Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Texas's Limited Drop-off Locations Upheld; McConnell's Legacy of Obstruction; Pennsylvania's Second Lady Target of Slur. Aired 6:30- 7a ET

Aired October 13, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: And so this is kind of predicted and predictable. We were waiting for that next wave to come, and it seems like it's happening. So I'm, you know, worried, especially in the northern Midwest, but I'm also not worried about New York and Boston. Could we start seeing a rise there as well? I -- I'm predicting this is going to be a very tough winter. We may see a rise in new cases that exceeds what we saw back in -- in March and April across the country with it being the worst in the north.

So the message is, take steps to protect yourself and your family in addition to the social distancing and masks. Recognize that this could be a hard time. You know, the good news is, I think by the middle of next year, we're going to be in a much better place. We're going to have vaccines. We're -- I think by this time next year, in the fall, we'll -- we'll -- we'll have a significant percentage of the American population vaccinated. And life will be much better.

But getting from here to there is going to cause a lot of pain. I think this is going to be a pretty awful winter. And what I'm also advising is, take steps to protect your mental health and your family's mental health. This is stressful, particularly if you know individuals who are living alone or if you're living alone. See if there are opportunities for you to hunker down and do your social distancing this winter with other family members. You know, we're having that conversation now with our adult kids, you know, how -- how are we going to do this? Because once the surge really snowballs and gets underway, that's a time where you don't want to move around a lot.

Also recognize your own concerns and anxieties, recognize they're normal, but don't hesitate to get help. Have a number ready to call a mental health counselor, to talk to friends. The point is, this is predicted and predictable and get ready.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's such a great warning, Doctor. I mean it's time to have those tough conversations now and it's time to start planning now. It's been -- you know, for some of us, it's been a nice respite over the summer to take a little bit of an exhale, but now it's time to batten down the hatches.

Thank you very much for all of that information.

HOTEZ: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Republicans have spent weeks attacking the legitimacy of ballot drop boxes, so why are Republicans in California admitting to setting up unauthorized drop boxes like this one? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:26]

CAMEROTA: Developing overnight, a federal appeals court upholding Texas Governor Greg Abbott's order to allow just one ballot drop off box per county in the state. I should say drop off location. To put that in perspective, Harris County has 4.7 million people. More residents than 20 states. Meaning, that those 4.7 million people must now use only one ballot drop box location.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is tracking that and other election issues.

Wow. Tell us what's happening.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, and, of course, as we know from our own CNN reporting, they drove throughout the country from the farthest area to that drop box. And for some residents of that country, it will take more than an hour to get there to drop off their ballot.

And, of course, these drop boxes have been a big point of contention in this state. Voter groups have said that his -- Governor Abbott's decree to only have one per county was tantamount to voter suppression because it did severely limit access to voting.

Now, a judge on Friday agreed with those critics, saying that this didn't serve the public. But now, as you say, an appeals court is upholding that rule to only have one box per county.

I want to read to you the ruling here. It says, under the governor's expanded policy, a voter can deliver the ballot anytime until Election Day. That effectively gives voters 40 extra days to hand-deliver a marked, mail-in ballot to an early voting clerk and the voter still has the traditional option she has always had for casting a mail-in ballot, mailing it.

But, of course, as we know, a lot of people feel that the mailing system right now is under a lot of pressure. We have heard from President Trump saying that it's a failure. So people are afraid to cast that ballot via mail.

This -- this is detrimental to this community because it severely limits them in their access to voting.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is wrong, just to be clear, there's no evidence at all for what President Trump says right there.

HOLMES: Right. BERMAN: We need to be clear about that.

HOLMES: Absolutely.

BERMAN: So, Kristen, ballot drop boxes, it's an interesting phenomenon around the country. For many people it helps them get their ballot in more easily.

And California there's something very odd happening, though, which is that the Republican Party has admitted to placing these unauthorized ballot boxes around the states. What's that about?

HOLMES: Yes, this is really weird, John. So, essentially, just so you know, the secretary of state in California, the Department of Justice, they've both now issued a cease and desist letter to the California Republican Party to get them to remove these boxes.

But this started late last week when an operative in the state posted a picture on Twitter of him in front of a box, a ballot box, saying that he was voting, to DM him, send him a direct message, to find other locations like this. The box looked like a legit box. It said drop box. It said official box on it. But the problem was, it was not actually an official drop box.

Now the secretary of state says that they've heard cases about this in three counties, in multiple locations in three counties across the state. And I want to show you one of the boxes here. This is a photo taken by a self-proclaimed activist and they show you the box. And you can see it almost looks like a cardboard box here. There is not any sort of security. But it says ballot drop.

Republicans say that they're following the law, that Democrats are being hypocritical, that in California you can have someone actually collect your ballot and bring it into the election office, which is true. But the secretary of state of California said on our air last night, I think it's the best way to describe this, that there's no chain of command. How are anyone supposed to know what happens in -- to these ballot boxes when this happens?

