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Obama's on Race Relations; Families Separated at Border Reunite; Jane Fonda is Interviewed about Stopping a Pipeline; Jens Stoltenberg is Interviewed about Meeting with Biden. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 08, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: President. He was trying to make sure that he made white America as comfortable as possible. And they learned the hard way that that was virtually impossible to do when bad faith actors were out there saying, oh, he's a race hustler, he's using the race card every day. Listen to that answer about Skip Gates where he says, I don't know the role that race played in this. Well, we all know the role that race played in that incident. But at the time, that's how he responded to it. And the backlash was still very swift. I think it just highlights how much times have changed in this country on this issue of race and he did not benefit from the kind of different way that we talk about race and think about race today.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, he learned in that moment -- and, look, whether you endorse the lesson or not, but the takeaway was, I can talk about race but do I also want to talk about other things? Do I want to talk about agenda items like health care and, you know, U.S. foreign policy and orienting against the influence of China. And it seems like what he took away from that question was pretty clear. Now, though, times have changed a little bit and he actually discusses when his daughters participated in Black Lives Matter protests and what he hopes that his legacy will be.

So let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: My daughters are so much wiser, more sophisticated and gifted than I was at their age, that, you know, I always worry about their physical safety. That's just the nature of fatherhood.

But in terms of them having a good sense of what's right and wrong and their part and role to play in making the country better, I don't worry about that. They have both a clear sense of -- that I see in this generation, that what you and I might have tolerated as, yes, that's sort of how things are, their attitude is, why? Let's change it. And that's among not just my daughters, but it's among their white friends.

But what I find interesting is they're also starting to be very strategic, you know, about how to engage the system and change it. They're not just interested in making noise, they're interested in what works.

A great source of my optimism, you know, when people talk about what kind of -- how do I think about my legacy, you know, part of it is the kids who were raised during the eight years that I was president, they're a bunch of basic assumptions they made about what the country can and should be that I think are still sticking. They still believe it. And they're willing to work for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So interesting to hear him. He's optimistic and he thinks that that message, the hope and change message that he tried to carry throughout his presidency continues on.

PHILLIP: Right. He -- he -- I think he believes he didn't benefit from it necessarily, but that the legacy of just him being in the presidency will persist. I mean I have actually siblings who are his kids' age and they live -- lived most of their childhoods in an era in which they had a black president. And I think that that really does color this other generation. And it has influenced -- I mean he talked about Trayvon Martin in that interview last night happening during his pregnancy -- oh, sorry, his -- my pregnancy.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What are you thinking about?

KEILAR: Hi pregnancy?

PHILLIP: His presidency. During his presidency. And Michael Brown happening during his presidency. And all of the things that came after Obama. In some ways the backlash to Obama created the conditions for the country to have honest conversations about race for the first time in a long time. And that's what he's talking about when he says that his kids and his kids' white friends are starting to say, actually, no, let's confront this. Let's not just paper it over.

KEILAR: He also seemed to say that they're smarter than him or his generation in how strategic they're being.

BERMAN: Right.

KEILAR: Which I thought was interesting to hear.

PHILLIP: That is interesting.

KEILAR: Abby, it is great, as always, to see you in the morning. Thank you for being with us.

And, of course, you can catch Abby hosting "INSIDE POLITICS" on Sunday at 8:00 a.m.

Up next, the Biden administration's new plans to reunite migrant families separated under President Trump.

BERMAN: And Jane Fonda with a bullhorn, literally, and a message for President Biden. She'll join us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:39]

BERMAN: All right, just in, the Biden administration is preparing to reunite 29 migrant families who were separated at the U.S./Mexico border under former President Trump's controversial zero tolerance policy.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who does such a good job covering immigration for us, joins us now with the latest on this.

Priscilla.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: So this is the latest development from the Biden administration's task force that has been set up to identify and reunify families who were separated at the U.S./Mexico border under Trump.

Now, this is in addition to four families who were reunited last month, including Brian Chavez, who was separated from his mother at the border in 2017.

So this is welcome news for families and the attorneys working alongside them. But it also underscores what a difficult task this has been that years later we are still trying to locate some of these families and reunite them.

In fact, a senior Homeland Security official told reporters just last night that they are still scouring documents. They're finding wrong dates, repeated names, mismatched parents and children and so they anticipate that thousands could still remain separated.

BERMAN: Really interesting how hard it is to fix something after you make a decision like that.

Priscilla, thanks so much for your reporting.

ALVAREZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Legendary actress Jane Fonda is among the climate activists with a message for the Biden administration in a bid to halt construction of a $4 billion pipeline project. Some of the protesters who marched onto the site on this construction site in Minnesota on Monday chained themselves to heavy machinery.

[08:40:03]

They say the pipeline threatens water resources and it risks polluting tribal lands. Fonda is calling on President Biden to suspend the permit of the Canadian company behind the project.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE FONDA, ACTRESS, AUTHOR, PRODUCER AND ACTIVIST: This is a man who can be persuaded and pushed and made to do what we want if we continue to raise a ruckus. We have to raise a ruckus and make it as difficult as possible for Embridge Line 3 at every single river crossing, and we're going to do it, right?

