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Judge Denies Bond for Mother and Son Charged in Capitol Riot; Feds Investigated Roger Stone's Ties to Proud Boys in 2019; Fireworks Erupt as Lawmakers Grill Key Players in GameStop Frenzy; Animals Are Freezing to Death in San Antonio Sanctuary; Biden's Sweeping Immigration Bill Includes 8-Year Path to Citizenship. Aired 2:30-3p ET.
Aired February 18, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:31:29]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A judge has ordered that a mother and son duo arrested in the capitol siege remain in jail as they await trial.
You may remember this man, seen carrying zip-tie-like restraints inside the Senate chamber. Those are flex cuffs there. And his mother, on the right, seen wearing a tactical vest during the riot.
CNN's Whitney Wild has more on why they're being denied bond.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the most notable cases questioning whether or not rioters should be held behind bars as their cases move through the justice system.
This case centers on a Tennessee man who is seen in a viral photo in all black body armor carrying zip-tie-like restraints.
In addition, this question, this case, centers on his mother's role in all of this. Again, he was seen inside the capitol during the riot.
Earlier, another judge had said he and his mother should be released after they had been in custody following their arrest last month.
Now a judge is saying that both the man and his mother should remain behind bars, saying that they represent a clear danger to our republic -- Brianna?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Whitney, thank you for that.
CNN has learned the feds investigated Roger Stone, longtime associate of former President Trump, for his alleged ties to the far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys.
That 2019 investigation did not lead to charges. But the existence of the probe highlights how federal prosecutors were aware of the Proud Boy's ties to someone in Trump's orbit long before the insurrection on January 6th.
Last summer, Trump commuted Stone's prison sentence for lying to Congress and other crimes.
Let's bring in CNN justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider.
Jess, what else can you tell us? This is very interesting about this 2019 investigation.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it all goes back to when Roger Stone was on trial in connection to the Mueller investigation.
It was at that point Stone posted an Instagram photo of the judge in the case with crosshairs behind her head, implicating he was targeting her.
Of course, the judge slapped Roger Stone with a gag order, barring him from talking about the case.
We now know, behind the scenes, there's was a criminal probe connected to that Instagram post and whether or not Roger Stone and the leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, intended to threaten this federal judge.
There were inquiries about how much help Stone had on social media from Proud Boys members.
It's important to note that charges were never filed here. But it does give this glimpse into Stone's connection with the Proud Boys, many of whom, Brianna, are now charged with conspiracy related to the capitol attack.
On that day, January 6th, we know that Stone was accompanied by members of the extremist group, the Oath Keepers. He was a key figure in some of the rallies, too.
Stone insists he was not inside the capitol, Brianna. He was not accused of any crimes.
But it does leave some questions here about his connections with these extremist groups -- Brianna?
KEILAR: It certainly does. We know you're be following those.
Jessica Schneider, thank you very much.
Just into CNN, congressional lawmakers today grilling the Robinhood CEO over his involvement in last month's GameStop stock trade frenzy.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev telling lawmakers why his app banned purchases of GameStop's stock and did not ban sell orders.
His explanation shockingly simple: Customers would have gotten more angry.
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VLAD TENEV, CEO, ROBINHOOD: The decision to restrict GameStop and other securities was driven purely by deposit and collateral requirements imposed by our clearing houses.
[14:35:00]
So buying -- buying --
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UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: But why -- but why --
TENEV: Buying securities --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: But why --
(CROSSTALK)
TENEV: -- requirements.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: But why --
TENEV: Selling does not.
Even though I recognize customers were very upset and disappointed that we had to do this, I imagine it would have been significantly worse if we prevented customers from selling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Robinhood markets, caters mostly to Millennials. Shares of GameStop today are about 90 percent below its peak during last month's the frenzy against short sellers who bet GameStop shares would drop.
Joining me now is CNN tech reporter, Brian Fung.
This is so interesting to see this happening on Capitol Hill. What are your takeaways from this hearing?
BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECH REPORTER: Well, Brianna, it's definitely a tough day for Robinhood and some of the hedge funds that have been testifying today.
