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Women in Afghanistan Gripped by Fear over Taliban Takeover; Mike Richards Steps Down as Host of Jeopardy!; Three Fully Vaccinated U.S. Senators Announce Positive COVID Tests. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 20, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:03]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And there is real concern that girls will no long be able educated beyond 12 years old.

My next guest is the founder Razia's Ray Hope of Foundation, also 2012 top 10 CNN Hero. Razia Jan opened a school that has provided education for thousands of young women and girls in Afghanistan and joining us this morning. Razia, thank you very much for being here.

And I have to begin with the difficult question given the circumstances on the ground, and that is can you tell us if all of the students and teachers at your school are currently safe?

RAZIA JAN, FOUNDER RAZIA'S RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION: Yes, yes they all are safe. My teachers, they are all safe, and also my students, they are all safe and the village is safe, which is the main thing. If we don't have a safety where they live, then we can't guarantee their safety. But, fortunately, we are very, very lucky.

And I think it is just that what is going on all over, it is very uncertain. But among all of these things, I think what I have to do is to keep positive attitude and hope for the best because I'm the one who is holding the flag.

HARLOW: Yes, of course.

JAN: And I think it is very, very important for us to really encourage these girls and that they have a future. And I will fight for them with my last breath. And I think if we work within the system, no matter what system it is, I think we'll be successful.

You know, when I opened the school, these people weren't favoring me. They didn't want a girls' school. But I worked with them. And I tried to make them understand that girls' education is so important. Because when you educate a girl, you educate a whole village. And when you educate a boy, you just educate a boy.

So I've been telling them time and time over again, and I think right now, our school is safe, our people are with us, my staff has gone in the village from Kabul. They've traveled there. And they have talked to the maliks and uluswal and whoever there is. I think the Taliban did come to my school and they checked it out and asked what it is. And they said it is girls' school and they left.

HARLOW: And when -- Razia, forgive me, but when was that? This week?

JAN: Well, Yes. Yes, just a few days ago. But the head of this Taliban, he's our neighbor. He's there. And he has helped us many, many times. So, I think -- go ahead.

HARLOW: Forgive me, I'm sorry for the delay. I don't mean to interrupt. It is unique that you have a different perspective on the Taliban as it exists right now, just given what you just said. And also you've previously said in the last few weeks you have significant hope that it will operate differently than it did 20 years ago.

JAN: Absolutely.

HARLOW: But can you explain why, because you've told the story about the day your school opened in 2008 on the other side of town, terrorists threw hand grenades in there, a hundred girls were killed across town. There are accounts now even of girls being used as sex slaves by some members of Taliban. What gives you such confidence?

JAN: I think, you know, when you speak, when you say something, it is for free. It doesn't cost you anything. So you can say whatever you want to. And I really want to emphasize on my vision of working within the system instead of talking about what is happening anywhere else. And I think there is really no basis for what people are saying right now. There are no sex slaves or anything. They might have taken girls, but they must be from the same area and they wanted those girls to marry them or whatever the reason is.

My vision is very different.

[10:35:00]

My vision is to give these girls education and to work within the system, whatever system there is and whatever accommodations we want to make, we will. But I want these girls to get education. I want them to have a future. And what kind of a future if it is allowed up to sixth grade or third grade or ninth grade or even graduate from high school, and then do some practical training and just kind of putting things in perspective.

After these girls finish their high school, they can maybe do something that they can work from home, something they learn, another year or six months of practical training that they can work from home and make a living. Because right now, believe me, my students who have graduated, we have graduated about seven years of graduation. And out of that, it is about 179 girls, and most of them are working and helping their families.

HARLOW: We --

JAN: So --

HARLOW: Continue.

JAN: Go ahead, please.

HARLOW: I was just going to --

JAN: Yes, so.

HARLOW: Please finish your thoughts.

JAN: Yes. So I think -- yes, so I -- really, with all of the trouble that we have, I can't -- but that doesn't mean that I don't have hope. And I don't want to at least attempt to make it possible for these girls to get education.

How successful we are, it is just like our movie we made documentary, we don't know what tomorrow brings. But today, things are positive. My people have gone, my executive guide, they have gone to the school. They went yesterday. They checked it out. Nobody has bothered our guards or anything or they have taken away anything. They've seen that we are building a new building to extend the school. And so -- and they came and they saw and they asked.

So I think it is something that we just have to hope and I think if we speak less, it is better for us. And let's do practical things that is really useful for the girls to get education, find ways, yes.

HARLOW: Razia Jan, we hope right alongside of you, and thank you for the remarkable work you and your team have done for years there.

JAN: Thank you so much.

HARLOW: Yes. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

HARLOW: Just in to CNN, the new host of Jeopardy!, who was announced just last week, has stepped down. The Mike Richards, the show's former executive producer, now leaving the popular game show because of controversial remarks he's made in the past.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter joins us now. Brian, that was quick. Tell us what happened.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: The shortest host of Jeopardy! ever. Maybe this is will be a quiz show question in the future. Mike Richards taped five episodes yesterday. The new season began yesterday in production in West Hollywood. So he taped five episodes but now he's out and today's tapings are canceled and guest hosts will be back starting next week, all of this leading up to the new season premiere on television in September.

This was going to be a special moment, a handing of the torch from the Alex Trebek era that everyone knows and loved off to a new host of Jeopardy!. Sony, the company that produces Jeopardy!, picked Mike Richards because he's the executive producer of the show and they thought he did a great job when he tried out. But it was a very controversial choice a couple of weeks ago. There were a lot of other guest hosts who were very curious or very disappointed that the producer of the show was suddenly becoming the host. And it doesn't seem like Sony did much vetting of him. Because The Ringer published quotes on Wednesday showing a lot of offensive remarks in Richard's past, comments about Jews, about little people, about many sexist comments about women. This was a long article on The Ringer website Wednesday evening and now Friday morning he is stepping down.

