Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

The Crisis At The U.S.-Mexico Border Is Growing; Two Men Arrested And Charged With Assaulting U.S. Capitol Police Officer, Brian Sicknick; Derek Chauvin's Lawyer Asking To Delay And Relocated The Trial; The Governor Of Texas Trying To Crack Down On Election Fraud, Saying It's Unacceptable. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 16, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:15]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: We just heard from the White House Coordinator for Southern Border Policy Ambassador Roberta Jacobson. Let's discussion now with CNN Senior Political Reporter Nia-Malika Henderson and CNN Political Analyst David Gregory.

I know you were both listening to John's interview there. What are the things that stood out? And, you know, John and I were saying in the break is she was fairly forthcoming in sort of things that are not working, David. I have to say the one thing I didn't hear was a real plan for, you know, the present day. Not just the long-term, but to deal with the short-term in terms of messaging.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's much bigger than a messaging problem, right? I mean that -- that's an important part of it in terms of the message that's ultimately getting to the people who want to come into this country out of desperate circumstances who are willing to do desperate things. We've seen this for years now.

But, they're caught in between a policy. You know, it's a lot harder to govern on this and deal with this problem when you're in office than it is to complain about it when you're campaigning.

And Democrats had a field day going after the Trump administration for their draconian immigration policies, which they did use to stir up political support and using migrants as the victims of all of that.

But the reality is, not all of these migrants can come into the country and that's what she is saying, that's the Biden administration is saying. But they don't have a plan to ultimately deal with that. And this growing crisis is affecting their potential for getting comprehensive immigration reform, for even getting the Dream Act passed.

So, the difficulty here is what we saw with the Trump administration was this extreme view of, oh, we're going to deter migrants from coming. We're going to separate them -- separate families, that will keep them from coming. No, that didn't work. They're still coming now out of all kinds of desperate circumstances. So, we have to find the way to be both humane and also be very clear that there are limits to who we can absorb into the country.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: You know, the former Customers and Border Protection Commissioner under the Obama administration Alan Bersin was quoted in "The Washington Post" saying, the Biden team keeps on saying that it isn't open borders, but for unaccompanied children he says it is open borders. They've stopped the policy of turning unaccompanied children away. It may be for humane reasons. That may be a legitimate argument. That's the one the Biden team is making.

But Nia, there's also the criticism about sequencing, right? If you are going to change the policy on unaccompanied minors make sure you have the system set up to absorb them. And they're human beings. I -- you know, I hate talking about it as statistics. I mean, these are -- these are kids my kid's age who are coming across. You have to have the facilities in place.

And they just put online now, weeks after the fact, this Dallas Convention Center.

[07:35:00]

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. I mean, there were so many legitimate complaints from critics of the Trump administration's policy, this whole idea of kids in cages being an inhumane policy.

And you see now that the Biden administration wasn't really prepared for what we're seeing now, which is an influx of kids to the border fleeing desperate and terrible situations in their home country, situations that are fueled quite frankly by gangs and the appetite for drugs in this country.

So, we see now what's happening. They do seem to have been caught unaware, was caught unprepared for what was to come and they have for a while been saying, well you know, the Trump administration did this in their coming in and they've only been there for a number of weeks at this point. But now this is where the rubber meets the road and they are really going to have to come up with some solutions.

They don't want to call it a crisis. It is a crisis. It's been a crisis for decades and there are only so many solutions that are going to work here, particularly solutions that aren't rooted in those countries, right?

This is a crisis from those countries. Those situations are terrible and desperate people are willing to risk their lives to come here and even if they face having to be warehoused in the Dallas Convention Center, that in some ways for a lot of these folks is better than the situations they face at home.

HILL: It is, as you point out Nia, absolutely a crisis. Much more than just a big problem. We do also want to touch on what's happening here when it comes to the vaccine. And David, what's interesting is we heard from President Biden yesterday.

He was asked specifically about would Donald Trump be a helpful messenger. And he said, yes maybe, but you know what I really want to look more to local leaders, to faith leaders, to folks in the community. That's one message.

