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New Day

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) Stunned Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Went to Mar-a-Lago after Capitol Riot; Biden's Last Mile Toward Vaccine Goal Becomes a Marathon; GOP Lawmaker Seen Coaching People on How to Breach Capitol. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 07, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pplanet with humanity, it's one Earth.

[07:00:02]

I want to go on this flight because it's the thing I wanted to do all my life. It's an adventure. It's a big deal for me.

I invited my brother to come on this first flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't even expecting him to say he was going to be on the first flight, and then when he asked me to go along, I was just awe-struck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seriously?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're willing, if you wanted to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN BUSINESS INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Brianna, talk about brotherly love there. Now, this flight is set to take off on July 20th from Blue Origins facility in West Texas. And it's a significant flight because Blue Origin they've been working on their new sub-orbital spacecraft, New Shepherd, for about six years. And after 15 consecutive test launches, they are finally ready to fly paying customers. Mark and Jeff Bezos will be two of those customers on this flight.

And it's noteworthy to point out that Virgin Galactic Richard Branson's space tourism company has long had similar goals to Blue Origin regarding space tourism. And Branson has famously declared that he would be the first paying customer flying on his commercial spaceline. But it looks Bezos and his brother, Mark, are going to beat Branson.

And let me tell you a little bit about the flight and what they're going to experience on this journey. They'll fly in a fully autonomous spacecraft, meaning that there will be pilots onboard. They'll be blasted up to three times the speed of sound, up to an apogee of over 60 miles above Earth, officially earning those astronaut wings. And after experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness, they dome-shaped spacecraft will bring the passengers back to Earth in a parachute landing.

But, Brianna, all hope is not lost for you and I if we want to pony up the big bucks. Pricing has not yet been released for the seats, but they are -- Blue Origin is hosting a live auction in just a few days for a seat on this historic flight. The proceeds going to Blue Origin Foundation Club for the Future, but that price tag, Brianna, already up to $2.8 million. So, unfortunately, I don't think it's in the cards for us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: I'm just thinking the last gift I got for my sister I think was a pair of shoes. It puts it into perspective for normal people, right?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: You can wear them more than once though, just saying. More practical.

CRANE: Yes, not quite the bragging rights, right, you guys?

KEILAR: No, no.

BERMAN: You have the same shoes?

KEILAR: No, they were like sandals. It wasn't -- I can't even say that. Rachel, this is very cool. Thank you so much for talking about this, Rachel Crane.

And New Day continues right now.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this New Day.

A new interview with Congresswoman Liz Cheney putting the sharpest point yet on the former president's actions to incite the January 6th insurrection and the actions of other top Republicans in the aftermath.

KEILAR: And Senator Joe Manchin puts his foot down pledging to vote against a key voting rights bill, signaling once and for all that anything the Democrats want done will have to go through him.

BERMAN: With less than a month to go, new evidence the country may be falling short of President Biden's July 4th vaccination goal.

KEILAR: And stunning new video of a Republican lawmaker appearing to coach far-right protesters on how to access a state capitol building and they took his advice just days later.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. It is Monday, June 7th.

And Congresswoman Liz Cheney this morning accusing former President Trump of committing the worst violation of a president's oath of office in history by inciting the January 6th Capitol insurrection, and she's calling on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for his visit to kiss Trump's ring at Mar-a-Lago shortly after the riot. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Did you know before he was going that he was going?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I didn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did you -- I mean, what was your reaction when you saw the video on the screen?

CHENEY: I was stunned. I could not imagine any justification for doing that. And I asked him why he had done it, and, you know, he said, well, he had just been in the neighborhood essentially. But it's -- no. I just -- you know, as I said, 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 come back into the fold or whatever it was he was doing, to me, was inexcusable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:05:00]

BERMAN: In a wide-ranging interview with CNN's David Axelrod, Cheney also compares Trump and his rhetoric to the Chinese Communist Party and she reflects on the evolution and future of the Republican Party, which does raise questions about her own political future.

KEILAR: Let's talk about those now with the host of the Ax Files podcast, CNN Senior Political Commentator David Axelrod.

This was a fascinating conversation, David, that you had with Congresswoman Cheney. What stood out to you the most to you in this interview?

AXELROD: Well, first of all, if anybody thought she was going to pull her horns in and tone down her criticism of Donald Trump, forget about it. I mean, she is very -- she believes this is an existential crisis for our democracy and for the Republican Party. And she's very, very clear about that. She posits her own re-election campaign in Wyoming as a test of this in the direction of the party.

