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Erin Burnett Outfront

Rep. Matt Gaetz, Under Federal Investigation, Joins Forces with Conspiracy Theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene; U.S. Adds 266,000 Jobs; Economists Predicted 1 Million; Federal Grand Jury Indicts Derek Chauvin in George Floyd's Death; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) is Interviewed About the Federal Grand Jury Indictment in George Floyd's Death. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 07, 2021 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But all of this contributing at a very tense time in the city and it's worth noting that Ramadan is coming to an end and Monday is ...

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Thank you, Hadas. We got to wrap it now.

GOLD: ... Muslim day when Israel marks the date.

BROWN: Thanks. I'm Pamela Brown. I'll see you tomorrow at this time.

Erin Burnett OUTFRONT up next.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the Congressman under federal investigation for sex trafficking, the Congresswoman who questioned if a plane actually crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene together right now rallying Trump's supporters, this is the GOP.

Plus, is the boom a bust? An extremely weak jobs report, are unemployment benefits to blame?

And identical twins with the exact same pre-existing conditions get COVID at the same time. One in the ICU. The other recovering quickly. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with a fascinating report. Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, the triumph of MAGA. Right now, two of the most controversial Republicans in Congress kicking off their America first tour with a rally for Trump voters and they have the support of the Republican Party. Two of the former president's accolades; Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene carrying on Trump's message tonight. Right now you're looking at Greene live, rallying the crowd. Gaetz is not far behind, going to take the stage momentarily.

I'll remind you, he is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations of sex with a minor among other things. And both of these people are consistent in one important thing. They have supported and parroted Trump's lies again and again and again. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Make no mistake, this election was stolen from you, from me and from the country.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): We know that this has really been a stolen election.

REP. MATT GAETZ (D-FL): And an election that was stolen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, as you can imagine, Trump likes people who parrot that lie a whole lot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Matt Gaetz is a great man, a great gentleman and what a future he has.

This one I never ever want to have her as my enemy, Marjorie Taylor Greene. Where is she? She is so unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And with his full-throated endorsement, other Republicans get in line. They like Gaetz Greene a whole lot, Matt Gaetz raising a huge sum in the first quarter of this year, $1.8 million. Marjorie Taylor Greene raising even more, an unprecedented $3.2 million. Donors happy to pony up even as the Justice Department investigates Gaetz over allegations of sex trafficking and prostitution, including a possible sexual relationship with a 17-year-old. The DOJ also investigating whether Gaetz used cash and drugs in his dealings with young women, but that's all OK with the GOP. He denies the allegations. And it's very important to note though, this investigation began under Trump's Attorney General Bill Barr.

As for Marjorie Taylor Greene, well, let her speak for herself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREENE: The so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon. It's odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon.

There is an Islamic invasion into our government offices right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I can't even believe that it bears saying that that is all false. Like I said, Greene and Gaetz have the full-throated support of GOP leadership. With all of that, the full-throated support.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he spoke to Gaetz and Gaetz said he's innocent, so that's the end of that. As for Greene, she was stripped of her Committee assignments by Democrats because they have the majority. McCarthy voted in favor of her keeping them. Donie O'Sullivan is OUTFRONT in the villages in Florida where Gaetz

and Greene are speaking tonight. And Donie, you've been speaking to people who are arriving there for that rally. People who obviously believe in everything they're going to hear. What are they telling you?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Erin. Yes. A lot of activity in this retirement community this evening. You can might be able even to hear there are some Biden supporters here who were trying to shout down some Trump supporters and supporters of Gaetz and Greene who were unable to get into this event because we believe it is over capacity inside now.

But what green and Gaetz are doing here is cashing in on the big lie and they're doing that because the people who have come here to hear them speak, they believe it. They want to believe the lie. Here's a couple I spoke to when they were on their way into the event this evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: You guys both genuinely believe the election was stolen.

RITA WARD, ATTENDEE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN: I mean, that's - if you believe that that's true, that is ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that horrible?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

WARD: Yes. It is horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know it is. Is it horrible that we would even be in a situation to even think that?

