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Suspect Arrested in Shooting Spree at Asian Owned Spas in Atlanta Area; Russia Recalls Ambassador to U.S. After President Biden Calls Russian President Vladimir Putin a Killer; Spring Breakers Crowd Florida's Beaches and Bars. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hate crimes up nearly 150 percent in major U.S. cities since the start of the pandemic. The suspect in Georgia is claiming to law enforcement that the killings were not racially motivated. He says they were instead the result of a sex addiction. There are new questions this morning about how the case is being handled after this comment from a Cherokee County Georgia law enforcement officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Also developing this morning, a growing rift between the White House and Russia. The Kremlin reacting to President Biden's description of Vladimir Putin as a killer, recalling its ambassador to the U.S. while labeling President Biden's comments as unprecedented. We have a live report from Moscow coming up in just a moment.

BERMAN: We're going to start, though, with the situation in Georgia and the fear being held right now in the Asian-American community. Joining us, Georgia State Representative Bee Nguyen. She's the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to the Georgia statehouse. Representative, thank you so much for being with us.

We were speaking to Lisa Ling, and she brought up a good point. She said too often when there are killings like this, we focus on the suspect, on the shooter. We don't ask what should be the first question, which is, tell me about the victims. How are the victims? How are the people targeted? In this case, the six Asian women who were killed, but also the Asian American community in general. So that's my first question to you this morning is, how are you doing? What are the feelings within the community this morning?

STATE REP. BEE NGUYEN, (D-GA): Well, thank you for asking about that. I do think that one of the most important things we should do right now is center the victims and their families and center the Asian- American community here in Georgia but also across the country.

It's been a hard -- it's been a hard couple of days. We're very overwhelmed. There is increased fear amongst our community, but there's also deep pain and anger. As you mentioned before, so often the centering is around the perpetrator. In this case, it is no different. And so we are trying to focus on prioritizing the victims and their family, but we are also trying to amplify the messaging that, look, this has been going on for the past year. The increase in hate crimes against the AAPI community, 150 percent as you referenced earlier, but 68 percent of the victims are Asian women. And as we saw with the shooting, six of those who died are Asian women.

BERMAN: You have heard law enforcement say they are not yet willing to call this a hate crime. They say the suspect called it a sex addiction issue. What are your concerns about that reluctance to label it at this point?

NGUYEN: I think that our country has always been reluctant to admit that systemic racism is a real problem that can be deadly, and it certainly was deadly in this case. And there is no denying that he targeted these three businesses that are Asian owned. He drove 40 miles from one location to another, and he passed other adult sex entertainment businesses that he could have also shot up. And he chose not to do that.

And the fact that he's even characterizing this as eliminating some sort of sex addition problem is dehumanizing and directed at the women who work in this industry. Even if we take away the racial element, our hate crimes law covers sex and gender. And so under the hate crimes law that we passed legislatively that I voted for last year, he could still be prosecuted for targeting women in the sex industry.

BERMAN: And that's a fact. And that is a law at this point that has been signed in Georgia. We played Jay Baker, sheriff's deputy in Cherokee County before, saying the suspect had a bad day. How do you -- given those comments and what else you've seen, how do you feel, what's your level of confidence in the investigation this morning?

NGUYEN: Well, the shootings took place in multiple jurisdictions, and it's still unclear how we're going to move forward, and if there's going to be any intervention from the FBI. On one hand, we have Cherokee County, which we saw some news about the law enforcement officer who himself used racially charged terms and had t-shirts printed off blaming the COVID-19 virus on China. And he was selling those for a profit. And so that is alarming and troubling.

On the other hand, we do have the Atlanta Police Department, and they have not ruled it out as a hate crime. And so we're going to wait and see what happens, but I still am very firm in my position that, one, he targeted three Asian businesses. Six Asian women are dead. And you simply cannot separate the fact that there's hyper-sexualization of Asian women. It is interlinked to sex working industry, and you cannot separate the misogyny, the racism, and the gender-based violence.

[08:05:10]

BERMAN: What would make you feel safe after everything that you have been through the last year and what you have seen in your own community the last few days, what would make you feel safe going forward?