You had lawmakers on both sides of the aisle putting enormous pressure on Robinhood, Citadel and Melvin Capital to describe what their role was in this GameStop trading frenzy and how their operations work and whether or not these companies are actually helping to serve retail investors. You also saw, in just that clip there, a pretty tense exchange between
some lawmakers and some of these CEOs.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev apologized for failing to communicate clearly enough to investors about the regulatory requirements it faces when it was trying to restrict trades.
He said, "I'm sorry for what happened. I apologize. And I'm not going to say Robinhood did everything perfect."
He also apologized for the recently reported suicide of a Robinhood investor, saying that the company's put in changes in place to prevent that sort of thing from ever happening again.
The financial entity also expressed willingness to comply with any changes in financial regulations that the government might put in place in the future.
But much of the hearing also has kind of brought in an element of entertainment as well.
You had Keith Gill, who's the investors, that kicked all of this off with some pretty bold investments in GameStop. It goes by Roaring Kitty on YouTube.
And he showed up to the hearing today with a gaming chair and sitting in front of a picture of a cat. Said, "I'm not a cat," referencing a meme that went around last week and the week before, referring to the lawyer that made headlines.
And he also said this, on the stream, kind of explaining his thinking.
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KEITH GILL, REDDIT USER & FINANCIAL ANALYST: The idea that I used social media to promote GameStop stock to unwitting investors and influence the market is preposterous. My post did not cause the movement of billions of dollars into GameStop shares.
It is tragic that some people lost money and my heart goes out to them. But what happened in January just demonstrates again that investing in public securities is extremely risky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FUNG: So Gill is, you know, clearly here representing the average investor at this hearing.
Increasingly, as we ask questions about whether or not the stock market is for regular retail investors, he's serving as sort of that representative for normal consumers there -- Brianna?
KEILAR: All right. Brian, thank you so much. Brian Fung for us there.
Next, we are back in Texas. And day four of rolling power outages and frigid temperatures. I'll speak to head of an animal sanctuary that already lost a dozen animals to this disaster.
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KEILAR: The tragic stories of human suffering caused by the winter storm in Texas are heartbreaking. But it isn't just people who are affected. Primarily Primates is a nonprofit sanctuary in San Antonio and it has lost 12 animals. That includes monkeys, lemurs and one chimpanzee.
The sanctuary's executive director spoke about how overwhelming the situation is there.
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BROOKE CHAVEZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRIMARILY PRIMATES: You just feel so helpless. You don't know how you're going to help all of these animals.
Anytime you lose an animal, it's hard. You always think, what could you have done?
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KEILAR: Priscilla Feral is the president of Friends of Animals and president of Primarily Primates.
Look, a lot of people, Priscilla, are looking at this story. What is the situation right now there?
PRISCILLA FERAL, PRESIDENT, FRIENDS OF ANIMALS & PRESIDENT, PRIMARILY PRIMATES: The situation is unprecedented because you've got Arctic freezing air and you've got a power outage, which nobody has seen in Texas in 100 years.
So we're on day four. The first day is when we lost animals, because we had to evacuate monkeys and lemurs, many that don't like being evacuated. But we caught 80.
And then had to get people to come take them and deliver them to reliable places. The San Antonio Zoo was fantastic. We had several other destinations as far away as Oklahoma, a few in Texas. And we needed to get them into safety and to heated environments.
In addition to that, we have propane heaters, which we already had, and we fired them up for all of the chimpanzees.
And we have generators. We've got 12 working now covering entire sections that are making sure that the baboons are warm and comfortable in bedrooms and other animals that couldn't be caught up and taken to other places.
What's hard is that all of this equipment needs fuel. And then there are also fuel shortages. And we need water.
And we've had tremendous out-pouring from people that have volunteered food and supplies and donations.
[14:45:02]
KEILAR: Are your animals in danger right now? So it sounds like what you're saying is, for some, an issue of exposure there in the early times?
Are they in danger right now? What do you need?
