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New Day

Trump at Voter Fraud Event in Pennsylvania; Proud Boys Former Member Speaks Out; Markle Reveals Miscarriage; Rain and Snow Hits Much of U.S. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 25, 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]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: But, speaking of contrast, why is President Trump really considering going to Pennsylvania to be with Rudy Giuliani at this state senate hearing about, I don't know, the election or voting fraud? Like why would he go to a state where the positivity rate of coronavirus is, I think, 27 percent? He hasn't gone with Rudy to these court cases and everything. Why now?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he has been cooped up in the White House for the better part of the last three weeks, or stewing over the election results, tweeting all kinds of baseless conspiracy theories, and he's seeing that it's not working so far. It's not working in the courts where he's lost dozens of cases. It's not working in the public -- in the court of public opinion where everyone in the public is starting to realize that there is going to be a new president on January 20th. So he's trying something different.

He has had some limited success with getting state lawmakers to at least make it seem like there may have been something wrong with the election or talk about fraud and the fact that these Pennsylvania lawmakers are likely to be holding some kind of hearing with Rudy Giuliani making a presentation. It will allow them to have some kind of official sign that they are doing something positive, that they're doing something that could lead to a changing of the results, even though it's pretty clear that Pennsylvania is moving forward with certifying its results. A Pennsylvania judge tossed out Rudy Giuliani's claims over the weekend and made it very clear that they're not going to invalidate the votes of millions of Pennsylvania voters.

So President Trump wants to show that there's still some momentum. He said on Twitter yesterday that I will never concede and that we're moving forward. So this is his chance to show some sort of forward momentum, even though it's pretty clear that the election results are going to be finalized and in a matter of weeks he is going to be leaving the Oval Office and leaving the White House and potentially going down to Mar-a-Lago to have his post-presidency while Joe Biden takes over as the 46th president.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: He lost Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. Pennsylvania certified. Joe Biden is now over 80 million votes for the election, more than any candidate in history by far. He leads by 6 million votes, and that's growing almost 4 percent, and that's growing.

This wasn't particularly close. I mean this really wasn't particularly close by historical standards, this election. And the president going to Pennsylvania today, still with hopes of overturning the election, which will not happen. The day before Thanksgiving. A nice way to spend your pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday.

Anna, we are learning more about what he might do the next 56 days beyond these fantasy land trips. Pardons, which has always been probably in the playbook here, no pun intended for you. But CNN reporting that considering a top of the list, a pardon for Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to two counts and then tried to withdrawal the guilty plea, who cooperated and then, as Alisyn said, uncooperated.

What does this possible likely pardon for Michael Flynn tell us?

ANNA PALMER, SENOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": Absolutely. I mean I think, as we've been discussing, the president is really into theatrics at this point. He is not interested in governing. They have not put forward anything that they really want to get done in the lame duck before the end of the year. But pardons are going to be on his agenda. And it's no surprise really that Michael Flynn is probably top of that list from the court case to in -- on the campaign trail, the president is calling him a war hero. And so I think this is probably just the beginning of what will be several potential pardons that the president will try to do before he leaves office in terms of helping his allies and people that could potentially have legal problems related to this administration.

CAMEROTA: OK, Anna, Toluse, thank you very much for all of the reporting.

Now to this, a nurse on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic is begging Americans to stay home this Thanksgiving. We'll talk to her about what she's seeing, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:45]

BERMAN: All right, you've no doubt heard of the Proud Boys. It was talked about on the debate stage. This group even got a nod from President Trump, who told them to stand back and stand by.

CNN spoke with a former member once devoted to the cause, now disenchanted with their radical politics. CNN's Elle Reeve has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL SCHULTZ, FORMER PROUD BOYS MEMBER: They're afraid to say what's on their mind for fear of getting into a fight. But if they have that guy or that group behind them, they're more bold in saying what they think because they think someone has their back.

CROWD: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Antifa.

SCHULTZ:: The Proud Boys are the vehicle that attracts those people and accepts them in.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russell Schultz spent about a year and a half as a Proud Boy near Portland. He didn't hold a title, but he was at a lot of political protests and had a big presence online. He says he quit, but the Proud Boys say he was kicked out in May 2019. Russell's a witness to what it's like inside the far- right group and why some men would want to join it.

