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New Capitol Riot Footage; President Biden Celebrates 300 Million Vaccine Shots; Gun Violence. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 18, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's easy. It's convenient.

And, as I have said many time, text your zip code to the numbers 438829, 438829, to find the sites where you can get vaccinated closest to you. Get your free Uber or Lyft ride to and from vaccination sites. I want to thank Uber and Lyft for their cooperation.

Use the extended hours at thousands of pharmacies in June, including thousands that are open 24/7 on Friday this month. Most pharmacies now offer walk-in vaccinations, no appointments needed. Employers with less than 500 employees, the federal government is providing you a tax credit to give your workers paid time off to get vaccinated and recover, if they need be.

And for anyone who still questions, that's OK. You still have questions. But act. Act now. Act now. Talk to your family and friends who have gotten vaccinated. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

According to the American Medical Association, over 90 percent of physicians are fully vaccinated. They're making the choice to protect themselves and their communities and their patients. Follow their lead and make the choice for yourself.

As I said, we're heading into, God willing, a summer of joy, a summer of freedom. On July 4, we're going to celebrate our independence from the virus, as we celebrate our independence of our nation. We want everyone, everyone to be able to do that.

Let's remember we are the United States of America. Let's get this done, all of us together.

God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you.

QUESTION: Mr. President?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Do you have any comment about the Catholic bishops?

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Could the Delta variant force us back into lockdown?

BIDEN: I don't think so because so many people have already been vaccinated.

But with -- the Delta variant can cause more people to die in areas where people have not been vaccinated. Where people have the gotten two shots, the Delta variant is highly unlikely to result in anything, other than -- I mean, it's -- the existing vaccines are very effective.

So, no, not a lockdown, but some areas will be very hurt.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: -- what the Catholic bishops have done. Are you concerned about this rift within the Catholic Church, and are you concerned about this action?

BIDEN: Say again.

QUESTION: The Catholic bishops are moving on this resolution that would prevent you and others who supported abortion from receiving communion. Are you concerned about the rift in the Catholic Church, and how do you feel personally about that?

BIDEN: That's a private matter, and I don't think that's going to happen.

Thank you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, President Biden there. We heard his remarks on the 300 million vaccine shots in 150 days. He comes out and marks every 50 million.

Again, June, he said was going to be the month of access, education, incentives to try to get to this Fourth of July goal of 70 percent of Americans with at least one shot, 65 percent so far, as the president highlighted. The daily pace doesn't look like it's going to get us to that goal.

But as we heard from Andy Slavitt, whether it's 68 percent or 70 percent, more and more people are getting the vaccination.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: But they are changing their goal a little bit now.

BLACKWELL: They have to now that they have to -- looks like they won't meet it.

CAMEROTA: They have to.

But we're still -- we -- the U.S. is still doing 1.3 million vaccinations a day, on average, which is great, OK? So, glass half- full, that's great. And we're going to get to 70 percent at some point. But they're just -- I noticed that they're just -- it's not fudging it, but just moving it a little from July 4.

That was basically, I think, a victory lap that he came out for all of the shots in arms. But now he says is no time to take your foot off the gas.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's talk about something else that is sweeping across the country, the gun violence.

It is an epidemic, and the latest example is just in to CNN's newsroom. A 24-year-old man was shot in the Bronx neighborhood in New York City, in broad daylight, in front of two small children. He survived, but there is disturbing video that captured it, which we have. You're about to see the man here running away from someone before he is shot in the back in both of his legs.

Amazingly, this 10-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy survived, but they were right there next to him.

The children somehow were not shot. The man who was targeted, we're told, is in stable condition according to the NYPD.

BLACKWELL: When you look at that video, an inch or two in one direction or the other, and those children could be in the path of that gunfire.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: And they're traumatized, obviously, from this entire experience, as we have talked about. Even if you're not shot, just being so close to gun violence stays with you forever.

[15:05:06]

Listen, there have been nearly two dozen mass shootings in the last week. There was one in Arizona, one person killed, 12 people injured. Police say one man is responsible for apparently eight random drive-by shootings across three cities. Happened in the Phoenix suburbs.

