Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

First GOP Member of Congress Calls on Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to Resign; Prince Philip Dead at 99; Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) Says, January 6th Changed Me as He Calls for Bipartisanship. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 09, 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]

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Listen, we've been inundated with messages from people in Myanmar who are really to hear their voices amplified across the world.

But I just want to underscore that it's the local journalists, it's the local activists who are under fire every single day and every night risking everything to tell their stories who don't have the protection of a big organization like CNN. They're the real heroes. And I hope that people will continue to listen to their voices even after we've left the country.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: They have our gratitude. You have our gratitude this morning, to you and your entire team, remarkable work. Thank you so much, Clarissa.

WARD: Thank you.

BERMAN: New Day continues right now.

All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is new Day. I'm John Berman alongside Erica Hill this morning. Great to see you here.

So I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. That's a dark omen coming from anybody. It's a near jet-black prophesy coming from the attorney of some working on a plea deal and it's the reality for Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz this morning who faces a growing range of issues.

Adam Kinzinger became the first Republican congressman to call for Gaetz to resign over a federal investigation into alleged sex trafficking. Investigators are taking a very close look at a trip to the Bahamas where women were likely paid to travel and have sex with Gaetz and others. The probe also involves an alleged relationship the Florida congressman had with a 17-year-old girl.

All of these developments are part of a broader investigation into the congressman's friend, Joel Greenberg, who is already facing one count of sex trafficking. Greenberg's attorney, the man who spoke those words, I'm sure Gaetz isn't feeling very comfortable today, suggested yesterday that his client has flipped and he's working with investigators for a plea deal.

Then, on top of all of that, there's the receipts. New reporting from The Daily Beast about alleged Venmo payments to Greenberg from Gaetz and the records reportedly left behind.

ERICA HILL, CNN NEW DAY: Meantime, a pivotal day ahead in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on George Floyd is expected to testify. All of this coming after powerful, powerful testimony on Thursday from a renowned pulmonologist who stated unequivocally that George Floyd died, in his opinion, from a low level of oxygen, not drugs, due to Chauvin's knee on his neck.

We're going to dive a little bit deeper into that just ahead, but we do want to begin with Ryan Nobles who is live on Capitol Hill with the latest on this growing Gaetz scandal. Ryan, good morning.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erica, good morning. And the new information today coming from The Daily Beast, outlining yet another connection between Joel Greenberg and Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. Of course, Greenberg at the center of an FBI investigation that led to 33 charges involving prostitution, stalking and potential human trafficking.

Greenberg in a courtroom in Orlando yesterday talking about this possible plea arrangement which could lead then to a cooperation agreement with the FBI. And in this The Daily Beast report, it outlines a series of payments that Greenberg received from Gaetz in May 2018, some $900 in payments that Greenberg then transferred on to three different unidentified women.

Now, these women were adults and there was no evidence directly that this was for payment of sex, but it outlines the issues that Gaetz has in this relationship with Greenberg, and it's the investigation into Greenberg that led the FBI to begin the investigation into Matt Gaetz.

And the possibility of Greenberg flipping on Gaetz and cooperating with the federal government could be trouble for Congressman Matt Gaetz. Listen to what Greenberg's attorney said yesterday outside of court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Does Matt Gaetz have anything to worry about?

FRITZ SCHELLER, JOEL GREENBERG'S ATTORNEY: Does Matt Gaetz -- that is such a broad -- does he --

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) what happened today in court?

SCHELLER: Does he have anything to worry about? And you're asking me to get into the mind of Matt Gaetz.

I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBLES: Gaetz, it is important to point out, has denied all of these accusations against him, specifically saying he has never paid for sex and he has never had sex with a 17-year-old as an adult.

But we haven't heard very much from Gaetz other than a few re-tweets on his Twitter feed and one Fox News interview shortly after these allegations came out. He will appear for the first time later today at an event at the Doral golf course, Trump National Golf Course in Florida, speaking at a women's event there. It's the first time we're going to hear from Gaetz after this scandal all broke. John?

