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Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) is Interviewed about Vaccine Delays, Deadly Storm, and Justice after Taylor Killing; Migrant Border Crossings Surge; Social Media Helps in Suspect's Arrest. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired February 19, 2021 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): So we can catch up this very next week and that's what we're going to do.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: But before -- before I get to, in terms of the supply of it, are you saying that that shipping hub that's in Louisville, is it functioning normally this morning or is it waylaid by all these storms?
BESHEAR: Well, the hub itself is operational and has been cleared. Now, there's a lot of other parts of America that it's got to fly to, to get that vaccine, as well as the vaccine getting to it. So it's not just how we've been hit in Kentucky, it's how we've been hit across the United States.
But that is a heck of an operation out of Louisville. And I know that they are working day and night. But they are operational.
CAMEROTA: OK. So let's talk about the -- how Kentucky is doing right now with all the storms and the aftermath. There's just been tremendous ice. I think that there's something like 51 counties at last -- last we checked that were declared states of emergency.
And so when you watched what has gone on this week in Texas, how did Kentucky avoid that level of catastrophe?
BESHEAR: Well, we've been through this before. Whether it is flooding or icing or significant snow, we are used to dealing with emergencies, unfortunately.
We got hit with three separate waves. Snow, sleet and freezing rain and ice. We got all versions of it. And we got hit really hard in Appalachia. At one point we had about 150,000 people out of power. We've got that down to about 60,000 to 66,000. But it's really bad in about five counties.
I flew to one of them yesterday, to one of the warming stations, to -- to talk to the folks there. Local officials are helping in every way they can. We've got about 80 National Guard men and women that are doing wellness checks along with the Kentucky State Police and bringing people in to those warming stations. We have nurses that are there helping everyone that has different
medical equipment or conditions. You know, in Kentucky, we take care of each other. We make sure that we look out for our neighbors. And thus far we've only lost about four people in this winter storm, but that's four too many.
CAMEROTA: About that vaccine supply and demand. You have obviously more demand than you have supply of the vaccine as I think is the case with all states.
What has the White House told you about that?
BESHEAR: Well, first, I want to commend this White House for increasing supply by 57 percent really over about the last four weeks. That is great. For us it took us from about 53,000 vaccines to about, oh, 87,000 in our state program. They've also doubled the federal pharmacy program which gave us an extra 13,000, bringing it from 13,000 to 26,000. And the Department of Veterans Affairs and others are administering more vaccines as well.
It's still not enough. We've vaccinated about 12 percent of our population, but people are ready. So we've now got over 200 vaccine distribution sites. We're ready for more.
We have been told that -- to expect a significant increase in March and also as we get towards June with Johnson & Johnson committing to provide 100 million doses by June and that's 100 million people across the United States. We expect to get a little over 1 million from that supply.
CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about the aftermath of the Breonna Taylor killing. It's been almost a year. The date is March 13th. And in September, the city of Louisville announced that it had reached a record $12 million settlement with her family. And as part of that settlement, it included a major police reform package, quote, to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again.
So what has changed in this past year in Louisville and in Kentucky?
BESHEAR: Well, a couple things in Louisville is that the police force in Louisville no longer investigates shootings by its own officers. That's now done by the Kentucky State Police. That gives a level of separation that did not previously exist. And hopefully builds some confidence.
We have, with the Kentucky State Police and other law enforcement across the United -- across Kentucky, done a deep dive into training. And we have altered that training. And we've discovered some other thing in that training that are not OK. And we're working to rectify that.
We've brought in community partners from our minority communities, from our Jewish communities to make sure that we recognize each and every issue that's out there. Being humble enough to know that when you haven't suffered from that persecution, you may not recognize all of the issues that are there. There are -- those are -- those are good steps, but a lot more needs
to be done.
[08:35:02]
Addressing systematic racism in all its various forms, whether it's in law enforcement, health care or other areas is something we have to be very intentional about doing. And I believe we are making steps.
Now, are we making them fast enough? No. But we are making steps.
CAMEROTA: Governor Andy Beshear, thank you very much for covering all these topics with us.
BESHEAR: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Now to this.
An influx of migrant families crossing the U.S. border with Mexico, pushing detention facilities to capacity during the pandemic. So how are officials handling this situation at the border, next?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Just 30 days into the Biden administration and already there's been a sharp spike in the number of families crossing the southern border from Mexico into the U.S. Now officials are bracing for an even larger influx of migrants in the coming weeks.
CNN's Ed Lavandera takes a look at why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Several times a day, Customs and Border Protection officials drop off groups of migrants at the bus station in McAllen, Texas.
[08:40:01]
LAVANDERA (on camera): (speaking in foreign language). When did you cross?
LAVANDERA (voice over): Edwin Rubio (ph) tells us he crossed the border the day before with his son.
LAVANDERA (on camera): (speaking in foreign language).
ON SCREEN TEXT: Did you come because there's a new president here in the United States?
