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Activists Call New Georgia Law Deliberate Voter Suppression; U.S. Sets Daily Record For Vaccines Administered; Rep. Castro: Border Problems Are Result Of Trump Policies; Interview With Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA); Biden Admin Project At Least 34,100 More Beds Needed To Shelter Migrant Children; Temporary Living Situation Frustrates VP Kamala Harris; Gun Control Gridlock In Congress After Boulder Shooting. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 27, 2021 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:36]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I think that this is a wake-up call to which side of America do you stand on.

RICHARD ROSE, PRESIDENT, ATLANTA NAACP: The only two things that are missing for this bill is the question of how many bubbles in a bar of soap and how many jellybeans in a jar.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Simply find out what's in the bill versus just this blank statement of this is Jim Crow or you know this is voter suppression or this is racist, because it is not.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Okay, had we mitigated earlier, had we actually paused earlier, how much of an impact do you think that would have made?

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them in my mind could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I am Pamela Brown in Washington. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM and we begin tonight in Georgia. That's where protesters have been rallying near the State Capitol furious over G.O.P. Governor Brian Kemp signing a controversial election law.

They say it's nothing more than an effort to suppress the black votes after three crucial wins for Democrats, but Georgia Republicans including some who loudly stood up to President Trump say it means better election security and expanded access to voting.

Tonight, we will bring you the facts of this new law along with some of the most important voices in the debate. President Biden is slamming the law calling it quote, "Jim Crow in the 21st Century," adding, "It must end." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is an atrocity. The idea -- if you want any indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they passed the law saying you can't provide water for people standing in line while they're waiting to vote? You don't need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive designed to keep people from voting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, this afternoon, Georgia Governor Kemp responded to the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEMP: I can, you know, truthfully look in the camera and ask my African-American friends and other African-Americans in Georgia to simply find out what's in the bill versus just this blank statement of this is Jim Crow or, you know, this is voter suppression or this is racist because it is not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining me now is the former Chief of Staff under President Trump, Mick Mulvaney.

Hi Mick, thanks for coming on.

MICK MULVANEY, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Pamela, thanks so much for having me. It's good to see you.

BROWN: I want to start with Georgia and that new voting bill just signed into law. There was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election and in Georgia, State election officials, Republicans, said they had a free fair and honest election.

There are now more than 250 bills across the country cracking down on voting laws. Do you believe this is creating a precedent for every time a party loses, they will go and try to change the voting laws, using a false narrative that the election was stolen as cover, as we have seen play out in this case.

MULVANEY: No, I sort of -- I just reject the premise. I've actually taken the time to try and figure out what is in the bill, which it wasn't easy by the way.

When I found out I was doing the interview, I went online last night and took me five articles to go through to actually find out what was in the bill as opposed to just people saying how much they disliked it.

It seems like this --

BROWN: I've got the bill right here. MULVANEY: Yes, the substantive changes are pretty limited. Yes, there

are some changes on voter ID when it comes to mail-in ballots that brings it consistent with what you have to do when you go to vote in person, you have to show an ID to vote in-person, under the new Georgia law, you have to show an ID in order to absentee vote.

While there was no widespread fraud in Georgia, I'm happy to talk about that, anyone who follows elections, Republican or Democrat will tell you that the potential for abuse is much higher in mail-in ballots and absentee ballots than it is in in-person voting. Most people don't vote twice. That's not where the fraud comes from, it comes from things like ballot harvesting and so forth.

Not to say that's what happened in 2020, but that is the type of thing this bill seems to be aimed at preventing.

BROWN: But other states, I mean, okay, first of all Colorado and Utah -- Republican State of Utah, they've done mail-in ballots. It's gone well for years and years. I don't want to go -- I don't want to go down a rabbit hole on this. That has been litigated.

[18:05:01]

BROWN: But my question to you, and you're right, the Georgia bill is a mixed bag, right, and that is something Republicans have pointed to, but what I'm asking you is the premise.

The Governor said that there is a crisis of confidence in the election results, and that there were, quote, "alarming issues." He is basically tying the need for this legislation to this manufactured narrative that the election was stolen and there was all this fraud. There were multiple recounts and audits, as you know, in Georgia, only verifying the initial results.

So what I'm asking you is the premise here and whether this sets a wrong precedent for, if a party loses, they're just going to overreact and try to change the voting laws through a manufactured narrative.

