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New Day

Sources Say, Feds Investigating Obstruction as Part of Gaetz Probe; Biden Sets Goal of Vaccinating 70 Percent of Adult Population by July 4; Netanyahu Responds to Ousting Attempt, Rivals Dangerous. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 03, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

JULIA IOFFE, FOUNDING PARTNER AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: There's not much leverage that he has going into the summit and I think the Russians know that.

[07:00:04]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: Maybe they're just doing it for Instas, the kids say, for the photo. We'll see for this moment, for the Gram, for this moment in history.

Julia Ioffe, great to see you. Thank you.

IOFFE: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: And New Day continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this New Day.

New CNN reporting just in on another investigation tied to the sex trafficking investigation involving Congressman Matt Gaetz.

KEILAR: MIA, a Republican lawmaker who told Trump supporters to, quote, start taking down names and kicking ass on January 6th is now nowhere to be found.

BERMAN: The mental health of pro athletes from and center. We'll speak with Olympic legend Michael Phelps about his struggles and the safety of the upcoming Tokyo games.

KEILAR: And the new warning from the FDA before you think about snacking on a cicada this summer.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It's Thursday, June 3rd. You talk about cicadas like you're not involved here. This is like about you. You need to recuse yourself from this story.

KEILAR: I probably should have.

BERMAN: All right. Much more on that in a moment. We begin though with new CNN reporting, the Justice Department looking into potential obstruction of justice in connection with the ongoing investigation of Congressman Matt Gaetz and his alleged sexual relationship with a minor.

KEILAR: Investigators have information that alleges Gaetz and an associate discussed a plan to speak to Gaetz's ex-girlfriend about the investigation in October of 2020. And Gaetz's ex-girlfriend, a former Capitol Hill intern, is considered a key witness here in this case against the congressman.

Paula Reid has the latest for us from Washington. Paula, tell us what's happening here.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. Brianna, this really heightens the legal jeopardy for the congressman because if he or any of his associates tried to influence witnesses in this case, that's a federal crime. It could result in jail time.

And what's so interesting is, in our reporting, we learned that this isn't new. Investigators have actually been concerned about possible obstruction in this investigation since last fall.

Now, among the incidents that are being scrutinized, CNN has learned that in October 2020, the congressman and an associate discussed taking a trip to visit an ex-girlfriend to talk about this investigation. Now, this ex-girlfriend, as you noted, she is considered a key witness in the case.

It's important to clarify though, this woman, this is not the 17-year- old girl who he allegedly had sexual contact with. But this ex- girlfriend was linked to the congressman in the summer of 2017, and that is when he allegedly had that sexual contact with a minor.

Now, Politico was first to report about the obstruction investigation late last night. They also say another incident that is being scrutinized is a phone call between a witness and his ex-girlfriend where at some point the congressman was patched in.

Now, the congressman's spokesman issued a statement saying Congressman Gaetz pursues justice, he does not obstruct it. But after reporting on this for a few months now, it's important to remind people at the heart of this case are a lot of young women, many of them are vulnerable. We've spoken with a lot of them. Some have told me they're really scared about everything that's going on with this investigation. They're the type of people who would be highly susceptible to any influence, particularly from powerful men. So, now it's up to investigators to figure out if that happened. John?

BERMAN: Important note there, Paula. As always, we thank you for your reporting.

Joining us is Dave Aronberg, he's the state attorney for Palm Beach County in Florida. Counselor, great to have you this morning.

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY: Great to be here, John.

BERMAN: As it pertains to this case, what would obstruction be, why is it important, and how would you prove it?

ARONBERG: Good morning, John. Obstruction would be telling a witness to mislead federal investigators engaged in the criminal investigation. And it's punishable with up to 20 years in prison, so it's a big deal. I know a lot of the focus has been on child sex trafficking. That's the big whammy here, punishable of up to life in prison with a ten-year mandatory minimum.

But this shows you how broad the overall investigation is. It's also about witness tampering. It could also be about campaign finance violations. It could also be about aggravated identity theft. Joel Greenberg has currently pled guilty to that charge. Also, you could have Mann Act violations. That's the federal law that says you can't transport people for purposes of prostitution and bribery stemming from the Bahamas trip.

So this also explains why this whole thing is taking so long because it's more than just about child sex trafficking.

KEILAR: I want to ask you separately about a very interesting development in one of the cases that a Democrat has filed against a Republican when it comes to the insurrection and allegations that Republicans were responsible for.

[07:05:13]

CNN spoke with the attorney for Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell who's filed one of these lawsuits against a speaker, Mo Brooks, who is also a member of Congress. And it turns out that after all this time, two months, he hasn't been able to or his lawyers or whoever on their behalf is doing this has not been able to serve Mo Brooks. He's even hired a private investigator to try to serve him. What do you make of this?