EDWIN RUBIO, IMMIGRANT (ph): Yes, se.
LAVANDERA: Se.
RUBIO: Se, correct.
LAVANDERA: He says --
RUBIO (through translator): Yes, correct. There will be new laws, new immigration laws that will favor Latinos.
LAVANDERA (voice over): Rubio is part of a rise in arrivals at the southern border that's been slowly increasing since last April. The migrants are driven by the COVID pandemic and the devastation left by two major hurricanes.
CBP reports about 78,000 people were apprehended at the southern border in January. These migrants have permission to move on with notices to appear in court.
LAVANDERA (on camera): The Biden administration continues to warn migrants coming to the United States that in many cases they will be turned away. But the fact of the matter is, there are still some of these migrants who are being released.
What we've seen here in McAllen is many family units. You can see here mothers and fathers and many young children.
LAVANDERA (voice over): They wait inside an old nightclub that's been turned into a Catholic charities shelter run by Sister Norma Pimentel. She tells us it's a confusing time on the border because while some families are being released, there are still roughly 20,000 migrants stranded on the other side of the border. These migrants are a result of the Trump administration's controversial remain in Mexico policy.
SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CATHOLIC CHARITIES RIO GRANDE VALLEY: It is very confusing and they don't understand that. Why them first and not us? You know, we -- we've been here waiting for this day and it's so disheartening to see them in such terrible conditions.
LAVANDERA: While the Biden administration says it will begin processing migrants registered in the remain in Mexico policy later this week, what's unfolding on the border captures the unstable reality of the country's immigration system.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Now is not the time to come. And the vast majority of people will be turned away.
LAVANDERA: Sister Pimentel says the numbers of migrants released to this shelter has jumped in recent weeks from a few people a day to about a hundred a day now. And it's up to the shelter staff to administer COVID-19 tests. Local officials tell CNN out of hundreds of tests only two migrants have tested positive so far.
IVAN MELENDEZ, MISSION REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: They absolutely need to take this seriously. From a public health perspective, it's a complete nightmare.
LAVANDERA: Some migrants, like this family from Haiti who say they entered through California, were forced to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks as a COVID precaution. They're being assisted by the non- profit Jewish Family Service. The parents ask that we call them Faya (ph) and Dole (ph). Faya says
it didn't matter who was president, only that his family hopes to get asylum in the U.S. to escape the criminals who have tried to kill him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We decided to leave my country to save my life and my family's.
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, McAllen. Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: Great reporting there by Ed.
Coming up next, an arrest now in just a shocking attack shows the power of social media with some help from actress Olivia Munn. She'll join us with her personal connection to the story and why she felt compelled to take action.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:47:22]
CAMEROTA: The New York Police Department is crediting the power of social media for helping find the suspect wanted in the attack of an Asian-American woman at a bakery in Queens on Tuesday.
This video went viral. And it shows a man throwing a box at the woman and then shoving her to the ground. She was taken to the hospital for stitches.
Joining us is the victim's son, Sam Cheng. Also with us is actress Olivia Munn, who posted that video online with hopes of finding the suspect.
Guys, great to see you this morning.
Sam, let's start with you. How is your mom doing?
SAM CHENG, MOTHER WAS VICTIM OF ATTACK IN NEW YORK: She's doing very well. Thanks for asking. She is probably asleep right now.
CAMEROTA: OK, I'm surprised she's missing -- she's missing this. But I guess the larger point is, does she or you or the police know why she was targeted and attacked?
CHENG: They had a dispute while they were online on the bakery. And the man started acting relatively violently against her. And things escalated from there.
SCIUTTO: Goodness. I mean we've been showing our viewers that moment caught on camera there. It's shocking to see. Just disgusting.
Olivia Munn, this was a case of you using your voice, right, and your reach via social media basically to help with police work, right? And they found this guy. And maybe wouldn't have without your help. OLIVIA MUNN, ACTRESS: Well, we definitely wouldn't have without the
help of the NYPD and especially everyone on social media who cared. I mean it was -- it was an amazing moment of just seeing how powerful the collective can be when we kind of, you know, become an army together. And it was -- it was honestly -- I -- it was because of the NYPD and then then really helped magnify it and amplify it. And by just doing a few tweets and a few stories, I mean, the rest was because of the people.
CAMEROTA: We should mention, you guys are friends. You've known each other since before this incident. And this was part of why, Olivia, you were so invested in making sure that there was justice for his mom and, you know, obviously that she would be safe after this. And so I just want to -- I just want to quickly put up what you tasked the Internet with.
So you put out the video, the surveillance video of that, that we just saw, and you said, my friend's mom is a 5'3", 50-plus-year-old Chinese woman and she was attacked by this guy in Flushing, New York, yesterday on Main Street and Roosevelt between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. She left the hospital with ten stitches in her head.
