Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Bush Weighs in on Politics; Video of Migrant Children Rescue at the Border; GOP Condemns Incendiary Rhetoric; Till and Floyd Families Join Forces. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 20, 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]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I mean I don't want to say I can't remember exactly what they cost, but I want to say it's in the 20s, some of them, and some of them even more.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're just going to --

KEILAR: It is -- you're paying for more than the cocktail, as I think you are probably with the Coke. What, I'm not sure, but something else.

BERMAN: We're just asking the question.

KEILAR: Question mark.

BERMAN: All right, in just a short time from now, the jury will continue deliberations to decide the fate of Derek Chauvin. (INAUDIBLE) is doing to prepare.

KEILAR: Plus, a new report suggests China and Russia have, quote, weaponized QAnon to sow discord in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It's a beautiful country we have, and yet it's not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BUSH: It's an easy issue to frighten some of the electorate. And I'm trying to -- I'm trying to have a different kind of voice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, OK, if you were to describe the Republican Party, as you see it today --

BUSH: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How would you describe it?

BUSH: I would describe it as isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:35:03]

BERMAN: Former President George W. Bush in an interview moments ago.

Joining us now is Olivia Nuzzi, Washington correspondent for "New York Magazine."

Olivia, thanks so much for being with us.

You know, George W. Bush chooses his words very carefully. And that was as direct and critical at I think I've heard him be about the Republican Party. Your take?

OLIVIA NUZZI, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK MAGAZINE": Yes, you know, he's very much in line with where the Biden administration is at in terms of the focus on language and not using dehumanizing language about undocumented immigrants seeking asylum or citizenship in this country. The immigration agencies order this week for there to be an official change in the use of language. So it's interesting to hear President Bush focus on how we talk about people and the vocabulary that we use and the tone that we use since that seems to be a pretty big focus for this administration right now.

KEILAR: And also, you know, when you talk about the dehumanizing language, Olivia, CNN has learned that two U.S. immigration agencies have issued new guidance ordering staff to end the use of terms like "illegal alien" and "assimilation," words that immigration advocates had criticized as dehumanizing. Why are they doing this?

NUZZI: Well, I think that there is a real focus on a shift in tone. You know, if the Trump presidency proved anything, I think it was that the vocabulary that a government uses it itself a form of policy. And this is something that we've heard -- repeatedly heard from President Biden during the campaign and past that point about focusing on how you talk about issues and restoring the soul of America. So it's not surprising to hear that an early policy change on this front is something related to language.

Although, in that order, it seems like it can't be across the board. The U.S. law does include those terms and those agencies may still have to quote those terms when they're referring to U.S. law.

BERMAN: You know, I'm so glad you brought up the subject of language and vocabulary because the Biden administration is having some issues with that as well. The White House is backtracking, trying to unsay a word that President Biden said over the weekend. He described the influx of migrant children at the southern border as a crisis. The White House says his use of the crisis label doesn't represent the administration's official position.

I'm not sure they can have it like that, Olivia. NUZZI: You know, one of the funny things about reporting on the Trump

presidency was how often you could report with a straight face that the president said one thing and the White House said something else, as if they were two completely disconnected entities, as if one of them was not living inside of the other one. And so it's interesting and kind of odd to see that replicated now in this new administration, which is so different in fundamental ways, obviously.

The administration, you know, an official said to me in an email today that, it's our belief that the government's response to this situation is not a crisis. I don't know why they are so focused on language. But it does kind of give the impression, it feeds into the right wing narrative about this president, that he is not in control.

And I don't really know who it helps him with to focus so much on language like this or to -- to, you know, push back on a word that the president himself used. And it also feeds into an impression that, frankly, was the case on the campaign, which is that the people around this president seem to sometimes not trust him, not trust his ability to not make a gaffe in the traditional sense of accidentally telling the truth.

KEILAR: A gaffe in accidentally telling the truth. I mean what he said is the truth. It's very clear, if you have eyes and you watch what's going on, on the border.

NUZZI: Right.

KEILAR: I guess that's a problem.

This, of course, Olivia, is a critical week for negotiations when it comes to the infrastructure package that Joe Biden would like to see go through Congress. The White House has continued his overtures to host GOP lawmakers in the Oval Office, but there's some progressive Democrats, Bernie Sanders among them, who are warning against lengthy talks.

How do you see this playing out?

NUZZI: Well, the White House has talked about this as being a pretty, you know, long road to infrastructure. And so it doesn't surprise me and shouldn't surprise anyone who's heard President Biden talk for the last several decades that he's trying to work across the aisle. You know, I think every politician and especially anyone who thinks that they ought to be president can probably be accused of being an egomaniac in some sense.

I think Biden is uniquely skilled at concealing that facet of his personality. But I think that it has come out most plainly when he talks about what he thinks is possible in terms of his ability to appeal to and work with Republicans. This is a man who's been in political life for nearly half a century and he lived through, of course, and was a big part of the Obama presidency.