MULVANEY: Okay, and -- but again, I'm telling you, I'm not sure that's exactly what's happening. The typical time that you have --

BROWN: But the Governor said -- the Governor said, we're doing this because there were alarming issues, and there's a crisis of confidence.

I'm just -- I am just using the words of Governor Kemp.

MULVANEY: But again, if there's a crisis in confidence, then what can you do? You've tried to fix things. Look at the water --

BROWN: But the crisis in confidence was manufactured by Republicans, by Trump, it was literally manufactured.

MULVANEY: Okay, but again, what's wrong with the substance of the change, Pamela? What I'm asking you is, you've laid out a premise, which is this is

done in order to prevent Democrats from winning in Georgia or resolve a crisis of confidence for the 2020 election.

What I'm asking you instead, is to look at the substance of the bill. You've got it right in front of you. Clearly, you folks have done the research. You know what's in the bill. What in the bill -- regardless of the intent, regardless of the emotion, regardless of whatever. What's in the bill that is so objectionable on the substance on the merit? That's my question.

What is --

BROWN: And we're going to -- yes, and I do -- I've got it right here. I've read through it. We're going to have a more substantive discussion about that.

But of course, the sticking point for voting rights advocates is not being able to hand drink and water to people in line, getting rid of some of those mobile polling booths, creating more restrictions around the drop boxes even though it does legalize drop boxes.

So there's more to discuss on that front. But there's so much more to discuss with you. I want to get your reaction to what former President Trump said this week about the January 6th insurrection.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was zero threat. Right from the start, it was zero threat. Look, they went in, they shouldn't have done it. Some of them went in and they're -- they're hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know. They had great relationships.

A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Well, I didn't see any hugging and kissing in the video. I did see what we just saw on screen there some violence. Those officers were being attacked from what we saw there. Plain and simple.

You resigned your position as Special Envoy to Northern Ireland the day after the attack on the Capitol. When you hear the former President say that, do you think he is trying to revise history of what happened that day?

MULVANEY: I saw it differently with the President. I was surprised to hear the President say that yesterday or earlier this week or something like that. Clearly, there were people who were behaving themselves and then there were people who absolutely were not, but to come out and say that everybody was fine and there was no risk is just -- that's manifestly false. People died. Other people were severely injured. To say there was no risk is just not wrong. I was struck though, and

you and I were talking about this before the show, as I was watching it live, there was actually a split screen of violence, something along the lines of what you just showed.

And on the other half of the screen were folks processing through the center through the -- through the center of the Capitol, and one person stepped over the velvet rope and another person pulled them back to make sure in the rotunda, to make sure they didn't get out of line. So there were clearly a variety of people there.

But to say there was zero risk is wrong. There are videos of folks behaving themselves and protesting peacefully, but they should not have been there and there was -- it's not right to say there was no risk.

I don't know how you can say that when people were killed.

BROWN: I want to ask you about coronavirus, too, while we have you. You were there in the very early days of the White House. In February 2020, during your last days as Chief of Staff, you said the media was over blowing COVID to bring down Trump.

Over a year later, more than half a million Americans are dead from the virus. Do you still believe it was being overblown?

MULVANEY: I believe -- I believe that the press was looking for something to beat up on the President. Keep in mind, the end of February of 2020 was the wind down of impeachment and the press was absolutely looking for the next thing to hurt the President.

In fact, "New York Times" is actually reporting this week, it surprised me that their own study of the American media said that the American media coverage was dramatically more negative over the last course of the last year about the virus than the rest of the world was, so clearly there was a bias against President Trump.

That doesn't mean that the virus obviously wasn't real and wasn't a threat, it absolutely was. But early on, yes, I do believe the press was looking for an excuse to make the President look bad.

They didn't need it, by the way. The virus was nasty enough on its own. But certainly, I do believe there was bias against the President.

[18:10:05]

BROWN: I want to -- this is an honest -- this is an honest question for you though because I know from covering this Trump -- the Trump White House, there was a constant feeling of being under attack, right?

Just from talking to White House sources who were there, you always felt like the media is coming after us. But in this case, this was the beginning of a pandemic, and we have that audio of, as you now know, of Trump telling Bob Woodruff that it was a really serious situation and that, you know, my gosh, this is really bad. We know the briefings that happened in January. This was really serious.

