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New Day

Cheney 'Stunned' McCarthy Went to Mar-a-Lago after Capitol Riot; Israel: Possible January 6th-Style Violence Amid Netanyahu Ouster; Mexico's Ruling Party Loses Majority in Election Married by Murder; VP Kamala Harris in Latin America, Focusing on Migration; Manchin Tanks Dems' Hopes of Sweeping Voting Rights Bill; Meadows Pressed DOJ to Investigate Election Fraud Claims; Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Have Second Child. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 07, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

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

[05:59:52]

Breaking overnight, new comments from Liz Cheney. What the Republican congresswoman said about Kevin McCarthy, her safety, and why she compares Donald Trump to communist China.

Plus, a rare warning from Israel's security chief. Be prepared for January 6th-style mob violence as Benjamin Netanyahu gets closer to the exit.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And Senator Joe Manchin officially a wrench in President Biden's agenda. How he's explaining a key "no" vote.

And it's one of the most contentious decisions that the FDA has faced in years, but today they decide the fate of the controversial Alzheimer's drug.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, June 7.

This morning brand-new comments from Liz Cheney after being booted by House Republicans from her leadership position last month. Cheney has called out former President Trump for an egregious violation of the oath of office by inciting, of course, the January 6th insurrection.

And in terms I have not heard before, she describes how she found out that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring of Donald Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, HOST, "THE AXE FILES": Did you know before he was going that he was going?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I didn't. AXELROD: And what did you -- I mean, what was your reaction when you

saw the video on the screen?

CHENEY: I was -- I was stunned. I could not imagine any justification for doing that, and -- and I asked him why he had done it, and you know, he said, well, he had just been in the neighborhood, essentially.

But -- but it's -- no. I just -- as I said, I think -- what Donald Trump did is the most dangerous thing, the most egregious violation of an oath of office of any president in our history. And so the idea that a few weeks after he did that, the leader of the Republicans in the House would be at Mar-a-Lago, essentially, you know, pleading with him to somehow, you know, come back into the fold or whatever it was he was doing, to me, it was inexcusable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny and CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox.

Jeff, that is something to hear her. I mean, at the time, she was the No. 3 Republican in the Republican conference in the House, and she didn't know that the leader of the conference was going to see Donald Trump.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Pretty amazing but probably not that surprising, because by that point, as Lauren knows well, the tensions were pretty high already between Liz Cheney and Kevin McCarthy.

But look, she is continuing to speak with a clear voice against election fraud, that this was not true, and she quickly learned she was standing alone. And you know, this changed in such a short period of time, because Kevin McCarthy first supported her in her election to be the -- the head of the conference, but then that changed because she kept speaking out.

And the tensions between the two, I am told by talking to people on both sides, it is so raw and so intense.

And President Trump, in some of his final words leaving office, he directed some of his people to keep an eye on Liz Cheney, go after Liz Cheney. So it's very acrimonious in that respect, too, as well.

But she has remained consistent through all this. She's one of the very few Republicans who have not bowed down, acquiesced to President Trump. And she's made clear she's going to keep on this approach. If it, you know, takes her down we'll see. But she clearly is keeping her voice.

BERMAN: I have to say, I mean, it's one thing to be disgusted by Kevin McCarthy, but to be disgusted and surprised, blind-sided by his trip to Mar-a-Lago, that seemed new to me. And it gives you a sense of Liz Cheney's state of mind; also, Kevin McCarthy's state of mind as this developed over time after January 6th. And you talked about how the former president has, in a way, targeted

Liz Cheney. And she talked to Axe, to David Axelrod, about security concerns, her own; and also members of the House who voted on impeachment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: I've had a number of members say things to me like, you know, we would have voted to impeach, but we were concerned about our security. And I think that, in some ways, people have sort of glossed over that, but I think that's a very important point to pause and contemplate, that you have members of the United States House of Representatives for whom, you know, security, their personal security, their family's security, their concerns about that affected the way that they thought they could vote. That's a really significant thing to say about the current state of our politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Axelrod asked her, Lauren, if she's had security threats. And she said yes. And she's had to change her security. She didn't want to talk about it, I think probably because she's a little bit nervous about it. But it's interesting to hear the former conference chair saying the members voted under duress.

[06:05:10]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's something that's really overshadowed Capitol Hill since January 6th. If you think about the fact that there are now metal detectors when you enter the House floor, that is just one very visual piece, this new security threat that lawmakers are facing.

