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New Day

Georgia Shooting Rampage Amplifies Fear, Anger among Asian- Americans; Biden Calls Putin a Killer, Russia Recalls Ambassador to U.S.; Cases Rising in 17 States, Officials Racing to Vaccinate as Variants Spread. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: The NCAA officials are being tested daily for COVID-19, and yesterday, eight-seeded Oklahoma confirmed that guard De'Vion Harmon will miss the team's first two games after testing positive. Sooners' Head Coach Lon Kruger said no others players are in contact tracing.

The tournament does get started tonight with the first four TruTV and CBS. All of the games are taking place at six different sites here in Indiana. And still plenty of time to fill out those brackets and make sure to play with us here at CNN. Go to CNN.com/brackets. You have until tomorrow at 12:15 Eastern to get those brackets in, John. So still plenty of time to do some research.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: Colgate all the way. Andy Scholes, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it.

New Day continues right now.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is New Day. Alisyn is off, Erica Hill with us this morning. A lot going on.

ERICA HILL, CNN NEW DAY: Yes, there is.

BERMAN: We have important new developments after the murder of eight people in Georgia. Six of them Asian women, Asian-Americans on edge in the U.S. and you can understand why. Authorities are noting the suspect claims the shootings were not racially motivated but he says were the result of sexual addiction.

A sheriff's deputy facing backlash for this description of the suspect's frame of mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JAY BAKER, CHEROKEE COUNTY, SHERIFF'S OFFICE: He understood the gravity of it. And he was pretty much fed up and had been kind of at the end of his rope and yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Also new this morning, Russia responds to President Biden calling Vladimir Putin a killer, the Kremlin recalling its ambassador to the U.S., labeling Mr. Biden's comments as, quote, unprecedented. We're going to have much more from the White House on that in just a moment.

But we want to begin with CNN's Natasha Chen, who is in Georgia with the very latest on this investigation. Natasha, good morning.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica. We're in Cherokee County where the suspect is being held and could be arraigned soon. And let's remember the reason he's even in custody and was caught. His parents played a crucial role when authorities released surveillance images of him on Tuesday evening. The parents called police to help identify him and police were then able to track his cell phone as he was moving south and to stop him.

Investigators believe they stopped him before he headed to Florida where he may have committed a similar act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN (voice over): This morning, authorities are investigating why a suspected gunman killed eight people in three Atlanta area spas and whether the massacre that left six Asian women dead can be prosecuted as a hate crime.

The shooting around 5:00 P.M. Tuesday at Youngs Asian Massage in Cherokee County, Georgia, leaving four people dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please hurry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a description of him, ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need to hide right now.

CHEN: That desperate 911 call came from Gold Massage Spa 30 miles from the first shooting. Police discovered three Asian women killed there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some guy came in and took a gun. Some ladies got hurt, I think. And everybody's scared so they're hiding.

CHEN: Across the street at Aromatherapy Spa, another Asian woman killed. Atlanta law enforcement is withholding the names of victims but in Cherokee County, police confirmed the names of the people who lost their lives and a man who was injured.

Robert Aaron Long is now behind bars and charged with eight counts of murder.

CHIEF RODNEY BRYANT, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Even though we have made an arrest, there's still a lot more work to be done.

CHEN: Authorities say Long told them the killings were because he had a potential sexual addiction.

SHERIFF FRANK REYNOLDS, CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA: The suspect did take responsibility for the shootings.

This is still early but he does claim it was not racially motivated.

CHEN: But Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says, it's hard to ignore that the majority of the shooting victims were Asian women.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-ATLANTA, GA): I'm taking that with a grain of salt. This is a man who murdered eight people in cold blood so it's very difficult to believe what he says.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an attack on all of us.

CHEN: Grief and outrage are growing over the rise in attacks against Asian-Americans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. At the White House, President Joe Biden condemned the acts of violence.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm very concerned because, as you know, I have been speaking about the brutality against Asian-Americans for the last of couple months. I think it's -- it is very, very troublesome.

CHEN: No matter the motive, Georgia State Representative Sam Parks says the shooting is spreading fear not only here but in Asian- American communities across the country.

SAM PARK (D), GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: There was an attack against Asian- American women, against members of our community. And, of course, we want to do everything that we can do to protect everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN: In addition to his parents, another person called the authorities on Tuesday night to help identify him. That person said that he had recently been kicked out of his parent's home and was feeling emotional.

[07:05:00]

John?

BERMAN: All right. Natasha Chen, thank you, please keep us posted throughout the morning.

