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NYC's Top Cop Blames Bail Reform For Uptick In Crime; Beyond The Call Of Duty: New Mexico Marshal Rescues Stolen Trike From Special Needs Teen; Op-Ed: Time For Justice Breyer To Retire From The Supreme Court. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired June 04, 2021 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:32:23]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New York City's police commissioner blames bail reform for a surge in crime citing, as an example, a brutal and unprovoked assault on an Asian woman in Chinatown this week. It turns out that example doesn't appear to have anything to do with bail reform. Nevertheless, it was interesting to hear the commissioner talk about his.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz here with much more. Now, the facts of that specific case notwithstanding, the issue of bail reform -- again, interesting to hear the commissioner talk about it.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is certainly a significant issue in this city.
And we've heard the police commissioner talk about this at length for more than a year now, raising concern over the fact that many people who are arrested and have violent histories are being released because of this bail reform, which essentially doesn't allow the court to want to demand a cash bail when you are arrested and go before a judge. The judge ultimately has to release you because of these reforms.
Here's what the police commissioner recently said about the reforms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DERMOT SHEA, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY POLICE: We're arresting somebody for pushing a woman down the stairs and then we release them back into the streets? I mean, this is craziness -- it really is.
We need help with some of these laws. We cannot be just chasing our tail -- catch and release -- catch and release.
And when you have an individual like yesterday who is from Chinatown -- again, lives in a shelter, arrested eight times in the last year, randomly assaulting people, setting fires -- what are we doing in society when we're releasing these people right back onto the street?
(END VIDEO CLIP) PROKUPECZ: In the Chinatown case, what happened there was that this individual actually pleaded guilty. There was a cash bail that was set. He was -- he pleaded guilty to the crime and then essentially, the judge gave him a sentence of time served -- just about two weeks, and he was released. And then, just a few days later, brutally attacked a woman in Chinatown.
The police commissioner also raising this, given the fact that so much crime is on the rise across the city. Hate crimes are on the rise -- crimes in the subway system, gun violence across the city all on the rise.
Of course, advocates saying that there are bigger issues here at play as well -- mental illness, the pandemic. The Mayor citing the pandemic as possibly -- as a cause for why crime has risen here in the city.
And, of course, homelessness. That is a big issue across the city as well, John.
So there's a lot more here than just bail reform. Advocates will say, of course, the police commissioner making a big deal of this because they are seeing a lot of people going into the system, coming out, and almost immediately committing crimes again.
[07:35:05]
BERMAN: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much for that report. It's important for us to follow that -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: A marshal in New Mexico going beyond the call of duty to recover a custom tricycle stolen from a special needs teenager. The officer making sure to return it on the same day that he responded to a deadly shootout.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is no ordinary bike and this is no ordinary teen.
GRACE HOLGUIN, 14-YEAR-OLD SPECIAL NEEDS TEEN: I can do this.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Meet 14-year-old Grace Holguin, a middle-school student in Mesilla, New Mexico. Grace was born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect, struggling with balance as a result.
ANDREA HOLGUIN, GRACE'S MOTHER: On your mark, get set, go!
KAFANOV (voice-over): But that's not stopping her from doing what other kids do --
A. HOLGUIN: Grace, you've got three wheels.
KAFANOV (voice-over): -- thanks to her tricked-out trike. OMAR HOLGUIN, GRACE'S FATHER: For Grace, stability is an issue but
she wants to ride a bike. She wants to do everything that everybody else is doing.
KAFANOV (on camera): For Grace this means freedom.
O. HOLGUIN: It means her freedom, yes.
KAFANOV (voice-over): For the Holguins, the custom-built trike is priceless, so when they discovered it was stolen they were devastated.
A. HOLGUIN: Have you ever been so angry that you cry? I was mad. And then I think I started to -- I did say call the police immediately and just kind of go into like we're getting this back. Like, we're going to recover this bike.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Responding to the call was Benjamin Azcarate, a sergeant in the Mesilla Marshal's Office.
G. HOLGUIN: How are you?
SGT. BENJAMIN AZCARATE, MESSILA, NEW MEXICO MARSHAL'S OFFICE: I just knew a special needs girl lost her bike and it hurt.
KAFANOV (on camera): So this case really touched your heart.
AZCARATE: Yes because I have a 3-year-old nephew and I know how much he loves his bikes and toys. So if it was him I'd hope someone would do the same for him.
KAFANOV (voice-over): He knew the family couldn't afford a replacement so Sgt. Azcarate thought he would help.
AZCARATE: I have some pretty amazing friends so I put out a Snapchat group and text message group and just told them the situation and it started snowballing from there.
