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10 House GOP Lawmakers Who Voted to Impeach Trump Raise More Money Than Their Challengers in Second Quarter; Senior Biden Officials Finding That COVID Lab Leak Theory As Credible As Natural Origins Explanation; Democratic Representative Arrested for Protesting in Favor Of Voting Rights; VP Harris Holds Black Women Round Table on Voting Rights; Senator Says He Wants Pared-Down Voting Rights Bill; Haitian-American Doctor Accused in Assassination Plot Spent Months Planning Foray into Haitian Politics. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 16, 2021 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He said I could care less what Donald Trump says about me. So he's not too concerned, we'll see what happens next November.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, Manu, thank you for that breaking political news.

We have some more developing news, right now. This is also just in. Senior Biden administration officials who are looking into the origins of the coronavirus now believe the theory that the virus escaped from lab in Wuhan, China. Meaning the lab leaked theory is as at least as credible they say as the possibility that it emerged naturally from an infected animal.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: So this a major shift from a year ago. Let's bring in now CNN White House reporter Natasha Bertrand. Natasha, so, why the shift?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Victor, so what we're learning is that as this review has gone on and it's about halfway through right now. The lab leaked theory is very credible according to senior Biden administration officials and it's as credible as the theory that it emerged in the wild.

And so they're not discounting the theory that it emerged in a lab and perhaps accidentally leaked, but they are also saying that it is just unclear at this point. That it's really difficult to say one way or another how this virus actually originated. And so what we're learning now is that of course the head of the W.H.O. said on Thursday that to dismiss the lab leak theory last year as it was as xenophobic, unscientific, as perhaps not enough evidence to support it, was pretty premature. And he's been calling on China to give investigators access to the labs, to the data that they need in order to fully explore this idea.

But you know a lot of focus again on China in allowing investigators access to these labs. And actually senior Biden administration officials have toughened their tone against Beijing in the last month urging them to provide this access and warning of consequences. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan actually issued a pretty stark warning late last month on this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: It turns out that China refuses to live up to its international obligations. We will have to consider our responses at that point. And we will do so in concert with allies and partners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND (on camera): So all of this is coming as well during a time, a moment when Americans are becoming more convinced broadly that the lab leak theory is credible. A recent political Harvard poll found that roughly 52 percent of Americans believe that COVID-19 leaked from a lab and that's up from about 29 percent in March of 2020.

So obviously public opinion is shifting here as well. And now what we're told is that senior Biden administration officials in the NSC and elsewhere no believe that it's at least as plausible as the possibility that this emerged naturally in the wild.

CAMEROTA: That is really interesting. And Natasha you also have new reporting on this Republican led report that's coming out at the end of this month. What is that going to say?

BERTRAND: Yes, the Republicans led by House Foreign Affairs Committee minority chairman, they've been saying that this is actually -- you know, there's a lot of evidence that they have that has not been released publicly.

And Representative Mike McCall has said that he has found the answer and that he's going to be releasing a report on this later this month. So it remains to be seen what that report actually says but they say that they have gathered evidence about the origins of COVID-19 that have not been released publicly that might give us an answer.

CAMEROTA: OK. That will be interesting. We'll look for that. Natasha Bertrand, thank you very much.

OK, so next, a voting rights activist arrested at a protest on Capitol Hill is going to join us live. She just got out of a meeting with the vice president. So details now on their plan to protect voting rights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00]

CAMEROTA: Democrat Congresswoman Joyce Beatty was arrested yesterday outside the U.S. Capitol while protesting voting restrictions that are being passed across the country. The Ohio representative later released a statement saying in part: We have come too far and fought too hard to see everything systemically dismantled and restricted by those who wish to silence us. Be assured that this just the beginning.

Melanie Campbell was arrested alongside Congresswoman Joyce Beatty. She is the President of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Melanie, thanks so much for taking the time to be here, I know that you've just --

MELANIE CAMPBELL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COALITION ON BLACK CIVIC PARTICIPATION: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: -- gotten out of a meeting with Vice President Harris, give us the upshot of this meeting. What was promised in this meeting? What's going to change?

CAMPBELL: Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. This is really a culmination of a week of action. The Black Women and Allies Voting Rights Week of Action that culminated really when we were invited to the White House to meet with Vice President Harris to discuss what we think are strategies that can be used to help make sure that Federal voting rights legislation is passed in 2021.