NGUYEN: My first priority is making sure that my family feels safe and that the community feels safe. I think in my role as a public official, I'm always going to have a target on my back for speaking my truth. And so my concerns are around how do we protect the Asian community as a whole. And it does begin with calling out xenophobia. It does begin with holding our elected officials accountable for the language that they use and for adding fuel to the fire as it pertains to the COVID-19 virus.

And it also begins with recognizing the longstanding history of violence against Asian-Americans in this country and telling our story and reminding folks this is not a one-time incident. We've seen brutality against our Chinese rail workers, the incarceration of Japanese Americans, the brutality against Muslim Americans following 9/11. I want to make sure we amplify the voices of Asian-Americans and Asian people living in this country, and do so sew without backing down and calling it out when we need to call out the xenophobia and racism.

BERMAN: We're glad to have your voice on NEW DAY. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Representative Bee Nguyen, appreciate it.

NGUYEN: Thank you.

HILL: Developing this morning, Russia is recalling its ambassador to the U.S. for consultations. This is, of course, just after President Biden said this about Russia's interference in 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: 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)

HILL: CNN's Matthew Chance live in Moscow for us this morning. And more reaction coming this morning from Moscow.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica. They have not liked these remarks at all here in Moscow from Joe Biden. In fact, in the past few minutes, President Putin himself has been asked about his response to Joe Biden's kind of affirmation that he thinks President Putin is a killer. He said what, would I answer to him? I'd say to him be healthy. I wish him good health, and I say this without irony and without joke, he said. But he also added that people tend to see others as we see ourselves. When we evaluate people and nations, it's always as if we are looking in a mirror. And so basically playground, sort of war of words speech, saying, well, kind of takes one to know one, or something like that.

The Kremlin spokesman, Putin's spokesman has been a little less cryptic in his response to these remarks by Joe Biden, saying that these are very bad statements by the president of the United States. He definitely does not want to improve relations with us, and we will continue to work with the United States on that basis. Not just words either. There's been actions as well. In fact, last night, in a move that hasn't taken place for several decades, the Russians recalled their ambassador to the United States, to Moscow for consultations to talk specifically, I'm told by my sources in the Russian government, about the Joe Biden comments and what they mean for the relationship, and also about the whole range of strains and issues that exist in this relationship that's been so fraught between the two nuclear powers for so many years now.

So clearly, that's a sign. That act of recalling the ambassador is a sign of anger, I suppose, that the United States, Joe Biden stepped over some line from the point of view of Moscow, but it's also a sign of how concerned the Russians are that this relationship is spiraling out of control. They've already got a whole load of sanctions that have been heaped on them over the past several years by this administration recently, but by the previous one as well. And they want those sanctions lifted. But at the moment, the mood seems to be going in the opposite direction. That's deeply concerning for the Russian economy and for the Russian leadership. Erica?

HILL: Matthew Chance with the latest for us from Moscow, Matthew, thank you.

Joining us now, Andrew McCabe, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI. Andy, I want to start there if we could. I think it's really interesting when you hear Matthew put it in perspective there, the reaction that we're seeing is, in his words, it's a reaction of anger, but also one of concern. It's an acknowledgment that this is going to be a much different relationship moving forward.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: That's right, Erica. I think we have -- in these diplomatic matters, we always have to keep in mind that actions like pulling back an ambassador for consultation are really meant as much to communicate to the home audience.

[08:10:01]

So in this case, clearly the vice president -- I'm sorry, President Biden's comments about President Putin were incredibly direct and insulting on some level. So Putin has to show force. He has to show a strong reaction. He has to communicate to the Russian public that he's not going to take that sort of treatment. So I think a lot of that is what's wrapped up in pulling the ambassador back.

BERMAN: It's also a reaction to just a wildly different tone from the U.S. administration that existed a couple months ago. It could not humanly be more different, on subjects of substance, too. It's not just President Trump's reluctance to blame Putin for anything, and then Joe Biden two months into the administration calls Biden a killer. It's the intelligence -- the leaders of the intelligence community, like DNI John Ratcliffe, who claimed this about efforts to attack the U.S. election in the fall. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RATCLIFFE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: China's using a massive and sophisticated influence campaign that dwarfs anything that any other country is doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So what's so striking about that, this week, Andy, is that this new report that was just published said, no, said that China did not engage in influence efforts, that they considered it but then decided not to, and that it was Russia, it was Russia who interfered in the election, which is what caused this back and forth between President Biden and President Putin. It's just such a drastic shift.