FERAL: The animals that are in bedrooms right now are locked in bedrooms. We have baboons that want to get out of those bedrooms and we're not letting them out.
So it's tough to clean when you've confined animals to enclosures and they want out. But we're not letting them out.
The chimpanzees, the baboons, the monkeys that have propane heating in their bedrooms are probably not happy staying there, but that's where they have to be.
They're not in danger but I'm sure they're frustrated as heck.
And the ones that don't want to eat, we're giving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We've asked for bread and peanut butter and jelly because that's what they'll eat. We'll feed them whatever they'll eat.
KEILAR: Yes. Certainly.
And, Priscilla, I'm so sorry. I know that these are family members for you, and for all of the folks working at this sanctuary.
And we thank you for joining us.
FERAL: Thanks very much.
KEILAR: Up next, President Biden unveils his plan to overhaul the immigration system that is offers a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. We will break down what is in the bill.
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[14:50:57]
KEILAR: President Biden today unveiling his plan to overhaul the immigration system, something many other presidents have tried and failed to get through Congress.
The sweeping reform bill includes an eight-year path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants.
But there's a faster track for DREAMERs, who, of course, are folks who were brought to the country as children.
It would also change the term "alien" to "noncitizen" in U.S. laws and provide funding to help clear the backlog of asylum cases.
Maria Santana is with us now as we are covering this. She is an anchor for CNN Espanol.
Maria, an eight-year path is shorter than what's been proposed in the past. The Democratic margins in Congress were incredibly slim. So where is this going to go?
MARIA SANTANA, CNN ESPANOL ANCHOR: Well, I'll tell you this, Brianna. Immigrants and immigrant advocates are not holding their breath right now on this bill. They have been here before. They have been disappointed before.
Because as with many previous administrations that have tried to pass legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration system, this faces an uphill climb, especially in a narrowly divided Congress. And also in a very divided nation.
In the House, the Democrats only have a five-vote margin. And in the Senate, the Democrats don't have the 60 votes needed to pass this bill on just Dem support alone.
And there's a lot in it, like you said. An eight-year path to citizenship, acceptance for DACA, and protection for temporary status holders, SPS holders. Also that change in language from "alien" to "noncitizen," more funding for the U.S./Mexico border and Central America.
But the thing that the administration, the White House has signaled is that this bill is just a conversation starter, according to one administration official, in that Biden is willing to negotiate and to work with Congress.
Especially because this is happening at a time when there are smaller bills that have been proposed and that do have bipartisan support.
For example, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin proposed -- they reintroduced their DREAM Act, which would open up a path to citizenship for these so-called DREAMERs.
And many believe that that is the best way to go instead of this big bill with so many things that will polarize a lot of people, just working piecemeal on things that already have support.
But Biden did indicate in our CNN town hall on Tuesday that he would support individual bills but not at the expense of his much larger proposals -- Brianna?
KEILAR: And one of the things in here, this changing the word "alien" to "noncitizen." What does that signify?
SANTANA: Well, the term "alien" or "illegal alien" has been decried as dehumanizing by a lot of immigrants, by a lot of immigrant rights groups.
And in the past several years, a lot of entities, including the news media, has tried to move away from that term, using words like "undocumented" instead. Some states and local governments have also taken up measures to ban it. Biden's proposal would remove the word "alien" from all U.S. law --
this is described as a person not being a citizen, not a national of the United States -- and would replace it with the word "noncitizen."
And this change, according to administration officials, would just reiterate the president's values on immigration, on taking a more humane approach to it.
And Biden himself has said that this is necessary to further recognize the United States as a nation of immigrants.
Of course, this is being hailed by immigrant support groups and supporters of the president.
But as with many things, this word became a lot more polarizing during the Trump years because Trump himself and other top officials were encouraging its use.
But with Biden he wants to take a more human approach and treat people with more dignity he has said.
[14:55:05]
KEILAR: Maria Santana, thank you so much for being with us.
SANTANA: Thank you.
KEILAR: Just in, Senator Ted Cruz finally issuing a statement on his escape to Cancun despite his state being in the middle of a deadly disaster.
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