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President Biden Awards Presidential Medals of Freedom; Father of Highland Park Suspect Speaks Out; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Resigns. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 07, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:44]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. Victor is off today.

Two big stories we're following this hour.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. This follows a mutiny inside his own government. More than 55 of his colleagues quit in protest of his behavior and leadership.

And here in the U.S., the father of the shooter who killed seven people and wounded more than 30 at that Fourth of July parade is breaking his silence. Robert Crimo Jr. told "The New York Post" he is furious and wants a long sentence for his son. He claims he did not see a lot of signs of his son's troubles, but police reports prove otherwise.

But, first, moments from now, President Biden will president the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, to 17 recipients. The prestigious list includes Olympians, actors, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, and the first American to receive the COVID vaccine.

CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us now from the White House.

So, Phil, what do we expect from today's ceremony?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's kind of a buoyant moment, to some degree.

Obviously, there are a lot of hard times in a White House, in any White House. This is a particularly difficult moment for this White House. But the opportunity to president the highest civilian honor to an array of individuals, from former lawmakers, Olympic athletes, civil rights -- kind of people at the highest level of the civil rights movement, is something I think the president enjoys, and I think the White House looks forward to some degree.

Yes, there are definitely celebrities here. Denzel Washington will be sitting in one of those chairs you see in the East Room. Simone Biles, the Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast, Megan Rapinoe, the famous soccer players, also gold medal, World Cups, LGBTQ advocate as well, will be there. But I think when you go up and down the list, you also see some of

President Biden's former colleagues. John McCain will be awarded the Medal of Freedom posthumously. His wife, Cindy McCain, I ran into her earlier today, Alan Simpson, a former senator he served with, also Gabby Giffords, obviously, the former member of the House who was attacked, was shot and has been a huge advocate when it comes to gun safety.

So I think this is a moment. As the White House framed in the release announcing this, it's a group of individuals that show the possibilities that the country, those who have shown perseverance, hard work, and have succeeded, despite, in some cases, being against all odds.

That is kind of the point the president wants to make today. And this is a group of individuals that is absolutely distinguished and I think is definitely deserving of an honor that many presidents have given over the course of their times in office, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, it will be really nice to have this inspirational moment. So we will be taking that live when it happens.

Phil Mattingly, thank you very much.

Now to the U.K. After losing his party's confidence to lead that country, Boris Johnson gave a resignation speech that was largely unapologetic from one of the most controversial prime ministers in the nation's history.

Johnson was embroiled in a slew of scandals. And, in just the last 48 hours, more than 55 officials quit his conservative party.

CNN's Bianca Nobilo joins us live from London.

So, Bianca, Johnson was defiant about stepping down this time yesterday. Then what happened?

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Defiant, almost inexplicably, that level of opposition, that cascade of resignations, all of the public polls showing that all voters and Conservative voters wanted him to step down.

Then his communications chief said that he was buoyant last night and ready to fight on. So, as you say, there was a clear shift. What happened?

Well, M.P.s I have been speaking to today have said that he had not one, but maybe two conversations with the queen, which may have helped stabilize his thinking, change his mind. And when he woke up this morning, he was in a very different place.

Apparently, those who know him well say that it was his instinct to try and fight on, fight another day, to dig in when he felt under threat. He kept saying again and again that he believed that he had a mandate to deliver on, harking back to that 2019 election. But things have really changed since then, all those scandals and his public approval evaporating. When he spoke today, we saw a speech that was characteristic of the man, speaking about how it affected him personally, but expressing no remorse. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I'm immensely proud of the achievements of this government, from getting Brexit done to settling our relations with the continent for over half-a-century.

[14:05:03]

Being prime minister is an education in itself. I have traveled to every part of the United Kingdom. And in addition to the beauty of our natural world, I have found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways, that I know that, even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Some of that optimism that he's famous for, but, in large part, a departure from the Boris Johnson we know, no bombast, no jokes, no rhetoric.

It was a man seemingly bowed, finally, the political gravity winning overall.

CAMEROTA: So, Bianca, what happens now. Who's going to replace him?

NOBILO: That's the big question that everyone here in Westminster is talking about.

And it's quite a potentially protracted and complicated process. Essentially, M.P.s from his party will put forward their names if they want a shot at prime minister. Then the members of the parliamentary party will whittle them down to two. Then that goes to the general public who are members of the Conservative Party. That's around 200,000 Brits.