O'SULLIVAN: But it's false.

WARD: No, it's not.

[19:05:00]

Why would they have all those ballots hidden under the tables? Why did that man drive that truck all the way across state lines with ballots?

O'SULLIVAN: But it wasn't like the ballots under table thing with Giuliani in Georgia, that's all been proven to be false.

WARD: It has not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

WARD: I watched it on TV. (END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: Yes. And Erin, look, obviously what they're mentioning there are evidence, purported evidence which is false that has been held up by the likes of Giuliani, the likes of Trump that has been debunked for months now. That couple also even mentioned the joke of an audit that is happening, the Republican audit happening in Arizona at the moment as a possible way that the election could still be overturned. These people are clinging on to this belief in the big lie in the conspiracy theory, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Donie, thank you very much.

And I want to go now to Amanda Carpenter, former Communications Director for Sen. Ted Cruz and author of GASLIGHTING AMERICA: Why We Love It When Trump Lies To Us and Marc Caputo, Senior Writer for Politico who covers national politics as well as politics in his home State of Florida. Thanks to both of you.

So Amanda, you hear people coming into that rally. You look at the money Greene and Gaetz are raising. You look at the full-throated endorsement they're getting from leadership of the Republican Party. You're a longtime Republican, what do you make of your party?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's hard to watch. It's very uncomfortable. And I know I'm not alone in this, Erin. I know there are so many good Republicans who look at this and say that's not who we are. But the problem is there's not enough Republicans to compete with this.

I mean, after the election, there's plenty of opportunity to stand up and say the election was fair, Joe Biden is the rightful winner, but they just ceded the airspace to Donald Trump to push the big lie that caused an insurrection. And guess what, it took hold. It took hold. And then even after the insurrection, they said it's time to move on.

Well, if you don't like the fact that Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are leading the messaging effort, leading the party because that's what they're doing right now, then get in the game. You cannot leave Liz Cheney to make this argument on her own, Adam Kinzinger. It's not just going to be one or two people that do it and get swatted down. Where is Paul Ryan? Where's Mitch McConnell? Where are all of these other senators who bring their hands and say we need to turn the page and move on from January 6th? Nowhere to be seen. So don't cry when Matt Gaetz comes after you and takes your seat.

BURNETT: I mean, Marc, you think someone in Gaetz's position right now would lay low, right? But he's not. He's saying he's kicking off a fundraising tour. I mean, you've covered him for a long time, tell me about it.

MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes. I wouldn't think that because it's Matt Gaetz.

BURNETT: Yes. CAPUTO: Matt Gaetz has been always on an offense style of politics. It

aligns very well with Trump's general style of politics. And in Matt Gaetz's world, in his view, if he is silent, if you hire lawyers who speak for him, then he's guilty.

BURNETT: Yes.

CAPUTO: And Matt Gaetz says he's not guilty. So him going out there and being out front is exactly what you would expect of him. The other thing is that there's an element in the Trump Republican Party that's very anti-establishment. It's very establishment-style of thinking to say listen to the lawyers, listen to the defense lawyers.

BURNETT: Right.

CAPUTO: Keep quiet. Let them speak for you. That's not what Matt Gaetz is about.

BURNETT: And Amanda, to this point, the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee is now voting to both censure and call for the resignation of Congressman Anthony Gonzalez because he voted to impeach Trump. He also told The Hill this week about Cheney, "If a prerequisite for leading our conference is continuing to lie to our voters, then Liz is not the best fit." So that's what he does and now censure and call for the resignation. That's coming from his own party. That's what he gets.

CARPENTER: Yes. The purge is on. I mean, this is a nationwide effort to go after any Republican that gets out of line with Trump. And I think it's time to stop wringing our hands about this and there has to be the kind of determined organization on the side of Republicans who want to restore some kind of sanity to the party to want a mount a defense for institutions to band together with the same resources, energy and dedication that they have on the MAGA side, because otherwise it is not even a game. It's just getting each of these people getting picked up one by one by one by one.

And listen, I'm not naive about this. I think the people who are concerned may represent 10 percent, 30 percent of the party, certainly as minority.