This went on for 90 minutes, before police were able to make an arrest.

Let's bring in CNN security correspondent Josh Campbell.

Josh, that video we know we're just getting in of the Bronx, but, also, what do we know about what happened in Arizona?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, just a truly terrifying scene truly terrifying scene yesterday in the Phoenix area near the suburbs.

Police say that a gunman went on a shooting spree for over an hour. Four people were shot, one fatally. Get this. Nine other people were injured in this rampage, either hit by shrapnel or debris. Authorities believe that this was the work of one suspect. Now, after one of the shootings, police arrived on the scene. It was a

chaotic situation. Witnesses said -- gave the description of the vehicle. That was radioed out. And then authorities quickly got in word that there were other incidents that were happening.

It was a firefighter who actually saw a vehicle matching the description. He called that in. Police arrived and were able to take the gunman into custody without incident, they say. At this hour, still no word on his identification, nor the motive in this case, but just a truly horrifying scene there in and around the area.

And as we talk about so much of this gun violence, ground zero, the latest mass shooting in the United States, Arizona. We have seen so many, and, of course, sadly, we will probably see more.

CAMEROTA: Josh, can you give us the context of what's happening with law enforcement? Because we keep hearing about this violent crime spike and seeing all this gun violence. Are some police departments limiting what their officers can do?

CAMPBELL: Well, obviously, policing reform has been a major topic across the country for the past year. We have seen a number of incidents involving excessive use of force.

There have been so many of them. Of course, the overwhelming majority of officers are honorable public servants, but there have been incidents, such as the death of George Floyd and others, that have called people to call for reforms across the country.

Now, we have seen reforms regarding tactics, neck restraints, how officers go about stopping people and the like. We're also seeing, as you mentioned, departments actually limit what police officers can do, where they can go. I will give an example.

In the city of Chicago, a new foot pursuit policy, I will read some of it. "Officers can pursue someone only when an officer has probable cause for an arrest or when an officer believes a suspect is committing or about to commit a crime." It also says that no foot pursuits for minor traffic violations or criminal offenses less than a Class A misdemeanor.

In the city of Philadelphia, a court order has instituted a new policy there in some parts of the city. Officers will no longer be able to stop, question or detain people for what are called quality-of-life violations, such as panhandling, smoking marijuana and the like.

This new rule says that officers will first have to tell an offender to stop the behavior and move along before taking additional action.

Now, why is this important, these new policies, these new constraints on officers? Because we are hearing law enforcement officers and their advocates come out and say that this spike in violent crime across the country is something that the police have to get a handle on.

I spoke yesterday with the head of the National Fraternal Order of Police, who said, when we ignore minor crimes, we see major crimes. And so what they're trying to do is ensure that officers have the tools that they need. Of course, criminal justice reform advocates continued to say that police need to be held accountable, that they have these awesome powers, the ability to deny someone their liberty, and so they have to have people watching over their shoulders.

But one interesting thing is, I talked to a law enforcement expert who made the point that there's been this call for perhaps police should be switched out with public health workers, social workers on certain calls.

She made the point that, look, before we do that there could be serious blowback if you put the resources and the task in the hands of other agencies that may not be fully up to speed on what they're doing. Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSA BROOKS, JOURNALIST: When people talk about, well, let's defund the police and give money to other social services agencies, I often ask them, how much confidence do you have, for instance, in the Department of Child and Family Services in any given city, that they're often train wrecks as well in all kinds of ways.

And if we want to take money away from police and reduce the role of police, which, in the long run, reducing the role of police is absolutely the right thing, we need to make sure that we have alternatives that are -- that are good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, there are some universal themes that are widely accepted and that is that officers need to treat people respectfully, bad officers need to be held accountable.

But a lot of these new policies, as you compare this with this spike in crime that we're seeing across the country, bottom line, this is showing just how nuanced this issue is.