CROWD: Yes.

FONDA: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And joining us now is actress, author, producer and longtime activist Jane Fonda.

Jane, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

JANE FONDA, ACTRESS, AUTHOR, PRODUCER AND ACTIVIST: Thank you.

KEILAR: And I -- you've been incredibly outspoken on this issue of this pipeline project. It's a project that former President Trump had approved during his last days in office, but still President Biden, the Biden administration, has remained silent on this issue, despite what is his clear position on climate.

You know, how do you respond to that? What do you think the Biden administration needs to do?

FONDA: Well, what they need to do is ask the Army Corps of Engineers to halt construction and to re-examine the permit. It was rushed through. There wasn't proper impact -- environmental impact study done.

And let's -- you know, there's a lot of reasons why Line Three from an Enbridge Canadian oil company is bad. It's bringing very destructive tar sands under 200 bodies of pristine water.

But look at the big picture. We are barreling toward a true catastrophe, an existential catastrophe, which is the climate crisis. Climate scientists are universally telling us we have to cut our emissions in half and we can have absolutely no new development of fossil fuels. No new mining. No new fracking. No new drilling if we're going to achieve this. We have to keep warming it 1.5 degrees Celsius. No higher than that. We can't -- we can't even burn what we already develop, much less new.

So this pipeline is threatening what science is saying. It's threatening the climate crisis. This is going to affect everybody, not just the tribal nations whose sovereign rights are being broken here in Minnesota, but the whole world. We cannot afford this.

Biden -- President Biden has done many, many good things, stopping Keystone XL, stopping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling. He's done a lot and we're really grateful.

But the crisis is too severe to do a few good things here and then not do anything where bad stuff is happening. We need him to stop this and stop all of the pipelines that Trump okayed as a lame-duck president. None of them are following the proper permit guidelines.

So the way to do that historically is to raise a ruckus, as I said, to the thousands of people that have gathered here. We just have to create pressure. We have to maybe one way to put it, there's a -- it's actually a verb now, we have to standing rock them so that they're forced to stop. And that's what we're going to do.

There are 200 bodies of water they have to go under. It's a lot more complicated than it was at Standing Rock.

KEILAR: And you are standing in solidarity with indigenous activists in this.

I do want to mention that the company behind the project, which is Enbridge, said in a statement yesterday, quote, the destruction done today by protesters is disheartening. We respect everyone's right to peacefully and lawfully protest but trespass, intimidation and destruction are unacceptable. The project is already providing significant economic benefits for counties, small businesses, Native American communities and union members, including creating 5,200 family sustaining construction jobs and millions of dollars in local spending and tax revenues.

What is your reaction to that statement from Enbridge?

FONDA: This is what they do all over the world, the oil companies, in order to -- you know, they -- they do their drilling and fracking in areas where people are economically depressed. They -- and then they create child care centers and recreational parks and they build schools and they try to buy them off.

But we, again, we are confronting an existential crisis. It's not just the tribal nations here. It is the globe. We have to stop all new oil development. We cannot allow this to happen.

KEILAR: And so you --

FONDA: It's not just for us living today. It's for our grandchildren and our children.

KEILAR: And so you are calling on the Biden administration to do more when it comes to pipelines. But just generally, I wonder how you are currently assessing the Biden presidency. Clearly you're happy with some things, but how do you think that he is doing, and is it enough to make progressives, like yourself, feel that he is delivering for what you voted him in for?

[08:45:09]

FONDA: Well, it's nice to be hopeful again, and it's much better to push a moderate than to fight a fascist, right? He -- we're very, very grateful for what he's been doing. He's done a lot of very good things. But not enough. Not bold enough and not fast enough.

We're up against time. The scientists say we have less than nine years to cut our emissions in half. Line Three is going in the absolute opposite direction. And the news every day is telling us, emissions are going up, not down. So we have to put our bodies on the line and do whatever we can to get our administration to call a halt to these permits.

KEILAR: There -- there's also, obviously, issues when it comes to voting rights. You're seeing states across the country where Republican legislatures are putting in place laws that will limit the right of people of color to vote or limit the ability of people of color to vote.

Do you think the Biden administration is taking this seriously enough?

FONDA: I think they are taking it seriously. I think they have to do more. And we, the people, have to stand alongside and push and push and make noise. Historically, nothing important has ever been accomplished without people getting together, organizing and making a lot of noise. That's what we have to do. That's our job.

KEILAR: And --

FONDA: And there's so much at stake, like the future.

KEILAR: In an interview with CNN last night, former President Barack Obama said that democracy was on the brink of crisis. You have certainly experienced, you know, moments of crisis and been a participant and advocate throughout moments of crisis in American history. How do you see this moment in time for the country?

FONDA: I think we're facing multiple crises. This is a confluence of crises unlike anything that humanity has been -- has seen. And the climate crisis, like rushing nesting dolls -- Russian nesting dolls, there's the climate crisis and then inside of that the health crisis, democracy crisis, so many other crises. And the climate crisis exacerbates all the other ones. So we have to deal with all of them at once by becoming organized and uniting together, black, brown, white, young, old, across all diversities we have to come together and demand that the government do the right thing. If there's enough of us doing that, we'll win.

