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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Biden Hosts South Korean Leader, Shifts Focus to East Asia; Gaza in Shambles After 11 Days of Destruction; ADL: 50 Percent Spike in U.S. Hate Crimes Fueled By Middle East Conflict; Daily Pace of Vaccinations Down Nearly 50 Percent from April Peak; Biden Steers Israel-Hamas Ceasefire with "Quiet" Diplomacy; Rural Counties in Liberal Oregon Vote to Join Conservative Idaho. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired May 21, 2021 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Well, if you would like to nominate someone to be a CNN hero, you can do it now at CNNheroes.com.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: They are all so inspirational. It will be hard to choose the best.
BLACKWELL: Yes. It is every year.
All right. THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: There is a battle over the border and it's in Idaho?
THE LEAD starts right now.
Vile slurs and even physical attacks, hundreds of reports of anti- Semitic hate-filled incidents in the United States. Can we get a cease-fire at home now?
Swipe right for a vaccine. The White House teaming up with dating apps so you could safely meet your next date at a bar again.
And life, liberty and the pursuit of potatoes. Why a big chunk of Oregon wants to join Idaho?
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD, everyone. I'm Jake Tapper.
And we start today with our world lead, and foreign policy front and center at the White House this afternoon. After praising his own administration's role in brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, President Biden today tries to shift his focus to East Asia, right now hosting his South Korean counterpart at the White House. President Biden has long said competition with China is one of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. today, and next hour, we will bring you remarks from both of the leaders that are speaking live. But the obstacles in the Middle East are far from over. That cease- fire touted by the president which ended 11 bloody and deadly days of fight appears to be fragile right now, with new skirmishes erupting Israeli security forces and Palestinians today in Jerusalem.
President Biden says that quite and relentless diplomacy got negotiations to the point of a ceasefire, but can Biden succeed where other presidents have failed in actually helping to achieve a long- lasting and just peace in the region, or is Biden not even going to try?
CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports now from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the Middle East cease-fire underway, President Biden's quiet diplomacy now in sharper view.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe the Palestinians and Israeli equally deserve to live safely and securely.
COLLINS: For 11 days, Biden avoided publicly criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or even calling for a cease-fire with a strategy in mind.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The best way to do that was not to call out our allies and partners.
COLLINS: Biden resisted calls from the progressive wing of his party to come down harder on Netanyahu.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): In his frantic effort to stay in power and avoid prosecution for corruption, Netanyahu has legitimized extremist forces.
COLLINS: After touting the cease-fire, sources say the president feels confident that a light touch was the right one.
BIDEN: My administration will continue our quiet, relentless diplomacy towards that end. .
COLLINS: It remains to be seen how long the cease-fire will last and how deep the divisions within the Democratic Party go.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): I'm really glad there's a cease-fire. I have every confidence that the Biden administration will make all efforts to maintain it.
COLLINS: Today, Biden turns his focus to East Asia, welcoming South Korean President Moon to the White House.
BIDEN: President Moon, it's a real honor to have you here participating in this ceremony today.
COLLINS: In only his second meeting with a world leader in person, Biden and Moon will talk about North Korea, China and vaccine diplomacy.
The South Korean leader was also in the audience as Biden presented his first medal of honor to 94-year-old Korean War veteran, Army Colonel Ralph Puckett Jr.
BIDEN: Though I understand that your first response to us hosting this event was to ask why all the fuss? Why all the fuss? Can't they just mail it to me? Colonel Puckett after 70 years rather than mail it to you, I would have walked it to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS (on camera): Now, Jake, as there are these questions about what the shift of the Democratic policy is going to look like when it comes to their policy towards Israel, we should note that the White House was asked if they are going to let that $735 million arms sale to Israel proceed, and the White House press secretary Jen Psaki said yes. The there are no plans to change their security assistance to Israel at this time -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.
With a cease-fire taking hold, it's now time to assess the damage. First, we go to Gaza which is in complete shambles. Aerial video showing just some of the wreckage. Entire buildings reduced to rubble, families left without homes, displaced, now dealing with the additional buffered attempting to rebuild their lives.
CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now for instance side Gaza.
And, Ben, tell us what you're seeing there. Just how bad is the damage from this conflict?
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The damage is severe. We were in areas where bombs were dropped in the middle of roads creating massive craters that broke sewage pipes and water pipes. In addition to buildings and homes totally collapsed, we were on one street where three buildings in a row were completely destroyed in the early hours of the 16th of May, killing more than 40 people.
