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New York City Sees Largest Single-Day Arrival Of Migrants Bused From Texas; Up To 160 People Rescued From New Mexico Amid Flash Floods; White House Brings Monkeypox Vaccination Efforts To LGBTQ Events; Top House Republicans Demand Release Of Mar-a-Lago Affidavit; DOJ Prepares For Hearing On Redactions Of Trump Affidavit; Five-Alarm Crisis For America's Schools. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 21, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:57]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: I'm Phil Mattingly in Washington. Pamela Brown has the night off.

Tonight's top stories, busloads of asylum seekers arriving in New York today and what officials say is the largest single day of arrival of migrants in the city so far.

Plus a small amount of rain less than three quarters of an inch is more than enough to force dozens of people to be evacuated from a national park in New Mexico.

And health officials trying a new tactic to protect the most vulnerable from monkeypox by distributing the vaccine at Pride parades.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin with what has just been the largest single day arrival of migrants in New York City to date. 140 asylum seekers, a mix of individuals, families and children now starting a new life in New York after a 1700 mile trip from Texas.

These people to some degree become unwilling political pawns in a Republican versus Democrat fight over U.S. immigration. Texas Governor Greg Abbott who has now sent thousands of migrants to cities like New York and Washington, D.C. say it's President Biden's border policies that have forced his hand. Democrats like New York Mayor Eric Adams called the busing program, quote, "inhumane" with migrants said to be arriving hungry, thirsty and often sick.

Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas says Abbott is just acting out of desperation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX): What he's doing is he's sending a message. There's no secret there. Right? This isn't a policy move. This is a move of desperation to get someone to pay attention to what we're dealing with in Texas. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: It would seem difficult but set aside the politics for just a moment, and imagine you're one of these migrants bussed thousands of miles from the Texas border to streets of New York City after a very long journey just to get to the U.S.

Alexander Rapaport is with me now. He's the executive director of Masba Soup Kitchen Network, a Jewish community group that brings relief to all people affected by disaster.

Alexander, your group shows up anywhere and everywhere in moments of crisis. I have seen them for years. This is one of those moments. Members of your group met with city hall to get involved when migrants first started arriving, then your team -- I want you to kind of give me some details here -- just went directly to Walmart to start stocking up. Is that right?

ALEXANDER RAPAPORT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MASBA RELIEF: Yes. We got a call that they're expecting a bus early morning. And that was the beginning of last week and we just rented a truck and went to Walmart and kind of cleaned the shelves because we knew we needed a few hundred pairs especially when you need to kind of operate a pop-up shoe store where you don't know what sizes you'll need and what kind of other items you'll need.

A little bit of food, a little bit of toiletries. The hottest item is shoes. A lot of people arrive barefoot or with flip flops. And you want to make sure that their first step on New York City is turning the page and giving them back their humanity, and there are so many good people out there joining us, lots of volunteers and people sponsoring those shoes so we can able to be a welcoming source, a sharing force. What basically what America is about.

MATTINGLY: Yes. I'm glad you point that out, because for context for people who may not know, your group was founded by descendants of people who arrived in New York harbor seeking asylum. You yourself are the grandson of holocaust survivors who made it to America after World War II. Explain why this work is meaningful, so important for you in this moment in time.

RAPAPORT: I remember my grandparents telling the story of, you know, coming in by boat into New York harbor looking up to the Statue of Liberty and what it stood for. It just feels so good to give it now back to other people who are in a similar situation, who are seeking asylum in America. To just be there to help them turn their page and yes, it's going to be a big rough and tumble, kind of coming and finding your place in here but let's give them a little bit of a shot in the arm to make sure they get their basic humanity back and just to be there to share with them whatever we can.

[19:05:15]

If it's toiletries, if it's shoes, if it's a little bit of food, it's just to be there to do what America stands for. MATTINGLY: You know, it's clearly both in New York and Washington,

D.C. officials have made clear they're stretched thin by this. They weren't prepared for this. Groups like yours have played an integral role in filling the gap trying to make people feel welcome, trying to make people comfortable to the degree you can in a very trying moment.

What is your sense of what's needed both in New York and in Washington, obviously on the border as well for these individuals as they continue to come to the country in record numbers?

RAPAPORT: We are America. We have enough. We have plenty. We have so many people willing to share. To me it's a no brainer. Those who want to share will do and share with them and welcome them. Those who don't want, they won't, so we'll do it. That's the bottom line. There's enough good people in America, ready, willing and able. We're in the richest country of the world. The financial capital of the world. We can do it.

