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House Passes Voting Rights Bill; Cuomo Apologizes and Won't Resign; Jackson Claims Report is Politically Motivated; Markle on Royal Family. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 04, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Constitutional amendment. Of course that Citizens United decision from 2010 gave corporations and unions unlimited spending power in our elections.

The other thing the bill does is it essentially would make sure that states can't limit mail-in voting. That has been a big priority for Democrats for a long time.

The House also passed a bill named for George Floyd. Of course, he died in police custody over the summer. That is a bill that they have passed before. But I'll tell you, the bill essentially makes it so that a police officer who is in trouble in one district, who potentially gets fired for police misconduct can't just move to another district without any kind of record. This creates some kind of national police registry.

Again, these two bills passed the Democratic House, but they are not expected to move in the U.S. Senate, where we don't see ten Republican votes that would advance them. That means that if they are going to try to advance these pieces of legislation, they're going to have to work with Republicans to make some significant changes.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Lauren, thank you very much for all of the news from Capitol Hill.

So New York Governor Andrew Cuomo publicly expressing embarrassment and regret after three women accuse him of inappropriate behavior. Will that be enough?

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[06:35:12]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his first public statement since three women accused him of inappropriate behavior, he apologized and made it clear he's not going anywhere.

CNN's Athena Jones with the very latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I'm not going to resign.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo vowing to remain in office amid allegations of sexual harassment from two former aides and an unwanted advance from a third woman.

CUOMO: I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable. It was unintentional. And I truly and deeply apologize for it.

JONES: Cuomo speaking publicly for the first time since the accusers came forward. He urged New Yorkers to wait for the state attorney general's investigation to be completed before making a final judgment.

CUOMO: I never touched anyone inappropriately.

JONES: Debra Katz, an attorney for Charlotte Bennett, who alleges Cuomo asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life when she worked as an aide, said in a statement, the governor's press conference was full of falsehoods and inaccurate information, and New Yorkers deserve better.

Lindsay Boylan, another former aide who accused him of kissing her on the lips after a one-on-one meeting in 2018, said this in a tweet, how can New Yorkers trust you to lead our state if you don't know when you've been inappropriate with your own staff.

Cuomo also responded to a third allegation made by Anna Ruch, who told "The New York Times" that Cuomo made an unwanted advance toward her at a wedding reception in 2019, an incident apparently captured in this photo.

CUOMO: It is my usual and customary way of greeting. I didn't mean it that way, but if that's how they felt, that's all that matters and I apologize.

JONES: Cuomo speaking as the state legislature is moving to strip him of his emergency powers granted at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

While some state legislators are still calling for the governor to resign, the state Senate majority leader says the investigation should conclude before a decision is made.

SEN. ANDREA STEWART-COUSINS (D), MAJORITY LEADER, NEW YORK STATE SENATE: He's saying that nothing inappropriate happened. If the investigation shows that something inappropriate did happen, I think he would have to resign.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JONES: Now, the New York attorney general will appoint a private lawyer or law firm to conduct the independent investigation and the investigators will have subpoena power.

Governor Cuomo says he will cooperate with the investigation and his office has instructed all state employees to do the same.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Athena, thank you very for all of that reporting.

Joining us now is Jesse McKinley, he's the Albany bureau chief for "The New York Times," who broke the story about Cuomo's second and third accusers.

Jesse, great to see you again.

Yesterday, you said on our air that the next 48 hours would be critical for Governor Cuomo's future. So what are you looking for today?

JESSE MCKINLEY, ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, you know, in looking at the remarks yesterday, I think the governor was apologetic. He certainly was empathetic or at least asked -- he was certainly emotional. And so I think what you're going to have to look at now is how that lands. You know, not only with lawmakers who will be listening to their constituents, but also if there's any public polling on this.

You know, initial indications was that he took a pretty bad hit from his early handling of this sexual harassment scandal. So we'll be looking to see how it lands.

And, of course, I think everyone is on guard as to whether or not there would be any new allegations coming out in the days and weeks to come.

BERMAN: Well, what are you hearing on that? I mean the real question is, was it enough? Was it enough? And how much do you know this morning, I guess, from Democratic legislatures?

MCKINLEY: Well, it's a little early to tell, but I -- you know, I think that the -- one element of it is how it landed with the actual accusers. And certainly Charlotte Bennett was not impressed by these remarks. Her lawyer, Debra Katz, came out with a statement almost instantaneously saying, look, this was not completely truthful. These complaints were made clear to authorities at state government and were not acted upon properly.

Lindsey Boylan tweeted out. Ana Ruck has not commented, but I would suspect that perhaps we'll hear from her in the -- in the -- in the near term.

So those sorts of statements, that kind of rebuttal of the governor's direct remarks, that certainly doesn't help his case. CAMEROTA: I'll just read that, because Debra Katz, the attorney for

Charlotte Bennett, did put this out. The governor repeatedly said he had no idea he made anyone uncomfortable. My client, Charlotte Bennett, reported his sexually harassing behavior immediately to his chief of staff and chief counsel. We are confident that they made him aware of her complaint.