So the destruction is massive, and, of course, the question is how are they going to rebuild? Now, in the past, and let's keep in mind it's now four wars Gaza has had since December 2008, and after each of the previous three they were able to rebuild with the aid of Qatar, for example, who gave money to Hamas to help it administer the Gaza Strip with Israel's acquiescence, by the way.
And the expectation is that it will happen again. They will be able to rebuild, perhaps not to the extent that those who have lost their homes would like them to be rebuilt, but it is possible. The worry is, of course, that just as we've had four wars since 2008, there's a high probability that will be another war and more destruction and another time to rebuild. So it's a cycle that seems to go on and on, and there's no movement to somehow break this cycle, stop this cycle of wars and the need to rebuild after every single war -- Jake.
TAPPER: Yeah. And, Ben Wedeman, I guess the death toll in Gaza is around 220. Last time I saw that number keeps getting updated.
Do we know if most of those killed were actually terrorists or militants? I know that more than 60 according to the Palestinian health ministry were children.
WEDEMAN: The death toll now is in excess of 240 and the ministry of health says that 66 of them are children. Now, by and large, it's considered that the numbers coming out of the ministry of health are accurate. It's the breakdown that sometimes raises questions. There's no doubt that there has been a large death toll among the civilian population.
Hamas habitually does not, however, put out its debt toll, so we probably will never know that, but I think that's -- that shouldn't obscure the fact that many innocent civilians have been killed here, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Ben Wedeman in Gaza, stay safe. I appreciate it.
Joining us now to discuss, Brett McGurk, he's the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.
Brett, good to see you again.
I want to get your reaction to what we just heard from CNN's Ben Wedeman in Gaza.
Many parts in Gaza just in complete shambles, innocent civilians who are lucky enough to escape with their lives lost their homes because of Israeli military strikes.
What role, if any, do you think the U.S. should play in helping to rebuild Gaza?
BRETT MCGURK, WHITE HOUSE COORDINATOR FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: Well, Jake, thanks so much for having me. First of all, we have a cease-fire that's been put in place last night because President Biden set an objective 12 days ago and very clear while we support Israel's right to defend itself, we want to make sure that this war comes to as swift a conclusion as possible.
And we work in a very disciplined and patient way with the Israelis, with the Palestinian Authority, with the Egyptians, many regional partners to get in place for a cease-fire that was put in place last night. This was patient, quiet and effective diplomacy led by the president with multiple conversations with the leaders throughout the region.
I would just say going forward, Secretary Blinken will be in the region next week and we'll in a very intensive discussion started today with the U.N. and others about the dire needs in Gaza which you just identified and we'll be working with our regional partners to do all we can to get immediate humanitarian aid into those areas.
It's going to be complicated. It's going to be difficult, but our approach I think will be exemplified exactly what you saw over the last 11 days. It will be quiet behind the scenes and organizing and marshalling the regional partners to do everything we possibly can to reduce the suffering there.
TAPPER: So, Brett, obviously a cease-fire is great but it's a short- term solution. The Israeli people need to know that they can live without Hamas rockets coming down, and the Palestinian people, they cannot continue to live in squalor and without rights, basic human rights of right to self-determination.
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This conflict is never going to end until these issues are solved. Is the Biden administration going to try to do something to fix the problem so we don't have these outbreaks of violence every few years?
MCGURK: Well, again, Jake, I think we're very realistic about the situation here. I think you have to keep in mind. We inherited a situation in which all connections with the Palestinians had been severed. We had no -- we cut off all aid. We cut off all security assistance. We closed our consulate.
So we've been restoring over the past couple of months, restoring those connections. We turned back on aid to the Palestinians in April, in early April of $230 million of humanitarian and security assistance. Those efforts will continue.
The Israeli situation also very complicated. They were heading into a fourth election when we came into office. We immediately established very deep relationships with the Israelis. We had three strategic dialogues with them in which we're beginning this very conversation about the future and a political horizon for the Palestinians.
This conversation has to be engaged. We will engage it. I think if you look at what the president said last night, how he ended his statement, again, we think there are some opportunities here, but we have to be very realistic. We do not want to set unachievable objectives and waste time pursuing those.
So, again, Secretary Blinken's trip think this week will be very important focused on the immediate needs and aftermath. But I think what's critical here, Jake. You know, there's a war between Israel and Hamas in 2014. It went on for 51 days, over 2,000 casualties.
