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Obama Gives Interview to CNN; Harris Warns Would-be Migrants; Space Billionaire Race Intensifies; Millions Under Threat of Severe Storms; Buttigieg Touts Need for Infrastructure Deal. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 08, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:28]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: In his wide-ranging interview with CNN, former President Obama laments the deep divisions that define so many facets of American society and he blames in part a media landscapes that he says preys on fear.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I also think that there are certain right wing media venues, for example, that monetize and capitalize on stoking the fear and resentment of a white population that is witnessing a changing America and seeing demographic changes and -- and do everything they can to give people a sense that their way of life is threatened and that people are trying to take advantage of them.

And we're seeing it right now, right, where you would think, with all the public policy debates that are taking place right now, that, you know, the Republican Party would be engaged in a significant debate about how are we going to deal with the economy and what are we going to do about climate change and what are we going to do about -- lo and behold the single most important issue to them apparently right now is critical race theory. Who knew that that was the threat to our republic?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He actually said, and we're here with John Harwood, our White House correspondent, he actually said, John Harwood, that the reason the -- this idea -- I thought it was so interesting -- he said, poof, suddenly everyone was back in line, talking about how, for a moment after the January 6th insurrection, you have Republicans who sort of stood up and said, you know, like a spade is a spade. And then they turned back around, fell in line and he blames the right wing media for that.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think right wing media is part of it. But, like with Donald Trump, it is -- these are reactions to the way the country is changing that he referred to. When Donald Trump was growing up, whites were the overwhelming majority of the American population. So were Christians. And you could make a good living as a blue collar worker going straight out of high school to a factory. All of those things have changed. The country's becoming less white, less Christian, requiring higher levels of education.

And so right wing media, Fox News in particular, right wing politicians, do, in fact, have as their main objective, stoking fear and resentment among people who think that they are being left behind by the country.

[06:35:01]

That's why when you had Charlottesville, the chant was, you will not replace us, because people are afraid they're being replaced. It's why former right wing politician sells survival rations to old people who are scared, or they urge people to put their money in gold because your money's not going to be worth anything.

It's why Donald Trump, in his campaign, said, you're not going to have a country anymore. That is targeted to a specific group of people, a subset of the white population, to make them afraid. And that's what it's about.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You have interesting insight. Brianna noted during the break that the former president didn't use the word Fox. He seemed to avoid it. He said right-wing media.

You have unique insight to this.

And I also want to make one other note there. You know, Barack Obama said "critical race theory." I guarantee you that he just gave Fox, which he would not mention, a full day of program by even speaking the words out loud "critical race theory."

HARWOOD: Well, why "critical race theory?" The reason is because it is targeted at white people who are afraid they're being supplanted. And the message is that people with brown skin and weird, white liberals are coming to get you. They're coming to take away your barbeque. They're coming to take away your hot dogs and your traditions.

You know, early in the President Obama's term, I interviewed him at the White House, and he said, you know, I've got an entire network, Fox News, dedicated to attacking me. And he got a lot of blowback from Fox. Some blowback from others in the press saying, oh, you're attacking the press. But the reality is that through there are good journalists at Fox, the principle point of the network is to fan these fears, and that is a source of their popularity, their grip on their audience.

And the same is true of President Trump. That's why people rally to President Trump. It's because he told people, I can turn back the clock on those changes. Make America great again. That is a backward looking message. Remember, the Republican Party had no platform last year. They didn't

-- they were not embracing a set of public policy solutions, a set of governing solutions. It was, rally to us. We're going to protect you from those people.

BERMAN: John Harwood, great to see you in person.

HARWOOD: You bet.

BERMAN: All right, Vice President Kamala Harris taking a stern tone with would-be migrants during her first foreign trip. This morning, a reaction from progressives.

KEILAR: Plus, the billionaire space race is heating up between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. More on the 15-year rivalry between two of the richest men in the world, coming up.

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[06:41:29]

KEILAR: Vice President Kamala Harris is waking up in Mexico this morning where she arrived last night as part of her two-country tour. She is set to meet with Mexico's president today after discouraging would-be migrants from making the trip to the United States.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us from Mexico City.

Jeremy, this was -- it was what she said and it was also how she said it, this stern warning to migrants.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. Listen, Vice President Kamala Harris came to the region to try and address the root causes of migration. She said that she was also there to provide hope to people living in Guatemala, to discourage them from coming to the United States.