So for him to think that it is possible to work with Republicans who have shown for the last several years that they would sooner make a deal with the devil than work with people across the aisle, I think it's very interesting but, again, not surprising if you have been paying attention to anything that the president has said on this subject since early on in the campaign and before that.

[08:40:11]

KEILAR: Olivia, thank you so much for covering all of that with us. We appreciate it.

NUZZI: Thank you.

BERMAN: So new video captures the Border Patrol rescue of two Honduran children found clinging to an island surrounded by a powerful current in the Rio Grande. It's the latest example of the dangers migrants face as a growing number attempt to reach the United States.

CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Dallas with more on this.

Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.

Well, this is another glaring example of just how treacherous this journey can be for thousands of mostly Central Americans that we're seeing at the U.S. southern border.

And this video was released by the sector chief of the Border Patrol in the Del Rio area, which is straight west of San Antonio. And late last week there were two children from Honduras found on a small island in the middle of the Rio Grande. They had crossed part of the river to get on to that island. They were discovered because of hand prints and foot prints leading into that island.

The children are seven and 13. It's not exactly clear how long they had been on that small island, but health -- Border Patrol officials say they are in healthy and doing well at this point.

But this really is a treacherous example. According to the Border Patrol sector chief, the 13-year-old boy was separated from his family as he was traveling on a train through Mexico. The seven-year-old, according to that Border Patrol chief, was separated from his mother or abandoned by his mother at some point. Many of the details, the full details of that journey aren't exactly clear. As in many of these cases, they're very difficult to piece together.

But, John, I can tell you, just a few weeks ago, we were reporting from this same area of the Rio Grande in Del Rio, which is about a 245-mile stretch there west of San Antonio. We saw a number of family groups crossing the river. And I cannot underscore to you just how treacherous -- it might appear as an easy walk across that river in some places. The water might only be chest high or waist high, but the currents through that part of the river are incredibly treacherous, incredibly dangerous, and it is not uncommon for many people to be swept away. In fact, Border Patrol officials say, in that sector, that stretch of Del Rio, they've had 700 water rescues since September of last year. John.

BERMAN: So dangerous. So treacherous. Just tells you the risks that people are willing to take, Ed, to go after what they think will be a better life.

LAVANDERA: Yes.

BERMAN: Ed Lavandera, as always, thank you so much for your reporting here.

KEILAR: More than three months after the Capitol insurrection, Republicans are finally ready to condemn incendiary rhetoric. We have a CNN "Reality Check," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:47:01]

BERMAN: Some Republicans blasting Democrat Maxine Waters after she said protesters should, quote, get more confrontational in the wake of the Derek Chauvin trial.

John Avlon with a "Reality Check."

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The jury's out on the Derek Chauvin trial and our country is holding its breath. As we've all seen the tape of Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. But we've also seen how few bad cops are held accountable in court.

Now consider this. Out of the 140 officers charged with murder or manslaughter for on-duty shootings since 2005, only 44 were convicted, 43 cases pending. So there's reason for nervousness. The world is watching.

And in this tense time, we need our leaders to calm the furies, not fan the flames. That's what Democrat Maxine Waters failed to do in Brooklyn Center.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): We've got to stay on the street. And we've got to get more active. We've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they -- they know that we mean business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Many folks saw that as a call for violent protests if the verdict doesn't result in a murder conviction. The judge even said that Waters' comments could lead to the trial being overturned. Waters tried some cleanup in an interview with (INAUDIBLE), but her comments were already dominating conservative media, seemingly more than the trial itself, while Republicans finally found a reason to condemn incendiary rhetoric. In some cases, the hypocrisy was really primo stuff. Take New York Congressman Lee Zelden's tweet. Quote, due to the

continued and dangerous, toxic incitement to violence by Maxine Waters, she should immediately be removed from Congress. Her rhetoric is poisonous.

Now, this is from a guy who voted to overturn an election after an attack on our Capitol. A guy who acted like Donald Trump's lap dog in Congress, never daring to call out his dangerous and toxic incitement to violence. So spare us the performative outrage over poisonous rhetoric.

But he was far from alone. One example is QAnon curious Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who announced she would introduce a resolution to expel Waters from Congress for, get this, her continual incitement of violence. Now, this is someone who indicated support for executing prominent Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): It's a crime punishable by death is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: So, let's be clear, there's never any excuse for protests turning into violent riots or politicians encouraging it. Now Republicans may think of that exclusively in terms of urban unrest, but the preeminent example in our time is the attack on the U.S. Capitol propelled by Trump's big lie.

But there's also a deeper reason folks are frustrated and it has to do with double standards. George Floyd had the cops called on him for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Now contrast that with a white collar move involving far more money, like changing the valuation on a property by $70 million in a single year based on nothing but a whim, because that's what Donald Trump testified he did on a Westchester estate back in 2007.