This war was over in 11 days, even after Hamas, let's keep in mind, it was Hamas, a terrorist group, launched 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities and towns. This war had every indication that this was going on -- going to go on for many weeks, if not months.
And it was a patient, quiet diplomacy led by the president that got it into place to end after 11 days, and now we have to work just as hard in the aftermath to make sure we reduce the risks of another event triggering such a conflict.
TAPPER: So part of the cease-fire was helped by the Egyptians which was a peace process negotiated by Jimmy Carter. There is also now Israel has diplomatic relations with a bunch of Sunni-Arab nations including Qatar and the UAE, negotiated by Jared Kushner and of Avi Berkowitz during the Trump years.
There is an opportunity to bring in Arab allies of the United States that also have diplomatic relations with Israel to try to negotiate a peace. There might be a better opportunity in a weird way even though the internal politics between Hamas and Netanyahu and all that seemed to make things completely out of reach, but because of all the other alliances perhaps there is opportunity.
You keep talking about you want to be realistic, and I appreciate what you're saying, don't want to like set unachievable goals. But at the same time, isn't part of achieving peace trying to achieve the impossible?
MCGURK: Well, absolutely. Look, we have a very serious peace process going on to end the war in Yemen. We're working in Libya with a new government to reduce the risk of additional conflict there. We're working with the countries in the region. I was in the region three weeks ago. Again, Secretary Blinken will be there next week and we're very supportive with this normalization with Israel, with UAE, Morocco and Bahrain. We're in touch with all those capitals throughout this crisis. They sent very important messages, reinforcing messages into the Israelis and others to try to bring the cease-fire about, and we're looking to expand those. I think we'll have tools in our kit.
Look, throughout the Middle East, there's something going on, Jake, that through our quiet diplomacy, the Saudis and Egyptian are talking, Egypt and Turkey are talking, UAE and Turkey, all of these centrifugal forces that were really kind of causing conflicts throughout the region, there's some centrifugal forces bringing countries together. We're encouraging that through our diplomacy but we're just very realistic and clear-eyed about the challenges in the Middle East particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But make no mistake: we're going to do everything we can. Where there are bridges to be built, we're going to work to bridge them, and we've been working over the first 120 days to restore the diplomatic connections with the Palestinians. I think you'll see that very visibly when Secretary Blinken is in the region and, of course, with the Israelis.
We're very focused on their right to self-defense and we'll replenish the Iron Dome stockpiles. The Iron Dome saved thousands of Israeli lives over the last 11 days. So, all of this is going to continue.
TAPPER: I guess this is a simple yes or no question which is odd for the Middle East. And this can be done with a yes or no. Is the situation on the ground, the squalor and the lack of human rights that so many Palestinians experience, is that tenable?
MCGURK: Look, we have been talking. If you look at our -- we put readouts out after every call that the president has including President Abbas. We talk about the equality, the indignity that is need -- we need to achieve between Israelis and Palestinians. So, no, it's not acceptable.
TAPPER: All right.
MCGURK: And in Gaza, we have a situation where Qatar and other countries pay a lot of money to make sure that people can live in peace, but Hamas is also a big problem.
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And that's why the president last night, we're going to try to do this in a way to make sure that Hamas cannot restock its military arsenal.
There's a lot of work to do, but you'll see a lot of that work begin next week.
TAPPER: Brett McGurk, we always thank you for your time. We appreciated. And thanks for your efforts to achieve peace all over. Thank you so much.
MCGURK: Thanks so much.
TAPPER: Police dragging, beating and tasing a man during a deadly arrest and the victim's mother says lying about how he died.
Now, CNN has obtained new body cam video, and we have not seen this since the civil war perhaps -- the push to split a state into two because the state is too blue.
Stay with us.
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TAPPER: In our national lead, a spike in attacks on Jewish-Americans across the United States and in many cases seemingly fueled by the deadly conflict half a world away in the Middle East.
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Cameras have captured some of the incidents. A warning that they are a bit graphic and in New York, police say a Jewish man was kicked and beaten during a protest in Times Square, in Arizona, anti-Semitic vandals hit the synagogue of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
And yesterday, we told you about that incident in Los Angeles, Jewish Americans dining outside, possibly targeted and attacked by a group of pro-Palestinians.
