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GOP's Rush to Derail Capitol Riot Investigation; GOP Leaders Silent after Taylor Greene Compares Mask Mandate to Holocaust; Biden's Agenda Facing Looming Deadlines; White House Condemns Belarus over Plan Incident; Report: Trump White House Did Not Provide Separated Parents Chance to Bring Their Children Upon Removal; 5 Rural Counties in Oregon Push to Secede, Join Idaho. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired May 24, 2021 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:32:26]
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Too political, too redundant, too backward looking. Republicans rolling out any reason they can to fight a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th capitol insurrection.
And here's a new one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): Well, I think it's too early to create a commission. And I believe Republicans in the Senate will decide that it's too early to create that commission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: A lot of Republicans just want this commission to go away. But GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who supports the investigation, says his party should deal with this issue now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): Here's a revelation. This is going to the 2022 midterms anyway, particularly if us, as Republicans, don't take ownership for what happened, if every other day, there's a new conspiracy theory about what happened at the capitol, anybody but what it was.
And so yes, I think it would go to 2022 and we're looking like we're sitting here denying reality and facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is here with us. Gloria, it has been four and a half months, more than 400 arrests.
What's your reaction to Senator blunt saying it is too soon for a commission?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't understand his reasoning. The only way to explain it is that, of course, he doesn't want to be relitigating what happened in 2020 and 2022.
Senator Thune said the quiet part out loud last week in saying just that.
They don't want to be talking about Donald Trump, and the insurrection, and the fact that more than half of Republicans, according to some polls, now believe these were really anti-Trump people dressing up as pro-Trump people who invaded the capitol.
So he wants to move beyond it so he can get on with talking about the election and so the -- you know, the Senate can -- you know, the Republicans can take control of the Senate.
I think he's doing this to help his friend, Mitch McConnell. As we know Blunt is retiring. But I think he's doing it because he wants to change the conversation.
But what does he want to wait for? The one-year anniversary? I mean, that's just absurd.
CABRERA: And also absurd is this next story about Marjorie Taylor Greene, because they've been whitewashing what happened at the capitol, Republicans have. They've been continuing to support the big lie .
And now they are staying silent when it comes to Margorie Taylor Greene, equating the House mask-wearing policy to the Holocaust.
Listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany.
[13:35:14]
And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: I still can't get over the guy just nodding along with her as she's saying these things, Gloria.
Hakeem Jeffries, the chair of the House Democratic caucus, he tweeted this: "Kevin who? Marjorie Taylor Greene is running the House Republican conference."
Is he right?
BORGER: I think the House Republican conference is running away from Marjorie Taylor Greene privately.
But publicly, the fact that they have not, the leadership has not come out and denounced these anti-Semitic statements, these statements, which say Democrats are effectively Nazis, which seems to be her theme, is ridiculous and unforgivable.
And if I were a supporter of theirs who was Jewish, who was donating money, I'd be burning up the phone lines right now saying, why aren't you guys out there, saying that this is unacceptable dialogue?
And that she needs to be -- to be called in and said you cannot do this, you should not be saying these things, and if you believe these things, there's no place for you in the United States Congress.
I mean, these statements get more and more outrageous. She gets more and more publicity.
And she says, look, it's great in my district, it's fine with the people who voted me in.
The question you then have to ask, is this the road the leadership in the House wants to take? Is this what they want to be known for as they head into 2022 and beyond?
I mean, at some point, you have to take a stand and say, she does not speak for us, period.
CABRERA: When is enough, enough?
Before I let you go, I don't want to end on that note. I want to ask you about something more substantive.
When it comes to policies, getting legislation passed on behalf of the American people there seems to be a bit of a roadblock as the president's deadlines are approaching on police reform, infrastructure packages. It's supposed to be the most bipartisan issue.
President Biden, over the weekend, he slashed $500 billion from his original proposal as a counter to Republicans.
Quickly, if you will, where do you see this headed?
BORGER: Well, I think it's headed back behind closed doors and into more negotiations.
Look, I don't think Biden is going to get what he wants. And the real question -- and neither will Republicans.
And I think the real question here is, are the Democrats going to be able to get enough Democrats on board with them to go it alone through the budget process where they only need 50 votes? And that's going to be the question that faces the president and
Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Budget Committee.
Gloria Borger, good to you.
BORGER: Good to see you.
CABRERA: And congrats on your award over the weekend. Well deserved.
BORGER: Thank you, thank you.
CABRERA: Talk to you soon.
Imagine being on an airplane that's forced to land after a security alert. But there's no real threat and the real reason is politics. More on this wild story, and what Ryanair calls a state-sponsored hijacking.
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[13:43:12]
CABRERA: Governments around the world outraged over the apparent stunt pulled by Belarus that forced a commercial airliner to reverse course just so authorities could arrest a dissident journalist on board.
Roman Protasevich was hauled off the plane after the flight landed in Minsk. The CEO of Ryanair calls it state-sponsored piracy or hijacking.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us with the latest developments.
Fred, we're hearing some countries are now saying to avoid Belarus air space all together.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they certainly are. They're saying, it's not safe for civilian airliners to not fly over Bela-Russian air space.
The U.K. is saying that. Sweden is saying that, as well as some other European countries also.
As we look at the trajectory the flight took, the flight path, you can see that the plane was actually headed straight for Lithuania, where this was supposed to go.
And just as it was about to leave Belarusian airspace, had to take a sharp right turn and land in Minsk. That's because the regime sent a jet fighter to intercept the plane, allegedly because of a bomb scare, and forced it to land.
Roman Protasevich was immediately arrested upon arrival. There are people in the opposition in Belarus those who fear he could be tortured in jail. He's also on the terrorism list there. And could face the death penalty, if bad comes to worse.
