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Today, Senate Votes on Whether to Advance January 6 Commission Bill; Nine People Killed at California Rail Yard in 17th Mass Shooting this Week; Biden Gives U.S. Intel 90 Days to Report on Origin of Pandemic. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: Top of the hour, good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Very soon, senators could take up a vote on a bipartisan proposal for a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th attack. You'll remember an attack which left five people dead, dozens of police officers attacked and injured.

The bill to create that bipartisan commission is facing the really remarkable likelihood of a Senate Republican filibuster now, though many of those same Republicans supported the idea in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

HARLOW: That's right. And many of those same lawmakers are meeting right now with the mother of fallen U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. She hopes to change their minds about which way they're going to vote on this commission.

And ahead of today's vote, she sent out a really important statement. Part of it reads this. Not having a January 6th commission to look into exactly what occurred is a slap in the face of all the officers who did their jobs that day.

Here is more of what she told reporters this morning about her mission on the Hill today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you think you can change minds?

GLADYS SICKNICK, MOTHER OF U.S. CAPITOL OFFICER BRIAN SICKNICK: I hope so. I hope so. And Brian had a work ethic like second to none. And he was just there for our country and for these guys. And he just was doing his job and he got caught up in it. And it's very sad.

REPORTER: Does it anger you, Mrs. Sicknick, to hear senators do not support this commission and what emotions do you feel when you're confronted with that?

SICKNICK: This is why I'm here today. You know, usually, I'm stay in the background and I just couldn't stay quiet anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Manu Raju joins us on Capitol Hill. Manu, what can you tell us about who else his Mother, Mrs. Sicknick, is meeting with today, in her hope of changing their minds?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that was after a meeting with Senator Mitt Romney. Romney is one of the handful of Republican senators who do expect to vote for this today. The question is will there ultimately be ten that would be needed to break ranks.

She is meeting with a number of Republican senators who expect to vote no. More than a dozen Republican Senators, some people who are expected to vote to advance the plan, like Senator Susan Collins, Senator Bill Cassidy was someone who voted to convict Donald Trump, and has not said how he would vote on this bill to move forward on creating this January 6th commission. Senator Pat Toomey, another one who has still not said what he would do. Senator Lisa Murkowski, who does plan to vote for it, but also people who are almost certainly going to vote against it, Ron Johnson, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and the like.

So she will have a mix of Republican senators she's meeting. She reached out yesterday to all 50 Republican senators. You see more than a dozen here.

But her comments have been pretty strong and said in a statement last night that she put out about these meetings. She said about her son, Brian Sicknick. She said, he and his fellow officers fought for hours and hours against those animals who were trying to take over the Capitol building and our democracy. As we know it, while they're fighting, congressmen and senators were locking themselves inside their offices, according to some, who are barricaded in their offices, said it looked like tourists walking through the Capitol. Really?

So that is the message that she will be delivering to these Republican senators today, but will it change minds, will it change votes? At the moment, it does not appear likely to do that. Likely some Republicans will break ranks, but getting that ten, that would actually allow the bill to come forward for debate seems incredibly doubtful at the moment here as Republican opposition is widespread.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's quite an attack from the mother of a fallen officer there to say some of you were cowering in your offices while this was happening. Now you're voting against a commission to investigate it.

So, Romney says yes, he'll vote for it, Murkowski, you have some other possible, Susan Collins, Toomey, Cassidy, et cetera. I ask you this every day, Manu, but you're speaking to people on the Hill. Do you see it getting to ten or is that really -- has that ship sailed? RAJU: Look, there is always surprise in this place. It happens from time to time. It seems that surprise is unlikely to happen today. There probably could be up to six, seven senators breaking ranks, getting to the ten unlikely.

One reason why is Republican leadership has come out hard against it. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, has told his colleagues privately and publicly his concerns in large part because he believes that Democrats want to use this issue to litigate Donald Trump, re-litigate what happened in 2020, potentially use that to take back the majority next year.