BERMAN: All right. Ryan Nobles, thank you very much.

Joining us now is CNN Political Analyst Maggie Haberman. She's a Washington Correspondent for The New York Times.

Maggie, Ryan laid out all the disclaimers from Matt Gaetz, his response to these various accusations and the new developments. He denies having sex with a 17-year-old, when he was older than 17, et cetera, et cetera.

[07:05:04]

With Adam Kinzinger coming out and calling for him to resign, with the new Daily Beast reporting, with the new The New York Times reporting and everything else, where is Matt Gaetz this morning?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, Matt Gaetz has a series of problematic headlines at minimum, John. And as we have seen over the last day, the lawyer for his friend who is likely to cut a plea deal is suggesting that Gaetz has a problem in that case too. And, yes, he has denied any wrongdoing, but there does appear to be a swell of information tying Gaetz more closely to his friend, Joel Greenberg, this former tax collector, from Florida.

I think among the most damning pieces of information that have come out over the last 24 hours is this Daily Beast report showing that he was sending money through Venmo to his friend, which then allegedly got moved to this woman in question.

I have not heard an explanation. He has, again, denied any wrongdoing. I think we're going to be going along with this for a while, John. There is no plea deal in place yet for Greenberg. It's to have a deadline of a couple of weeks. But once that gets rolling, if and when, that increases the pressure related to Gaetz.

HILL: What is your sense, Maggie, of whether we'll hear more from Matt Gaetz on this? I mean, there was this sort of awkward statement from women in his office with no names attached. We know there's an event later tonight, but do you think we'll actually hear more from him? Do you think he'll even return on Monday?

HABERMAN: I think that he will. I fully expect that he's going to return on Monday. And I think he's going to this event, Women for America First. We should just note is the group that was involved in planning January 6th event of Trump supporters that proceeded the riot at the Capitol, Gaetz is supposed to be speaking there.

I do not expect him to say anything other than that he is not guilty and I expect him to remain defiant. He has been using, Erica, to some extent, the Donald Trump playbook of deny and just keep moving forward. I don't think that's going to change, barring substantial new information coming out.

But, remember, he is not close to leadership in the House GOP. They don't have a ton of pressure points to get him out of that seat, although, I believe they would like to not be dealing with this distraction as they head into a midterm fight where they think they have a good chance of retaking the House.

BERMAN: It's interesting to me that he is speaking in Florida at this -- you know, under the umbrella of Trump world. You've done reporting, Maggie. We had a statement from the former president, but it's not as warm of an embrace as it could be. What's going on there?

HABERMAN: So, the former president's first impulse, according to multiple people, was that he wanted to defend Gaetz. He's one of our people. He's loyal, you know, we fight. A number of the former president's advisers have cautioned him that is a bad idea. You know, the charges against Gaetz are not, you know, the deep state or related to the kinds of alleged deep state as Donald Trump would say, or to the kinds of investigations that Donald Trump faced when he was in office. This relates to sex trafficking and allegedly involves a minor. And so there has been repeated urging of caution to Trump.

Trump gave that statement after we at The Times have reported that Gaetz had sought a pardon from -- a preemptive blanket pardon from White House officials while former President Trump was still in office. Trump's statement, if you notice, John, was somewhat carefully parsed. He said, Gaetz did not discuss a pardon with me. We did not say that they discussed a pardon. And then he said, remember, he did nothing wrong. I think he felt that was the bare minimum of loyalty that he could show but he did not go any further, and that was notable.

BERMAN: All right. Maggie Haberman, we appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much.

All right, we have major breaking new this morning, a huge passing on the world stage. Buckingham Palace has just announced Prince Philip, longtime husband to the queen, has died.

CNN Max Foster joins us now on the phone from London. Max, go ahead.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We just the statement. It's some royal communications, say it's on behalf of the queen, says, it's with deep sorrow that the majesty queen announced the death of her beloved husband, his royal highness, that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, his royal highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle just down the road from where I am here.

