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U.S. Intel. Report Says Russia Tried To Interfere In 2020 Election With Goal Of "Denigrating" Biden And Helping Trump; Interview With Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA); First Children Vaccinated In Moderna Late-Stage Trial On Kids; WHO Meets To Discuss AstraZeneca Vaccine As More European Countries Pause Rollout; Woman Who Accused Gov. Cuomo Of Sexual Harassment Speaks With Investigators For More Than Four Hours; Biden Admin Warns "The Border Is Not Open" As Migrant Crossings On Pace To Reach Highest Level In 20 Years. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 16, 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]

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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 a landmark U.S. Intelligence Community briefing a report giving the most comprehensive assessment yet of foreign threats to the 2020 presidential election here in the United States. It concludes that Russia once again interfered in the race for the White House, this time trying to get former President Trump reelected by denigrating Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. The report says the goal was also to undermine confidence in the U.S. election and to further divide the American people.

Let's go straight to our Senior National Security Correspondent, Alex Marquardt. He's working on a story for us.

Alex, that this very detailed, lengthy declassified reports as proxies linked to Russian intelligence and to Putin directly pushed misleading unsubstantiated allegations against the now President Biden, push those allegations to American media organizations, officials, prominent individuals, including some very close to the former president.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. It says that Russian intelligence at the behest of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, targeted allies, people who are close to Trump and his administration. As you said, this is the most comprehensive report that we've gotten about the 2020 election and foreign interference by the intelligence community. And it does make clear that this massive Russian influence campaign was designed, orchestrated by Putin to denigrate Joe Biden and to support the reelection of President Donald Trump.

I want to read you one of the key findings about Russia's involvement. The Intelligence Community says, "We assessed that Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the U.S."

Now, that's the goal of all these influence campaigns is to sow divisions, to undermine confidence in our election, but Russia was going farther. They were working against Biden and for Trump, and they were doing it through proxies who they say met with and provided materials to people in the Trump orbit.

I want to read you a little bit more of what they say. "A key element of Moscow strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives, including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden to U.S. media organizations, U.S. officials and prominent U.S. individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration.

Now, they don't name the people who are close to President Trump and his administration. But we do know that one of the people who is named in this report Andriy Derkach who is Ukrainian lawmaker had met and had contacts with Rudy Giuliani, who was President Trump's personal lawyer. And it goes even farther, he says that President Putin had purview over the activities of Andriy Derkach. So, that's an extremely damning part of this report.

It also details, Wolf, the activities of Iran, which it says use a multipronged approach in its influence efforts to undermine the election and against President Trump. And interestingly, when it talks about China, it says that Russia -- that China essentially decided to sit this one out and decided that it wasn't worth impacting its relationship with the U.S. and did not carry out any influence operations against -- in the presidential election in 2020.

BLITZER: Alex, tell us what this lengthy report indicates about foreign actors, whether Russia or China or Iran actually tampering with votes here in the United States as part of the voting process. MARQUARDT: Yes, this is a very important point we need to make, Wolf. All of the efforts that they lay out in this intelligence report talk about influence operations. They say that the votes themselves were not tampered with by any of these foreign countries. That the voting process, technically, was not tampered with by these foreign countries.

They say in the report, "We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 U.S. elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation or reporting results." Now the Department of Homeland Security it says something similar the day after the election that foreign actors had not tampered with any votes. This goes farther and says that they didn't even attempt to.

Wolf, the name of the game in the 2020 election was these influence operations.

[17:05:00]

BLITZER: Very important, indeed.

Alex, I want you to stand by.

I want to go to the White House right now. Our Senior White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly is joining us.

Phil, we're learning that the Biden administration is already planning a response to this election meddling. What are you hearing?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The Biden administration will respond, and they will respond quickly with sanctions likely as soon as next week. That's what U.S. officials are telling our colleague Kylie Atwood.

And what you're seeing from the Biden administration is something they made very clear from the President on down from the day they took office, that there would be a response if they felt there was an attack in any way, shape or form from Russia. Those sanctions will also likely apply to Iran as well, according to the officials.

But this is obviously a change in tone from the very top of the White House. And this isn't the first time sanctions have been applied to the country of Russia by President Biden's administration. Obviously, applying sanctions to individuals just a few weeks ago related to the poisoning and attempted murder of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader in the country. And the expectation is, whatever they do in the weeks ahead related to this report specifically, that also will not be the end of U.S. action as it relates to Russia.

