coronavirus variants are still spreading across the United States.
Plus, what we're learning about a horrific car wreck that left at least 13 people dead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
BLITZER: Tonight, we are learning about frustration inside the Biden White House as Texas and Mississippi are now defying warnings about lifting COVID-19 restrictions right now. That's exactly what the governors of those two states are doing.
Our National Correspondent Nick Watt is joining right now. Nick, the Texas governor claims it's time to reopen, in his words, 100 percent.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf, and do away with mask mandates. That's going to kick in Texas in about a week from now. But about this time tomorrow in Mississippi, there will be no more mask mandates and businesses can reopen without state restrictions, exactly what the CDC director and others are telling governors not to do as these variants still spread. Their decisions are based in part on a wave of vaccine optimism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, vaccinate.
WATT (voice over): Johnson & Johnson's vaccine just injected into American arms for the first time.
BARBARA SCHMALENBERGER, JUST RECEIVED J&J VACCINE: It's exciting, it's great. And I don't even feel a thing now.
WATT: But supply is a trickle, not a flood.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): It's a fairly limited supply to begin, but later in the month we think we start to see real numbers.
WATT: Merck will transform two facilities to manufacture the J&J vaccine in a deal just announced by President Biden.
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: The local are forward to, but right now, we are in a dire time potentially.
WATT: The average daily COVID-19 death toll was falling. Not anymore. And average daily case counts now plateauing at about the level of last summer's surge. DR. JEANNE MARRAZZO, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: This is a scary virus and we already know that, we underestimate it at our peril.
WATT: Study have a surge in Manaus late last year found the variant first identified in Brazil was likely to blame and could more easily re-infect people who've already been infected. The research is not yet published.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Variants are starting to take over, and if they become dominant and we relax restrictions, I think we can absolutely see a huge spike.
WATT: Houston just became the first city in America to log cases of every major variant but --
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): It is now time to open Texas 100 percent.
WATT: And one week from tomorrow, the mask mandate will end and every business can reopen, no restrictions.
MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-HOUSTON, TX): Quite frankly, to put it in very stark terms it makes no sense.
WATT: Meanwhile, team Biden is still sticking to two doses within a month of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF ADVISER ON COVID-19 TO THE WHITE HOUSE: Even though you can get a fair degree of, quote, protection after a single dose, it clearly is not durable.
WATT: And his worried about mixed messaging, U-turning, not everyone agrees. The former surgeon general today tweeting, good protection for many with one shot is better than great protection for a few, later adding, I'm not saying it's 100 percent the right way to go.
DR. RICHINA BICETTE, ASSOCIATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AND ASSISSTANT PROFESSOR, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I think that he should park his Twitter fingers for a few minutes.
In order to be fully protected, you need to get at least two doses. And until we see science saying otherwise, I think we need to stick with that vaccination schedule.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (on camera): Now the governors of Mississippi and Texas say it is now up to individuals to do the right thing but, Wolf, study after study has shown that telling people what to do works in slowing the spread of this virus. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Nick, thank you very much, Nick Watt in L.A. for us.
Joining us now Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN Medical Analyst, Emergency Room Physician and former Baltimore City Health Commissioner. Dr. Wen, thanks so much for joining us.
As you know, President Biden's announcement today that there will be enough vaccine supply for every American adult by the end of May, that's impressive. But is it soon enough from your perspective to beat any kind of surge we might see from these various variants out there?
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: What the announcement by President Biden today certainly is excellent news because we know that supply has been the limiting factor. And so if we're going to have enough supply, at least then we can focus on this other elements, working to overcome vaccine hesitancy, also making sure that we have enough distribution sites.
I think it still remains an open question, Wolf, about whether we'll going to win the race of vaccines versus variants, and that's the reason why I really would urge for a caution at this point. It's just irresponsible and goes against science to try to open up when we don't know that we have enough people vaccinated just yet.
[18:35:03]
BLITZER: I spoke an hour ago with Andy Slavitt, the Senior White House Adviser for COVID response. He told me the White House thinks it's a mistake for the Governors of Texas and Mississippi right now to lift mask mandate, to relax coronavirus restrictions. He thinks it's too soon. What do you think? What kind of damage could these decisions do?