A. HOLGUIN: He really went above and beyond.
KAFANOV (voice-over): The story would have ended there but days later, a friend spotted the bike across town. The family asked Azcarate to help but he was on a call.
AZCARATE: It came over on the radio that a pursuit was heading into town.
KAFANOV (voice-over): That day, a gunman shot and killed a New Mexico state trooper before dying in a shootout. Azcarate was on the scene.
AZCARATE: They fired two or three rounds from a handgun.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Despite being shot at --
G. HOLGUIN: Officer Azcarate!
KAFANOV (voice-over): -- he still made time to return Grace's bike. AZCARATE: Are you enjoying your bike?
G. HOLGUIN: Yes.
A. HOLGUIN: He was shot at that day. He just went from being in this crazy, violent, ultimately devastating situation to coming right back here to what -- this is the part that mattered.
AZCARATE: I was just hoping to show her police are good guys. We're here to help.
G. HOLGUIN: Officer Azcarate, he was a hero.
KAFANOV (on camera): A hero?
G. HOLGUIN: Yes.
KAFANOV (on camera): He got your special tricycle back.
G. HOLGUIN: Yes.
KAFANOV (voice-over): This hero receiving a personal thank you.
A. HOLGUIN: We were as important to you as the loss of one of your brothers.
AZCARATE: I'm glad I got the call. I told you I would -- I'd do my best to get it back.
KAFANOV (voice-over): For the Holguin family it's an act of kindness they'll never forget.
A. HOLGUIN: That's exactly who you want your kids looking up to and answering the call.
AZCARATE: You love it?
G. HOLGUIN: Yes.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Misella, New Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: What a nice story, and I'm sure that thank you meant everything.
Republicans in Texas say their voting bill actually makes voting easier. Well, CNN's Daniel Dale has a fact-check.
KEILAR: And George P. Bush, heir to one of America's great political dynasties, is running for Texas attorney general. But he might care more about the Trump name than his own right about now. We'll roll the tape, next.
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[07:43:40]
BERMAN: This morning, Texas Democrats are vowing to continue their fight against a key voting bill supported by the state's Republicans. Democrats blocked the bill from becoming a law but the state's Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has already promised it will be revived in a special session.
But what would the bill actually do?
CNN's fact-check wizard, Daniel Dale, is here with everything you always wanted to know about the bill but were afraid to ask -- Daniel.
DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, John. As you said, Texas Democrats managed this past weekend to at least temporarily prevent Republicans from passing this major elections bill, but they are still trying to get it passed.
And these Republicans are insisting that Democrats are totally wrong about what's in the bill. They claim it actually expands access to voting -- that it doesn't make it harder to vote. In reality, John, the bill does -- is -- sorry -- the bill is far more restrictive than it is expansionary.
I want to quickly give you the facts about 18 things this bill would do.
As Republicans note, the bill would add an extra hour of mandatory Sunday early voting and in some counties, it would also add extra hours of weekday early voting. But -- and there are a lot of buts -- the bill would ban drive-thru voting, ban late-night voting, and ban 24-hour voting, all of which were used in 2020 in the city of Houston.
The bill would ban voting before 1:00 p.m. on the last Sunday of early voting. That's a key time for Black churches' Souls to the Polls drive.
The bill would also create an explicit ban on ballot drop boxes, though Texas doesn't currently allow those anyway.
[07:45:03]
Now, here's a key provision. The bill would, in a few ways, make it easier to get a court to overturn an election result. For example, it would create a lower legal threshold for someone to prove an allegation of election wrongdoing.
The bill makes a strict set of mail-in voting rules even stricter. Instead of only a signature, voters applying for a mail ballot would have to provide an I.D. number or a statement saying they don't have one. And they'd have to provide that same info again when they cast the ballot.
The bill adds requirements for voters with disabilities. A voter with a disability currently has to check a disability box on a form to qualify for a mail-in ballot. Under this bill, they'd have to tell the authorities on that form whether, specifically, they have an illness, injury, or mental or physical disability. They'd also have to have a disability or sickness severe enough to make them not capable of voting in person.
The bill would also add hoops for Texans helping voters with disabilities. One -- someone helping a disabled voter cast their ballot would now have to fill out a form rather than just swear an oath. And that assisting person can no longer answer the voter's questions. Number two, someone would have to fill out a form with their name and address if they drive to the polls more than two disabled or sick non-relatives who need a ballot brought out to them at the curb.
The bill would create a variety of new criminal offenses for election officials, some of them felonies punishable by jail time. For example, it would be a felony for officials to mail out an unsolicited mail-in ballot application or to knowingly reject valid votes.
The bill would empower partisan poll watchers in a variety of ways, guaranteeing, for example, that they can get close enough to hear election officers talk and that they can obtain a quick legal injunction if they feel they're being obstructed.