Keep in mind, Wolf, the U.S. is still in a very, very in depth investigation into the solar winds hack, the massive hack that was able to puncture U.S. government agencies to a depth that I think is still U.S. officials are trying to get their heads around right now. And it is very clear there will be a response from the U.S. on those lines as well, likely in the coming weeks as well as what administration officials are saying right now.

So, from the very top President Biden from his first conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin made very clear there were a serious number of issues the U.S. was going to stand firm on if they felt like they were being challenged. Election interference was mentioned in that initial call with Vladimir Putin according to a readout from the White House. Now, the White House is ready to respond, Wolf, in the coming days.

BLITZER: Yes, this is going to be a very, very significant development. Phil Mattingly at the White House, thank you.

I want to bring back Alex Marquardt, along with our correspondents, John King and Abby Phillip, as well as former CIA Counterterrorism Official, Phil Mudd.

Phil, the report lays out the scope of the 2020 election interference by Russia and others. How significant is it to see this in a declassified intelligence community version issued on behalf of not just the CIA, but the entire U.S. intelligence community?

PHILIP MUDD, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: There's a couple things you need to focus on to think about this and put it in context, Wolf. Let me give you a few. One, I was surprised at how unanimous the report is. There's a little bit of dissent in the report, but having served in the Intelligence Community.

People in that community fight all the time. There appears to be a lot of unanimity across the Intelligence Community about how much is going on. Also, the levels of confidence in that report that seems boring to outsiders, but people on the inside spent a lot of time trying to figure out how confident they should portray their findings.

The one thing I'd close on, Wolf, which you're talking about in terms of significance is four or five years ago, the U.S. Intelligence Community was unprepared and extremely uncomfortable talking about foreign interference in U.S. elections. We've come a long way in five ways to the five years to the point where the Intel guys are saying, not only will we do this, but we'll declassify it pretty quickly, and it's going to be become part of our regular business. It is a new cyber world, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly is.

You know, John, let me just reiterate one of the key judgments from this lengthy report, it says this, and I'll put it back up on the screen. "We assess that Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating socio political divisions in the U.S." Four goals on the part of Russia.

They clearly failed to get Trump reelected. That was number one, that was their top goal. Russia didn't try to change the vote count, didn't interfere at actual ballot counting or anything like that. But Putin certainly did succeed in one of the main objectives, namely sowing dissent, chaos division here in the United States.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he did in the sense that there's still the big Trump lie. And Putin's goals were helped by the former president of the United States, repeating lies about who was into -- who what foreign actors were interfering the most about whether the election was rigged or not.

Think back to what happened in those days, Wolf. Remember when Christopher Wray, the FBI Director testified before Congress and said during the election, that Russia was at this in a much more nefarious way, a much more direct way than China. President Trump back when he was still on Twitter attacked his FBI Director.

But it wasn't just President Trump helping Vladimir Putin sow chaos and sow doubt about our systems. Remember, ODNI, the Director Ratcliffe did this, the National Security Adviser Mr. O'Brien did this Secretary Pompeo did this, Bill Barr, the Attorney General did this in an interview including with you. They all talked about how it was China much greater than Russia. That was a lie. And the intelligence they had access to told them that.

[17:10:04]

BLITZER: They certainly did. And I'll read that sentence from the report. This is one of the key judgments as they call it in this Intelligence Community report, "We assess that China did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election." That's what Trump had alleged. Clearly Trump was wrong.

Abby, in 2020, we had the incredible situation where a sitting president was actively spreading a lot of this misinformation about the election results. This report is clear. And it states among other things, let me put it up on the screen, "We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 U.S. elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation or reporting results." It goes pretty far in debunking all the wild claims made by Trump and his allies.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: Right. I think that that is the good news part of that part of the report, which is that the foreign actors who tried to interfere, didn't do so in a practical sense in the sense of trying to change the actual votes that were cast.

But on the other hand, one of their main objectives was to sow division by undermining confidence in the U.S. electoral process. That is an objective that is shared not just by Russia, but also by Iran, according to this report. And it's also shared, apparently by a former President Trump, who has spent months doing the very same thing.

