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Louisiana Residents Face Power Outages, Fuel Shortages, Heat; Ida's Remnants Leave at Least 50 People Dead Across Northeast; New Texas Law Restricting Lessons On Race And History Causes Confusion; Freshman Congresswoman On Decision To Freeze Her Eggs; Evolution Of Wisconsin's GOP Senator Into A Conspiracy Promoter. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired September 04, 2021 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
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(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a major cleanup following Hurricane Ida. people from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast picking up the pieces.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's real hard. I just pray to God that all us can get back to life.
SANCHEZ: Adding to the misery, a sweltering heat index soaring into the triple digits as hundreds of thousands remain without power.
Booster confusion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does lead you to ask who's really running the show here?
SANCHEZ: Top health officials urging the White House to slow down its booster shot rollout. What's behind the mixed messages?
A restrictive abortion ban and limits on how teachers talk about race, the outcry following a flurry of new laws in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the worst-case scenario for you?
KRISTINA TOSCANO, FACING EVICTION: Being evicted with my child.
SANCHEZ: A race against time for families facing eviction. The effort to get much needed federal help before they're kicked out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 22 years of doing this, I've never seen fire conditions like we're seeing now.
SANCHEZ: The Caldor Fire ripping through parts of California, destroying anything in its path. The latest on the struggle to contain the fire. NEWSROOM starts right now.
(END VIDEO TAPE) CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: 9:01 is the time. Good morning to you on this Saturday, September 4th. I'm Christi Paul.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Good morning, Christi.
PAUL: Good morning to you as well, Boris. So, we have to talk about it -- the gas shortages, the long lines for food and water and zero electricity. This is what people are facing in the Gulf region right now after Hurricane Ida blew through. That storm is blamed for at least 13 deaths now in Louisiana and Mississippi.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And Louisiana residents are dealing with sweltering heat and no air conditioning. Right now, more than 700,000 customers still are without electricity in that state.
PAUL: President Joe Biden did get a first-hand look at the destruction during a visit to the area. He promised federal help for those people who are really struggling to recover right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know you all are frustrated about how long it takes to restore power. It's dangerous work and we're going to deploy more federal resources, including hundreds of generators and there's more to come to restore power as fast as we possibly can, faster than anything that happened during Katrina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Ida's path stretches all the way to the Northeast. At least 50 people now have died from that storm that triggered flash flooding, it swept away homes and cars and spawned tornadoes across that region. We do want to get an update on conditions, though, in Louisiana first.
SANCHEZ: Yes. CNN correspondent Adrienne Broaddus joins us now live from New Orleans. Adrienne, you've been standing at that gas station all morning. The expectation was that it would open right around this time. Is it going to have to be delayed again or are people able to get gas right now?
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People are not getting gas right now, but there are signs of relief. Take a look. Utility trucks rolling through a short time ago. We saw a caravan of them and the employees that were on the inside of the truck, some of them had pillows propped up on the window. Another crew that road by waved to the people over here and you could see some folks smiling. That is a sign that help is on the way, help is here and that's what they need. They're struggling.
People have been waiting in line for about three hours to get gasoline. I'm just going to spin our camera around here and we can show you some folks have stepped outside of their car to cool off because they don't want to keep the vehicles running because they need the gasoline. The car has been relief for many of these folks. And as you mentioned, across the state, still nearly 700,000 power outages across the state and in some areas, it could be a few days or weeks before power is restored, at least that's the estimation from one utility company, and it's tough times for many people who stuck around and said they wanted to wait and ride out the storm. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC MERTZ, ST. ROSE, LOUISIANA RESIDENT: I'm just wondering where the help is. You know, I'm wondering where the help is. I just, you know -- I don't have air conditioning, no lights, I had COVID last year. I was in the ICU for 14 days and I'm on oxygen and I don't have no electricity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROADDUS: Earlier in the week, Boris, the gas station was opening at 7:30. It's 8:00 local time and the doors are not open, but people are walking up physically with their gas cans and waiting in line.
