were that to happen. governor cuomo moments ago attempted some rank revisionism on what biden said. >> if you -- if you committed a crime, you can be prosecuted. that's true, but what president biden said was we should do an investigation. the question to president biden starts with do you think the governor should resign, or do you think there should be a review first? and the president said there should be a review. >> that's not what happened. here's what president biden told abc news george stephanopoulos. >> i know you've said that you want the investigation to continue. if the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should he resign? >> yes. i think he probably will end up being prosecuted, too. >> quite different. cnn's bryn gringas joins me now from albany. you listened to the cuomo news conference. in addition to the revisionism that he attempted, what jumped out at you about how the governor characterized what's going on versus what the attorney general is investigating? >> reporter: yeah, well, jake, i think you said it well. he just tried to downplay it, and when we were listening to this news conference, the governor actually didn't answer the question until it was actually asked twice. one reporter sort of paraphrased what the president had said in that interview with george stephanopoulos, and he said you characterized what he said wrong and then asked for the next question. the follow-up question the reporter verbatim read what you just played for your viewers, and that's when cuomo actually had forced to really say the comment that you again just played for your viewers. again, you mentioned, boyden is the one who brought up this idea of prosecution which is something that says basically he thinks that these harassment allegations, these other allegations against the governor are so egregious that maybe prosecution might come into play. keep in mind, right now, jake, the new york attorney general's investigation into cuomo is a fact-finding probe at this point. it isn't a criminal prosecution inquiry investigation. however, leticia james, the new york attorney general here, has said if she does find criminality in this investigation, if the attorneys who are leading it find it, it will be referred to a prosecutor for possibly a criminal investigation. so it was certainly interesting how the president said that and then how cuomo responded to it the second time today. >> and in addition to the attorney general of the state of new york leticia james doing her investigation, there's also this impeachment inquiry into these allegations. the new york state assembly today announced the name of the law firm that will be leading the inquiry. the first accuser to speak out against cuomo, lindsay boylan, and the lawyer for the second of cuomo's accusers charlotte bennett, both of them have raised issues with this law firm picked by the new york state assembly which we should note is run by the democratic party. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. not each just those two accusers, jake, but a lot of people on social media because they noticed a conflict of interest. now, that law firm was announced by the speaker today as davis, pope and wardel law firm and the notable thing is that a member of the law firm, a partner for decades, was a person or is a person who is close to cuomo, has been appointed to several board positions in the state by cuomo, is also married to the chief judge in this state janet difiori who you remember the governor tried to get her to oversee the investigation that the attorney general now has in her hands. there's a lot of questions as to why exactly this law firm was pirksd and like you said charlotte bennett's attorney came out and said, you know, she may not participate in this investigation. she has paused to because of this conflict of interest, so we'll have to see how that goes forward, but i will tell you the speaker has said they didn't find any conflict of interest when actually picking this law firm for the investigation. >> thanks. bryn. let's turn now to gloria borger. let's start with biden saying cuomo should resign if the allegations are proven true and he can be prosecuted and that sounds really significant. >> that's why governor cuomo tried to downplay it. it is significant. the president knows and understands what the story is here and that lots of democrats are calling for cuomo to resign office. the president is not going that far. he has called for a thorough investigation, but i think this was his way of saying to cuomo this is how serious i believe this is, that should they find anything, this can lead to criminal prosecution, period, and cuomo saying, well, he didn't say that. he said, you know, that we should have an investigation first. yes, he did say that, but on his open, as you point out, he raised the issue of criminal prosecution which he was not asked about. >> yeah. i don't think cuomo called it an investments i think he kept calling it a review. >> a review, right. >> interesting language, and nia, i mean this, comes after 16 out of the 19 house democrats representing new york have called for cuomo to accept down. the senate majority leader chuck schumer and senator kirsten gillibrand called for him to step down, and here you have biden raising the specter of prosecution. cuomo, of course, trying to act as if none of this is happening. >> exactly. that's been his posture all along, and at this point i think he's relying on polls in new york that say that most people do not want him to resign. i think it's something like 50% of folks want him to stay in office. the thing about this is he does not have to resign, right in the only way to remove him from office is the impeachment proceedings that seem to be moving fairly quickly with democrats leading the charge. it has been something of a sea change for andrew cuomo over these last days to see how many top democrats have come out against him and most recently with biden who hadn't really been out front on this talking about this to come out and now say that these charges are very serious, these allegations that a number of women have made against him could lead to prosecution if it is found that he's guilty of these allegations. >> gloria, you and i are old enough to remember the clinton years. >> yeah. >> and there's a script going on here that's very familiar. you see governor cuomo doing events with african-american political leaders, people who are a key part of the democratic coalition, and you see this effort by people in his circle to smear his