Human rights groups are warning that these attacks are escalating at an alarming rate as CNN's Miguel Marquez now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEMONSTRATORS: Free Palestine! Free Palestine! MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pro-
Palestinian demonstrations turned violent. In New York City, a 29- year-old man wearing a yarmulke beaten by a group of five to six individuals Thursday, some chanting, F Jews, F Israel. One 23-year-old is now under arrest and facing numerous charges, including one related to a hate crime, including to a law enforcement force.
In Los Angeles, police investigating a possible hate crime after a pro-Palestinian demonstrations turned violent with some protesters shouting death to Jews and Israel kills children. One witness telling CNN pro-Palestinian protesters started throwing bottles and one asking diners seated outside who is Jewish.
A fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas may bring the temperature down here but protests and allegations of anti-Semitism on a sharp rise, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
In Vegas, Miami, Tucson and Los Island, protests and reports of hate crimes as tension and violence half a world away continues to incite anger here.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO & NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: We're literally track more than a 50 percent increase in anti-Semitic acts over the past week.
MARQUEZ: The Council on American Islamic Relations says there's been incidents of violence against Muslims as well and condemns anyone on any side of an issue who engages in hate speech, intimidation or violence.
(END VIDEOTAPE0
MARQUEZ (on camera): Now, in total, 26 individuals, 26 pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israeli protesters were arrested here in New York, and the hope is here among both sides, Jews and Muslims in the country, is that if that cease-fire holds in the Middle East, it will bring the tension down in this country as well -- Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Miguel Marquez in New York, thank you so much.
Also in our national lead, today, CNN has now obtained more body camera footage in the apparent killing of Ronald Greene. The black man was tased, beaten and dragged by state troopers back in 2019. He died on his way to the hospital according to law enforcement.
Louisiana state police say it's premature for "The Associated Press" to have released the short clips of the body camera footage from two years ago while this case is still under investigation. The department has yet to address claims by Greene's family of a law enforcement cover-up.
His mother told CNN police never even mentioned a struggle or their use of force.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MONA HARDIN, RONALD GREENE'S MOTHER: We were told by two officers that my son behind a high speed chase, ran into a tree -- his car ran into a tree and he died of head injuries. We were given the runaround because we were told that he was taken out of state, to Arkansas for his first autopsy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: CNN's Ryan Young joins us now.
Ryan, you've watched a longer version of the body cam footage that CNN just obtained. What does it show?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Look, we got this video maybe an hour ago, Jake, and just to tell our viewers, we're going to this video piece by piece and that's why we haven't gotten it yet. That's why there's nothing that would shock the public, or something that we couldn't air on TV.
While that process is going on, I've been able to watch it and what it appears to show is a higher level officers, maybe a lieutenant arriving to the scene, talking to the officers about exactly what's going on, from there you can hear Ronald Greene begging for his life. He's basically saying, Jesus, Jesus hallelujah.
At some point, the officers are saying to him, why did you run? You just ran a red light. Why did you run from them? It's going to be a simple traffic stop.
And then you can still hear him trying to get up from the ground when an officer places him back on the ground and says don't move, don't move and you can hear the officer say, I'm trying to have him not spit on us again, he doesn't seem like he's able to breathe.
But, Jake, what stands out to me is the fact that during this whole incident going back and forth, there's no place for him to run and he has handcuffs on. They could have turned him over and allowed him to get a breath. That doesn't happen.
Of course, this is part of the investigation that we haven't been able to see all this video, some 46 minutes of it. If they would release it all we could see exactly what happened. We also don't see Ronald Greene struggling during those moments.
TAPPER: Ryan, you also obtained the autopsy of Greene's death. What does that say?
YOUNG: Yeah. We got this autopsy from a source again and I received it probably about 30 minutes ago.
[16:25:02]
And we're going through it, Jake. From what we've read in the autopsy, the first part it says that the cause of death is listed as cocaine induced aggravated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collusion, physical struggle inflicted by head injury and restraint. The report was prepared by the Union Parish Coroner's Office and, of
course, we obtained it like I said half an hour ago. They said Greene's head lacerations were inconsistent with a motor collusion injury and most consistent with multiple impacts from a blunt object. we're going through the autopsy as well, Jake. So, we have a video and autopsy where they seem to say there was some drugs in his system. When you watch the video that we have, we also don't see him struggling. He continues to say he is sorry during this investigation.
And this is part of the problem. If there was transparency in the case, if it didn't take two years. We had all the video released we could kind of put the picture together like investigators are.