BURNETT: Right.

CARPENTER: But why can't that 10 percent or 30 percent weigh the same kind of control and effort to say that we will determine elections, we will be the majority makers and without us you will never win again.

[19:10:04]

BURNETT: And Marc, there absolutely no courage to do so and it's interesting because Amanda brings up where Sen. McConnell. He gave the greatest speech of his political career after the insurrection, calling out Trump directly. It was poignant and it was powerful. And then ever since then, it's throw your hands up in the air and nothing to see. I mean, it's been a complete fade. CAPUTO: Well, Mitch McConnell is about exercising power and winning.

And he understands that in the Republican Party, Liz Cheney's style of continuing to talk about this is a path to losing so he's not going to talk about it. And it might be ruthless, it might be heartless, but it's effective and it could be very effective in the next midterm elections. I guess that's what we're going to see.

But the contrast between the way Cheney speaks about Trump and the way that McConnell speaks about Trump, gives you an idea of how the Republican Party is handling this. And McConnell's way is the preferred way, which is I'm not going to talk about the past, I'm going to talk about the future.

Now, is that political cowardice? Is that miscalculation? Well, the voters are going to decide come next November or the November of 2022, I should say.

BURNETT: And also, Amanda, when you look at Elise Stefanik who's going to replace Liz Cheney as the number three Republican in the House, it's basically fait accompli that that will happen next week. Elise Stefanik has a failing grade in terms of being a true conservative, but she has recently completely changed her tune after criticizing Trump very, very critically early on for a lot of things he did. She's now completely on board.

So she is someone who is calculating that this is the way to go. Even though certainly from her own record, it wouldn't seem that she would be a Trumper.

CARPENTER: Yes, certainly. I mean, she's completely abandoned her previous persona and learned that Trump is the way to gain power in this party. And this is really what it comes down to. Do you care about attaining power for the purpose of having power even though there's no principles behind it or are you going to actually put your country before the party? This is the thing. This is the difference between Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell.

Winning at all costs, OK, that's great. But by keeping his mouth shut in the way that it is, Mitch McConnell is ensuring that the party is going to campaign on the big lie again in '22 and '24. Just look at the silence from these Republicans about that phony baloney audit in Arizona.

BURNETT: Right. Right. Which Trump's out on his patio at Mar-a-Lago saying they're going to recount all of the votes in the states and still win. And you have to actually check the date stamp to realize it happened the other day and not seven months ago.

All right. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it, Marc and Amanda.

And next, the latest jobs numbers a huge miss. I mean, when I say huge, I mean falling short by nearly three quarters of a million jobs. So what does that mean for all of us, for the U.S. economy?

Plus, former police officer and convicted murderer Derek Chauvin indicted by a federal grand jury in the death of George Floyd. And a rogue out of control, Chinese rocket hurtling closer to Earth at

this hour, for real. Where is it coming down?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:02]

BURNETT: Tonight is the boom going bust? An extremely disappointing jobs report for April showing just 266,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy. OK. The predictions were for 1 million. I mean, that's a massive, massive miss. The unemployment rate went up to 6.1 percent. President Biden saying today it shows why it's crucial for lawmakers to support his $4 trillion in additional spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it'd be a marathon. Quite frankly, we're moving more rapidly than I thought we would. Today's report just underscores, in my view, how vital the actions we're taking are. Our efforts are starting to work. But the climb is steep, and we still have a long way to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Phil Mattingly is OUTFRONT tonight at the White House.

All right. Phil, they put the spin on it. They put on it, but I mean that's a huge miss. You and I have covered these stories for a long time. I've never seen a miss of this magnitude, frankly. How worried is the White House about these numbers?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So I think there's two pieces to this and they are obviously intertwined. There's the economics piece and the political piece. On the economics side, look, there's no question. Everybody from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on down and the administration was somewhat stunned by the actual miss here and just how big it was.