So that's a problem. I mean, that's a problem, if they have evidence.

[06:40:00]

If this comes out in the investigation, which there's no reason to believe it wouldn't, and that it's not true what he's saying.

MCKINLEY: Well, certainly, the legal aspect of this is going to be fascinating. The attorney general will be appointing an outside investigator in the days and weeks to come. We'll see who that is. That person will have subpoena power. They'll be able to draw down documents and compel testimony potentially even from the governor himself. And I think the governor, at this point, is hoping that that report, when it comes out, gives him a little bit of breathing room and a little bit of legal defense. But if that report is damning, if that report is, you know, compelling and corroborates what we've reported here at the paper and other people have reported, that could be big trouble for Mr. Cuomo.

BERMAN: You know, there's an element of classic damage control here by Governor Cuomo, which is, trying to set the parameters for his own survival, trying to create the bar which he needs to cross. So in his thinking now, as he laid it out, he suggested that the fact that there was no inappropriate touching, and the fact that he didn't know that he -- what he was doing was wrong, he's trying to suggest that those are the bars to measure him by. Are they?

CAMEROTA: There was inappropriate touching, by the way.

BERMAN: Well, but that's what I'm saying -- but it's interesting that he does frame it like that. But, you know, is that even the right way to measure this?

MCKINLEY: Well, that's certainly how he's framed it since the beginning, since our report broke on Saturday night and Lindsey Boylan's report broke about eight days ago. He denied Lindsey Boylan's testimony that he had kissed her directly and flatly. With Charlotte Bennett, he said what she said, was that, you know, it may have been misconstrued, that he didn't mean any harm and said, again and again, and said twice, repeating himself yesterday, that there was no inappropriate touching.

So, John, I think you're right, I think that will be kind of the basis and kind of parameters for which he tries to defense himself in this regard.

CAMEROTA: It's the third case where we see with our own eyes the inappropriate touching. She says she had never met him before. That's Anna Ruch. You know, she had never met him before. He takes, you know, her face in his hands. He has, she says, her hand on -- his hand on her bare back. She removes it.

So that probably doesn't have legal grounds. She didn't work for him. But there was inappropriate touching in that one. And so the idea -- I mean I guess my point is that the idea that he went right there and said there's no inappropriate touching, that's the one where there's photographic evidence. Very, very quickly, Jesse.

MCKINLEY: Certainly and I would be interested to see what Anna Ruch has to say about those remarks.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Thank you very much. Great to talk to you.

MCKINLEY: Likewise.

CAMEROTA: OK, drinking on the job, bullying subordinates. Former White House Doctor Ronny Jackson's response to these scathing accusations that he is facing. That's next.

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[06:46:43]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RONNY JACKSON (R-TX): It was complete garbage. The accusations in there are completely -- completely false. I can tell you the accusations came from a handful of people from three or four, maybe four or five disgruntled employees that worked for Biden. I've never made any inappropriate or disparaging remarks about one employee or one subordinate or one coworker that I had to another coworker, certainly not anything of a sexual nature, ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's former White House physician and current Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson, denying allegations contained in a scathing inspector general report. The Pentagon report, which was based on interviews with 78 witnesses, not three, four or five, as Jackson suggests, concludes that Jackson made sexual and denigrating comments about a female subordinate, violated the policy for drinking alcohol on a presidential trip, and he took prescription sleeping pills that caused concern from colleagues about his ability to provide proper care.

Joining us now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He was a consultant to the White House medical unit and is former Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist.

Dr. Reiner, I think the sexual comments and the ideas that he harassed an aide (ph), that's obvious why that would be wrong. But from your area of expertise, though, explain why the idea of drinking on the job or during a presidential trip and/or taking Ambien when you are supposed to be on call, why that would be of such concern.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good morning, John.

The president's physician and the White House medical unit, you know, they care for a lot of people in the White House compound. But their primary mission is to care for the health of the president of the United States and the vice president of the United States, period. That's the primary mission.

And when the president travels abroad, particularly abroad or anywhere, the president is always accompanied by medical personnel. And it's a relatively small number of medical personnel.

So let's think about what happens on an airplane. The president has a very small team of medical people with him on that aircraft. And if they're over the ocean for hours, you know, away from land, those are the only medical responders. And if your only physician on that aircraft is in any way impaired, there can be enormous issues.

It's a dereliction of duty to take Ambien on a flight if you are the physician treating the president. Likewise, if you're on duty on land and you're drinking alcohol and you're impaired, again, that's a dereliction of duty.

The airlines prohibit pilots from taking Ambien within 24 hours of a flight. Airlines prohibit pilots from having a drink within 12 hours of a flight, for exactly these reasons.

