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New Day

Trump's Grift Goes On; Coronavirus Update from Around the World; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) is Interviewed about Greg Abbott and Election Legislation in Texas. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 06, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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


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[08:30:26]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, "The New York Times" out with this blockbuster piece alleging that the former Trump campaign fleeced its own supporters for using sketchy campaign donation practices.

John Avlon here with a "Reality Check."

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Get ready to be surprised.

So, look, we've talked a lot about how the MAGA movement has become a grift and a con, treating supporters like dupes and fools. There's a lot of examples of this, like the Trump loyalist lawyer Sidney Powell, claiming in legal briefs that no reasonable person could have believed her claims of mass voter fraud when, of course, many people do. It's a claim that echoes Fox News' defense of Tucker Carlson in court, essentially admitting that if you buy into right wing bile, then the joke's on you.

Of course, QAnon believers have been played for fools as detailed in HBO's new documentary series "Q: Into the Storm." But the latest example, hyper partisans being fleeced, came from the 2020 Trump campaign. That's according to FEC data unearthed by "The New York Times," because after blowing through more than $800 million by the end of summer 2020, the Trump campaign ratcheted up their ask by making online donations repeat by default, buried under fine print and confusing carnival barker claims. That wasn't all. They also added a second pre-checked box that automatically doubled a donor's contribution. The Trump campaign reportedly called it a money bomb, but the people who got wiped out were loyalists.

Take Stacey Black, a 63-year-old fighting cancer. He was living on less than $1,000 a month, but he coughed up $500 when Rush Limbaugh told him that Trump's campaign was in need, "The Times" reports. Well, the Trump campaign billed him again and again and again, every week through mid-October when his account was emptied and frozen and his family suspected fraud.

And they were far from alone. Fraud claims were exploding from unwitting Trump donors. Bandits is what 78-year-old Victor Amelino told "The Times" when he realized that he paid almost $8,000 to the Trump campaign without realizing it. I'm retired, he said, I can't afford to pay all that damn money.

That might not be a lot of money to people like Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who reportedly made up to $640 million while working in the White House, but it's a lot to most Americans, especially working class folks who believe Trump saw them as more than a personal ATM machine.

The donations were processed by a for-profit Republican firm called Win Red, which took 30 cents out of every donation. Talk about the swamp.

In the final months of 2020, requests for refunds skyrocketed. More than 530,000 of them totaling $64.3 million. That's compared to $5.6 million from the Biden camp, according to "The Times."

Now a top campaign spokesperson downplayed the complaints, but Trump is lashing out at the report. Not contesting the actual data, mind you, but repeating the big lie, he's addicted to his delusion. Democracy be damned. His contempt for the truth is rivaled only by his contempt for his supporters.

But Trump's also admitting, at least by Sidney Powell's standards, that he's not a reasonable person. But you probably knew that. The question is, when his small dollar donors will realize they've been getting played the whole time.

And that's your "Reality Check."

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my gosh, John, just sickening to think of what those poor people were duped into without realizing.

Thank you very much for bringing that to light.

India imposing a curfew amid a rise in new coronavirus cases. We have reporters in countries around the world for you.

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VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: I'm Vedika Sud in New Delhi.

A day after India reported its all-time daily high of over 100,000 cases of COVID-19, the country has reported over 97,000 new infections Tuesday. Two state chief ministers have requested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the age restriction for vaccines. Currently those 45 and above are eligible for vaccinations. India has administered over 83 million vaccines to date. India has the third highest confirmed total cases of COVID-19 after the U.S. and Brazil according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Melissa Bell in Paris.

An investigation has been opened here in France into allegations that some restaurants have been secretly opening their doors to Paris' elite, including possibly to government ministers. It comes after an undercover report over the weekend on French TV that

appeared to show two such restaurants open with people inside dining without wearing masks.

This, of course, in breach of the COVID-19 regulations that have seen restaurants here in France shut since the month of October. The investigation will look both into those who may have organized such dinner parties and those who may have attended.

[08:35:01]

France's interior minister has said that a breach of COVID-19 rules of the type described in the report would be totally unacceptable.

ANGUS WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Angus Watson in Sydney, Australia.

Australia and New Zealand will open a travel bubble between the two countries after New Zealand announced that it will no longer require Australian travelers to quarantine on arrival in their country as of the 18th of April. Travelers from New Zealand into Australia have already been able to travel without having to quarantine. Now that one-way corridor becomes a two-way travel bubble.

Australia and New Zealand have been able to do this deal because both countries have had success in limiting the spread of COVID-19 so far. But both have indicated that they're willing to unilaterally pop that travel bubble if the COVID-19 situation gets out of hand.

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BERMAN: Texas Governor Greg Abbott refused to throw out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers home opener because of Major League Baseball's decision to move the all-star game out of Atlanta over Georgia's controversial voting law.