And I think that move 1915 [00:03:18] move to just confusion once they started digging into the report. Obviously, you have the top line, miss. But Erin, when you dig into this report, there's no through line explaining what exactly happened here. You've got numbers that signal there may be a tightening labor market, but you've got wage growth, you've got participation rates are up. Certain sectors are doing significantly better. Other sectors are dropping off for particular reasons. Obviously, there's supply chain worries as well.

So there's just a convergence of information here that makes clear one thing I think economic officials across the administration are recognizing right now. There's no roadmap for this coming out of a once in a century pandemic. I think that raises some concern on the economic side.

On the political side, look, White House officials know this is going to serve to fuel Republican arguments, big business arguments against one of the key elements of the rescue plan. That $300 expanded unemployment benefit. The White House has no desire to change that anytime soon.

BURNETT: Yes.

MATTINGLY: But this idea that they're hearing anecdotally at the White House from businesses that they're having difficult time finding employees for open jobs, this serves to kind of add some teeth to that. Now, on the flip side, Erin, I think the interesting element is one of the arguments I've been hearing a lot of from, not just from Republicans but also some Democratic economists, is that the scale of what President Biden has put on the table is only going to serve to create some type of inflationary cycle.

This, as you heard the President referenced in that sound, they say now underscores that's not the case.

BURNETT: Yes.

MATTINGLY: There's a long way to go. And I think the bottom line here is that if there's any takeaway at all from this report is one, it's one report. We have to see what this is going to mean in the months ahead.

But two, the administration is not changing direction at all. They still plan to pursue those $4 trillion plans. As one aide told me earlier today, we're going big on the table. We still plan to go big, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Phil.

And I want to go straight now to Austan Goolsbee, because he's the former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers for President Obama.

[19:20:04]

So, of course, you know President Biden well.

So President Biden today says he does not believe the enhanced unemployment benefits are deterring people from returning to work. The Chamber of Commerce, though, disagrees and they said in part, "The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market. Based on the Chamber's analysis, the $300 benefit results in approximately one in four recipients taking home more in unemployment than they earned working."

And then Austan, the National Federation of Independent Business says, a record high of a share of its numbers have job openings that they couldn't fill in April, a record high. This does seem when you look at it this way to be a big problem.

AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes and no. I think the issue of labor shortage labor scarcity is definitely an issue. The question of is that an entirely or predominantly coming because of unemployment insurance, I think the data is definitely not that clear on that point. If you look at this weird jobs number today or if you look at the mega

blockbuster jobs number last month, in both cases, by far, the biggest job creation was in leisure and hospitality, which at the least you would not have expected if you thought that UI is the predominant thing. So you got a lot of other people saying fear of catching the virus in these jobs where there's a lot of face to face activity, so the - demanding a risk premium, let's call it, to wages and the fact that we have schools shut down and lack of childcare are also things that will lead to shortages of workers and might be more pressing at this moment.

BURNETT: All right. So those are all really fair and important points. The reality of it is that the Chamber of Commerce says this and you're saying, well, where's the data and I hear you on that. But, of course, you know, I know anecdotally ...

GOOLSBEE: And the only other thing I would say, Erin ...

BURNETT: ... yes, sorry, go ahead.

GOOLSBEE: ... the only other thing I would say is that the chamber and the people saying that now have literally been saying that for an entire year. They said it when the federal unemployment top up was $600 last year. They said that was what was leading unemployment to be high.

BURNETT: Yes.

GOOLSBEE: Looking back, it clearly wasn't. They clearly were not correct for the year up to now. It may have started now, but you got to put it in context.

BURNETT: All right. So here are three other business owners, and again, I fully acknowledge this is anecdotal, but this is what we're hearing, what our reporters are hearing from business owners in different states in this country. Here are three.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT DIGREGORY, RESTAURANT OWNER: They're basically making too much on unemployment. I mean, it's easy to kick back and get a check every month and not have to do anything.

JOHN GARCIA CONSTRUCTION VP: They're doing better with unemployment than actually going out to work.

JOSH SOUDER, RESTAURANT DIRECTOR: The amount of money that people were making on unemployment right now, quite honestly, is more than what we were paying them before.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel like you're competing with unemployment?

SOUDER: No question.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: What do you say?

