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Man Apprehended in Connection with Shooting Spree at Asian Massage Parlors in Atlanta, Georgia, Area; Intelligence Report Indicates Russia Attempted to Harm Biden Campaign in 2020 Election; President Biden Comments on Sexual Harassment Allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo; Biden Tells Migrants: "Don't Come" to United States; Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) is Interviewed About the Border Surge. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 17, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

DENVER RIGGLEMAN, STRATEGIST NETWORK CONTAGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Are willing to state facts without regards to party, because crazy isn't party specific. The far right might have a hold my beer moment right now, but it's not party specific, and we have to have people willing to spout facts regardless of the party they belong to.

Thank you for the work you're doing, Congressman Denver Riggleman. Thanks so much.

NEW DAY continues right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with me all morning long.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Happy to be here.

BERMAN: So we're tracking the latest developments in a deadly murder spree in the Atlanta area. A gunman targeting massage parlors, killing at least eight people. The "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" reports six of the victims were Asian females. Police have taken 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long of Georgia into custody. They say it's extremely likely that one person did carry out all of the killings.

HILL: Security being tightened across the country as police investigate what may have motivated these murders. Anti-Asian attacks and hate crimes, as we know, have been rising sharply since the pandemic hit, given more attention, they have been there, it's important to point out.

Let's get the latest now from Ryan Young who is live this morning in Atlanta. Ryan, good morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Eight people killed, that is a number that so many people are astonished by. We do know that police were able to use surveillance video which tied all these scenes together. It's an investigation that still is ongoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

YOUNG: A shooting rampage at three spas in the Atlanta metro area Tuesday, leaving eight people dead and one wounded. Police apprehending one suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia. Law enforcement saying that video evidence suggests that it's extremely likely the same person is responsible for all three shootings.

SHERIFF FRANK REYNOLDS, CRISP COUNTY, GEORGIA: Georgia state patrol troopers performed a pit maneuver which caused the vehicle to spin out of control. The subject was taken into custody without incident.

YOUNG: The first shooting took place about 30 miles outside of Atlanta at Young's Asian Massage in Cherokee County. Two people died at that scene and two more at the hospital. One individual is also injured.

JAY BAKER, CHEROKEE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: In 2020 we had one homicide in Cherokee County. So we've had at least three today. So it's pretty shocking for not only our responding deputies and public safety, but also for the community here. We take this very serious.

YOUNG: The other two shootings took place in Atlanta at spas right across the street from each other. The first at Gold Massage Spa, leaving three dead. While police responded to that shooting, they learned of another across the street at Aromatherapy Spa. One person was killed there. Atlanta police say this investigation is a high priority.

SERGEANT JOHN CHAFEE, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We do have some witnesses that were in the location around the location. It's extreme priority for us.

YOUNG: According to Atlanta police, the suspect's vehicle was seen at the crime scene in Cherokee County, and also on the same street as the shootings in Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just heard numerous gunshots coming from across the street. I won't say any names, but they're really nice girls. They just do great massages. They do great massages over here, so it's just unfortunate.

YOUNG: Authorities tell the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" that six of the victims were Asian women. Police said they had no immediate indication of a motive for the shootings, but the killings came at a time when attacks on Asian-Americans have increased since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. That's left some people questioning whether race played a role.

Stop AAPI hate, the nation's leading group fighting the anti-Asian hate and discrimination, called the deaths an unspeakable tragedy, and added this latest attack will only exacerbate the fear and pain that the Asian-American community continues to endure.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

YOUNG: John, when you think about the next steps of this investigation, we're wondering whether or not the suspect will have his first court appearance either today or tomorrow. Obviously, the arrest happening late last night. We're also going to hopefully find out from detectives at some point whether or not they've been able to establish a motive in this case. A lot of people who obviously think that these places were targeted. There was one person involved. But it will be interesting to see once they start going through his social media, what was the connection to all these places. Why did he target them? Was this a place he had come to before? These are all questions we're going to try to figure out as we listen to police today hopefully as they give some information about what exactly happened. John?

BERMAN: I know you're waiting for a briefing, Ryan. Please keep us posted as to what you hear, thank you.

Joining us now, Andrew McCabe, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI. Andy, obviously, the concern here as we've seen this rise of anti-Asian hate crime in the U.S. is this could somehow be connected to that. So as they are investigating this, how do you determine that, starting with the car?

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: Well, John, this is very much like an investigation you would run after a terrorist attack, because the motive of the shooter in this case is what you're looking for to uncover, to answer that question, whether or not this is in fact a hate crime.