So the media was listening to scientists when covering -- when covering the pandemic.

MULVANEY: Well, that's -- I hear -- I hear that a lot, "Listen to the scientists." I had a scientist tell me not to wear a mask. That was Dr. Anthony Fauci in February of 2020.

BROWN: And that was really all when we worried about the production, that there wouldn't be enough masks for nurses and doctors, but go ahead.

MULVANEY: No, that's not what I was told.

BROWN: Okay, what were you told?

MULVANEY: When I was told -- I was told that we -- don't tell people, go on television. I went on television and tell people don't wear masks because if you wear a mask improperly, you touch your face, it could increase the chance for infection.

Now, I hear after the fact that Dr. Fauci was really doing that, because he was worried about the supplies, he didn't tell us that. He didn't tell me that. I went on television.

So is he lying in order to cover up? I don't think so. I think folks are worried about creating a panic. I think the President was worried about creating a panic.

Keep in mind what was happening in the stock market at those times, and it's not unusual for leaders to not share 100 percent of the information they have.

My guess is, Joe Biden is doing things tonight based upon a hundred percent the information he is not telling us, that's what Presidents and that's what leaders do.

BROWN: No, right.

MULVANEY: So no, listen, there's a lot of things to fault the administration for, but not trying to create a panic in February of 2020 is not one of them.

BROWN: Well, there is a difference, though, of not trying to create a panic and downplaying something and saying it's no big deal, and then holding rallies, getting a bunch of people all together after that, and that was, I believe, in April or so when that picked back up.

But really quick, I want to ask you because you were there during all of this. I want you to listen to what former C.D.C. Director under President Trump, Dr. Robert Redfield said about how the coronavirus spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, FORMER DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: If I was to guess this virus started transmitting somewhere in September, October in Wuhan.

GUPTA: September-October?

REDFIELD: That's my own view, it's only an opinion. I'm allowed to have opinions now. You know, I am of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, you know, escaped out.

Other people don't believe that, that's fine. Science will eventually figure it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And you can hear much more on what Dr. Redfield says tomorrow night on the CNN Special Report at nine, but what is your reaction to those comments? Did you see any evidence as Chief of Staff during those early days that would support his comments?

MULVANEY: Yes, I'm not going to tell you what I saw because a lot of stuff that I saw was classified, especially in those early days. I'm not at liberty to talk about that.

But let me say this about Bob Redfield. The man is beyond criticism. I mean, this is as good as it's going to get in this business, and if Bob Redfield looks you in the eye and says that he thinks X, that is worth an examination. There's no question about it.

It may be that we will never know, I heard that Dr. Fauci later on, either today or yesterday said that folks will have different opinions. I get all of that.

But when Bob Redfield who has just an untarnished history in this business and is beyond reproach when it comes to his intellectual academic background tells you that, you should pay attention.

BROWN: Do you agree with him based on what you know?

MULVANEY: I don't -- I didn't -- there was a bunch of stuff I didn't see. Remember, I was gone by early March --

BROWN: Okay. Right. Right. Okay.

MULVANEY: Pamela, there was stuff that I didn't see.

BROWN: Right. Right. And he is entitled to his opinion. But I really want to ask you before you go. President Biden was asked about this at his first press conference this week by my colleague, Kaitlan Collins about a potential opponent in 2024 and whether he'll run against Trump.

After working for President Trump as his Chief of Staff, would you vote for him -- for Trump -- if he runs in 2024?

MULVANEY: Sure, if the President was the Republican nominee for President, I absolutely would. I think the interest -- more interesting question is what does the Republican primary look like? And nobody knows up to, and including, I believe the President. I

absolutely believe the President has not made up his mind yet, and probably won't for a long period of time, maybe even after the primaries start in 2024.

So it's a long way off, the President got 75 million votes. He's still a major player of the Republican Party. There's a lot of folks who were turned off by the last six weeks and especially the riots. He is going to have to do some work to sort of build bridges back with, if he wants to run again. But he's also in a position to sort of help somebody else get the nomination.

So Donald Trump is not done with American politics, whether or not he runs in 2024, nobody knows, I think including him.

BROWN: But potentially you would -- would you vote for another Republican in the primary if he had other running -- other people that were running against him?