MATTINGLY: Alexander Rapaport, extremely important group playing an extremely important role, and a very meaningful one at that. Thanks so much for your time, sir. I appreciate it.

RAPAPORT: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: Meantime, in New Mexico, more than 100 people have been rescued from Carlsbad Caverns National Park after flash flooding left them stranded at the visitor center.

CNN's Mike Valerio joins me now. Mike, I'm going to be honest, reading about this, it sounds terrifying. What actually happened here?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NEWSOURCE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Reporter: Sure. Well, Phil, it was this monsoonal rain that dumped inches upon inches of water upon the national park here, Carlsbad, so quickly and what we understand there were dozens and dozens of families who are underground inside these caves and park rangers came down and said, hey, all of the roads that surround the park here are probably going to be washed out so what we need to do is take everybody out of the caverns, put them all in the visitor center, and make sure that they're safe, make sure that nobody goes on these roads that are going to be flooded out, and keep them there.

So, Phil, from what we understand by families who have spoken to us over the past couple of hours they were in the visitor center from between eight to nine hours. Nobody was stuck, nobody was hurt, and they were able to evacuate and leave the park eventually by midnight local time. So that is certainly the good news.

But, Phil, the more heart-stopping part of this story line that we're still following at this hour, there is a 29-year-old hiker in Zion National Park about 800 miles away in Utah who is still missing. Jetal Agnihotri was there with a group of friends before she went back to the University of Arizona to start her graduate degree.

Apparently, Friday afternoon, the same monsoonal system dumps inches upon inches of rain on the Virgin River and she has not been seen since. So what we're watching in the week ahead efforts to find her, certainly going to intensify as the weather improves here across the west -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yes. We hope for good news there as well. Mike Valerio, great reporting. Thanks so much.

Now we're seeing widespread flooding across the southwest like here in Moab, Utah. Look at it. Multiple bridges and roadways inundated with water after a flash flood you're looking at right now swept through the area.

Meteorologist Tom Sater joins me live from the CNN weather center.

And Tom, what's the latest on all that flooding we've seen?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Phil, to be quite honest with you, the monsoon rains have been quite healthy this year. It's great for New Mexico, Arizona, although it does come with a cost of the major flash flooding. I mean you would think this dry ground would just soak up every drop it gets, but it's like falling on concrete. It's so cracked and so dry. That's the monsoon rain. Now we've got problems in parts of Oklahoma, into Texas.

What you see in the area of red here is not rain. This is available moisture. So this is going to fuel heavy rainfall in the days ahead. So again, it's all riding northward from Mexico and it's running into a frontal system that's triggering this heavy rain, right along I-20. I think we're going to have some problems not just travel interruptions but we may have more water rescues, more calls to emergency services.

The problem today has been from the Dallas metroplex over toward northwest Arkansas but now it's shifting more toward the Gulf Coastal states. So again where we need the rain, this is great news for farmers with livestock, with cattle ranchers. They've had to make some really tough decisions. But again it's all becoming runoff. At least it could get in maybe some reservoirs. That's not going to help agriculturally but again the problem is too much rain.

We need weeks and weeks of a light steady rain for the entire west. So the watches are in effect most -- that's been extended southward. Texas, 63 percent of Texas have been in the two highest drought levels over 90 percent of the entire state.

[19:10:04]

It's the driest summer year ever for San Antonio. Austin is like the second. And again all of this rain right along I-20 is going to be some problems. But quickly, for you, Phil, after this rain falls tomorrow it -- our focus now will be in the Ohio Valley. That's our next threat. It would be nice to get some of this rain into New England where they're suffering from flash droughts, as well.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Such a dynamic situation across the country. Tom Sater, great reporting as always. Thanks so much. Now we have devastating new video out of India. Officials say extreme

flooding killed at least 50 people over the last three days in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Monsoon rains overwhelmed hundreds of villages, destroyed houses and stranded residents. Rescue crews are still working to evacuate survivors. Now the downpour isn't over just yet. India's weather department predicts two more days of heavy rains in some of those hardest hit regions.

And coming up, a person under the age of 18 testing positive for monkeypox in New York for the first time as the Biden administration takes new steps to stem the spread. Dr. Jonathan Reiner is my next guest.

Also ahead, former Trump insider Gavin Smith says it's time his ex- colleagues and the Republican Party put America first. He joins me live.

I'll also be joined by Mary Kusler of the National Education Association about what can be done to solve the national teacher shortage.