[08:40:01]

Meanwhile, the Texas State Senate just passed a bill with new voter restrictions. So follow the bouncing ball, or ballot here, I guess.

Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. She is a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

What's your take on that gesture from the Texas governor last night refusing to throw out the first pitch over what happened in Georgia?

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): Well, unfortunately, our governor acted without facts, without substance and, obviously, in a biased manner. I guess he does not understand all of the pain that the foot soldiers went through crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge to really fight for voting rights for everyone. Clearly the bill that is proposed here in Texas is voter suppression. Clearly the vote -- the bill that was passed in Georgia is voter suppression. And all he's doing is trying to agitate as opposed to collaborate and to see how we can move forward, not as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans, who believe in the right to vote for everyone.

BERMAN: It seems to be that there is this attempt a race to say, you know, I'm the victim here. Greg Abbott is saying that somehow he's the victim because baseball has moved the all-star game out of Georgia. In your mind, in this discussion about voting rights, who is the victim?

LEE: Well, clearly it's all of those voters who, without an iota of fraud, voted in 2020 and look forward to voting in 2021 and 2022 and all the elections around America. It is clearly those who are the victims of the made up stories that have caused 43 Republican legislatures across America to do things as inhumane as don't give them water or don't give them food or debunking and eliminating the power of the secretary of state in Georgia, or videotaping disabled persons in Texas trying to get assistance in voting, or being a poll watcher and intruding on a frail voter, an elderly voter, a young voter and intimidating them or making sure that counties over a million, like Harris County, that is very diverse, and Dallas County, San Antonio, in the San Antonio area, that you don't have control of your polling places.

The victims are voters. And absolutely we're not going to take it, John. Dr. King said we're on the move. You're not going to turn us around. And we're on the move for voting justice in America. The federal government is going to have to pass these voting rights bills, including the John Robert Lewis bill, in order to say to America, your voting rights are not to be extinguished.

BERMAN: Let me -- let me read for people what this Texas senate just passed, Senate Bill 7. The bill they say would improve tracking of mail-in early ballots. It would limit extended early voting hours. It would prohibit drive-through voting and drop boxes. It would allow, as you said, poll watchers to record some voters and it would make it illegal to proactively send mail-in ballot applications.

So you've come out strongly against this bill that was just passed in the senate. My question to you is, again, based on what we saw Major League Baseball do in Georgia, what do you want to see companies, corporations do in Texas? If this becomes law in Texas, do you want Major League Baseball to, you know, say we're not going to play major games there? Do you want corporations to say, we're not going to do certain kinds of business in Texas?

LEE: Well, John, sometimes there has to be a penalty for misbehavior. And let me be very clear, all of the points that you made stops first responders, nurses, doctors, lawyers -- when I say lawyers, law enforcement and others who utilize that 24-hour drive-through voting. Many of those people. It might have even stopped some of our men and women from the United States military who are home -- were home during that time frame and were able to vote. It just impacts Americans.

So here's what I would like to see happen. Yes, I would like corporate America to stand up and say that this is not the America that has given us the opportunity to be so prosperous, to make the returns on our investment here in this country where we deny our workers and our consumers the right to vote and give some of the state legislatures a bitter pill to get back to the drawing board and respond --

BERMAN: How?

LEE: And respond to the idea of voting issues in a more bipartisan way.

I'll let that play out. Obviously, there have been organizations that have done things like the MLB. I think they can make their own decision. And as they make their own decision, they will make their own bed. And if they make their own bed, they'll either feel the penalty or they'll work with all of us to pass real voting legislation and provide for the rights of all Americans.

[08:45:01]

BERMAN: It happened in Texas, not in your hometown. I mean I imagine you're an Astros fan, not a Rangers fan. But -- so people can see -- I don't think you can see it where you are, but last night was the Rangers home opener. We talked about Greg Abbott not throwing out the first pitch. But it was open without restrictions. You know, 38,000 fans packed this stadium. A lot of whom weren't wearing masks.

You know, as a Texan, how do you feel when you see a packed stadium like this? Is this the type of thing that should be happening at this stage of the pandemic?

LEE: Well, John, let me just quickly say one thing. I want to give to the family of the Capitol Hill Police officer my deepest sympathies. My first opportunity nationally to do so and I want to make sure that they know how much we loved and respected his service and pray for them.

But as a Texan, let me say that I'm a great sports fan of all of our teams across the state. Baylor and University of Houston. Baylor won last night. But I think it was a disaster and I'm enormously disappointed. And it was a confrontation, a wrong confrontation in the face of reality.

COVID-19 is on the move. We are -- we are winning in many places but we're losing in other places. COVID-19 is not -- has not gone away. And the instructions that are given by scientists should be adhered to. And that is, we should socially distance, we should vaccine, vaccine. The president has moved up the date to April 19th for everyone to begin getting vaccinated. That's the right thing to do. We should wear masks. There were people in there that did not wear a mask. That's not giving the community a sense and an ability to overcome.