There are folks on both sides, the advocates for police officers, those who are calling to defund the police and to redirect their budgets, that seem to have their bumper sticker slogans, but when you look at the issues and what it means to actually limit where cops can go, compare it to the spike in crime, it raises serious questions and just tells you how dicey and how nuanced this issue truly is.

[15:10:18]

CAMEROTA: Yes, none of this is easy.

Josh Campbell, thank you very much for all of that perspective.

CAMPBELL: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: OK, it's not just gun violence. Some California businesses are being squeezed by a different crime spree. Walgreens says it had to shut down multiple stores in San Francisco because of a spate of thefts, like this brazen shoplifter who rode a bike into a store in broad daylight, right by a security guard, just feet away, then filled a trash bag with merchandise as other shoppers reported it on their recorded it on their cell phones.

Several Bay Area businesses are witnessing a very disturbing trend like this.

We're joined by Ahsha Safai, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He has held multiple hearings to try to combat these thefts.

Mr. Ahsha Safai, thank you for being with us.

Can you just explain to us what we just saw in that video? This brazen shoplifter feels that he can go in with impunity into a Walgreens while a security guard is there with his cell phone, and load up the merchandise and ride out. How is this possible?

AHSHA SAFAI, SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Thank you for having me today. First want to say happy Juneteenth. This is a historic day in our country.

But for this issue, this is something that we have been focusing on the last six to nine months. And I had a hearing about two months ago. And in that hearing, one of the biggest revelations that we heard that was shocking to myself and others was that 85 percent of the loss in these major retailers is due to organized retail crime.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: What does that mean? I mean, when you say organized retail crime, you mean an organized gang is behind this? And what are they stealing?

SAFAI: So, what they do, the individual you saw yesterday, he had a garbage bag. He went to a specific area of the store. They primarily target cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, and they take them and they sell them to a middleman.

And then the middleman then sells it on the international market, markets in the United States, at flea markets. This is a multimillion- dollar industry. And because they know that they can recruit people that can hit one, two, maybe 10 stores in a day, according to the representative from CVS that came to my hearing, they will walk away with thousands of dollars in merchandise that will then be resold at a discount, and there's a great demand for these products.

CAMEROTA: And why can't the police stop this?

SAFAI: So, what I have asked for is, in my hearing, we had the district attorney, we had the police department. We have now followed up with a letter of inquiry.

The thing that was shocking to me, that it was organized retail crime, that it was people that were recruited on behalf of larger syndicates that are then selling them throughout the United States and internationally.

We need to crack down. We need to say, if people are hitting multiple stores in a day, there need to be aggregate charges. There needs to be more coordination between the police, district attorney, and the courts.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: OK, but are they not being prosecuted?

Just sorry to interrupt you. Are they not being prosecuted?

SAFAI: They're not being prosecuted on the level that I think they need to be.

And then here's the other thing. We need to ensure that we break these up, and we're expending the resources that we need to turn this upside down. This is -- we lost 17 Walgreens in the last five years. There is only one Gap outlet left in San Francisco. It will have a deleterious impact on our economy. And for those that need these goods and services, they're disappearing.

CAMEROTA: But it already is.

I mean, if you're saying that there's been 17 Walgreens that have had to close and there's only one Gap left, that means that already they're winning. The thieves are winning.

And what's the point of having a security guard there if he can't stop them?

(CROSSTALK)

SAFAI: Right. I agree 100 percent.

I mean, we had a private meeting with the leadership of Walgreens. We have asked them to invest more resources. I am also on the Budget Committee. We're putting more resources back into our police department to ensure that they have the appropriate staffing levels, because when we do have police in those areas, the crime drops dramatically.

CAMEROTA: So, just so I understand, are you saying that this shoplifting spree that we're seeing and we just saw there with our own eyes is because there aren't enough cops on the beat?

SAFAI: In some cases. In some cases, it's lack of coordination. In some cases, it's lack of prosecution.

But I think that the thing that struck me was that it wasn't crimes of opportunity, that it wasn't people that were just in desperation, that it was people that were part of a larger network, and that's where we need to put our resources.