The bill would require election officials in big counties to do video surveillance of rooms where ballots are located and to livestream that video.
And the bill would generally forbid counties from creating any election policy not explicitly included in state law.
Now, Democrats did get an amendment added to require the courts to tell a newly convicted felon how the conviction will affect their right to vote. A Texas woman named Crystal Mason got a five-year prison sentence for casting a provisional ballot in 2016 while she was on supervised release from prison and she maintained she never knew she was ineligible to vote.
Still, on the whole, Texas Republicans claim this bill isn't restrictive. The bottom line, John -- that is just not true.
BERMAN: That is the bottom line. Thanks so much, Daniel -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Blood may be thicker than water but apparently it's not thicker than Kool-Aid. George P. Bush, son of Jeb, nephew of W., grandson of 41, announcing a run for attorney general in Texas. But he's not doing it without kissing the ring of Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE P. BUSH, SON OF JEB BUSH: I would love to have his support. Politics is a full-contact sport, you know, and we're at a stage in our state where we can't let a mean tweet get in the way of doing the right thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So it goes without saying it was more than just a mean tweet. Roll the tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, THEN-CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT: Jeb Bush is a low-energy person. For him, to get things done is hard. He's very low energy.
Jeb Bush, very weak on immigration. He wants to let people come in.
Well, I think Bush is probably the worst president in the history of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: But, Bush is hardly alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRPERSON, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: In the nearly four years I've worked on behalf of President Trump I've seen up close a man who has a deep love for family. A man who has reverence for the office of the presidency. A man with an incredible respect for law enforcement and our military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: When Ronna McDaniel, formerly Ronna Romney McDaniel's uncle Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed in 2019 criticizing Trump's behavior, McDaniel responded, quote, "For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack Trump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and the media want and is disappointing and unproductive."
That's right -- she went full verve pipe on her uncle. Merely a freshman, she called him.
In 2017, "The Washington Post" reported that McDaniel obliged with Trump's request to drop the use of her maiden name, Romney, in her official role.
Blood's not thicker than Kool-Aid for 600 (ph). He is the brother of the man that Capitol insurrectionists said they wanted to kill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPITOL INSURRECTIONISTS: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Who is Greg Pence, you say, and you would be correct. Greg Pence voted against the commission to investigate and hold accountable those who breached the Capitol, threatening the life of his younger brother Mike, the vice president.
And of the more infamous episodes of not "ALL IN THE FAMILY."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): But you mess my wife, you mess with my kids, that'll do it every time. Donald, you're a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Not only did Trump call Ted Cruz's wife ugly, he baselessly linked Cruz's father to JFK's assassination. And yet --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Well, I'm here campaigning for Donald Trump. I voted for Donald Trump. I voted for Mike Pence.
[07:50:01]
MIKE PENCE, THEN-VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you.
CRUZ: They look at Donald J. Trump and they look at the millions and millions of people inspired who went to battle fighting alongside President Trump and they're terrified and they want him to go away. Let me tell you this right now, Donald J. Trump ain't going anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So, yes, blood is no match for Kool-Aid, and whoever said love conquers all apparently didn't know Donald Trump.
When the former president called Mitch McConnell a "dumb son of a bitch" -- that is a quote -- he also jabbed McConnell's wife Elaine Chao, who served as Trump's former transportation secretary who resigned after the insurrection. Trump mocked her and attacked her family ties to China.
And yet --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRET BAIER": If the president was the party's nominee would you support him?
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Oh, the nominee of the party? Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Even if he calls your wife ugly, mocks your dad, puts a target on your brother's back, or rips your uncle, in the age of Trump, truly, you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family.
BERMAN: Maybe just one more time. Blood is thicker than water but what isn't it thicker than?
KEILAR: Kool-Aid.
BERMAN: That's an incredible line. That's a great line, Brianna Keilar.
KEILAR: I came up with that.
BERMAN: That's a great line.
KEILAR: I think I did.
BERMAN: That's a -- that's a great line. You know, you -- yes.
KEILAR: You know, it's sad though. I actually think about this. You know, you look at these things here and there's part of it that's kind of funny as you look at it. But I just think about being in one of these families where you are actually forced to choose, and there is nothing to do other than choose Donald Trump over your family.
It's actually -- it's very sad and I also think it's really representative of kind of the discord we've even seen just in American families when it comes to politics in this age, you know?
BERMAN: Yes, although most American families -- you know, they didn't have Donald Trump say your wife was ugly. I mean, it's just humiliating to see that -- to watch the tape from those moments there, especially. Really, really well done.
KEILAR: Yes, it really is. It is humiliating.