And then you have, you know, the mouthpiece on Fox at night saying, we shouldn't trust this vaccine as we have all of this polling that shows Republicans and specifically White Republicans are really hesitant to get a shot. How do you counter that, David? How do you counter that messaging if you are this administration? Because as the president pointed out, they probably don't want to listen to him.

GREGORY: Yes, I think it's an important point, because I think President Trump could be helpful. And I think as someone who has gotten the vaccine he understands its effectiveness, its importance for ultimately, as Sanjay said earlier in the program, putting the virus in a box which is why vaccines are so important. And to get to that point where we have a high enough percentage of Americans who are vaccinated and that's what the public health officials are telling us.

I agree with President Biden, I think working with local leaders and spreading that information, they're the closest to the people. They're the closest to those mass vaccination sites, to drug stores and other places where this will happen. That's the best thing you should be doing.

I mean, I don't know why people would listen to Tucker Carlson about the vaccine over public health officials, it doesn't make any sense. I know Tucker, he knows better than that. I just think it's really unfortunate. But, we've got keep, you know, keep our eye on the fact that most people are getting vaccinated, most people understand that it's the healthy thing to do.

BERMAN: Maybe he got a medical degree at his sailing prep school. Nia, I am concerned when people who have a platform like that use it that way. I'm also concerned when you see in Congress, Axios said yesterday, that only 75 percent of Congressional members who have the vaccine available to them have chosen to get vaccinated.

Now we're seeing certain senators explain why they didn't. Ron Johnson says because he already had COVID. We, of course, know you still should be vaccinated after that.

But it, you know, you really need everyone on board here and it seems to me that they are trying -- actively trying to get a different message out.

HENDERSON: That's right. And it's unclear why. I mean, there has been a kind of anti-vaccine movement going on in this country for years now and perhaps this is a part of that as well. But it highly irresponsible for somebody like Tucker Carlson to sound like he's a doctor and an anti-vaxxer or essentially saying that people shouldn't get the vaccine.

There was a really interesting piece in "The Washington Post" that looked at some of these Trump supporters and they essentially said they need to be educated. They listen to I think it was Tom Frieden the former director of the CDC, he was part of this focus group.

That he informed them about the vaccine that had been based on years and years of research that it wasn't really something that was cooked up over months. Of course the name, Operation Warp Speed makes it seem like that.

And it sounds like they don't necessarily want to listen to a president, whether it's President Trump in terms of whether or not to get the vaccine. It is experts, it's people in their local communities, it's doctors, so they're not necessarily taking their cues from people who are -- people like Tucker Carlson or people who are politicians.

[07:40:00]

And it sounds like a lot of these folks, at least in this focus group, were able to be --

BERMAN: Yes.

HENDERSON: -- to be swayed into getting a vaccine after kind of intense conversations about the good the vaccine could do them. So, that is one I think approach that this administration is going to have to take.

And you see local officials, people like Brian Kemp in Georgia really focusing on this problem of White Republicans and figuring out how to address it, because it's a major problem if such a huge segment of the population decides that they don't want to get a vaccine.

BERMAN: Nia, David thank you both very much.

GREGORY: Thanks.

HILL: A symbol of division in Washington may soon be coming down. Big changes coming to the Capitol, that's next.

[07:40:55]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:05]

HILL: Two men have been arrested and charged with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick during the Capitol riot on January 6. Sicknick died a day later.

CNN's Whitney Wild is live in Washington with more for us on these arrests and the charges. Wendy, good morning.

WENDY WILD, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erica, good morning to you. This represents a major break in the case. Prosecutors have spent weeks pouring over photos and video trying to figure out the moment that Officer Sicknick might have sustained those fatal injuries and also who caused it.

So, now we know that there are two men who have been arrested for assaulting not only Officer Sicknick but two other officers. They're accused of spraying some sort of chemical irritant at these officers. All of that was caught on body camera video.

But it was tipsters, someone out in the public, maybe somebody watching at this very moment who helped the FBI solve this case. These two men are now facing nine charges. These are charges of violence, charges of assault.

