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Goya CEO Repeats Trump Election Lies Despite Company Muzzling Him; Ivy League FOX Host Dismisses "Esoteric" Ivy League Discussions; Prince Harry Opens Up on Royals Split: Feared Suffering Diana's Fate. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired March 01, 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]
LINETTE LOPEZ, COLUMNIST, "BUSINESS INSIDER": It is unclear what the board will be able to do to continue to punish him.
But this is a very rare thing in corporate America for a CEO to be publicly quieted or silenced by their board like this. It's very embarrassing, to be frank.
BRIANA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And it certainly hasn't stopped him. And he's not being quiet.
But what he said, what Robert Unanue said, said, Ana, at CPAC, really seems to be the entire crux of what CPAC was this year, an endorsement of the big lie.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It was cult PAC.
Listen, to the point before, part of the reason why - probably, if he was any other CEO, he would have been fired now by the board. But he is the grandson of the founder.
You know, this is a -- a company that was started by the Unanue family. So he's got that level of protection. Absolutely.
When I looked at CPAC this week, it was sad. It was pathetic. It was appalling.
I have been going to CPAC for many, many years. My husband used to be the chair of CPAC. And I can tell you, what I saw was nothing but lies and spectacle this weekend. There was no policy debates. There was no ideas.
You had Ted Cruz, who lives in a multi-million-dollar home, graduated from an Ivy League school, married to an executive at Goldman Sachs, and is a frequent guest of the Ritz-Carlton at Cancun, railing against the elite.
You had Donald Trump talking against cancel culture while reading off a list of the Republicans who have spoken up against him who he wants to cancel.
You had Josh Hawley basically boasting about being part of the incitement of an insurrection that costed lives and costed so much injury to Capitol Police on January 6th.
It was an embarrassment. It was far from the policy debate it once was.
KEILAR: For this Goya CEO, who very much, Linette, was a part of all of those things that Ana just spelled out from CPAC, could this be the final straw? Will the board fire him? Will he survive? What's it going to be?
LOPEZ: I have no idea. But he is really sticking out in corporate America right now.
You have companies from Morgan Stanley to Google refusing to give money to Republicans who openly support the big lie or openly backed the insurrection.
It is going to be very difficult for people who continue spouting this to raise money.
So the Republican Party really needs to make a decision. You know, is it going to just become this tiny little party that, yes, has a very engaged fan base, but is kind of just a pariah when it comes to fundraising, respectability, sanity, all those things?
I don't know if the -- like Ana said, this is a dynastic company. I don't know if the CEO will be fired by the board. I am sure there are people on the board who wish they could.
KEILAR: Linette Lopez --
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Maybe they can try -- maybe they can try wiring his jaw shut if they can't fire him. Because, god, he sure keeps saying -- everything that comes out of his mouth isn't worth a hill of beans.
KEILAR: He certainly has many of those. Right?
Ana Navarro, thank you so much.
Linette Lopez, thank you.
A FOX host brags about talking to real Americans at diners about the Tenth Amendment. We will roll the tape.
[13:33:46]
Plus, the freezing temperatures are gone. But a growing crisis lingers in Texas with more than half a million Texans still without clean water.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:38:46]
KEILAR: The Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend looked like a FOX TV family reunion. Many of the conference speakers are network regulars or even hosts, like Pete Hegseth, the network's most prominent military veteran, known for advising Trump on who to pardon, including U.S. servicemen convicted or accused of war crimes.
He faced a lot of scorn from liberals after saying this over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: When I sit down with these folks, I sit down with a schoolteacher or a construction worker or a small business owner or a cook at a restaurant, or the waitress at the restaurant we are at, and they are not talking about esoteric things that the Ivy League talks about or MSNBC talks about.
They are talking about the Bible and faith and prayer and their family --
(APPLAUSE)
HEGSETH: -- hard work, supporting the police, standing for the anthem, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, the things that our founders understood and loved and cherished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Hegseth was excoriated by liberals for suggesting that diner- goers are talking about the Tenth Amendment, which, if it happens to have been a few years since you took a high school civics class, is the amendment that spells out states' rights.
[13:40:06]
One might argue it is pretty dumb to do a regular political segment in a restaurant during a pandemic.
But it is not odd that the guests of Hegseth's would be talking about states' rights. It's a conservative touchstone, pushing back on what they see as an overreaching federal government.
What you could take issue with that Hegseth positions him as a champion of states' rights because, that, he ain't.
