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Man with "Camp Auschwitz" Shirt at Capitol Riot Arrested; Trump Doesn't Want to Pay Giuliani, Which Fits a Pattern; Trump's Business Brand Falters in Wake of Deadly Siege at Capitol. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired January 14, 2021 - 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: And the president's business brand is faltering fast as more companies cut ties with him in the wake of the attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: There are so many images that capture the violence of the attack on the capitol, and among them were two sickening sentiments.
First, there was the Confederate flag, which is a common white supremacist symbol, that was paraded through the halls of Congress for the first time, in fact.
And we have just learned that police have arrested that man who was carrying that flag. They identified him as Kevin Seefried of Delaware.
[13:35:06]
Police have also arrested Robert Keith Packer who is identified as the man who was wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the phrase "Camp Auschwitz," which is a reference to the Nazi concentration camp where more than a million people, most of them Jews, were systematically murdered.
More than six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. And even 75 years after the Soviets liberated the death camp, anti-Semitic symbols are still very much a part of today, of the now.
We have "SITUATION ROOM" anchor, Wolf Blitzer, who is the son of Holocaust survivors. His grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz. And he went to Auschwitz in 2019 for an emotional visit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Work will set you free." Meaning, that was a place for working.
BLITZER: It was for slave laborers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it was that kind of camp. In fact, work was an instrument of extermination in this prison camp.
BLITZER (voice-over): It's one thing to learn about the Holocaust in school or from books. But to see these places firsthand, some untouched since the war, can be overwhelming.
(on camera): Most of the Jews that were brought here came by cattle car.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then they got selection.
BLITZER: Who lives and who dies?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
BLITZER: My grandparents died here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably, they would -- (INAUDIBLE). People walked in and they really believed they were going to get a shower.
BLITZER: So they thought maybe they were going to get a shower, but instead --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was the gas chamber.
BLITZER (voice-over): Before we leave Poland, we visit the only Jewish cemetery still left in the town of Auschwitz. And I see a tombstone that said "Blitzer."
(on camera): I don't know if this woman was related to me, but I do what my father would have wanted. I say a special prayer for the dead, the Kaddish.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And Wolf Blitzer is with us now.
Wolf, you said in the commercial break, did I remember this piece that you did, and I will tell you, you and I have seen many stories over the course of our careers. That is one of the ones that sticks with me the most, is watching you in your personal experience there, and just how much this means to you and to your family.
It's not an abstraction. So when you saw this image of someone wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" shirt at the capitol, knowing that there's this affiliation within people who were storming the capitol, I wonder what you thought.
BLITZER: You know, it's so, so sad. It's so, so sad. And I'm happy that my parents are no longer living. But to a certain degree, I'm happy that they're not seeing what's
going on here in the United States right now with this resurgence of Neo-Nazi slogans and T-shirts.
We saw in Charlottesville when those individuals were walking around, "Jews will not replace us, Jews will not replace us."
It's always hard for me to believe, here in this country, which gave my parents freedom -- they were allowed to come to Buffalo, New York, after World War II. They survived the war. Their parents were all murdered. They lost brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts.
But they came. The United States let them in and gave them an opportunity in Buffalo to thrive. They clearly did thrive.
And they were the most patriotic Americans I ever knew because of this moment, this opportunity they got having -- they were teenagers, basically, during the war. They survived the war in slave labor camps and concentration camps.
But they did survive and then they had the opportunity to come to America.
It would have been so painful for them to see, even these words "Camp Auschwitz" or slogans like "Work will make you free," which, if you go into Auschwitz and visit Auschwitz, as I did in 2014, it says (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), which is the German of "Work will make you free."
And there's so many of these things, the Neo-Nazi slogans out there, the racism, the anti-Muslim. It's hard to believe this is going on in the United States right now.
And it was so painful for me to see this personally, given the fact my grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz.
[13:39:58]
KEILAR: I wonder what more you think needs to be done. I think back to when I was a kid and even how there was non-fiction and fiction that you understood the story of the Holocaust.
I think it was at a time when it was very out there and people understood it. More time has passed now. There are many Americans who don't even have basic facts about it.