Now, of course, for the state troopers, they are saying they are under a federal guidance not to talk because it's been reviewed and we've seen in many other cases that federal and state investigators can be working at the same time to come to a different conclusion or the same conclusion in a case like this will continue to look at the facts here, Jake, and bring them to you as we have them.
TAPPER: Now, Ryan Young on top of this important case, thank you so much.
The kids doing their part. The promising numbers after the vaccine rollout for teens.
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TAPPER: In our health lead, crowds are back, thanks to the vaccine. This weekend, Florida is holding a 30,000-person wine and food festival spanning three counties, 40,000 fans are expected to flood downtown St. Louis for the Cardinals and Blues game tonight, and the New York Knicks are going to host 15,000 fans indoors on Sunday for the first round of the playoffs.
As CNN's Erica Hill reports for us now, there's still a lot of work to do as health experts try every trick in the book to get vaccine holdouts their shots.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From free drinks to free money.
GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: If you needed one more good reason than just going out to get vaccinated for your chance to win a share of $2 million.
HILL: States are pulling out all the stops to get more shots in arms. The White House hooking up with several dating apps.
ANDY SLAVITT, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE: People who display their vaccination status are 14 percent more likely to get a match. We have finally found the one thing that makes it all more attractive, a vaccination.
HILL: More than 160 million people in the U.S. now have at least one shot, but the average daily pace of vaccinations is dropping fast, down nearly 50 percent since last month's peak.
DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: We need to do whatever we can to give people a safe incentive to get vaccinated.
HILL: The south sparking new concerns. These eight states among the ten where less than half the adult population has received at least one dose.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Last summer, right around June and July, we saw a big surge of cases in the South. Why in the South? Because it gets pretty hot and hard to spend time outside. People cluster indoors and if we have large numbers of unvaccinated people on those states, we may very well see a surge in those states.
HILL: One bright spot, 12 to 15-year-olds account for nearly 20 percent of new vaccinations nationwide in the past week.
DR. JAY VARKEY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, EMORY UNIVERSITY: This is their shot to being teenagers, and by rolling up their sleeves, they actually help protect their parents, their teachers, their classmates and their communities.
HILL: Average daily cases now under 30,000, the lowest level in nearly a year, and at one of the Bay Area's largest hospitals, no COVID patients for the first time in 14 months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did have tears in my eyes. It feels like had a milestone.
HILL: Another milestone coming this Sunday when 15,000 fans will pack Madison Square Garden for game one of the NBA playoffs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we've been waiting for, New York.
HILL: D.C. lifting most capacity limits today and Rhode Island dropping its remaining COVID restrictions a week early thanks to vaccinations as Americans adjust to yet another new normal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL (on camera): And, Jake, more states push to remove masks in school, there's new CDC data today that shows lower case numbers in elementary schools where teachers, staff and students wore masks. That data also found that with increased ventilation, case numbers were lower as well.
TAPPER: Thanks, Erica.
Before you go, I want to underline this point. I'm vaccinated and my wife is vaccinated and our 13-year-old got her first shot and as soon as it's good for the 11-year-old, he's going to get one. Tell us about your family.
HILL: You know, the same. So, my husband and I are both fully vaccinated. My 15-year-old is one shot him. We, too, have an 11-year- old and we're waiting on him. Our in-laws came and those hugs were amazing because they are fully vaccinated, and it means everything to get our family back together.
TAPPER: Get vaccinated, folks. Thanks, Erica.
We're joined now by Dr. Richard Besser. He is the former acting CDC director and the president .and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Besser, great to see you.
So, 12 to 15-year-olds made up a quarter of vaccinations since they became eligible. Only 5 percent of the entire U.S. population. That's an incredible pace as if I didn't already think the world of gen-Z, but I have to say, overall, the daily paves vaccinations in the U.S. has slowed down from 50 percent -- about 50 percent from April.
So what can be done to make sure that the 12 to 15-year-olds keep getting vaccinated at the very high rates?
DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING CDC DIRECTOR: Yeah. So, so the slowing of the rate of vaccination, Jake, was -- was expected and was predicted, and I wish there had been more done to set that as the expectation, and the reason for that is you had all this pent-up demand of people wanting to get vaccinated and there wasn't enough supply. And so, you released that and people are waiting, they couldn't get appointments. And then the vaccine supply caught up and we're seeing 3 million, as many as 4 million a day.