However, in the search for justice for Officer Brian Sicknick there is a bit of a footnote here, Erica, there is actually no mention of Officer Sicknick's death in these court filings and neither man is charged in the murder case. So, that still remains in limbo. But, this is progress and that is the theme here in D.C. right now.

So, what we know is that over the next two weeks out perimeter fencing around here, just like this, around the Capitol, the physical reminder of that horrible, horrible day, January 6, this is going to come down sometime in the next two weeks.

The inner perimeter fencing will also be modified a couple weeks after this out perimeter fencing comes down, Erica. Capitol Police are going to reevaluate the intelligence and then they're going reevaluate their need for the National Guard. The expectation is that will be scaled back as well. John.

BERMAN: All right, Wendy Wild for us. That will be a milestone moment. Thank you so much for showing us.

The lawyer for Derek Chauvin asking the judge there to delay and relocate the trial in the wake of $27 million settlement the City of Minneapolis reached with George Floyd's family. He claims the news makes it impossible for his client to get a fair trial.

CNN's Omar Jimenez live in Minneapolis. And Omar, I was interested. The judge sort of agreed that the timing of the announcement was at a minimum unfortunate.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And even attorney's we've spoken to say at the very least it's unusual. And the basic idea here is that attorneys for Derek Chauvin are concerned that the timing of this settlement damaged this idea that prospective jurors should be avoiding news about this case since it was likely part to do with this record settlement.

To use their words they were gravely concerned about the timing here. Now, Judge Peter Cahill denied their request for -- to reject more jurors since they're given a set amount and that's part of what they wanted in this case along with a venue change and a potential delay in this trial. So, he denied their request for extra jurors.

He said he's going to take that delay of trial under consideration, mainly because he does say he wishes city officials would stop talking about this case, but also says he does not believe there is any evil intent on the timing of this settlement to impact the criminal proceedings in any way.

Now outside of that things have been moving along pretty smoothly in regards to juror selection where that 9 of the 14 that are necessary, which includes two alternates, and while we don't know their identities we do know some demographic information about them.

Three of them are White men in the 20s and 30s, two are White women in their 50s, one biracial woman in her 20s, another Hispanic man in his 20s and another, a -- two -- excuse me, Black men in their 30s.

And one thing now to watch for as we wait for court to get going again in an hour is whether more and more prospective jurors are rejected because of too much exposure to this past news.

We even had one juror over the course of yesterday in the morning saying she nearly gasped when she saw the news and she was rejected shortly after. So, of course, if that continues we'll see if that has any impact on Judge Peter Cahill's considerations. But for right now court resumes again in hour with jury selection to begin an hour after that.

BERMAN: All right, we're watching all of this Omar. Very interesting. Thanks so much for being with us morning.

Protests out side the Georgia state capitol as Republican lawmakers debate restrictions on voting. The new and very public campaign to pressure major corporations to join the fight next.

[07:49:40]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:45]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: Election fraud is unacceptable and that's exactly why I've made it an emergency item (ph) in this session. Whether it's the unauthorized expansion of mail-in ballots or the unauthorized expansion of drive-through voting, we must pass laws to prevent election officials from jeopardizing the election process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, there's the governor of Texas saying election fraud is unacceptable, but he also said it was essentially non existent in the 2020 election in Texas in any kind of meaningful way. He did that as he announced new restrictive voting legislation in part of wave of bills introduced in Republican controlled states to curve voting access.

Joining us now is CNN Senior Political Analyst and Senior Editor "The Atlantic" Ron Brownstein. Again Ron, Governor Abbott saying there was no meaningful fraud in Texas, yet we're instituting all -- trying to -- all these news rules to make it harder to vote. It's part of a trend around the country, an unambiguous trend and in Texas and unambiguous message, because in particular they're targeting one country. Explain.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes look, it's what's happening all over the country. It's a continuation of Trump's campaign to overturn the election based on the, you know, big lie that there was massive fraud, particularly in cities with large diverse populations, like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and in this case Texas Republicans are targeting Houston.

[07:55:15]

Houston, Harris County, which includes Houston, the third largest county in the country made extraordinary efforts to make voting more accessible. They had drive-through voting, they had late hours in the early voting.