And, you know, if you remember, there are also sort of discussions right around the impeachment, the second impeachment where the managers were getting threatening phone calls. I remember David Cicilline was getting a series of voicemails left on his answering machine, some of which were shared with me at the time.

And I mean, just thinking about the threat and the security that is ongoing on Capitol Hill and not just on the Hill. Remember, these are members who have to travel back and forth from their district, so there's this really ongoing sort of security threat, and so much the members were instructed that they could use their personal office budgets for more security when they went back to the district.

And I think that that is beginning to be a real problem on Capitol Hill, because this isn't going away. Because the more former President Trump talks about the big lie, the more members are feeling like they have to make a security calculation in how they vote. And that's a problem. That's a problem for democracy, ultimately.

KEILAR: It's really a different time that we are living in, that Congress and members of Congress are operating in. And to that end, Cheney compared Trump's rhetoric to that of the Chinese Communist Party, which was something to behold when she was talking about when this comes to casting doubt on the federal election system. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: When you listen to Donald Trump talk now, when you hear the language he's using now, it is essentially the same things that the Chinese Communist Party, for example, says about the United States and our democracy. And I think it's important for our people to also stop and think about that for a moment.

When he says that our system doesn't work, that our Democratic process, we suggest that it's, you know, incapable of conveying the will of the people, you know, that somehow it's failed, those are the same things that the Chinese government says about us. And -- and it's very dangerous and damaging, and it's -- and it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What do you think about that, Jeff?

ZELENY: I mean, that is extraordinary when you think of, you know, a very established member of the Republican Party here, you know, suggest that the former president -- comparing him to communist China.

So I think -- but look, there is some truth to what she's saying here about the undermining of democracy, and that is what we are seeing happening playing out in real time here.

Now, the question about all of this, what does this do for Liz Cheney, of course. She is facing a series of challengers. Her primary's not until August of 2022, some 14 months away. But as she's campaigning in Wyoming, she's rarely talking about any of this. She's talking about issues and ignoring all of her opponents.

But the reality is are we going to see President Trump, former President Trump in Wyoming, you know, between now and then? I think that's a big possibility.

FOX: Well, certainly. And I mean, he still has such a base of support that I think she is doing what she thinks is the right thing to do. That doesn't mean it doesn't come without political risk.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, it really could spell the end of her time in Congress.

ZELENY: She's totally fine with that. She's made a decision, and she is sticking to her guns here. She's not going to change. How many Republicans have buckled under Donald Trump? Not her.

KEILAR: All right. We'll see what that bodes for Liz Cheney. Jeff, Lauren, great to see you this morning. Thanks.

BERMAN: So developing overnight in Israel, Naftali Bennett, the man set to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is calling for a calm and orderly transition of power in the face of increasingly hostile and inciting political rhetoric. For his part, Netanyahu is spouting claims of election fraud that

echoed President Trump, and now Israel's security chief is warning that the rhetoric against lawmakers trying to end Netanyahu's 12-year reign has turned violent and could become lethal.

CNN has reporters in Israel and around the world covering this and other major developments. Let's begin with Hadas Gold, live in Jerusalem there.

It's so interesting following violence against U.S. lawmakers to hear Benjamin Netanyahu say things that sound so incredibly similar, Hadas.

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. I'm in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and there are members of this Parliament, especially of this new coalition, who've received such level of threats there is a fear here that this Parliament could experience mob-level violence similar to what the U.S. Capitol experienced on January 6th.

In a very rare public statement, the head of the Israeli internal security service said, "In this recent period, we have identified an intensifying and severe increase in the violent and inciting discourse, with an emphasis on the social networks. It is our duty to come out with a clear and definitive call to stop the discourse of incitement and violence. The responsibility for calming the winds and restraining the discourse rests on all of our shoulders."

[06:10:04]

Now, ever since these rival opposition parties signed the coalition agreement last week, Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies have been railing It, echoing much of Trump's language, calling it the scandal of the century, calling it fraud, calling it a deception.

There have also been demonstrations outside of some member of this coalition's -- outside of their houses. And even Netanyahu's own son, Yair Lapid [SIC], had his Twitter and Facebook account suspended, because he posted the address of some of these members' homes, calling on people to demonstrate in front of them.

Now, Netanyahu has condemned this incitement to violence, but he also said he himself has been the victim of some of these threats. And he vowed that, if he is in the opposition, he will topple the government if it is sworn in.

Now, Naftali Bennett, who is set to be the next prime minister, in a speech last night called on Netanyahu, who's actually his former boss, calling him to step aside, step aside calmly and let the process continue, telling Netanyahu not to leave a scorched earth behind you.