And business in the front, party in the back. This is the best story going. The 2022 Kids' Mullet Championships comes down to final three but there can only be one glorious immaculate winner.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:47]

MATTINGLY: There's some troubling new signs in the growing monkeypox outbreak. For the first time a person under the age of 18 has tested positive for the disease in New York state. There are at least two other known cases previously identified in children in the U.S. Now it comes as the White House launches a new program making monkeypox vaccines available at large LGBTQ events. That includes this weekend's Pride Festival and Parade in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's where Dianne Gallagher is right now -- Dianne.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, this is the first time the city of Charlotte has been able to celebrate Pride in person in two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But now health officials say that they're working to educate and vaccinate as well here because of the monkeypox outbreak.

The city of Charlotte in Mecklenburg County is the beginning of this pilot program that the Biden administration is beginning to roll out. 50,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine at Pride and LGBTQ centered events across the nation. Here in Charlotte the start of the rollout for Pride weekend 2,000 doses that are going to be given throughout the weekend for people who qualify for this criteria here.

Well, look, there is concern amongst the community that we've spoke to perhaps this is too late but they said they're grateful for access. Many communities like here in Charlotte have had waiting list for the monkeypox vaccine. Now we haven't seen a lot of advertisement for it around the Pride festival today but when we spoke with those who actually got the vaccine they say it was direct contact with health officials that inspired them to go and get it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABE GADIKIAN, RECOVERED MONKEYPOX VACCINE: I think there's a lot of questions as far as where to get it, how to get it, and doing it at an event like this and having people reaching out and telling people where to get it and when to get it, and especially if they can get it right now, you don't have to make an appointment, made it very easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, again, Mecklenburg County only had 2,000 doses that it could give. It has 2,000 doses, not vials. And that's because Mecklenburg County began changing the ways that they give the vaccine, to intradermal versus subcutaneous in the shoulder, to expand and extend how much of the supply they have. That means they get about five doses per vial by doing it that way instead.

Now for the people who qualify, Phil, certainly it has to be two categories. Somebody who has had direct contact with a person who tested positive for monkeypox or a man who has sex with men or transgender people, who also adheres to three different criteria points. One of those criteria points in the past 90 days.

They want to be very clear here, Phil, that this can affect anybody at all in the country. But right now it is predominantly affecting men who have sex with men or transgender people. And that is where the concentration of education and vaccination needs to be right now they say.

MATTINGLY: Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much.

And joining me with more on monkeypox and other health challenges facing the U.S. right now is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner.

And, Dr. Reiner, we saw the White House move this week. They announced new efforts to increase the amount of monkeypox vaccine and target the people most at risk based on the numbers we've seen. Is the Biden administration doing enough or is another administration once again playing catch up with another virus as we did with COVID?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We are playing catch up. This is, you know, really a series of unforced errors. You know, unlike the COVID pandemic we had a vaccine, a very effective vaccine for monkeypox for many years. You know, 10 years ago the United States had 20 million doses of this vaccine frozen in the national stockpile and we allowed them to expire to the point where when we had our first case in this country in May. We only had 2400 doses.

We then were very slow to ask the Belgian manufacturer of this to ship us vaccine. It took weeks. And it took us weeks to order more. So right now we have the ability to put this outbreak down.

[19:20:02]

We have just struggled to have enough vaccine to do that and using the intradermal dosing schedule will help to stretch the vaccine until we can get more.

MATTINGLY: The idea that New York announced its first case of monkeypox in a child younger than 18, should parents be worried right now as children are all about to head back to school?

REINER: No. You know, right now, you know, 98 percent plus cases of this virus in the United States are in the population that you described. Almost entirely in the community of men who have sex with men but this virus can be transmitted by close skin on skin contact, and if you have close contact particularly with somebody who has, you know, open lesions, yes, this virus can be transmitted, which is why there's so much urgency now since the virus is contained and identified the population to vaccinate that population and we need to proceed with great haste to do that.

MATTINGLY: You know, shifting to COVID, which I already mentioned, you know, the transmission rates are still very high in most of the country. You criticized Education Secretary Miguel Cordona's plan to keep students and teachers safe. On Twitter you said, quote, "The word mask is mentioned just once in this document. 94 percent of U.S. counties have a high transmission rate. Why is masking no longer a strategy to prevent infection and keep kids in school? I'm guessing the reason is that masking in school doesn't poll so well."

Look, I get it. I'm a parent. My kids don't like masks. Everybody is tired of it. Everybody is trying to figure out a way to live with it. A lot of people want to move on if not everyone. Why is masking so critical in your view?