Like when former President Trump threatened to send federal troops into states where race-related protests turned into violent riots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: The question is: Do you send the troops? Do you say, hey, this isn't going to happen anymore? Or do you let Seattle sort of implode on itself.
There's no strong leadership in Minnesota. And that's why the president feels the need to step in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Under the Tenth Amendment, policing is a states' rights issue. But in order to send in the troops, the president would have to invoke the Insurrection Act to establish order when laws are unenforceable.
And when a mob of Trump supporters invaded the capitol, egged on by the then-president, they did so to interrupt the certification of the electoral votes, the official state by state tabulation of the electoral vote down.
They didn't trust the states, which, under the Tenth Amendment, oversea voting. They tried to override the state votes, violently. And Hegseth defended them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: These are not conspiracy theories motivated just by lies. That's a bunch of nonsense that people want to tell us.
I wasn't surprised by what happened yesterday. I am not saying it is OK but I wasn't shocked. I recognize that people feel like the entire system is rigged against them.
I am a born-again American. I have been re-awoken to the reality of what the left has done to my country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: States' rights for Trump supporters but not for everyone else.
How can you want to send in the troops when left-leaning people are demonstrating and, at times, engaged in violent destructive behavior, and then take a hands-off approach and even support the mob when the U.S. capitol is overrun?
That's what this FOX host actually stands for because he worships the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: God bless the president for having the courage that a lot of others wouldn't have to pardon those men.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
HEGSETH: And they look at Trump and they see a Rocky Balboa.
(LAUGHTER)
HEGSETH: They see a fighter for freedom.
This guy has thick skin, considering the investigations and the resistance he has been under.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Pete Hegseth worships a golf-loving, Ivy League-educated, self-described billionaire who covers his house in gold leaf.
As if he doesn't have degrees himself from both Princeton and Harvard, he derides what the esoteric things that the Ivy League talks about, not what, quote, "real Americans" are concerned with, he says.
Real Americans. Aren't all Americans real Americans, whether they are Ivy League educated like Pete Hegseth or they only got through the tenth grade, working at an investment bank, like Pete Hegseth did, or working with their hands, servicing in the military, like Hegseth did, or not.
Young, old, poor, black, white, red, blue, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, eating in diners or at a fancy restaurant, drinking Bud Heavy at a tailgate or sipping rose in the Hamptons.
He says the diners he talks to are focus on the controversial over standing for the national anthem.
It is no wonder, because FOX is handing out culture war candy 24/7 while railing against Democrats trying to raise the federal minimum wage as Socialism and Communism, the same wage that has been that stuck $7.25 an hour since 2009.
You may be asking, of all of the speeches at CPAC, why highlight a guy who hosts a TV show and famously hits at diners, unless, of course, his name is Guy Fury (ph).
Because he and his network promote the false narratives and talking points that are poisoning American politics. And they feed them to their most VIP diner who chews them up and spits them back up to his adoring supporters, like he did this weekend at CPAC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST: Now opportunities for women are being shoved aside for a new priority, transgender athletes. Biological males who identify as females are entering the competition and dominating their opponents in many sports.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Young girls and women are incensed that they are now being forced to compete against those who are biological males. Not good at all for women.
UNIDENTIFIED FOX HOST: I'll tell you, if they start cancelling these American presidents, they are going to come after Bible characters next.
TRUMP: Their toxic cancel culture, something new to our ears, cancel culture.
CARLSON: Global warming is no longer a pressing concern in Houston. We have solved that problem. The bad news is, they don't have electricity. The windmills froze, so the power grid failed. TRUMP: The windmills that don't work when you need them.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST: Welcome to the Biden united Socialist utopia of America.
TRUMP: The mission of the Democrat party is about Socialism.
CARLSON: The real point is that fraud took place. That should horrify us.
TRUMP: Without honest elections, who has confidence?
[13:45:01]
HANNITY: His disastrous anti-energy policies are destroying now what will be hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
TRUMP: Joe Biden has had the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history.
NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I think it is a corrupt, stolen election.
TRUMP: We have a very sick and corrupt electoral process that must be fixed immediately.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): I think that Republicans in our conference who support the president need to step up for him and need to ensure that Liz Cheney does not have the motto of Republicanism as she attacks our leader.
TRUMP: Her poll numbers have dropped faster than any human being I have ever seen.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Hopefully, they will get rid of her with the next election.