We expressed our sense of urgency. It's a state of emergency and that yes, as black women, we're not doing it just for the African-American community. We know we're doing it for the American people and we actually were joined by more than African-Americans as well. But that we know our democracy is really in state of crisis right now. So we urged them to use that bully pulpit but also look at it as a whole of government approach. Use every tool in toolbox like you did for COVID. Like we did for the Obama Care many years ago.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CAMPBELL: The idea of, yes, what he did in Philadelphia was really elevating but also for the vice president and both of them to get on the road and utilize the whole of government. Utilize all that is feasible to have voices out there.

[15:40:00]

Go into the community, have the town hall meetings so that the American public fully understands the urgency. It's the middle of the summer. It's vacation time and sometimes we tune out. Not tune out to hear this, but realtime as the people who sit tune out. And because we have so much to go. We need the American public to know they have a voice in this. And we can stop this voter suppression and this attack on our democracy.

CAMEROTA: Well, it's interesting to hear you say all that because I understand that President Biden swung by this meeting that you just got out of. So did you tell him that directly? Did you press him to hold more town hall meetings and to do even more than he did in Philadelphia?

CAMPBELL: Well we were meeting -- this was a meeting with Vice President Harris and Cedric Richmond and several of the top staff. But the president happened to be just through that door. And he came through just to say thank you. Thank you to black women who really many of them including our organization.

Well we did what we had to do last year. Not from a partisan perspective, but because I'm not, but to make sure that the African- American community, black women, young people, LGBT community, faith, we utilize a coalition approach in the middle of a pandemic. So I think just to have the opportunity to -- because to my knowledge, met with a group of black women were on the phone and in the room representing many black organizations to just say thank you.

And we appreciate that. And I'm sure because he and Vice President Harris, I'm sure her download, she will be able to carry the message along with the staff.

CAMEROTA: OK, there you go. I also want to ask you about Senator Joe Manchin. So first, as you know this group of -- I think 57 Texas local Texas Democrats fled their state and came to Washington, D.C. this week in order to break quorum to stop a restrictive voting bill from going into -- from passing in Texas. And one of their goals was to talk to Senator Joe Manchin who of course is pivotal to all of this because some believe that the filibuster would have to be overturned in order to get this done.

Here is what Senator Joe Manchin said after that meeting with the Texas Democrats about voting rights.

He says, basically, make a piece of legislation, one piece of legislation that protects the rights of voting, the procedure of voting, democracy, the guardrails on democracy. That's all. And there shouldn't be a Republican or Democrat who should oppose it.

So he makes it sound easy. Though obviously, those Texas Democrats who broke quorum know it's not easy because Republicans are opposing some of their efforts. So what do you want to say to Joe Manchin?

CAMPBELL: I think Senator Manchin is not saying that he's not going to make changes. I can't speak for him. I can't get into his mind. But as a southern girl who spent a lot of my years in the south working on civil rights and voting rights, we know from history that elected officials do change their minds and it's up to the people, the voters, we the people, to make sure that we make the case to Democrats and Republicans.

We're going to as I've done with my civil rights colleagues over the last few weeks and was in a meeting with President Biden and vice president about a week or so ago. We're working a coalition collaboration utilizing all of the tools in our toolbox and we will continue to engage Senator Manchin and all of the Senators to really do their jobs. We need you to lead. We don't need you to look at process over people.

CAMEROTA: Melanie Campbell, great to talk to you. I know that you remain hopeful, and I know that is giving a lot of activists' energy to continue this. Thank you very much. CAMPBELL: Can I just say this. Losing is not an option. We have to

have federal legislation to protect our democracy and we're going to continue to stay in the streets to do that.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for your time.

CAMPBELL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, still ahead, new details about how the plot to assassinate Haiti's president played out. And CNN speaks to people inside the country about their concerns for the future.

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[15:45:00]

BLACKWELL: 3,000 years, three major faiths, one city. In order to understand the conflict in the Middle East, today you have to know the complex story of Jerusalem's past.

