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Trump Ally, David Perdue, Launches Primary Challenge Against GA Governor Brian Kemp; Ilhan Omar Calls Kevin McCarthy "A Liar And A Coward" For Not Condemning Lauren Boebert's Racist Remarks; Biden Announces Diplomatic Boycott Of Winter Olympics In Beijing; Attorney General Suing Texas Over Voting Rights; Biden Re-Launches Trump-Era "Remain In Mexico" Immigration Program. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 06, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:33:22]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: A bitter battle taking shape as the Trump wing of the Republican Party attempts a takeover in Georgia. Trump ally, David Perdue, just announced a primary challenge against GOP Governor Brian Kemp, who is up for re-election.

The race is only a few hours old, but it's already ugly.

Here was Perdue's announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PERDUE (R), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER U.S. SENATOR FOR GEORGIA: To fight back, we simply have to be united. Unfortunately, today, we're divided, and Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger are to blame.

Look, I like Brian. This isn't personal. It's simple. He has failed all of us and cannot win in November.

Instead of protecting our elections, he caved to Abrams and cost us two Senate seats, the Senate majority, and gave Joe Biden free reign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And here was Georgia's lieutenant governor slamming Perdue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): It appears early on that he's going try to carry Donald Trump's water on the conspiracy stuff. And that seems to be the only tailwind he's got.

It's another embarrassing example of our fascination with self- inflicted wounds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Let's break it down with CNN political commentator and former Republican congressman, Charlie Dent.

Congressman, lots of bad blood here. I want to remind viewers Kemp became Trump owes nemesis after refusing to reverse Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia.

And literally, moments ago, Trump comes out with a new statement praising Perdue and slamming Kemp.

I quote, "David was a great Senator and he truly loves his state and country. This will be very interesting. And I can't imagine that Brian Kemp, who has hurt election integrity in Georgia so badly, can do well at the ballot box unless the election is rigged, of course."

[13:35:02]

But, Congressman, Trump doesn't officially give Perdue his endorsement. What do you think he -- why do you think he withheld it?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, let's back up here a second, Ana. It's very clear to me that -- that the reason why David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are not Senators today is because Donald Trump suppressed the vote during the runoff in January earlier this year.

He was the one who was telling Georgia Republicans that the system was rigged, your votes don't count. He caused them to lose two Senate seats, including Perdue's.

So for Perdue to say -- and I think the lieutenant governor that you had on moments ago was exactly right.

And for Perdue to say that somehow it was Raffensperger's fault and Kemp's fault is absurd. And it's simply untrue. It revises history as we know it from less than a year ago.

So now why Donald Trump is not formally endorsing Perdue, I don't know. I suspect that he will.

Because he feels that Kemp and Raffensperger -- he's mad at them because they refused to violate their oaths of office and certify him when -- as the election winner when he, in fact, was not.

So this is -- this is really head-spinning to see things like this happen. And I think David Perdue knows better.

CABRERA: Stacey Abrams is running again. For Democrats, she barely lost to Kemp back in 2018.

How do you think Democrats are looking at that looming GOP battle between Kemp and Perdue?

DENT: I would think any time there's a disruption or conflict within the GOP, the Democrats, you know, enjoy that. It's a schadenfreude moment. You get to take the light and misery of others, so they like that. Having said that, 2018 -- excuse me -- 2022 should be a good year for

Republican candidates nationally because of Joe Biden's low approval rating.

And so I still think it's "advantage GOP" in the upcoming mid-term gubernatorial election in Georgia as in other states.

But to the extent that Republicans are fighting, that can only accrue to the benefit of the Democrats.

CABRERA: Let's pivot to the ongoing outrage in Washington right now over Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's racist remarks about Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Here was Omar on CNN yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): McCarthy is a liar and a coward. He doesn't have the ability to condemn the kind of bigoted Islamophobia and anti- Muslim rhetoric that are being traffic by a member of --

(CROSSTALK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Why doesn't he have the opportunity do that?

OMAR: Because this is who they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Is she right about McCarthy and the GOP?

DENT: Well, look, I know Kevin McCarthy. He's been a friend a long time. He's not a liar.