GOOLSBEE: Well, as I say, the fact that it's hard to hire people, that part is not in dispute. Whether that's because people are afraid to catch the virus going back to work in a restaurant or because they have a kid who's 10 years old, who they can't send to school, and they can't leave home by themselves all day. Both of those are very prominent reasons that the workers themselves give of why they're not going back to work.

So there may be some component from unemployment insurance. If so, it's new, we cut that unemployment insurance supplement in half, going from $600 to $300. You're seeing a lot of states doing what should happen. As we move back to normal times, they will begin phasing down the unemployment supplements and extensions that we passed in the depth of a recession. But this kind of effort to say that this is by far and the only thing that's mattering for labor supply, I think is just wrong. I think that that has been wrong for a year and we need to put the focus where it should be.

BURNETT: So when you talk about people who are unable to go back to work because of their kids. Those people have in the majority of cases been female and McKinsey study found more than one in four women have been forced to consider either to downshift their career or leave the workforce entirely.

And when I say forced for a variety of reasons, some of them are choosing to do so because the pressures are just overwhelming. Obviously, we saw that in the numbers today. The number of women working or seeking work fell. Fell again today in this job's report by another 64,000. What do we do about this problem?

GOOLSBEE: Look, that's to me, that's critical evidence.

[19:25:00]

And when you're trying to think of all the things that could be interfering with people coming back to work, how should we think about the balance of which ones are most important. I continue to think the virus is absolutely critical and getting people vaccinated is going to open up more doors that there will be a lot of people willing to go back to work if they think it's safe and we've got to get the money.

The good news is in the RELIEF Act, we passed 10s or even hundreds of billions of dollars to help reopen schools safely and to fund daycare and we got to get that money out the door if we're going to try to address that problem.

BURNETT: All right. Austan, thank you. I always appreciate your time.

GOOLSBEE: Great to see you again, Erin.

BURNETT: And next, Derek Chauvin indicted by a federal grand jury for civil rights violations in connection with George Floyd's death. Chauvin now also facing federal charges for 2017 incident involving a 14-year-old. And twins identical in every way, except their reactions to COVID,

baffling their doctors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in complete like shock, for sure. They both had similar medical conditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:08]

BURNETT: Tonight, a federal grand jury indicting Derek Chauvin and three other former police officers for civil rights violations resulting in George Floyd's death.

Chauvin himself charged with depriving Floyd of his right to be free from, quote, unreasonable force by police officer and he's also charged with a separate indictment from a 2017 incident where Chauvin have used unreasonable force on a 14-years-old including putting his knee on the teen's neck and upper back when he was handcuffed and not resisting.

OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. She's been deeply involved in the George Floyd police reform bill being negotiated in Congress and has worked closely with the Floyd family and, of course, represents Houston where George Floyd grew up.

Congresswoman, I really appreciate your time. First, your reaction. These officers being indicted for civil rights violations, including unreasonable force by a police officer in the case of Chauvin.

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): Thank you, Erin.

Well, first of all, what a difference a Justice Department can make when it is a serious litigating and serious legally based Justice Department, and not based on politics and political views. Obviously, the Justice Department and its lawyers could not have gotten an indictment without a serious case being put forward.

And I think what needs to be understood, this case is separate from the state case. These indictments are based upon violation of civil rights, which is a federal element of the criminal division. And it based itself on the issue of willfulness, which most people would understand as he left his house that morning to do what he did to George Floyd. No, it means that where he had the opportunity to do something different in the midst of George Floyd's death with six minutes in, George Floyd was not responsive, he didn't do it. And the officers didn't do it in terms of intervention.

And for this 17-year-old, the teenager, that he also restrained and flip on his back, they determined that he did not release that teenager when the teenager was no longer resisting -- a clear federal violation of your civil rights. BURNETT: So, I understand that. I do want to ask you because people

hear civil rights and they say, well, the Justice Department could have tried to charge COVID with a hate crime. But they didn't.

And the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who, of course, as you know was in charge of the state's prosecution of Chauvin, was recently asked whether he thought Chauvin was motivated by specifically by racial bias when he killed George Floyd, which a lot of Americans believe to be the fact.