SCHULTZ:: It was too much like a nationwide criminal gang is where they were heading towards and I didn't want any part of that.

This is for Proud Boys and only Proud Boys. We need more political activists on the right side. More, not less.

REEVE: Russell grew up around Portland. He's Jewish and told us he voted for Obama twice before voting for Trump twice.

SCHULTZ: Donald Trump was bullheaded and he was determined and he takes a lot of criticism but he keeps fighting on. I like his political policies. I got involved in doing the activism stuff because of Trump supporters getting attacked and I wanted to stand up to that and say, that's not what we do in America.

REEVE (on camera): But you weren't just a Trump supporter. You got involved with the Proud Boys. How did that happen?

SCHULTZ: We were holding a free speech rally in Portland and all of a sudden the fights are breaking out all over the place and here come marching across a field, these guys in black and yellow-striped polos. And, to me, it just looked like something from a "Braveheart" movie or something. It was kind of cool. And then they asked me to join. And I thought about it for a minute and I was like, yes, OK, it will be fun. I'll wear a goofy little shirt and look like we're a bowling team.

REEVE (voice over): The Proud Boys were founded in 2016 and are known more for street fights than for their vague ideology. They celebrated when President Trump mentioned them in a presidential debate.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left.

[06:40:04]

REEVE (on camera): Do you think the Proud Boys felt encouraged by President Trump? Like that he had their back?

SCHULTZ: Yes. Yes, because everyone -- everybody wants to feel special.

REEVE (voice over): Unlike many far-right groups that emerged around the same time, the Proud Boys don't say they're trying to defend the white race. They say they're defending western civilization and that if you think that's code for white people, you're the racist.

SCHULTZ: I don't perceive them as racists. There might be some that might be misogynists, but most of that would be their defense of rejection. But a lot of it, I just -- I see people showing up because they want to have drinking partners and they want to join a gang, so they can go fight Antifa and hurt people that they don't like and feel justified in doing it.

REEVE: Chairman Enrique Tarrio told CNN, currently there is no criminal activity happening in the Proud Boys.

Russell left the group, but he hasn't left the mind-set. His antipathy towards Antifa still motivates his actions and he still shows up at some rallies. And while he criticizes the Proud Boys, he defends most of what he did while with the group, including violent threats as either a joke or justified.

SCHULTZ: I'm going to shoot you in your head or your chest.

REEVE: Antifa posts information about far-right activists online, they say to raise the social cost of being a fascist. In 2018, Rose City Antifa posted Russell's address and workplace and reposted his videos where he talked about violence.

SCHULTZ: At the last rally, I nearly ran you over with a car and I don't feel bad about it one bit. You're lucky I didn't kid you.

REEVE (on camera): Rose City Antifa posted this.

SCHULTZ: Oh, I've never seen that one. I'm glad they posted that one.

I'm going to shoot you in your head or your chest, center of mass.

You are not going to survive. I will survive and take my chances in court.

REEVE: OK, they do seem like violent threats, Russell.

SCHULTZ: They are violent threats. And it's for a good reason, too.

REEVE: Why? What happened? What's the context of this?

SCHULTZ: We were going -- we were -- we were going to have a religious march, a pro-Jesus march. This was around Christmastime.

REEVE: Yes.

SCHULTZ: And Antifa was saying they were going to start throwing urine and feces on us. And so that was my way of saying, OK, if you do that, that's a threat. I don't know if it was AIDS tainted. And I -- I made the threat so they wouldn't come over -- they didn't come over.

REEVE (voice over): Rose City Antifa told CNN they did not threaten to throw poop at the Jesus march and do not know how to lace poop with HIV. At the Million Mega March in Washington, D.C., after Trump lost the

election, Proud Boys got into fights with anti-Trump counter protesters. Videos of the violence circulated on social media.

REEVE (on camera): Yes, look at him! He's a big old fat dude hitting a woman.

SCHULTZ: Yes. From behind. She didn't even see it coming.

