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Teacher Depicts Own Tombstone To Demand Masks In School; GOP QAnon Supporter With History Of Bigoted Remarks Wins Georgia Primary; What Trump Has Said About Kamala Harris In Recent Years; Former Democratic California Congresswoman, Katie Hill, Discusses Kamala Harris Being Chosen As Biden's Running Mate. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 12, 2020 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: What is your school doing to protect students and staff, and certainly in your view, what they are not doing, to protect students and staff, when it comes to masks, but also other precautions?

LIZZIE HANSEN, SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER: So when it comes to masks in my school -- I'm actually in two schools. Both are expected but not required. So it's the expectation, if you're able to, you will wear a mask.

But if a student isn't wearing a mask, we can send them to the office and there will be a call home. And if the parent says, no, don't have to wear a mask, the issue ends there and they don't have to wear a mask the remainder of the school year.

One of my schools for sure -- I believe the other one is, too -- ordered masks for all staff and all students so that there are masks available for those students that might not have resources at home, come from modest means. So we are making sure that safety is available when possible.

But if the parents don't want them to wear a mask, they don't have to.

We're doing a lot of cleaning and just making sure that kids are in the safest possible environment.

KEILAR: And social distancing?

HANSEN: Social distancing is a big challenge, especially, like, if I have 30 kids in a classroom. There's absolutely no way six feet between any of them.

And -- kids need to get up and move. That's how they learn. They need to be active, need to be engaged. That's how we really get their minds and bodies moving. That's just not possible with social distancing.

We have to do fire drills. Active shooter drills. Absolutely no way to do social distancing in any of those situations. If we're trying to get outside for a fire drill, I can't have 18 kids, six feet apart. That's an insane number. It's like 100-foot line. That's not -- and -- no possible way, for a fire.

KEILAR: I want to ask before I let you go. Your governor resisted calls for masks. She's downplayed the significance of them for students. What do you want her to know?

HANSEN: I want her to know that, despite whatever she says, I'll be the best teacher the kids have ever had, no matter what position I'm put in.

I want her to know that -- the bottom line, everybody needs to the safe. If researchers are wrong, we'll look silly a couple of months wearing a mask over our face. But if the they're right, we're potentially saving lives.

KEILAR: Lizzie, thank you so much. Lizzie Hansen, teacher, joining us from South Dakota. Appreciate your voice.

HANSEN: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: The president trading the whistle for a bug horn with a sexist and racist tweet about housewives.

Plus, a QAnon conspiracy theorist wins her primary and is one step closer to Congress as the president just called he the future of the GOP. I'll be speaking with a reporter that she kicked out of her victory speech.

The first campaign appearance of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is moments away. Stand by for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:04]

KEILAR: In Georgia, a GOP candidate who buys into the baseless QAnon conspiracy group wins a primary runoff and is in good position to win a congressional seat.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has a track record of incendiary and racist rhetoric, things like warning of an Islamic invasion after two Muslims won office. And describing black people as slaves to Democrats. And last week, defending a lie that Democratic donor, George Soros, turned over Jews to the Nazis.

She celebrated her win last night with an attack on the media and this remark on Nancy Pelosi. She said, quote, "She's a hypocrite, she's anti-American, and we're going to knock that 'B' out of Congress."

And as he raced to jot down her words, my next guest was kicked out of the room. Greg Bluestein is a political reporter for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution."

Thanks for being with us.

Greg, before we get to what happened to you, tell us a little bit more about what she believes in. GREG BLUESTEIN, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION:

Yes. I mean, this is a candidate running to her party hard right on a range of issues. She sees herself as a true conservative who wants to represent a deeply Republican northwest Georgia district, an open seat.

And who believes that a lot of Republicans, including even conservatives, some conservative Republicans, are spineless, not willing to stand up to liberal left, to the lying media, in her words, and also to their own party.

KEILAR: And what is the general election looking like for her?

BLUESTEIN: She's the heavy favorite to win. This is a seat that the incumbent Republican, who's standing down this year, won with about three quarters of the vote.

We're talking about a deeply conservative area, which is the reason why someone this controversial emerged, because it's -- it's already sort of so solemnly Republican, so basically march to the right.

[13:40:04]

And Marjorie Taylor Greene initially running to a more moderate suburban district right in center of Atlanta and switched to this race when the incumbent decided he wasn't going to stand again. And she immediately went even further to the right and made the most of a very jumbled field to emerge as the front-runner.

KEILAR: How much of this is -- is it something we should read into as a larger trend? Is this a symbol of how these, you know, out-there conspiracy theories are permeating the Republican Party or is this a one-off?

BLUESTEIN: She's one of several candidates, most of them are long shots, but still, several candidates who have embraced the QAnon view.