ARONBERG: Yes. It's ironic, Brianna, that the same guy who told the January 6th rally that it's time to start kicking ass is now apparently hiding in his office with the lights turned off beneath a potted plant, or at least that's my image of what's going on. It reminds me of the QAnon shaman. He dresses up in war paint and then after he gets sent to jail, he is asking for organic food. There's a big difference between their reality and their image.

I think it shows that he is worried that he is going to have to pay out of his own pocket, Mo Brooks, that is, to defend this lawsuit because Swalwell is suing him in his personal capacity. He's not going to be able to get the government to reimburse him. So he's trying to hide.

And it's not a crime to hide from service of process. It looks cowardly, but it's not a crime. So what you do in situations like this is that you hire private process server to go seek these people out. They're very good at that. But nothing would get better ratings for C- Span than the thought of Eric Swalwell showing up on the House floor with the lawsuit in hand serving Mo Brooks personally. That would be great T.V.

KEILAR: And he could do that, right? He could do that?

ARONBERG: Well, once Congress is back in session, he can. It's going to be a lot harder for Mo Brooks to hide.

KEILAR: We shall see. Dave, great to see you this morning. Thank you so much.

ARONBERG: Thanks for having me on.

KEILAR: President Joe Biden is hoping that a number of newly unveiled incentives, ranging from free beer -- that's Berman talk -- to free child care -- that's Brianna talk --

BERMAN: You can do both. Who says you can't do both with moderation?

KEILAR: You need child care so that you can drink your beer, I guess. But, anyways, this will encourage the whole point, is that it will encourage more Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19. And it's part of the new effort by the White House to combat vaccine hesitancy, maybe nudge people into this and just get more shots into arms.

So let's talk with CNN Politics Reporter and Editor-at-Large Chris Cillizza.

Okay, Chris, walk us through what Biden is trying to do here.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: All right, here we go. This is the number we want to get to, 70-plus percent of adults with one dose. Let's just go through a few numbers, Brianna, before we get there. 62.8 -- sorry, you have to forgive not great writing. That's not a great two. 62.8 percent is where we are with one dose in the arm at this point. 12 states, California and Maryland are the two most recent, have already gotten to 70 percent plus. Most of the states that aren't there yet are in the south. Unfortunately, this tends to trek with political leanings. The more Republican your state is, the more it voted for DONALD TRUMP, the less vaccinated it is, by and large.

Okay. So how are we going to get from here to here? Okay. We've got a bunch of incentives. Number one, as Berman mentioned, if 70 percent of the population gets vaccinated by one shot, Anheuser-Busch is giving a free beer to everyone over 21. It reminds me if you're at a basketball game and one team is ahead by 30 points and all the fans are cheering, like, what's going on? They're like, well, if they score 125, everyone gets a free chalupa. It's sort of like that kind of thing but for a vaccine.

As you mentioned, Brianna --

KEILAR: This is better than a chalupa. Okay, but what would have you, yes.

CILLIZZA: Well, nothing is better than a chalupa, how dare you? But on the second point, free child care, until July 4th, basically the four biggest providers of child care in this country are saying, look, we will watch your kids while you do it, because the truth of the matter is, there's a lot of people who are working and working parents don't have time to do it necessarily, they're saying, we'll handle that.

Then there's this, and I think that's important too, vaccine education segment. So, the National Association of Broadcasters are saying we're going to run a slew of T.V. and radio ads that are trying to educate people. There have been a series of stories lately, things that might surprise you. People might think, I don't have the money to pay for the vaccine. The vaccine is free. You don't need to pay for it. But a lot of people don't know. So education is important.

All right, let me get to the second set of incentives. Mayor's challenge, again, some of this stuff is taken from sports and politics. You know, when it's like the Packers and another team, the two mayors of towns, they bet local bratwurst versus Philly cheesesteaks to see who wins. It's kind of like this. Which cities can vaccinate more rapidly and then they will win incentives.

Okay. Shots at the shot, this is important. So, rural communities, African-American communities as well, tend to be lower in terms of their vaccination rates.

[07:10:00]

This was a program actually right in this area, Hyattsville, Maryland, where they did some of it, Brianna, you go in, get your haircut, you could also get vaccinated, so two for one. And pharmacies across U.S. open late on Fridays. Again, we have to deal and meet people where they are, right, end of a workweek. You want to just get it done but maybe the pharmacy is closed, well, this will handle that.

Now, I'll note one other quick thing. In Ohio last night, they announced the second winner of the million-dollar lottery. So one guy won a million dollars for getting vaccinated and a student got a full scholarship to any Ohio university system school. They're doing five of these. They've already announced four winners, so one each in each of those categories. So you're seeing in West Virginia, they're giving away guns if you get vaccinated. So, the states are doing this as well.