The Belarusians, for their part, are claiming they did everything according to international rules. The U.S. not buying that at all.
Secretary Blinken saying -- I want to quote him here -- quote, "The United States strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two E.U. member states, Greece and Lithuania, and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist, Roman Protasevich, in Minsk. We demand his immediate release. This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenko regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens."
[13:45:03]
The E.U., by the way, also extremely angry about it. As we speak right now, E.U. heads of state are meeting and discussing possible sanctions against Belarus -- Ana?
CABRERA: The White House just putting out a statement saying this is a brazen affront to international peace, and security.
Fred Pleitgen, thank you for staying on it for us.
A watchdog report revealing gut-wrenching details about how parents separated from their children at the U.S. border in the Trump years were deported without even being given the opportunity to take their children with them.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is on this.
Priscilla, this makes an already horrible situation so much worse.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Ana, this report confirms what immigrant advocates and attorneys have said from the beginning, which is that some parents were deported from the United States without their children despite wanting to be with their children.
Now, this Department of Homeland Security inspector general report captures the period of July 2017 to July 2018.
Now, under the Trump administration this report found immigration and customs enforcement removed parents despite those parents wanting to be with their children upon removal.
It also found that some documentation with parents' decision were, quote, "significantly flawed."
Now, this runs contradictory to what senior officials were saying at the time.
Here's what the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told lawmakers in December of 2018.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Every parent had the choice to bring the child back with them when they were removed. The ones who did not bring the children with them made the choice not to have the child accompany them. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: We now know, Ana, that was not the case for everyone. In fact, some parents, including three cited in this report, were removed without their children despite wanting to be with them.
CABRERA: And there are still families separated. How many? Do we know at this point?
ALVAREZ: We do. There's an ongoing family separation case, there was a court filing last week, and attorneys said that the parents, they're still looking for the parents of more than 390 children, somewhere around 391.
This is a number that has reduced over time, month by month, but it just underscores how difficult it's been.
CABRERA: And what is being done? What do we know about the actions, the Biden administration is taking, since they've come in and some of these families have been separated for years. What are they doing to try to find the families?
AVAREZ: Early on, the Biden administration, they set up a task force to find the families. But attorneys separately are doing the work, on the ground searches, radio ads, toll-free numbers, everything to reach these parents.
And now, with the backing of the Biden administration to get them here.
CABRERA: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for your ongoing reporting and your hard work on all of this.
This sounds like a riddle but I swear it's not. Imagine being able to live in another state but you don't have to move or pack a thing. Confused? We'll clear it up next.
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[13:52:25]
CABRERA: Now listen to this. A group of rural counties in Oregon want out. They are trying to secede from their state and join their more conservative neighbor, Idaho.
CNN's Chris Cillizza joins to us to explain.
Chris, this seems extreme. How did it come to this?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER & CNN EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Yes, a little bit but not unheard of, Ana. California, it's always been talked about, northern and southern, Upstate New York talks about leaving New York City. So it happens.
But, yes, this is a little extreme. Because we actually had a vote on it last week. Let me quickly explain on the map why this matters.
Here is how you need to understand Oregon. We think of Oregon, oh, it's a Democratic state. Not really. They have given me new-found power to draw on this bad boy. Here's how you need to think of it This "D." This "R." That's what we're talking about.
These five counties in the eastern part of the state much more conservative, much more rural. They're the ones who voted to secede, although non-binding.
Why? Pandemic shutdown frustrations in rural counties. Remember, rural counties didn't have as many cases of COVID as places like Portland, Oregon, for example, did. And those restrictions hit them harder even though they had fewer cases.
Obviously, we know Portland has been in the news, Ana, for the last several years, the continuing clashes between the police and protesters there.
And then Biden only won a few counties in Oregon but he carried the state because that's where people live.
Let me though you on the map. This is fascinating.
Biden winds up winning only 10 counties. Look, here is your line. Bend west is what you have to think. Biden wins the 10 counties but that's where everyone lives.
Look at this. It's all red. Donald Trump wins overwhelmingly there. That's why you wind up getting this desire in these places, this desire to leave and head this way to Idaho.
But, again, that's a split in the state. No state is as simple as it seems. And Oregon is one.
CABRERA: That's interesting. What's the likelihood of this happening?
CILLIZZA: Yes. So, important. Not likely. I'll tell you why. There's a bunch of hurdles.
The biggest is the Oregon and Idaho legislatures you have to approve it. The Idaho legislature, maybe. It Republican controlled. They might want more people and it would give them more say in Congress.
The Oregon legislature is really heavily Democratic. Not going to happen.
Then it would have been congressional approval. We know Congress is currently controlled "D" in the House, "D" in the Senate. Not going to happen.
One other thing that's fascinating, economic headwinds. Pot is legal in Oregon and has been a huge tax revenue wind fall for Oregon. It's not legal in Idaho. There would be problems as it relates to tax revenue, among other things. [13:55:04]
This isn't going to happen any time soon, Ana. But it's totally fascinating when it comes to how states think about themselves and how citizens within the states think.
CABRERA: You're right, it's very interesting.
Chris Cillizza, you break it down like no one else. Thank you.
CILLIZZA: Thank you, Ana.
CABRERA: And a reminder. I'm asking to you tell us how you make your comeback after this pandemic. Who are you seeing? What are you doing? What do you miss the most and are excited to do again?
Send me videos and pictures on Twitter. Make sure to tag me, @AnaCabrera. And use the hashtag, #thecomeback. And we'll feature some more of you on the show more this week.
That's going to do it for me today. Thank you so much for joining me. I'll see you back here tomorrow.
NEWSROOM continues next with Alisyn and Erica today.
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