[10:05:13]

And that argument has taken hold among the Republican conference. He's among the senators that I've spoken to.

SCIUTTO: Although that argument directly contradicts what the Republican leader said on the floor of the Senate when he said listen, you know, the president is responsible, this is horrible, and there will be other opportunities to investigate this. Of course, this is one of them. But, anyway, it's politics.

HARLOW: Thank you, Manu.

Wow. Some of the brave men and women who protected the Capitol on January 6th are growing tired of some GOP efforts to whitewash what happened that day. CNN spoke with former and current Capitol officers who worry this moment will go down as a missed opportunity to fix the substantial shortcomings the attack revealed.

SCIUTTO: It's a really remarkable case of in their own words, right? These are officers who experienced it themselves and they're challenging senators to put kind of put their money where their mouth is here. The fallout from January 6th also exposing the fractured relationship between these officers and members of Congress.

One officer told CNN, quote, I call our department the United States Convenience Police. Our main job is to make their lives easier and don't question them on anything. Another officer said they treat Paul Blart Mall Cop. Wow.

CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild joins us now. I mean, again, these are officers making quite a broad point here about how not just members but staff view them.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right. And I think this is, you know, really coming to light, this national spotlight is now being shined on this normally very private relationship between officers and the members that they protect. And what this national spotlight is exposing is this uncomfortable relationship. This power dynamic is different than anything else in law enforcement where these members and their staffs believe they have some authority over these officers.

And the expectation for some of these officers was, prior to the 6th, perhaps they were dismissed. They discussed at length feeling like they had become sort of part of just the apparatus and not really human beings and that their authority wasn't respected.

The expectation was that, after January 6th, after they proved their dedication, they would have a renewed respect from these members and for some members that has happened. But for other members, it hasn't. There seems to be a disconnect between their job and this perspective that these officers are just there to serve their needs.

In a larger sense, there are a lot of officers who feel frustrated by the fact that this 1/6 commission feels out of reach. For example, one officer saying, we have heard all of the support for police, police, police, and then your own police force is battered and bruised and now you drag your feet?

I kind of got lulled, this officer said. I got fooled. I listened to the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell's words, that same night when they reconvened on January 6th. I bought into it. I thought, wow, we are really going to some answers.

This officer feeling tricked, feeling duped. And now that this commission feels so far out of reach, it is a heartbreaking reality because these officers in the end are the victims, Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, and that officer there, noting McConnell's words on the Senate floor and saying he didn't follow-through on them. Whitney Wild, thanks very much.

This is just in to CNN. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin just spoke exclusively with our Dana Bash. He says that he is upset with Republican voters -- senators, rather, who are refusing to this bipartisan proposal for a bipartisan January 6th commission.

HARLOW: Dana, what did he say?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: he is clearly very, very frustrated. I'll read you the statement. He said the following. There is no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission. Since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for, McConnell has made his political position thinking it will help his 2022 elections. They do not believe the truth will set you free so they will continue to live in fear.

Now, this is very, very noteworthy for a host of reasons, guys. First and foremost, he's lashing out at Mitch McConnell, making clear that he believes that Mitch McConnell is the reason that they can't find the ten votes to vote yes on this commission.

But there are a lot of other layers to this. First and foremost, this is the man, Joe Manchin, who has been pleading with his Democratic caucus to allow him to have time to work across the aisle, to work in a bipartisan way and a host of issues, namely, right now, infrastructure. And they are getting frustrated.

And it is clearly hard reading not so deeply between the lines here that he's looking at his fellow Republicans starting with Mitch McConnell saying, how do you expect us to work in a bipartisan way if you can't even agree to a commission to get to the truth?