MULVANEY: That's real -- that's too early to say. I'll be perfectly honest with you.

BROWN: Okay.

MULVANEY: I have a lot of friends who want to run for President. I'm friend with Ron DeSantis. I'm friends with Tim Scott. I'm friends we Nikki Haley. There may be a lot of folks.

You know one of the things you do when you do what I do for a living, I think, I know most of the people who are talking about running so it's really not a fair question to ask because I'm friends with a lot of them.

[18:15:12]

BROWN: All right, thank you so much, Mick Mulvaney. We appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your perspective.

MULVANEY: Thanks, Pamela.

BROWN: And we have three packed hours of news for you tonight. In our 8:00 p.m. hour, we're speaking to Gabriel Sterling from the Georgia Secretary of State's Office. He says the claims of voter suppression are just as bad as the lies about election fraud.

I will ask Justin Rosenstein who helped create the Facebook "Like" button if he thinks his ex-employer is helping fuel extremism.

And our Kate Bennett has new reporting for us tonight on how the Vice President feels about living out of a suitcase after months on the job. What's up with that?

But first, experts say America's record vaccination rate doesn't mean it's time to relax. Our Evan McMorris-Santoro is standing by with the latest on the COVID crisis and the surges in Europe and Brazil. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:11]

BROWN: Well, more than a year into a global pandemic, vaccines are bringing hope, but other metrics are still causing tremendous concern. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More than a year into the pandemic, a former Trump administration official revealed in a blockbuster interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta airing Sunday night that she believes many of the deaths in the United States could have been prevented through different policy decisions.

BIRX: Look at it this way, the first time we have an excuse, there were about a hundred thousand deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): A look back at the past year comes on the heels of some relatively good news: the total number of vaccine doses administered in the U.S. on Friday reached a new daily record according to the White House and more vaccine doses are coming.

Next week, Johnson & Johnson expected to deliver at least 11 million doses of its single shot vaccine across the country. More supply means more Americans will have access.

An analysis by CNN finds only two states have yet to say when they'll make doses available to everyone eligible under F.D.A. guidance. The other 48 have already made or are planning to make the vaccine available to everyone older than the age of 16 in a matter of weeks.

But experts say this is not the time for Americans to let their guards down, especially as warmer weather and spring holidays like Passover and Easter may lead to larger gatherings.

And the more contagious virus variants are still spreading. More than a hundred cases of COVID-19 in Nebraska were traced to a child care facility, many with the variant first identified in the U.K.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We are having two and a half million vaccinations per day. That is fantastic, but I also think that restrictions are being lifted so quickly including mask mandates, and people are getting very tired.

And at the same time, we also have these more contagious variants that are circulating.

But we can help people to manage their risk and to try to reduce that risk as much as possible and that means encouraging vaccination, continuing to wear masks and ideally messaging that masks and vaccinations are our way out of this pandemic. MCMORRIS-SANTORO (voice over): It's a very different story outside the

U.S. Brazil is struggling to get doses of the vaccine and reported its highest single day death toll from COVID-19 on Friday.

The President of France admitting the European Union reacted less quickly than the U.S. when it came to the initial vaccine rollout.

While it sorts out of its vaccine problems, the E.U. is struggling to reopen.

In France, increasing cases in schools leading to new classroom closures; and Germany, imposing new quarantine and testing rules on visitors from France, a country that now labels a high risk COVID-19 area.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (on camera): Pam, if there's a through line to all of this, it's that what's happening around the world shows what could be happening here in the United States if we don't stick with those policy guidelines, wear the mask, stay socially distant during this period of time even as the vaccine ramps up.

And if you think about what might happen, just think back to that quote that Deborah Birx mentioned at the top of the piece: that the things that we did in 2020 may have helped to contribute to the death we've all experienced in this country throughout this pandemic -- Pam.

BROWN: And just look at what's going on in Europe right now. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you very much for bringing us the latest there from New York.

Joining me now to discuss, CNN medical analyst, Dr. Lena Wen. She is the former Health Commissioner in Baltimore. I have to begin with those comments, Dr. Wen from Dr. Deborah Birx who was the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator under President Trump. She now says the U.S. could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives after the first surge with a better response.

How do you react to hearing that from someone who was part of the response team?

WEN: Pamela, it was really hard to hear and I think about all those individuals who might have heard those comments who lost loved ones, to hear that those deaths were preventable is -- it must be a gut punch.