According to their latest poll, the favorite among the membership to take over is the current secretary of state for defense. That's Ben Wallace. He's someone who's been lauded for his handling of the crisis in Ukraine, considered to be a very serious candidate who appeals to both wings of the party.

He's also obviously been in touch a lot with the U.S. administration, particularly over that chaotic fall of Kabul last year. In terms of other runners and riders, we have the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who was tipped to be the favorite to take over a few months ago before he got embroiled in his own scandals that affected his wife too.

But it's possible that he can charge forward again and be one of the front-runners. There's also Penny Mordaunt, the first female secretary of state for defense here in the United Kingdom, who has been on a few reality shows, is said to have a lot of charisma and really appeals to the right wing of the Conservative Party too, as well as Sajid Javid, who was the former health secretary whose resignation about 48 hours ago precipitated this entire crisis and ultimately the prime minister's resignation.

And he has a very compelling backstory. He's the son of a Muslim immigrant Pakistani bus driver, and a very different type of Tory prime minister compared to the ones that we're used to. But the field is wide open at this stage. And these contests are usually deeply unpredictable.

CAMEROTA: OK, Bianca Nobilo, thank you very much for explaining all of that.

So, in a statement to CNN, President Biden says he looks forward to continuing America's cooperation with the U.K. on a range of priorities, including Ukraine, saying -- quote -- "The United Kingdom and the United States are the closest of friends and allies, and the special relationship between our people remains strong and enduring."

With us now is CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. And Yasmeen Serhan, she is a staff writer at "The Atlantic."

Great to have both of you.

So, Nic, just remind us how we got here, all the scandals, but why this week things sped up so quickly?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher was found to have sexually assaulted two people over the weekend.

The prime minister had initially said that he didn't have a recollection of being told when he appointed Chris Pincher that Chris Pincher actually had a track record of such assaults. The prime minister had to change his position on that as more information came to light, because former government officials made the public aware of that information by releasing letters.

The prime minister then was put on the spot, had already allowed a Cabinet member to go out and sort of back up his earlier claims. And that led to that feeling within the Cabinet that the prime minister couldn't be trusted, that his integrity -- that his lack of integrity would put Cabinet members at risk of lying to the public.

So that really was the end of a litany of scandals. I mean, not least the last was the Partygate scandal, where the prime minister was actually fined by the police for having attended a party here at Downing Street during COVID lockdown, when restrictions that his government had put on the public were in place limiting these sorts of events.

And he broke the rules and broke the law at the same time. So, really, that latitude that the party had given him when they took him on as leader because he was such a great vote winner, if you will -- and he proved that in an election in December 2019 -- that all of that charisma and willingness and desire to please people ultimately turned against him.

And he failed to deliver and he let people down. And that was Boris Johnson's track record coming into office. And that's why ultimately this all turned against him.

CAMEROTA: Really interesting to hear all of that.

And so, Yasmeen, I mean, just help us in the U.S. understand this. So, there's this popular leader who engages in bad behavior and breaks the rules, and then members of his own party get disgusted, and oust him.

[14:10:13]

That rings a bell, but it's not how it works here in the U.S. And so what does it tell us about how the U.K. operates and the politicians there?

YASMEEN SERHAN, "THE ATLANTIC": Yes, absolutely. I mean, you pretty much captured it.

But there is definitely an innate desire, I think, on both sides of "The Atlantic" to compare Britain to the U.S., the U.S. to Britain. But, as you said, this is a very different system. And although Boris Johnson did win a stonking majority in 2019, and although he was seen as very popular in a lot of respects vis-a-vis his work with Ukraine, the vaccine rollout, all these things, at the end of the day, a prime minister doesn't just need the support of the people to lead.

He also needs the confidence of his colleagues, his fellow Conservative members, and his Cabinet, ultimately. And when those people start to turn on him, and, indeed, when the polls indicate that, in fact, their jobs might be at risk if he carries on being leader, then people start to think, well, maybe we need someone new.

And that's ultimately what happened here. It is a very different system to the U.S. As we can see, there is no election. There isn't necessarily going to be a general election after this. All that depends on who the next leader is.

But, yes, what's kicked off here is very much a parliamentary system. And just to pick up on one point that Bianca made that I think is very important, the next Conservative leader is going to ultimately be decided by a selectorate of Conservative Party members around the country, about 200,000 people. That's less than 1 percent of the population.

So, if you think about it that way -- and this isn't necessarily a representative 1 percent. So it is a very different system to what we might be familiar with back home.

CAMEROTA: Yes, fascinating to hear that.