accusers. >> yeah. we went through that with bill clinton. what is different here that is sort of interesting to me is the democratic party itself because, jake, you remember at that time that the democratic party itself circled the wagons around bill clinton. women's groups circled the wagons around bill clinton and protected him. in this particular instance it's the democrats were calling bill clinton who are now coming out and saying no, not again, so you see the opposite happening with a lot of these democrats and a lot of, you know, generally pro-democratic groups saying we cannot excuse this. >> and we should note, nia, there are a lot of republicans in new york, congressman lei zeldin, congresswoman elise stefanik who are acting very offended by what cuomo has done who had not one word to say about the dozens of women who accused former president trump of not only sexual harassment but in some cases sexual assault. >> yeah. a lot of hypocrisy there among republicans who are pointing to governor cuomo and the situation he finds himself in, and initially they were pointing to democrats and saying why aren't democrats calling on him to resign? why aren't democrats treating him much more harshly and as gloria pointed out we've seen what has happened over the last many days with democrats really forcefully calling on him to resign, and listen, this is different from what we saw with bill clinton. we saw something i think of a change with what happened with al franken and this party, democrats, knowing that -- that women are such an important part of their constituency and in somebody like -- like joe biden you have somebody who the face of the violence against women's act and that is something that you'll hear him talk about i think throughout his presidency, important for his administration i think to put a line in the sand and come out in the way that they did against governor cuomo. >> biden would not be in office if it were not for women voters. >> that's right. appreciate it. the one question the cdc director refused to answer not once, not twice but three times about the pandemic today. what is it? plus, new details about the suspect accused of shooting and killing eight people at spas throughout georgia. what his roommate is now revealing about this horrific crime. that's ahead. ♪ for every idea out there, that gets the love it should ♪ ♪ there are 5 more that don't succeed ♪ ♪ and so are lost for good ♪ ♪ and some of them are pretty flawed ♪ ♪ and some of them are slightly odd ♪ ♪ but many are small businesses that simply lack the tool ♪ ♪ to find excited people who will stop and say 'that's cool'♪ ♪ and these two, they like this idea ♪ ♪ and those three like that one.♪ ♪ and that's 'cause personalized ads ♪ ♪ find good ideas for everyone ♪ i always dreamed of having kids of my own. ♪ ♪ now i'm ready for someone to call me mom. at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. in our health lead, after several weeks of good news today growing concerns that maybe changing. more than a dozen states are now seeing a rise in covid cases, and the cdc is warning about two new strains. first detected in california that they are calling variants of concern which the cdc says may be 20% more transmissible, and as cnn's alexandra field reports now today the cdc director sparred with republicans on capitol hill over who is responsible for coronavirus deaths in the u.s. >> it's a yes or no, d dr. walensky. >> not once, not twice, but three times cdc director walensky refusing to say if she would blame president trump for 500,000 american deaths. >> is that a accurate statement that trump killed 500,000 people? >> i came into this office on january 20th. >> did he or did he not kill 500,000 people? >> i think the effect of this pandemic is more defactorial. >> i would appreciate it if you would give a straight answer. >> there are many, many reasons why we as a country fawere unab to tackle this pandemic that resulted in over 500,000 deaths. >> reporter: nearly 40 million people now fully vaccinated. president joe biden focusing on the next hurdle ahead, vaccine hesitancy. >> i don't understand this macho thing. i'm not going to get the vaccine. i have a right as an american, my freedom to not do it. why don't you be a patriot and protect other people. >> the urgency to get as many people vaccinated as possible growing as the cdc officially labels five strains of the virus already detected in the u.s. as variants of concern meaning they could be more transmissible and perhaps less treatable. >> we don't have enough people vaccinated yet to make a real difference in infections. >> reporter: those variants fueling worries about another surge with warning signs already appearing in states across the country. nationally new cases remain down overall, but 14 states are reporting a week-to-week increase of more than 10%. delaware, montana and alabama posting gains of more than 30% with michigan leading the way. cases there are up a whopping 53% since last week. >> it's going to be a close call. we're vaccinating really well. that's the good news. these variants are spreading pretty quickly across the country. that's the bad news. >> reporter: spring breakers are flooding beaches and bars in some cities. that's worrying to health officials combined with st. patrick's day parties. the cdc hasn't yet issued updated travel guidance for people who are fully vaccinated. >> we're revisiting the travel question. >> reporter: yet there's already a new record stretch of air travel during the pandemic. according to the tsa more than 7 million people flying in just the last six days. >> i do think the next six to eight weeks could be rough. >> reporter: and, jake, while we rex pecting to hear some new travel guidance from the cdc, we're also expecting to hear new guidance from the agency on schools. they are currently looking at studies that show that three feet of physical distancing in schools could be sufficient versus six feet, and that may go a long way towards helping the biden administration accomplish a key goal, getting more kids back to school. jake. >> very important issue. alexandra field in new york. thanks so much. joining us to discuss is chief cnn medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. sanjay, what worries you the most about the two new coronavirus strains? >> well, so these two variants of concern are more transmissible, and i think that that's probability biggest concern. i'll just show you. we looked at impact of something that's more transmissible versus simply more lethal, and