There is -- I think, what is important about this report, in part, not just what Russia did, to interfere, but also just the idea that American actors are furthering the aims and the goals of foreign entities. And that should be an alarm bell and a wakeup call for people in this country, that undermining confidence in our electoral process is something that foreign actors are trying to do, and they are being assisted by people in the United States.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Alex, that's a very significant point. The adversaries, whether Russia, China or Iran, they clearly want to see the U.S. is weakened as possible that's why they try to so all this chaos, all this political dissent, socioeconomic dissent, racial dissent here in the United States, because they think that weakens the U.S. around the world. It clearly does, by the way.

Last year, Alex, I interviewed the then Attorney General Bill Barr. He said unequivocally that China was the biggest threat on election interference. This report says China didn't deploy influence efforts at all. They thought about it, but they decided not to do it.

So, how do other foreign adversaries interference efforts compare in this report to the Russian effort?

MARQUARDT: It really is one of the most remarkable parts of this report, because back before the election, as you were just saying, we were having this whole debate of who was the bigger threat Russia or China, Russia or China, you had the Trump camp that was pushing this line that China really -- was really helping out Biden. Meanwhile, the FBI director, as we just heard, was saying that Russia was really the most involved.

And here, we have the Intelligence Community saying China set this out, they decided that they want to preserve the stability of the relationship, they decided they did not want to carry out any influence operations on this election, and that their influence operations, more broadly, of which there are many and they're significant on the United States to influence U.S.-China policy were sufficient. So, China didn't really do anything.

Iran was the other major player in this election. The Intelligence Community now saying that their influence operations were likely, probably, authorized by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. They created social media accounts to -- for -- as part of this influence operation to sow discord, so these divisions. You'll remember that they actually had one of the most high profile incidents in the election when they sent e-mails to try to scare Democratic voters posing as Proud Boys. That was Iran that was behind that.

This report does go on to talk about other countries that were involved, Cuba, Venezuela, they talk about Hezbollah, the militant group out of Lebanon. But none of those countries compare to what Russia and Iran did during the election, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, certainly that's true.

You know, John, the report reveals that people very close to the former President Trump, they were specifically targeted by Russian intelligence agencies. Is there still more to learn on those Russian links? Because the accusation in the report is that the targeting of these associates of Trump succeeded in getting the Russian message televised on various channels and get it out there in the media. KING: Without a doubt, Wolf. And again shows just the poor judgment or if you judge a man by the company he keeps we can just Rudy Giuliani is exhibit A there. Mr. Norpac (ph) was not exactly, you know, viewed as a non-U.S. citizen. He was known at the time as somebody close to the Kremlin. So are other people in Rudy Giuliani's orbit.

I think you raise an interesting question. And that is now that you have this new report that is declassified, the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, do they want to hold, will they hold additional hearings on this to air it out? Or will they be more forward looking? That's a question for the Democrats in Congress as this plays out.

[17:15:12]

But without a doubt, you know, we don't need to go through the no collusion debate all over again. But yet again, it shows you that people very close to the former president in his orbit, were associating with very well-known bad actors.

BLITZER: And it's significant that the U.S. Intelligence Community released this lengthy report today. I suspect it wouldn't have been released if a president -- if then President Trump, if Trump would have been reelected, but we'll have more on that.

Everybody standby. We'll also discuss Russian efforts to influence the 2020 presidential election with the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Representative Adam Schiff. He's standing by live.

Also ahead, President Biden heads to Pennsylvania to highlight the benefits of his nearly $2 trillion rescue package. We'll be right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New and truly explosive declassified report from the U.S. Intelligence Community says Russia tried to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Among the Russian goals denigrating Joe Biden, supporting Donald Trump's reelection, undermining public confidence in the U.S. electoral process and trying to create as much political chaos in the United States as possible.

[17:20:09]

We're joined by the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, California Democratic Representative Adam Schiff.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

How significant is it to see all these details laid out in great specificity on behalf of the entire U.S. Intelligence Community?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Well, I think it's wonderful that they put out this report, that they declassified this information. It's good to have an intelligence committee doing what it should.

And, you know, sadly, that was not the case over the last four years under the leadership of people like John Ratcliffe or Bill Barr for that matter, who willingly and willfully misrepresented the intelligence to American people. This report demonstrates that now.