The 70 percent goal could be tough, Brianna. In April, we're at 3 million vaccines a day. Most recently, we were just about over a million. So the pace is clearly slowing. And that's why Biden stepped in to try to incentivize this.

KEILAR: I do like the Ohio education one. I think that is very cool for young people there having that guarantee or the chance at that. Chris Cillizza, thank you so much for taking us through that.

BERMAN: Also beer.

KEILAR: Also, beer. BERMAN: Health officials say that coronavirus vaccines have been extremely effective in protecting Americans and slowing the spread, but there are people, maybe millions, for whom the vaccines may not be working as well, potentially leaving them unprotected. The National Institutes of Health now studying how they can help this situation.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen live in Atlanta with more on this. Who are we talking about here, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, we're talking tens of millions of Americans who are immune-compromised. And sometimes I think when people think immune-compromised, oh, these must be people who are sort of lying in bed sick. That is not the case. Many people have compromised immune systems because of the drugs they take to control illnesses that they have.

So let's take a look at just some examples. So, for example, people who have psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis or other diseases are taking something called methotrexate. It's a relatively common drug. People who have lupus are taking CellCept. People who have cancer and other diseases are taking rituximab. These are just a few examples, of course, people who have had organ transplants are taking immune- suppressant drugs. Some people are taking long-term high-dose steroids. That might be a problem.

More studies are suggesting the people taking these drugs may not have had a great response to the vaccine. Some of these folks, and I've spoken to many of them, went in to get tested for antibodies, they had none. They were vaccinated but they had no antibodies to COVID-19. Now, it doesn't mean that if COVID came their way, they couldn't fight it off in some way, but having no antibodies is not a great thing.

So now the great question is what do we do about this? So I spoke with Dr. Anthony Fauci about this. He said, maybe some of these people possibly could go off their drugs for a period of time or maybe some of these people might benefit from an extra dose of vaccine. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We need to know what is the approach for these people, to temporarily suspend their immunosuppressive therapy when we vaccinate them or to give them additional boosters. We're not quite sure. But we have to address those problems because there are a substantial number of people in the United States and worldwide who do not have an adequate immune response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, talking to doctors and patients about this, they use the word, pickle. We're in sort of a pickle. We don't quite know what to do while the NIH and others study this. They are looking for answers. Brianna, John?

KEILAR: All right, very different topic here. Let's talk about cicadas, because the FDA has warned that some people should not eat them, which brings me to the point when I did eat them earlier this week, it's true, they kind of taste like soft shell crab. What's going on here?

COHEN: Sorry, I just have to squirm every time I see you doing that, Brianna. You were --

KEILAR: Think about how I feel?

COHEN: You're brave, I've got to tell you. Brianna, I really hope you're not allergic to seafood.

KEILAR: I'm not.

COHEN: Okay, good, I'm glad to hear that.

So, believe it or not, cicadas apparently are related to shell fish, like who would have thought? So the FDA put up this tweet recently. Yes, we had to say it. Don't eat cicadas if you're allergic to seafood as these insects share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters. So there you go. Don't eat cicadas if you're allergic to shrimp or lobsters or any kind of shell fish. I would say, why would you eat them anyhow? However, those in particular need to be careful.

KEILAR: Because they're sustainable and because they're delicious if you can actually get past the idea that they're a bug, which, to be honest, I kind of couldn't.

[07:15:00]

I'm not going to be doing it again. I'll tell you that.

BERMAN: Look, I have to say it. Brianna Keilar, you just caused, spurred a government response. Your public eating of cicadas, I think -- I mean, I guess you can never prove it -- I think may have been the instigator for that response.

Meanwhile, today is the day -- I almost can't believe what I'm about to tell you. Elizabeth Cohen, today is your 30th anniversary at CNN. You've been at CNN for 30 years since you were six years old or two years old or minus ten years old?

KEILAR: I know. They hired you young. It's like a labor law violation.

COHEN: Oh, my goodness. I am -- this is shocking. Is that me?

KEILAR: Yes, that's you.

COHEN: You guys, this is so sweet. Yes, today is my 30th anniversary at CNN. And you're right, John, I didn't start at six. I started at five, to be clear. And thank you. This is such a wonderful honor to be here talking with you about this.

I'm glad I grew my hair out. KEILAR: But you -- look, Elizabeth, you've done so much. You have covered so many things. And you've been such an essential voice for us now for decades. And it's just -- it's amazing. I knew -- I mean I've been at CNN for quite a long time, and I knew you had been here for as long as I had been here or longer. I didn't realize that you had been here for 30 years. And I wonder what has it been like as you look back on 30 years of this such important work that you do?