I want to bring in Lisa Ling, host of CNN's This is Life with Lisa Ling. Lisa, it's great to see you. I have to say, something about seeing you that's chilling because you were with us a week and a half ago and we were talking about the rise of anti-Asian crime in the U.S. Anti-Asian hate crime up 150 percent in major U.S. cities over the last year.

Authorities in Georgia not yet calling this a hate crime. You see something notable in that. Why?

LISA LING, CNN HOST: Well, John, I just -- there has been this pattern of attacks on Asians. You're right, we just spoke a week and a half ago and now seven Asian people, six of whom were women, are now dead. And this was a couple days after Mr. Pak Ho was buried in the Bay Area after getting brutally attacked.

I mean, it seems that every time I open my social media or my media, there is video or reports of more Asian people getting attacked. In fact, there was video of an Asian grandmother who was attacked just yesterday who beat her assailant up with a stick. And while it was great to see her stand up for herself and fight back, John, you should have heard her cry out with her bloodied face. You hear the pain and the anger in her voice. She's crying out in the language that my ancestors spoke, that they speak, Cantonese.

And to say that this attack in Atlanta was not a hate crime because the terrorist said it wasn't racially motivated and we're going to take him for his word, he specifically targeted three Asian massage parlors. They weren't even close together. And, frankly, Atlanta is a hotbed for sex work and sex trafficking. But yet, he chose to attack massage parlors that he knew were run by Asian people.

HILL: You know, one of the things that just in our own reporting from our CNN colleagues, one of the things that's really stood out too is the fact that, you know, the data -- even though we're seeing this rise, right, as John pointed out, of nearly 150 percent in urban areas, the reality is those numbers and the data don't actually capture the full scope of what Asian-Americans are experiencing and have been for some time.

Do you think this is changing the conversation at all? And I don't mean just the murders in Atlanta, but I mean more conversation in the last couple of weeks? Is it starting to raise awareness in a meaningful way?

LING: It's an interesting question, Erica, because after this attack on the massage parlor, I saw people posting messages about solidarity and about standing up for Asian people. But how many people have to die for this to really be taken seriously, for there to be more than lip service?

I mean, there is real fear among Asian people about going outside of their own homes right now. Asian people are being scapegoated like they have for a century in this country. And this has to stop. This has to stop. We cannot be continued to be scapegoated.

And this is frankly a pattern of scapegoating that happens in this country. Yesterday, it was Muslim and Southeast Asian people after 9/11. When there's an economic downturn, it's the Latin population, you know? It's always the black community being scapegoated for so many things. And during the Cold War, it was gay people.

This scapegoating of entire populations has to stop in this country.

BERMAN: I want to read you something written by David Palumbo-Liu, who is a Stanford professor and author of Asian/American, Historical Crossings of a Racial Frontier, and he talks about these claims that you mentioned and the suspect. The suspect said that the killing was about sex and not about race and too many people will accept that. The fact is the two are merged especially in terms of Asian women and their objectification as such by men.

You were quick to note, and I'm glad you did, these are Asian women who were killed and that's notable. Explain what the professor is saying there and why this is so important, Lisa.

LING: Well, look, I mean, we keep talking about this killer's sex addiction and his mental health, but why are we not talking about the mental health of the victims and the victims' families? I mean, why are we not talking about the mental health of Asian people who again are afraid of leaving their homes and fear of being attacked just because of what they look like.

There has just continued to be this erasure of Asian people's stories. I mean, we don't even read about it in American history books.

[07:10:00]

And, John, we talked about this last time I was on the show. Kids when they grow up and are really, you know, at a time when they should be learning empathy, there's no mention in our history books about the things that Asian-Americans and Asian people have endured in this country, how they have been scapegoated for more than a century.

And it's time that we change that and it's time that we collectively stand up for each other because, again, today it's Asian people scapegoating. It could be your community tomorrow.

BERMAN: You noted to us last time, Lisa, that sometimes the Asian community historically has been reluctant to speak out or has been quiet at times. Why? Why is that?

LING: Look, John, I come from a culture that has not culturally stood up for ones selves. We have kept our head down. We haven't wanted to rustle feathers. But there's something really incredible happening right now, and that is the only silver lining in this. And that is Asian people of all different up ethnic backgrounds are coming together and speaking out and we are not going to stay silent anymore. We are not going to take this anymore. People are dying. And we have to stand up for ourselves and we hope that other people, other communities, will stand with us.