They were out hyping the threat to our elections from China, suggesting that China was more deeply engaged in trying to influence the outcome than Russia. That just wasn't true. And we knew it wasn't true. And they knew it wasn't true.

And we just can't have leaders of our law enforcement intelligence agencies, merely speaking in Arabic (ph), they think the President wants to hear not leveling with the American people.

BLITZER: Russia clearly didn't succeed in getting Trump reelected, but can Putin claim mission accomplished for sowing chaos, distrust in the American electoral system and other U.S. institutions?

SCHIFF: You know, I think he can certainly feel that his efforts paid off over the last four or six years.

In particular, the Russians pushed out this false narrative of the former president that the elections were the subject of massive fraud. The Russians amplify that message that Americans can't trust their own electoral system, obviously, a very deeply destructive message that wouldn't gain much traction with Americans, except for the fact that Donald Trump was also pushing this Kremlin narrative. And you know, that made it even more pernicious, more damaging and destructive.

We have to get to a point where both parties agree to shun any foreign interference, to condemn any foreign interference. If there are offered stolen e-mails, or hack from either party, to turn them down and report to the FBI, that's the only way we protect ourselves is developing that consensus. It was very hard to do while Donald Trump was in office. I hope we can do it now.

BLITZER: Because clearly the Russians wanted to, with the Russians have tried to do for many, many years, sow as much political chaos and distrust here in the United States as possible, because that would weaken the U.S. globally.

The report did find no indication, Congressman, that any foreign actor actually changed ballots or results. How much does that undercut some of the conspiracy theories that are -- that have been and continue to be spun about the integrity of the U.S. election?

SCHIFF: Well, I think it helped -- it should help a lot. The former president was pushing this idea that there were going to be millions of fraudulent ballots mailed in from other countries, there's no evidence of that. And I do think that the predominant threat in elections going forward, just as we've seen elections past is less changing the actual votes and more changing the voters, influencing the voters.

The difference that their point -- the report draws, the distinction between influence operations and interference when they actually try to change voter databases. But nonetheless, very serious and pernicious. And just because the Russians decided not to try to change the actual tallies in this cycle doesn't mean that they couldn't be more aggressive in the next. So, we still need to harden the defenses of our elections infrastructure.

BLITZER: That's absolutely true.

Trump's antipathy to the U.S. Intelligence Community, of course, was well known. So, what do you make of the timing of this report being released after he left office? Do you think this kind of report could have been released while he was in office or if he had been reelected?

SCHIFF: It certainly could have been released while he was in office. The classified version was produced while he was in office. But this is, you know, underscores the problem, which is the Intelligence Community would not release information to the public that was contrary to the false narrative the president wanted to tell.

And so, you know, the president was not beyond firing leaders of the Intelligence Community, even in the last days of his administration if he felt they were being disloyal. In his view, telling the truth to the public when it contradicted him was disloyal.

BLITZER: Very, very strong document, this unclassified foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. Federal Elections. Worth reading if you have a chance. I know you have. I have been -- to our viewers, go ahead and check it out.

[17:25:00]

Representative Adam Schiff, as usual, thanks so much for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up. I one drug maker is now testing its COVID vaccine on children as young as six months old.

And we'll talk to the lawyer for one of the women accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, as we learn new details about his strategy to try to hold on to his job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Biden today on the road touting the nearly $2 trillion American Recovery Act. He's in Pennsylvania highlighting the plans aid to small businesses. At the same time, the U.S. death Phil is now top five 536,000 people.

[17:30:01]

The country is closing in on 30 million confirmed COVID cases. CNN's Alexandra Field is joining us from New York right now. Alexandra, there are new questions tonight about the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, update our viewers.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, a lot of questions, some of them coming from the fact that the New England Journal of Medicine has just published a study showing the results of a small survey that finds that the AstraZeneca vaccine does not protect against mild to moderate COVID caused by the South African variant of the virus.

These are the same study results that the South African government was privy to back in February. It's what caused them to slow the rollout of the vaccine there. But this news is coming at the same time that 16 European countries have paused their rollout of AstraZeneca, citing a different set of concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): More countries across Europe temporarily holding use of AstraZeneca's vaccine amid fears of blood clots.

EMER COOKE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE EUROPEAN MEDICINES AGENCY: I want to also stress that at present, there is no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions.