REEVE: How is that like proud masculinity right there? That's as low as it gets.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

REEVE: It's just crazy to me, though, like we've come to this point.

SCHULTZ: Uh-huh.

REEVE: I mean, but do you feel like you're part of it that brought us to this point with their -- with --

SCHULTZ: That brought us to it?

REEVE: Yes, like your propaganda?

SCHULTZ: Well, I definitely had -- honestly, I -- yes, I had a role in it, you know. I never advocated for the violence to come out of it though.

REEVE: Well -- well, do you see why people make the argument then that like it was never really a joke. That joke is just a cover for what you actually want to do.

SCHULTZ: Oh, I see what you're saying. I don't think it was ever meant to be a street gang. Not at first. It just kind of morphed into that. You probably wouldn't even know who Proud Boys are if -- if there hadn't been Antifa attacking patriots or Trump supporters at rallies. And maybe that would be better.

Building themselves up, beating up on a punching bag.

REEVE: Do you think after Trump leaves office, the Proud Boys will fade away?

SCHULTZ: No.

REEVE: Why not?

SCHULTZ: Because they found that other part we were talking about where they felt like the big part of a group. That you've got these guys that normally they'd be at this bar by themselves. They have no friends. They can't talk to a girl because for whatever reason that they just don't have the self-confidence. Well, they join the group. Now they had that self-confidence. Here, I'm -- I'm with these guys, and they get some attention.

REEVE: Elle reeve, CNN, Vancouver, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: I've got to say, it's just remarkable reporting from Elle. No one does the reporting like she does on this. The conversations she has, and it's so revealing, the violence, the violence in the language and the rhetoric and the willingness to just talk about it with her is really remarkable.

CAMEROTA: I agree. But also the mindset. I mean I love when she gives us a window into the mindset and you find out, of course, that there's strength in numbers. And so between the Internet, between somebody like President Trump talking about them, it all imbues this kind of, you know, ad hoc group with all of this strength and legitimacy.

BERMAN: I've got to say, the normalization is shocking.

All right, really interesting stuff overnight.

Meghan Markle breaking her silence about a very personal loss and writing in a way that goes really way beyond herself. We have details and a live report from London, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:48:56]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, Meghan Markle, the duchess of Sussex, revealing for the first time that she suffered a miscarriage this summer. In a new op-ed in "The New York Times," Markle says it happened while she was with her son, Archie. Markle writes, after changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in his arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right. I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.

CNN's Max Foster is live in London with more.

This is a remarkable, personal sharing of her sharing, Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: It really is. And she describes being in the hospital shattered after that miscarriage and with Prince Harry absolutely heartbroken. And she was trying to think what she could say to him and she came up with the question, are you OK? And she describes where that question came from because she was asked it last year by journalists. And she was quite taken aback at the time. It was during the tour of Africa that I was on.

[06:50:00]

And she responded saying, thank you for asking. Not many people ask me if I'm OK. And she says, that story, that answer really resonated, particularly with new mums. And that really came to her mind with her miscarriage.

And she describes miscarriages as a taboo subject. Too many people grieve in isolation. And this is a topic that need to be talked about. She writes, we've learned that when people ask how any of us are doing and when they really listen to the answer with an open heart and mind, the load of grief often becomes lighter for all of us. And being invited to share our pain together, we take the first steps towards healing, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Max, it's such good advice because, you know, so many people don't know what to say after somebody goes through a miscarriage, if you even know that they went through a miscarriage. And the -- the simple, are you OK? I mean now it just makes perfect sense. That that is a great question for people.

But she also connects her own personal loss to the pain that so many of us are feeling right now with the pandemic.

FOSTER: Ye, it seems to have really sparked a thought process for her. She's been very involved in the pandemic. She's been volunteering. She's been involved in Black Lives Matter as well, campaigning effectively for that cause. And she says, she calls the loss and pain that have plagued so many of us in 2020, referencing those issues, but also misinformation campaigns. And the isolation that people feel, everyone going into Thanksgiving in particular, and she says, going up to that holiday, we should all try to just go up to people who might feel lonely and isolated and say, are you OK? She felt it made a big difference to her and it could make a big difference to a lot of other people, too.