But she was scathing in her criticism of Trump for what happened on January 6th and the events leading up to it. She's very worried that it's going to continue and that he continues to be a provocative threat. She was caustic about exercises like what's going on down in Arizona, the recount that the Republican legislature has launched. So she was very, very candid about her concerns.

She also, by the way, you guys, was -- said something very troubling and disturbing, which was that many -- that several of her colleagues told her, well, we would have voted with you but we're worried about our safety, we're worried about our security, we're worried about our families. And she said, what does that mean for our democracy? BERMAN: Let's play that. We have that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: And I've had a number of members say to me, like 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 or their family's security, their concerns about that affected the way that they felt they could vote. That's a really significant thing to say about the current state of our politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yes. Axe, I hope people aren't numb to this. I mean, Liz Cheney, the former number three Republican in the House, is saying that members of her party have been and are voting under duress.

AXELROD: Yes, no. And beyond that, it begged the question, and I asked her about her own concerns in that regard. She has five children, you know, she's out there, and she's obviously been targeted by Trump and his supporters. And, you know, she obviously was muted about her

situation, but she said, yes, I do have those concerns, and, yes, I have up to my security. There was a report recently that there are more expenses on her campaign report for security.

But, you know, this is -- fundamentally, if you have legislators who can't vote their conscience not because they're worried about re- election but because they're worried about their lives, they're worried about their families, that is an existential challenge for our democracy. And she believes Donald Trump is at the root of this. He's the cause of it. And she's going to be outspoken about it.

KEILAR: -- Donald Trump's rhetoric to that of the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to -- election system. Let's listen to that.

(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 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 it's very dangerous and damaging, and it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What do you think about that, David? AXELROD: Well, she's right, of course, that one of the projects of China, of Russia is to portray democracy as broken, as corrupt, as, you know -- and Trump is aiding and abetting that project when he goes out there and spreads the big lie and malicious rumors about how our election went forward.

She -- as you've noted at the beginning, she's also not exempting other Republican leaders, including McCarthy and Steve Scalise, the Republican leaders of the House, for being enablers in this.

[07:10:02]

She said the reason that so many Republicans believe this is because leaders haven't stood up and told the truth. So she is not -- she's not cutting anybody slack here for their participation in this big lie.

KEILAR: Well, it is a fascinating interview. It's always interesting to hear. And like you said, if you thought she was going to dial it down, think again. We certainly heard that in this. David Axelrod, thank you.

AXELROD: Okay, guys, great to see you. Have a good day.

BERMAN: So, Senator Joe Manchin, officially a giant wrench in President Biden's agenda. Over the weekend, Manchin put it in writing, he will not vote for the Democrats' far-reaching voting rights bill, he will not vote to end the filibuster, and he also took his message to the airwaves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I think it's the wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country. And I'm not supporting that because I think it would divide us further. If we continue to divide it and separate us more, it's not going to be united and it's not going to be the country that we love and know and it's going to be hard because it will be back and forth no matter who's in power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York, a progressive.

Manchin is a no on the voting bill. He put it into writing. Manchin is a no on doing anything to end the filibuster. He put it in writing. Your reaction.

REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (R-NY): Joe Manchin has become the new Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell during Obama's presidency said he would do everything in his power to stop Obama. He's also repeated that now during the Biden presidency by saying he would do everything in his power to stop President Biden. And now Joe Manchin is doing everything in his power to stop democracy and to stop our work for the people, the work that the people sent us here to do. HR-1 not only is a huge bill when it comes to voting rights. It's a huge bill in terms of getting big money out of politics, protecting our elections against fraud and ending gerrymandering. I mean, big money in politics is what's destroying our democracy, and the Republican Party is aiding and abetting in that, and Donald Trump is obviously doing that as well.

So Manchin is not pushing us closer to bipartisanship. He is doing the work of the Republican Party by being an obstructionist, just like they've been since the beginning of Biden's presidency.

BERMAN: So, is that really fair to compare Joe Manchin to Mitch McConnell? Manchin, I thinik,would point out, that he has voted on legislation that's reached the floor. He's voted 100 percent of the time with President Biden. And another to look at this, and we'll give you the numbers later show, Harry Enten is joining us, it's not like there's any other Democrat on Earth who could be a senator from West Virginia right now, and if you didn't have Joe Manchin, there's almost zero chance you'd have a Democrat in West Virginia and zero chance you'd have control of the U.S. Senate.

