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Guam Controversy; Nashville Bombing Investigation; Biden's Border Challenge; Biden Tours Country to Tout American Rescue Plan. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 16, 2021 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:02]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Would you be more surprised if it didn't happen?

JEAN LEE, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't happen, because one thing the North Koreans know is that we're all watching.

They know that there are satellites out there trained on North Korea, because it's one of the only ways that we can see what's happening. And I would say that, if there is some activity happening, perhaps they're also aware that they can create that threat, create that sense of tension, try to influence discussions.

But I want to note that so far we haven't seen a weapons test, and that the threat is much better than a weapons test. I hope they leave it at that, and that that leaves some room for diplomacy, and so that that leaves room for some possible engagement down the line with North Korea.

I think Kim Jong-un is waiting to see what President Biden's policy will be, and I think he's going to -- he's going to be impatient. And so what we're waiting to see is, will he be patient enough to see what that policy is before he loses his patience and goes down the path to provocation?

KEILAR: Yes, it is the beginning of a new saga with North Korea and America.

Jean, thank you so much, Jean Lee. Thanks for being with us.

LEE: Thanks so much.

KEILAR: Right now, President Biden is on his way to Pennsylvania.

The city of Chester in Delaware County is his latest step on the Help is Here Tour to promote his giant COVID relief package to Americans, and he just spoke during his departure, so let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) travel to the Southern border, sir?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not at the moment.

QUESTION: Have you decided when you're able to share shots with other countries? Is it allies or neighbors first? Who will be the first country to get U.S. vaccines?

BIDEN: I have been talking with several countries already. We will -- I will let you know that very shortly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, I have with me now CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz, who's in Denver, following the vice president, who's also part of this big rollout for the American Rescue Plan.

Arlette, tell us what is going to happen today.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, President Biden and Vice President Harris will be fanning out across the country to try to further sell their COVID relief package to the American people.

You will see the president over in Pennsylvania, and then Vice President Harris is expected to land here in Denver, Colorado, in just a short while, as they are really trying to promote the benefits of this package that Americans will be receiving.

You heard the president yesterday at the White House stress how this relief bill will get shots and -- shots into Americans' arms and checks into Americans' pockets, and that is something that they are hoping to reiterate over the course of the next few weeks, as they are promoting this plan.

Now, yesterday, Vice President Harris kind of kicked off this road tour by heading out West to Nevada, where she visited a vaccination site and some other areas there to thank volunteers and also those vaccinators who are getting these shots into Americans' arms.

And she talked about how they are viewing this not just as a sales pitch, but really a public education campaign. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not selling it. It's literally letting people know their rights, right? It's kind of like you -- you buy a product, you have already been sold on the product, but you need some directions on the box, usually, right?

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: And so this is about, hey, know that you're entitled to this. File your taxes so that you can speed up the benefits that you're going to receive. Talk to your friends and neighbors about getting vaccinations.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SAENZ: So, that is something that we will expect her to be reinforcing again today when she lands here in Colorado. She will be visiting a vaccination site and then be here at Maria Empanada. This is a restaurant that is owned by an immigrant, where Harris will be holding a roundtable on small businesses.

The president himself, when he is in Pennsylvania, will also be focusing on small businesses and the ways that they can benefit from this COVID relief package. Now, one other thing to note, that, while Harris is here at this restaurant, she will be joined by Senator Michael Bennet, who is up for reelection in 2022.

And many of these states that both the president and vice president are hitting this week are states that could have competitive Senate races in those midterms -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, no coincidence, for sure.

Arlette Saenz in Denver for us, thank you.

A second study in less than a week suggests the U.K. coronavirus variant is more deadly. This is research that shows the risk of death is about 55 percent higher than earlier strains, and the CDC says it's only a matter of weeks, end of this month or early next, before this is the dominant strain here in the U.S.

It's a big reason why the CDC director is pleading with Americans to keep up social distancing and wear their masks, especially during spring break, as more Americans head to the beach, as they're traveling through airports, and as many states are easing restrictions.

[14:05:05]

But vaccinations are a bright spot here. The nation is averaging 2.4 million shots a day, with more than 11 percent of the country fully inoculated against coronavirus through the vaccine.