WEN: It could undo all the incredible work that we have done thus far. We finally have numbers of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, deaths that have been trending down. We finally are getting to the point that vaccines are ramping up and we could well have a spring where more people get vaccinated. Warmer weather is coming. We could beat the variants.
But what I really don't understand, Wolf, is, look, I understand wanting to open up businesses, I understand wanting to get our kids back in-person instruction. But what allows us to do that safely are mask mandates. So open businesses, open schools but keep the mandates for masking in place, because that actually is what gives us our freedoms back, not what limits our freedoms.
BLITZER: Yes, totally agree. President Biden also announced, this is important, a new goal to get every educator in the country of school staff member, child care workers to get at least one coronavirus shot for them by the end of this month. Do you think that's key to getting kids, teachers back together in person?
WEN: Absolutely. This is what I and many other public health experts have been saying for months now, that if President Biden's goal is really to get every child back for in-person instruction as much as possible, then we should viewing schools as essential. And if schools are essential, then it also needs to be a top priority to protect through vaccination all the teachers, the bus drivers, the janitors, all the individuals who work in the schools and so having the federal government step in and do this is really important.
BLITZER: It certainly is. Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much, as usual.
Just ahead, we have new details emerging right now, on the investigation of the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, as yet a third woman now is accusing him of sexual harassment.
And we're also going to tell you what we're learning about a deadly crash in California involving an SUV packed with 25 people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:40:00]
BLITZER: We are following the growing scandal right now surrounding the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo. A third woman is now accusing him of sexual harassment as the state attorney general is launching an independent investigation.
Our National Correspondent Brynn Gingras is joining us from New York. Brynn, what's the latest?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. I think the big question here is will more women come forward? Well, if they do, they will be heard. That's really promised by the attorney general. And, remember, of course, Charlotte Bennett, one of the accusers, is asking for women to come forward if they want to, saying she stands with them.
Now, something to keep in mind, Wolf, Cuomo is someone who held the daily briefing at the height of the height of the pandemic. Well, now, it's been several days since we've seen the governor is go in front of the cameras. And behind the scenes, you can imagine there's likely more turmoil with this third accuser coming forward.
Anna Ruch, that's her name, she told The New York Times, she met Cuomo at a wedding reception in 2019 and she told the paper she thanked the governor for a toast he gave to the newlyweds and then soon after, he put his hand on her back which she removed she said. And then she says, Cuomo put his hands on her face and asked her if he could kiss her. That moment captured in this picture seemingly published by -- it was published by The Times. And she also said, quote, I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed, going on to say, I didn't have words in that moment.
Now, CNN reached out to Ruch, but she didn't respond. And we didn't -- couldn't independently corroborate her claims. As far as how Cuomo is responding, his team didn't return CNN's calls but pointed to The Times statement, they point to The Times from over the weekend where the governor says, quote, I acknowledged that some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation and then apologized for that.
So we know the investigation right now, Wolf, is in the hands of the state attorney general and will likely be a few days before Letitia James selects an independent special counsel to handle all of these allegations. But what is key here, of course, that that person is going to have subpoena powers, will be able to request documentation, compel testimony like possibly even the governor himself and Cuomo says he will cooperate fully with that investigation, Wolf.
BLITZER: And as you know, there are some state Democrats in New York, Democrats we're talking about, who are already calling for Governor Cuomo to resign.
GINGRAS: There are. But for the most part, Wolf, there are Democrats that are really just taking the wait-and-see approach, especially on the federal level. Likely be months before the findings of these investigations are made public, but many Democrats, again, reserving judgment on what Cuomo's fate should be until this investigation is complete.
Kathleen Rice though, she has said she thinks that he should resign. Meanwhile, a source is telling CNN something different with the state lawmakers, they're actually going to be making good on a promise that they made weeks ago, if you remember, when Cuomo's administration took a broader criticism for its handling of the fatalities of long-term care residents in the state. They're planning to actually introduce a bill this week that remove the governor's executive emergency powers as they relate to the pandemic. Something we're told through sources that would sped up because of all these allegations against him, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brynn Gingras reporting for us. Brynn, thank you very much.
GINGRAS: Yes.
BLITZER: We have breaking news coming out of the White House right now, and the president's embattled nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Let's go to our Senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly.
[18:45:02]
What are you learning, Phil?