I would say though he is fearful. He is fearful and he should -- he should react more forcefully against some of the extreme members and their very offensive and incendiary and, in some cases, racist statements. He needs to crack down on that.

But Kevin McCarthy I think is fearful of the fact that he wants to become speaker. He needs 218 Republican votes. He was undermined in 2015 when he tried to ascend.

And so to the extent that he disciplines some of these members on the fringe, you know, obviously, he loses their vote and may pull some others on the hard right who don't feel that Kevin should discipline them.

So I think his quest, Kevin's quest for the speakership is, in some respects, impeding his ability to act as minority leader and do things that he ordinarily, I think, would do.

So it's more out of fear than anything else. He wants to be speaker and this could harm his ability to get a gavel.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: She called him a coward. You called him fearful. Different word choice but along the same lines.

Thanks so much, former Congressman Charlie Dent. I appreciate your perspective.

[13:39:01]

We have breaking news now. The White House just made it official, announcing it will use the Beijing Olympics to protest China's human rights abuses, and U.S. officials will skip the games. China is already responding with threats. That's next.

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CABRERA: We're back with some breaking news. The White House just announced a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming winter games in China.

Again, that is diplomatic boycott, not a full boycott. That means no U.S. government officials will attend the games in Beijing but U.S. athletes can still participate.

The U.S. is accusing China of committing genocide against Uighur Muslims and other human rights abuses both in China and Hong Kong.

Now, China said earlier it would retaliate if the U.S. made this move.

Let's bring in Gordon Chang, a columnist for "Newsweek" and author of the book "The Coming Collapse of China."

Gordon, China is threatening retaliation. What does that look like, or is it simply a bluff?

GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST, "NEWSWEEK" & AUTHOR: We don't know what it will look like, Ana. China has threatened similar measures in the past and not carried through.

This time though is different. I think Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, will actually impose some sort of costs on the U.S.

[13:45:03]

But because China needs the U.S. now much more than we need them, these measures are not going to be substantial.

Got to remember that China is going two some really severe crises right now, especially the debt matter. So I'm sure Chinese leaders don't feel very secure.

CABRERA: Do you think that this is right move by the Biden administration? Does a diplomatic boycott send a strong enough message?

CHANG: I think that -- it's a step in the right direction. It has to occur. But I also think we should be trying to get the International Olympic Committee to move the games.

And there's a number of reasons. First of all, there's a question about the safety of athletes. With the disappearance of Peng Shuai, the tennis star, there's a real concern that athletes going to China will not be safe.

But also, of course, as you mentioned, there's issue of China committing genocide. And the 1948 Genocide Convention actually requires us to prevent and punish acts of genocide.

And one can interpret that as a move that we should be boycotting the games at full stop.

CABRERA: You just mention that had this is all happening amid the tensions over Peng Shuai following her allegations of sexual assault by a former top Chinese official.

Now the Women's Tennis Association has suspended all tournaments in China. So they took strong action. But the IOC has handled this really differently.

You say the IOC needs to be strong, but they are addressing concerns they say directly with Chinese sports organizations. And they have had a couple of video conferences with Peng Shuai confirming that she is safe, they say.

So why is the IOC so hesitant to do more? Is the IOC in China's back pocket or are they working back channels in a way that could be effective?

CHANG: The IOC said the same things with the 2008 games and they completely failed. They failed actually to hold China to its promises that were made to get the games.

The IOC has a big financial incentive to continue with the games in China. And it's been very quiet about Peng, which is extremely disappointing.

And this shows that the Chinese regime is actually freaking out because the head called the IOC twice.

Now if it were up to Peng, the IOC, which has not taken up their cause, they would have been the last place that she would have called.

She would have called Steve Simon, of the Women's Tennis Association, who has been leading the charge for her.

CABRERA: You say the games should be moved from China. What's going to result in that? What would have to happen for that to take place?

CHANG: Right now, there's a lot of momentum in that direction. If you started in November in the beginning, no one would have said that the games would be moved. The whole move to boycott the games had actually flopped. But through

the bravery of one tennis star, this has created a series of events that are now leading to the point where the games are actually in jeopardy.

