Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

U.S. At Pandemic Flashpoint: Race Between Cases and Vaccinations; Powerful Testimony from Witnesses to George Floyd's Death; Biden to Unveil $2 Trillion "American Jobs Plan" in Pittsburgh. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 31, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:25]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Emotional testimony from the people who watched George Floyd die. The words they used, scared, desperate, and from a nine-year-old little girl, sad.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, President Biden set to unveil the first piece of a historic infrastructure package that goes well beyond roads and bridges.

ROMANS: A sex trafficking probe into a prominent Florida Republican. We'll tell you how he's pushing back now.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Good morning.

JARRETT: Hey, good morning, Christine.

I'm Laura Jarrett. It's Wednesday, March 31st, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And we have all had this feeling before, progress against the pandemic only to slide back after impatience creeps in. Now with a real chance to see this through, finally cases jumping back up, about 20 percent in one week, reversing a month of progress while roughly 1,000 Americans are still dying every single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY: My last week of shifts in the ER I saw more COVID patients than I had seen in the prior month. It's because we are letting more people into restaurants unmasked, we are allowing bigger public gatherings, often unmasked, it is absolutely incontrovertibly true that when you get together people who are not yet vaccinated in a public setting without masks on COVID spreads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We are almost there. No giving up now. Please. There is a lot of orange and red on the map right now. An uptick was expected in some places because the numbers had dropped dramatically but many cities are determined to move away from the precautions designed to keep people safe.

Los Angeles County plans to ease restrictions April 5th, allowing restaurants and gyms to increase their indoor capacity.

JARRETT: In the Upper Midwest, along with states like Texas, which dropped all COVID restrictions and Florida, where spring breakers descended maskless unto the Miami Beach recently, the numbers are sharply higher.

Now, at the same time this isn't like all the times before, there are three vaccines in circulation and more shots are going into arms than ever before, but the United States is nowhere close to a level of immunity that means most people are protected. Just over 16 percent of the -- of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated now and even if the country eventually reaches herd immunity down the line with roughly 75 percent of people protected, it's possible to then lose it.

ROMANS: Yeah, two big ways that happens. Too many people not getting vaccinated and young people getting infected and transmitting this virus. All of this putting President Biden -- pitting President Biden against governors who refuse to slow their reopenings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now is not the time to let down. Now is not the time to celebrate. It is time to do what we do best as a country. Our duty, our jobs, take care of one another and fight this to the finish. We can and will do this but don't let up now.

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON (R), ARKANSAS: By the criteria that we set it's an appropriate time to lift the statewide mask mandate. So I'm announcing today that the statewide mask mandate will be lifted effective today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's Arkansas.

Starting today, Arkansas offering vaccines to everyone 16 and older making it the last state to put that timeline in place.

JARRETT: Prosecutors resume their case this morning in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd. Jurors will hear from more bystanders about what they witnessed following a powerful day of testimony on Tuesday.

CNN's Sara Sidner reports for us from Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, we heard from five eyewitnesses, each of them who were there on the scene on May 25th, 2020, as George Floyd was lying there with several officers at one point on him and then with Derek Chauvin's knee in his neck for those 9 minutes and 30 seconds. Each of the witnesses spoke very emotionally and very pointedly about what they saw and how they felt as they were seeing it.

We heard from an EMT and firefighter who happened to be on a walk and walking past the scene and stopped to start asking if she could help. We heard from a little girl, 9 years old, who was also there, happened to be going to the store. We heard from the 17-year-old girl who at the time was watching all this and decided that she had to record it because she didn't know what else to do as she watched little by little George Floyd losing his breath.

[05:05:08]

TEEN WITNESS: When I look at George Floyd, I look at -- I look at my dad, I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles. There's been nights I stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more.

9-YEAR-OLD WITNESS: I was sad and kind of mad.

JERRY BLACKWELL, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: And tell us why were you sad and mad?

9-YEAR-OLD WITNESS: Because it felt like he was stopping his breathing and it was kind of like hurting him.

MATTHEW FRANK, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: Well, why did you feel helpless?

GENEVIEVE HANSEN, WITNESS: Because there was a man being killed and I would have -- had I had access to a call similar to that I would have been able to provide medical attention to the best of my abilities and this human was denied that right.

DONALD WILLIAMS, WITNESS: I did call the police on the police.

FRANK: And why did you do that?

WILLIAMS: Because I believe I witnessed a murder.