[09:05:00]
Meanwhile, tensions have been high here. About less than 10 miles away from where we are right now, police say one man who was trying to get gasoline was killed and this morning, investigators are still searching for the suspect. Back to you.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Sad to see the desperation escalate into crime. Adrienne Broaddus reporting from New Orleans. Thank you so much. That sweltering heat in Louisiana is not just uncomfortable. It can be dangerous and even deadly.
PAUL: Yes. Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin is with us now because I know this hot weather in Louisiana, as Boris said, it's downright dangerous. How bad is it going to be today?
TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's extremely dangerous. It's 8:00 in the morning in New Orleans and the temperature is currently 82 degrees. We all know the Gulf moisture just makes it really humid along those Gulf Coast states. So, you factor in the humidity with this 82-degree temperature and it's feeling like it's in the mid to upper 80s, nearly 90 degrees, and, again, it's only 8:00 o'clock in the morning.
We're only going to go up from here. We have a heat advisory in effect for all of Southeast Louisiana and you can see here that temperatures are going to be right around average. That's what it's going to say on your thermometer, but when you add in the humidity, it's going to make it feel like it's close to 100 degrees, not just in New Orleans, but also Baton Rouge and it's not confined to just Southeast Louisiana.
This goes into Biloxi as well where Biloxi, you're going to see temperatures feel like they're close to 100 degrees and this isn't just for today. It's for tomorrow and it's also for Monday, too. There's not much in the way of rain coming our way over the next 72 hours, so that's not going to help give us any relief from the heat over the next 72 hours. It's going to be sunny. It's going to be hot. Not a good recipe.
In New Orleans, we are eventually going to see some showers and thunderstorms come to the area but notice that your overnight lows stay close to 80 degrees. When your overnight lows are near 80 degrees, when they're that warm, your body doesn't have the opportunity to cool off. So, when you start off that warm, it's not good.
Even though your temperatures are in the afternoon, come next week because of the cloud cover and the thunderstorms coming your way will be below average, it's still not a good recipe and then when you add in the fact that so many are still without electricity, it makes the situation even dire. In terms of when you look at the research, weather-related fatalities, well, the leading cause or the leading weather-related fatality is heat-related deaths, 138 per year on the 30-year average from 1990 to 2020.
As we've mentioned, there are hundreds of thousands still without power. So, a lot of you will be using your generator to help keep you cool. Make sure you read the owner's manual and keep your generator away from any doors and windows. Guys?
PAUL: Tyler Mauldin, we appreciate it so much. Thank you and as Adrienne had said too, they're also using their cars, which is why they're lined up for gas, because their cars may have the air conditioning they need.
We do need to go to the Northeast with you now, too, because the devastation after Ida, it spans six states. In fact, want to share some -- look at this new video. This is from New Jersey. This is how intense and fast the flooding struck. Look at this. This is someone's basement where a wall collapsed and look at how quickly it's rising. The couches were tossed there like toys. The water hit the ceiling, we're told, in seconds, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yes. That person's lucky they weren't in that room when that happened. Let's get over to CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro. He's live in Paterson, New Jersey. Evan, half of the deaths in the Northeast actually happened in New Jersey and as of last check, six people still remain missing. Bring us up to date on the rescue or recovery effort. Do we have any updates?
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris and Christi. As you mentioned, those updates -- those recoveries still are underway in Passaic, New Jersey where two young people believed to have been sucked into a storm drain. Authorities don't know. They're still actively looking for them. A very sad story, an ongoing story.
And as Christi mentioned, the fact that we're talking about the aftermath of this storm down in New Orleans and up here in New Jersey where I am just shows how big and historic this storm truly was. This is Paterson, New Jersey where the Passaic River is the lifeblood of the town. This is the river. It's three days after the storm and as you can see, the water level is still so high. This bridge being hit by wooden and debris as it comes down. The bridge farther down you can see also has a really, really high-water level. This water is really important to the town of Paterson, New Jersey. Their logo is the falls that this -- that this water causes, but right now, this water's causing a lot of damage. First it came through and had those horrible flood waters, a lot of rescues here in this town and now, even afterwards, it's still causing damage to the water supply.