CAMEROTA: So the new CNN original series, "JERUSALEM CITY OF FAITH AND FURY" looks at how six epic battles for Jerusalem have shaped the city of God into the coveted capital it is today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Temple Mount, Haram esh-Sharif, for the Arabs is the place where the first temple built by Solomon stood. Almost certainly, on top of the rock that today is the foundation stone of the Dome of The Rock, the gorgeous Islamic edifice that stands there today probably is the most holy place in Western and Middle Eastern civilization.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But at the time the temple is done, it represents Israel moving into this place as a prosperous settled nation with a king whose power is acknowledged by all but it also is a falling away from the original idea that God was going to dwell with his people and therefore you didn't have to have a physical place for him to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is CNN global affairs analyst, Aaron David Miller. He's also a former Middle East negotiator for the State Department and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

[15:50:03]

Aaron, it's great to see you as always. You have said, you say in the series in fact that the past is never dead. And if there's a city in the world where that applies, it's Jerusalem. So what does that mean?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You know it's a paraphrase of William Faulkner's quote, if the past is never dead, it's not even passed. And if there's city in the world so imbued with history, both history imagined and real, it is that city on any level. The home of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Overlaid with that is the relationships between clashing civilizations and empires over the course of two millennium. And overlaid with that is the modern incarnation of the still intractable Israeli/Palestinian conflict in which Jerusalem figures incredibly centrally.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and Jerusalem's so important to the world's three most prominent religions. You've been involved in decades of negotiations. How do you sort out all the competing interests? I mean it's the question that we could go through the next six hours of this network trying to answer. But do you get close to an answer?

MILLER: You know, the story leads off, the CNN story is great. It's very economical, and it does a phenomenal job I think encapsulating the breadth of it. But it concludes in 1967 where if in fact there is any hope for some sort of solution in Jerusalem, the next 30 or 40 years has been tested against negotiations, and still none has been found.

I think, in large part, Alisyn and Victor, it's because religion has served much more as a wall than a bridge. If the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam have anything in common on Jerusalem, that's not what they're revealing and showing. And if history teaches anything, cruelly and sadly, it's that this city -- if history would speak to us -- is a city not to be shared. It's a city to be dominated in the name of one's God, one's tribe, one's nation, and in the name of one's national identity. So, no solution to this problem.

And it really would require leaders as well as a fundamental recognition particularly by Jews and Muslims that they acknowledge the reality and sanctity of one another's holy places.

CAMEROTA: Aaron David Miller, we always appreciate talking to you. Thank you very much for all of the expertise. And, again, don't miss "JERUSALEM: CITY OF FAITH AND FURY." It premieres Sunday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

Still ahead on CNN, U.S. intelligence warning the Taliban are advancing and increasing their grip across Afghanistan at an accelerating pace. What that means for women and children as the U.S. withdrawal is nearly complete.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00]

BLACKWELL: There are new details on the assassination of Haiti's president. Sources tell CNN the Haitian-American doctor arrested and accused of coordinating the plot spent months holding Zoom meetings and was planning a foray into national politics in Haiti. But the people involved in those meetings say Christian Sanone never mentioned a violent overthrow. Authorities in Colombia and Haiti say that he always had a secret plan B, and that there were meetings held in May with the commandos who led the operation. CAMEROTA: So inside Haiti, many people are worried as you can imagine about what comes next. We caught up with two CNN Heroes who run nonprofits in Haiti to get their view of this violent turn of events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOBY DUVAL, 2007 CNN HERO: People are in a state of shock, and particularly a very much shock. No matter how much you can criticize the former president, there is nothing that requires such a barbaric action of violently taking his life.

MALYA VILLARD-APPOLON, 2012 TOP CNN HERO (translated text): When we look at this drama where a president was assassinated and we say that now we no longer have a country, what about the rest of the people that live in the slums, what are they supposed to do? The women are being kidnapped. They are being raped. When these catastrophes, these circumstances are taking place. These young girls and women are the ones that would be most vulnerable.

DUVAL: I would love to think that it could be a turning point when people are concerned decide about how the system works and the reason behind such a horrible act.

VILLARD-APPOLON (translated text): The world could have helped us to put an end to this gang problem. Please send forces to disarm the gangsters inside the country holding the population hostage which does not allow the population to live, the women cannot live.

DUVAL: This kind of behavior is not enough to change my vision to contribute to a positive development of this nation. It reinforces the reasons of what I'm doing to do everything I can to have the most impact towards the people who need it most.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now to learn more about how they're helping the Haitian people, go to CNNheroes.com. And while you're there, you can nominate someone you know who should be a CNN Hero.

CAMEROTA: It is such a mysterious story still what happened in the assassination there in Haiti.

BLACKWELL: Yes and Matt Rivers is there doing some fantastic reporting. Still a lot of questions that we're trying to get answers to. The Lead with Jake Tapper starts right now.

END