MATTINGLY: Well, Wolf, the White House plans to withdraw Neera Tanden's nomination to be the budget director. That's according to a senior administration official.
This obviously follows several weeks now of going back and forth as to whether or not she'd be able to get the votes. One Democratic senator, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, already saying he would not vote for her. He cited overtly political statements, most notably Neera Tanden's Twitter feed before she was the nominee.
The administration has been working hard behind the scenes, Tanden included, to see if they can get one Republican on board to support the nomination, focused primarily on Senator Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski met with Neera Tanden in person, has been talking to administration officials, had not yet committed.
But, Wolf, you also just had Senator Bernie Sanders on, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He has not committed to supporting the nomination at this point. The White House fought and fought hard. They made clear their, quote, in the words of White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, going to fight their guts out for this nomination.
But now, they have decided, to withdraw the nomination. Wolf, I would tell you the deputy nominee for the nomination, Shalanda Young, a veteran Hill staffer, has a lot of bipartisan support. The expectation is she would be a top candidate to take the nomination, when Tanden is pulled.
But right now, no word on that and all we know for sure is Neera Tanden's nomination will be pulled by the White House, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yeah, she clearly did not have the votes.
Dana Bash is with us.
Dana, remind our viewers the controversy. What is this all about? Why did she not have that kind of support?
BASH: Well, first and foremost, it is because of her Twitter feed, about her social media and what she said in that social media, in a very aggressive way, going after people when, you know, when she was a private citizen, and when she was affiliated with Democratic campaigns like Hillary Clinton, going after Republicans, going after some fellow Democrats who she did not feel were doing the right thing on any given issue.
They were very stark. These tweets, many of them tweets were, you know, tweets that you wouldn't expect from somebody who would be nominated to this post under a Joe Biden. There might be tweets you would expect under the previous president.
And so, that is why there has been controversy and there's controversy about the controversy, Wolf. And what I mean by that is you have a lot of members of the United States who are saying, come on? You know, now, we're going to get all upset and clutch our pearls about tweets, after we've had four years of a president who has been, sending ad hominem tweets and attacks against people.
But the flip side, from people like Joe Manchin who Phil just mentioned, basically when he came out a few weeks ago instead of going to vote against her. He was effectively the death knell for this nomination. What he said is it's time to end this, that Biden held himself up, when he ran, and also when he was inaugurated to a different standard, and she doesn't fit that bill.
And then other people like Susan Collins who has crossed party lines a lot to vote for cabinet officials, for presidents including this one. She said that she didn't like the fact that Neera Tanden then deleted a lot of those -- of those tweets.
So that is really where this lies. What is really interesting to me is that they pulled the nomination after fighting like mad, as you just heard Phil talk about. The White House chief of staff, Ron Klain who was really one of her, if not the biggest champion in the White House. Lisa Murkowski was the decider, and she just told our Ted Barrett like within the hour, that she had not decided Neera Tanden, and that she was focusing on other things. So, then it begs the question, why now? What did they hear if not from
her, who else? Who else did they hear that she was going to have some problems with?
BLITZER: And, Phil, I spoke just a few minutes ago as you know with Senator Bernie Sanders. And once again, he refused to say how he would vote. Clearly, he's now anxious to vote to confirm her. He refused to say repeatedly, ask them, and he also flatly said she doesn't have the votes as if it's now a done deal.
You have a statement I understand from the White House?
MATTINGLY: Yeah, it gives a little explanation and context to the very questions that Dana was just asking.
This is a statement from President Joe Biden. It says, quote, I have accepted Neera Tanden's request to withdraw her name to the nomination for director of the Office of Management and Budget. I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel, and I look forward to having her serve any role in my administration. She will bring viable perspective to the work.
I also, Wolf, want to read -- obtained a letter that Neera Tanden gave to President Biden, requesting the withdrawal. And it reads in part: I appreciate how hard you and your team at the White House worked to win my confirmation.
[18:50:04]
Unfortunately, now it seems clear there's no path forward to gain confirmation and I do not want continued consideration for my nomination to be distraction from your priorities.
So, a couple of elements that are important. One, this was a request by Neera Tanden to withdraw her nomination. One of the big questions over the course of the last eight or nine days was if Neera Tanden saw that there was no pathway to 50 votes, would she ask the White House to withdraw her nomination? That is what happened, and I think something clearly it cleared to make Neera Tanden decide that there is no pathway to 50 votes at this point, Wolf.