What it's doing is suggesting that we are reckless. We can do anything we want to do. And with the governor's attitude about all of the restrictions being, if you will, loosened, we're in jeopardy. We're jeopardizing children, teachers. We're jeopardizing people who have to go out to work every day, essential workers. So I'm in complete disagreement.

BERMAN: Right.

LEE: We have to work together to ensure that COVID-19 is gone for good, and hopefully it will be gone for good.

BERMAN: Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

LEE: Thank you for having me.

BERMAN: "The Bottom Line," next.

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[08:51:15]

BERMAN: So before we do "The Bottom Line," there's just one thing I want to point out here. And it's fitting on your second to last day, your penultimate --

CAMEROTA: Penultimate.

BERMAN: Penultimate day on NEW DAY. You're wearing this snakeskin thing, right?

CAMEROTA: Skirt it's called.

BERMAN: And it's fitting because I can't match that. Like, I have nothing in snakeskin.

CAMEROTA: Strange.

BERMAN: And I feel like, on your penultimate day, that I have to level with the American people because a lot of people have noticed that we match like every --

CAMEROTA: And it's been a crazy coinkidink (ph).

BERMAN: Every day. Every day we match. And I feel like I need to come clean on the secret, which is that the matching, it's not an accident.

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CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone.

BERMAN (voice over): This kind of harmony, this kind of synchronicity, doesn't just happen. Yes, there is a deep emotional connection. Yes, there is a nonverbal communication. Yes, a near telepathic bond. But there is also more.

A text message that arrives sometime around 5:13 a.m. This one says, navy and beige. Not to be confused by sand and navy, or veery navy.

My morning marching orders. Dress accordingly. There is astounding specificity. Green. Green. Green skirt. More green. Kelly green. Jade green. Just jade. Emerald. And minty green. I think we're clear here.

It's also a human sartorial fruit bowl. Tomato, watermelon, orange, raspberry, deep raspberry, mulberry, pumpkin and, finish it off with peach sherbet, or maybe some wine or blush.

And on the subject of blush, what am I supposed to do with this? This disembodied anatomy guide book. This PG-13 hide the kids and grab a lawyer evidence trail? My text feed is like a one-way ticket to human resources.

But also, an education in which you leave nothing to chance and little to the imagination. Shoulder, wrist, unknown body part, my waist. Who else's waist could it be? Only you would be so clear, so giving, so helpful and understanding.

And that's why, in the end, it's good this is not a montage of my body parts. No one needs to see my ankles or neck or elbows. But also, to be honest this morning, my heart, which is just a little bit broken.

Even if you are moving just a few hours away, I will miss you. All of you. All your bright hues, all your shades of awesome, from magenta, to magenta, till red do us part.

So, yes, while today I'm not just blue but very blue, color me lucky, very lucky. It's been an honor to sit beside you, to bask in your rainbow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh, OK, that was great. John, oh, my gosh. You mean we're not doing a bottom line with John Harwood right now?

BERMAN: We're not doing that. No, I --

CAMEROTA: You tricked me.

BERMAN: I had to do it before I have to turn my phone over to the lawyers, human resources. I felt like I needed to get on the record with that.

CAMEROTA: Such an honor. John sometimes says to me, I am -- I look through my texts and I'm scared of the different body parts that you send me. He's like, if my wife or HR ever sees my phone, we're in big trouble. But now you've shown it to all of America.

BERMAN: Now everyone knows.

CAMEROTA: Now everyone knows.

BERMAN: I feel like I've inoculating myself against all the lawsuits that were coming.

Look, no, tomorrow -- tomorrow is the last day. I figured if I did this now I'll be able to get through tomorrow.

CAMEROTA: You tricked me. [08:55:00]

BERMAN: I wanted to -- I wanted to, you know, to lay it all out there. And also to tell people tomorrow is just going to be off the hook. I mean --

CAMEROTA: Oh, my God. I don't know what to expect for tomorrow. But, John, first of all, I think that people need to understand that you have been willing to find a tie for blush, for magenta, for, you know, pumpkin, whatever I throw at you, you find the tie every morning.

BERMAN: Did I tell you though how ticked off I was this morning where I had written in to cut this whole piece and I'm like, oh, I can show people I match and she sends me snakeskin. She sends me snakeskin on this day.

CAMEROTA: I threw him for a loop. I threw you for a loop. I mean, you know what, I like to keep you guessing.

That was beautiful. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, well, I can't -- well, I can't say I can't wait for tomorrow. I'm not exactly looking forward to tomorrow, but join us all for this big day tomorrow. The ultimate Alisyn Camerota on NEW DAY.

News continues here on CNN after this.

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