What needs to be done in order for that understanding to be out there about how awful this rise of Neo-Naziism is?
BLITZER: We need to explain, especially to younger people, what happened. That there was a Holocaust.
There was a poll that recently came out that showed a huge percentage of people didn't even know what the Holocaust was, didn't know six million Jews were murdered during World War II by the Nazis. They had no idea of what was going on. Then there's Holocaust deniers that are out there who say, well, it was just all made up, it's Jewish propaganda, it never really happened. Well, it did happen. It's an awful situation.
And the sad situation is so many of the Holocaust survivors, almost all of them nowadays have passed away. But many did leave eyewitness testimony.
If you go to the U.S. Holocaust War Memorial Museum in Washington, the one is Los Angeles, if you go to the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, you can listen to the eyewitness testimony of these people who survived, what they went through during their years in these slave labor concentration camps.
And for some guy to walk around Capitol Hill with a sweatshirt saying, "Camp Auschwitz" and "Work will make you free," whatever, it was so painful, so disgusting to see that.
But sadly, more needs to be done at the top. And I'm hoping that incoming Biden administration will really focus in on this racism, the anti-Semitism, the -- all of the hatred that exists and try to do something about it.
Because it's -- especially for us those of us who had relatives who died during those years as a result of the anti-Semitism, it's so painful to see it exist these days.
KEILAR: And, Wolf, we are so thankful to have you on to talk about it. Part of educating people is putting a face on it. And you are telling the story. So thank you very much.
BLITZER: Thank you.
KEILAR: The president is so irritated over being impeached a second time that he's refusing to pay his attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Next, we'll roll the tape on all the times that he has refused to pay up.
Plus, everyone from Deutsche Bank to PGA cutting ties. The reckoning that is facing the Trump brand.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:47:12]
KEILAR: The president is so pissed off that, even the man who has faithfully carried out his fool's errand of challenging the presidential election results when there was no basis to do so, is not safe from Donald Trump's wrath.
We've learned that President Trump is telling aides not to pay Rudy Giuliani's legal fees. Aides were not absolutely clear if Trump was serious. But Rudy did not answer his phone when CNN called him about it.
This may be the least surprising development of the week. Because Trump's reputation as a multi-millionaire who doesn't pay his bills is well established.
In 2016, a "USA Today" investigation found that Trump has been involved in thousands of lawsuits over the past three decades. Many were with small businesses who say they stiffed them for work that they did.
Among them, there was a carpet company, a glass company, a plumber, waiters, bartenders, lots of hourly workers, real estate brokers, dishwashers, painters, even some of the lawyers who repped him in those very lawsuits.
He came out on top in many of these cases or he reached settlements but only because the president's lawyers would wear down the smaller companies and individuals, dragging out the cases and piling on the legal bills that they knew the plaintiffs could not afford.
Trump has even left Scotland holding the bag. When the Scottish government wanted to build a wind turbine farm near his golf course, Trump sued because he said it would destruct and devalue the resort's view.
He lost those legal battles in 2019. It's unclear, though, if he ever paid those legal bills that the Scottish Supreme Civil Court ordered him to.
The Center for Public Integrity found at least 10 cities, at one point or another, accused the president's two campaigns of not reimbursing them for security at Trump events. At one point, owing the cities more than $800,000.
These were cities where he held rallies and visits. And these are security payments. These are payments for police officers.
When asked about his pattern of walking out on the bill in the past, Trump denied that he does it, while also admitting that he does it.
Hillary Clinton called him on it during one of their debates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I have met a lot of the people who were stiffed by you and your businesses, Donald.
We have an architect in the audience who designed one of your clubhouses at one of your golf courses. It's a beautiful facility. It immediately was put to use.
And you wouldn't pay what the man needed to be paid, what he was charging you to do --
(CROSSTALK)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Maybe he didn't do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: -- which our country should do, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, another time when asked about not paying people that he owes, Trump said this: Quote, "Let's say they did a job that's not good or a job that they didn't finish or a job that was very late, I will deduct from their contract, absolutely. That's what the country should be doing."
[13:50:00]
Well, that's not what Trump has done in many cases, by the way. He fails to pay even when the work is done on time and it's exactly what he wanted.