[09:10:04]
Residents in this area being told to boil their water till at least Wednesday. That's how much recovery still has to be done from this storm here in New Jersey and as you mention, those tragic tales of people being lost and dying here, 25 of them so far in New Jersey, are also still ongoing. This is still a very, very active event here in New Jersey and all over the country where Ida came through, Boris and Christi.
SANCHEZ: Evan McMorris-Santoro reporting from Paterson, New Jersey. Thanks so much, Evan.
PAUL: Thank you, Evan. Now, for more information on how you can help victims of Ida, just visit CNN.com/specials/impactyourworld and thank you for doing so.
SANCHEZ: So, the White House may have to scale back its plans to rollout COVID-19 booster shots later this month, limiting the booster only to those who've received the Pfizer vaccine.
PAUL: Yes. According to officials familiar with the internal discussions, the FDA is concerned about overall approval of a third dose for all adults at this point. Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH COHEN, SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Several weeks ago, when the Biden administration announced that there would be a booster rollout starting September 20th for the COVID-19 vaccines, that left many people scratching their heads. You can't have a booster rollout until the FDA and the CDC review the data and weigh in and that has not happened. There have been no announcements for any of the three COVID-19 vaccines.
So, here's the issue. It is possible that Pfizer could have a booster rollout starting the week of September 20th and here's why -- they've submitted their data, they have a date, September 17th, to speak to the FDA's advisers. So, they could have a rollout on September 20th, but not everybody got Pfizer. Let's take a look at these numbers.
As you can see, among vaccinated people in the U.S., 54 percent got Pfizer, 38 percent got Moderna and 8 percent got Johnson & Johnson. So, here's the bottom line for people who are vaccinated. There is an excellent chance, no matter what vaccine you got, that you will be told to get a booster sometime in the coming months. We don't know exactly when, but it really is very, very likely that you will be getting a booster sometime in the coming months. The concern here is really for the folks who are unvaccinated. The concern is that all this back and forth over boosters is going to make this group even more mistrustful of the government. These are folks who are not listening to health authorities, they're not getting vaccinated and the concern is this could make it worse and let's take a look at this number.
More than one in four eligible Americans have not gotten even a single shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Again, the concern is that this back and forth will make them even more reluctant to get a vaccine. The concern here is that the Biden administration needs to work on its messaging. Back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Elizabeth, thank you. So, families in need of federal rental assistance are pretty anxious this morning. They're waiting and they're wondering if the money's going to come in time to keep them in their homes. Their stories are next.
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[09:15:00]
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PAUL: So pretty disappointing August jobs report shows the surging Delta variant has really become a major roadblock in the nation's path to economic recovery.
SANCHEZ: Only 235,000 jobs were added last month, far fewer than the more than 700,000 that economists were expecting. August was the slowest job growth since January. The sectors that had driven much of the job gains this year stalled as COVID infections increased. Hiring in leisure and hospitality was flat and there were job losses in retail stores and bars and restaurants. Because of the economic upheaval of the pandemic, millions of Americans are now behind on rent.
PAUL: And they're at risk of getting kicked out of their homes now that the federal eviction moratorium ended. There's financial help out there, but state and local agencies have been struggling to get that money out fast enough. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich says the slow rollout has desperate tenants facing a really uncertain future.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TOSCANO: We're just like in limbo. We don't know what's going to happen.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It's a race against time for Kristina Toscano. She's being evicted while desperately waiting for rental relief funds that would save her from that fate.
TOSCANO: I was up 7:00 in the morning putting in my application. YURKEVICH (voice-over): Toscano, a receptionist out of a job for over a year, applied to the emergency rental assistance program three months ago.