FIELD (voice-over): With fewer than 40 reported cases of clots out of 17 million people vaccinated, health officials are pushing countries to keep vaccinating. The fallout over AstraZeneca also prompting concerns about an increase in vaccine hesitancy overall.

DR. COLLEEN KRAFT, ASSOCIATE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: I think it's important to look into these safety concerns as they come along. But I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think we really need to make sure that we're actually seeing a signal before we say we shouldn't give this vaccine.

FIELD (voice-over): AstraZeneca vaccine is not yet authorized for use here in the United States. Health experts are already urging the public to trust the review process when it does happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No product, no vaccine, no therapeutic will get to the American people that has not been thoroughly tested and proven to be safe and effective.

FIELD (voice-over): This as the U.S. is making strides with vaccinations already available here. Almost 12 percent of U.S. population is fully vaccinated. The country now vaccinating an average of more than 2.4 million people a day. Some states are piecing ahead of President Joe Biden's May 1st deadline to make all adults eligible for vaccines. As of today, Mississippi is vaccinating anyone age 16 and older.

Governor Tate Reeves tweeting, "Get your shots friends and let's get back to normal". Meanwhile, a new study shows asymptomatic or undiagnosed COVID-19 infections in the U.S. may have been twice the official case count as of September 30th last year.

And the Red Cross is finding about one in five unvaccinated blood donors has antibodies. Together, it brings the idea of normal a bit closer, maybe even for children. Moderna announcing it's started clinical trials for young children, even babies as young as six months.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FIELD: Certainly, a lot of parents asking like, what that means for their child, how quickly their child could be vaccinated. Well, we know that there are still months of data that needs to be collected. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said we shouldn't expect the widespread vaccinations of older children until perhaps the fall, Wolf, and younger children, not until probably the first quarter of 2022. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes. I just want to stress that AstraZeneca vaccine has not, repeat, not been authorized for use here in the United States. It's been authorized for use in Europe, but a lot of countries there are beginning to put forward a pause on using it.

Alexandra, thank you so much for that report.

Let's get some more in all of this, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen is joining us. She's an emergency room physician, former Baltimore City Health Commissioner. Dr. Wen, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. Let me get your thoughts, first of all, on Moderna's very important new vaccine trial for kids, for children between the ages of only six months and 11 years old. Can we reach herd immunity in this pandemic without eventually, eventually vaccinating children?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, Wolf, I'm very excited about the fact that these vaccine trials are starting in younger children as a mom, myself, to an 11-month-old and a three- year-old. And also as a physician, I'm excited because we know that children are not just little adults, their physiology is different. And so it is really important for us to study children, make sure that it's safe and effective in children as well.

Now as to whether we can reach herd immunity without kids, it's really difficult because we know that we need somewhere between 70 percent to 85 percent of people in overall to have immunity either through vaccination or through recovery from infection. And so, I think this is why we need for all adults who are eligible to get the vaccine as soon as possible. Remember that you're getting the vaccine to protect yourself, but also to protect others around you, including our children who cannot yet be vaccinated.

BLITZER: In Europe, as you know, and as we reported, several countries now have suspended the use of this AstraZeneca vaccine which has not been approved here in the United States. They have concerns about possible blood clots. Is there any reason to worry that this particular vaccine has this kind of harmful side effects? I know a lot of experts are studying it.

[17:35:10]

WEN: That's right. I do think that the study is very important. And also that there needs to be complete transparency with the investigation, because people have understandably concerns about possible side effects. But I also want people to remember that there is the natural incidence of health conditions.

Whenever you are administering any kind of therapy to hundreds of millions of people, those individuals are going to experience some health conditions totally separate from the vaccine just because we're studying so many individuals.

And so that's what needs to happen is to compare the prevalence of blood clots in the populations at large compared to those that have received the vaccine and see if there's any difference. So far, it doesn't seem like there's any difference in prevalence. And so that kind of investigation is ongoing, but needs to be reported in a full and transparent way.

BLITZER: Yes, what worries me and I'm sure worries you is that all this discussion of that AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe and whether there are some damaging side effects could further accelerate the vaccine hesitancy we're seeing among parts of the population here in the United States, even though that vaccine has not been authorized for use in the United States. So Dr. Wen, thanks so much for joining us.