Look, I happen to agree with Dr. Birx. I think that the first surge, one might say, it hit us like a freight train. There wasn't that much that we could do about it. But then after that, we knew what to do. We knew about masking. We knew that the initial lockdowns were meant to buy us time to increase our public health infrastructure, the testing, contact tracing and quarantining.

But we didn't use that time, and then we reopened way too quickly, didn't follow the evidence. There was so much miscommunication and disinformation and yes, that did contribute to the hundreds of thousands of deaths that we've had from coronavirus and it just is so tragic.

BROWN: I want to ask you about another member of the Trump team, former C.D.C. Director Robert Redfield says that he thinks the coronavirus originated in Wuhan lab. There is still no consensus on that.

But you have said that you're concerned that this could spur on anti- Asian-American sentiment, if there is no evidence to back that up. If you would just expand on that.

[18:25:23]

WEN: Sure. So I am looking forward to seeing the entire interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Robert Redfield tomorrow because I hope that Dr. Redfield, as the former C.D.C. Director and a public official that he would give some evidence to back up this extremely explosive contention.

We heard what the former President Trump said about coronavirus, like he called this the China virus, the Kung Flu, other things that led directly to a sentiment in the U.S. of people targeting Asian- Americans with hatred, with harassment, with murder.

And, you know, having increasing sentiments like that is a possibility when people start giving unfounded theories.

And so I really would want to hear much more from Dr. Redfield, who has a duty as a public official and as a scientist to produce what data would support that contention.

BROWN: Okay, quick question for you. As states expand vaccines to older teens, there is word the Pfizer shot could be ready for kids aged 12 to 15 by the start of the upcoming school year. If you had a child in that age range, would you get them vaccinated as soon as possible?

WEN: Absolutely. So children are not just little adults. It is important that we do the trials on children to make sure that the vaccines are safe and effective and those trials should be done because children should also not be denied the benefits of vaccination.

I certainly would feel more comfortable with my child back in school if they are vaccinated although, it should not be a precondition to in-person instruction.

BROWN: Okay, Dr. Leana Wen, thank you as always.

WEN: Thank you.

BROWN: And just a heads up, the CNN Special Report "COVID War: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out" airs tomorrow night at nine Eastern only on CNN.

Well, there are a few things lawmakers agree on when it comes to immigration, but they all seem to agree that the system is broken.

So how did they fix it? I'll ask Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar of California up next. He just got back from a trip to the border. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:48]

BROWN: Well, the number of migrants attempting to cross the U.S.- Mexico border continues to balloon and it's expected to get so much worse. The Biden administration could need at least 34,000 more beds to keep up with the projected number of kids arriving through September. That is according to internal government estimates, rather, obtained by CNN.

Now, two separate lawmaker trips to the border highlighting the political divide. Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma tweeted a video showing crowded conditions inside a Border Patrol overflow facility and Donna, Texas. And meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro took aim at the Trump administration after a visit to one of the facilities housing migrant children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): President Biden inherited situation where the previous administration had sought to dismantle the infrastructure for processing asylum seekers and settling asylum seekers in the United States. It was an administration that was run in many ways on these issues by Stephen Miller. And during the pandemic, the Trump administration took advantage of that fact and sought to expel every single person who was coming to the United States to seek asylum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And joining me now to discuss is Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar of California. He was part of the Congressman Castro's delegation that saw those conditions firsthand yesterday at that border facility in Texas. Now, to be clear, this was not the CBP facility with those described jail-like conditions. This was the facility where the migrants went after.

But Congressman, thank you for coming on. We just heard Congressman Castro's comments there placing the blame on the Trump administration. Trump hasn't been president for over two months now, at this point isn't it the Biden administration's problem?

REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Well, it's hard to look past what they did for four years to create this issue. Clearly, President Biden and the Biden-Harris administration is looking to remedy this, as they should and they are putting leadership into it. They did visit the same facility that they read members of the administration, high-level members have visited the Carrizo Springs location that I was in yesterday with Congressman Castro and my colleagues and so they are taking this serious. But it's going to take time is what we would say, because the Trump

administration tried to dismantle so many aspects of our immigration system. They tried to wreck it at every possible step from the asylum process to the Homeland Security process and everything in between. They tried to damage it, including removing funding from Northern triangle countries, which is the root cause of this migration.