KEILAR: Jane, it is wonderful that you can join us this morning. We certainly appreciate it. Jane Fonda.

FONDA: Thank you.

KEILAR: Up next, President Biden getting ready to confront Vladimir Putin in person on his first foreign trip which kicks off tomorrow. NATO's secretary-general will join us live.

BERMAN: And the just released Senate report on the January 6th insurrection. What's in it and, maybe more importantly, what's not?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:17]

KEILAR: A busy week next week. President Biden will head to the NATO summit in Brussels as part of his first foreign trip as president. And in preparation for this he met with the NATO secretary-general at the White House on Monday where the two leaders discussed everything from global terrorism, to climate change and to strained ties with Russia.

So joining us now to give us a firsthand account of that conversation is NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

You know, just off the top, because you have to deal with so many issues, just foundationally, was it easier talking to President Biden than President Trump and having an ally for NATO?

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Well, it was different. The most important thing is that we have a unique opportunity to open a new chapter in the relationship between North America and Europe in NATO. And I very much look forward to welcoming President Biden. He knows NATO well -- very well. He worked with him in his previous capacities and he knows Europe. So to welcome him to Brussels, to NATO summit, will be a great thing.

BERMAN: What opportunities does that open up for you that may not have existed before?

STOLTENBERG: I think the most important thing is that we will agree very substantial forward looking agenda on NATO, (INAUDIBLE), which is about how to strengthen our alliance in the age of global competition. This is about strengthening of (ph) deterrence and defense. It's about resilience. It's about technology. And also for the first time in NATO's history to actually address the security consequences of climate change. So there's a wide range of issues that we will agree on Monday, next Monday, and then it's for all us to deliver.

The message is that strong NATO is good for Europe, but it's also very good for United States. No other major power has 29 friends and allies. And that's important to -- in addressing almost all security (ph) challenges, not least the consequence of a stronger and more assertive China.

KEILAR: Of particular concern to you and to the U.S. is Afghanistan. We are witnessing right now a withdrawal, a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, could be completed as soon as next month. The deadline here coming up, 9/11.

Are you concerned that Afghanistan is going to descend into chaos essentially into being a failed state and may return to be a safe haven for terrorists?

STOLTENBERG: So we have been clear about the risks that -- our decision to end the NATO mission there entails. At the same time it was also risks entailed or linked to a decision to stay. So we also have to understand what that -- what they're doing now is actually sort of a gradual withdrawal for many years. Not so many years ago we had more than 100,000 troops in the big combat operation.

[08:55:01] At the beginning of this year, there were roughly 10,000 NATO soldiers. And this year it will be zero. But we'll continue to provide them support.

KEILAR: But a big -- there's a big difference between having some of any number and having zero, right?

STOLTENBERG: Absolutely.

KEILAR: Which is what you're looking at now. So even though it's a continuous drawdown, this is going to be something of a -- do you -- are you -- do you think -- how long do you think until Afghanistan maybe does really experience some problems? It seems like more of a when than an if.

STOLTENBERG: I'm not saying this was an easy decision. And there's a lot of uncertainty about the future in Afghanistan. But as we end our military presence there, we will continue to broaden support with a civilian NATO mission to provide advice and support to their security institutions. All NATO allies will continue to provide funding for Afghan Security Forces. We're also looking into the possibility of out of country training. And then we have to understand that when we arrived two decades ago, there was hardly any Afghan Security Forces at all. And now we have helped to build a professional, dedicated African Security Force and at some stage the Afghans have to take full responsibility for all in the future. That's what they're doing now. And -- and we will continue to support this process.

BERMAN: President Biden also, after meeting with NATO, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What message do you think that President Biden needs to deliver to Putin, especially as we see, you know, cyberattacks based in Russia, other ways of undermining some democracies around the world

STOLTENBERG: The message from NATO and from the United States and all of us is that we need what we call a dual track approach to Russia. We need to be strong. We need to be firm. We need to invest in our deterrence (ph) and defense.

At the same time, we have to talk to Russians because they are our neighbor and we need to -- even if we don't believe in their (INAUDIBLE) relationship with Russia, we need to manage a difficult relationship with Russia, including on issues like arms control. Therefore, I welcome the U.S. decision to extend the New START agreement together with Russia, limiting the number of long-range nuclear missiles and we need to also continue to call on transparency and predictability in order to increase military presence. Cyber, extremely serious, and, therefore, we have done enough to step up what we do together in protecting our cyber networks.

KEILAR: You have a big week ahead of you.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: And we certainly appreciate you, Mr. Secretary General, taking the time to talk with us this morning. STOLTENBERG: Thank you so much for having me.

BERMAN: Now here's what else to watch today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:15 a.m. ET, White House COVID briefing.

1:00 p.m. ET, White House press briefing.

5:35 p.m. ET, VP Harris speaks in Mexico City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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