[08:50:07]

There's something seriously wrong when the super rich can get away with moving millions while paying no taxes and get rewarded for it while a counterfeit 20 or a broken taillight or selling loose cigarettes can get you killed by cops in the streets of America.

And that's your "Reality Check."

KEILAR: John Avlon, thank you so much for that.

It is time for "The Good Stuff."

A Rhode Island barber using his skills to build up the confidence of those in need. Jason Ball (ph) has owned his barber shop for six years and he set one day off each week to give back to his community. Ball grabbed his shears and he headed to the House of Hope, which is a non- profit with a program offering showers and haircuts to the homeless. And now every Friday Jason cuts hair and restores dignity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON BALL, BARBER: That one minute when they're looking in the mirror, they're a new person and they forget about their problems. They feel better about themselves. And that's really what it's all about is knowing that it's people that care about you, no matter what you're going through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Jason says sometimes what people need most is just someone who will listen.

And up next, as the jury prepares to continue its deliberations, a CNN exclusive. George Floyd's brother bonds with Emmett Till's family over their loved one's brutal public deaths and the impact they had on families decades apart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:55:55]

BERMAN: As a jury now decides the fate of Derek Chauvin, the George Floyd family is bonding with the family of Emmett Till, whose violent death more than 65 years ago was a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

CNN's Sara Sidner has the remarkable story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: We're all here. We're thriving.

DEBORAH WATTS, EMMITT TILL'S COUSIN: That's right.

FLOYD: We're going to be on a mission.

WATTS: That's right.

FLOYD: And we're all here for justice, man.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The moment they met in Minneapolis, a bond was formed.

WATTS: Oh.

FLOYD: I understand.

SIDNER: A bond borne of the deepest sorrow.

FLOYD: Do you know how hard that is for somebody to look at their that child beaten to death? Do you know how hard it is for people to look at a person who has been tortured to death over nine minutes? It's not right. SIDNER: Each experienced a violent death in the family that became a

catalyst for civil rights in America.

Philonise Floyd is the brother of George Floyd. Deborah Watts is the cousin of Emmett Till. They met because Watts lives in Minneapolis and took to the streets after George Floyd was killed.

: Oh, my God.

FLOYD: Look at it, man. I -- I think about that all the time. I think about Emmett and I was like --

WATTS: Appreciate that.

FLOYD: Emmett was like, to me, like one of the first George Floyds that people just recognize, like, they put him in the spotlight.

WATTS: Yes.

FLOYD: But he didn't get justice.

WATTS: He didn't. He still hasn't.

FLOYD: He still hasn't.

WATTS: But we're still fighting.

FLOYD: With every -- we're fighting.

WATTS: I don't want you to have this 66-year journey. I really don't.

SIDNER: For Watts, the pain has spanned generations. Her 14-year-old cousin, Emmett Till, was murdered in 1955 by white supremacists. Till's mother opened the casket at his funeral so the world could see the horror done to her child at the hands of hateful adults.

WATTS: And by making those efforts, opening Emmett's casket, showing the world what his 14-year-old body looked like with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire after being thrown into the Tallahatchie River, she exposed to the world and I think the world stood up, the world spoke out, the world was enraged.

SIDNER: Sixty-five years later, the world spoke up again from Minneapolis to London.

GEORGE FLOYD: Please, please, I can't breathe.

SIDNER: After watching Philonise Floyd's brother George gasping for air, his neck pinned down under the knee of an officer who refused his pleas for help.

FLOYD: People should die of natural causes, not because you get an overdose of a knee to someone's neck, not because you've beaten somebody to death and dumping them in a river.

SIDNER: Both families' pain playing out in the spotlight. Both creating a wave of change and demands for justice for all in America.

In Floyd's case, cell phones and body cameras captured the incident of the white police officer kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. He is awaiting his fate from a jury of his peers.

But the people who disfigured and murdered Emmett Till were acquitted by an all-white jury. They confessed to their crime a year later.

Watts is still fighting for justice.

WATTS: This is what you're going to do. It does carry some disappointments, but it also carries a lot of hope.

FLOYD: Yes.

WATTS: Justice is going to be served in George Floyd's case. Whether it's in the courtroom or outside of the courtroom, justice is going to be served.

SIDNER: The tragedies in their lives propelled both Watts and Floyd into life-long work they didn't intend to take on. Both have started foundations to create healing and change through policy.

WATTS: The Emmett Louis Till Victims Recovery Program is something that we're fighting for, that affects the families.

FLOYD: I'm the big brother now.

SIDNER: Philonise testified in front of Congress right after his brother's funeral. At this very moment, the Floyds are trying to get the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act pushed through Congress. Both families say this is the fight of their lives for a better, more just America.

[09:00:05]

WATTS: Thank you. Thank you for your strength.

SIDNER: Sara Sidner, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)