Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Afghanistan's Fast Unraveling Jolts Biden National Security Team; Feds Detect Alarming Amount of Online Domestic Extremist Rhetoric; Man Who Got Unauthorized Third Shot; DHS Says Unprecedented Number of Migrants Illegally Crossing Border. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 13, 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]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I do want to pass along that Admiral John Kirby at the Defense Department said that Kabul is not in any imminent threat environment right now but we certainly take your point. Brett, thank you

BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT OF THE GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, this just in, the sobering warning from Homeland Security ahead of the 20-year anniversary of September 11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00]

BLACKWELL: All right, this just to CNN, Homeland Security officials are warning of potential violence ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. CNN's Alex Marquardt joins us now with details. So, what's in this new security bulletin?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Victor, well, this a bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security. And what it serves to do is essentially educate the population, the American people as to what are the threats that DHS is looking at. And they are warning of potential violence on a number of different fronts.

Of course, the 20th anniversary of 9/11 is just less than a month away. And in this bulletin DHS highlights the fact that al Qaeda for the first time in four years, has issued a copy of its English language magazine called "Inspire" which goes to show they say they are still looking to motivate and inspire if you will American home- grown violent extremists who could carry out attacks here on the homeland.

And then they also talk about a second set of extremists which are often referred to in the national security space as essentially those who are driven by grievances. Things like the big lie. Believing that Trump actually won the election last year or restrictions by the government when it comes to COVID and things like that.

And they say that in the coming -- in the near future there could be attacks by those types of domestic violence extremists who are resisting and who are angry about these restrictions and some of those attacks could be carried out against religious institutions and other types of institutions around religious holidays. There is of course a string of Jewish holidays coming up in September, next month.

So, Victor, we're also hearing from the head of intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security. Who says that the chatter that they are seeing online, on social media in different online forums is akin to what they were hearing in the lead up of January 6th. And not just like what they were hearing the lead up to that insurrection but that they are seeing an uptick in that violent language that they say, John Cohen says, the head of intelligence at the DHS says could lead to more violence.

This is something that they have been warning for quite some time. That there are a number of conspiracy theories that are fueling this potential violence. But through that, there is one common element and that is a belief that Donald Trump is in fact the real winner of the 2020 election. That this big lie, as we have been calling it, has the real potential to fuel violence. That big lie is not going away. Donald Trump continues to spout it at rallies and speeches and he has others doing the same.

So, DHS now warning that there is potential for violence on a number of different fronts -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes, clear danger in repeating and promulgating that lie. Alex Marquardt for us, thank you.

So, the Homeland Security secretary says that the surge at the border, the surge in border crossings is unprecedented. Just hit a 20 year high. We've got a live report from the border, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

BLACKWELL: The CDC says that more than a million people have received extra COVID vaccine doses despite no authorization from government health officials and before CDC advisers recommended a third shot for some immunocompromised people.

A political cartoonist and writer, Ted Rall got a third shot. He wrote and op ed in "The Wall Street Journal" explaining how and why he did it.

He says that it's better to be safe than sick. Ted joins me now. Ted, thank you for your time. I want to start with why you got it? You say that you have asthma, you've had pneumonia, swine flu but you're not immunocompromised. Why the third shot?

TED RALL, GOT UNAUTHORIZED THIRD COVID SHOT: Well, it's very clear from the guidance from Israel and from Germany that people who are either over 60 or 65 and/or immunocompromised are recommended to get a third booster shot.

Because it's very clear that the original full vaccinations wear off after about five months. Different studies show different percentages. But I feel better safe than sorry.

I read a lot of articles about how tens of millions of vaccines are in danger of being thrown away due to vaccine hesitancy in this country. So, I thought if they're just going to throw them away, I want the third shot for myself and we all remember what happened earlier this spring, when it was very difficult to get an appointment for a vaccine.

And I thought as soon as the Biden White House issues the guidance that says that people are going to need a booster, we might go back to that kind of shortage so why not just get ahead of the curve.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and you're not alone there, as I said a million people have already gotten that extra dose.

We know that some people felt some mild symptoms after they got those injections. How do you feel after a third dose?

RALL: I had mild symptoms after the first and second doses. And the same exact thing happened for the third.

BLACKWELL: OK, so nothing unique after the third one.

You wrote here in first paragraph about going in, the experience of getting it. You said I didn't tell the pharmacist it was my third. She didn't ask.

I imagine this requires a degree of don't ask, don't tell to get this third shot. Would you have told her if she had asked?

RALL: I think I probably would have lied. I wanted the third shot.

[15:45:00]

But I didn't -- I wasn't put into the position of having to. And I was really happy about that. But I wanted that third shot. They are just going to throw them away. And, you know, I understand the policy makers have a different agenda. They are trying to get as Americans vaccinated as efficiently as possible. But for me I thought I could make an individual decision for myself. And so that's what I did.