[08:05:01]

The fact he was arrested in his vehicle automatically gives the law enforcement officers on the scene the right and the authorization to seize and search the vehicle. That vehicle could be a treasure trove of potential evidence, particularly if he is still in flight from the last shooting, which, with the timing, as this took place, seems fairly likely. So inside that vehicle you could have the gun that was used in all of these crimes. You can find ammunition that may have been used in that firearm. You might find communications devices like telephones and other Internet accessible devices. Those are all important things that you would want to take into custody and get a search warrant for later. And you might find things like writings, like a manifesto or notes to friends, things of that nature. And these are all going to be important pieces of evidence that could later help you determine the motive of this shooter.

BERMAN: And again, if you are looking for a racial motivation here, how important will social media be?

MCCABE: It's essential, John. Access to the Internet is the thing that unlocks what we are thinking, right? So they are going to be looking first to see if he has any social media accounts that he maintains and operates, and those things will be very revealing about his state of mind, about the topics and subjects that interest him, about the things that he says about other people, maybe the things he says about Asian-American people or other minorities. It will also show us the types of folks that he is in contact with, the sort of conversations that he's engaged in, and even beyond social media, just the record of his Internet browsing will tell you the sort of websites that he's going to, the sort of topics he's interested in, maybe groups that he belongs to or follows closely. So those are all very important things to show us what is going on in the mind of this shooter.

BERMAN: Obviously, it's understandable that Asian-Americans around the country may be on higher alert this morning, and cities may be taking new precautions there. The fact that this happened in multiple locations, what concerns does that raise in terms of whether or not this person may have acted alone?

MCCABE: So the multiple locations here is really striking because it raises some very clear indicators that there was a specific group that he was trying to victimize. If these were simply robberies for financial reasons, there's plenty of businesses between Young's Asian Massage in Cherokee County and the two massage parlors in Atlanta. So the fact that he traveled about 45 minutes, about 30 miles or so in between these crimes and hit places that were almost identical both in the nature of the business and also in the types of folks that are working there and likely support them. Those are pretty strong indicators he may, in fact, have been looking for specific victims. That, to me, makes him look more like a mass shooter and less like an average criminal who is looking to steal money or what have you from these businesses.

BERMAN: Andy McCabe, I have to say, we get really interesting insight from you. Thank you for being with us, helping us understand this. I'm sure we'll be back with you throughout the day as we learn more information.

MCCABE: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Erica?

HILL: President Biden weighing in on a U.S. intelligence report which finds Russia's Vladimir Putin probably directed a disinformation campaign meant to hurt the Biden campaign and undermine the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will pay a price. We had a long talk, he and I. I know him relatively well. And the conversation started off, I said, I know you, and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: He said you know he doesn't have a soul.

BIDEN: I did say that to him, yes. And his response was, we understand one another. I wasn't being a wise guy. I was alone with him in his office. That's how it came about. It was when President Bush had said I've looked in his eyes and saw his soul. I said looked in your eyes and I don't think you have a soul. He looked back to me and said, we understand each other.

Look, the most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my experience, and I've dealt with an awful lot of them over my career, is just know the other guy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you know Vladimir Putin. Do you know is a killer?

BIDEN: I do.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So what price must he pay?

BIDEN: The price he's going to pay, well, you'll see shortly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Let's bring in now CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. We'll see shortly, that will certainly make you sit and perk up your ears this morning, John.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I think we expect, Erica, that there will be additional sanctions placed on Russia. People close to Vladimir Putin, that they -- U.S. officials have told my colleague Kylie Atwood are expected as early as next week. We've already seen earlier this month the president imposing sanctions on people close to Vladimir Putin and the FSB, the intelligence service, over the poisoning of Alexey Navalny. So you're going to see that.

[08:10:04]

We saw in the case of Saudi Arabia, the United States said we have a policy of not sanctioning foreign leaders. So I presume that we will not see sanctions placed on Vladimir Putin directly, but he is likely to pay a price. And if you are Joe Biden, think about your motivation here. You have seen from this ODNI report about election interference, that Russia was peddling this misinformation, and a lot of that misinformation was about Joe Biden's family, about his son Hunter. He has an extra personal motivation to take this very seriously.

BERMAN: I have to say, it's not every day you hear a president of the United States saying to another foreign leader, yes, I think he's a killer. That was a moment.