But when the question was asked specifically, here's what happened. Let me play it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS "60 MINUTES": Was this a hate crime?

KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I wouldn't call it that, because hate crimes are crimes where there's an explicit motive of bias. We don't have any evidence that Derek Chauvin factored in George Floyd's race as he did what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Do you agree and do you think that the attorney general and the DOJ have gone far enough?

JACKSON LEE: I think we both see this in the same way. I believe there are racial overtones, and I don't believe that, again, that Officer Chauvin left his house and said, today, I'm going to attack a black man.

But I think racial overtones allowed him to be freewheeling, disregarding life, not paying attention to a man that he perceived maybe as a big black man, that's a stereotype, or a black teenager, that's a stereotype. They're always doing something.

And that allowed him to willfully, as perceived by the indictment, to continue to act when reasonable persons would suggest that they were not in any way meeting any further restraint by the officers other than how they restrained.

Remember, George Floyd was already handcuffed.

BURNETT: Right.

JACKSON LEE: The other was obviously a teenager. So, I believed it might have been racial overtones, but I don't think it is a direct hate crime as could be presented to the grand jury.

What has happened now is remarkable. Things are separate strict charges. These are a respect of anyone's human rights and civil rights. That is what America should see, that the federal government working to protect ones civil rights no matter where you are.

BURNETT: So, Texas House passed an election bill today as you know. Critics say it's going to make it harder to vote. Some of the provisions specifically impact Harris County, which you represent, and the most populous in the state.

[19:35:03]

Joe Biden won Harris County by 13 percentage points after record turnout. Your electorate is very diverse. Seventeen percent of residents identify as Hispanic, black or Asian.

Obviously, overall, Biden lost the state, right? But in Harris County, he won and solidly so. You know, critics say this bill will result in a depressed turnout in places like Harris County.

Do you think the bill was designed for that purpose?

JACKSON LEE: Well, you know, I wrote recently about the big lie and moral courage, and that's what Republican trends in the state legislature are operating under -- the big lie and no moral courage, following the Trump playbook that says the election was stolen, looking for a problem with a solution that was not necessary. Meaning, having a solution or a problem that did not exist -- and that's just what these legislators did.

There was de minimis fraud, if any, found in the elections in the state of Texas. Interestingly enough, they targeted all of the counties 1 million-plus, which are the counties that are heavily populated by African Americans, Latinx, Hispanics and other minorities.

And then, of course, they were so disrespectful that they allowed video cameras where in the original bill that would film poll workers who are trying to help the disabled or elderly, how insensitive is that? And then, of course, to indicate that you could not even send out mail ballots, legal mail ballots, and you could not have a flexible schedule for depositing those mail ballots.

There's much more, but all of this really is a nonsensical bill.

And let me just say this. In the contrast of with Texas image was with Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Voting Rights Act, we've massacred voting rights today in the state of Texas.

BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate your time. Congresswoman Lee, thank you as always.

JACKSON LEE: Thank you for having me.

BURNETT: And next, it's a mystery. Twins with the same DNA but radically different reactions to COVID.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought I was going to lose her. She was in so much pain and under the ventilator.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: And Andrew Brown Jr.'s family now to be allowed to see more videos of his fatal encounter with sheriff's deputies. A lot more but not all of it. Why not?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight identical twins born with the same genetic makeup simultaneously exposed to COVID, yet their reactions to the virus are dramatically different.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My oxygen level was so low. I was just worried lie this is going to get worse for me.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For identical twins, Kelly and Kimberly Standard (ph), their experiences with COVID last year were anything but identical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It got so bad that I passed out and end up going to the ICU. From there, it was a completely blank.

GUPTA: But while Kimberly got sicker, Kelly got better and even their doctors were perplexed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in complete shock. They both had similar medical conditions, but Kimberly was the one who's oxygen requirements, you know, kept going up.

GUPTA: In fact, she got so sick she was airlifted to a different hospital and put on life support. But her sister Kelly was back home within a week.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought I was going to lose her. She was in so much and she was on a ventilator. She looked so helpless.