BOWMAN: Well, listen, the bottom line is this, HR-1has popularity across the country, in West Virginia and across the country. Well over 65 percent of the American people support HR-1 and well over 50 percent of the Republicans support HR-1.

So, the American people sent us to Washington to do a job. I mean, consider this, just a few weeks ago, we had a bipartisan piece of legislation looking to form a commission to study the January 6th insurrection, the first attack on our Capitol since the war of 1812. It was a bipartisan piece of legislation, and it did not pass. Why? Because of the filibuster and because of the majority of Republicans are focused much more on obstruction. We have to end the filibuster. It's a Jim Crow relic, and we have to do the work of the American people.

BERMAN: Just to point out, Manchin did vote for the bipartisan commission, and as he looks forward, he still, I think, somehow holds out hope that it could still pass, and he says -- and we have some sound here I want to play for you, that he's holding out hope that he can, I guess, change some Republican minds overall. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANCHIN: We have seven brave Republicans that continue to vote for what we know is right in the facts that they see them, not worrying about the political consequences. I believe there's a lot more of my Republican colleagues and friends that feel the same way. I'm just hoping they are able to rise to the occasion to defend our country and support our country and make sure that we have a democracy for this republic of all the people.

I'm just very hopeful of that and I see good signs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: How do you feel about his hopefulness?

BOWMAN: So this is not about hope. This is about doing the work. My office -- I am a Democrat like Joe Manchin. My office has reached out to the senator multiple times to engage in conversation around saving and rescuing our democracy.

[07:15:00]

I have yet to hear back from Senator Manchin, and this was months ago. So this is not about hope.

It's easy for us to say what we are not going to vote for, what we're not going to do. It's much harder to build a coalition to meet the needs of our democracy. And I wonder as Senator Manchin is reaching out to his Republican colleagues to move them in a direction that we need to go. Is he responding to the polling? Are they responding to the polling? And are we recognizing this moment in history as being essential to overall American history and really building the multiracial democracy that we are and not upholding a corporate agenda or the Jim Crow white supremacist relic, which is the filibuster?

BERMAN: Congressman Jamaal Bowman, we do appreciate you joining us. Please come back on New Day. Great to have you.

BOWMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, former President Barack Obama joins Anderson Cooper for a rare one-on-one interview, an AC360 special, Barack Obama on Fatherhood, Leadership and Legacy, it airs tonight at 8:00 Eastern Time.

So, President Biden had hoped to have 70 percent of American adults vaccinated by the 4th of July, but is that goal within reality, with just a few weeks to go? We'll look at numbers.

KEILAR: And an incredible new video of a Republican lawmaker advising far-right protesters on how to get into the state capitol, even giving out his personal cell phone number.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: As of this morning, more than 300 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States yet the pace of vaccinations has been slowing, dropping below 1 million doses per day on average. Some states are falling well behind and this does threaten President Biden's goal to have 70 percent of adults vaccinated in the United States by July 4th.

Let's take a closer look at the numbers. We're joined by CNN Senior Political Writer and Analyst Harry Enten. The goal is to have 70 percent of adults vaccinated by July 4th, we're not headed there at this point, right?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: No, it doesn't seem so. So where we are right now, we're at 63.5 percent. Look where we were a month ago. We were only 6.5 points back, they are 57 percent, but two months ago, 41.7, and three months ago, 23.5. So we were really jumping by nearly 20 or 15 points a month, and then all of a sudden just a jump of just 6.5 point in the last month. And in the last week, look at this, we were at 62.6 percent a week ago, so a jump of less than a point last week. This is not the pace that we need to be setting if we want to reach that 70 percent goal by July 4th.

BERMAN: Where are we falling behind?

ENTEN: So I think this gives you a very good understanding of the trend line here. Look at this. So, adult population with at least one vaccine dose by the 2020 presidential winner. In the average state that Joe Biden won, look at this, we're right near 70 percent Mark already, 69.5. In the average Trumps that -- the average state that Trump won, just 54.6 percent.

Now, compare that to two months ago, and what you can see is that the Biden states have really seen a large jump. They have seen nearly or over a 25-point jump and the number of percentage of adults with at least one dose versus the Trump states, look at that, less than a 15- point jump. So the partisan gap over the last two months has really been widened.

BERMAN: I have to say, I was surprised by this. I didn't realize it was basically even two months ago and now, it's just, boom, a huge separation.