MCCABE: It is, John. And it's been a long time coming, and desperately needed. Let's get one thing off the table right away. President Biden is correct. Vladimir Putin is a killer. This is a guy who leads a country that blatantly pursues a policy of assassinating their perceived political enemies in other countries around the world. So there's no question about whether or not the president was correct here.

But this sort of -- I hate to call it a reset because I think that's typically applied to our relationship with the Russians in an incorrect way, but this is essentially a massive reset, right? We're now going to start addressing all of the malign ways that Russia consistently targets this country. Let's not forget that most of the intelligence community believes that the Russians were responsible for what we now believe is probably the largest, most pervasive hack of U.S. government and private sector entities with the SolarWinds hack. We now know from what the intelligence community told us in the DNI report a day or so ago that we have very, very strong intelligence that indicates beyond any question that the Russians meddled in the last two presidential elections. Not just the last one.

So I think the president is sending a very clear signal here that the days of coddling Russia and looking the other way and blaming Russian malfeasance on the Chinese are over. We are going to address this head-on in a way that's undoubtedly very uncomfortable for Vladimir Putin.

HILL: We also want to talk a little bit about this report looking at domestic violent extremism. And I know you had some really strong thoughts on this. But as we're talking about the misinformation that was put out there, as John just pointed out, with that sound from Ratcliffe, we're also looking at the misinformation that, according to this report, right, is fueling attacks like what we saw on January 6th, that that attack itself could, in fact, also inspire further attacks, along with conspiracy theories. It's really laying out quite plainly where we are and how we got here.

MCCABE: It does, Erica, in a very, very direct way. And let's remember, these are the nation's smartest, most professional, most accomplished analysts who have access to the absolute best, broadest intelligence we have. And what they said in that report was that we have racially motivated and militia domestic violent extremist groups pose the greatest threat to our nation. They continue to be driven by their historic motivations like racial animus and fear of government overreach. But that threat has been accelerated by the lies about the 2020 election.

And so, you know, it doesn't take much to extrapolate that. Those people who did and who continue to perpetuate those mistruths, those lies about a stolen election, are actually contributing to the threat we face from domestic violent extremist groups. It is a very clear line of, I think, accountability that the report lays out.

BERMAN: Andrew McCabe, as always, thank you for being with us this morning.

Millions of Americans booking vaccination appointments while others booking trips to crowded beaches. What worries Miami's mayor, next.

[08:15:01]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Coronavirus cases on the rise in 17 states now. That's an increase of three states from just yesterday. There's concern about the new fast-spreading variants of the virus, and then there's also concerns about this, spring break. Scenes like this we're seeing. Florida's beaches, crowded restaurants and bars also.

Joining me to discuss, the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez.

Mayor, thanks so much for being with us.

Talk to me about spring break. We spoke to the mayor of Miami Beach. And, you know, he's worried about people flooding the beaches there and flooding the restaurants and bars. What are your feelings about spring break?

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), MIAMI: Well, there's no doubt it's a tremendous challenge. I mean, he's doing a great job trying to control the crowds as much as possible. They have increased the number of police officers. They've increased arrests dramatically. They are sort of implementing a zero-tolerance policy.

The issue is we've been, for months, messaging our community. And our community has done a very good job of trying to respect the rules that we've established to get the coronavirus under control. You know, wearing masks in public, you know, distancing, washing our hands.

[08:20:04]

And, you know, all the restaurants have equipped themselves with either plastic guards or handwashing, you know, sanitation stations all throughout the restaurant.

So, we've spent a lot of time and energy and gotten all of our major indicators down. Obviously, spring break brings a flood of tourists and, you know, they may not be thinking as conscientiously as the people who stay here and have to deal with other repercussions later.

BERMAN: As you said, the trend lines have been good for you over the last several weeks. What concerns you most, though? One of the reasons -- one of the things that scientists are most worried about are the variants which are very present in Florida right now.

SUAREZ: You know, what concerns me is what concerns, I think, every mayor. You're trying to vaccinate as quickly as possible so you can get your immunity level up as much as possible. You want people to be able to return to normal and, obviously, be safe.