GUPTA: Scientists have been trying to solve the mystery of why some people get so sick while others hardly at all. But with the twin story, how is it possible that to people with identical DNA could take such a different paths with covid-19?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not just genetics. It's not just age or other comorbidities. It could have everything to do with a combination of all of those things, environmental factors. Things like diet. So it's really complicated.

GUPTA: Scientists have investigated other potential reasons, like the amount of virus who are exposed to. Or factors that change how our jeans are expressed. That is something I learned when I met with another set of identical twins. NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and his brother, Senator Mark Kelly.

After coming back to Earth, the scientists found that Scott's gene activity had changed, even though their DNA was still fundamentally the same.

With COVID-19, we do know that with people who tend to get sicker, their immune system's first line of defense seems to be delayed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So your body has basically fire alarm system and when that system is delayed at triggering the alarm, and then consequently triggering the defenses, people tend to have worse outcomes and more severe disease.

GUPTA: But there is another line of defense, the one that makes antibodies. And that's one major way, even identical twins are not completely identical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where they are not genetically identical is in the genetic code of the cells that make up their immune system. So, when B cells that make anti-bodies and the T cells are developing, they actually go through a process called re-combination that results in them having different DNA.

GUPTA: What she's talking about is your adaptive immune system, which constantly mixes and matches it's jeans, we combining them in order to recognize and fight incredible variety of germs the body may have never seen before. That can be very different. Even for twins.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That could also factor into how they are going to respond and how effectively they're going to clear a given infection.

GUPTA: These ministries aside for the twins, as you might imagine, the most important thing, being reunited.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was such a relief, I cried -- I cried like a baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And, Sanjay, it's pretty incredible, you know, when you think about it. You really want to look into identical twins. You know, what was it about the fact that they reacted, so differently to the virus, that was so surprising to you, it made you want to dive in?

[19:45:01]

GUPTA: Well, you know, Erin, I think we have a good idea of what the risk factors are for people doing poorly from COVID. You know, people's age, pre-existing risk factors, but there is still so many situations where, very similar people, have dramatically different outcomes. Some people, barely affected, and other people got sick and need to be hospitalized.

So, people thought maybe it was in the jeans, and I think that's what's sort of has inspired some of these twin studies. But, as you saw from Kelly, and Kimberly, twins, similar backgrounds, had very different outcomes as well.

So, it leads investigators towards other possibilities. Maybe, it really has more to do with the exposure to the virus, how much are exposed to, and ultimately, it can help us figure out better targets, therapeutic targets.

BURNETT: All right. Absolutely. All right. Sanjay, thank you very, much as always.

GUPTA: You got it.

BURNETT: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

And next, debris, from a 22-ton Chinese rocket, plummeting to earth. Reentry could be hours from now, but no one has any idea as to where.

And, the anthem of its time has become the anthem for our time. This year old song maybe more relevant than ever, Don Lemon is OUTFRONT to tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:06]

BURNETT: Tonight, a judge in North Carolina, issuing in order allowing the immediate family of Andrew Brown Jr. to see another part of the video from his deadly shooting. Now, CNN is learning that there is nearly two hours of footage from four body cameras, and a dash cam.

Now, we understand, the family is going to see about 20 minutes of that video. Keep in mind, up until now, they've only seen 20 seconds.

OUTFRONT now, Don Lemon, anchor of "CNN TONIGHT", and author of this is the fire, would I say to my friends about racism.

So, Don, we now hear, they will put 20 minutes of this footage out for the family to watch, they're making the impression that it's going to show Brown attempting to flee, and deputies firing at his car. We'll see what they actually see. They're not going to see it until Tuesday. That's 20 days since Brown's death.

Up until now, they've only seen 20 seconds, and obviously, there is multiple angles, and hours, of other footage that they're not going to see. Why do you think it has taken so long to get, even, this much?

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, "CNN TONIGHT": Erin, listen, good evening, by the way, I haven't been on with your while so it's good to see you.