[08:50:01]
We're going to find this guy. And then you said Queens, Internet, quote, do your thing basically. I'm cleaning it up a little for morning TV. You said do your thing. I mean, and it really is just such a testament to the power of crowd sourcing, something like this.
MUNN: Yes. I mean that was truly amazing. When I woke up yesterday morning and I actually had a direct message from the NYPD saying, you know, we've arrested the guy. And because of social media, because of everyone's efforts, we were able to find out who this guy is and get him, I just -- it was -- it was a very emotional moment because, you know, that's -- that, to me, felt like that our community was -- we were seen yesterday. You know, we were seen and people cared about what happened to us, people cared about what happened to Sam's mom. And that was really an amazing moment.
And, you know, being an Asian-American person, you know, I -- like these stories are not new for us. These are things that we, you know, it's in the echo chamber of our community. You know, we hear it and we know it. But to have so many people rise up together and care about us, it really meant so much. I know it meant a lot for Sam and his sister and his mom.
SCIUTTO: Yes. And for the police, right? I mean you helped them out here.
Sam, I wonder, at this point, Mew York police are not categorizing this as a hate crime. You mentioned, you know, in part, because your mother doesn't speak English perfectly and bystanders didn't hear exactly what the attacker said, I mean do we have hints at this point, clues as to what his motivation was for this?
CHENG: Currently, at least not from my end, this is not being treated as a hate crime. And I want the viewers to be aware of the difference between a hate crime and assault. It could be down to words that were said. And you need proof of that. Without it, it is just assault. And I do believe in the DA and the detectives from our 109 Precinct to solve the case.
CAMEROTA: Yes, but to Olivia's point, Sam, I mean we have been doing -- our reporters have been doing excellent work on this in terms of the spike in aggression and violence towards Asians, particularly since coronavirus. That's happening. That's real. So we don't know necessarily if this was about your mom, but it's out there.
CHENG: Absolutely. I mean the correlation between that and very aggressive -- I mean it's relatively close. I can't -- we can't technically -- legally call it a hate crime, I believe, and I wonder how many more other crimes out there that they legally can't be called hate crime. Just want to spread the awareness there.
SCIUTTO: Understood. And we're doing our best to cover these stories as well.
Olivia, you know, a lot of examples about how social media is bad, right? It doesn't help the conversation. You know, it's a place for attacking people, not helping people. But here's a case where you used it to help, right? And it worked.
MUNN: Yes, I mean, you know, people like to say -- call it the Internet or social media. But they aren't these weird, abstract entities. I mean the Internet is a collection of people. You know, that's all it is. So when you reach out and you ask people to help, I do believe that people are inherently good and they want to help. And I think that a lot of times, you know, especially with the -- within the Asian-American community, we are -- we don't tend to report a lot of these things. We usually take it on the chin and keep going. And so because of that, we don't get a lot of coverage.
And so when we ask people for help, when we say that we need help to feel safe in our country, we need help to be safe in our country, what you saw yesterday and the last couple of days, that people care. When we asked them to care, we ask them to hear about what's going on, when you ask them to see what our suffering is doing to us, they do step up and stand up for us.
And so, I mean, I love the Internet today. I'm very grateful to the Internet. I'm very grateful. And also, you know, the fact that I could DM the NYPD on social media and say, hey, this happened to my friend's mom, here are some are pictures, can you help me amplify this, I got a response right away and they had a wanted poster out and they were on top of it. And that is an amazing thing about social media. You know, we are -- we are just, you know, just a few texts away from each other.
CAMEROTA: You're so right. That part is really heartening. That is a good moral of this story.
Well, Sam Cheng, Olivia Munn, thank you very much. Give your mom our best wishes for a speedy recovery and thanks so much for heightening awareness of all of this and bringing it to our attention.
[08:55:08]
MUNN: Thank you guys for helping us (INAUDIBLE) with this.
CHENG: Well, thank you so much.
MUNN: Thank you so much.
SCIUTTO: Take care, guys.
CAMEROTA: OK, we need some "Good Stuff."
A snow plow driver in Indiana is being hailed as a hero after saving a little boy, listen to this, who wandered away from his home in subzero temperatures. David Gehrke was cleaning the streets when he spotted five-year-old Maddox Pierce (ph) outside in his pajamas with no shoes, no hat and no jacket at 4:00 a.m.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID GEHRKE, PLOW DRIVER FOUND 5-YEAR-OLD BOY: So I immediately took my jacket off here and wrapped it around him and I put him in the truck and I called the police dispatch. So I've got the heat blasting in the truck. I'll keep him warm until we get help on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So Maddox told police that he was scared that he was home alone so he left his -- for his grandpa's.
Now, he did not know that his 14-year-old aunt was home and babysitting for him while his mom was at work. Maddox's mom says she is extremely grateful that this ended so well. She also says that she has bought several alarms and cameras to make sure this never happens again.
All right, thanks so much, everybody. Have a great weekend.
CNN's coverage continues after this quick break.
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