And we saw some of that hope provided in the form of millions of dollars in new investments that were announced, an anti-corruption task force. But, ultimately, the loudest message that she delivered was this.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States/Mexico border, do not come. Do not come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And she went on to say that migrants who come to the U.S./Mexico border, that they will be turned around. And while that is true for the majority of migrants who present at the U.S./Mexico border, unaccompanied children are by and large being admitted into the United States. And that has been one of the main conundrums and one of the main factors here playing a role in the surge of unaccompanied minors that we have seen at the U.S./Mexico border.

And this is kind of the balancing act that we have seen from the Biden administration. Yes, they have implemented more humane policies at the border, rolling back many of those Trump-era policies. But at the same time, there is a feeling in Central America that perhaps the Biden administration's policies and its rhetoric have contributed to that surge. And so the vice president trying to make very clear while she was in Guatemala, one of the countries where you are seeing tens of thousands of migrants head to the United States, that that is not the message and instead she was telling them, do not come.

At the same time, there were those other policies that she was trying to put in place to address some of these longer-term, more systemic issues in the region.

Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jeremy Diamond, live for us from Mexico City. Thank you for that.

Some of the biggest websites in the world are currently offline due to a massive Internet outage. We're going to have more on this breaking news just ahead.

BERMAN: Plus, Moderna's CEO offering a new timeline about when children as young as five can expect to get vaccinated.

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[06:48:05]

KEILAR: This morning, the 15 year rivalry between billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk is intensifying after Bezos announced that he'll be on board when his company, Blue Origin, launches its first space tourism flight next month.

Christine Romans is joining us now on this.

All right, there's some competition here, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, a space race among the billionaires. You know, Brianna, the world's richest man has poured billions of dollars into Blue Origin. That's his rocket ship company. He calls this, quote, the most important work I am doing. Jeff Bezos and his brother will be aboard the New Shepard July 20th, rocketing 60 miles above earth, an 11-minute flight. If this trip happens, Bezos will beat fellow billionaire space tycoons Richard Branson and Elon Musk to space.

Blue Origin and Branson's Virgin Galactic see a future with sub orbital space tourism. Musk and Bezos have been space sparring for years too. They have fought over everything from putting satellites in orbit, a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center and more recently NASA's contract to fly astronauts to the moon. Now in April, NASA decided to move forward with Musk's company,

SpaceX, as the sole contractor for the human landing system.

There are six seats on the New Shepard space flight. One will be auctioned to a lucky space tourist. Current high bid, Brianna, $3.5 million. July 20th also the anniversary of the moon landing 52 years ago.

You know what, it's also just 15 days after Bezos steps down as Amazon's CEO. He'll remain as the company's executive chairman on a rocket ship raising questions no doubt about risk taking in the corporate suite, you guys. Amazon, a sprawling corporate empire. Everything from Amazon Web Services, Whole Foods, the Ring Security System, Prime Air with its executive chairman in space for 11 minutes, Brianna.

KEILAR: Would you go? Would you go, Christine?

ROMANS: No, this is not on any of my bucket lists.

KEILAR: Really?

ROMANS: No. I -- even if I had the money, which I don't, I would not go to space (INAUDIBLE).

KEILAR: Interesting.

ROMANS: Would you? I don't know.

KEILAR: You know, before I had kids, maybe. Now, I don't think I would.

ROMANS: What about just --

BERMAN: What about --

[06:50:00]

KEILAR: I don't think I would.

ROMANS: How about just team building sky diving?

BERMAN: What about if it's sweeps -- during sweeps?

KEILAR: If it was during sweeps? Look, I draw the line at eating bugs on TV, all right? That's where I draw the line.

Christine Romans, thank you.

We do have some more breaking news.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: Is that what you were going to say? We have some more breaking news. The new bipartisan report from the Senate reveals massive security

failures leading up to the Capitol insurrection. There is, though, one critical detail. It's a big one and it's left out.

BERMAN: And never before heard 2019 audio, obtained exclusively by CNN, reveals Rudy Giuliani relentlessly pressuring Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden.

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KEILAR: Today the National Weather Service will be conducting a damage survey, trying to determine how intense this tornado was that touched down in Colorado on Monday afternoon.