BROWN: Well, that is a problem. The push factor is coming from these Central American countries. But I just want to ask you because Democrats say this is cyclical that surges happened under Trump, but in the next breath they say it was all the past administration's fault. But we are seeing a record number of unaccompanied children, even though these surges happen, there are a record number of those children coming over.

[18:35:01]

What does the administration need to do to stem that flow of these kids by themselves making that dangerous trek?

AGUILAR: Well, it is, it is a dangerous journey and we would hope that no one would want to go through this. But that's the situation that we're in. And so our responsibility is to as quickly and safely as possible, put them into facilities like the one that we saw yesterday in Carrizo Springs that is managed and maintained by HHS, the Health and Human Services agency.

Those are the proper entities, Customs and Border Patrol is not where we want these children who are presenting themselves for lawful asylum. And keep in mind, many of the individuals who we talked to yesterday, the children who we talked to and many who are coming presenting themselves at the border have immediate family members who they are trying to be reunited with.

And so our goal should be as safely as possible to reunite them with their family members. So while the Trump administration focused on separating families, we clearly understand the responsibility that we have and I take that serious as a member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, is what resources will we need to make sure that this is as timely as possible, is as expeditious as possible and hoping that no individual has to go through this journey.

But once they present themselves for lawful asylum, pairing them with an immediate family member as quick as possible.

BROWN: I just want to look at the numbers here, because on Thursday, there were more than 18,000 children in U.S. government custody up from 17,000. On Wednesday, the number of unaccompanied children crossing is expected to surge in the coming months. We have seen a rise since President Biden was inaugurated on that front. Do you view that as a crisis or do you do you stick to the language the Biden administration is using saying that it's a challenge they're facing?

AGUILAR: Well, it's a crisis that someone would have to put themselves in this position. When a child has to present themselves alone at the border, that's a crisis. And so the fact that they have to flee the terrible conditions and that they make that choice is a crisis. So I'm less concerned about the language and more concerned about my job to provide oversight and to make sure that this is done in a humane way that we lead with compassion.

That's what the Biden and Harris administration is seeking to do from a leadership perspective. That's what we're doing in Congress is exercising our oversight responsibility over those facilities and to make sure that we get this right.

BROWN: OK. Congressman Pete Aguilar, thank you so much for coming on.

AGUILAR: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, one Republican congressman represents a Texas district with more than 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border. After a firsthand look at the toll this has taken on children, is he open to a bipartisan solution? Congressman Tony Gonzales joins me next hour for more on that.

And it's been more than two months since Kamala Harris took office, but she is still living out of suitcases and not at the official home of the vice president. What is going on there? Our Kate Bennett explains up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:25]

BROWN: Well, more than two months after being sworn in, Vice President Kamala Harris is still living out of suitcases. That's because the official vice presidential home is undergoing renovations. But with each passing day, insiders tell CNN that the VP is getting more frustrated with the situation.

CNN's Kate Bennett is here to share her reporting. Kate, what are you learning?

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is unusual, Pam, to have the Vice President of the United States not be able to move into the official residence. The residence is about two and a half miles from the White House itself.

It's common that there are upgrades. This is a house that was built in the 1800s. We pulled contracts that include things like HVAC system and pond retention, sort of big issues for a large property. But it's still quite unclear why exactly Vice President Harris and the Second Gentlemen, Doug Emhoff are not in their home yet.

Their office is not really speaking and explaining why this is the case. But certainly, we are nine weeks from inauguration and I'm hearing very much that she would like to move in as soon as possible.

BROWN: So, I mean, when you look at that video of Blair House and everything, it doesn't look like it's in disrepair. What specifically does the Vice President dislike about it? BENNETT: She's been staying at Blair House, which is the President's

guesthouse, there's nothing she doesn't like about it. It's right across the street from her office, for example, at the White House. However, it's not going to be where she's living. She's talked many times about how having Sunday dinners are important, cooking, being a home and a laid-back vibe with her husband and his children and friends and family.

You can't really do that at Blair House. It's a bit more formal. I think getting into the Vice President's residence, which President Biden loved when he lived there when he was vice president. There's lots of acreage. There's privacy. There's a pool. There's lots of sort of more home-like atmosphere than at Blair House. And I think that is probably the thing right now that the Vice President and Second Gentleman really want to get into.