That's all been met but we're still seeing people getting vaccinated at slower rate. These incentives and reaching people where they are is going to help a lot.
With the young kids, it's going to be the same kind of thing, where you'll see this big surge, 600,000 12 to 15-year-olds getting vaccinated last week. Once the big demand is met there, then it's going to be -- it's going to slow down a little bit and we'll have to think about how do you meet parents where they are, how do you address people's concerns so that 12 to 15-year-olds are getting vaccinated, and when people start school in the fall, it can be a normal middle school, a normal high school experience for our young people.
TAPPER: Which is what we want.
A poll conducted by your foundation as well as Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, this is shocking, found 45 percent of Americans think that the CDC is doing only a fair job or a poor job. What does the CDC need to do to regain the trust of the American people?
BESSER: Yeah. It's -- it's hard. You know, regaining trust that you've lost takes a lot -- it takes a lot of time, and I think you do it by seeing some of the things that we are seeing, and that's transparency, having the opportunity to talk to the public. When you make a change, explaining what the science is that's driving that.
I think there was a bit of a challenge last week. The science was really strong on the new guidance that said that fully vaccinated people could go indoor without masks, but the rollout was rough. People didn't see it coming, and it's led to challenges in terms of implementation but being up front, being transparent and letting people know why you're making decisions and what they mean is -- will go far.
TAPPER: Dr. Richard Besser, thanks so much. Good to see you as always.
Coming up, President Biden will speak after a cease-fire is achieved in the Middle East. How he handled the crisis and what had it could mean for future hot spots. That's next.
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TAPPER: Any minute now, we're expecting President Biden to hold a news conference at the White House along with the president of South Korea. This is less than 24 hours after a very fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Biden touted his behind-the-scenes approach with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as successful and said, quote, quiet diplomacy played a critical role in the agreement.
Let's discuss.
Margaret, let me start with you. President Biden is obviously more versed in U.S. foreign policy than any of his recent predecessors. He was chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee for years. This week's conflict gave us a glimpse into how he's going to try to approach international affairs which apparently is largely privately not using the bully pulpit.
What do you make of the strategy?
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What he's done, Jake, especially in the case of Israel, he's reasserted the United States as a stabilizing force in the region while managing his left change in the United States Congress which was sort of a new factor, and yes, it's really the rhetoric and the tone and the way the news media and narrative played out.
And so, you know, it strikes me that part of the approach, while it is very much America is back and re-engaging with alliances I think he feels the need to personally build back relationships while also managing a very new dynamic in his party which is the progressive foreign policy agenda.
TAPPER: Which is, Paul, very critical of Israel, especially Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others. How do you think he's negotiated that? It seems frankly like Biden has just kind of ignored the criticism from the progressive voices in his party. I'm not sure if he's -- he's not a big social media guy. He might not even be aware of it.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I think ignoring those voices is how he got to be president. That's how he won 44 out of 54 primaries.
Joe Biden knows foreign policy. Margaret is exactly right. He comes to this job with more experience than any new president since George H.W. Bush. He knows what he's doing and he knows there has to be no daylight between the United States of America and the state of Israel, and he asserted that had publicly and then privately he did apparently. We saw reporting. I don't have any inside knowledge, privately pushed Prime Minister Netanyahu to have a cease-fire.
I was struck his tone in the statement with a cease-fire was spot on. Always assert and defend Israel's right to defend its citizens but also say that Palestinians have an equal right to live in dignity and equality and opportunity and freedom. So I think he's got it exactly right, and some in the left of his party are howling, that suggests to me he's got it right.
[16:45:03]
TAPPER: Margaret, Biden recently spoke with the "New York Times'" David Brooks. Brooks writes of Biden, quote, he grew up when America was the undisputed world leader, and now he sees that rapidly slipping away, failing to invest enough in research and development. We're eating our seed corn, Biden continued, quoting corporate executives who talked about how the private sector was not looking to the long term, eating our seed corn, that's relatable for Gen-Z.
What does Biden's world view tell you about how he approaches foreign policy?
HOOVER: Look, what Biden is representative of, an idea in American politics that Gen-Z is not going to understand either, Jake, and that is the modern American liberal tradition. He came out of World War II. He came out of sort of the big government expansion of modern American liberalism in the 1960s and framed his growing up and his experience.