COHEN: It's been amazing. I mean, I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful personal family, my husband and four daughters, and I'm also so lucky to have such a wonderful professional family. This has been my professional home for 30 years. I feel incredibly lucky. And it's been such an honor to work with people like Sanjay Gupta, with Ben Tinker, who runs our unit, with John Bonifield, who's been my producer for many, many years, with Jamie Gumbrecht, our editor, and so many others. Jeff Zucker is an amazing leader, and I'm so grateful to him. I think of it as 30 years of really wonderful people.

And I feel very lucky that I landed here. It was a fluke. I was in Boston getting my masters in public health. I ended up here by a fluke. I grew up in Boston and I thought, I'd go to Atlanta for a couple of years and then I'll come home. I never did, sorry mom. But I feel very lucky that I landed here and that I got to stay here.

BERMAN: Look, we're the lucky ones. Congratulations, Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: very sweet, thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you for everything you've done. Congratulations.

COHEN: Well, thank you. Thanks.

BERMAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not going down without a fight. New comments this morning as a coalition government looks to oust him from power.

KEILAR: Also new this morning, the message from the White House to major companies about the growing threat of cyber crime.

BERMAN: And Naomi Osaka's sudden withdrawal from the French Open putting the focus back on the mental health struggles of pro athletes. Olympic icon Michael Phelps joins us here on New Day.

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[07:20:00]

KEILAR: Within the past hour, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the new coalition that could oust him from power here in the coming days. He called the new left-wing government dangerous. That's a quote, left-wing government. The landmark agreement between two opposition leaders came just minutes before last night's deadline.

So what does this mean for the future of Israel, its relationship with the U.S., and the prospect of peace? We are joined now by Fareed Zakaria who, of course, is the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS.

Netanyahu called this a left-wing government. It also has folks on the right in it. So, talk to us, Fareed, about if you thinkthis is really going to go forward and that Netanyahu will be out.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: This looks likely to go forward only because the coalition that appears to be forming the government has one very strong thing in common, they all don't like Bibi Netanyahu. And in some ways, a large part of the country is fed up with Netanyahu. But other than that, it's a very strange coalition.

The prime minister to be, Naftali Bennett, is actually to the right of Bibi Netanyahu on the core issue of Palestinian rights. Netanyahu pays lip service to the idea of a two-state solution. Naftali Bennett does not even pay lip service. He openly says he does not believe there should be a Palestinian state. But there are elements of the old labor party in it as well, Mr. Lapid. There are even Israeli-Arabs supporting the party.

So it's a strange coalition, but they do agree on one thing, they want to get rid of Bibi.

KEILAR: Yes. Ambassador Dennis Ross, former U.S. ambassador, was making the point that they seem like they were united against Bibi and that they're united against being worried about some of the institutions in Israel, which I think is something that a lot of Americans connect with.

To that point, what would Netanyahu's departure mean for the future of relations between Israel and the U.S.?

ZAKARIA: In many ways, I actually think it would be -- it would stabilize the relationship between the United States and Israel because Bibi Netanyahu politicized it and turned it into a partisan issue. He allied himself very closely with the Republican Party and with the right-wing of the Republican Party. He actively campaigned against Barack Obama and the Iran deal while Obama was president, something really no Israeli prime minister had ever done. He openly allied himself with Donald Trump. So in many ways, I think you would get back to a more normal relationship between Israel and the United States, one which is more bipartisan.

And I also have one thing. He took one more item from Trump's playbook. Bibi Netanyahu has been saying this is a dangerous left-wing government that is about to be formed, which is crazy, because of the prime minister is actually to his right.

[07:25:04]

But he's also been saying this is the greatest fraud of the century and we see and hear the true legacy of Donald Trump's terrible interventions around January 6th. Every time somebody loses power in the democratic world, alas, it appears now likely that many of them who take Trump as a role model are going to cry fraud, which is what Bibi Netanyahu has done.

KEILAR: Yes, they've imported that, he has. Fareed, always wonderful to see you, Fareed Zakaria, thank you.

ZAKARIA: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still ahead, President Trump is pushing the big lie. He's pushing it more than ever, turning his focus on bogus election audits, so-called audits, with the hopes for returning to power.

BERMAN: And the QAnon conspiracy theory continues to gain followers fueled by the former president and his allies. This is leading to a disturbing trend in local elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE REP. MARK FINCHEM (R-AZ): There's a lot of people involved in a pedophile network, in the distribution of children, and, unfortunately, there's a whole lot of elected officials that are involved in that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you thinking COVID-19 was a little bit of a conspiracy theory?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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