It's like ordering your well-done steak with ketchup, which is Trump's favorite, getting said well-done streak with ketchup, eating the entire thing while doing a happy food dance in your chair, and then walking out on the bill.
Giuliani's work for Trump, while the work of a conspiracy theorist clown, was exactly what the boss ordered. Although the New York State Bar has launched an inquiry, he could now be disbarred.
He spread conspiracy theories. He created doubt. He made ridiculous accusations. He told the media the election was stolen. And like Trump, he used violent language to rile up supporters before they invaded the capitol.
Rudy put his blood, sweat and tears into this. He suffered humiliations, in court, on-screen in the most recent "Borat" film, and at a landscaping company where he held an odd news conference next to a sex shop, and still Trump employed him. He kept him on the payroll.
But, Mr. President, if you're not going to pay Rudy Giuliani his due, there is a long line of contractors who have built your Atlantic City casino who could really use the money.
Ahead, there's backlash from the Capitol Hill riots. And it's hitting Trump's business brand in the pocket. I'm going to talk to someone who knows him well.
Plus, the Republicans Senators to watch who might vote to convict the president during his impeachment trial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:56:02]
KEILAR: There's new reporting from "The Washington Post" suggesting the president is growing more concerned about his business brand. And there's good reason for this.
Since the attack on the capitol, banks have been cutting ties with him. The PGA pulled its 2022 championship from his golf club in New Jersey. And more and more companies are condemning the president and pulling funding from his allies who peddled lies.
His campaign Web site just lost their financing company. His organizations e-Commerce provider closed two online stores.
New York City is terminating all business relationships with his company, and that includes a golf course, the Central Park carousel and two ice skating rinks.
Also this. Lehigh University and Wagner College are taking back the honorary degrees that they awarded President Trump.
Joining me now to talk about this is Barbara Res. She once served as an executive vice president in the Trump Organization. And she is also the author of the book "Tower of Lies: What My 18 Years Working with Donald Trump Reveals about Him."
Barbara, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming on.
BARBARA RES, FORMER EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION & AUTHOR: My pleasure. Thank you.
KEILAR: I'm curious -- and we'll start with this -- about the PGA. Because golf is at the center of the Trump brand. It means so much to him.
So what did it mean having the PGA pull its 2022 championship from Trump National Golf Club, his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster? What does that signify for him?
RES: First of all, probably, he's devastated. You know, my gut reaction to everything of how he's reacting is that he is feeling that people have, you know -- are turning on him.
But he's always denied that. (INAUDIBLE).
And so now he's thinking there's a reason. He's not thinking I am wrong. I did a bad thing. I didn't acknowledge it, blah, blah, blah. He's thinking, they're out to get me. Why does everyone want to get Trump? You know what I'm saying?
KEILAR: You're saying he's paranoid and that everyone is out to get him. But he's seen these ramifications hitting him in the wallet.
Do you think the Trump Organization is going to survive? Do you think it could if it rebranded? What's your prognosis?
RES: You know, it's interesting. I was thinking about that. First of all, my experience with him, he always bounces back. No matter how bad things get, somehow, he always bounces back. We used to say -- (INAUDIBLE). You know, what could he do after this?
And before the violent attack, I thought of one thing, he could keep Trump Towers in front of the country -- all of those demagogues and -- tyrants that he admires so much, admire him. And all -- rich people in those communities, demagogues all want
apartments in Trump Tower. I think the brand is fine once you get out of the West.
But as far as after the riots happened, I don't know. I'm not sure about that, whether or not people are going to still want his name.
You know, he's coming up with excuses and his people are coming up with excuses. And crazy as they are, somehow they stick with people that want to stick with it. So that's up in the air.
The other thought I always had was that he would have some kind of media company, Trump TV, Trump radio, Trump newspaper.
And I thought initially that he was trying to keep up his base with all of this nonsense about not losing the election, priming them so that when he sought to institute that work, he would have 40 million viewers.
But now, I'm not so sure if that's going to be as lucrative as it would have been.
I think that he's going to lose some of his supporters. I think that there are people that just aren't going to be able to take what's going on and go along with his lies about what's happened, that this was a setup.