And this just in, CDC data now showing that 22 percent of the nation has had at least one shot. Mississippi today is joining Alaska in making all adults eligible for a COVID vaccination.

And for more pandemic headlines across the country, let's turn now to our CNN correspondents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Randi Kaye in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Here, the South Florida Fairgrounds has been turned into a mass vaccination site. They are hoping to vaccinate about 500 people here today. They're expecting a big crowd, because the governor has lowered the vaccination eligibility age to 60 and above.

This is one of more than 1,000 vaccination sites around the state. Already, the state of Florida has fully vaccinated more than 2.3 million people, the governor looking to even ramp those numbers up.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: I'm Jacqueline Howard in Atlanta.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine trial in children is officially under way. The phase 2-3 trial is being conducted here in the U.S. and Canada, and the study will enroll about 6,750 children ages 6 months to 11 years old. The biotech company says the first children already have been vaccinated in the study.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam at The Waffle in Hollywood.

Here in Los Angeles County, restaurants are now allowed to have patrons inside with capacity up to 25 percent. That's the same limit for museums, as well as for movie theaters.

As for gyms and dance studios and yoga studios, their limits for indoor capacity is at 10 percent, but this as we're seeing the test positivity rate of the last seven days for California and also for Los Angeles County is below 2 percent, so a sense of returning to normal a bit here in what was the hardest-hit county in the country.

COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Coy Wire in Atlanta.

Six officials have been dismissed ahead of the men's NCAA Tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. According to the NCAA, one of the referees tested positive, the others ruled out due to close contact.

The NCAA is putting everyone involved in March Madness through rigorous COVID testing and protocols upon arrival in Indiana. There are four replacement teams on standby in the event that any school has to pull its team due to health issues before 6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. The 68-team tournament tips off with four games on Thursday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: As the Biden administration makes progress on relief funds and vaccine distribution, it is struggling to deal with a growing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

More than 9,400 children arrived without parents in February. This is a threefold increase since this time last year. And there are currently more than 4,000 unaccompanied minors still in U.S. custody.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in mission, Texas.

And, Rosa, I know you were able to speak to some of the families that are trying to enter the U.S. What did they tell you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brianna, they told me, some of them did, that processing for them started under a bridge.

Now, we have asked Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection for ride-alongs, so that we could see for ourselves what that actually looked like, but those requests have been denied. But we do have a location now where we're able to see part of this

operation. I want you to look behind me, because my camera is facing south. What you see there is the United States looking into Mexico, and there's a bridge here to my left. Under that bridge is where some of this processing is starting here in the Rio Grande Valley.

This gives you an idea of how much of a bottleneck the Rio Grande Valley and Border Patrol have on their hands right now that processing begins under a bridge. Now, if you look closely, you will be able to see that there's some floodlights.

Well, under that bridge, under those floodlights, and we do have some pictures that were tweeted out by the Border Patrol chief, that, if we have those pictures, you would be able to see what it looks like under that bridge.

Again, this is as close as we can get to that area, but I did talk to a woman who told me what it was like for processing to start under that bridge. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: They start processing you there, yes? How long were you under the bridge?

She says that they arrived at about 5:00 p.m. one day, and that they spent the night under the bridge.

[14:10:03]

How'd you sleep under the bridge? On the floor?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, that's what the bottleneck looks like here on the Southern border right now, people getting processed under a bridge.

They have to wait there. According to this woman, she waited there overnight to then get transported to a processing facility.

Now, we have seen the buses on that berm. We have seen those buses come in and out of this area. Again, that's exactly what this woman described. Right now, there are several SUVs there that we can see, but we have seen, Brianna, multiple Border Patrol vehicles coming in and out of that area.

Again, this is as close as we can get, but this just gives you an idea, visually, of what this bottleneck looks like here along the U.S.-Mexico border -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Rosa, thank you for giving us a look at that, Rosa Flores in Mission, Texas.

Next: a feud on Capitol Hill between Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and the delegate from Guam, after she suggested the U.S. territory was a foreign country. He's going to join me live to explain why he responded with members of the Guam National Guard.

Plus, Georgia-based companies like Coca-Cola are taking the side of voting rights advocates there, as Republicans push bills making it harder to cast a ballot.