CAMEROTA: Max, thank you very much for bringing us this story. Really interesting. And, look, John, every time a public figure like Meghan Markle shares a personal, private grief, it helps everybody who is suffering in silence.

BERMAN: Look, obviously, opening up about miscarriage is super important. I think this piece is about way more than just that. It's about empathy. It's about feeling. It's about leadership. And it's really striking. It's really striking how she chooses to lead in her own way, even as the royal family has chosen to marginalize her or in some ways there's that rift there. She's just doing her own thing and it's making a big difference. And I think it's really remarkable and admiral.

CAMEROTA: I do, too. I wonder if she would have been able to write this, this -- had she still been in the royal family. I'm going to ask Max that next hour.

BERMAN: That's a really good question.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: America wins. I mean, honest to God. And I know you make fun of me for say this, but, look, we'll take her. And if we're going to have this kind of leadership, we'll take her.

CAMEROTA: I think she's great, but I also think that you like her because she's pretty.

BERMAN: I -- I like her because she's thoughtful.

CAMEROTA: OK. Got it.

BERMAN: And -- and believes in democracy and not a monarchy.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: That's your fault.

CAMEROTA: Got it. Moving on.

The guidance from health officials has been very clear, do not travel this Thanksgiving. And if you can, have your own intimate Thanksgiving dinner outdoors. But, let's be honest --

BERMAN: What kind of Thanksgiving are you going to have?

CAMEROTA: I'm -- it's hard to have a Thanksgiving outside when it's this cold.

BERMAN: Oh, I guess the intimate part was the part that (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: Oh. Listen, we have your holiday forecast, next, OK?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:27]

BERMAN: Developing overnight, severe storms, including a possible tornado causing major damage in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Fire officials report at least seven collapsed buildings in the city of Arlington.

Meantime, the weather for Thanksgiving could include rain in the east and snow out west.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray with the holiday forecast.

Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, John, we do have a little bit of everything going into the holiday. Right now, all that rain has pushed to the east, so the Mississippi River Valley, all the way up to the Ohio Valley, just getting soaked this morning. All of that is going to push east throughout the next 24 hours.

By the way, this weather is brought to you by Ninja Foodi, be proud of what you make.

So the all-important Thanksgiving forecast, we are going to see starting today with damaging winds, large hail, all of that severe weather we had. Oklahoma, portions of Texas, moving to the east for today. So places like Nashville, New Orleans included in that. Also possible airport delays in places like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, with all of this rain pushing through, throughout the day. So here's the forecast radar. As that rain pushes to the east, getting

to the big cities in the northeast just in time for Thanksgiving, unfortunately. D.C., New York, Boston, Philadelphia, all getting rain for much of the day on Thursday. I do think it is going to push out, though, by the time we get to say the 4:00, 5:00 hour. So if you did want to push that Thanksgiving meal to the evening, you could do that. Temperatures should be in the upper 50s, though, around that time. So it will be a little on the cool side.

The forecast accumulation, about an inch overall. Some areas could pick up an extra inch with this system pushing through.

So here is the big picture across the country. Much of the country will be very, very nice for Thanksgiving. Mild temperatures across the south. We will have a little bit of snow for the northwest. But look at this, 72 degrees in Atlanta, 62 in Memphis, 73 in Dallas, 71 in El Paso, 64, San Francisco. So I do think a lot of people will be able to get that Thanksgiving meal outdoors and it will feel very, very pleasant, John.

BERMAN: I hope people in the northeast are paying attention because if it is raining all day or most of the day here, it does affect your plans if you were going to try to do some of it outside to be safe. It's going to be much harder. Just want to think about that as you head into tomorrow.

Jennifer Gray, thanks so much.

GRAY: Right. Wait till a little later.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The system cannot last that much longer if we continue to have such a crush of new cases all throughout this country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two thousand people plus died, 85,000 plus hospitalizations. We know that we're in very serious times.

[07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the hard work we've put in throughout this awful year will pay off. Just sit tight, stay home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: America's back.