SIDNER: One after the other, the humanity of all of these witnesses really came through, even on cross-examination when their training was questioned, when whether or not they told the whole truth was yesterday when it came to the EMT, she went back and forth with the defense attorney, but ultimately what you saw as a whole is the humanity of these people, young people and professionals when they were watching what was going on and it made very clear that what you were not seeing and hearing is the humanity of the officers who were there on the scene at that time.

Of course, the defense will put on its case after the prosecution and they will have plenty to say about that -- Laura, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sara Sidner for us. Thank you so much for that, Sara.

Today, the president, President Biden launches a historic effort to overhaul the country's infrastructure. The president shows no interest in going small here and a senior official tells CNN the White House wants to see progress by Memorial Day. That gives him just two months.

JARRETT: From roads to public transit, dams, the country's infrastructure is just falling apart. The American Society of Civil Engineers says the U.S. scored a C minus in 2021 and that is an upgrade.

Jeff Zeleny reports from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, President Biden traveling to Pittsburgh this afternoon to unveil his big infrastructure plan. They're calling it the American jobs plan, trying to focus on the job creation aspect of this big piece of legislation.

Now, the White House is describing this as a once in a century capital investment, coming with the price tag of some $2.25 trillion and this we are told is how it breaks down, let's take a look at these numbers: $650 billion for physical infrastructure, $300 billion for housing infrastructure, $300 billion for manufacturing, $300 billion for the electric grid and $400 billion for home caretakers and care for the elderly.

Now, that was a key piece for the Biden campaign's focus on seniors.

Now, this is again part one of a two-part infrastructure and care economy package. This is going to be the next big push for the Biden administration taking them really throughout the summer perhaps into early fall to try to get this passed. For now, at least they are saying it is a bipartisan effort, they are going to bring Republicans on board in their hope on the infrastructure plan at least, but Republicans are saying that they believe this bill is indeed packed with too many things.

So the challenge likely for the White House will be can they keep Democrats unified and on board with this? All of that will come in the weeks ahead, but for now at least, President Biden traveling to Pittsburgh of course the city where he launched his presidential campaign to deliver what he hopes will be the biggest agenda item yet.

Of course, many challenges facing this White House, but for now at least he wants the focus to be on this infrastructure plan -- Laura and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny.

And the White House very clear that it's going to be corporate America that will help pay for this, higher taxes on corporations that in 15 years would make this fully paid for. That's what the White House is pushing here. America is overdue on an infrastructure upgrade, the cost to fix the U.S. crumbling infrastructure, the American society of civil engineers estimates nearly $2.6 trillion over ten years.

The president plans to spend big on building stuff, creating jobs and raising taxes on companies to pay for it, increasing the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. The president says this is only fair. This is fairness for companies to pay a greater share, noting that some companies in 2018 paid an average rate of only about 8 percent.

[05:10:02]

He wants to raise that corporate rate to 28 percent, raise the global minimum tax and end federal subsidies for fossil fuel firms.

The White House looking to compromise on a rate that would be palatable for corporate America and still lower than it was before Trump's tax cuts. The infrastructure push part of a broader pattern from this White House showing what big government can do for you in COVID times. Biden signed the paycheck protection program extension into law Tuesday. Small businesses now have until the end of may to apply for critical funding. The administration expanding the pause on student loan payments and interest to more than a million borrowers now in default on loans from private lenders.

And low income social security recipients you will start getting your stimulus checks next week. There had been a lot of complaints from people who received these benefits who hadn't been able to get their stimulus checks yet, now we're hearing that the IRS has worked out that glitch and those checks will be in the mail.

JARRETT: Glad that got fixed.

Still ahead, thousands of foreigners flocking to one destination to get their COVID-19 vaccine. Where they're going might surprise you. CNN takes you there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:30]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

For all the wealth and power across Europe, Serbia now ranks among the top five countries in the world in terms of the most vaccinations. The country is becoming a regional hub attracting visitors from all over looking to get their shot.

Frederik Pleitgen joins us live from a vaccination site in Belgrade.

Fred, the Serbs, they're not turning anyone away here for a shot.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL: No, you're absolutely right, Christine. They certainly are. I mean, you always have to keep in mind, Serbia is not an E.U. member and nevertheless managed to get a lot of vaccine very quickly.

You cane see. I'm actually in the biggest vaccination center in all of Serbia, it's in Belgrade and it's humming here. There's a lot of people who are coming and they in the first one and a half hours, they vaccinated 1,000 people. They say basically the secret to their success is two things, first of all. They were very pragmatic. They ordered, for instance, from Russia, they have Sputnik V. You can see over there, you have Sinopharm the Chinese company, they were one of the first companies, the first countries to have a contract with Sinopharm, also one of the first countries to have a contract with BioNTech and Pfizer.