HILL: It's impossible -- you touched on this a little bit but I think I have definitely seen a lot of mentions of this, the intersection, right, of the victims. They're not just Asian, but Asian women, as you pointed out. And when you bring the gender and race together particularly when it comes to Asian women, they have been -- Asian women in general in this country have been fetishized in a way and I don't think we see with women of other races. And that too is so -- I mean, that's so disturbing but it's very real and that needs to be called out.

LING: That's right. I mean, Asian women have been fetishized and exoticized for generations. And just think about the perception of Asian people even in our media. Asian men are emasculated. Asians are constantly the butt of jokes and teasing. Well, that all matters and, you know, it's time that we start changing the narrative about Asians. And again up, this is -- this is a real moment for all of us when we're recognizing that we just -- we can't stay silent about this anymore and that we have to stand up for each other.

BERMAN: Look, I'm glad you pointed out that there's been too much focus on the suspect's state of mind and not enough focus on the victims and --

LING: That's right, John. Honestly, every time I open my social media, I see this terrorist's face, I keep hearing about his mental health.

BERMAN: Yes.

LING: I want to hear the names of the women who were killed. In fact, I'd like to mention their names. elaina Ashley Yaun, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Julie Park, Park Hyeon Jeong, and a man named Paul Andre Michels, who is not Asian. And there are two other people whose names haven't been released.

But these are the names that we need to be hearing, okay? I don't want to hear the name of this killer anymore.

BERMAN: I don't we've mentioned it once. You make a point of not mentioning it in these situations. But the deputy sheriff of Cherokee County went out of his way to say, he was a guy who had a bad day. I was shocked to hear a law enforcement official go out of his way to say something like that.

LING: We're all having a bad day, John. The victims of these attacks are having a bad day, John. The families of the victims are having a bad day and none of us are going out and murdering people in cold blood.

BERMAN: Lisa Ling, I appreciate you being with us. Really, thank you for coming on and talking about this. And thanks for being there a couple of weeks ago. You know, again, the tragedy of this is it was foreseeable. This is foreseeable. It is something that people knew was going to happen. Thank you. We'll talk to you again I hope under better circumstances soon.

LING: Absolutely.

BERMAN: So a war of words escalating between the United States and Russia this morning. President Biden called Vladimir Putin a killer and now the Kremlin is firing back.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond live at the White House. Major new developments on this this morning, Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt, John. And we are watching this diplomatic spat escalate in real-time. The Kremlin responded to those comments by President Biden earliest this week. But, first, I want to play you those comments from President Biden in which he said that he does indeed believe that Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is a killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: He will pay a price. We had a long time, he and I.

[07:15:00]

I know him relatively well. And the conversation started off, I said, I know you and you know me. If I established this occurred, then be prepared.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: So you know Vladimir Putin, do you think he's 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)

DIAMOND: And now the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said that those comments by President Biden were unprecedented. He said that it is a clear sign that President Biden does not want to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia and he categorized the current state of U.S./Russia relations as very bad.

Indeed, just yesterday, Russia recalled the ambassador to the United States back to Russia for consultations on the U.S./Russia relationship, and so you are watching this relationship continue to deteriorate essentially.

But what the Biden administration has made very clear is that they are not looking for a, quote/unquote, reset, as so many previous administrations have looked for with Russia. Instead, they're looking for stability and predictability in this relationship and we know very clearly President Biden and his top administration officials have said that the U.S. is going to impose costs on Russia for its behavior.

We saw already a few weeks ago, the U.S. sanctioned top Russian government officials over the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and pointed the finger directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin for those actions. And, really, the actions of Russia have piled up for this administration because President Trump and his administration did not address them. Alexei Navalny's poisoning was one of the issues, but there are a number of issues still under review, including Russia's interference in the U.S. elections. Administration officials have told us to expect sanctions against Russia for that as early as next week. John?

BERMAN: Again, Jeremy, this is developing all morning long. We're going to bring people updates. One thing is clear, it seems Vladimir Putin not at all happy with the type of language coming from the White House and, frankly, not used to it, at least not over the last few years. So this will be very interesting to see this morning. Thank you, Jeremy, for being with us.

So a new study looks at the chance of reinfection from coronavirus. If you had it once, can you still get it again? Dr. Sanjay Gupta, next.

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[07:20:00]

HILL: This morning, coronavirus cases are on the rise in 17 states. That's an increase of three more states from just yesterday. Remember, these are average new cases reported over the last week. So the big question for a lot of people is whether the rise that we're seeing in some areas is a result of some of these more transmissible variants.

