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Biden to Sign Executive Orders Focused on Immigration; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) Says, I'm a Survivor of Sexual Assault; Navalny Shouts Down Prosecutor, Calls Putin The Poisoner During Chaotic Court Hearing for Russian Opposition Leader. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 02, 2021 - 11:30   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: But it's not like it was a secret.

[11:30:02]

Do you wish McConnell or any other party leaders have spoken up sooner?

GABRIEL STERLING, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFICE: Well, frankly, they did. Steve Scalise came down here and said that her opponent should win. I believe Leader McCarthy did as well.

But, again, when they're viewed as the elites from D.C. kind of trying to come to tell Georgia voters what to do, I mean, this is one thing most people don't know, she beat a literal brain surgeon, a neurosurgeon in that primary. I mean, she beat one of the smartest people you could possibly beat. And it was known and it was said.

But, I mean, voters can vote for whom they choose and that is just kind of how the system works. And sometimes the Democrats have Cynthia McKinney for years and she weighed them down and now it is a bad situation in the state but the voters made the choice and she is there for a little less than two years now.

BOLDUAN: How you're laying it out, I'm quite curious as to what you think what should House Republicans or the Democratic House do about Marjorie Taylor Greene? There is talk about consequences coming at her potentially this week.

STERLING: Well, again, some depends on a lot of this stuff was done before she was a congress person. I don't think necessarily giving her the Education Committee might have been best idea considering she thinks a lot of the school shootings were fake, which is just, again, is Looney Tunes. But she was the voters' choice. And I don't think they should talk about stripping her unless she continues this behavior.

Now, the one thing I will say is she doesn't look she's going to stop continuing this behavior. So this will invite a challenge, and depending on what she does, and there are rules in the House and rules within the caucus, it will be up to them who are in positions of leadership, both the Republican Party and in the Congress to decide how to handle her.

I mean, here is the thing. The Democrats want her there. They want to make her the poster child for this is what Republicans are, this crazy conspiracy theory thing. We're not the sober fiscal conservatives, traditional family kind of folks. It is this person over here talking about Jewish space lasers. And that is not a good look for anybody, obviously.

BOLDUAN: I mean, I have Democrats say to me that they would like to keep her where she is, to use her as a poster child. I understand what you're saying when we talk about raw kind of cynical politics, but they're already threatening, if Republicans don't act -- I mean, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has put forward a resolution to strip her of her committees.

STERLING: Yes, I think they'll probably move forward. I'm not sure. Listen, Leader McCarthy is in an (INAUDIBLE) position trying to manage a caucus that is very much divided and --

BOLDUAN: Yes, but isn't that his job? It is a job to lead, right? That is one of the reasons McConnell had to speak up, because McCarthy wasn't.

STERLING: Well, I mean, McConnell is supposed to be having conversation with her. I don't know what the outcome of that is yet. But, look, we have to get back to sober, rational, let's all agree on what reality is politics in this country because by feeding the beast of that, we saw what happened on January 6th.

BOLDUAN: Well, I want to actually ask about that, because we're standing by right now to learn about what Trump's defense will be in the Senate impeachment trial. We know from one of his attorney that they're likely to argue that Donald Trump's words did not incite violence, did not rise the level, is how they were likely argue it. As someone who very publicly warned that the president's words were going to lead to violence, what do you say to that defense?

STERLING: I say it is probably the only defense available them to given the charges and the way it is structured at a legal level. Now, I was talking as a regular guy. Look, my title is voting systems implementation manager at the time when I said that.

I'm not a lawyer but I do know this as a human being. When you have people who are already emotionally raw and upset and then you tell them things were taken from them and you tell them to march on things and let your voice be heard and don't let them continue to steal, it is common sense to a degree on that front.

I mean, was he trying to incite? I don't know what he was trying to incite. Was he trying to keep the emotions up and high? When you have people emotions up and high, this is the kind of outcome you will see.

BOLDUAN: So, in a common sense level, that defense means bunk to you? STERLING: Yes, it is kind of out there, yes. I mean, do I think that the impeachment resolution is a little overwrought, yes, because I think the Democrats wrote it in such a way that Republicans couldn't support it. They could have written it another way. They could have -- there are all kinds of things they could have done.

The impeachment is a political statement. There is -- now, he's out of office. There are now legal avenues to go after some of these things now, I believe. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but keeping the emotional level high and going after impeachment is basically rubbing salt in the wound to millions of Americans who still believe in their heart of hearts that this was stolen and now you're just making a martyr out of him by doing it this way.