HARWOOD: That's right. And you remember, John, when Bill O'Reilly interviewed President Trump in 2017, made that point, he's a killer, Donald Trump absolved Vladimir Putin and said, well, we've got a lot of -- we do some killing, too. We're not so innocent ourselves. Joe Biden has a very different approach to that.

BERMAN: So another striking part of this interview was when the president gave his most extended comments yet about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo under investigation for sexual harassment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: If the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should he resign?

BIDEN: Yes, I think he'd probably end up being prosecuted, too.

A woman should be presumed to telling the truth and should not be scapegoated and become victimized by her coming forward, number one. But there should be an investigation to determine whether what she says is true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: He could end up being prosecuted, too, John. How surprised were White House officials that President Biden went that far?

HARWOOD: Well, the language was bracing, but the way I interpreted that, John, was less of an escalation of pressure on Governor Cuomo than a release of pressure to President Biden himself. Remember, both New York senators, much of the congressional delegation, many Democrats in New York have been calling on Andrew Cuomo to resign. President Biden clearly does not want to do that.

So what can he say? He can't avoid the issue altogether. What can he say that will allow him to avoid calling for Cuomo to resign but nevertheless indicate that he takes it seriously? One of the things you can do is, if this is true, he not only will have to resign but may face prosecution. There he's striking out a stance that is very conditional on whether or not those allegations are substantiated. And I think that was a way for him to try to put that issue aside in a similar way that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has done.

BERMAN: John Harwood, thank you very much.

We have new comments just in from President Biden about the surge of migrants at the southern U.S. border. More on the president's plan next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:39]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The adults are being sent back, number one. Number two, what do you do with an unaccompanied child? Do you repeat what Trump did, take them from their mothers, move them away, hold them in cells, et cetera? We're not doing that.

We're in the process of getting set up, and it's not going to take a whole long time, is to be able to apply for asylum in place. So don't leave your town or city or community. We're going to make sure we have facilities in those cities and towns run by DHS and also access with HHS, the Health and Human Services to say you can apply for asylum from where you are right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden defending the administration's handling of thousands of unaccompanied minors heading across the border, urging migrants to stay home.

Lucy Kafanov live from Dallas now at the convention center where thousands of migrant teenage boys will be sheltered.

Lucy, good morning.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erica, good morning.

That's right. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas will be temporarily sheltering teenage boys who arrived at the U.S./Mexico border alone. This is to relieve strain on facilities at the border which President Joe Biden said he will not be visiting at this time.

We know of at least one CBP facility in Donna, Texas, where lawyers for the children there said they haven't been able to shower or see sunlight for days so the conditions have been quite terrible. And to get a better handle on this problem, the Biden administration has tapped FEMA to try to take care of these unaccompanied minors.

They, in turn, approached the city of Dallas about leasing this convention center which they'll be managing with Health and Human Services. This is -- essentially, they are describing this as an emergency intake site. They expect to begin operations potentially as early as today.

According to an HHS memo, we know they'll be providing clean and comfortable sleeping quarters, toiletries, laundry facilities, medical access. We know that they're going to be screening the kids for COVID- 19. And we also know that the Red Cross has been tapped to help with these services. We've seen the Red Cross staffers go in and out of the building earlier this morning.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to be here in the next couple of hours. He's going to be doing a press conference to talk about the surge in unaccompanied minors. He's been critical of the Biden administration's handling of this recent surge of migrants at the southern border here in the U.S.

Meanwhile, in D.C., we also know that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be testifying before lawmakers. He said yesterday that border crossings are approaching a 20-year high, illegal border crossings approaching a 20-year high. He also has acknowledged that federal agencies have been overwhelmed with the number of unaccompanied minors, so we can expect him to address that at the hearing today.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Lucy Kafanov, thank you so much for being there for us. Really appreciate it.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales of Texas. His district includes more than 800 miles of the U.S./Mexico border.

Congressman, thank you for being with us. Welcome to NEW DAY.

You heard President Biden's message there to migrants. He says don't come here. Is that the right message?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): The American dream is powerful. The American dream doesn't always start in America.

Me and my colleagues, we were just down in El Paso at the processing center, and it was heartbreaking to see the number of unaccompanied minors and families that have made this dangerous trek.

[08:20:10]

In the same breath, my constituents are telling me that they feel unsafe. It's not right for Americans to feel unsafe in their homes, in their communities and in their countries.

If we can deploy thousands of troops to secure the Capitol, why can't we secure our southern border?

BERMAN: OK. The message -- don't come here. Is that the right message?