REINER: Because hundreds of thousands of people are getting infected every day. So the reporting about 100,000 cases per day in the United States. But those are the reported cases. And as you know, most people self-diagnose with, you know, rapid home antigen tests so it's estimated that there are about probably 500,000 cases per day in the United States.

When kids go back to school we're going to put a lot of kids in very close confines and any child who has not had the virus in the last few months is going to get it again, so we have the ability to reduce transmission until we have a vaccine that will be more effective at preventing infection and bivalent vaccine should do just that that. The vaccine that we should start to see roll out by the end of September.

So why not, while the virus is so prevalent in the United States, 94 percent of counties in the United States have high transmission levels, why not protect our kids? It'll keep them in school. If you want to keep your child in school and not have them home for a week or 10 days and not get other people in the home infected, then send your kids to school wearing a mask. They'd rather be in school wearing a mask than be home trying to catch up via Zoom.

MATTINGLY: Yes. It is probably one of the number one issues parents are still talking about.

REINER: Right.

MATTINGLY: It's been a difficult last couple of years, for the parents, definitely for the kids.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thanks so much as always, sir, for your expertise.

REINER: My pleasure. Thank you.

MATTINGLY: More Republican lawmakers want the affidavit that authorized the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago but what might that document actually reveal? I'll talk with a former federal prosecutor and a former member of the Trump White House, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:59]

MATTINGLY: A growing number of House Republicans are echoing the demands of former President Trump. They also want to see the affidavit that authorized the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. Meanwhile, a new poll shows a majority of registered voters want that investigation and others tied to the former president to continue. According to the NBC poll, nearly six in 10 voters back the investigations.

I want to bring in former Trump White House official Gavin Smith and also Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor who now hosts the "On Topic" podcast.

And Renato, I want to start with you to kind of give me a sense on the legal side of things. The Justice Department would almost certainly want and have to heavily redact the affidavit, will make that case to the Florida magistrate judge this week. So if it is indeed released heavily redacted how much value do you think people can actually glean from it?

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: You know, it really depends on how redacted it is. I mean, one piece of it, Phil, that I think may not be redacted is the run-up to the search warrant in terms of communications between the Justice Department and Trump's team. There's been public reporting that there were a lot of conversations, there was a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, there was a subpoena that was issued.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Justice Department decided to seize those matters are public, that they are not necessary to have redacted, and that would confirm this reporting that we've heard.

MATTINGLY: Yes, and it would certainly provide the context as to actually the process that took place here. But, you know, given kind of the escalatory rhetoric that we've seen over the course of the last week or two, is there any concern on your side of things or as a former Justice official that -- former federal prosecutor that the heavily redacted affidavit would actually give opportunities to feed more conspiracy theories and people could take advantage of that because of missing information?

MARIOTTI: I am concerned, Phil, about certainly the attacks on law enforcement. You know, there has been actually some alerts that have gone out within the Justice Department based on some of the conversations I've had about these attacks that, for example, we got recent attack in Cincinnati.

[19:30:8]

And there is I think, a heightened concern about potential violence against FBI agents. So, I do think that's a concern.

I will just say to, you know, this is something that I don't think unless the full affidavit is released is going to satisfy, you know, folks who are defending the former President.

And, you know, on the other hand, this is extraordinary. I mean, my clients that I represent, would love to have access to a full affidavit in the course of an investigation, but it has usually remained sealed for very good reasons.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Well, it is an extraordinary moment to go along with that.

Gavin, I do want to share this cnn.com op-ed you wrote with fellow former Trump White House official, Stephanie Grisham. It is under the headline "To our former Trump World Colleagues: This is your moment to finally put America First." And in it, it says: "As the midterm elections approach, and we begin to stare down the 2024 presidential race, our party finds itself at a crossroads. Our GOP friends and former colleagues must choose, are we truly the party of law and order and of putting our country first? Or will our party be reduced to being yet another Trump property?"

Can I ask you; you know, I feel like this question has been posed, this choice has been posed for the better part of seven years to Republicans? Why now for you? What kind of was the genesis of deciding to make this push now?

GAVIN SMITH, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Look, the answer to that is very simple. As Republicans continue to stack up, or excuse me, as Democrats continue to stack up legislative and policy wins, the only thing stacking up for Republicans are indictments, investigations, and subpoenas.

So, as we rely or as we eye the 2022 midterm elections, and as we eye the 2024 presidential elections, we need to think about that.