So, they say they ordered everywhere very quickly and that's why they have so much vaccine now. You're absolutely right, there's people who are coming from neighboring countries to get their vaccinations here, there's also a lot of people coming from the European Union, from that big economic powerhouse to try and get their vaccinations as well because of course the E.U. doesn't have enough vaccine to go around.

One of the things that the government says is they really try to be as pragmatic as possible. For instance, they said recently they had a batch of AstraZeneca in danger of expiring because they weren't vaccinating it fast enough, they said they were going to give it to neighboring countries.

One of the other things that they also have is a really efficient system for IT. So, you see folks waiting over there, the amount of time it takes for folks to come in here, fill out a little bit of paperwork, get into the IT system, get their shots and rest and get out of here is about ten minutes so they're vaccinating very quickly, vaccinating a lot of people and you do also see a lot of foreigners from the European Union coming in here as well.

The Serbs are saying, look, if they're going to beat the pandemic, first of all, they also have to give some shots to other countries around here. Otherwise, it's going to linger around this area, but they also said they need to vaccinate as fast as possible -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Fred Pleitgen for us in Belgrade, thanks so much for that, Fred.

Laura?

JARRETT: A real model there how to do this well.

Cinderella still dancing. One of the last teams to get into March Madness beats the number one seed to reach the Final Four, your "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:19]

JARRETT: The U.S. Supreme Court taking up a case today that could change the world of college sports as we know it. This case pits the NCAA and 11 conferences against a class of student athletes who want to get paid to play. The students claim they're being exploited and pardon from monetizing their talents. The NCAA argues that a defining characteristic of regulated college

sports is that they are played by amateur student athletes who are not compensated. A lower court has already ruled that caps on some education-related benefits violate antitrust laws.

ROMANS: All right. UCLA continues its improbable run in the NCAA tournament from the first four to the Final Four.

Coy Wire has this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christine.

And this is what makes March Madness so incredible, right? After being one of those teams needing a first four play in game win just to have a chance in the big chance no one expected UCLA to make it this far but the Bruins still dancing. UCLA grinding out a heart fought win over top seed Michigan to grab that last spot in the Final Four.

The Wolverines had several chances to hold off the upset with under six seconds remaining and the officials they wouldn't even put extra time on the clock for this last shot and it would not fall. UCLA wins 51-49, becoming the only fifth 11th seed to reach the national semifinals.

And check out, the wild celebration back on campus. Fans starting a huge bonfire in the middle of the street. It was eventually put out with no damage.

And a scary moment in the first half of the Gonzaga/USC game. One of the officials, Bert Smith, collapsing on the court. He was alert when he was wheeled off in a stretcher. The NCAA says Smith was feeling better in the second half and was not taken to the hospital.

Now, when play resumed the number one overall seed Gonzaga looking unstoppable. The Bulldogs cruising into the final four with an 85-66 beat down of USC. They've won every NCAA tournament game by at least 16 points. Gonzaga now 30-0 for the season and just two wins away from the first perfect season since Indiana did it in 1976.

The Zags will be the largest favorite in Final Four history when they tip off against UCLA on Saturday. That game follows the matchup between top ranked Baylor and our Andy Scholes' Houston Cougars.

Now, my alma mater and top overall seed Stanford in the women's tournament reaches their 14th Final Four by beating Louisville. Go Cards! They will meet South Carolina on Friday.

[05:25:02]

Dawn Staley's gamecocks beat Texas by 28. That means for the first time ever, two black head coaches will be coaching in the same Final Four. Staley joins Barnes on the sports biggest stage. They said this sends a strong message to athletic directors across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAWN STALEY, SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH: You know, there are so many black coaches out there that won't get opportunity because when ads don't see it, when they don't see it, and they're going to see it on the biggest stage on Friday night, that two black women are representing two programs in the Final Four, something that has never been done before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Outstanding stuff.

Finally, the NFL, formerly approving plans to expand the regular season. The 17-game schedule taking effect coming in season. And it's the first time a game has been added since 1978. There will still only be one bye week and the Super Bowl in L.A. will be moved back to February 13th.

Laura, Commissioner Roger Goodell says he expects to have stadiums full of fans when the regular season opens in September.

JARRETT: All right. We will see about that. Thanks, Coy. Appreciate it.

Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl. How he's responding now, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)