TOMI LAHREN, FOX HOST: It sounds like common sense --
UNIDENTIFIED FOX HOST: Yes.
LAHREN: -- gun safety reforms --
UNIDENTIFIED FOX HOST: Right.
LAHREN: -- until you realize it is actually an infringement on due process. And it is a domino effect that could be horrific for our Second Amendment rights.
TRUMP: Your Second Amendment is in bigger trouble than you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Trump's hot topic mirror exactly what he watches on FOX.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: This is America, where you can do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: He's right. You can even get rich by spouting lies and inflaming culture wars on a network that pays you to do it, pushing divisive anti-intellectual rhetoric with framed Ivy League degrees above your head.
Ahead, a judge was not having it when a surgeon appeared via Zoom for a traffic ticket while he was in the middle of operating on a patient.
Plus, Prince Harry opens up in a new interview about splitting from his royal family, calling it unbelievably tough. We will have that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:51:06]
KEILAR: Buckingham Palace can't be happy about this one. Prince Harry going public about how unbelievably tough the split from the royal family has been on him and his wife, the duchess of Sussex.
The prince comparing the couple's treatment to his mother, Princess Di, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey for an upcoming special.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE HARRY: For me, I'm just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side.
Because I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process all by yourself all those years ago. Because it's been unbelievably tough for the two of us but at least we have each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: CNN royal commentator, Victoria Arbiter, joins us to talk about this.
One of the moments I think stands out the most in this is, Victoria, where he talks about how he fears ending up like his mother.
VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: A very powerful statement, yes.
I think it is important that we do note that there are some parallels, of course, between what Harry and Meghan experienced in terms of that intense media scrutiny and the spotlight Diana experienced.
There are stark differences, too. When Diana, when it was her day, she was being relentlessly hounded by the paparazzi. After her death, the rules changed and the paparazzi no longer allowed to chase individuals in the way they once did.
So Harry and Meghan, for the most part, did not have to deal with any of that. There were very few photographs of them in their private time, compared to what Diana experienced.
But I think what came across very clearly in Harry's statement is that he is very anxious about the level of intense scrutiny they've experienced and the toll that that takes as a result.
KEILAR: How do you think this is being received by the palace?
ARBITER: I think there are going to be a number of concerns behind palace walls. Obviously, they were expecting it. This is not the first time a royal has spoken out.
But really, what's going to happen is that people will be reading between the lines, filling in blanks. And the interpretation of every nod, every smile, every look is going to be so intense.
There are likely to be columns for days on this topic. And I think that concerns the royal family.
They won't say anything. They never do. They will just continue with the job that they do and just hope this intense couple of weeks passes quickly.
KEILAR: This is part of a special with Oprah. And Prince Harry and Meghan's interview coincides with the queen's televised address on Commonwealth Day.
Do you think that's a coincidence? Will the queen see this an attempt to upstage her?
ARBITER: Honestly, it is, just because of the day it's on. The Oprah special has been timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Harry and Meghan's last official royal engagement, which was Commonwealth Day last year.
It makes obvious sense that they would have the special go out then. It just so happens to coincide with Commonwealth Day this day. Commonwealth Day is always marked on the second Monday in March.
It's going out Sunday night. Because of the lockdown in the U.K., they can't have the service as they normally would.
It's just indicative of the way things will be moving forward. When the queen made a very powerful video message the other day about the importance of taking the vaccine, Harry's interview with James Corden aired just several hours later.
But Harry and Meghan are no longer under the umbrella of the palace. They will be scheduling conflicts. That's going to be the new normal and something the palace will have to get used to.
KEILAR: I'm sure they're starting to.
Victoria, it's great to see you. Thanks for being with us.
ARBITER: Thank you.
KEILAR: Still ahead, the first shots of the nation's third coronavirus vaccine, they are expected as early as tomorrow, and just as experts warned about a rise in variants of the virus.
[13:54:46]
And New York Governor Cuomo responding to a second allegation of sexual harassment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It's the top of the hour. I'm Brianna Keilar.
And we begin with the third vaccine approved to fight coronavirus on its way to Americans. Nearly a full year after the first stay-at-home orders were issued, the CDC granted emergency use authorization to Johnson & Johnson's single-doze shot over the weekend.
And 3.9 million doses are being distributed across the country right now.
[13:59:58]
CNN shot this video at UPS's largest facility in Louisville, Kentucky, as the shipments were loaded onto planes and trucks.
And it comes just as federal officials are sounding some new alarms over those variants.