TOSCANO: It's just taking so long.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): New York state received $1.3 billion. So far, it's only paid out about $300 million. In fact, state and local governments have distributed just 11 percent of the $46 billion in federal funds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMAlE: The money is getting out much too slowly and it may not reach many of these families in time.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Camden County, New Jersey has $15 million for renters, but it took six months to even begin accepting applications.
LOUIS CAPPELLI JR., (D) COMMISSIONER DIRECTOR OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY: It is a long time. Unfortunately, it wasn't something we, as a county, were prepared to implement.
YURKEVICH: How much money have you guys been able to give out to residents so far?
CAPPELLI: We will be distributing nearly $6 million come this Friday.
YURKEVICH: But to-date nothing?
CAPPELLI: To-date, zero. Right. To-date, zero.
YURKEVICH: To-date, zero.
CAPPELLI: Yes. It's been -- you know, it's been a long process.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Without available staff, the county outsourced the work to a third-party processor. Thirty people are now reviewing applications.
CAPELLI: It really has been a frustrating process because we would have liked to have these funds on the street a lot more quickly.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): New York and New Jersey are two of just six states and D.C. with some statewide eviction protections, but those expire in a few months.
[09:20:03]
Pennsylvania, like most states, lost all eviction protections when the Supreme Court struck down the nationwide CDC moratorium late last month.
GREG HELLER, SVP, PHILADELPHIA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: Every day, there is more pressure.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Philadelphia County has distributed nearly 79 percent of its rental relief. Last year, it started its own program, giving the county a leg up when the emergency funding became available this year.
YURKEVICH: Do you think you would be processing as quickly?
HELLER: It would have been a lot tougher. Definitely the infrastructure that we had, and the experience was invaluable. The challenge is just that we're running out of money very quickly.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): The county has received 53,000 applications but says more than half won't get funded.
HELLER: We're hoping that there's a way we'll be able to get additional funds from the federal government.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Whether it's time or money running out, there's no freedom from anxiety for Toscano, especially when thinking about the future for her nine-year-old son.
YURKEVICH: What is the worst case scenario for you?
TOSCANO: Being evicted with my child and not having anywhere to go. I just think about my son. Like, you know, what am I going to tell him?
YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
PAUL: So just ahead, the other big weather headline that we're following for you is the western wildfires. A massive fire is threatening California's Lake Tahoe community. We'll get an update on a situation there with a director from CAL FIRE next.
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[09:25:00]
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Lavandera in LaPlace, Louisiana and this is CNN.
PAUL: Firefighters are, as you can imagine, so exhausted as they continue to battle that devastating wildfire in California the whole season, in fact. The state's massive Caldor fire that you're looking at here, this has been terrorizing the state for nearly three weeks at this point. It's threatening the popular tourist city Lake Tahoe for days now and so far has scorched at least 212,000 acres. It's currently 29 percent contained, just 29 percent.
Cooler temperatures, light winds expected to assist the fire fight we hope. Tourists, though, are being advised just postpone your travel there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY CHAPMAN, CEO, INCLINE VILLAGE CRYSTAL BAY VISITORS BUREAU: Professionals are making some headway, but we're not out of this yet. Winds can come up at any time and we have to just be prepared for what may happen. So we know people love Tahoe, we feel your love up from up here, but now is just not the time to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Assistant deputy director for CAL FIRE, Daniel Berlant, is with us now. He's also chief of Wildfire Planning and Engineering and chief of Fire Engineering and Investigations. Good morning to you, sir. We so appreciate you being here. Can you talk to us about what the situation is like there right now, what the conditions are?
DANIEL BERLANT, ASSISTANT DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CAL FIRE: Well, fortunately, the weather conditions have been a lot more cooperative than what we've seen over the last several weeks. In fact, the winds have died down significantly, we've seen cooler temperatures at night and even higher humidity. All of that has really allowed our firefighters to make good progress and headway on this fire.
Now, while we've really slowed the spread of the fire, there are still a lot of active hot spots, still a lot of active fire in and around the South Lake Tahoe region and so firefighters have been working day and night, thousands of them day and night, working to get those hot spots out because we want to get residents back into their homes as quickly as possible.