She's not been repudiated by a broad swath of party leadership. President Trump today endorsed her said she's a future Republican star. It's not something that should be seen as a one-off.

And indeed, in Georgia, many Republicans, at first, tried to distance themselves from her, but then didn't really do anything to stop her rise. They're fearful of their own political -- wasting their own political capital against someone who is seen as the front-runner of the race and generally didn't want to hurt their own election chances in November.

KEILAR: And, Greg, tell us about your experience? You actually got kicked out of the room last night at her victory party. You're a serious journalist but you seem like a nice guy. What happened here?

BLUESTEIN: Yes. I've been covering Georgia politics in some form or fashion for like 20 years and I've never kicked out of a victory party. A time of celebration, candidates usually want the media attention. I was the only reporter in the room that I could tell, at least, a

small room. Didn't sneak in or anything. Kind of walked in. Had my laptop open. I knew several people -- many people in the room, I should say. Not like I was covert or anything like that.

Usually, these things are conciliatory, they're not mending fences, building bridges. Sometimes these things are more fiery. This was more like dropping a napalm bomb. She not only attacked Democrats and the media but she went after her own party in a sign of what's to come.

Republicans in Georgia have long feared that she would be a giant headache for their own party, and I think last night proved that to be true.

KEILAR: Yes. You were just there doing your job. Quite normal to be in a victory party covering it. Happens all the time.

BLUESTEIN: Exactly.

KEILAR: Thank you so much. Greg Bluestein, always good to see you.

BLUESTEIN: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Just in, the pandemic is hitting the golf world. The Masters Tournament is happening but without spectators.

Plus, the evolution of President Trump's attacks on Senator Kamala Harris, from calling her one of the best to now reverting to stereotypes in his reaction to her historic selection as a vice presidential candidate.

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[13:47:28]

KEILAR: From the moment Kamala Harris stepped into the races for 2020, President Trump's opinion of her has ebbed and flowed.

In January of 2019, shortly after Ms. Harris announced her candidacy, Mr. Trump was quoted in the "New York Times" saying:

"I would say the best opening so far would be Kamala Harris. I would say, in terms of opening act, I would say it would be here. I just think she seemed to have a little better opening act than others, better crowd, better enthusiasm. Some others are very flat," end quote.

That tune turned sour after the Democratic primary debates, taking aim at Harris during TV interviews to speeches on the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I don't see the other ones. I really don't see it. They talk about Kamala. I don't see Kamala.

We've got Kamala. Kamala is falling.

I think that Kamala did not do well last night.

I think Kamala had a bad night last night I would say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: When he wasn't speaking about Kamala Harris performance, President trump used his favorite form of communication, that being tweets.

In October of last year, the president declared Harris was failing badly in her bid for the nomination.

In December, when Harris announced she was ending her campaign, his sarcasm hard to miss, tweeting, "We will miss you."

In June, the president retweeted someone who claimed the Democratic Party was doomed by some of the V.P. contenders on Joe Biden's list, Kamala Harris being one of them.

The president's tone curiously changed last month about how he would feel about Harris as a V.P. pick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you rate Kamala Harris as a V.P.? There's a rumor --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I think she's a fine choice. Kamala Harris, a fine choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, fast-forward to yesterday when it became official Biden picked Kamala Harris to be his running mate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody on the U.S. Senate. She's also known, from what I understand, as being just about the most liberal person in the U.S. Senate. And I would have thought Biden would have tried to stay away from that a little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Ironically enough ,according to campaign finance records, the president donated a total of $6,000 to Harris' attorney general re- election campaigns in 2011 and 2013.

The president's attacks on Harris are only bound to get bigger as the race moves forward. That's just one aspect of the kind of scrutiny she will face.

[13:50:02]

Katie Hill is a former California Democratic Congresswoman who knows a lot about those challenges. She is also author of a new book called, "She Will Rise: Welcoming a Warrior in the Battle for True Equality."

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

If I can just ask, what her pick as the running mate means to you.

KATIE HILL, (D), FORMER CALIFORNIA CONGRESSWOMAN & AUTHOR: I was so excited she was chosen. I was one of her earliest endorsers and -- as the presidential pick. So, I was hoping for more of a Harris/Biden ticket but I'll take the Biden/Harris.

But I think she's the leader we need and she's going to show the importance of women in leadership positions and what we're able to do. So, I'm thrilled.

KEILAR: You have said though that whoever Biden picks -- because we were expecting he was going to pick a female running mate -- you said would face misogyny and double standards.

Now you have Kamala Harris, the first woman of color running for vice president on a major ticket. What type of challenges do you think she's going to face?