Now, what we're waiting for today is to see whether the speaker of the Israeli Parliament will call to -- a vote of confidence for this new government. Naftali Bennett and the coalition are calling for it to come quickly as soon as Wednesday. Legally, it could be as soon as next Monday. But every day that passes gives Netanyahu and his allies more time to try to convince members of these coalition, try to pressure them to try and vote against this coalition -- John.

BERMAN: It's interesting to see the effects that rhetoric in the United States can have around the world.

Hadas Gold, thanks so much for that.

KEILAR: Also developing overnight, early results in Mexico's extraordinarily violent midterm elections, and they show voters handing a legislative defeat to the country's populist president.

At least 96 candidates and politicians were assassinated ahead of this election.

CNN's Matt Rivers is live for us in Mexico City. So it's looking like, from what we know about the results, that this is the message that President Lopez Obrador met.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Brianna. And when Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in Mexico for meetings with the president on Tuesday, she will be meeting with a president who functionally has less power politically than he did going into this weekend.

Morena, which is the political party that AMLO created, founded a few years ago, lost seats in the lower house of Congress. Projections put them at getting anywhere right around 200 seats. That's going to be a setback for him. It's not a super majority that he needs to push through some of the constitutional reforms, big legislative agenda items that he really wanted to.

And critics would say, Look, this is rebuke against a president who has shown tendencies to want to centralize power in the presidency, who has shown tendencies to try and take away power from Democratic institutions.

He still has the majority in Congress. He's still the most powerful political figure in this country. But functionally, he's less powerful than he was before these midterm elections.

But we should not look away from the fact that these elections were extremely violent, Brianna. As you mentioned, 96 candidates and/or politicians killed during this campaign season, which started back in September. More than 900 candidates or politicians were targeted by some sort of a crime going back to September, ranging everything from murder, to assault, to threats.

It is an extremely violent era right now here in Mexico, and unfortunately, these elections were not spared from that reality. It would be interesting to see what the vice president of the United States has to say to the president in Mexico here when she arrives later on this evening -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Certainly will be. Matt Rivers, you will be there. Thank you so much.

BERMAN: Overnight Vice President Kamala Harris landed in Guatemala City after her trip was slightly delayed because of a technical glitch on the plane.

Harris is on a three-day tour through Guatemala, and Mexico was part of her roll leading diplomatic efforts to stem the flow of migration from Central America.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond, live in Guatemala City with the latest. It was hard getting there, but now the work begins, Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: She certainly did, but those plane issues will be far from the biggest test that the vice president faces during this trip.

Remember, Vice President Kamala Harris came into office with very little foreign policy experience. And she's eager to burnish those credentials. This trip will be a key part of doing so.

The vice president's national security adviser told me last night that the reason that she selected Guatemala and the northern triangle as her first foreign trip as vice president is because she wants to show the priority that she places on the strategy that she's trying to develop to address these root causes of migration.

And they really are tremendous challenges, everything from poverty to hunger, climate change, and corruption. And much of this will certainly require a lot of deft diplomacy on the vice president's part.

The vice president's team has made it very clear that they consider corruption to be one of the key root causes of migration. And corruption is endemic in this part of the world, including in Guatemala. But that is the same view shared by the Guatemalan president whose government has really been working in recent weeks to roll back many of the anti-corruption efforts in this country.

[06:15:02]

Nonetheless, the vice president's team telling me that they plan on having some news today on the anti-corruption front following those discussions with the vice president.

After the vice president finishes up here in Guatemala, she will head to Mexico City, where again, as Matt was just talking about, she faces a whole other whole host of challenges over there -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, please keep us posted. Appreciate you being with us this morning.

So Senator Joe Manchin just made it official. Why he is now a road block to a big part of the Biden agenda.

KEILAR: Plus, new word that Donald Trump's former chief of staff pushed the Justice Department to investigate baseless election fraud claims, including an absurd one involving Italy changing votes.

And new reaction from the very royals that Harry and Meghan ticked off on the birth of their daughter, named after the queen and Diana.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:03]

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I think it's a wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country. And I'm not supporting that, because I think it will divide us further. I don't want to be in a country that's divided any further than I'm in right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That is Senator Joe Manchin, effectively slamming the door on Democrats' efforts to combat voter suppression, announcing he will not support the voting rights bill or end the legislative filibuster.