Joining us now, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, so do we know yet? I mean, looking at Michigan, for example, cases there have been rising for weeks and up. I think it's 50 percent that we have seen. Is it definitely the variants? Because I think there are other factors at play.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, I don't think we can say it's definitely the variants even though, you know, a few states are becoming more dominant in terms of the variants and 49 states around the country now have these -- at least this U.K. variant. I don't think we can say that yet, to your point.

When you look at a place like Michigan, my home state, as you just showed, the numbers have been going up. There's probably lots of different reasons. One of the things I want to point out right away is that, you know, Michigan has a mask mandate in place so a lot of people immediately will say, well, look, mask mandate in place, numbers still going up.

You still may have situations that people aren't wearing masks despite the mandates. The fact is the virus is transmissible. Somehow it is jumping from person to person. We know in the prison population there have been outbreaks so there could be all sorts of things that are going on here.

But it's pretty clear that some states are being more affected than others. Overall, the cases may have plateaued and we have to sort of follow this.

Let me just show you as well something that we've talked about a lot on the program. Michigan has 50 percent vaccination rate right now. Again, you point out that the cases have gone up. What we are really looking for is what is going to happen subsequently with hospitalizations and deaths. Given that we have seen -- this is the United States and Italy. But with Michigan, you'll see that the death rate is still coming down overall.

So you'll see that it's -- I think it was four people who had died yesterday. We will see do the increase in cases at some point lead to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths, they probably will but probably not nearly as high given the vaccination rates.

BERMAN: Let's hope. Hospitalizations are going up in Michigan not steeply yet but let's hope they don't go up more rapidly.

Sanjay, an interesting study published in The Lancet, one of the questions has been if you have coronavirus, how likely are you to get it again? Can you get it again? And the study published that, basically, if you had it, you have 80 percent protection, 80 percent protection from getting it again if you are under 65. 65 or older, and I think we have these numbers to put up on the screen, it's just 47 percent. I say just because I want you to explain what these numbers really tell us.

GUPTA: Yes. This was a really interesting study and, you know, everyone has been asking the question, I had it, COVID, can I get it again? So the top line answer to that is that it is possible but very unlikely because when you do all the math there, and this was spring of last year to fall of last year, so over six to nine months, you mentioned, and before the variants really came out as well, I should point out. But during that time, reinfection rates across the board less than 1 percent.

So this is good news, right? We have been saying, hey, antibodies may only last three months, there will be a lot of people getting reinfected at four, five, six months, that didn't seem to happen at least in this particular study. But the researchers found out something interesting, as you point out, that it did break down pretty significantly by age. So the immunity that's persistent seems to be much more persistent than those 65 and under, and takes a bit of a hit in terms of overall protection if you're 65 and older.

[07:25:02]

I'm sure there are other variables in there so those are just sort of the top lines.

It makes the case in so many ways, something we have talked about, that even if you have been infected and you have antibodies due to that infection, you still need to get vaccinated especially if you're over the age of 65.

HILL: Sanjay, another study we want to get your take on is this one about bulk testing, which says it's really the key to opening the universities. So, bulk testing, pool testing, where you're testing a large number of people on a regular basis to find if there is virus within that group. And the numbers are pretty impressive. You know, if you're testing this many people, I think we can put it up on the screen, the number of fewer infections. What should be our takeaway be from this? I'm guessing is we need more testing.

GUPTA: I'm so glad we're talking about testing. And I have to tell you, I mean, you know, I'm beating the drum on testing since last year and, obviously, everyone is talking about the vaccines understandably. But this makes the case.

So universities, obviously, university populations are going to be different. But when they do this bulk testing, which is exactly that you point out, testing lots of people who don't have any symptoms, you start to see a significant impact on overall reducing infections because you find people who are infected. You can isolate them. You can trace their contacts. You can do all those things to bring the numbers down.

You know, for a long time, the narrative was, testing more leads to more cases. If you do it right, test people, and do it regularly and do asymptomatic people, you will actually bring the numbers down. And this university study has shown that. People have known this for some time, but now there's more evidence of this.

And, again, you know, you look at the testing plans, I think, $50 billion are allocated towards testing as part of the COVID relief plan. That's going to be significant because you see the evidence of why it works and you're going to see a lot more testing at schools and colleges and other places where people aggregate.

BERMAN: Sanjay, thank you very much. We appreciate your help as always.

HILL: A harrowing new interview from the Capitol Hill police officer who risked his live to save others on January 6th, detailing the racism he encountered within this mob.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER HARRY DUNN, CAPITOL POLICE: We fought against not just people that hated what we represented but they hated our skin color also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: More of his story, next.

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