WEN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sticks to his strategy to survive sexual harassment scandals, we're going to speak with the attorney for one of his accusers when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:38]

BLITZER: The embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has so far ignoring the growing calls from within his own party for him to resign over multiple allegations of sexual harassment. CNN Ryan -- CNN's Ryan Nobles is in Albany for us working in the story. Ryan, you have some new details I understand on Governor Cuomo strategy to try to survive all these scandals. What are you learning?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf. It's very clear that Andrew Cuomo isn't going anywhere. And what he is going to do is continue to just focus on his job as the state's Governor, and this is perhaps the most busiest part of the legislative year for state lawmakers. The budget process is taking place right now. And of course, the Governor very focused on the state's response to the COVID vaccine and the focus on getting vaccines and as many arms as possible.

So what the Governor plans to do, according to sources, is just ignore the scandals that are taking place around him and focus on that job on a day-to-day basis. And he could be aided by the fact that the investigations into his conduct could take some time to resolve themselves, both the Assembly Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader saying that they are not going to put a timeline as to how long these investigations could take to resolve themselves. Listen to what Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader said about that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS (D), NEW YORK SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I can't opine on what the assembly is, you know, what their process is or how long it should take. I really can't. I really -- as I said I've made my opinion clear that I think the Governor should resign. Because again, there's just so many allegations and so many different whether it's the nursing home data or sexual harassment, you know, I mean, there's, unfortunately, so many things that really would, in under any circumstance, be extremely distracting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And keep in mind, we are talking about two separate investigations here. There's one that's been impaneled by Letitia James who is the state Attorney General and then another that has been planned by this Assembly Speaker. They're expected to announce investigators, independent investigators later this week.

Now, Wolf, the leadership here of the state legislature may be willing to take their time, but there are still many state lawmakers that would still like to see the Governor resign. Among them, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who reiterated today in Washington, that he believes that it is time for Andrew Cuomo to step down. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Ryan, thank you very much. Ryan Nobles in Albany for us.

Joining us now Deborah Katz, she's the attorney for Charlotte Bennett, one of the women accusing Governor Cuomo of harassment. Debra, thank you so much for joining us. You said that your client, Charlotte Bennett, met with the investigators for more than four hours yesterday. So describe the nature of the questions they asked. Were they in line with what we heard from Charlotte Bennett, in their TV interview or were investigators pushing for more specific details?

DEBRA KATZ, ATTORNEY FOR CHARLOTTE BENNETT: The investigators are very skilled. They know what to do here. They took their time to ask very detailed questions. They understood the evidence, and they were very sensitive to the issues, but they're very experienced, and they know just what they're looking at.

BLITZER: I was going to say, did they get new information more than she told everyone in that CBS News interview?

KATZ: Yes. And she turned over -- well over 120 pages of contemporary news records that they're using to continue their investigation. But they're going to get at this. They have already heard from other people. They've done the right thing. They put up a hotline, they put up a website to encourage other people to come forward. And other people are coming forward.

This is going to be a very careful investigation, and yet they're moving with speed. And that's encouraging.

BLITZER: What -- can you give us some details what were -- what was in those 120 pages, those text messages, I assume and other details?

KATZ: Yes. As Senate -- as Governor Cuomo was sexually harassing my client, she was writing her parents, she was writing her friends, she was telling them exactly what was happening in lifetime, how scared she was and really confirming what you've heard from her -- in her interview in CBS and what you've seen in public reporting.

[17:45:06]

She did a very good job of detailing this, which is exactly why the Governor has not denied the allegations. He's stuck with the allegations. He said, I'm sorry, I made you uncomfortable. But he can't deny it because he and everyone else knows this is exactly what he said and did.

BLITZER: Based on what you observed, Debra, during that lengthy what, four-hour interview yesterday, how far along would you say this investigation into Governor Cuomo is right now?

KATZ: I think it's still at the early stages, where they're encouraging other victims of harassment to come forward, and they are. And they are at a stage where the more that they speak to people, the more that they know, but there are certain patterns that are quite evident. And the kind of commons, the kind of misconduct that the Governor engaged in that Charlotte disclosed is what other women are saying as well.

So we're seeing certain patterns that are clear abuses of power here and there are clear patterns of how his inner staff, silence women, when they came forward, remove women when they came forward with allegations and just covered up for the Governor. And we will see that in this report. I'm confident with that.