So, Nic, what does this mean for U.S.-U.K. relations now, as well as Ukraine policy?

ROBERTSON: You know, Boris Johnson has sort of driven the party to the right. He came in wanting to deliver Brexit, his appeal to that sort of right-wing of the party that wanted Brexit.

And, by definition, the party has moved to the right. I think, in terms of relationship with the United States, it's sort of drilled into politicians here, into the psyche of the country that we have a special relationship with the United States, the key big things were we're allies on NATO, the G7, or the G20, we're allies, we're partners, we support each other, we see benefits in supporting the United States around the world, I don't think that's going to change.

I think the candidates that are likely to win through in the process of electing a new prime minister would be very much of that ilk. Ben Wallace, the secretary of defense, I met him recently in Finland, where he was watching British and American troops along with Finnish troops doing some training exercises, this is a minister who is well and truly imbued and believes in that special relationship and working together, and NATO being the umbrella for that, and supporting each other over Ukraine.

So I think, in that way, you won't see a change. But I think tensions will exist over the issues in Northern Ireland. Britain is passing laws to have -- essentially to renege on some of its Brexit deals with the with the European Union. That's causing tensions with the European Union.

President Biden sides with the European Union and Ireland over this. And that is going to cause tensions with Downing Street, whoever takes office, because whoever takes office, again, is going to be on that harder-line side of the party.

That's where things stand at the moment, at least. So the relationship I don't think will change hugely or significantly. The U.K. will be a dependable partner for the United States. But there are going to be troubling issues. And relations over what Britain does in terms of that deal with the European Union over Northern Ireland and the whole of Brexit, that is probably going to continue to be problematic.

CAMEROTA: Yasmeen, I was interested in this tweet. This comes from Tristan Snell, who's a former assistant New York state attorney general.

And he said: "David Cameron had to resign because of Boris Johnson. Theresa May had to resign because of Boris Johnson. And now Boris Johnson had to resign because of Boris Johnson."

And so what is his legacy? I mean, will he be seen as a disrupter or a wrecking ball, ultimately?

SERHAN: My colleague Tom McTague had a great cover story in "The Atlantic" last year that dubbed up Boris the minister of chaos.

And I think that is how he's going to be remembered, chaos not just for all those prime ministers you named, but ultimately for his own government as well.

I think Boris Johnson is going to be remembered as someone who was perhaps maybe not the best, certainly not the best prime minister, some might arguably say the worst prime minister that the country has had in some time, but undoubtedly the most consequential, especially when you look to what he did with Brexit, getting that done, getting that finished and done with, and then his leadership throughout the pandemic.

[14:15:06]

Whether there's going to be a Johnsonism that we're going to see emerge in this leadership contest, I doubt. I think his style of politics is very particular to Boris. And I don't know that the country is necessarily going to be looking for someone to emulate that in the way that people might think of Trumpism and who the next sort of Trumpian-like leader will be.

So, without question, he's going to be leaving scars on the country. I think what's up for debate is whether they're particularly good ones.

CAMEROTA: Nic Robertson, Yasmeen Serhan, great conversation. Thank you very much for all of the context.

OK, back here, now to the father of the gunman who admitted to the mass murder in Highland Park on Monday, according to police, Robert Crimo Jr. reportedly defended sponsoring his son's 2019 application for a firearms owner card, basically a gun license, saying he thought his son was using the weapon to go to a shooting range.

Police records show the gunman had attempted suicide months earlier and threatened the family. The father told "The New York Post" his son "bought everything on his own and they're registered to him. They make me like I groomed him to do all of this. I have been here my whole life and I'm going to stay here, hold my head up high because I didn't do anything wrong."

CNN's Josh Campbell's in Highland Park for us.

Josh, what did the father say about his son's past troubles?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, every new detail we're learning about this shooter paints a portrait of a very troubling person.

And there were warning signs after warning signs as we look into the shooter's past. Now, on the parents, there are issues that are being raised, the shooter himself. CNN has obtained several police records that show police contact after police contact at the residence of the shooter, most of those actually involving a domestic dispute between the shooter's parents, really showing a household in disarray.

But we also see these police reports indicating that this suspect, as you mentioned earlier, had attempted suicide. We're told by police that he was allegedly using a machete to try to do that. There are also police reports showing that he tried, allegedly, according to his family, to talk about killing members of his own family.

So, again, questions there. And people might be wondering, well, why do we keep demanding answers to this? It's because this community is demanding answers. But also, if there are parents out there wondering, how do I ensure that this doesn't happen to my own kid, what are the warning signs to look out for, it's clear, looking in the shooter's past, that they were there.

