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Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) is Interviewed about the Biden Bill; Juror in Chauvin Trial Speaks Out; Warning before Capitol Riot; Pennsylvania Voters Evaluate Biden. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 28, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): Help the families and our issues that I've been fighting for and women in Congress have been bringing to the leadership table. And it's going to be exciting to see that visual and what it represents because, to me, it shows that this administration is seeing the American people and seeing the role of women that they have in providing for our families and elevating that to the important recognition that their work is critical to our economic infrastructure.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: In fact, you and Senator Elizabeth Warren are asking the administration to go beyond what they're going to lay out tonight. You sent this letter to President Biden on Friday calling for him to triple the amount in child care spending to $700 billion.

Has the White House responded? Are they open to that?

CLARK: You know, I think what we are seeing tonight is that the White House sees those issues, like child care. You know, we're going to see the first time a president putting funding in for universal pre-k. So, yes, Elizabeth Warren and I are saying, let's make sure that we act boldly and with the urgency that is required around child care.

But tonight is a starting point and we are celebrating the fact that child care is finally being recognized as the critical part of getting people back to work and making sure that it is equitable because not only does the president's plan provide for more child care that can save a typical American family $13,000 a year, it is also working on the primarily female workforce that makes up our early educators and making sure they are paid a living wage.

HARLOW: I'm sure you saw this yesterday, but "The Washington Post" has a stunning poll. And it shows that one in four women in America now say they are worse off financially than before the pandemic. More women lost their job, many more -- millions more than men during the pandemic. Many of them because they had to make the impossible choice of do I, you know, choose my job or choose my kids? Do I stay home and take care of my kids who aren't in school?

I wonder, and I understand all you've laid out, but I wonder if you think the administration has a specific enough plan to help those women get back to work beyond the child care and universal pre-k, which matters. It does. But a lot of these women's jobs have been either eliminated or given other to people. What do we do for them?

CLARK: You know, I think that work has begun already. And you're absolutely right, Poppy, women have taken the brunt of the economic fallout from this pandemic. And we're seeing that we are at a 33-year low in women's participation in the economy. And we are not going to leave them behind.

And it started with the American Rescue Plan, making sure that we were getting stimulus checks out. Those survivor checks to families. That we were having PPP loans. My virtual guest tonight is a small business owner and a child care provider in my district. The CARES Act enabled her to reopen her business and the American Families Plan and the American Rescue Plan are going to enable her to grow it and build back stronger.

And so that is the story of women in this economy and one of the lessons we have to take is making these investments. Whether it's in meeting the immediate needs through expanded unemployment, rent stabilization, making sure we are feeding the 12 million children that go to bed hungry every night in this country, to making those longer term investments we see in the jobs plan and the families plan, to make sure that women are -- whether they are working in our essential jobs, through the c (ph) suite, that they are able to participate fully and provide for their families. And that's why I'm so excited about this care agenda. It is fundamental to supporting women in our workforce.

HARLOW: Well, it's an American tragedy that the labor force participation rate shows that women have lost a generation of progress in just over a year. I pray that those numbers turn around.

Congresswoman Katherine Clark, we're out of time, but we'll have you back soon.

Thanks very much.

CLARK: Thanks, Poppy.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking his silence. A juror in the Derek Chauvin trial sits down with CNN.

[09:35:03]

Hear what he has to say. An inside view of the deliberations, as well as the enormous stakes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, this morning, a juror who deliberated in the Derek Chauvin murder trial is now the first to speaks out, describing the days he spent in that Minneapolis courtroom as dark and tense.

SCIUTTO: He said that every day felt, in his words, like a funeral.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus joins us now. She was able to speak with that juror. Tell us what he told you. I mean this is a remarkable view inside that

jury, inside that deliberation room.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Jim and Poppy. I asked him to take us inside the courtroom and explain what it was like over the course of those three weeks.

[09:40:06]

You'll hear from him in just a moment. But 31-year-old Brandon Mitchell said showing up for jury duty every day this month was exhausting, mentally and physically. He said there was one weekend where he was just overwhelmed. And he said he was five minutes away from calling his mother to say, I cannot do this. I cannot keep going into that courtroom. But he pushed through, and this is what he said about going to jury duty every single day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON MITCHELL, JUROR IN DEREK CHAUVIN MURDER TRIAL: Inside the courtroom for me was extremely stressful, extremely draining on a day- to-day basis. It 100 percent was not easy at all each day, just coming in, just because watching somebody die each day, that's a tough -- that's a tough -- that's a tough thing to watch.