In these situations, you don't want to jump to conclusions. But after, as you said, 20 days, and only 20 seconds, they've only seen 20 seconds, what happened to transparency? The whole point of having body worn camera video is for transparency. It is for you to be able to see what led up to it, what happened during, and what happened afterwards. Twenty minutes, that's a start, the family is withholding judgment. I think it's a start.

But I think -- I'm not sure the family, or anybody, it will be satisfied with just that 20 minutes, because, we don't know what happened before that, we don't know what happened, and if that is illustrated in any way, then, everyone deserves a right to see it, especially the family. BURNETT: Well, as we're talking about, originally, they got 20

seconds, and we're hoping that would be enough. It's like pulling teeth.

LEMON: We give you this much, and this, much on this much.

BURNETT: Right.

LEMON: You have this incredible documentary that airing this week, and this is the song, we have so many memories of Marvin Gaye song, what's going on. But you're giving this whole perspective on what it's about. That it was a rallying cry, during racial unrest in the early 1970s, and is reminiscent, in some ways, of what we're seeing today.

So, here is a clip of your new documentary.

MARVIN GAYE, SINGER: I think it was around 1969, or 1970, about that period, at Motown Records, when I stopped thinking so much about my erotic fantasies and started thinking about the war in Vietnam and my brother who would tell -- write a response in pretty horrible stories.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also, if you're living in Detroit in 1968, '69, '70, you're seeing the turmoil on the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The country was full of turmoil. The country was full of fear. The country was full of anger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A black person was killed, in L.A. That started the Watts riot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't hear from him, didn't make any appearances, didn't come out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything with the war, everything is facing with the racism, I don't know if I can continue without talking about what's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is more poignant, today, right, now in 2021, then when it came out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: It is so beautiful.

BURNETT: I mean, it's a whole, you know, new perspective for many to learn this. Why do this -- how does this speak to you? I know the song is important to you, so why do you want to do this special, Don?

LEMON: Well, just -- I almost like missed that you were on, I'm watching it, and I thought, oh, we are back on. Erin, it's so beautiful. I think this is the most beautiful thing I've done, just the way it's put together, and how we talk about what's going on. The reason it's important to me is because, often, I start my show, or

ask my guests questions about the time we are in. What is going on? When you have peaceful protesters been gassed, when you have a police officer kneeling on someone's neck for 9 minutes, and 29 seconds, when you have an insurrection on Capitol Hill, when you are in the middle of a global pandemic, when a young woman is shot in her bed, or a young man is gunned down on a Georgia street with a shotgun, you want to know, what is going on.

But, this is the soundtrack to my childhood. I remember my parents listening to this, and everything that is happening today, is talked about, in this album.

[19:55:01]

I can't wait for you to see it.

BURNETT: I am -- I am really excited to see it. We're going to learn so much. And thank you, Don.

LEMON: Voted the number one album of all-time by "Rolling Stones". That's why we do it on the anniversary, 50th anniversary, and number one album.

BURNETT: Number one album.

LEMON: Yeah.

BURNETT: Well, that anniversary, this weekend, everybody, you have to see Don's show, Sunday at 8:00, "What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages".

And next, critical hours ahead, as a wayward Chinese rockets speeds towards earth. Should we be worried?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight, a massive rocket hurtling towards earth will reenter the earth summit through this weekend as early as tomorrow, and no one knows what's going to land, mainly because it's traveling at 18,000 miles an hour. Now, the Chinese Long March 5B rocket weighs 22 tons, which is a lot. And it's enough to raise concern that large parts could hit populated areas.

The pentagon is tracking it, but they say they're not able to pinpoint the location it is not. In fact, they will not be able to do that until hours before it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, so, you're not going to get much warning.

The Chinese rocket, of course, is not the only concern. The European Space Agency, while I mean, this weekend hopefully it is, but the European Space Agency says there is currently more than 129 million objects orbiting earth, larger than a millimeter, those are going to burned up coming into earth.

But when you're traveling at speeds of up to 35,000 miles an hour, there's danger in the skies.

Thanks for watching.

It's time now for Anderson.