Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
Travel Ban Extended In Vermont Capital Due To Flooding; GOP Senator Tuberville Refuses To Denounce White Nationalism In Military; Lawmakers Grill PGA Execs Over Saudi-Backed LIV Merger. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired July 11, 2023 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well, right now, the capital of Vermont is pleading for more Swift Water Rescue Teams. This, as dangerous flooding reaching critical levels in the city's main dam.
About an hour and a half ago, officials said there was only one foot of storage capacity behind the dam left. Right now, the water levels are inching toward the spillway.
More than 100 rescues have taken place across six counties. And the New Hampshire governor just deployed some Blackhawk helicopters to assist those still trying to reach higher ground.
CNN's Miguel Marquez, he's seeing it all firsthand from Vermont.
And I know these warnings are going out. You have this no-travel rule going into effect until 3:00 p.m. I wonder, as you're there, people listen.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Most people are staying off the road. They're certainly staying off the road I'm on. This is right downtown Montpelier. State Street is down here.
We've been watching. This is our unofficial indicator of how high the water is. That car, two hours ago, the water was completely over the top of it. It's been coming down rapidly. The river that runs through town here has come down.
So if that water -- if the reservoir north of here overspills that spillway, there's somewhat less concern because they have a little bit more breathing room now that the water in general is coming down everywhere.
But it is just still just a massive, massive amount of water that came up from the south and then moved north.
So there's still concern about how much water is in the system and raising the level of those reservoirs and then moving into towns and cities like Montpelier.
I can tell you that most people that we talked to are OK. They have -- either on higher ground or moved to higher ground. A lot of those rescues, though, are people who cannot get out of where
they are. They need medical attention.
And they have lots of water rescue craft and personnel moving to those areas to help those people get to an ambulance or get to loved ones on the other side of streets like this -- Jim?
SCIUTTO: So important to listen to those travel bans because folks can often be surprised by how quickly the waters rise.
Miguel Marquez, in Montpelier, Vermont, thanks so much.
Boris?
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a new leader. Dr. Mandy Cohen greeted employees in Atlanta this morning as she began her first day in office. She, of course, replaces Dr. Rochelle Walensky who stepped down as CDC director at the end of June.
And the surfing community is mourning the loss of one of their own. Hawaiian surfer, Mikala Jones, died after a surfing accident in Indonesia. The exact details of the incident are still unclear.
But he was known throughout the surfing world for the photos and videos he took while riding inside of waves, offering a unique first- person perspective in the sport. Mikala Jones was 44 years old.
Meantime, overseas, in Israel, demonstrators march in the streets for what they're calling a day of disruption. You can see massive crowds gathered there waving flags and blocking a highway. Dozens so far have been arrested according to Israeli police.
The protests come as Israel's government is moving forward with its controversial plan to overhaul the country's judicial system.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the measures are needed to rebalance the powers between the courts and lawmakers and government. Opponents say the plan will ultimately undermine democracy.
Brianna?
[13:33:35]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Coming up, white nationalism and what it means. A matter of opinion as far as Senator Tommy Tuberville is concerned. We'll have more on his provocative interview with CNN and how he is again explaining his position. We'll discuss right ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:38:17]
KEILAR: Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is not backing down today despite criticism from some in his own party for refusing to denounce white nationalism out-right.
His colleague, Senator John Thune, telling CNN there is no place for white nationalism in the Republican Party or in the military.
Here's what Tuberville said to CNN's Kaitlan Collins last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN PRIMETIME": Just to be clear, you agree that white nationalists should not be serving in the U.S. military. Is that what you're saying?
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): If people think that a white nationalist is a racist, I agree with that. I agree they shouldn't --
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: A white nationalist is someone who believes that the white race is superior to other races.
TUBERVILLE: Well, that's some people's opinion. And I don't think --
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: That's not opinion.
TUBERVILLE: Pardon?
COLLINS: What's your opinion?
TUBERVILLE: My opinion of a white nationalist, if someone wants to call them white nationalist, to me is an American. It's an American. Now, if that white nationalist is racist, I'm totally against anything that they want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And today while surrounded by reporters on Capitol Hill, Tuberville doubled down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Explain why you continue to insist that white nationalists are American.
TUBERVILLE: Listen, I'm totally against racism. And if Democrats want to say that white nationalists are racists, I'm totally against that, too.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But that's not a Democratic definition. The definition of a white nationalist --
(CROSSTALK)
TUBERVILLE: Well, that's your definition. My definition --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It is the definition.