BOLDUAN: I have heard from that from several Republicans. Also, I've heard from other Republicans and Democrats. So if you can't hold someone accountable for something like this, what the heck are you going to hold them accountable for ever? Thanks, Gabe, for coming on. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

STERLING: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, President Biden trying to reverse Donald Trump's legacy one executive action at a time.

[11:35:02]

Coming up next, what that means for the thousands of families who were separated at the border by Trump's zero-tolerance policy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Soon, President Biden will be signing a new set of executive orders, these focused on immigration, specifically rolling back some of the policies Donald Trump had put in place.

[11:40:08]

Most glaring among them is Trump's zero-tolerance policy at the border that led to thousands of children being separated from their families, also leading to widespread public outrage over images like what we are seeing here.

Reuniting these families was a campaign promise of Joe Biden's but some of the president's early moves are already hitting roadblocks.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining me now from the White House for more on this. Jeremy, what are you expecting to see today?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we've already seen President Biden spend a considerable amount of his executive authority unwinding many policies of the Trump administration. And we're going to see something similar today when President Biden is expected to sign three executive orders targeting President Trump's hard-line immigration policies and also looking to address some of the consequences of those policies. Let me take you down a list of a few of the actions that he'll be taking in these three executive orders, the most significant of which is establishing this task force to reunite families. There are hundreds of children who remain in the United States who were separated from their families and who have not yet been reunited from their families. That task force will be led by the secretary of homeland security who is expected to be confirmed today.

There will be then aid to Central American countries as well, focusing on the root causes of migration, something that the previous administration didn't do as much time on as they focused more on border security.

Many of these changes won't be immediate. They won't take immediate effect. And what you're seeing is a lot of reviews here to try and unwind these policies. So it is a cautious approach.

As the review is happening though, to be clear, there are still legal cases, lawsuits that are moving forward and that is why yesterday you saw the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to postpone some oral arguments that were set to take place on a pair of cases involving the border wall and this remain in Mexico policy where migrants, asylum-seekers have to remain in squalid conditions on the U.S.-Mexico border while they wait adjudication.

Those cases were set to take place in a few weeks, Kate, and we'll see what the Supreme Court says.

BOLDUAN: Jeremy, thank you very much for that.

For some more perspective, let me bring in right now Lee Gelernt. He is lead attorney in the effort to reunite migrant families who were separated by the Trump administration at the border, he is also the deputy director for the ACLU's Immigrants' Right Project. Lee, thanks for coming in.

What do these executive actions mean for the thousands of families that you have, have been and are representing? I mean, what do you need to hear from this task force that is being formed to know that it is actually helping?

LEE GELERNT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ACLU IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT: Right. So that is, I think, the exact right question. So the executive order we expect to be today. We applaud President Biden for investing in this issue and Dr. Biden. That is great that she's going to be involved and the Biden team is committed to this. But, ultimately, I think it is going to be what does the task force do and we need to see them do some very specific, concrete things immediately because there are little children involved, as you know, Kate.

We need to see all the families be allowed to come back to the United States to stop their deportations, to give them legal status, to give them some type of restitution. And so that's what we'll be looking for, is once this executive order is in place, does the task force take immediate concrete steps. BOLDUAN: Yes. And by immediate, you mean immediate. This is three years later, Lee. I can't believe it is been three years since you have been coming on my show talking about this. And there are still more than 600 families that are not together. Why, lee? What are their stories?

GELERNT: Yes. So it is shocking that we're still looking for families. The reason is because the Trump administration failed to disclose their names until they were forced to and then failed to disclose contact information to find them. And as you know, Kate, things in Central America are dangerous and logistics are hard. So we're still looking for those 600 families.

But I think it is critical for people to understand that there were more than 5,500 families separated. So beyond just finding these 600, we need the task force to help all the families, that means allowing them to come back to the United States to reunite with their children because many more than 600 are still separated. We need them to be given legal status, restitution.

This is the worst thing that I've ever seen in the immigration era, maybe one of the worst things ever in the history of this country's immigration policy. The United States government engaged in deliberate child abuse and the Biden administration needs to fix this, and it's promised it will fix it and I think the task force needs to act quickly, as you've said, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And, look, the emotional trauma on the children and the parents is something that is not fully appreciated. Every time a read another story, it is unbelievable what these families have gone through and what -- and the trauma that these children are facing, even after they are reunited with their parents, the irreparable harm they are facing.

[11:45:02]

And this isn't over. Families are still separated. The system is still completely broken and a mess. Now, after three years fighting this, Lee, I'm just curious, what is the lesson that you've learned throughout this here?

