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New Video Shows Capitol Rioter Taunting, Punching Police; Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Slams Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) Voting Rights Compromise; Delta Variant Fears Grow amid Race to Vaccinate. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired June 18, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: Senate chamber, and later showed Senator Mitt Romney how to get away from the violence.

[13:00:03]

Back in February, the Senate unanimously voted to award Officer Goodman a gold medal for his actions.

Thanks for joining us today in a very busy Inside Politics. I hope to see you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend. Ana Cabrera picks up right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN NEWSROOM: Happy Friday, thank you so much for being with us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

We have new violent footage from the Justice Department proving any attempts to downplay the January 6th insurrection are just plain wrong. We are about to show you a confrontation between a New Jersey gym owner and police officers protecting the Capitol. A warning, this is raw. It is tough to watch. It contains graphic language. But we want you to see it all uncensored to really understand the tension and the violence that unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your back, sir, I have your back. I have your back. You protect me, I'll protect you. I have your back. I have your back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We supported you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you an American? Act like it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And he didn't stop there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). We fucking disarm them and then storm the fucking Capitol. Fuck you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to get right to CNN's Jessica Schneider, who is following this for us.

Jessica, what more are you learning about this man in this particular case?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Ana, this man, Scott Fairlam, we know that he is still detained, still in jail pending trial, because the judge in this case said he poses a danger to the community. You just need to look at this video to see why that judge made the decision.

It was a decision that was made months ago before this video was even released to the public. But the judge actually reviewed these videos in private after prosecutors sent them to the judge's chambers via email. But now, the world is getting this glimpse at Fairlamb's alleged offenses.

So, let's go through who he is. Scott Fairlamb is a gym owner from New Jersey. He was actually one of the first rioters inside the Senate side of the building, according to the court records. And he's been charged with 12 criminal counts, that includes assaulting police and carrying a dangerous weapon into the Capitol.

That video of him taunting and stalking and punching an officer outside the Capitol is what prompted the judge to order him detained pending trial. Here's the language from Judge Royce Lamberth here in D.C. writing in April, if any crime establishes danger to the community and a disregard for the rule of law, assaulting a riot gear clad police officer does.

Judge Lamberth also talked about the fact that Scott Fairlamb has a history of assault charges and all of this together Ana, is why he still remains in jail now and now the public is just getting a glimpse of exactly what transpired that day. Ana?

CABRERA: And, Jessica, of course, this new video comes on the heels of another very disturbing video we saw that the DOJ just released showing a different attacker. What can you tell us about that?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. What's interesting about this, Ana, is all of these videos coming out now, it's because CNN and other media outlets have been working for months to get access to the videos that up until have only shown in court or maybe even only to the judge.

Now, this one was also just released. It shows this former Marine, Thomas Webster, he's in the red jacket here, it shows him confronting and then tackling a police officer. Here's the video.

[13:05:00]

And Thomas Webster has a background in the military and law enforcement. He's a retired NYPD officer, a former Marine. But he is now charged with seven counts, that includes assaulting police, unlawfully entering the Capitol grounds with a dangerous weapon and civil disorder.

And, Ana, what's so interesting about these videos is that we are getting a real on the ground glimpse of exactly what these officers in particular went through, because a lot of these videos are body cams and it shows this hand-to-hand combat that these officers were forced to resort to to try to defend the Capitol. Ana?

CABRERA: That's some of the most shocking video we've seen yet. Thank you so much, Jessica Schneider.

It has been a violent 24 hours across the nation. In Phoenix, one person is dead, and a dozen hurt after eight different shootings. In Detroit, a shooting on an interstate left a two-year-old dead and a nine-year-old fighting for his life. And in Durham, North Carolina, two more people are dead and two others injured in a shooting outside a convenience store. Police officers nationwide are stretched thin, and they are bracing for another weekend of violence.

In the middle of all this, in Portland, Oregon, the police bureau's entire rapid response team just quit. That is about 50 officers. Let's go to Dan Simon, who has been looking into this.

So, Dan, what happened? Why did all of these officers resign?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Ana. Nowhere across the country last summer did we see the level of protesting that we saw in Portland, Oregon. We remember seeing those images night after night. And oftentimes these demonstrations would turn violent. You would see smashed windows and store graffiti and store looting. And the officers who would respond to all of that chaos were part of the Portland Police Bureau's rapid response team.

Now, during one particular incident in August of 2020, a member of that team, Officer Corey Budworth, allegedly used excessive force on a protester who turned out to be an independent photo journalist, and Officer Budworth was indicted this week on misdemeanor assault charges.

Now, in solidarity to stand up with that particular officer, all 50 members of that rapid response team resigned. This is what the acting police chief had to say about that stunning move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS DAVIS, ACTING PORTLAND POLICE CHIEF: If you put a human being through what they were put through, that takes a toll. And when there is -- and I have to be -- I have to honor their perspective in this situation in just understanding where they're coming from that, you know, they're not feeling like that sacrifice that they have made, necessarily, has been understood very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Now, one key thing to note here is that those assignments were voluntary, so all 50 members remain on the force. Nonetheless, it is an incredible development, and what happens next we're not sure. But we should note as well that the mayor and the governor both saying that they do have the appropriate resources and personnel to respond to any potential community safety matters. Ana?