I mean, the Republican Party, you know, they continue to double down on these conspiracy theories; meanwhile, the Democrats are racking up policy and legislative wins, and I tend to believe that the American people are going to choose people that are producing for them rather than just, you know, relying on conspiracy theories.

MATTINGLY: You know, it is interesting, Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw has condemned the extreme rhetoric of some Republicans, Gavin, including those who have called for defunding the FBI, but he is also critical of the Justice Department's handling of the Mar-a- Lago raid. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX): I still haven't seen any evidence that he was even at -- that Trump was even asked to get these documents back. He has been cooperating with them on these issues for a while now for months, and so why take it to this extreme extent.

And I think that's why you're seeing so much backlash from Republicans, you're seeing -- you're seeing everyone coalesce.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: They are valid questions about the process in the investigation as Renato was talking about, but do you, Gavin, agree with those who say that the search has actually energized the party, they are mobilized even stronger than ever for the midterms and perhaps for former President Trump in 2024?

SMITH: Well, look, you know, first to my fellow Republicans, and even my former colleagues, I'd ask what in the world happened to being the party of law and order? Because that -- calling for defunding the FBI is anything but being the party of law and order.

Now, as it relates to your question, does it feel -- it probably feels the far-right fringe, you know, Republicans that are loyal to Donald Trump, regardless of anything, but Republicans that are more down the middle? I tend to believe that, you know, everyday Americans, those Republicans, they're getting sick and tired of these things.

And rather, you know, is the Republican party going to be reduced to get another Trump property? Or are we going to finally speak up, stand up and finally do what we set out to do and put America first?

MATTINGLY: You know, Renato, one of the intriguing subplots of everything that has been going on right now, as we've heard the former President Trump has actually failed in recent attempts to retain top shelf representation.

According to some reports, many of those attorneys are disinterested in what could be a highly complex and obviously very unprecedented case, plus the possible backlash representing a controversial client.

How significant is that, the ability to retain top tier counsel with a case like this?

MARIOTTI: It's absolutely vital. I mean, that's literally -- it could be the difference between spending years in prison and never getting charged.

I have to say, one thing that really astounds me, Phil, is you have a man who is the former President of the United States, who appears to be very wealthy, who has trouble retaining counsel. And obviously, I think part of that is that when you represent the former President, that tends to mean a lot of other people don't want you to be their lawyer.

I think it also -- a lot of those people have ended up getting mired in around scandals, ultimately, blamed by him. You know, we saw reports, I think "The New York Times" reported yesterday, Mr. Giuliani was asking Trump to get paid because, I guess he said, you know, he said he had lost his livelihood, representing the former President.

So, I have to say I'm surprised he isn't running with seven-figure retainers, begging every good lawyer possible to represent him.

MATTINGLY: Yes, again, it's a very intriguing sublot. So much continue to play out.

Gavin Smith, Renato Mariotti, thanks so much, guys. I really appreciate you coming on.

All right, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM and one of the nation's largest teachers' unions calls the shortage of educators: "A five-alarm crisis." So how can the US get more teachers into the classroom?

I'll ask them. Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:39:25]

MATTINGLY: As school gets underway across the country, some parents might actually have to wonder how will they do it without teachers? Seriously.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that since the pandemic started, schools across the country have lost 300,000 teachers and key support staff.

This week, the President of the National Education Association said the teacher shortage across the country has spiraled into a "five- alarm crisis."

Joining me now with more, Mary Kusler, the Senior Director at the Center of Advocacy and Political Action for the National Education Association.

Mary, welcome. Thanks so much for coming in to the studio on a Sunday night.

There is new research from the American Teachers Federation, 75 percent of teachers say things have changed for the worse.

[19:40:10]

MATTINGLY: When you talk to people anecdotally on the ground, actual teachers who are leaving the profession. Why? Why are they deciding to?

MARY KUSLER, SENIOR DIRECTOR AT THE CENTER OF ADVOCACY AND POLITICAL ACTION FOR THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me here this evening, Phil.

I think first of all, I approach this as a mom. I have a 14-year-old and 10-year-old boys who are getting ready to go back to school and they are excited to meet their teachers. They're excited to get their schedules and get back into the swing of things, especially after the pandemic.

But what we know is that educators had been feeling the pressure for much longer than just the pandemic. It is just coming at this time where we are seeing less respect for educators.

We are seeing more pressure. We're seeing more examples of how they are not being paid comparable to other professions and it becomes harder and harder when you don't feel like you have support in your community, when you're have the professional authority to actually make decisions about teaching and learning in your classroom, it becomes harder and harder for them to figure out how do they keep doing this each and every day?