GELERNT: I think the lesson to be learned is that there needs to be public outcry right from the beginning and that people within any administration, who are the career people, need to push back so that this never happens again. I think public outcry did a lot.

Unfortunately, you're right, it is three years and it's way too long. One day would have been too long. But I think we need as a country to be vigilant about what our government is doing and to pushback and everybody needs to put their foot down when they see something this inhumane.

It can't be a politicized issue when we are taking little babies away from their parents and irreparably traumatizing them, as you said, Kate, because it is not over. These children are going to live with this potentially for the rest of their lives. BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Lee, thank you for work and thank you for coming in again.

GELERNT: Thanks for having me, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming you for us, a painful revelation coming from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Next, how she says the assault on the Capitol reviving, conjured a past trauma that she experienced in her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in an emotional video on Instagram describing her experience trapped inside her office during the assault on the Capitol, January 6th. The terror and trauma of it reviving painful memories from her past, she says. Ocasio-Cortez revealing publicly for the first time she is a survivor of sexual assault.

CNN's Jessica Dean is live on Capitol Hill. She's been looking at this. Jessica, can you walk us through this, please?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Kate. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez really detailing her harrowing experience on January 6th right here at the Capitol and talking about how it brought back so many memories and saying for the first time that she is indeed a survivor of sexual assault. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): The reason I say this and the reason I'm getting emotional in this moment is because these folks who tell us to move on, that it's not a big deal, that we should forget what's happened or even telling us to apologize, these are the same tactics of abusers. And I'm a survivor of sexual assault, and I haven't told many people that in my life. But when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And that's how she was tying those experiences together, that the trauma is building on the trauma. And she elaborated in this over one-hour long Instagram live video about what she went through on January 6th, talking about people banging on her door, asking where is she, where is she, running for safety, really detailing what that was like.

And, of course, all of these details coming out as there are calls from others, people here on Capitol Hill, to move on, to not talk anymore really about this, and, again, As president Trump is facing, of course, his second impeachment trial on this exact issue.

But here are some more details from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OCASIO-CORTEZ: It felt like my brain was able to have so many thoughts in that moment between these screams and these yells of, where is she, where is she? So I go down and I just -- I mean, I thought I was going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Kate, if you listen to the video, it is quite emotional as she recounts what she went through that day and shares with everyone what happened, taking them step-by-step. And it is just a reminder of how scary and how impactful that day was on so many people here, including lawmakers themselves. You heard her there, she truly thought that she was going to die. And that is what people are still dealing with here, Kate, as, again, we look to impeachment to start on this very subject next week.

BOLDUAN: Yes, Jessica, thank you for laying it out for us. I appreciate it.

Coming up for us, he was poisoned and almost died after an elaborate and covert operation. Now, a legal battle will determine the fate of Putin's chief critic. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:55:00]

BOLDUAN: It was a chaotic scene inside a Russian courtroom during a hearing for Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny. At one point, he called the Russian president, Putin the Poisoner, referring to the alleged plot to kill Navalny with a nerve agent, which he barely survived, which, of course, CNN reported on extensively.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, he is outside the courthouse, he's been following all of this. Fred, what is the latest there?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kate. Well, we're actually expecting a verdict in the trial within the next couple of minutes. We were told to expect it around 12:00 P.M. U.S. time or Eastern U.S. Time.

What I've heard just in the last couple of minutes is that Alexei Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, she has already entered the courtroom again, so we could be getting that verdict within the next couple of minutes. But you're absolutely right, it was an absolutely remarkable hearing that took place today here in Moscow with Alexei Navalny certainly not backing down, confronting the judge in this trial, confronting the prosecutor in this trial, saying he believed that he was here because Vladimir Putin is angry that Alexei Navalny survived the poisoning.

I want to read you one quote from a long speech that Alexei Navalny gave where he ripped into Vladimir Putin. He said, quote, him, Vladimir Putin, is going crazy because everyone can see now that he is some low-level clerk who was accidentally appointed to presidency and his method of fighting this is to kill people.

Now, I can't even tell you how dangerous it is for someone to say something like that about the Russian president in a public setting. But Alexei Navalny didn't back down. The judge then said that there was an objection to Alexei Navalny holding this. He said, I don't need your objections to the judge, confronting the judge himself. So, Alexei Navalny not backing down, he faces 3.5 years in prison if he is convicted but, certainly, a very remarkable day here.

[12:00:01]

One last thing, we asked the Kremlin about this, they said Vladimir Putin is not paying any attention to this trial today. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Hard to believe that one, but thank you.