That is a big government approach to solving problems where government has a pronounced role in the lives of individuals and in shaping domestic policy, foreign policy, but it is distinct from the progressive trends in the Democratic Party as well. I mean, emblematic of this there's a fight about infrastructure and Joe Biden is planning on paying for it.
Now, he's arguing with Republicans about how to pay for it and the progressive would argue there's no need to worry about paying for it because the extremists in that side at least say that you can print all the money you want.
So, it is an interesting deflection and dichotomy in the Democratic Party right now where Joe Biden is a modern liberal, not a progressive. TAPPER: And also, Paul, this world view also impacts as Margaret notes
how approaches domestic issues. Brooks writing again, quote, has Biden become a straighter progressive? Biden doesn't think so.
The progressives don't like me because I'm not prepared to take on what I would say and what they would say is a socialist agenda, unquote. So, I mean, and he actually says in that article like there's no reason why taxpayers should pay for $10,000 for somebody to go to the University of Pennsylvania which we should note is where his son Beau went and also a bunch of the Trump kids.
BEGALA: Yeah. I think, again, he's got it exactly right. We in the media, we pay a lot of attention to the Twitter left and they are important and I love them and I'm on twitter, blah, blah, but the truth is the heart of the Democratic Party is African-Americans, other racial minorities who tend to be much more moderate. You know, Biden knows that. That's why he's the nominee.
Bernie Sanders won 19 contests, the Democratic socialist content against Hillary Clinton and only won nine against Joe. So, Biden is definitely in sync with the heart and base of his party.
TAPPER: Paul Begala and Margaret Hoover, great to see you both of you. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend.
BEGALA: Thank you.
HOOVER: Thanks.
TAPPER: If you thought the country was already divided politically, there's a new push to actually divide part of it. That's next.
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TAPPER: In our national lead today, seven rural counties in Oregon are one step closer to becoming part of Idaho. That's part of a long shot campaign by conservatives who say they are fed up with Oregon's left- leaning politics. If that were to happen the expanded Idaho would become the United States third largest state in terms of landmass, according to the group behind the push.
CNN's Tom Foreman is looking into whether this pipe dream could become a reality.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Make room, Idaho, because some neighbors want to come your way and not just as tourists. Voters in seven rural Oregon counties have now approved ballot measures that require local officials to consider changing the map and allowing Oregon to leave Oregon and Idaho permanently. It's a group called Greater Idaho and Mike McCarter is president.
MIKE MCCARTER, PRESIDENT, GREATER IDAHO: It's not a vote to start a new state. It is just the beginning process of asking Oregon to let Oregon's rural counties go and asking Idaho would you allow us to become part of your state.
FOREMAN: In other words, they are not too happy about the influence of progressive places such as Portland and the state's largely Democratic government insisting among other things addicts will be attracted to Oregon from all over the world by more liberal drug laws, that Oregon refuses to protect citizens from criminals, rioters, wildfire arsonists and more. And top of the list, Oregon will continue to violate more and more American values and American freedoms because normal rural Americans are outnumbered.
Those claims can be and are disputed. However --
GOV. BRAD LITTLE (R), IDAHO: I understand the frustration of some of my Oregon friends.
FOREMAN: The Republican governor of Idaho, Brad Little, is sympathetic.
LITTLE: That's a decision that has to be made there. It's got to be made in Idaho and it's got to be made in Congress.
FOREMAN: And California might have to approve, it too, since the secessionists would also like to lop off the top of that state to give land-locked Idaho a port on the Pacific and presumably surfing.
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FOREMAN (on camera): It's all a great big gnarly long shot at this point. Movements like this come along all the time, they virtually always fail. You reach out to the Oregon governors' comment for comment, they have nothing to say about it.
The bottom line, is if you live in Oregon right new, and you'd rather be in Idaho, be easier to pack up a U-haul and move -- Jake.
TAPPER: Tom Foreman, thanks so much.
FOREMAN: You're welcome.
TAPPER: Soon, President Biden will speak after a cease-fire is reached in the Middle East and he turns his attention to yet another hot spot.
Plus, trolling Ted. Senator Ted Cruz uses a Russian propaganda video to slam the U.S. military?
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Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
Leading this hour, any minute, we expect President Biden to deliver remarks and answer questions from reporters. The president is holding a joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a week of big test for the Biden foreign policy.
Right now, a fragile cease-fire remains between Israel and Hamas, the White House touting President Biden's quiet diplomatic efforts to help reach that cease-fire.