[15:15:03]

The police, the courts, the district attorney, we all need to go together. And there can't be a laissez-faire attitude in San Francisco. And that's something I'm really working toward to ensure that we change that attitude, and that we don't have people standing by and watching it happen and nothing -- and there's no consequences.

CAMEROTA: I mean, are you seeing any progress on that? Because it looks like from what we saw in the video it does not look like much progress is being made.

SAFAI: Well, I will tell you, in our part of town, we did see -- we did have officers invested in the location, and it was a dramatic turnaround.

So, I know what the right coordination, with right cooperation between the Walgreens, the other retail outlets, with our district attorney, with our courts, we can turn this around. But to hear the representative from CVS say that San Francisco is one of the epicenters in the United States for organized retail crime, that was shocking to me.

And, again, this is something that I'm diving in on now in the last two months. And I'm really dedicated to ensuring that we turn that around.

CAMEROTA: Ahsha Safai, thank you very much for explaining all of this. It sounds like it will be a multitiered solution. And we appreciate the explanation.

SAFAI: Thank you so much for having me today.

BLACKWELL: I'm really surprised by the organized crime element. I'm really surprised by that.

All right, next, the new video from the Capitol insurrection shows how violent some of the rioters were with police. And still there's so many Republicans in Congress who continue to whitewash what really happened that day.

CAMEROTA: Plus, Senator Ted Cruz is trying to claim that critical race theory is just as racist as the KKK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:05]

BLACKWELL: New videos out today are giving a much clearer picture of the horrific events of the January 6 Capitol insurrection. We have some videos, but we have to warn you're going to hear some profanities in these clips.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have no idea what the fuck you're doing. You guys have no idea what the fuck you're doing.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not one idea.

Don't touch me.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the fuck out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't talk to me, motherfucker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it easy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they work for us. Fuck them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, the Department of Justice says the man in that camouflage jacket is Scott Fairlamb. He apparently owns a gym in New Jersey.

Prosecutors say he was seen punching and berating Capitol Police. His assault on the Capitol is documented in video he himself posted online with a vulgar description. Here's another profanity alert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT FAIRLAMB, SUSPECT: We're patriots too. We fucking disarm them. And then we storm the fucking Capitol!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, these new videos are offering a brutal reminder of that day.

CNN fought for months in court to make them available. In yet another one, we see an attack on a police barricade. Watch this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So far, more than 400 people have been charged in the riots, including this man from Texas. The Justice Department says that he brought a semiautomatic handgun onto Capitol grounds.

And his own family told the FBI that he threatened to kill them if they turned him in. It also undercuts the claims of some GOP lawmakers that the pro-Trump mob was unarmed.

And despite all the evidence laid out in the criminal charges and the video that you have watched for months now, some Republican members of Congress are still trying to whitewash the violence on January 6.

CAMEROTA: Republicans have tried to claim that the rioters were not armed, that they were not Trump supporters, though, of course, they're all carrying Trump flags and wearing Trump T-shirts.

They're basically trying to say that they were Antifa in disguise or Democrats in disguise or tourists. Now they have come up with a new dangerous excuse. Plucked fresh from the bowels of right-wing Web sites, they're trying to blame the insurrection on the FBI.

These Republican conspiracy theories are completely baseless. They're also completely anti-law enforcement. And these right-wing FOX hosts and their Republican allies are siding with these rioters and these violent vandals over the police.

Let's bring in Errol Louis and CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein.

Great of to both of you.

Errol, I'm just struck by how the Republicans and, again, some of the FOX hosts, how anti-cop they are, now just spouting it, anti-law enforcement. And I understand why they'd be embarrassed, these FOX hosts. These are their viewers. These are people who watched them and got the idea for overturning the election.

But I just can't believe that this is what they have decided to do with the new conspiracy theory.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is what it's come down to.

They're all in now with the idea that this was something that they both instigated, that they justified, that they wanted to see happen I suppose on some level and are now going to try after the fact to say was OK or wasn't so bad or was some conspiracy that needed to sort of explain it or justify it.