[10:10:07]

That is why this particular sentence McConnell made this his political position thinking it will help the 2022 elections.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Okay, so the question then is what is Joe Manchin willing to do about it, because Republicans are filibustering this commission? And Manchin has said repeatedly he wants to preserve the filibuster as a path to bipartisan agreement, which isn't happening certainly on the commission and hasn't happened yet on things like infrastructure. Does this make him reconsider his attachment to the filibuster?

BASH: That is a great question. It is the question. The answer right now is what he has told Manu and our other colleagues on Capitol Hill, which is, no. But, you know, it seems as though things have really shifted in terms of the intensity behind the scenes, even in the past 12 to 24 hours. So will that change his mind given how rock solid he was in his opposition to getting rid of the filibuster? It is hard to see.

But this is clearly a very upset senator who, again, has been really striving to bridge the gap between the parties and finds it unbelievable that the Republican leader would lobby, it seems, according to this statement, or push, make it his political position, to use the exact words that Manchin used, to block this and to get Republicans to do so.

HARLOW: So, Paul Ryan is speaking today in this new series at the Reagan Library. And as we understand it, Dana, he's going to speak out against the big lie, against the former president. Can you tell us what your reporting is on that? Because it just immediately made me think back to, well, he could have said a lot of this sooner when he was in a position of power. Granted it was before the insurrection, et cetera, I just wonder what your reporting is on that.

BASH: Well, he's not in a position of power now, largely because of, you know, Donald Trump and the people who supported him. He said, I had enough, and he left. And that is kind of an important baseline to remember here. But it is true. Like so many other formers, from John Boehner to George W. Bush, he hasn't spoken out that often, maybe a little bit more than those two.

He did speak out before the vote to certify the Electoral College, saying to his former Republican colleagues and his caucus, please do not challenge it. But this is a time where he does feel like he is going to speak out.

What is interesting is he's going to give a speech telling -- talking about how he feels about how the party is in the wrong direction, the party should not be supporting Donald Trump anymore. He was invited to speak to the Reagan Library. This is a new series that the Reagan Library is doing, a speaker series. He is the first. And he decided to use that platform for this. It's kind of an interesting place to do it considering that I have not talked to any Republican who thinks that Ronald Reagan, who have held up as the icon of conservatism, would have any place in the Republican Party that we see today.

HARLOW: Yes, that's an interesting point. Dana, thank you for that reporting and great reporting and interviewing with Joe Manchin.

BASH: Thanks.

HARLOW: All right. Overnight, a ninth victim, nine died after that deadly shooting at the rail yard in San Jose, California, yesterday. This as the nation grapples with the 17th mass shooting in the last week. We'll take a closer look at the investigation ahead and bring you the names of the victims who had lost their lives.

SCIUTTO: Plus, yet one new turn in the investigation into former President Trump. A witness is being told to prepare for grand jury testimony. What could this signal? What does it mean?

And a return to the open seas, for the first time in more than a year, a major cruise ship will soon sail from the U.S.

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SCIUTTO: I don't want to utter these words again on the air, but I have to because they're true, another mass shooting in America, a horrific familiarity. In moments we're going to read the names of the nine people murdered in San Jose yesterday. You're going to hear from a family now grieving alongside too many others in this country because in just the last week alone in America, 17 mass shootings have taken place:

This doesn't happen everywhere in the world. It doesn't really happen anywhere else. It is a difficult story to cover, to watch as journalists and simply as Americans.

HARLOW: So here are the names and the ages of the nine people killed in San Jose's mass shooting yesterday.

Paul Delacruz Megia, 42 years old, Adrian Balleza, 29, Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35, Timothy Michael Romo, 49, Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63, Lars Kepler Lane, 63, Alex Ward Fritch, 49, Taptejdeep Singh, 36, Michael Joseph Rudometikin, 40.

[10:20:10]

Michael's friends shared this photo with CNN as he told us about the profound loss he now feels. He and Mikey, as he knew him, were looking forward to golfing together soon.