PAUL: So, I mean, this year alone, I understand 7,000 wildfires in California have burned 1.9 million acres. What do you portend the landscape is going to look like when this is over?
BERLANT: Well, I mean, that is a great question and the fact that we have just continued to see more and more severe fires, extreme fires causing more destruction. Last year for us in California was a record- setting year. We had more acres burn than ever before in modern history and unfortunately, we're on that same exact trajectory.
Now, we've continued to increase our staffing, our resources to be able to battle these types of fires, but also looking at shifting our strategy and really focusing in the earlier months, in the spring, the winter months, towards forest resiliency and even community hardening, making sure that we can really adapt ourselves to these wildfires because unfortunately, the trend of these large, destructive fires not going to go away anytime soon.
PAUL: Yes. And how are your firefighters holding up?
BERLANT: You know, they are tired. Without a doubt, they are tired. We have been battling fire after fire for months now. The major fire in California is the Dixie Fire burning several hours north of Sacramento. It's burned over 800,000 acres. A massive fire, the second largest fire in our state's history. That fire started in July and so here we are in September, almost two months later, still fighting that fire and there's 14 other fires burning all at the same time.
And here's the kicker -- we're only just now getting into the peak of fire season. In fact, historically in California, it's September and October when we would experience our largest and our most damaging wildfires. So unfortunately, our firefighters -- you know, we train for this, we prepare for this, we were ready for this, but it is definitely a long race to say the least.
PAUL: The pictures are really, quite frankly, just eerie and this is a holiday weekend, COVID forces us, if we are going to gather, a lot of times to be outside. Do you have any specific concerns this weekend in regards to that?
BERLANT: Yes. Labor Day weekend is always a busy week for many people. For some, it's the celebration of somewhat of the last holiday of summer before the return of fall, but with how dry conditions are in California, we are urging all Californians and any visitors that are visiting our state right now to be extra cautious. It doesn't take much.
[09:30:00]
A simple spark, an open flame with dry conditions like this, that fire is going to just explode in size, so we really are asking everyone to do their part. Because really this holiday weekend one less spark means once less wildfire.
PAUL: Daniel Berlant, we appreciate you and your firefighters and everybody who's working so hard there to keep people safe. Thank you so much. God speed to all of you there. We'll be right back.
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[09:35:08]
SANCHEZ: Some teachers in Texas are starting out the school year concerned about whether their lesson plans could get them in legal trouble. A new Texas law meant to ban the teaching of critical race theory took effect on September 1st, and when he signed the bill into law, Governor Greg Abbott said it was a -- quote -- "Strong move to abolish critical race theory in Texas, but more must be done."
We've heard from teachers repeatedly that critical race theory is not taught in K-12 classrooms and it actually isn't mentioned specifically in this piece of legislation. The law does limit what social studies teachers can discuss and teach in class, but it's vague and some argue that it's deliberately vague because it's making educators wonder if some parents might argue that a standard lesson about slavery violates the law.
Joining us now to discuss is Alejandra Lopez. She's the president of the San Antonio Alliance, the San Antonio Teachers' Union. Alejandra, thank you so much for spending part of your weekend with us.
I want to know what you're hearing from the members of your union. Are they worried about how this law might impact what they teach?
ALEJANDRA LOPEZ, PRESIDENT, SAN ANTONIO ALLIANCE OF TEACHERS AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL: Yes. You know, we all want well-informed, well- read, engaged members of society. And let's remember that when it comes to classrooms, it's teachers who are on the front line of this. Every day, day in and day out, we are working with our students, ensuring that they have the skills necessary to make sense of the world around them. And bills like this severely impact what teachers feel that they can teach in their classrooms.
SANCHEZ: And, Alejandra, there are some uncomfortable truths about the history of this country, specifically when it comes to race. I think arguably, the best place to have those conversations and to hear different perspectives is in a classroom. How do you think students might stand to lose if teaches potentially avoid these conversations?