I once got on a flight from L.A. to Sydney and took an Ambien as I settled into my chair. And about 20 minutes later, right before we took off, there was a medical emergency on that flight. I felt I was too impaired to respond. Fortunately, there were several other physicians on that plane. I then slept for eight hours.

Now, imagine if that 747 was Air Force One and I was the president's physician and the patient who had that medical emergency was the president of the United States. Well, that's exactly the situation that the inspector general's report alleges that Dr. Jackson basically entered into.

[06:50:02]

CAMEROTA: That's really instructive.

I just want to read a little bit more from the inspector general report that adds some color.

Many of these witnesses described Rear Admiral Jackson's behavior with words and phrases such as meltdowns, yells for no reason, rages, tantrums, lashes out, and aggressive. These witnesses also describe Rear Admiral Jackson's leadership style with terms such as tyrant, dictator, control freak, hallmarks of fear and intimidation, crappy manager, and not a leader at all.

You know, you have been in this world, Dr. Reiner. How would President Obama and President Trump have missed those things? I mean they gave him glowing reviews. And I understand that some people are great at managing up, but how could presidents have missed all of that behavior?

REINER: Well, I want to remind you that Dr. Jackson, this past May, called his former commander in chief, the man who evaluated him to flag rank, also the man who was his patient, he called him a deep state trader.

CAMEROTA: President Obama?

REINER: So -- called President Obama a deep state traitor in a tweet in May. And that, you know, that tells you a lot about Dr. Jackson.

Let me just say that, you know, for now, almost 20 years, off and on, and for a while, every day I worked with the White House medical unit, who, by and large -- not by and large, almost to a person, have been the finest medical staff, professionals that I've ever worked with, which is why this kind of toxic environment is so disappointing and so destructive.

They have an incredibly important mission, to protect the leaders of this country. Anything that gets in the way of that mission is destructive and unproductive. And that's what's so disappointing about the inspector general's report.

But what I want to stress is that the people that I know really well, who have worked and continue to work for the White House medical unit are the best people that we have in this country. Just fabulous professionals.

BERMAN: Dr. Reiner, you too one of the best people we have. So, thanks so much for being with us and sharing your insight this morning.

REINER: Thank you, John.

So Meghan Markle and the royal family. New allegations back and forth. This is coming to a head, next.

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[06:56:31]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I don't know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us. And if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, I've -- there's a lot that's been lost already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, this is trending this morning. Meghan Markle accusing the royal family, or as she says, the firm, of spreading lies about her and Prince Harry in this new clip from their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. And Buckingham Palace announces it is investigating allegations that Markle bullied staff members.

CNN's Max Foster is live in England to help us understand this.

Wow, Max, what's the response?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is incendiary stuff. You'll notice there, as you referenced, Oprah was asking about the palace and Meghan replied, referencing "the firm," which as you say is a reference to the royal family. And this is the first time she's accused them, basically, of working against her. We'll have to get a full sense of the context here on Sunday, where all of this was coming from within the interview. But what I think she's referencing here isn't necessarily that the family was spreading lies, but they were allowing lies from the tabloid media to sit there unchallenged and, therefore, perpetuate them. And so, effectively, the palace, the family somehow complicit with the tabloid media in working against her.

Meghan has always had a problem with the no-comment policy of the palace. It's a protocol. It goes back decades. And it's that they don't respond to speculative reporting in the media. The argument being that they would have to respond to everything constantly all of the time. They only respond to substantiate reporting, as it were.

And the irony here is that that no-comment policy is also an issue for people in the palace. So they feel, the people that used to work with her, that they aren't having their say here. It's a one-sided debate out there. The Sussexes having their say on what happened, but the palace not giving their point of view, which is why we saw these leaks yesterday in "The Times" newspaper, which certainly ring true with conversations I've been having, that she -- the duchess could be difficult to work with, right up to the level that she's been accused of bullying. And then Buckingham Palace eventually having to respond by the end of the day saying they're going to have to look into these accusations, as well, like any HR department would.

So it's a bit of a mess. But I -- what I would say is that it does feel as if the Sussexes are almost on the front foot here because this clip was recorded a couple of weeks ago, but it seems to be referencing the bullying claims, which weren't there at the time.

CAMEROTA: Well, this is messy, but my DVR is set for that Oprah interview. I mean this sounds like it's going to be no-holds-barred.

BERMAN: Yes. And, Max, I mean, is the palace used to a back and forth with someone who fights back like this?

FOSTER: Well, obviously, the clearest parallel is Princess Diana and Harry references Diana in this interview with Oprah as well, saying that their experiences were similar. So Diana's issue was this idea that the men in gray suits, as it were, the palace aides were working against her. And I think that that's the narrative that Meghan is looking at, as well.

So that's the last time we really had this sort of thing.

[07:00:01]

And the palace, you know, they had -- they learned lessons from that. But some people would say they haven't.

CAMEROTA: Max, thank you.