And the family of 36-year-old Taptejdeep Singh spoke out just hours after he was killed. Singh's cousin says he was the father of two young boys and had just returned from vacation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAGGA SINGH, COUSIN OF VTA SHOOTING VICTIM TAPTEJDEEP SINGH: He came after vacation and after quarantine time and then he came. This is the second day after vacation is the second day.

Nobody should have a gun, not even good people have guns too. We don't need guns. That's what 911 is, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The anger, the heartache that we hear and report on after all of these shootings is palpable every time and it is repeated, as you said, Jim, over and over again. And the facts that really nothing has been done to fix this is senseless.

SCIUTTO: And the sad fact is we'll likely bring you another headline like this soon. That's the reality.

So let's go to the ongoing investigation into this mass shooting. CNN just spoke to the Santa Clara County sheriff. Josh Campbell is in San Jose covering the story. What did you learn?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. The sheriff making some news just a few moments ago. I spoke with her. She provided us a lot of details. First, on the actual weaponry that was used here, the sheriff telling me that the suspect in this shooting had two semiautomatic handguns as well as 11 magazine, a lot of ammunition that he brought to this rail yard yesterday as he unleashed this mass shooting, again, killing those nine victims.

We're also learning from the sheriff why we saw the bomb squad here yesterday, which she told me is that, as officers were processing the scene, a canine, a bomb sniffing canine hit on a locker belonging to the suspect. They opened that locker inside. They found what the sheriff described as precursors to explosives, some type of explosive devices, which were found not only here but also at the suspect's house, which is also being processed.

The sheriff also said that -- described how this went down from the timeline. They said the suspect came here and actually went between two buildings, building to building, shooting his victims.

Finally, we're getting some information from the sheriff about that grim process yesterday, a processing this scene, processing the victims' bodies and making notifications to their loved ones. Take a listen.

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SHERIFF LAURIE SMITH, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Our fingerprint team went into the scene, fingerprinted the victims even though they were I.D. tags from their employer. We were able to get fingerprints and run them through the systems and do positive identifications before the family was notified.

And it was just heartbreaking when I was there with the families when they were being notified. It was heartbreaking. Some sheriff's office employee families were affected. And it's just a tragedy and my heart goes out to everyone.

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CAMPBELL: Now, the sheriff said that they are currently executing search warrants on the suspect's house, the suspect's vehicles, as well as the suspect's communication devices.

We don't know the motive yet. That remains under investigation. But I'll real what we're hearing from a witness who said that, I do know that he had a specific agenda, talking about the shooter, and was targeting certain people. He walked by other people. He let other people live as he gunned down other people. We know that he worked here. Some of his victims were his colleagues. Again, a lot of work ahead for law enforcement, but we're getting those new tales about what transpired here and some of that eyewitness testimony as well. Jim? Poppy?

HARLOW: Josh Campbell on the ground in San Jose, Josh, thank you.

Ahead for us, Facebook says it will no longer remove posts claiming COVID-19 was manmade. This comes as President Biden directs his intelligence community to dive deep into the origins of COVID.

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[10:25:00]

HARLOW: As pressure grows to identify the source of the pandemic, President Biden is putting the Intelligence Community back to work on this. He told his intel officials to redouble their efforts to find the origin of COVID-19, report back to him in 90 days.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Senate actually passed election requiring the Biden administration to declassify intelligence relating to any potential links between the Wuhan lab and the origins of the virus.

Let's talk about this with Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore Health Commissioner, our Medical Analyst. And I should note, very relevant to this discussion, Dr. Wen, you used to research, do research into the health care system in China. So you know a lot about how this works and lack of transparency. So thank you for being here.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Glad to be here to discuss this.

HARLOW: Is 90 days enough? And can this be done effectively without a U.S. team on the ground in that lab and interviewing people? I understand the WHO is leading it, but at this point, what do you think?

WEN: Well, I don't think the WHO was very effective at all. They didn't press China. And when the Chinese government specifically said they weren't going to release records or make scientists available for interviews.