GONZALES: The message needs to be legal immigration. We need to -- we need to work together. I urge that this administration work with Republicans, Democrats alike to find a long-term solution to legal immigration.

BERMAN: One of the things that we heard President Biden say moments ago is, they are turning back. They are sending adults back home. The policy -- the major policy change that we've seen over the last 60 days of the Biden administration is they are accepting unaccompanied minors into the United States.

Do you support reversing that? Would you turn the unaccompanied minors back at the border?

GONZALES: What I am hearing is this administration is not communicating with anybody. Not with our -- not with the elected officials on our side and not with the elected officials on the Mexican side.

That needs to start. There needs to be better communication and they need to listen.

BERMAN: Better communication, absolutely.

You get the sense, the administration acknowledges that the message that they are trying to send is being manipulated by the smugglers and whatnot. And they are, I think, trying to make it clear. You heard the president there trying to make it clear.

But specifically on the policy change, which again is to start accepting unaccompanied minors in, are you opposed to that?

GONZALES: Immigration is not a new topic. It's been happening since the birth of our country. In my district in particular, we deal with it every single day.

What the administration needs to do is find ways to alleviate some of this stress. And part of that is giving resources to those on the ground. I urge the president, please go visit the southern border. See it firsthand.

BERMAN: But I am confused here. And this isn't meant to be a trick question. I just want to know on this policy change of accepting unaccompanied minors in, if you support or oppose it?

GONZALES: Americans are compassionate. We need to remain compassionate. And I think we need to accept those that come here to seek a better life.

But this system is broken. They shouldn't have to make a trek all the way across to make it here. It's unsafe.

There needs to be legal immigration reform.

BERMAN: So do you then support comprehensive immigration reform, the likes of which has been discussed in Congress? You are just getting there. Welcome, by the way, to all of this.

GONZALES: Yeah.

BERMAN: But it's been discussed for over a decade. And it can't happen. So you want a comprehensive answer?

GONZALES: One of the most difficult things for me is up here, things are very dysfunctional and nobody wants to talk with one another. I'm jumping up and down going, I want to have this conversation. I want to work together to find a solution, but nobody will pick up the phone and have this discussion.

BERMAN: Look, you know, we want to have it. So thank you for coming on and having it.

And part of the reason it's a hard discussion to have, though, is the answers aren't crystal clear. It's not that you do X and Y happens. Sometimes the migrants just come.

Look, you know, if you talk about what happened in the Trump administration, 2019, I want to read a quote here from David Lapan, who was a DHS spokesman at the time. He said: Even though the Trump administration put draconian policies into place, all its anti- immigration rhetoric, building a wall, family separation, that didn't stop people from coming.

Now this year may meet or surpass the numbers then. But the point is that you saw surges then with what the DHS spokesman said were draconian measures and now when some of those measures are not in place. So, it may be that specific measures like that don't even make the difference.

GONZALES: I think we absolutely have to have border security and legal immigration reform. They go hand in hand. We can't just focus on one, and not the other. You need to have both.

And part of that is having the conversation. People don't want to have the conversation. And, you know, a comprehensive package that this administration is going to put down, it's going to be dead on arrival because no one is having that conversation.

BERMAN: Cooperation, obviously, is a big part. And having these conversations across party lines a big part of it, too.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused, or won't authorize -- I'm going to make sure the terminologies (ph) right -- FEMA money to be used for testing, coronavirus testing and quarantine of migrants who have crossed the border.

How do you feel about that?

GONZALES: You know, we -- this pandemic has just added another layer to it all. And we can't forget about it, right? So we have to get the vaccine distributed far and wide.

[08:25:02]

That first starts with American citizens. But that next step is making sure that any migrants that come in, they get tested and they get handled in the appropriate manner. The last thing we want is to go back on this pandemic. We need to distribute the vaccine far and wide.

BERMAN: So, again, do you think Greg Abbott should accept that FEMA money, coop -- authorize the FEMA resources to make sure that the migrants who have crossed are vaccinated and quarantined?

GONZALES: Yeah, I'm proud of the work that we've done in Texas. I think the governor needs to continue to push vaccines for American citizens. And then make sure that any migrants coming through have those same resources.

BERMAN: Tony Gonzales, congressman from Texas, we appreciate you being with us. Look forward to speaking to you again.

GONZALES: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Coronavirus cases increasing right now in more than a dozen states as they race to vaccinate. Is this a new sign of a new surge?

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, 14 states are seeing an increase in new coronavirus.