A full announcement will be made in due course, the royal family joining the people around the world in mourning his loss. Prince Philip, the queen's closest confidante, husband, of course, someone who was integral to her monarchy and he recently in the hospital for an infection and also a minor heart operation.

[07:10:00]

We were told he came out. That was just a matter of few weeks ago. But, clearly, his condition has deteriorated in an ultimate way, really.

So, now, the country goes in mourning. People around the world will, of course, be remembering how he played this towering figure really on the world stage alongside her majesty, the queen.

BERMAN: Max, tell us a little bit about the man here. All of us know him as the person standing behind Queen Elizabeth, but what an incredibly complicated life, what an incredibly interesting life. What role did he play in the family and in the kingdom?

FOSTER (voice over): Well, he played an integral role. He was her closest adviser. Any big state decision would ultimately be made by the queen but on the advice of Prince Philip, particularly in latter year. She was very closer to her sister and her mother, both of whom died at the same time several years ago. So it's really Prince Philip in recent years who's been her closest adviser and alongside increasingly Prince William and Prince Charles.

So he's absolutely played an integral role. And, of course, we remember him as a man always a step behind the queen in public. And that was his role in public. But behind the scenes, he was very much the patriarch of the family. He made many of the key family decisions and he would have been involved in the recent decisions involving Prince Harry and Meghan leaving their royal roles and also the big decisions around Prince Andrew as well, being told to step back after the scandal associated with some of his associates with girls (ph).

So he was an absolutely integral part to the monarchy but a very senior figure in the family. So he's making a lot of the key decisions.

So to think of him as just the queen's husband would be to underplay his role certainly in the family but also certainly with her role as head of state.

BERMAN: All right. Max, stand by, if you will, for a moment. We want to pause and take a look back on this remarkable life, Prince Philip passing away at the age of 99.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER (voice over): They were married for more than seven decades but have been destined for each other since childhood, according to one of Queen Elizabeth's bridesmaids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she fell in love when she was 30. And, God, he was good looking. He's sort of (INAUDIBLE). She never looked at anybody else ever.

And I think their marriage truly has been a rock.

FOSTER: The couple married in Westminster Abbey on November the 20th, 1947. For the rest of his life, Prince Philip was in the constant presence of the queen's side. He gave a rare insight into life behind palace walls when celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

PRINCE PHILIP, DUKE OF EDINBURGH: I think that the main lesson that we've learned is that tolerance is the one essential ingredient of any happy marriage. It may not be quite so important when things are going well but it is absolutely vital when things get difficult. And you can take it from me that the queen has the quality of tolerance of abundance.

FOSTER: If this companionship came at a professional cost, it was one Prince Philip was prepared to pay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to be with the queen there all the time behind her and really to sacrifice his life, he did it too, he sacrificed his life. So I think he would have loved to have gone on in the Navy and really made a career out of it.

So he -- he sacrificed too. And so I think it's made for a wonderful solid marriage.

FOSTER: The queen and the Lt. Mountbatten met after the Second World War when he was a naval cadet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His number one job in the (INAUDIBLE) has been to, quote, support the queen. Everything he does is in support of the queen. It's just been one of the great royal romances, I think, of history. People talk about Victoria and Albert as a phrase of (INAUDIBLE). And I have no doubt that many years to come, people will talk about Elizabeth and Philip in exactly the same way.

FOSTER: Famous for his energy, the duke's health inevitably deteriorated as he headed into old age. The royal family Christmas was disrupted in 2011 when Philip had to be taken to hospital for minor heart surgery. Five months later during the queen's diamond jubilee celebrations, Philip had to go to hospital again, this time with a bladder infection.

Family came and went, and within days Philip was well enough to return home, but not to return immediately to his public duties.

[07:15:00]

In the spring of 2017, Prince Philip effectively announced his retirement saying he would give up official royal duties. A year and a half later, he was involved in a car crash, raising questions about whether he should be driving at the age of 97.