A flurry of cyberattacks is disrupting Americans' daily lives, right? This is affecting us. And now, the Justice Department says it's cracking down. So we're going to tell you how.
BERMAN: Plus, Republican Congressman Mo Brooks says he's not hiding from a Capitol riot lawsuit. So where was he while the private hired by Democratic congressmen tried to track him down?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:55:09]
KEILAR: Now here are five things to know to start your new day.
Hong Kong cracking down on Tiananmen Square commemorations, arresting a pro-democracy leader -- an organizer of the large annual vigil -- overnight. Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the massacre, which left hundreds if not thousands dead. The Chinese government withheld the official death toll.
BERMAN: Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani and federal prosecutors have agreed on retired Judge Barbara Jones to review materials that were seized from Giuliani by the FBI. If approved by a so-called special master -- another federal judge -- Jones would determine which materials might be covered by attorney-client privilege.
KEILAR: And a Republican congressman, Mo Brooks, says he's not hiding from an insurrection lawsuit after Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell's attorneys hired a private investigator to find him and serve him. The Alabama Republican says he has not changed his behavior whatsoever and suggests Swalwell could have handed him the suit on the House floor during votes -- imagine that.
BERMAN: Which, actually, I don't think is true, frankly.
President Biden will speak later this morning from his beach house in Delaware on the May jobs reports. Economists predict more than double the number of jobs added in May compared to the disappointing numbers in April. We'll have full coverage when the report is released in the next hour.
KEILAR: And famed criminal defense attorney F. Lee Bailey has died. Bailey was part of the so-called "Dream Team" of famous local and national lawyers that successfully defended O.J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial. F. Lee Bailey was 87 years old.
BERMAN: So, as the Supreme Court approaches the end of the term this month all eyes are on whether 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer will announce any potential retirement plans, which would allow President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats to replace him with a much younger liberal, perhaps.
Joining us now is Elie Mystal. He's the justice correspondent for "The Nation Magazine" and a fellow at Type Media Center.
He just wrote a piece titled "It's Time for Stephen Breyer to Retire From the Supreme Court." So we know where you stand on this. It's an extensive piece. Everyone should go read it.
You say it would be malpractice for him not to step down now. Why?
ELIE MYSTAL, JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT, THE NATION MAGAZINE, FELLOW, TYPE MEDIA CENTER (via Skype): Yes. Well, we can't keep allowing the random wheel of death to choose how our laws are interpreted. This is a mistake that liberals, more than conservatives, make over and over again.
They view themselves as indispensable, they view themselves are irreplaceable, and then they die. As all humans must, they die. But they die at inopportune times where their replacements are picked by presidents of the opposite party and it's one of the big reasons we now have a Supreme Court that is slanted towards justices picked by Republican presidents as opposed to justices picked by Democratic presidents.
Over the last 32 years, we've had 16 years of Democratic presidents and 16 years of Republican presidents, but Republicans have controlled the Supreme Court, right now, by a margin of six to three. It's because of decisions like the one Breyer is making right now.
BERMAN: And you note this isn't an issue of Breyer maybe postponing it a year. Joe Biden's got four years in office. Maybe wait until year three or year four. You say uh-uh, you have to do it now because you can't even wait until 2022. Why?
MYSTAL: Well, there are too many -- what Mitch McConnell has proven -- when he stole the Supreme Court seat from Barack Obama that should have gone to Merrick Garland and gave it to Neal Gorsuch, what Mitch McConnell has proven is that he will not -- he will simply not confirm a justice appointed by a Democratic president. That -- we know that. That's not a guess, that's a fact.
So if we think -- if we extrapolate from there if we go past the 2022 midterms there's a chance that Mitch McConnell retakes the Senate and that means Breyer can kind of never retired because Mitch McConnell will never confirm his replacement.
But it gets worse than that because right now, the Democrat majority in the Senate is -- you know, Kamala Harris is 51 -- 51st to vote, right? If any Democratic senator dies in a state where they can be replaced by a Republican, Mitch McConnell, once again, can block Breyer's replacement.
So if that lady in Vermont who dies under a Republican governor, gone. If Jon Tester, in Montana, gets hit by a caribou of whatever they have up there -- if he goes, bam -- that's it for the Democratic majority.
So every day Breyer stays on the court is another day Mitch McConnell gets to spin that wheel of death and see if he gets enough votes to stop his replacement.
BERMAN: Mystal with some blunt talk I think, right now, for Justice Breyer and others. We appreciate you being with us. The piece is in "The Nation." It is quite extensive and worth the read. Appreciate it.
NEW DAY continues.
MYSTAL: Thanks for having me.
BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.
KEILAR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman on this new day.
Tackling hacking like terrorism.