It was like a funeral. I mean it literally was like a funeral. It was like you're walking into a dark space and you feel it. You feel the energy. And it's just not -- it's not pleasant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: There was a moment, he says, when George Floyd's brother took the stand and he broke. He says he used his mask because, you know, everyone had to wear a face covering, but he used his mask to hide his tears. He said he saw himself in George Floyd's brother when he talked about their relationship growing up, playing basketball, and this 31-year-old happens to be a basketball coach at a local high school in Minneapolis.

Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: Adrienne, I wonder if he talked to you about whether all the members, those 12 members of the jury that deliberated, were really in lockstep during that deliberation process.

BROADDUS: He said overall they were on the same page, but after they were clear to start deliberating, he thought they would be able to reach a conclusion within 20 to 30 minutes, but discovered that was not the case. There was one member of the jury. He said they had to do some convincing to.

Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON MITCHELL, JUROR IN DEREK CHAUVIN MURDER TRIAL: It was like, is this time now? I actually thought we would get in, get out, 20, 30 minutes. I didn't expect to be here too long. I figured we'd probably all be on the same page.

BROADDUS: But you weren't all on the same page?

MITCHELL: Not necessarily. It took -- it took longer than the time I thought it would take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, that's remarkable. He thought that it would only be 20 to 30 minutes total deliberation based on what they heard. But, listen, juries are interesting. Twelve human beings, right, Poppy?

HARLOW: Totally.

SCIUTTO: I mean sometimes not everybody thinks along the same lines.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Of course they did -- they did come to the conclusion.

Adrienne Broaddus, thanks so much to her for bringing us that interview.

There are newly revealed emails which offer more proof that warnings ahead of the Capitol insurrection fell on deaf ears. The just didn't listen.

CNN has exclusive new reporting showing that Capitol security officials dismissed, even ignored, online posts calling for people to storm the Capitol and kill -- that's right, kill federal workers.

HARLOW: Our law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild joins us from Washington.

Whitney, should officials have been more ready, more prepared?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, what our reporting between me and my colleague Zach Cohen has found is that there were a lot of opportunities for them to at least be more prepared.

So what these emails show is that there was a private company, Data Miner, who had reached out to Capitol security officials and said, we've identified this series of troubling posts about January 6th. That information prompted a security official to reach out to another member of the security staff to say, there is now chatter on Parler about storming the Capitol. Please let me know if there are any updates to credible threats.

The information she got back was that there was no talk of credible threats about storming the Capitol. And this is really troubling because what it shows is that there were many people within the Capitol security apparatus who had eyes on the very information that basically laid out in detail exactly what ended up happening on January 6th and still they looked past it, Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I mean, that's the thing, and all this talk about an intelligence failure, the intel was there. The question is, did they look at it, right, consider it?

One of the officers involved here, Michael Fanone, who was injured defending, of course, the Capitol on January 6th, he spoke to CNN about what it's been like walking elected officials downplay what happened that day. Tell us his reaction.

WILD: Well, he said it's been really difficult. And during that interview, he said that there was a moment where he thought there was a distinct possibility he would lose his life. But I don't think there's anyone better who can say exactly how he felt that day than he can.

Here's what he told Don Lemon last night.

[09:45:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, D.C. POLICE OFFICER: It's been very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals kind of whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened.

A lot of us are still experiencing the emotional trauma. And some are still grappling with physical injuries as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: I think the most important thing that I hope all of our viewers walk away with today is when we talk about these really broad themes surrounding January 6th, that it's just critical to remember there were human beings at the very center of that, people who gave, in some cases their life, some -- their blood trying to defend the Capitol. And he's speaking out to try to share his story, to remind people that the trauma to human beings was very, very real, Poppy and Jim.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: You could see -- I mean you could hear it in his voice, you could see it in his eyes. What an interview that Don did with him.

Whitney, thank you for that reporting very much.

President Biden launched his campaign in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. How do people there feel about his first 100 days in office? CNN went there to find out.

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[09:50:44]

SCIUTTO: Tonight, President Biden will deliver his first joint address to Congress, just one day ahead of his 100th day in office.

HARLOW: He is expected to highlight his accomplishments and push another ambitious piece of legislation forward. On Friday he will head back to his home state of Pennsylvania. Jeff Zeleny joins us now.

Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

HARLOW: A big test of this is how do folks there especially think he's done so far in these first 100 days.

ZELENY: Well, Poppy and Jim, of course, there are so many key battlegrounds in so many key swing states. But this county here, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, is one of 25 in America that voted like this in the last four presidential races, Obama, Obama, Trump and Biden. So that gives you a sense of how divided some voters here are.