Then public appearances were reserved for special occasions, such as Lady Gabriella Windsor's wedding in 2019. Prince Philip had been patriot or president of some 800 charities, including WWF. He was a renowned environmental campaigner. He also had his own royal heritage being born into the Greek and Danish royal families, but he renounced those titles when he took British citizenship in 1947.

So what of his role in the British monarchy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was pivotal. He was the head of the family. He wants to be (INAUDIBLE) as a father. He does that extremely well.

FOSTER: Would it have been difficult for him always in public to take a back seat to his wife?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have thought anybody who had that responsibility would find it, I would say, taxing. But when you have this whole concept in your blood and you keep your sense of humor and your sense of dignity, then you can carry it out beautifully.

FOSTER: And one thing Prince Philip certainly had was a sense of humor and a tendency to make gaffes. On a trip to Australia in 2002, he asked an aboriginal leader, do you still throw spears at each other. And when meeting the Obama in 2009, a reference to world leaders.

PRINCE PHILIP: Can you tell the difference between them?

FOSTER: Prince Philip, serviceman, campaigner, great grandfather and a beloved husband.

HILL: And Max Foster is back with us now. Max, you know, you gave us such a picture there of Prince Philip's life. There's so much that has been made of his place in the royal family as you just said before we threw to that piece. He was the queen's closest adviser. His number one job was to support her.

But there was a mention of their love story. They were married for more than 73 years. You know, I think we talk a lot about the duty in the royal family. There's not always a lot of talk about the real relationships. There's a sense that things can feel more transactional. But that doesn't appear that that was really was.

FOSTER (voice over): No. Obviously, they married in their 20s and she became queen in her 20s, so a huge amount of pressure. They did have some time early on to enjoy the relationship. But there was always this looming moment, wasn't there, where she becomes queen and head of state and head of state in 16 countries still around the world.

And so this is not just a U.K. story. This is a story for Canada, for Australia, the Caribbean Islands, and these places where they've been used to having Prince Philip very much alongside their head of state.

Also, he was this character we talk about, his gaffes. I'm not sure any modern royal would get away with those sorts of gaffes. But one of his great abilities, and that's his ability to dissipate tension in the room. And that actually was very useful to British government, for example, if they had very high-powered guests and people would get very nervous about them, you can guarantee Prince Philip would come to the room and mention something and raise a laugh and relax the atmosphere in the room.

And I've spent times in rooms with him and it was remarkable to see how he used to operate. He use to be a completely sort of free agent, if you like. He would speak to his private secretaries and his press secretaries. And, perceptively, they had no control over him. He effectively did whatever he wanted to do.

And that was something that relaxed the atmosphere in very formal occasions and that's something the queen will certainly miss, of course, as a husband as well, closest she's been in a bubble in Windsor Castle for many, many months, only with her key staff and Prince Philip. And she'll be feeling horribly lonely right now and she can't have the rest of her family and friends come in and see her. Our thoughts very much are with her majesty in this moment today.

BERMAN: Max, I was just going to ask that, obviously, because of the pandemic, this has been such a complicated time for the world. That has been, in many different ways, a complicated time for the royal family. So what do we know about the ceremonial aspects over the next days or weeks surrounding Prince Philip's death?

[07:20:00]

FOSTER (voice over): So there is a plan and I've seen the plan, but the plan isn't in place until this moment really when the queen sit downs and signs it off. So what I'd probably expect to happen is that Prince Philip's body will remain at Windsor Castle. I would expect the funeral to take place at St. George's Chapel at the Windsor Castle, but that will take some time to organize.

So there are two plans effectively for this situation, a plan for lockdown and a plan for non-lockdown. So they're obviously looking at the plan for a lockdown currently in the U.K. Things are loosening up slightly, but you can't have the big funeral with processions going through London that may have been expected if there was no pandemic.

So I think that it's all going to be pretty much contained now within Windsor. That's where the body is and that's where the funeral will be held. Now they have to look at what's possible, really, within the circumstances, what sort of ceremonial events can they have, what sort of members of the military can be involved, how does social distancing play into this, what sort of service will there be. There won't be a guest list that we would have had outside of a lockdown situation that we're currently in.