And backlash after the Vatican says same-sex marriage is a sin. I will speak to musician and LGBT activist Chely Wright.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:52]

KEILAR: New details today about the man who set off a bomb in downtown Nashville on Christmas Day.

FBI investigators say he was motivated in part by paranoia and his belief in conspiracy theories.

CNN's Ryan Young has the latest -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we have new information from the FBI. They just released a report about that Nashville bombing, the one that happened on Christmas Day.

They believe Anthony Warner acted alone. They don't believe terrorism was involved in this at all. What they do believe, though, is that he had deep-seated beliefs in conspiracy theories. And there was also some stressors in his life.

Now, that bombing had a great effect in the downtown area. Talk about almost 40 buildings that were damaged and at least eight people were injured. Of course, the bomber committed suicide when he set that bomb off.

But the belief by the FBI at this point is that he acted alone. And they don't believe there will be any charges or any further investigation in this case -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Ryan, thank you.

Next, business leaders in Georgia under pressure to speak out against GOP efforts to curb voter access there.

Plus, Senate Majority -- Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tries to downplay President Biden's achievements on the vaccine rollout. We will roll the tape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:45]

KEILAR: In her brief time in Congress, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene has been no stranger to controversy, and yet, even now, she finds herself embroiled in a new one, and it involves her wanting knowledge of U.S. geography and history after saying this last month at CPAC: (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I'm a regular person, and I wanted to take my regular person, normal, everyday American values, which is, we love our country, we believe our hard-earned tax dollars should just go for America, not for, what, China, Russia, the Middle East, Guam, whatever.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: There is just one problem, of course. Guam is not a foreign country. It is a U.S. territory, and it has been since 1898.

People born there are U.S. citizens. Some of them fight in the U.S. military as citizens, and it's not a foreign nation, as Greene would have her supporters believe.

To make that point, on Monday, Guam's lone delegate in Congress visited Greene's congressional office. And he did so with a few dozen members of Guam's National Guard to deliver a box of cookies he promised to the congresswoman after her comments surfaced.

She was not there to accept, but an aide came out and thanked the service members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you guys so much for all that you do. We really appreciate it. Thank you guys for keeping us safe.

The congresswoman should be back hopefully in the next 30 minutes or so, and I know that she would love to meet all of you and say hi and just tell you how much she appreciates the hard work that you guys do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining me now is the Democratic delegate of Guam, Michael San Nicolas.

Thank you, Congressman, for being with us today to talk about this.

Look, I understand that you wanted to make a point here and that, of course, it is very important to your constituents that Guam is recognized. They are Americans, and that is certainly not in doubt or should not be in doubt.

I know a number of your supporters, I'm sure, have told you they like what you did. But I wonder if you think about any of the negative ramifications that there could be here for the military, taking the National Guard as part of this group with you to Congresswoman Taylor Greene's office.

DEL. MICHAEL SAN NICOLAS (D), GUAM: Yes, we don't see that at all, actually. We were taking our Guardsmen on a tour of the Capitol. We actually

visited multiple member offices. We delivered -- we tried to deliver cookies to Congresswoman Greene. We delivered a local dish from Guam, chicken kelaguen, to our speaker's office, to our majority leader's office, to our majority whip's office.

So we were very honored to be able to take our Guardsmen on a tour. It was maybe the third one that I have done while they have been out here. And they're honored to meet members of Congress. And we were really hopeful to be able to meet Congresswoman Greene.

But we were able to meet Majority Whip Clyburn. And that was a real special moment for them.

KEILAR: In this case, I understand you went to Clyburn's office, but this is Congresswoman Taylor Greene, who said something stupid about Guam, and this obviously highlights negatively those comments.

I know that you're getting a lot of criticism from conservatives, from her supporters, but you are also getting a lot of criticism from civilian military experts who would in no way defend the congresswoman's comments, and they are critical of you, an elected official, using military service members, as they see it, as political props.

[14:25:03]

What do you say to that criticism?

SAN NICOLAS: That criticism is unfounded.

We were not at all using military service members for political props. I was taking my Guardsmen on a tour of the Capitol. And we stopped by several members' offices and we delivered some goodies.