CABRERA: Okay. Dan Simon, thank you.

I want to bring in William Scott, he is the police chief in San Francisco.

First, chief, your reaction to Dan's reporting there, 50 officers resigning en masse from this rapid response team in Portland, Oregon.

CHIEF WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE: Well, good morning, Ana, first of all. It's the first I've heard of it, and this story, this morning, it's definitely concerning and I don't know all the details, but what I can say is it has been a very difficult year for law enforcement across the country. And I don't know what drove that, but what I do know is we have to show up for work every day.

And, you know, when you sign up for this job, you know you're going to get your share of criticism, your share of conflict, and even physical assaults from time to time. And, ultimately, there are some officers that paid the ultimate sacrifice and lose their lives in the line of duty. But we have to show up, day in and day out, because the public depends on us.

And one of the things, you know, from a leadership perspective, and I don't know the details and the facts of that situation, but I know what we do here in San Francisco, and it's really led our people to know that despite the challenging circumstances of this year, well understood why we have these circumstances, that there are many people, and many cities, including ours, that still support police officers and police departments and they just want the job done the right way.

CABRERA: Absolutely.

SCOTT: So we have to focus on what we do.

CABRERA: Crime is spiking nationwide. We have seen 282 mass shootings so far this year. That's mass shootings. And, of course, there in San Francisco, we've been reporting on the rash of shoplifting that's been happening, including this video that went viral. As a result, you have stores like Walgreens, CVS and Gap all closing. What is going on?

[13:10:00]

SCOTT: Well, it's challenging. I must say it's challenging. Now, the reality, statistically, is that actually our shoplifts have gone down last three years, including year to date. However, what we saw on that video is concerning, alarming and very challenging.

And you know, we have to, first of all, I think, all take a step back. You know, during the midst of everything that was going on last year, many police departments, including ours, had budgets cut and, you know, some of this is a matter of staffing. When we are understaffed, we really can't go out and do the things that we need to do to prevent and deter crimes from occurring.

You know, across this country, and rightfully so, we are having a discussion, a real discussion right now, in the criminal justice system, about the balance between not overincarcerating, and -- or overpolicing. But the reality is, we know, research tells us that when we have officers out in the communities doing the job the way that the people expect them to do it, we can prevent some of those things from happening but we have to be staffed in order to do that.

Ana, my offer to America is let's staff ourselves and set ourselves up for prevention, for community policing and for those types of things that we know works. But it takes staffing. And I totally understand the balance but we have to be staffed.

CABRERA: I also wanted to get your take on sort of the root of the problem right now and like why we're seeing these spikes in crimes in certain parts of the country, certainly, you know, too much violence that's taking place and then we mentioned the shoplifting. I want you to listen to a former Detroit Police chief because you talk about the balance in all of this. He points to bail reform being part of the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CRAIG, FORMER DETROIT POLICE CHIEF: When you look at this trend around the country, one thing that major cities have in common, how bail reform is being used. And so what we have and what we don't talk enough about is how many of these individuals who were involved in violence are people that are out on no bail, out on tether, that probably should be remanded to custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I wanted to ask you about this, because in San Francisco, cash bail ended back in January 2020. Do you agree with those comments?

SCOTT: Well, what I do -- what I will say is I understand the social justice issues associated with that, and I'm going to go back to what I said a few minutes ago about the balance in this. Look, we are changing in the criminal justice system, but we have to have the entire conversation. We can't undo one part of the criminal justice system without making adjustments on the other part.

So if people are going to not be in custody when they commit crimes and they're going to, you know, bail out, and that might be the fair thing to do from a social justice perspective, the other side of that is let's make sure we can address and have enough staffing in our police departments to be in the places where crimes are being committed so we can police the right way.

You know, we sometimes are forced in a position where we're reactive. And I would submit that we need to be proactive and that happens in partnership with all the people that are concerned about this issue, but we tend to go from one end of the conversation to the other without really balancing the conversation out. And I will go back to this, you know, if we're not going to have people in jail after they commit a crime, and if that's the will of the people, let's have the other side of that conversation, and let our officers be supported, let our police departments be supported so we can try to prevent these crimes from happening in the first place. And we need to spend more resources on prevention.

CABRERA: Chief William Scott in San Francisco, thank you very much for taking the time. Happy Friday to you.

SCOTT: Thank you. Happy Friday.

CABRERA: Meantime, a crushing blow to hopes for bipartisanship, Senator Mitch McConnell torching Senator Joe Manchin's compromise on a key Biden agenda item.