BLITZER: Was your client, Charlotte Bennett, the first accuser interviewed by these investigators?

KATZ: I don't believe so, no.

BLITZER: Do you know who was the first or the second for that matter?

KATZ: I'm not sure, but I am confident from my conversations with other people that others have contacted the investigators as well. They're well into this. They've moved very quickly.

In fact, the night that they were appointed, I got a call from both investigators saying they're ready to go. And they have a team of other lawyers who are working with them. They will get to this. They're very serious in these investigations.

BLITZER: Have you been contacted by other women who have not yet come forward publicly with allegations against the Governor, but say they experienced similar harassment?

KATZ: Yes.

BLITZER: And so what's happening with those other women?

KATZ: I think it's a very difficult and highly personal decision about whether to come forward. Most women don't, most women fear retaliation. And in fact, the EEOC (ph) has done a comprehensive study of why women come forward and what happens to women when they come forward. And there's strong evidence that people experience sometimes career drilling retaliation.

So for those who are still working with the Governor, they need to feel confident that if they come forward, nothing will happen to them in the workplace. And for those women, they may choose to go straight to the investigators rather than coming forward publicly. But it's a very personal choice, and people are quite scared of him.

BLITZER: Are you formally representing any of those other women?

KATZ: I am not. No. I'm representing Charlotte Bennett.

BLITZER: Just Charlotte Bennett. Have you been contacted --

KATZ: Yes.

BLITZER: -- by the Assemblyman Charles Lavine or anyone in Albany for that matter about the impeachment investigation being carried out by the State Assembly Judiciary Committee?

KATZ: We have not yet been contacted, but we've made it clear that Ms. Bennett will cooperate with any and all appropriate investigations. So everyone who's involved in this will get at the truth, and we'll have the benefit of her evidence.

BLITZER: How's she doing?

KATZ: I think that courage begets courage. Excuse me. She was very scared to come forward. And yet, those who have heard her allegations have contacted her and thanked her for coming forward because they themselves experienced similar harassment. And I think she made other people feel like they could come forward too.

So, at this point, she is feeling validated, she's feeling a good deal of support. And yet she's also feeling some backlash, which you see, anytime someone a woman has the audacity to come forward and report harassment against powerful people. So she's experiencing both, but I think this has been an empowering experience for her to come forward.

BLITZER: Debra Katz, thanks so much for joining us.

KATZ: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: Thank you.

KATZ: Appreciate it.

BLITZER: Coming up, the growing crisis on the border as migrant crossings are on pace to reach the highest level in some 20 years.

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[17:53:42]

BLITZER: President Biden today said he has no immediate plans to visit the U.S.-Mexican border for a first-hand look at the surge of migrant children. His administration is warning the border is not open, even though migrant crossings are on a pace right now to reach the highest level in some 20 years. CNN's Rosa Flores is joining us. She's over at the border in South Texas. So Rosa, what are you seeing there?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, you just mentioned that DHS is saying that it is on pace to encounter more migrants that in the last 20 years and let me show you what that looks like here along the border.

If you look at the bridge that you see behind me, there is a makeshift processing center under that bridge. So some migrants are being received under that bridge. You know, we can't get any closer. However, the Border Protection chief tweeted out photos showing what it looks like under their lines of people.

I've also talked to migrants who say that they spent the night under there, waiting to get transported to processing facilities. Now this has the number of unaccompanied children is spiking. The number of unaccompanied children in CBP custody is more than 4,000. Right now, on top of that, about 9,300 children are in HHS custody.

We just received a statement from Customs and Border Protection who says that DHS and HHS are working together to try to figure out how to increase capacity so that they can take care of these children. Of course, this comes as we learn that FEMA is also stepping in to help create capacity, with thousands of children expected to be taken care of at the Dallas Convention Center.

[17:55:19]

And, Wolf, politically, Republicans are pointing the finger at Biden and the Biden administration is pointing the finger at the Trump administration, saying that the Trump administration gutted the nation's immigration system in the past four years. Wolf?

BLITZER: Lots going on. Rosa Flores, along the border, thank you very much.

Coming up, the landmark new U.S. intelligence report concluding that Russia interfered in the 2020 presidential election in an effort to keep former President Trump in the White House.

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