HILL: Well, we're already seeing it from Donald Trump himself. He's laying out the "nasty woman" playbook, the "mean" -- you know, every term, the, oh, not apologetic and everything like that.

We're seeing exactly the same kind of troupes used against women time and time again, especially strong women, women seeking power or already in power, and men are afraid of it.

I expect he's going to pivot several times, depending on what message is resonating the most with his base. He will play most on misogyny and racist troupes.

KEILAR: You're someone who -- you flipped a seat to be a Democrat and win that seat. Do you think it's going to backfire on him or do you think it's going to work for his base?

HILL: Who knows about his base? The base that's still with him, honestly, you have to write them off.

What we really need to consider is that part of the country that maybe voted for Trump before and has serious regrets about it or people who didn't vote before, and that is the key element I think is really up for grabs.

I think Kamala's exactly the kind of candidate who is going to generate enthusiasm and get people out to vote, who otherwise might not have.

So, you know, I -- there's -- to me, Donald Trump, there's no backfiring to what he says with his own base. But to everybody else, there is.

KEILAR: One of the groups he's trying to attract, white women, he's trying to attract suburban women and he has been making a play for them in very unveiled terms:

"The suburban housewife will be voting for me. They want safety and are thrilled I ended the long-running program where low-income housing would invade the neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it but in a bigger form with Cory Booker in charge."

Then he tagged Maria Bartiromo and "FOX & Friends."

What's your reaction to this appear by him?

HILL: Suburban women brought me into office. They brought the entire change over in the House of Representatives. I think he has a complete misread on that. They've been moving more and more in the liberal direction.

Hillary Clinton won my district by seven points, even though it was Republican-held in for nine decades. I won it by nine. I think there was an aberration that it flipped back to Republicans.

But I can almost guarantee you, Biden's going to win it by close to 15 points and it will move back to a Democratic representative. We're going to see that across suburban districts.

Because he has an antiquated notion of even the idea of a suburban housewife. That's not even something that looks the same as it would have even a few decades ago.

KEILAR: That's right. Tend to be a lot of working women as well who are also housewives, wearing two hats, right?

(LAUGHTER)

HILL: Yes, right.

KEILAR: I want to talk about your new book. I know I've been asked to reflect -- you resigned from Congress. You talk in your book about your own struggles as a female law maker. You talk about double standards that you experienced.

And I know that you say you don't regret leaving Congress. But you did leave, that there was an ethics investigation looking at something you denied, which is an alleged improper relationship with a then-current staffer. You denied that. Important to note.

[13:55:07]

And I wonder, if you could address the question of, do you wish that you had let that play out so you could still be in in Congress as a voice to be heard there?

HILL: Well, at the time, it felt like the right decision, not because of the ethics investigation. And I think that's simply something people are wanting to point to because it looks more nefarious.

And he's being bombarded with letters one after another. And he unleashed a flurry of screen shots, things taken out of context. The photos were taken without my permission.

But I thought it was the best thing to do was to resign for my staff, my family, my colleagues. I didn't want to be a liability, just as we were approaching impeachment, and especially for my freshman colleagues going into these tough races.

I didn't want to be the person they had to be asked about, whether they were hypocritical to supporting me as opposed to Brett Kavanaugh. Taking myself out of that equation seemed like the right thing to do.

Do I wish things had played out differently? Yes, I frequently do. But it didn't have anything to do with the ethics investigation.

KEILAR: Can I ask you real quickly, before I let you go, do you think that you should have been a liability. If you were convinced you would be cleared in an ethics investigation, do you think you should have been a liability?

HILL: I think the photos themselves and the fact I've had a relationship with a campaign staffer was going to be used against me no matter what and my colleagues no matter what.

People didn't parse the difference between the alleged relationship verses the relationship that I did have. So, I didn't think that was going to make a difference. The investigation was mute to the point people were trying to make.

The -- my fear of hypocrisy and the fact I said Kavanaugh needs to be held to these standards and Donald Trump shouldn't be in office and even that Al Franken should resign.

I thought it was the right thing for me to step back and say I've crossed into this grey area. It was mistake and I'm sorry for it. But I should hold myself to the same standards that I would want to see other people held to.

And that's certainly been a painful experience. And I have a lot of regrets of what led to that, which I talk about in my book.

I think the bottom line is, for me, is we need to elect more women. There are misogynistic double standards that play out throughout our lives, and not just women in office. And to be able to address those barriers, we have to get to true parody.

KEILAR: You address that in your book "We Will Rise."

Thank you, Congresswoman Katie Hill, for coming on to talk about it.

HILL: Thank you very much.

KEILAR: I'll talking ahead to our very own Dr. Sanjay Gupta about how he came to make the call about whether his kids should go back to school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)