Now, as you mentioned, one other major issue here is the role of the father. And we know, despite those reports of police going to the house, the shooter allegedly threatening to harm himself and his family, he was still able to lawfully obtain weapons, including the weapon that was used here in this parade massacre.

We know that the father actually sponsored his license to obtain a firearm. Now, his father spoke with ABC News. He is denying any culpability, saying that he doesn't play a role here, but says that, obviously, he's troubled by it and he wants to see his son go to jail for a long time.

Take a listen to that interview.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROBERT CRIMO JR., FATHER OF ROBERT CRIMO III: I filled out the consent form to allow my son to go through the process. They do background checks, whatever it entails. This has taken us by complete surprise. Three days before the 4th, my wife had asked him: "Hey, do you have any plans for the 4th?"

And he simply said no.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, we have reached out to the father and his family repeatedly. We haven't received comment.

But, again, despite those claims there that he says he bears no responsibility, we still know, based on our reporting, despite those questionable police encounters where the suspect was allegedly exhibiting signs of trying to harm himself and other people, somehow, inexplicably, three months later, the father sponsors an application, the suspect is able to get those weapons.

And we now know what happened here, seven dead, dozens and dozens injured, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And we're going to talk to a state lawmaker a letter about how the red flag laws need to be changed or how they missed it. Josh Campbell, thank you very much.

Well, WNBA star Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug charges in a Russian courtroom. How this affects her chances of coming home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:22:12]

CAMEROTA: OK, let's go live now to the White House.

This is the ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor.

And we will watch now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Khizr Khan.

Sandra Lindsay.

Ambassador Cindy McCain accepting on behalf of Senator John McCain.

Richard Trumka Jr., accepting on behalf of Richard Trumka.

Megan Rapinoe.

Diane Nashville.

Dr. Julieta Garcia.

Brigadier General Wilma Vaught.

Fred Gray.

Ambassador Raul Yzaguirre.

And Senator Alan Simpson.

(MUSIC)

[14:25:23]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.

(MUSIC)

(APPLAUSE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please. Please have a seat.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the White House. I know this is a -- not a -- this is kind of an old place for some of the guys that are coming here.

But thank you all very much, and to all the Cabinet members, elected officials that are here, and former elected officials like Joe Lieberman and my good friend is here, so many critical people and important people.

I want to thank the vice president, Vice President Harris, and the second gentleman for allowing us to join them -- no, for joining us.

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: But it is always a pleasure when we get to hang out together.

On Monday, we celebrated the independence of our nation, a nation always a work in progress in creation of possibilities, the fulfillment of promises. That's the American story. And it's not a simple one. It's never been a simple one, but the Fourth of July week reminds us what brought us together long ago and still binds us, binds us at our best, we strive for -- what we strive for, we, the people, doing what we can to ensure the idea of America.

The cause of freedom shines like the sun to light up the future of the world. That's the soul of our nation. And that's who we are as Americans. And that's what we see, an extraordinary, extraordinary group of Americans up here on this stage that I have the honor to recognize today with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian award.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Simone Biles is the most decorated American gymnast in history, who everyone stops everything every time she was on camera...

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: ... just to watch, just to see her.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: When we see her compete, we see unmatched, unmatched power and determination, grace, and daring, a trailblazer and a role model. When she stands on the podium, she sees -- we see what she is, absolute courage, turned personal pain into greater purpose, to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Today, she adds to her medal count of 32. I don't know where you're going to find room.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Thirty-two Olympic and world championship medals.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: At age 25, the youngest person ever to receive the Medal of Freedom.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: The youngest ever.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: With so much more to give.

A fellow elite athlete, Megan, Megan Rapinoe. Where -- Megan...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) BIDEN: Megan is one of the most accomplished soccer players and the first soccer player to receive the Medal of Freedom. Beyond the World Cup titles and the Olympic medals, Megan is a champion for essential American truth, that everyone, everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, everyone.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: And along with her incredible teammates of the United States women's national team -- and, by the way, my son, Hunter and daughter- in-law are here.

His daughter's a great high school athlete, and she was so excited to be with you when you won the national -- when you won the championship, and walking off the field. And I said -- we said hi to you. And she said: "I was busy."

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: So, when she wins again, I hope, when I see her, she will say: "I think I know that guy."

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: Maybe? It depends. It depends.

(LAUGHTER)

[14:30:00]