Manchin wrote an op-ed, a new one, and he says, "We now are witnessing that the fundamental right to vote has itself become overtly politicized. Tort's debate about how to best protect our right to vote and to hold elections, however, is not about finding common ground but seeking partisan advantage."

Joining me now to talk about this is Walter Schaub. He's the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, and he's now senior ethics fellow for the Project on Government Oversight.

Walter, it's great to have you here this morning. Thank you so much for coming in. What do you say to this? He says that it's about seeking partisan advantage.

WALTER SCHAUB, SENIOR ETHICS FELLOW, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: You know, I think that's just terrible thing to say. It's unbelievably cynical. Because what is seeking partisan advantage is the Jim Crow legislation sweeping the states right now, and the opposite of partisanship is trying to protect the right of Americans to vote.

KEILAR: He will -- he does say that he'll consider the John Lewis Voting Rights Act instead of HR-1. Obviously, one is not -- you know, doesn't have as much, doesn't have all the Democrats would want in it, but certainly, it is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. What do you say to that?

SCHAUB: That's an important piece of legislation that has to pass, but it is not the HR-1 provisions that would effect a lot more change. The John Lewis bill is a narrow, targeted bill, trying to restore part of the Civil Rights Act that got struck down in 2013.

It would allow states to -- or it would require states with a history of racist legislation to receive preclearance before making changes. But it wouldn't do anything to help us with states like Georgia and Florida that have already made changes. And it also wouldn't increase access to the ballot the way the bill he's opposing would do.

KEILAR: How -- what do you say is -- he's saying this is about partisan advantage, is if the fight over voting rights, and we're seeing all these legislators across the country enact bills based on the big lie that will make it harder for voters of color to vote.

He's essentially saying that, you know, this is just a normal partisan battle between Democrats and Republicans looking for an advantage.

SCHAUB: Yes. And it's absolutely not that. It certainly is, in the sense that the people pushing voter suppression legislation are seeking a partisan advantage. But to say they're trying to give people the right to vote is partisan is to reduce all of democracy to partisanship.

There are certain fundamental values in having a republic that are universal and shouldn't be viewed as partisan, including most importantly, the right to vote, which is the fundamental thing that makes us a republic.

KEILAR: I want to -- I want to ask your opinion on something else. CNN has confirmed that former President Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, actually sent a bunch of emails to attorney -- to the attorney general during the transition, pressing Rosen and the DOJ to investigate baseless right-wing voter fraud conspiracies. How worried are you learning this?

SCHAUB: It's a terrifying development. I think we've had plenty of suspicions that Trump had tried to weaponize the Department of Justice. That is simply the worst thing a government can do, is to weaponize the criminal investigative apparatus of this state for partisan reasons.

Fortunately, he failed this time. But what's terrifying is that he tried. And it tells me that if they can try once, somebody could try again, either in this administration, a future administration down the road. So I think it's incredibly important that the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to be looking into this. Because there need to be consequences for this sort of assault on democracy.

KEILAR: But it's a weakness revealed is what I hear you saying.

SCHAUB: Yes.

KEILAR: Walter, thank you so much. Walter Schaub.

SCHAUB: Thanks.

KEILAR: And now a reminder that President Obama will join Anderson Cooper for a rare one-on-one to talk about his life, post-presidency. This is an "ANDERSON COOP 360" special, Barack Obama on fatherhood, leadership, and a legacy. And that airs tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

A royal bundle of joy. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcome a new daughter paying homage to the queen and to Harry's mom with her name. Will that help ease tensions, though?

BERMAN: Plus, renewed interest in a classified report that said it was possible the coronavirus escaped from the lab in Wuhan, China. The details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:09]

BERMAN: A royal arrival or an American girl? You make the call. Or maybe she will.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced the birth of their baby girl, Lilibet Diana, named after the queen and Princess Diana. This is the second child for Meghan and Harry, who are parents to 2-year-old son Archie.

The new baby is the queen's 11th great-grandchild, and she is currently eighth in line to the throne.

CNN's royal correspondent, Max Foster, joins us now from Windsor. And, you know, wide celebration, I think, around the world but particularly, in the U.K. and the United States at the birth of this child, Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And potentially a future president and a future monarch. I'll leave that thought with you, John.

But here, obviously, lots of celebration. Great news. The baby and mother are doing well. They're back at home. They're back at home on Monday. So they were -- it all went to plan.

Lilibet is a name that the queen was called. It was her nickname as a child, because she couldn't pronounce "Elizabeth." But it's actually a name that was used throughout her life, and Prince Philip used to call.