HARLOW: Okay. Wow. Brian, what do we know about Mayim Bialik's future with Jeopardy!?

STELTER: Right. Remember, she was named as the new primetime host. This was a new job they created, saying she's going to do specials. There's no indication that she is being let go. Apparently, she will continue to do primetime specials and Richards will continue to be the executive producer of Jeopardy! despite these controversies in the past.

So, for the time being, Sony, which I think has a black eye because of all of this, because of how they went ahead with this search and how they created a lot of frustration, now, they have to figure out who is going to host Jeopardy!. This is one of the most popular shows on television. Every family in America, I feel like, has a relationship with Jeopardy!.

[10:45:00]

And now to see it and wrapped in scandal like this is really disappointing.

So who will the new host be? We don't know. We know there will be guest hosts starting next week. So you've got to think some of the people that were snubbed before, people like our colleague, Laura Coates, maybe it is their opportunity to try out. I think LeVar Burton, Ken Jennings, there's a lot of qualified people deserve another shot at this job.

HARLOW: Or a shot, Brian Stelter.

SCIUTTO: Yes. We're just going to --

STELTER: Or any shot at all, that's right. I think there could even be legal fallout from this because it is been so bad, yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: What you know are we crafting?

SCIUTTO: I don't know, maybe they need a new Jeopardy! host.

HARLOW: Well, yes. Let's hope. I think Brian Stelter, you make a great point bringing up Laura Coates' name. Thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Yes, for sure. HARLOW: Three senators, U.S. sitting senators, have tested positive for COVID in a single day. We'll have a live property from the Capitol ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

HARLOW: Three U.S. Senators, all of whom are fully vaccinated, have tested positive for COVID-19. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Angus King of Maine, Roger Wicker of Mississippi are reporting mild symptoms from the virus.

SCIUTTO: We should note the breakthrough COVID infections, as they're known, that is infections for people who are vaccinated, they are still rare, and, notably, very few of those people have severe illness. The CDC reports about 8,000 cases resulted in severe illness and death, many tens of millions who have been vaccinated.

CNN's Ryan Nobles on Capitol Hill this morning. What is latest on their condition but also any changes to Senate practices as a result of this?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Jim and Poppy, so far, all three senators say that they are experiencing mild symptoms. It seems as though some are experiencing symptoms that are a little bit more difficult than others, in particular Angus King saying that he feels rotten. But all three did point out that they are indeed fully vaccinated. And, in fact, most of the United States Senate is vaccinated. Only two senators, a Republican senators have said that they are not vaccinated.

But what is interesting about this is that for the most part, Capitol Hill had been back to normal after most people up here have been vaccinated. And last week, there was a series of votes around the Senate bipartisan infrastructure package, where a lot of these senators were in close quarters and perhaps that may maybe led to part of why we're now seeing these outbreaks take place.

Now, at this point, the Senate has advised that people that are working up here in and around the Senate chamber be wearing masks. On the other side of the Capitol, on the House side, there is a mask policy in place. So we're already starting to see these precautions that we saw at the early days of the pandemic start to come back into play again as we're starting to see these pop-up breakthrough COVID infections start to become a big problem here on Capitol Hill.

HARLOW: Is there -- I mean, given this and, again, all fully vaccinated senators, is there like a push for boosters at the Capitol? What are they trying to do to mitigate it?

NOBLES: Yes. As a matter of fact, Poppy, just in the last few minutes, we've learned that the Capitol attending physician is going to offer booster shots for immunocompromised people that are here on Capitol Hill as soon as next week. So that's going to happen perhaps as soon as next week. And we should point out the timing of this, right? You have to keep in mind that members of Congress were among the first Americans to get access to the vaccine. That was in January. We're now at the eight- month mark. So that could have something to do with the fact that we're starting to see these breakthrough infections pop up and could be why we're starting to see the need for boosters here on Capitol Hill in the near future.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Ryan Nobles on the Hill, thanks very much.

And we have an update just in on a story we brought you earlier this morning. This image, this powerful image, a baby handed over the barbed wire of the wall at Kabul airport to U.S. forces, we're learning from U.S. Marine Corps that the baby was taken to a medical treatment facility. A Marine Corps spokesperson said in that statement, quote, the baby seen in the video was taken to a medical treatment facility on site and cared for by medical professionals. We're going to stay on top of it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back. A little happy news to end the hour. We are just 24 hours away from a once in a lifetime concert event set to happen tomorrow afternoon right here in New York City.

SCIUTTO: CNN's Chloe Melas has the details.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Jim, New York City is gearing up for a concert for the ages on Saturady. It is called, We Love NYC, The Home Coming Concert. It's produced by legendary music executive Clive Davis and the Mayor Bill de Blasio. The concert will be held in New York City's iconic Central Park and feature an all-star lineup, including Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Journey, Earth Wind and Fire, Paul Simon, Patti Smith along with many others and multiple surprise guests.

The concert is taking COVID-19 precautions by requiring proof of vaccination for entry. It all begins with a preshow starting at 4:00 P.M. Eastern exclusively on CNN Worldwide. It is definitely something you won't want to miss. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Chloe Melas, thank you very much. And make sure to join CNN for, We Love New York City, The Home Coming Concert. The event is tomorrow at 5:00 Eastern Time exclusively on CNN.

HARLOW: It is going to be great. Thank you so much for joining us today and all week. Have a safe weekend. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. It is been nice to be in New York with you all week.

HARLOW: I've loved it. We'll see you back here soon.

SCIUTTO: At This Hour with Kate Bolduan starts right now. [11:00:00]