But in our conversations over the last several days here with voters, we're finding some surprising things. A, they're happy that the vaccinations are being rolled out, and even some people who didn't support Joe Biden, some of them at least are giving him a chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL ERKER, BIDEN SUPPORTER: I just felt as though when Biden was elected, everybody just took a deep breath and they felt as though they were able to breathe.

ZELENY (voice over): Carol Erker is pleased with President Biden as he finishes his first 100 days in office.

ERKER: Oh, he's getting all those vaccines out in -- in the time limit that he said he would. I think he's doing a good job.

ZELENY: Here in Pennsylvania, sounds of optimism and signs of recovery are markers of an early milestone of the Biden presidency.

DON CUNNINGHAM, PRESIDENT AND CEO, LEHIGH VALLEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: It's nice to not have all the noise coming out of Washington.

ZELENY: Don Cunningham runs the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation. He and other business leaders are not yet sold on Biden's entire agenda, but they do like him.

CUNNINGHAM: The calmness and the settling nature of it, which is not necessarily partisan, is probably just more social and more human, has been refreshing in the last 100 days.

ZELENY: Northampton County, Pennsylvania, is one of only 25 counties in America that in the last four presidential races voted Obama, Obama, Trump and Biden. Here in a swing county, in a swing state, in a divided nation, there are naturally plenty of critics.

But perhaps just as remarkably, people willing to give Biden a shot. RICHARD THOMPSON, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, FACTORY LLC: Every

president is my president. And I -- you know, good, bad or indifferent, I like to support our president. So if I don't like him, next time I'll vote for somebody else.

ZELENY: Richard Thompson runs the Factory, a business incubator inside the former Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He disagrees with how Biden proposes paying for some plans like infrastructure, but distains political gridlock more.

THOMPSON: We've got to get stuff done. We've got to move forward. So it would be nice if everybody could say, OK, I'll give you this, but you give me that and have some support from both sides.

ZELENY: The Biden presidency is now touching the lives of Americans in concrete ways, from a much-improved vaccination rollout, to the nearly $2 trillion economic recovery act, most of which has yet to arrive from Washington.

Lamont McClure is the Northampton county executive who believes the local portion of relief for small businesses and non-profit organizations will be about $61 million.

ZELENY (on camera): Any word from Treasury on when that will happen?

LAMONT MCCLURE, NORTHAMPTON COUNTY EXECUTIVE: We don't have any -- any guidance yet on when the money's coming. We were hoping it would be here by now.

ZELENY (voice over): A White House spokesperson said those funds should come next month.

At the Birthright Brewing Company, Wayne Milford said money from the CARES Act last year helped keep his business alive, but he believes the latest wave of unemployment assistances has made it incredibly hard to find workers.

WAYNE MILFORD, OWNER, BIRTHRIGHT BREWING COMPANY: You know, it's easier for people to be unemployed right now than to actually have a job and to want to worth.

ZELENY: The depth of Biden's support is an open question in a county where Trump flags still wave.

Angelo Gosnel, an air conditioner technician, still questions Biden's victory and can't bring himself to take down his Trump banner.

ANGELO GOSNEL, TRUMP SUPPORTER: People didn't vote for Biden. They voted against Trump.

ZELENY: But even among those who are open to Biden's success, several say they are waiting to see more in the next 100 days and beyond before rendering a verdict on his presidency.

Addie Pettus, a real estate agent, applauded how Biden has handled the pandemic and the economy, but wants to see more on police reform and social justice.

[09:55:03]

ADDIE PETTUS, REAL ESTATE AGENT: We need action and we need action all over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, at this early stage of the presidency, Mr. Biden clearly is being judged through the prism of the pandemic. But as that moves forward, the rest of his agenda, of course, is going to come into sharper view. He'll be, of course, unveiling his American families plan this evening. You know, really a sweeping plan to give free community college, expand child care. So many issues that people certainly are looking for. The price tag, of course, is a question. So these next 100 days certainly more difficult than the past.

Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: And questions about rises in taxes as well.

Jeff Zeleny, good to have you there on the ground. Thank you.

ZELENY: Sure.

SCIUTTO: Well, the CDC, as you may have heard, is easing guidance on mask wearing outdoors for fully vaccinated Americans, but some experts say the new guidance is too cautious. Maybe you feel the same way. It does not offer enough incentive for those still on the fence about getting a shot. I'm going to speak with Dr. Anthony Fauci about that and other COVID questions, next.

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