So, you know, every day that goes by, where the entire population hasn't been vaccinated, you worry, obviously. Also when you have people that come in from out of town, it's just normal. That happens everywhere. They may not be as careful.

They, obviously, want to have a good time. When they're having a good time, they may not be as concerned about how their actions are impacting others. And that's something that I think the mayor of Miami Beach has been messaging very dramatically.

The mayor of Dade County has been collaborating as well. We've been trying to work together to message it correctly and make sure that people know they need to be safe as they have fun.

BERMAN: Messaging in some cases is the major weapon that you as mayor of Miami has because the governor in Florida, Ron DeSantis, you can't enforce a mask mandate. You can tell people to wear masks but can't really do much to force them to wear masks.

Now, Governor DeSantis is taking something of a victory lap for the Florida economy right now and how he's handled the pandemic. Florida ranks right about in the middle in terms of death and sickness. Has he given you the support that you want?

SUAREZ: Look, it's -- this pandemic has been incredibly challenging and there's been this notion that you either have to pick one or the other. I think that's been frustrating for elected officials. The governor has taken some decisions that, you know, have been very public about in terms of my disagreements and wanting to have maintained local control, particularly fining people for not wearing masks in public. I've often analogized it to not wearing a seat belt and that -- you know, and that puts yourself in danger as well as other people in danger. So, there are things he and I have respectfully disagreed with, but I

also have to commend him in a sense because he did take some decisions that were courageous and the fact of the matter is, the economy is relatively open. And it is booming. The city of Miami is getting a tremendous amount of migration from places like New York and from Silicon Valley.

And people that come here are extremely excited about the fact that they can enjoy the city. They can be out and about and that they can enjoy the normal things they can't do where they're from. And that is going to have a long-term beneficial consequence for the city. There's no doubt about it.

BERMAN: You have been a strong proponent of the state and local aid that is part of the $1.9 trillion relief law. So what will that money that you're going to get as part of this bill, mean to you?

SUAREZ: Well, first of all, most people have to understand that in the first CARES Act, cities that have population of less than half a million did not get a direct payment. So we were at the mercy of counties, many of which hoarded the money. In the case of Miami-Dade County, we only got $15 million of the $80 million we should have gotten based on our population.

So, we're basically kind of making up for the fact we didn't get those funds at the beginning. And what did we do with them? You know, first of all, we want to make sure our first responders are paid well. They are the ones who have been on the front line; our general employees that support those first responders.

We also want to make sure that we get direct aid to those most in need in our community. I mean, the economic devastation of this pandemic, you know, we don't even know the extent of it.

But we've been helping people pay their rent. We've been helping them pay their mortgage. We've been feeding them, giving them the basics and essentials. We've been helping small businesses stay hope so they can pay their employees.

So, this emergency aid goes to the most affected, most vulnerable in our community to give them a safety net from today until the time where the vaccine takes complete hold and we're able to go back to normal.

BERMAN: Mayor Francis Suarez, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you for your time, sir.

SUAREZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, he says he's been cursed, yelled at, even pushed simply because he's Asian-American, and he's a congressman. We'll hear from him next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:35] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Six of the eight people killed in a Georgia shooting spree were Asian women. Police say the suspect told them race was not a factor, but that declaration offering little comfort this morning.

Joining us to discuss, Democratic New Jersey Congressman Andy Kim. He's a member of the Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucus.

Congressman, good to have you with us this morning.

I know just from reading what you wrote, listening to some of your interviews, you have experienced discrimination on several occasions throughout your life, firsthand. Even when you worked at the State Department, but it's something you've been reluctant to speak up about, to speak out about. That is changing for you.

I'm curious, how is the message for you different this morning?

REP. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Well, it's so personal in terms of what we're experiencing, what each of us is bringing to the table. And I've been hearing from Asian Americans all over this country, each of them sharing their own stories and how this has affected them.

I think this is important. I think that this is something we feel has been invisible, hard to see and part of that is on me and others to speak out more as well. So, you know, I've certainly been sharing my story, my perspective and also trying to think about what I can do as a congressman, what we can do as a government together to be able to try to stop this and try to make sure that we can keep our community safe.

HILL: Here's what you can do. There's also, you know, what allies can do along with you.

We've been talking this morning about the resolution that passed in the House in the fall. A hundred sixty-four Republicans.