LOPEZ: Yes. You know, let's be clear. Teaching the truth is not radical or wrong. What is radical and wrong is limiting teachers' ability to do that, potentially punishing teachers, threatening teachers who do that and distorting the truth.
It is in the classroom like mine where students learn the skills they need to grapple with the injustices that exist in our country. And it's our responsibility as educators to not only help them with that, but to empower them to fight for a better future for themselves.
SANCHEZ: And it's also where you can hear from someone who has a different experience than you and understand that context in your own life, right? I'm really interested in this. The law doesn't actually state how teachers will be punished if they're found to be breaking the law. What have you heard about that and how different school districts might approach enforcing it?
LOPEZ: And that's just the thing, right, is that this bill does not contain a lot of specifics. It is very much meant to have a chilling effect on a lot of really powerful and important programs that have been springing up, right?
I grew up in San Antonio, as a student in the public school education. I can speak firsthand to the effects of what happens when you feel like your community is not reflected back at you and when you don't learn the history of your community. And luckily in education, we've been moving towards a more diverse and inclusive pedagogy. And bills like really threatens to undermine that.
SANCHEZ: What have you heard from parents about this? Are they concerned as well?
LOPEZ: I think parents overwhelmingly want their students to be taught the critical thinking skills that are necessary for today's society and I -- overwhelmingly parents and community members want children to be taught the truth about history and to be able to grapple with, you know, the darker aspects of this country's past. And so parents understand and recognize the importance of teaching the truth, of teaching in an inclusive way that really affirms the diverse communities that our students come from.
SANCHEZ: Alejandra Lopez, we have to leave the conversation there. But thank you so much for the time.
LOPEZ: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Of course. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.
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[09:43:58]
SANCHEZ: The pandemic undoubtedly forced a lot of people to put off plans and to make some really tough decisions. One example, fertility health care. Shady Grove Fertility tells CNN that so far this year, their new patient egg freezing has nearly doubled compared to last year.
PAUL: Yes. Sara Jacobs, the freshman congresswoman from California, is one of those women who have decided to freeze her eggs. She recently shared her story with CNN's Capitol Hill reporter, Daniella Diaz. And Daniella is here now. So, what did she say about what prompted her to do this, Daniella?
DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, it was a combination of the fact that her career was progressing and she decided to make this decision as a freshman Democrat her first year in office, which is really notable, because you don't really hear a lot about what women in Congress are doing, especially when you have an image of who is in Congress. Usually you tend to think men. You tend to think older. But here is a freshman Democrat doing it her first year in office.
And she sat down with me and had a very candid conversation about why she's doing this and part of the decision to destigmatize the conversation behind why she's freezing her eggs and any sort of conversation that comes with talking about fertility.
[09:45:11]
You know, she's part of a growing number of women who are ascending to positions of power and unique to her is she's actually a lawmaker that has the power to shape reproductive technology. You know, this empowerment has come in many ways for women and in her case it's the ability to delay the decision to build a family and in that is freezing her eggs.
So, of course, in most recent years there have been a lot of lawmakers -- female lawmakers breaking barriers. You know, one that comes to mind is Senator Tammy Duckworth, who became the first sitting senator to give birth while in office. Another example of someone more recently is Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, the GOP conference chair, who replaced Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She recently gave birth to her first child.
You know, these are becoming newer and more -- and more usual cases for women to be able to build their families while they're in office. So, take a listen to why she thinks it's important to destigmatize this conversation. She explains it best in her own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SARA JACOBS (D-CA): Congress and most workplaces were designed for a time when it was the white man working who had a wife at home who dealt with everything else. And so, part of it is that we need to make sure that our workplaces and our institutions actually reflect what life looks like now. And that they are accommodating for people who have various kinds of domestic situations.
I heard a male Democratic politician once say that we need to stop talking about wedge issues that divide people and instead focus on the things that affect people's everyday lives. And then he went on to say, we need to stop talking about things like abortion. We need to stop talking about things like racism. And we need to focus on things like infrastructure and health care.