[06:40:00]

And this is coming at a time where there is unprecedented interest in voting.

I want to show you one picture here before I go. This is Georgia yesterday. Look at these lines. They were hours long. Some people had to wait in line for ten hours to vote. And, John, while, again, unprecedented interest, no one should ever have to wait in line for ten hours to vote in a democracy.

BERMAN: Yes, the lines there are simply amazing. A lot of people gutsing it out there. And 120,000 people voted yesterday in Georgia. That sets a record, shatters all records there.

CAMEROTA: That is incredible. Yes. Just because you write ballot box on a box doesn't make it a ballot box. That's what I just took away from that, Kristen. Thank you very much.

HOLMES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: It's like your homemade graphics. Just because you write it on paper doesn't make it legit.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is working to fast track President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, though he refused to confirm Merrick Garland, as we all know, when President Obama was president. And that was from far from his only blocking of judges. We take a look at McConnell's long history of power grabs in a "Reality Check," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:03]

BERMAN: So, Alisyn was making fun of my homemade graphics.

CAMEROTA: Do you have more?

BERMAN: In 46 states -- in 46 states and Washington, D.C., there are zero days.

CAMEROTA: That's a good one. Now, that's a good one.

BERMAN: Zero days until Election Day. Voting is now. Twenty-one days until it's over. Three weeks from today.

With that in mind, why is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laughing?

John Avlon with a "Reality Check."

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, guys. So, three weeks until the actual Election Day and 18 days till Halloween. So I wanted to kick off with something a little scary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: And I will give you full credit for that. And, by the way, take a bow. All right, that was a good line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Yes. It's important to understand, though, just why Mitch McConnell is laughing that way. Because if you want to find a real rigged system with stolen seats, don't listen to Donald Trump about the election. Instead, look at our judicial nominations and how they've become hijacked by hyper partisans. With the Supreme Court nomination getting jammed through the Senate along partisan lines less than three weeks from Election Day, it's an unprecedented power grab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We hope she gets a fair hearing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Of course that's exactly what President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, was denied. But Republican senators assured us that this was the new election year standard. That was a lie.

So when Mitch McConnell complained about the Democratic playbook of double standards, broken promises and raw power, he was engaging in some primo projection. Here's some way to (INAUDIBLE).

Judge Amy Coney Barrett is actually sitting in a stolen appellate court seat right now. That's right. Obama's nominee, Myra Selby, was the first woman and first African-American to serve on the Indiana Supreme Court. She was flat out denied a Senate vote. That's because Republican Senate from Indiana, Dan Coats, blocked it. In contrast, Democratic Senator from Indiana, Joe Donnelly, granted a vote to Amy Coney Barrett when she was nominated by Trump.

And when Trump got into office, there were 103 court vacancies. How did that happen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I'll tell you why, I was in charge of the -- of what we did the last two years of the Obama administration.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: I get --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Translation, those seats were open because of obstruction, pure and simple.

Get this, there were only 68 presidential nominees ever blocked before Obama took office, and 79 during Obama's first five years in office up until November 2013. That's right, there were more nominations blocked by Republicans under Obama than had occurred up to that point in our country's history. That's when then Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid decided to go nuclear and remove the filibuster proof 60 vote requirement to fill lower court vacancies. McConnell swore revenge and none of President Obama's Seventh Circuit Court nominees during his final two years got through the Republican-led Senate.

Now, compare that with 17 circuit judges approved for Reagan in his last two years with the Democratic Senate, 16 for Clinton, ten for George W. Bush.

Now, Judge Barrett is rated well qualified by the American Bar Association, its highest rating. And that matters. The problem is the process. It has been corrupted by obstruction, situational ethics and trust in the judiciary is dropping along partisan lines. We've gone from near unanimous confirmations for justices as difference as Scalia and Ginsburg, to bitter party line votes with Brett Kavanaugh getting the narrowest margin in modern history.

The fundamental issue is not just fairness, but representative majority rule. Because Republicans have lost the popular vote in all but one of the last seven presidential elections, but they're on track to seat five of the last seven Supreme Court justices. Based on the support of GOP senators whose states represent less than half the American people.

So, that's why Mitch McConnell is laughing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: I -- and I will give you full credit for that. And, by the way, take a bow. All right, that was a good line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: And that's your "Reality Check."

BERMAN: It's something. It really is. Important history there in context. Appreciate it.

So Pennsylvania's second lady is speaking out after being called a racist slur, having a racist slur hurled at her at the grocery store. She joined me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:09]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, the wife of Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor is speak out about a racist attack she says she was subjected to at a grocery store. The commonwealth's second lady posted this video which captures the end of the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dude, you're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now is Gisele Fetterman.

Listen, thank you so much for being with us. And we're so sorry that you went through this.

Explain to us, if you can hear me, what happened. You went to the grocery store to buy, I guess, kiwis, and then this.