They had one night of 24-hour voting and as a result they had their highest turnout in 30 years, 400,000 more people voted than four years ago and the response of Texas Republicans who control the state based on their dominance of the rural parts of Texas is clearly to try to make it tougher to vote in these urban centers.

It's worth noting, John, that Joe Biden, though he, you know, underperformed in Texas overall, was the first Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to win all four of the big metro areas on Texas, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

And what you see in this as continuing what we saw even in the COVID when they overrode the state -- the local regulations is an effort by Republicans to kind of impose their values on these urban areas that are trending away from them.

HILL: Well you know to that point, when we look at this, part of what's being proposed here, these limiting voting hours that have to be the same statewide --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HILL: -- 7:00 am to 7:00 pm for example. So, you're not going to see expanded hours for shift workers. There are more shift workers likely in urban areas. And the whole point is that they were saying, well, our rural voters are, you know, not getting the same bill here so we have to make sure that it's even, so we default to the rural standard.

I mean, the fact that this doesn't jive --

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

HILL: -- with the way people live and work and can even get to the polls, apparently that doesn't matter.

BROWNSTEIN: Look, this is -- look, this is a clear trend, not only on voting but as I said more broadly, you know, when Harris County tried to enforce mask requirements the governor invalidated them.

And that's what we see -- during COVID -- that's what we see across many of these red states. In many of these red states that are pursing this, whether it's Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Republican strength is rooted in their dominance of rural communities and also their strength among older White voters.

And what are you seeing, is I look at these voting restrictions as piling up sand bags against a risking demographic tide. Because if you look at Texas, if you look at Georgia, if you look at Arizona, a majority, Erica, of everyone who's turned 18 since the 2016 election are kids of color, a big majority.

And I don't think it is a coincidence that all of these voting restrictions are moving forward in Republican controlled states, precisely as these diverse younger generations, generation -- the millennials and Generation Z supplant the baby boom in 2024 for the first time as the largest group of eligible voters.

BERMAN: Now Democrats and also just people who are against voting restrictions who may not be part of any party are counting on two forces to try to counter this. And you look at Georgia, in Georgia they're working hard to try to get corporations and businesses to weight in, to take a stand here. And then overall people are looking to Congress to pass voting legislation. What are the chances of either of these things happening Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Look, I think that the business community does face a real question here, you know, as one of the Georgia organizers said to me, every big company in Georgia, you know, was tweeting out every day during Black History Month the appreciation of Martin Luther King and their appreciation of Black History in general.

Now when Black futures are on the line, as this person said to me, will they be silent. I think there will be enormous pressure on companies to get involved, but I still think it's going to be hard to stop many of these laws in the red states themselves given the Republican strength in those legislatures.

The key really, John, and this is a historic crossroads for the country, is whether Democrats can find the will to curtail or eliminate the filibuster to allow them to pass the Senate version of H.R.1, which establishes a nationwide floor of voting rights, guarantees every voter same day and automatic registration, access to on-demand absentee balloting and a guaranteed period of early voting.

Without that you are going to see, I think, a steady progression, there really will be nothing in the way of this further tightening the screws, ratcheting down this voter suppression particularly as the demographic change happens, because I think it's very unlikely this Supreme Court is going to act.

And so, it really is a historic question, not only for the partisan balance in the country, but what democracy looks like in this country over the next decade. Whether -- I think it's the most important decision Democrats face, whether they curtail the filibuster to pass H.R.1.

BERMAN: Well as of now the leading Democrat in the country, President Biden, has shown no willingness or desire to do that, nor has Joe Manchin, who maybe the most important --

BROWNSTEIN: Interesting to see if Biden talks about this Friday in Georgia.

BERMAN: We will see. Ron Brownstein --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- thanks so much for being with us. We're going to talk to you soon about a new book you have coming out. So, look forward --

BROWNSTEIN: Indeed.

BERMAN: All right, New Day continues right now.

[08:00:00]

(VOICE OVER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First day of spring break, so we're going to L.A. to have fun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pleading with you for the sake of our nation's health. These should be warning signs.