ENTEN: That's exactly right. The gap has widened as we start to go more and more out from those first people who really wanted those doses, as we go further and further end of the population, a lot more people on the periphery in the blue states willing to get vaccinated than those in the red states.

BERMAN: All right. What else have you got?

ENTEN: So, just to put a nice little ribbon on this in terms of the adult population with at least one vaccine dose, in the Biden states, already 13 states 70 percent-plus, an additional 7 with 65 to 65.9 percent. Those states will probably make it. So you'll probably get 20 of the Biden states out of 25 that will reach that 70 percent mark.

But look at this, among the Trump states, 65 percent or less, all 25. I don't think there's going to be a single Trump state that reaches that 70 percent goal that Biden put out.

BERMAN: And we're talking about adults here, 70 percent of adults, but we're also seeing this spread into the younger people, we're talking 12 to 17-year-olds also, right?

ENTEN: That's exactly right. They're basically doing what their parents are doing. And this is part of the widening gap that we're seeing between the red and the blue states. Top 25 vaccinated states among children 12 to 17, 21 of those were won by Joe Biden, just four of them won by Donald Trump, and this 21 includes all top 20 were won by Joe Biden for vaccinations 12 to 17. And the top 20 for the 12 to 17-year-old group, the exact same top 20 for the 18-plus. So they're really following their parents on this. Their parents got vaccinated. They're getting vaccinated too.

BERMAN: Where are we on the total population?

ENTEN: Yes. On the total population, basically, when you put the children and the adults together, what you see is in the average states Biden won, 57 percent of everybody has gotten vaccinated, just 43 percent of those in the Trump states. And if you look here on April 6th, again, it was just a four-point gap, now it's a 14-point gap, that widening gap that we've really seen developed over the last two months really seen throughout the entire population.

BERMAN: Well, we still have a few weeks to go. People still have chance to go out and get them. They work.

ENTEN: They definitely work. I got my two doses. I feel good. You feel good. They work. They save lives. Go out and get your vaccine if you haven't yet.

BERMAN: All right. Harry, I really appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Brianna?

KEILAR: I also feel good after getting mine, I will say.

There is new video and it appears to show an Oregon lawmaker to giving insights, advice on how to access the state capitol there. This includes giving out his personal number should someone need it for help.

Republican State Rep Mike Nearman is accused of allowing protesters into the closed capitol building while lawmakers were debating coronavirus restrictions. He has been charged now with first-degree official misconduct and second degree criminal trespass.

CNN Early Start co-Anchor Laura Jarrett joins us now. I mean, we knew that he had done something or was alleged to do something pretty crazy, this ups the ante.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: It ups the ante for sure, Brianna. Mike Nearman says he has been the victim of mob justice, but this newly surfaced video suggests the Republican state rep giving a real live mob access to the state capitol was no accident.

[07:25:09]

In the video posted on YouTube, you could hear Nearman answering questions from the audience about access to the building even though it's closed to the public and telling them where to stand and who to text once they're there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STATE REP. MIKE NEARMAN (R-OR): We're talking about setting up an operational hall pass, which I don't know anything about. And if you accuse me of knowing about it, I'll deny it, but there will be some person's cell phone which might 971-2(INAUDIBLE). But that is just random numbers that I screwed up. That's not anybody's actual cell phone. And if you say, I'm at the west entrance during a session and text to that number there that somebody might exit the door while you're standing there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: That bleeping you just heard a second ago was Nearman giving out what he said was just a random set of numbers, but CNN confirmed, in fact, it is his cell phone number.

Now, it's unclear if Nearman understood at the time he was being recorded, as you heard all the tips he's offering seemingly with a wink and a nod of prepared denials. But the scheme that he seems to sketch out here, operation hall pass, well, it's remarkably similar to what actually happens five days later. That's when an armed group showed up at the capitol and security footage shows Nearman exiting through a side door, leaving it open just long enough for the protesters to get through.

Now, as you mentioned, he is facing criminal charges but he's still in office. A committee is set to meet this week on whether Nearman violated capitol rules and decide the consequences, if any form (ph). Brianna?

KEILAR: Wow. What was he thinking there seeing him say that to folks at that event? Laura Jarrett, thank you very much.

JARRETT: Sure.

KEILAR: Still ahead, they want to break free, why residents in Atlanta's wealthiest neighborhood are trying to form their own city.

BERMAN: And Apple employees push back against the company's plans to bring workers back into the office just a few days a week.

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[07:30:00]