Plus, running out of time, as a dangerous variant takes hold, can the Biden administration reach its July 4th vaccination goal? When might you need a booster shot? What about vaccines for younger children? We'll discuss with the head of the CDC.

And was it doping or a pork burrito? The future a U.S. track star hinges on that very question.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:00]

CABRERA: The fight over voting rights is coming to a head and one side is Democratic Senator Joe Manchin desperately searching for ten Republicans to back his compromise on the sweeping legislation, but on the other side, GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who is vowing to block it, a vote set for next Thursday.

And CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger joins us. Gloria, does this move by McConnell prove Republicans really have zero interest in working across the aisle?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it does. You know, here you had Joe Manchin really going out of his way, trying to find a place where he could get Republican support, going so far as to say, you know what, I think this voter -- you know, voter I.D. is fine with me. Let's have voter I.D. in this bill. Let's get rid of partisan gerrymandering. Let's make Election Day a holiday. What's wrong with that?

But Mitch McConnell, for whatever reason, which is that I think he would like to use this as an issue, could not find his way to getting a yes because Republicans don't want to federalize election law.

[13:20:04] They want to leave it all up to state and local officials. And even the Manchin compromise allows state and local officials the ability to maintain their voter rolls. So he even said, okay, I'm going to give you that. But in the end, McConnell just said, sorry, we can't do this. Yes, there you have it. CABRERA: I mean, it's kind of a humdinger here, like what's wrong with this bill, really, in terms of if he would only specify.

I wonder, Gloria, how will voters then see this effort by Republicans.

BORGER: Well, you know, I think it's not going to be any surprise because the country is so polarized. You will see Republicans saying, you know, the Democrats just want to fix elections, they just want to make sure that their voters will get out there. That's why you're going to allow early voting for two weeks, for example. And, you know, the Democrats are saying, we just want to make sure everyone can vote.

So Republicans are going to continue saying what they've been saying about elections, which is that it's too easy for some people to vote, makes it too easy for fraud to occur, and the Democrats are saying, you know what, just -- we're just trying to allow people to vote.

CABRERA: Right. And Republicans don't have evidence to back up that concern about voter fraud. I mean, there are individual cases, but nothing that's en masse that's been proven or evidence that, you know, it would actually sway the results in an election.

BORGER: Well, we see what's going on around the country in Arizona, for example, and other states, you know, trying to fix the problem that didn't exist, right, and trying to prove that a problem existed when, in fact, it did not.

CABRERA: Well, it's part of the big lie. And just moments ago at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Caucus, we saw the former vice president, Mike Pence, get heckled, even, you know people shouting out, traitor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order. And I am honored to stand before you today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Gloria, what does this say about the state of the Republican Party right now?

BORGER: It makes you wonder why Mike Pence is even out there doing this, quite frankly, because, you know, the Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of Donald Trump right now and Mike Pence is not considered part of that. Because, what did he do? He did the only thing he could have done under law, which is to certify the election of Joe Biden. He did not do what Donald Trump wanted him to do.

And while the two men have spoken on a few occasions, I'm told, it's clear they're not close, they have no relationship, and the Republican Party now is not going to countenance Mike Pence. There were people running through the halls of Congress saying, hang Mike Pence, and there are some people who believed that.

So, you know, Mike Pence wants to become president of the United States, I'm sure, wants to get nominated by the Republican Party, but if you listen to that response, the base of the party is saying, you weren't with Donald Trump when he needed you, so get out of town.

CABRERA: And they're calling him a traitor, at least some in that crowd.

BORGER: Yes, absolutely.

CABRERA: Gloria Borger, good to see you, thank you.

BORGER: Good to see you.

CABRERA: The president set to speak about an hour from now as the administration races to meet its July 4th vaccination goal and the pressure is on as fears of the more contagious delta variant grow.

CDC, head doctor, director of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, is going to join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:00]

CABRERA: 45 percent of Americans are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus but the clock is running out for President Biden to meet his July 4th goal to vaccinate 70 percent of adults with at least one shot. Right now, 15 states have reached that goal. But the spread of new variants is making this push even more critical.

And so joining us now is CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Dr. Walensky, thank you so much for being with us today.

Okay, 70 percent by 4th of July, that is just 16 days away. We'd need to average 750,000 vaccines a day to meet that goal, and we're averaging about half that right now. Will we meet the president's goal?

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: Good afternoon, Ana, thanks for having me back. It's -- you know, we're doing everything we can. I'm here today at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where we met with people who have been vaccinated. I had the great pleasure of being here with the vice president. We have, you know, rides for people, we have child care for people. We have businesses that are doing vaccinations in their site of business giving employees paid time off.

So we're really doing everything we can to meet people where they are and to understand what their hesitancy is so that they can get information if they want to understand the safety, if they want to understand how these vaccines got to us so quickly. We're doing all of that hard work right now.

CABRERA: When the president set this goal on May 4th, the U.S., we were pacing well ahead of the goal.

[13:30:05] Why did vaccine demand just drop off?