There are lots to plan. I expect to see (INAUDIBLE) maybe a week or two. But in the meantime, it's a case of people expressing their thoughts around this, I think, virtual condolence, books (ph), as opposed to real ones.

HILL: Max, just also put this in perspective for us. What's the reaction right now there where you are in London? We know Prince Philip had been in failing health. As John pointed out, there have been a number of other issues that the family has been dealing with. But how are people responding this morning?

FOSTER (voice over): You know, I think it's going be interesting. You can never predict these things. Whenever you get into hospital, people are -- it becomes a very big story in the U.K. and around the world and that often catches people out. People think they're interested in the queen, but the interest is in Prince Philip as well, particularly his role as a consult to the queen obviously.

There's been a lot going on in the royal family right now, so people will be looking ahead to the funeral. And we might be able to attend that and I'm sure people will be speculating about the Sussexes coming over, I'm sure. Prince Harry was very close with Prince Philip, so our thoughts with him today as well, especially at long distance, where he won't necessarily be able to travel back. Will a special dispensation be made for him if he has come back to U.K. with the travel ban in place? We'll have to see how that plays out.

But I think the people will be surprised by how they feel, frankly. You always think back to Princess Diana's death and how everyone was so caught up by that, not by the tragedy but by the sense of her not being in people's lives anymore. The thing about royals is that they're always there, particularly Philip and the queen over -- you know, as you look back in the history books, you see the two figures alongside U.S. presidents over the decades. And that no longer will be happening in the same way. And I think that sort of sinks in.

We all realize we've all been affected really by this with some small extent, so we'll wait to see how the public responds. But we're in unusual times. They won't be able to grieve in the same way.

BERMAN: It's a world milestone in many ways. We're looking at pictures of Prince Philip here passing away at the age of 99. Max Foster, don't go far. I know you're going to be doing some more reporting. We're going to speak again throughout the morning. 99 years old, married to the queen for more than 70 years, an institution in and of himself, Prince Philip dead at the age of 99.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

HILL: New this morning, an exclusive interview with Senator Joe Manchin after the West Virginia Democrat announced he opposes using a budgetary measure to pass President Biden's infrastructure bill along party lines.

CNN's Lauren Fox joining us now live from Morgantown, West Virginia, with more of her exclusive interview. Lauren, good morning.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica. Joe Manchin, the senator for West Virginia, who is really now the linchpin in Biden's legislative future. He is the person who is going to determine just how much Joe Biden can get passed through the U.S. Senate, and that even comes when there are bills that they can pass, with just a simple Democratic majority.

Here is what he told me in a wide-ranging interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOX (voice over): The other Joe who holds the power in Washington, clear and unequivocal.

Would you be willing to pass the For the People's Act by killing the filibuster? Would you be willing to carve out an exception on that bill?

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I'm not killing the filibuster.

FOX: Never ever?

MANCHIN: I'm very, very clear. I think if you read my op-ed, it was very clear.

FOX: The reason, Senator Manchin tells CNN, the insurrection at the Capitol.

MANCHIN: January 6th changed me. And I was very clear with everybody. I never thought in my life, I never read in history books to where our form of government had been attacked at our seat of government, which is Washington, D.C., our capitol, by our own people.

Now, the British did it, but not Americans. So something told me, wait a minute, pause. Hit the pause button. Something is wrong. You can't have this many people split to where they want to go to war with each other.

FOX: Insisting the only way to move past the animosity is by working together.

MANCHIN: I think we can find the pathway forward. I really do. I'm going to be sitting down with both sides and get an understanding where everybody is coming from. We should have an open, fair and secure election. If we have to put guardrails on, we can put guardrails on so people cannot take advantage of people.

And I believe there are Republicans that feel exactly like I feel.

[07:30:01]

FOX: How does that affect his relationship with the White House?

MANCHIN: They've been very, very kind in talking, and we do talk. We've had communication.

FOX: How often?

MANCHIN: As often as I would.