TUBERVILLE: -- is racism is bad.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: The definition the definition is that they believe --
(CROSSTALK)
TUBERVILLE: Next question.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- that the right --
(CROSSTALK)
TUBERVILLE: Next question. Racism --
(CROSSTALK)
TUBERVILLE: Racism is totally out of the question.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you believe that white nationalists are racist?
TUBERVILLE: Yes, if that's what a racist is, yes.
Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[13:39:58]
KEILAR: With me now to talk more about this is former Republican Congressman, Adam Kinzinger. He is a CNN senior political commentator. He's also honorary chairman of Country First PAC. And he also served as an Air Force pilot flying missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Congressman, thank you for your time this afternoon.
It's obviously not an opinion. It is a fact that white nationalism, white nationalists are racists. Why do you think it is so hard for Senator Tuberville to be clear about that?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So it's interesting. Good to see you.
But here's what is happening. So if you listen to the full interview, for somebody that claims to be very clear spoken, I'm just going to tell you how I feel, he is twisting his words around to please everybody.
So he's trying to pretend like, well, white nationalists are Americans. If they're racist, I'm against racism but, you know, that's only your opinion that white nationalism is racism.
So that way, he's trying to create a situation where everybody can hear what they want to hear. Because honestly, there is a constituency of white nationalists that you don't want to tick off evidently in some of the Republican primaries.
Because they're allowed on the Internet or they have the ear of certain people. And so I think he is trying to twist his words.
And he does not want to alienate -- it's a lot of what you saw, frankly, with Donald Trump where he did not want to alienate the Proud Boys and stuff like that. So it's a really, really concerning thing.
Let's be very clear. White nationalism is not just racism, it's deep racism and it has no place, in my opinion, in any political party. And it's certainly got no place in the United States military.
KEILAR: Historically, the GOP likes to embrace that it is pro-military and the Pentagon itself has said, yes, there is a problem with white nationalism, there is a problem with extremism in its ranks.
What does it do to the Republican Party's historic support of the military for it to be home to a Senator who is saying something like this?
KINZINGER: By the way, I want to be clear, it's true that there is extremism in the military.
Now it's not necessarily at a greater rate than all of the country, but I've seen people -- I've seen people tell me -- I've had people tell me QAnon theories wearing the uniform in the military. So, yes, we have to weed that out.
Just like when I joined the military, I had to say I am not a member of the Communist Party or any party or any group that seeks to overturn the United States government.
And so what it does for historical Republican support, they can pretend like, continue to pretend like they are the pro-military party.
As they oppose U.S. support to Ukraine, which actually is preventing the United States military from having to get involved directly against Russia, as they hold up nominations because of the difference on abortion opinion.
And have these members of the military that are reliant on their promotions for better pay and better leadership, the military that needs them to fill these positions, holding them up for politics.
So, look, there's plenty of criticism that can go around in terms of politicizing the military. In this case, it is the Republicans, or more specifically, Tommy Tuberville that's doing exactly that.
KEILAR: So all of this is spawning, sort of spinning off of the fact that he is unilaterally holding up these military nominations, right, over the Pentagon's abortion leave policy.
How problematic is it -- and we're seeing this really affect, right, the nomination for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
How problematic is it for Republicans that this GOP Senator, who cannot condemn white nationalism as racist, is holding up the nomination of an African-American general to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs?
KINZINGER: I think it's quite problematic. Now, I've kind of come to believe that when it comes to base politics, there's really nothing somebody can do that's going to change the support among the base, unfortunately. But you can chip away at it.
And people I think -- especially Alabama's got a pretty significant military presence.
There's going to be a lot of people that are actually personally affected by this.
Look, I don't even think anybody like Rand Paul, who is very antimilitary quite honestly, has taken it this far before. So this is damaging to the Republican brand.
It's damaging to Tommy Tuberville. I guess he can win over some of the -- he's probably already won over the anti-abortion folks but maybe he can win them over even harder.
But even the Republicans in the Senate are saying this is insane, this is insane.
I mean, we can't talk about competition with China and blame President Biden for some lack of competition with China and then hold up the nominations in the military that is actively every day preparing for --hopefully not actually engaging in -- competition or conflict with China.
That's the only way to prevent it. And Tommy Tuberville is doing great damage to that.
[13:45:02]
KEILAR: Yes. And those are some of the actual nominations that we're talking about, right, when it comes to the Navy and the fleets that are dealing with the China threat.
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.
KINZINGER: You bet. Take care.
KEILAR: Jim?