As if reproductive health care isn't the predominant health care that me and most women and most people with, you know, trans men and others are dealing with right now. You know, I think it's important that we include it fully in whatever health care reforms, health care overhauls we end up doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAZ: You know, she sat down with me in a long conversation, really sharing all of her decision making behind this. You know, she decided to share her story with me, as I said, earlier, because she wants to destigmatize the conversation behind fertility. She wants to make women feel more comfortable to speak about this issue.
And of course, there's more in the digital story published at CNN.com, but this is why she decided to share her story for this very reason. Christi, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yes, fertility, childbearing, child rearing, a normal part of everyday life. Long overdue that this now becomes common in the halls of Congress. Daniella Diaz, an important story. Thank you so much.
PAUL: Thank you, Daniella.
So, up next, a closer look at Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who in recent weeks has pushed some wild conspiracy theories. The new questions now about what his next move may be.
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[09:53:05]
PAUL: It's not clear if Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson plans to run for a third term, but what is clear is the Republican has changed a lot since first arriving in D.C.
SANCHEZ: Yes. From Tea Party insurgent to a peddler of conspiracy theories, Senator Johnson has a lot of people asking, what happened? Here is CNN's Sara Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (voice-over): As Senator Ron Johnson toys with running for a third term it seems there's no controversy the Wisconsin Republican won't wade into. Whether it is fueling misinformation on vaccines --
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI) (on the phone): Neurological problems, clotting, strokes. It's a cornucopia of problems that people certainly believe are associated with the vaccine.
MURRAY: -- dismissing the climate crisis as BS --
JOHNSON: I think climate change is -- as Lord Monckton said -- (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MURRAY: -- or suggesting the FBI had inside knowledge of the January 6th insurrection but didn't thwart it.
JOHNSON: So you think the FBI had fully infiltrated the militias in Michigan but they don't know squat about what was happening on January 6?
MURRAY: His apparent willingness to deny facts and spread conspiracies has left some in the state wondering, what happened to Ron Johnson?
MARK BECKER, FORMER BROWN COUNTY, WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN: I mean, he was -- he was our guy.
MURRAY: Mark Becker, former head of the Brown County GOP went from rallying behind Johnson to campaigning against him in a few short years.
BECKER: Everything that he has done since Donald Trump, it's been so devoid of reality.
MURRAY: Still Becker called up Johnson to air his frustration over Republicans peddling unfounded claims of election fraud. When Johnson surprisingly returned his call --
BECKER: And I said, "Ron, Joe Biden won the election." He said, yes, but 1.5 million people voted for Trump. I'm not stupid. I'm not going to piss those people off.
MURRAY: Becker wrote a column about their exchanged and pressed Johnson to voice his fate in the election results.
MURRAY (on camera): Did you hear from him at all after you wrote an editorial about the call?
BECKER: I sure did. You know I did.
[09:55:03]
So, yes, crazy. So I got a text on January 7th. So this was the day after the insurrection.
"Mark, it is my sincere hope to never have to see or speak to a low- life weasel such as yourself again. Please stop trying to contact me."
So, they're still picking up glass on the floor of the Capitol and that's what he's -- what he's concerned about. MURRAY (voice-over): Johnson declined an interview but has previously said Becker called him under false pretenses and Johnson expected the call to remain private. According to Johnson, "Months later, he went public with what he claims the conversation was about and what I had said. Anyone who would do that is a low-life weasel, and nothing they say should be given any credence."
This week, Johnson was recorded by a liberal activist again admitting Trump lost Wisconsin.
JOHNSON: The only reason Trump lost Wisconsin is that 51,000 Republican voters didn't vote for him. There's nothing obviously skewed about the results. There isn't.
MURRAY: In a statement, Johnson says those remarks are, "Consistent with what I've been saying publicly on the 2020 election." And pointed to interviews where he admits Biden won. But he also continued to raise unfounded claims of election irregularities.