I'm not saying the games will be moved. But I don't think Beijing is feeling very confident about this.

Because, from what they're doing, it indicates that they do think there's a real possibility that the IOC will be forced to actually postpone and then move the games.

CABRERA: Gordon Chang, thank you so much for being with us.

CHANG: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: More breaking news now. Attorney General Merrick Garland just announced a lawsuit challenging Texas legislative maps drawn by Republicans.

Let's bring in Jessica Schneider, watching all of the developments.

What are we learning from the attorney general, Jessica?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Ana, this is the second time that the Department of Justice has sued Texas as it relates to voting rights in the past several weeks. The last time was about the new voter laws involving voter I.D. and other voting -- the way votes actually go about.

This time, the Department of Justice is suing Texas over its newly drawn political maps, saying that Texas, the Republican legislature and the Republican governor intentionally discriminated against religious groups, in particular, Hispanics.

This was a lawsuit recently find in the Western District of Texas federal court there. In the filing, it says this:

"In enacting its 2021 congressional and House plans, the state has again diluted the voting strength of minority Texans and continued its refusal to comply with the Voting Rights Act."

Specifically, the Department of Justice is pointing to the fact that, in the 2020 census, the population of Texas has gone up considerably, four million new residents between 2010 and 2020, and 95 percent of those are Hispanics.

Yet, when you look at the new maps released several weeks ago and signed to take effect by the Texas governor, there are no districts that actually account for that Hispanic increase. In fact, a number of districts are a number of -- more districts are actually white majorities.

[13:50:04]

So the Department of Justice saying they are suing, saying this is discriminatory.

And, Ana, the attorney general here basically pointed to the Supreme Court talking about the fact that they have previously said, you know, it is up to the voters to determine their own leaders, not the other way around here.

So the Department of Justice taking swift action against Texas again, the second time in just a matter of weeks when it comes to these voting rights issues -- Ana?

CABRERA: OK, Jessica Schneider, keep us posted. Thank you.

The Biden White House wants to end a Trump-era immigration policy. So why did it just relaunch and expand the very same program that forces thousands of asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico?

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[13:55:44]

CABRERA: Today, the Biden administration is expected to restart that contentious Trump-era border policy known as Remain in Mexico. This means asylum-seekers will be forced to stay in Mexico while they await immigration court hearings.

President Biden stopped this program earlier this year but a Texas federal judge ruled in August that this administration did not provide adequate justification for getting rid of the policy and thus it must be reinstated.

CNN correspondent, Matt Rivers, is in Mexico City.

Matt, the administration calls this a revamped program. What is different?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, what they're saying here is they have to come to a new agreement with Mexico, this is a Remain in Mexico program.

Even though a judge earlier this year told the Biden administration they have to reinstate the program, they couldn't do so without the Mexico government's agreement to all of this.

So they spent the last couple of months negotiating what the new program is going to look like.

And there are some significant changes compared to last time we saw this program under the Trump administration.

Some of the changes would include vaccines. They're going to be provided to migrants that are being sent back to Mexico to await legal proceedings during the asylum process.

They also going to asked if they have a specific reason to fear going back to Mexico.

The administration is going to aim to process all of these cases within six months, although that is not a guarantee.

And also, categories of vulnerable migrants, people who might be exempt from having to wait out asylum claims in Mexico, those categories will be expanded as a result.

The administration said they're doing this to try and make this program better even though they're not big fans of it.

But I can tell you, speaking to critics of this program, they're not happy with the Biden administration. They're wondering why they're in this position in the first place.

They're wondering why the Biden administration didn't do more to avoid this kind of situation.

When they unwound the program if the first place, why didn't they do it in a connect way that wouldn't have forced a federal judge to put them in this position.

There's a lot of anger under amongst critics that never would have believe that, during the Biden administration, we would see re- enactment of one of the key signature pieces of migration policy during the Trump administration.

CABRERA: Matt Rivers, in Mexico City, thank you for your reporting.

And thank you all for being with us today. We'll see you back here tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. In the meantime, you can join me on Twitter, @AnaCabrera. Thanks again.

The news continues next with Alisyn and Victor.

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