As you and Dana know very well, Neera Tanden is no stranger to Washington. She understands the city better than most, and certainly understands how vote counts work in this town, deciding to withdraw that nomination.
And the other key element here which goes to what White House officials have been saying for the last several days, in President Biden's statement, making clear, Neera Tanden will have a role in the administration. It will not be a Senate -confirmed role, because of her experience, because of why President Biden nominated her in the first place he clearly wants or inside the administration. President Biden saying there will be a role for Neera Tanden.
BLITZER: Yeah, she will have a position supposedly. I look forward to having her serve in a role in my administration, if you work at the White House, you don't need Senate confirmation. So presumably he's going to offer her something inside the White House.
Dana, this is the first setback for any of President Biden's nominees who need Senate confirmation?
BASH: That's right. And look, that's an important note. There have been now a number of the president's now cabinet members, who have been confirmed by bipartisan votes. So even though, people looking at Washington say, oh it's divisive, of course, this kind of thing happens. With some cabinet nominees, yes, it does. But with, many maybe even most, it does not.
The prevailing view is that presidents should get who they want, unless they're having really big problems. In this particular case, even with Democrats, they thought they were really big problems.
BLITZER: Yeah, earlier in the day, the new Education Secretary Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, she was confirmed in the Senate overwhelmingly, 84 to 15.
BASH: Exactly.
BLITZER: All right. The breaking news once again, Neera Tanden withdrawing her nomination to the director of Office of Management and Budget.
More news right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:56:46]
BLITZER: We're following breaking news right now.
At least 13 people are dead following a horrific crash in southern California, involving an SUV and a semitruck.
CNN's Stephanie Elam is at the scene of this deadly accident.
So, what happened, Stephanie?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's tragic what has happened here, Wolf. You look behind me and you can see that the wreckage is still here. We know that California Highway Patrol is out here. They're using drones right now to take images of what happened here, this accident that left 12 people dead at the scene, and a 13th person who died at the hospital.
From what we understand now from our updates we've been getting here is that the semi-truck was heading northbound, heading this direction of this highway when the road right behind us, this SUV not stop. Ended up in front of that semi truck, that's when it was T-boned by the truck. We do know that the driver of the SUV who understand was from Mexicali in Mexico, did pass away.
We also know that the driver of the semi-truck, a 69-year-old man, is in the hospital with moderate injuries. Many of the people who are here understand the walking wounded, managed to self extricate. One of things if you go trying to figure out is how 25 people could be in this one vehicle.
We just learned right now that there are 2 front seats that had seatbelts, there were no more seats in the back of this SUV. So that is how those people are in there and why so many were ejected onto the roadway. Why they believe that could've hurt them.
Keep in mind that we are just about 10 miles north of the Mexico border, about 100 miles east of San Diego. So they do say they have day workers coming in here, and they're not sure yet whether people came from but they are already in touch with the Mexican consulate in case that is the case that these people may not have just been from the United States, Wolf.
BLITZER: So sad, so sad indeed. Stephanie Elam on the scene for us, thank you very, very much.
Finally tonight, we have very sad news to report. The prominent civil rights leader and Washington powerbroker, Vernon Jordan, has died. He was 85 years old. Jordan was chosen to lead the National Urban League when you're still in his thirties.
He went on to become an influential D.C. lawyer, a very close friend and adviser to President Bill Clinton, initially serving as chairman of President Clinton's presidential transition team.
Throughout his life, Vernon Jordan was steadfast in his commitment to widening opportunities for African-Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VERNON JORDAN, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: We must teach young black people everywhere, that we black people, are great people who have done so much with so little, and raised the question of how much more we can do, now that we have so much more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: I'm proud to have called Vernon Jordan a friend of mine, I got to know first when I covered President Bill Clinton, and through our shared support, for Howard University here in Washington, D.C. where he got his law degree and I have an honorary doctorate. Very proud of that honorary degree.
My deepest condolences to his wife Ann and his loving family.
May he rest in peace and may his memory be a blessing.
Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. You can always follow me on Twitter and Instagram @WolfBlitzer. Tweet the show @CNNSitRoom.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
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