BLACKWELL: So now that comes to the question of legality. From what I understand about getting a third shot, if you are -- even before this authorization, that if you went in with the suggestion or prescription from a doctor, you're fine, but if you do something deceptive to get that third shot, then you've broken the law. So, you were willing to break the law to this third shot.

RALL: Well, this is the first I've heard of that. I'm seriously, you know, I'm a pretty well-read writer, columnist, political cartoonist and I didn't know that there was any kind of legal issue here. BLACKWELL: OK. So, when you say that you would have lied -- you got

this third shot. Do you just have like a second card now with a single shot on it? Do you have two vaccine cards now?

RALL: Yes, I do.

BLACKWELL: OK. I just imagine that some people, this took a turn I did not expect when you said that that just would have just lied. There are probably some people who were with you up until that point, Ted. And now that you said, I would have just lied to the woman to get the shot. Why you, and not other people? I mean I think everybody wants -- anybody who got the vaccine wants to protect themselves. Why you and not the rest of us?

RALL: Well, I think everybody has to make a decision for themselves. But you're talking about literally tens of millions of vaccination doses that are being thrown away. So, I'm not taking a shot from anyone. The place where I went told me that they were getting rid of doses all the time routinely.

So, you know it's a matter of life and death. I had either COVID or something like COVID in late 2019. And I'm sure that I don't think I could survive something like that again. So, when it's a matter of life and death and you're not hurting anyone else, I just don't see any ethical issue whatsoever with taking something that is just simply going to be thrown away otherwise.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ted Rall, I appreciate the conversation. Thank you, sir.

RALL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, next, we've got more on this tragic situation unfolding in Florida where the governor has banned schools from mandating masks even as four members who work for the Broward County School District there, single district, died from COVID in one day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:00]

BLACKWELL: There's a significant challenge facing the Biden administration, the growing number of migrants illegally crossing the southern border into the U.S. According to Customs and Border Protection officials, more than 212,000 people were detained at the U.S./Mexico border in July, the most in two decades. The surge prompted this warning from the Homeland Security Secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It is critical that intending migrants understand clearly that they will be turned back if they enter the United States illegally and do not have a basis for relief under our laws. We are also at the same time developing and implementing foundational changes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Nick Valencia is on the border there in Texas. So, Nick, what are you seeing?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, this is an ongoing phenomenon that the U.S. has been dealing with for generations. But it has seemingly gotten worse under the Biden administration in terms of illegal border crossings.

This surge of migrants and refugees fleeing the conditions in their home countries is at the height that we haven't seen in more than two decades. And according to government statistics in July, there was 212,672 apprehensions during a time that is notably low during the sweltering summer months, heat, the global heat index was a record high in July, but still we saw tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to go for a better life here in the United States.

Unaccompanied children, those minors are also crossing at a historic rate according to the U.S. government, 18,962 arriving at the border in July.

And if you ask the Biden administration, they're very skeptical or stopped short, I should say, of calling this a border crisis. They say that this has to do a lot to do with what's happening in the home countries of those that are trying to cross. However, critics of the Biden administration are labelling this a broken border and a crisis created by the Biden administration.

We are at one of these legal crossing points. It's a ferry that goes between Mexico just on the other side here of the Rio Grande. We're standing on the U.S. side. This is a legal border crossing, but the area that surrounds me is one of the problem areas that Border Patrol is dealing with here as they see an unprecedented number of migrants now trying to cross the border for a better life.

They are overwhelmed. These numbers are at a point what we saw at the height of, you know, the zero-tolerance policy when Border Patrol stations were crowded -- overcrowded and held in inhumane conditions. Those crowded facilities are back again. Those images are certainly something that the Biden administration is going to have to deal with in the days and weeks ahead -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia on the border for us, Nick, thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00]

BLACKWELL: The world has lost more than 4 million people to COVID. Parents, sons, and daughters, brothers and sisters. This week CNN Heroes knows just how difficult and isolating it is to lose a spouse. Michelle Hernandez has created a community of widows that can heal together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED WIDOWER: I would tell the nurse, tell them I love him, I'll put the phone by him because they would not let me in.

Sometimes I'd just go sit in the parking lot just to be close to him. And on April 13th, they told me he was gone.

I needed someone to understand what it was like to be widowed.

MICHELLE HERNANDEZ, CNN HERO: Initially you imagine that when someone dies, the worst day is the day they die. And the truth is that living without them is the hard part. But you have to make your way through.

HERNANDEZ: Thank you for being here and showing up for each other.

HERNANDEZ: We hope people live and live through something that many times they did not think that they would survive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: To see Michelle's full story and the people she's helped, go to CNNheroes.com.

Also, a quick programming note. Join CNN for "We Love New York City, The Homecoming Concert." It's a once-in-a-lifetime concert event Saturday, August 21st exclusively on CNN.

That does it for me. I'm Victor Blackwell in New York. Thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

END