GISELE FETTERMAN, PENNSYLVANIA'S SECOND LADY: Yes. Thank you for having me.

It was an evening I didn't expect. I made a quick run to pick up the golden kiwis that were their last day on sale. And I'm in line to pay. Just waiting for my turn and this woman passes me and she stops. I can telling immediately that she had recognized me. And that's where it began. It continued into the parking lot. But it began at the checkout lane. BERMAN: And what began? I -- you know, I don't want you to say

anything you're uncomfortable saying on morning television, but explain to me what happened.

FETTERMAN: So she repeatedly told me that I do not belong. She called me a thief. She said there's that n-word, that Fetterman married, referencing my husband marrying me.

BERMAN: And then she followed you outside and said it again, and that's where we see it on the video.

And I'm -- again, I'm so sorry you went through that.

So what are you thinking when you're in the checkout line at the grocery store with this woman saying these things?

FETTERMAN: I -- you know, I was pretty frozen in time. When I witness injustice in -- to someone else, I'm able to have all this courage and step in. When it's directed towards me, I kind of just freeze up. I think at that point I was crying, you know.

[06:55:00]

I know by the time I got my car I was like full-blown sobbing. And it's not something you're prepared for. I don't think you can prepare for that moment. And it just all happened so fast, in my mind.

BERMAN: Why do you think it hit you like that? Why do you think you were crying at that time?

FETTERMAN: One, I'm a big baby. But, also, you know, I'm a former dreamer. I came as a child, as a young immigrant. My family lived undocumented for over a decade. And those were really scary times. You know, if I had a knock at the door that I wasn't expecting, it would be fear that my family was going to be sent back to a country we fled because of violent conditions. So even though I'm 38 and I'm second lady and I have a family and a career, I was immediately, again, a scared, you know, nine-year-old undocumented little girl at that grocery line.

BERMAN: Well, first of all, I don't think you're a baby. You're speaking out about this and you're letting the people know what happened there and I think that's important because no one should be treated like this.

You have three children, right?

FETTERMAN: Uh-huh. Right.

BERMAN: Three children at this point. What have they witnessed in terms of attacks like this as they've grown up with you?

FETTERMAN: They've seen a lot. You know, they've seen how their father is treated differently than I am. For years, before we were at this kind of level of public, like, I was repeatedly mistaken for the nanny. And this happened in front of my kids. And for me, you know, I'm raising these three kids to be really kind, good kids in this world, and I'm raising them for this world. So they know that the world can be cruel. They know there's also amazing people. But that we have to do our part every day to be part of the good to combat the cruel that is out there.

BERMAN: What does it tell you that someone felt emboldened enough to do this, to say these types of things out loud in a public place?

FETTERMAN: You know, it's heartbreaking. And I know that I'm certainly not the last and certainly not the first. And I -- I have a platform where I can talk about this. And so many people have to suffer through this without that. And no one deserves to feel unsafe going anywhere, not to the grocery store, not out in public.

But it was like a hard reminder for me that it doesn't matter what I've overcome, what I've achieved in my life, that to some I will always be viewed as inferior simply because I was not born in this country.

BERMAN: Do you think there's a permissiveness now? Do you think there's a notion that these things are OK to say?

FETTERMAN: I think that we're at a place where we're so divided that people are kind of proud. And, you know, she seemed happy when I finally was able to figure out my phone to catch a recording. She didn't hide from it. She was very clear that I was recording her at that point and I think people are more comfortable now being so bold in their bigotry or their hatred. And to me that's very sad knowing that I have three young kids that are going to go into this world with children that this woman may have raised, order grandchildren that she may have influenced.

BERMAN: Three weeks until Election Day, until people can finish voting in America, including Pennsylvania. What do you want to happen out of this? What do you want to have come from this incident?

FETTERMAN: Well, I want maybe her at least to see herself in a way that maybe she doesn't like anymore and wants to make a decision to -- to unlearn whatever she has learned along the way. But I want folks to maybe see themselves. You know, maybe you have that uncle that you see in her or that cousin that you see in her, and these are people you may be with around the table at Thanksgiving later on and we should be having these conversations. And they're difficult and they're comfortable. But nothing is going to change unless we -- we try to work with these people, right? I don't want -- I want her to be met with compassion, but I want there to be someone in her life who cares about her, who wants to help her change.

BERMAN: Gisele Fetterman, we can see the goodness in your heart and we can see the bravery to bring this forward so people can see. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. Sorry you went through that. And I hope you and your kids never have to experience anything like that in the future.

Appreciate it.

FETTERMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A new warning as new cases nationally are up 40 percent.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: I hope these numbers jolt the American public because it's on a trajectory of getting worse and worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Johnson and Johnson is now the second drug maker to pause human trials for the coronavirus vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You expect a few pauses. We've got to let the process play out.

[07:00:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden hitting the campaign trail.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I went through it.