if you lack at something, for example, 50% more transmissible, that would lead to a lot more deaths after a month than something that was 50% more lethal because it spreads into communities, affects vulnerable populations, so the transmissibility thing is a concern. also, the fact that people who have antibodies because they have been previously infected, there's some evidence that those antibodies don't work as well against these strains, so we're seeing the race that everyone is talking about between the variants and the vaccine play out in real life. this is an example of that. even people who have been previously infected, they need to get vaccinated, and this is why, because their antibodies may not be as protective and those are the biggest concerns with these types of variants. >> but the vaccines work against these variants? >>ia. so the vaccines seem to offer more protection other than just the antibodies that you get from natural protection -- natural infection rather, so i think that's a real important point. a lot of people out there say yeah, i had it. i don't need the vaccine. to date -- what's happening today in the news should remind people that even if you've had the infection in the past, antibodies you have, the proteins that you have in your blood may not be protective against some of the new variants so still get vaccinated when you can. a number of european countries have had to issue lockdown orders again because of rising new case counts. do you think, it's obviously a race, but do you think the u.s. can vaccinate enough adults to reach a real herd immunity through vaccination before these variants of concern spread more and potentially force more shutdowns? >> well, you know, jake, i've been talking to a lot of people about this. i think, first of all, it would be hard to imagine people shutting down again. i mean, and i'm not saying it shouldn't happen. i'm just saying that one thing that we've seen throughout the last year is the complete reluctance to shut things down. maybe it happens again, but i think it's very unlikely. what causes a shutdown in the united states versus other countries n.italy they are shutting down because of rights case numbers. the thing that would sort of force it here is -- is the hospitalizations. if hospitalizations are becoming over -- hospitals are becoming overwhelmed, that might be something that really forces a shutdown so to speak, but, jake, i'm optimistic on this note despite the fact that we typically track wittily there, and we see italy going up so we're likely to go up. because 60% -- two-thirds of people over the age of 60 at least have one shot now and within the next couple of weeks they are going to be immunized, i think it's up likely we're going to see the corresponding proportional increase in hospitalizations or deaths. i hope i'm not wrong on that, but i think because so many people have been vaccinated, even if the case numbers stay the same or go up, hopefully it's not going to lead to an overwhelming of hospitals again. >> i hope you're right. at least 16 european countries have now suspended use of the astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine and a safety committee in europe is now investigating if there's any link between the vaccine and vaccinated people who got blood clots. now, let me remind our viewers the astrazeneca vaccine is not being used in the united states right now so this is not necessarily an issue that's relevant, but astrazeneca may come to the united states and fauci tried to dismiss some of the concerns about it today. take a listen. >> the actual incidence of the clotting is not more than you would expect in the population in the absence of vaccines, so that's why they are insisting that the concern is not founded on the reality of what's gone on. >> what's your take on this? fauci saying what basically you said yesterday, that this isn't necessarily an issue that the europeans should be reacting like this about. >> yeah. i think, you know, their antennas are way up like we said yesterday. they are looking for anything right now which i think is undertandable frankly. i mean, in some ways it's evidence that the safety monitoring that takes place is working, but as a result, you know, you can sort of overreact as well. you start to draw these correlations that really aren't there. i think what dr. fauci said and a lot of other people who are taking care of patients even in europe will say is that there is -- there is a certain percentage of people at any given time outside of the pandemic, outside of the vaccination campaign that just shelled she is spontaneous clotting disorders and the number of people who do that spontaneously is no higher under the people who have received vaccines. what we need is the european medical agency to come out and be definitive about this and not wishy washy because i think the great impact of this may be increasing vaccine hesitancy as opposed to a real danger of the vaccine so, you know, they have got to be strong about that. >> dr. sanjay gupta, thanks as always. god to see you. eight people killed in three separate shootings at massage parlors in georgia, and now we're learning about the suspect's past including why he spent time in rehab. stay with us. good morning, mr. sun. good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. i'm gonna grow big and strong. yes, you are. i'm gonna get this place all clean. i'll give you a hand. and i'm gonna put lisa on crutches! wait, what? said she's gonna need crutches. she fell pretty hard. you might want to clean that up, girl. excuse us. when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. -donny, no. -oh. -and i'm gonna -- -eh, eh, eh. here's another cleaning tip from mr. clean. cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. there's an easier way. try mr. clean magic eraser. just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum... and caked-on grease from oven doors. now mr. clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. they're perfect for icky messes on stovetops... in microwaves... and all over the house. for an amazing clean, try mr. clean magic eraser, and mr. clean magic eraser sheets. ♪ (car horn) ♪ turn today's dreams into tomorrow's trips... with millions of flexible booking options. all in one place. expedia. and we're back with the politics lead and president biden's message to would-be migrants, quote. don't come to the u.s. yet migrants are coming across the u.s. southern border at record levels according to the department of homeland security and thousands o