As someone who goes through renovations after two weeks, two more weeks, you sort of wonder why can't this happen more effectively and efficiently for the second most powerful person in the country.

BROWN: You just want to feel settled is what it sounds like.

BENNETT: Right.

BROWN: All right. Kate Bennett, thank you so much.

And for the record, tonight, we are calling out the handful of Republican senators blocking the will of the people and blocking common sense gun laws. That's next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Every time there's a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders.

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[18:50:01]

BROWN: Well, for the record after every horrific mass shooting in this country, the gun issue is presented as some intractable, unsolvable problem. Just this morning, 10 people were shot in Virginia Beach, two of them now dead.

The suspect in the Boulder, Colorado killings earlier this week was found guilty of assault three years ago. Yet he passed a background check and legally bought a gun six days before allegedly using it to kill 10 people in a grocery store. It's very easy to see how a more robust background check system or

waiting period could have prevented a person with a violent criminal history like that from making that purchase. The fact is the majority of Americans want common sense solutions to gun violence. Yes, immediately after mass shootings, gun sales spike and Republican support for gun control dips.

But polling routinely shows high support for things like universal background checks. A 2019 poll found that 92 percent of Democrats and 78 percent of Republicans supported expanded background checks. The House passed a bill that year calling for background checks on all gun sales and a Quinnipiac poll found 83 percent of voters supported that bill.

In this hyperpolarized era, those are remarkable numbers. So if millions of Americans and both parties want that, why hasn't it happened? Because a few dozen senators simply have been ignoring the will of the people. That is not how representative democracy is supposed to work and ironically they're hiding behind the constitution to justify this inaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: If you want to stop attacks like the horrible attack in Parkland or if you want to stop attacks like the horrific attack we endured here in Texas at Sutherland Springs, the answer is not undermining the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. It doesn't work.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): If they violate the Second Amendment and undermine our constitutional right to defend ourselves and our families, we will do everything possible over the next year and a half to reverse them.

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): There's some people that do want to infringe on Second Amendment rights. I won't be part of that.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): We still hold near and dear the Second Amendment and don't plan on giving it up anytime soon. I can't imagine how we can legislate away evil. I can imagine, though, how we can remove the obstacles to self-defense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: For the record, no constitutional right is wholly unlimited. The word regulate is literally part of the Second Amendment. The Constitution gives us the right to protest, yet you can still get arrested for protesting. The Constitution gives us freedom of speech, you can still get arrested for certain forms of speech. The Constitution gives us freedom of the press, the press can still be sued for defamation and libel.

Republicans know constitutional rights come with certain boundaries. We know they know. After just a handful of voter fraud cases in 2020, the GOP is making eligible voters clear all kinds of new hurdles to cast a ballot. But after a whole generation of mass shootings as annual gun deaths in

America just short of 40,000 outnumber flu deaths or car crash fatalities, some Republicans and some conservative Democrats won't dare inconvenience gun buyers with new modest limitations.

This week, Colorado Senator, Michael Bennet, told his colleagues enough is enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): I'm just asking us to show an ounce of their courage, by doing whatever we can to keep weapons of war out of our communities; to pass universal background checks; to limit the size of magazines; to address the epidemic crisis of mental health in this country. It seems like that would be the least that we could do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The bare minimum for the record won't even require courage. It simply requires a few people in Washington to follow the constitution and their constituents. This is on both sides of the aisle.

And still to come tonight, we're going to dig deeper into this new Georgia voting law with a top Republican election lawyer and a former head of the NAACP.

Plus, the investigation into sexual harassment claims against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo takes a new turn. What members of his administration are being asked for now?

And the crisis on the border, this week, agents took 1,000 unaccompanied children into custody in one day. I'll talk to Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales whose district is right on the southern border.

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[18:59:26]

BROWN: Well, new tonight, investigators reportedly have subpoena dozens of officials as they look into sexual harassment allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

And meantime, Gov. Brian Kemp is firing back after President Biden called Georgia's new voting law Jim Crow in the 21st century.

And as hundreds of cargo ships stack up, the bid to unclog a billion- dollar blockage in the Suez Canal.

I'm Pamela Brown in Washington, welcomes you, our viewers, in the United States and around the world. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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