[15:25:00]

I don't think that voters are going to swallow that. And I think, as we go through these hundreds and hundreds of cases, and people end up going to jail and having criminal records and suffering the real penalties and the collateral consequences of those penalties, like losing jobs, I think viewers are going to have to sort of make up their minds about whether or not the crap that they were fed by certain irresponsible broadcasters means more to them than the real harm that was caused by these people, both to themselves and their families.

BLACKWELL: Ron, you have got a piece in "The Atlantic" about holding the former president accountable.

That's going to take work. I mean, it's going to be -- we know that there are civil and criminal investigations. But if Congress has anything to do with it, they can't even agree on what they have seen, what is being broadcast on television every day. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BLACKWELL: You got to get to that point first, right?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, look, I mean, most Republicans in Congress, the vast majority have decided that it is in their interests to block any kind of serious inquiry into any further revelations about abuses of power in the Trump years.

The most egregious case, of course, is them filibustering the January 6 commission, whose need I think is underscored by all of those videos. But the revelation that the Justice Department took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing communications records for journalists and even for Democratic members of Congress that came out just a few days ago, I think has put many spine -- inspired the same reaction, Victor, among many people who watched the ethical and legal performance of the Trump administration.

If something that's significant was not unearthed in the four years that he was president and is only coming out now, what else is there that we don't know? There is probably a lot else that we don't know.

As Donald Rumsfeld would say, there are known unknowns. And it's very unclear whether we're going to learn enough about that before 2024, when, unlike Richard Nixon after Watergate, Donald Trump may seek to regain the authorities that he had as president once again.

CAMEROTA: Back to the anti-cop stuff for a second.

These Capitol Police officers were obviously heroes that day. They saved these lawmakers' lives. That's what they were trying to do in the hand-to-hand combat with all of the weapons that these barbaric people brought.

And now we're hearing from Officer Sicknick, who died after the insurrection, from his longtime girlfriend, life partner. She says that they were originally Trump supporters, she and Brian Sicknick, I think, but then they obviously through this saw the light. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDRA GARZA, GIRLFRIEND OF BRIAN SICKNICK: I supported him for various reasons. Clearly, that's out the window now.

And I want to educate as many people as I can that all of the things that he talked about as far as loving America, wanting to keep America great, supporting the police, all of this stuff is not true.

But he is the mastermind. Yes, those people made choices that day. The people that committed violence made choices. We are all responsible for the individual choices that we make. But Donald Trump was the mastermind of that day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: In other words, she's not falling for the whitewashing.

LOUIS: Yes, I love the use of the word choices, because that's really what this has always been about, right from the time he came down the escalator in 2015, Alisyn.

I mean, you always had a choice to make. And what Trump demands of his followers, both the people who he hires and certainly the voters who follow him, and now with this insurrection, those who want to sort of begin this insurgency, what he demands of them is that they disregard not just what's in front of their eyes and common sense, but former values that they held and sort of elevating his best interests, whatever it might be at the moment, to become their highest value.

That is no way to live. That is no way to build a democracy and maintain a democracy. And more and more people, I think, are going to have to make one more choice. And the choice is to turn their back on that whole process, because we now see the ugliness and the death and the destruction that it leads to, a very simple choice.

It's not that hard. We have got a lot of video. There are a lot of credible people who saw what happened. We're going to have -- we are going to have, by the way, a judicial record. We may not have the investigation that we wanted out of Congress, but case after case after case.

The federal courts are going to document what happened, and it will be possible to piece it together. And then, again, people will have to look at the information and then make a choice.

BLACKWELL: Ron, let's turn to legislation now and voting rights.

We expect that Chuck Schumer will be bringing voting rights to the floor on Tuesday. And Joe Manchin has a proposal. He's brought this proposal before -- forward, I should say, declare Election Day a public holiday, ban partisan gerrymandering, mandate at least 15 consecutive days of early voting, institute voter I.D. requirements.

We heard from Manu Raju at the top of the hour that a lot of this is just for owning the argument, because it's not expected it will get 60 votes.

If Joe Manchin is not going to vote for filibuster reform for his own proposal to protect--

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.