SCIUTTO: Still ahead, as we speak, Senators grill leaders of the PGA Tour over the proposed partnership with the Saudi Arabian government- backed LIV Golf while some say they're quite concerned about Saudi Arabia's growing influence in the sport. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:50:14]
SANCHEZ: Today, lawmakers are grilling PGA executives after the Tour's stunning proposal to partner with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf. That deal sparKing outrage for many who see it as the latest big-dollar attempt by the Saudi kingdom to sports-wash its international image.
Senators today spoke out on their concerns about where this deal may lead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I would like to have a commitment from both of you that the final agreement will not prevent players or PGA Tour executives from commenting on or criticizing actions of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Will you make that commitment?
RON PRICE, CEO, PGA TOUR: It will certainly be an objective we would seek, Senator. And I would add that the framework agreement does not prevent our players from speaking their mind on any matters --
(CROSSTALK)
BLUMENTHAL: It doesn't now. But you can't commit that the final agreement will not require them to avoid any such disparaging statements?
PRICE: We do not anticipate it having that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Let's dig deeper with CNN sports analyst, Christine Brennan.
Christine, always great to see you.
I want to start by asking you about the reasons that are being given for this deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
PGA policy board member, Jimmy Dunne, said that this deal happened because there was real concern about players leaving and feeling pressure to join LIV Golf.
He said that the division and tension among players was unsustainable and that it was starting to spread to fans and sponsors. Do you buy that as a legitimate reason to strike this deal?
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: No. No, Boris, I do not. It sounds like a great excuse for the PGA Tour to be defending its unconscionable decision to go into business with the Saudis and allow them to be a part of an American sport, a worldwide sport.
As everyone may remember -- I'm sure you do -- there was that initial rush of several players to join LIV Golf for unbelievable amounts of money, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka. But that stopped. The tide had been stemmed.
And people like Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods said no, no matter how much money, no way, no how.
American fans, in general, have been very anti-LIV. And frankly, the LIV Golf TV ratings are terrible. The attendance was terrible. The exhibition was terrible. There is no cut. It is three rounds. It's basically a joke.
So the notion that it somehow is building, and if that's their argument that, oh, there are more people going and fans are more interested, all the stats, all the facts show the exact opposite of what he said today.
SANCHEZ: And looking forward, there is the question of autonomy, no? Because Ron Price, the PGA Tour chief operating officer, he said the framework agreement includes, quote, "clear and explicit permanent safeguards that ensure that the Tour will lead the decisions and it will control operations."
But the Saudis are spending a lot of money, upwards of a billion dollars. If they control the purse strings, how much autonomy does the PGA board ultimately have?
BRENNAN: Exactly, Boris. Absolutely, that is the question. And we know from what the PGA Tour was telling us a year ago, how they were so concerned and so sympathetic with 9/11 families, so worried about the LGBTQ rights and human rights in Saudi Arabia, how terrible LIV Golf was.
And of course, they did a complete 180, five, six weeks ago. So the idea that they're telling us this now, how do we even believe them? How do we know they're telling the truth?
But the notion that the Saudis are buying in at that price, potentially of more than $1 billion, as we heard today in the hearing, and they're not going to want to control things? That's ridiculous. It defies credulity.
And the PGA Tour's credibility is about zero right now. It might be under par. And because of what has gone on in the last year, I don't know that we can believe any of this.
SANCHEZ: The timing is also notable because this hearing comes a day after Randall Stevenson, a former AT&T executive, resigned from the PGA board. He said that he had specific serious concerns about the partnership with the Saudis.
Are you surprised there haven't been more resignations and more folks objecting on moral grounds?
BRENNAN: We would be holding our breath for a long time if we were looking for spying or a moral compass from the man who runs golf. This is a sport that the country club set.
This is a sport that, for decades, was comfortable with discrimination against people of color, black men, mostly, black women, too.
[13:55:04]
And women. There are still golf courses today in the United States that women would be escorted to the curb and told to leave if they showed up.
So they are so -- they've been so consistently happy or content or at least willing to accommodate discrimination and racism and misogyny, that the thought that anyone would take a stand on something this important, as I said, I'm not going to hold my breath for that.
But again, it's good that one person did that. I wish more would but I'm not surprised that they have not.
SANCHEZ: It is so important to remember the history and how it fits in the context of the current moment.
Christine Brennan, always appreciate your insights. Thank you so much for joining us.
BRENNAN: Boris, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
Brianna?
KEILAR: Coming up, the Georgia grand jury that is expected to determine if former President Donald Trump faces more criminal charges has been selected. We'll have all the details.
Stay with us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