[06:55:06]

This downed powers lines, it caused delays at Denver International Airport. There were, though, no injuries reported so far at this time.

And this is coming as millions of people, from Texas into Arkansas are under the threat of flash flooding and severe storms amid very hot temperatures, which Jennifer Gray, I can attest to, it is a hot, hot here in Washington, D.C.

What should we be looking for?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you're going to have more hot temperatures there today. We're also going to see more showers and storms. Those storms you were talking about in Colorado basically heading to the east. And so we are seeing more showers and storms developing across portions of the south as well.

This weather report is presented by Carvana, the new way to buy a car.

So not only the storms we've talking about, as you mentioned, the heat. Yet another day with temperatures close to 90 degrees in D.C., 87 degrees in New York, 95 in Boston.

Now, some of these areas are starting to fall just a little bit, but we're still well above normal across portions of the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.

Here's where that severe weather risk is today. You can see portions of the northern plains, as well as the south, damaging winds, large hail, heavy downpours, the possibility of a tornado as well.

So flash flood watch across central and southern Arkansas with two to four additional inches of rain today. And you can see, as this pulls to the east, those storms don't move much across Arkansas. So that's really where we're going to see the potential for flooding.

Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be watching. Some serious stuff there.

Jennifer, thank you. BERMAN: All right, there's growing concern this morning about whether they can reach a bipartisan deal on infrastructure here in Washington. The White House struggling to bridge that political divide. Talks with Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito appear to have stalled. The senator is expected to speak with President Biden again today.

CNN's Pete Muntean spoke exclusively with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who got a first-hand look at a cracked bridge that has drivers in Memphis singing the blues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is a traffic nightmare near Memphis. This is the new morning rush now faced by thousands who would take Interstate 40 each day but with its bridge over the Mississippi River shut down by a critical failure, commuters are cramming on the nearby Interstate 55 instead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty bad, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to keep -- keep waiting, going through the traffic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's absolutely horrible.

MUNTEAN: Nurse practitioner Jason Gill fears ambulances could one day get caught on their way to Memphis area hospitals.

When inspectors found this crack in one of the bridge's 900 foot steel beams last month, they called 911.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just found a super critical finding that needs traffic shut down in both directions on the I-40 Mississippi River bridge. We need to get people off the bridge as soon as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This cannot happen in the future. Absolutely cannot happen in the future.

MUNTEAN: The 47-year-old Hernando de Soto Bridge is just one example of what the Biden administration says could be fixed and improved by its infrastructure plan.

America's bridges earn a C grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers. It rates 46,000 bridges across the country as structurally deficient and in poor condition.

This bridge, between Indiana and Illinois, is rotting away, closed since 2012.

ANDY HERMANN, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS: Here you can see some deterioration.

MUNTEAN: Civil engineer Andy Hermann showed us a railroad bridge near Boston he says is no longer safe. Herman insists this traditional infrastructure is overdue for an overhaul, but it is caught the middle of politics. HERMANN: It shouldn't be a political battle. It should be something we

just invest in to make our lives better.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Now they're under a lot of pressure here.

MUNTEAN: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured the I-40 bridge.

The Biden administration's $1.7 trillion infrastructure plan is larger than the plan proposed by congressional Republicans. Advocates hope whichever plan is passed pays for the $125 billion backlog of repairs they say that bridges need.

BUTTIGIEG: I think this is just a reminder of how much we depend on these assets. And a reminder that it costs money to look after these things. But, you know, if you ever find yourself wondering, can we afford a big investment in the future of infrastructure, just remember what happens if one of those critical assets is not available.

MUNTEAN: Back in traffic, we saw not only everyday drivers but also tractor trailers. I-40 connects Tennessee and Arkansas, running all the way from North Carolina to California. In the middle is Memphis, known as the logistics hub of America. It is home to FedEx and the world's largest cargo airport joining east and west by air, water, road, and rail.

WILLIAM DUNAVANT III, DUNAVANT ENTERPRISES: From a transportation logistics perspective, this country doesn't work without Memphis, Tennessee.

MUNTEAN: Trucker Clifton Huey (ph) says his usual half hour haul to a Union Pacific rail yard now can take up to three hours one way.

[07:00:03]

He envisions a future of a third Memphis bridge, but says the only thing to blame for this gridlock is political.