To Michelle Litiens, Johnson is the same guy she first brought to a Tea Party event back in 2009.
MICHELLE LITIENS, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He has always been a frank talker. He doesn't skirt around issues. He is not looking to make friends necessarily all the time.
MURRAY: She says he won over the crowd with a personal story about his daughter's heart defect and his concerns about government-run health care.
LITIENS: When Ron spoke, you could have heard a pin drop.
MURRAY: But she was skeptical when he wanted to challenge Democrat incumbent Russ Feingold in the 2010 Senate race.
LITIENS: I said, "I don't think you really want to do that." He wasn't from politics. He ran a business. I'm like, "A campaign is county fairs and dairy breakfasts, and shaking hands. It's seven days a week, 24-hours a week.
MURRAY: But she helped him make inroads with conservative operatives and talk radio hosts. Combined with millions of his own cash and buzzy ads highlighting his manufacturing and accounting background Johnson built a Washington outsider campaign dedicated to shrinking government and he won, ousting Feingold in a GOP wave election.
JOHNSON: We need to restore our fiscal sanity to this nation.
MURRAY: Democrats were so convinced Johnson's victory was a fluke they ran Feingold again in 2016 --
JOHNSON: Thank you.
MURRAY: -- and Johnson notched another victory, this time alongside Donald Trump.
MURRAY (on camera): What do you say when people are like, what happened to Ron Johnson?
CRAIG GILBERT, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL: Well, I get two kinds of questions. One is, "What happened to Ron Johnson? And the other is, "Why is he saying all this stuff? And why is he doing all this stuff?"
MURRAY (voice-over): Craig Gilbert has been covering politics since the 1980s and following Johnson since he was elected in 2010.
GILBERT: It's unusual to have a member of the Senate from a 50/50 state, as conservative as Ron Johnson is. It is not necessarily great general election politics to be kind of -- to be where Ron Johnson has been on some of these issues.
MURRAY: Those issues include questioning safe and effective vaccines --
JOHNSON (on the phone): Should you be exposing yourself, or should a parent expose their child to a vaccine that we don't know the long- term safety effect of these?
MURRAY: -- while touting COVID-19 treatments that health officials have found ineffective, or as the FDA warned, dangerous.
JOHNSON: It is not just hydroxychloroquine. There's ivermectin. There's -- there's other things that we just completely ignored.
MURRAY: Johnson's spokeswoman says he is opposed to vaccine mandate but, "Like everyone, he wants the pandemic to end and hopes the vaccine will play a key role in ending it." She says Johnson is also an advocate for early COVID treatment. "He is agnostic regarding which drugs might be effective. He wants them all researched."
GOP strategist Brian Schimming insists Johnson's frankness appeals to voters.
BRIAN SCHIMMING, GOP STRATEGIST: He's telling it as he sees it. And there's a lot of voters who say that's what they want.
MURRAY: As the senator grapples with whether to backtrack on his 2016 campaign pledge to seek only two terms --
JOHNSON: I'm going to serve one more term. That's it. Two terms. More than enough time, 12 years. Feingold was there for 18 years.
MURRAY: -- controversial comments like saying Black Lives Matter protesters are threatening while Capitol insurrectionists are not are already reemerging.
JOHNSON: I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law. So I wasn't concerned.
Now, had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned. MURRAY: Johnson's spokeswoman says he condemns the violence that day but respects those who protested legally. Meantime, Johnson's remarks are invigorating a crowded field of Democratic Senate hopefuls in this politically divided state --
MANDELA BARNES (D), WISCONSIN SENATE CANDIDATE: He's a person who has morphed into the guy who's going to say the racist part out loud, you know. We're talking real Archie Bunker here now, on top of the conspiracy theories.
MURRAY: -- with candidates like Mandela Barnes already using Johnson's words against him.
BARNES: He speaks his truth, and unfortunately, he's delusional.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[10:00:03]
PAUL: Welcome to the weekend. We are so glad to see you on this Saturday, September 4th. I'm Christi Paul.