Cookies should never be considered a political prop. And neither should our military. But good will is absolutely something that we wish to extend from Guam to everybody. And my Guardsmen wished to extend the same, and we're very honored to be able to facilitate that.

KEILAR: I'm sure you're aware of, during the convention, there were uniformed Guard members who appeared on video as part of the American Samoa representatives, and that was actually something that members of the military, or at least their supervisor, got in trouble for. They were disciplined for that.

That is a possibility in situations like this. Why would you put them in that position of potentially being investigated?

SAN NICOLAS: I don't think we put them in that position at all.

As I mentioned before, we have taken them on multiple tours. I was visited by other high-ranking Guardsmen in my office. And, you know, we really shouldn't be looking for reasons to go after..

(CROSSTALK) KEILAR: Here's my question. Was a video shot of it with dramatic music, was this done in a way that would have cast negative light on you? That's really the question here, because this does put them in -- this does put them in a tough spot. I hear you're saying it doesn't, but it does.

SAN NICOLAS: Actually, my adjutant general back on Guam is even expressing very supportive language of the actions we have taken.

Guam is a very good will community. We were going around delivering goodies and going around to say hello. And I think that that's a very appropriate thing to do, especially when certain members of Congress may not be very familiar with Guam. And we're going to continue that outreach.

That's a very positive thing to do. And I'm very, very grateful that the country is getting to know Guam as we speak.

What is something that we should be more concerned about, though, is the fact that we're blowing situations like this out of proportion, when we are completely ignorant to the fact that this is actually the 500th anniversary of colonialism on Guam; 1521 was when Guam became a colony. And we continue to be an unincorporated territory in the United States.

And we have Guardsmen. We have servicemen. They are unable to vote for their members of Congress to vote on the floor, and they're unable to vote for Electoral College representation to elect a commander in chief. Those are the things we should be talking about.

How are we putting Americans in harm's way, when they're not even able to elect the people who are making those decisions? I think that's something we should be talking about, not cookies and going and saying hello.

Let's talk about these men putting their lives on the line, these women putting their lives on the line. And I'm a Gold Star family member. We lost the eldest of my San Nicolas clan in Afghanistan. So, we don't have any disrespect or dishonor toward the military. On the contrary, we want to go and want to say hello. We want to spread good will.

And we want the country to know about Guam from Congress, the president, all the way down to the American people. And I am very grateful for President Biden being the first president to include states, tribes, and territories in his inaugural address. And I think that's a step in the right direction. I'm very much looking forward to the leadership of this administration.

KEILAR: And I thank your family, certainly, for its sacrifice. I think that is something that Americans would share in, and they see that.

All those issues you talked about, I think those are incredible issues that should be discussed, but why bring the military into it? Why put them in this position? I mean, just you -- have you heard -- there are experts who do not -- they're not being political. They're saying, look, the military is in a unique position in this country, in that it has tremendous esteem compared to other countries.

That derives from the fact that they are seen as apolitical. And when you use them in a political stunt, a video like this, where there is dramatic music, they say that, long-term, there are negative effects, that this gets put into the basket of using the military in a political way, whether it's the Trump administration sending them to the border, which is something the DNC, your party's platform said that it was going to stop the politicization of the military.

Do you take any of that -- I mean, do you take any of that criticism and think perhaps about what this moment is beyond raising awareness about Guam?

SAN NICOLAS: I'm going to leave the military determination of the event to the military.

I don't think anybody should be going out and calling themselves an expert and speaking on behalf of the military. I think experts would know. The military is going to discern this, based on their own analysis and make their determination.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: They aren't. I just want to be clear. They aren't speaking on behalf of the military.

SAN NICOLAS: Right. And so let's let the military...

KEILAR: They're speaking on behalf of civilian-military relations.

SAN NICOLAS: Let's let the military make those determinations.

And I would encourage people to look at our other videos. I have other videos of dramatic music of my Guardsmen in the Rotunda, the heart of the Capitol, with us facilitating a promotion ceremony for three of our Guardsmen.

So, I think that the ones who are politicizing this and trying to turn this into a greater thing than it is, is not our office and absolutely not my Guardsmen.

[14:30:00]