MATTINGLY: One question, and we were talking about this during the break, parents are very frustrated, right? It has been a frustrating last couple of years. Kids are obviously frustrated with parents; kind of viscerally frustrating. We've seen that play out in schools, obviously, in the political sphere as well.

How much of an effect you believe that's having on teachers making this decision?

KUSLER: Well, I think what we have to understand is the majority of parents, myself included, support their public schools, support their teachers, but when they extrapolate it out to a nationwide, it becomes much easier to cast dispersions.

What we know is that parents send their kids to their local public schools because they believe in their local public schools. Now, that doesn't mean, as we were discussing, it's the end of the summer, I'm ready to get my kids back into routine. I'm excited for them to get to learn new things, but what we know is the best kind of education that happens is when we, as parents are partners with the teachers and educators in the building -- and everybody is tired.

MATTINGLY: Yes.

KUSLER: Parents are tired, educators are tired. And so, the extra work that that partnership takes can sometimes be challenging for parents like us.

MATTINGLY: Yes, and the last few years have exacerbated everything, right? Like the worst, the kind of fracturing of relationships, breaking bridges.

One thing -- you mentioned this, pay definitely is a major factor. Earlier today, we heard from the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. He supports using funding from the American Rescue Plan to help boost teacher wages. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIGUEL CARDONA, US SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: I think we need to raise the bar on making sure teachers are getting paid what they do.

You know, the teaching profession -- college graduates earn, on average 33 percent less than other college educated programs or other college educated jobs. That's unacceptable.

In the last 25 years, when you adjust for inflation, teachers have made only $29.00 more than they did 25 years ago. We need to do better there and that will address some of these shortage issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So that's an astounding statistic. And I just -- you're obviously in this space. One, is that accurate? Is that actually true? And I guess the second is, why has that been allowed to become acceptable for the people who are responsible for our children's education?

KUSLER: Well, first of all, it's nice to have a Secretary of Education who was an educator. So, when he is speaking of this, he is speaking from his own background as an educator.

The Economic Policy Institute just this week released their national teacher pay gap survey, which is where that number comes from. And they've really been able to look at, right now, to become a teacher and to be a teacher, you are generally having to get a Master's Degree. That has sort of become the professional norm.

But we know that educators take on significant amounts of student loan debt in order to become educators, because the pay does not keep up with other professions, because the public is essentially who provides the money through local school budgets to pay the teachers and to pay the other important education professionals in the building. That level of public's support also presents huge equities and inequities that really disadvantages our communities of color.

MATTINGLY: I want to ask you about the role of so-called parents' rights movements that we've seen. It has grown. It is boisterous and loud and effective. In many cases, some schools now require parental permission for their children to check out certain books from the school library.

In Sarasota County, Florida, a new survey of teachers show that many believe culture wars are turning their classrooms into battlegrounds when it comes to lessons regarding gender, history, politics. Look, parents should have a say in their education, I don't think there's any question about that.

What's your view right now of the role that this current dynamic is playing for teachers.

[19:45:04]

KUSLER: Yes, thanks, Phil for that. We had the honor to do a survey this spring of over 2,000 parents and

we actually asked the parents because we were curious: How dominant was this? Was this some loud voices or was this prevalent across parents across the country?

And what we found, actually that the number one concern of these 2000 parents across the country: Educator shortage.

We asked in focus groups and four out of the five focus groups were like, "Yes, we are concerned what's being taught." But when you ask them what that was, they didn't understand the new math. They wanted to know a little bit more about how we're teaching mathematics these days.

I think it's really important that we're listening and hearing so many of our parents across the country who support their educators and support what's going on in public schools. And if we care about that educator shortage, recognizing that teachers and educators are the professionals who trained for this moment, trained to get up and to work with kids each and every day, to know what sort of teaching and learning should be happening in the classroom and give them the authority to make those decisions.

MATTINGLY: Yes. It's an extremely charged moment, one fueled by again, all the frustration we've talked about.

I appreciate you coming on to talk with us about it.

KUSLER: Thanks so much.

MATTINGLY: Thank you so much. Good luck to your kids going back to school.

KUSLER: You, too.

MATTINGLY: All right, well coming up next, should tourists be allowed to visit Hawaii? Some want the 50th State to be off limits to visitors from the mainland.

W. Kamau Bell has a preview of tonight's "United Shades of America" coming up next.

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[19:50:49]

MATTINGLY: On this week's all-new episode of "United Shades of America," W. Kamau Bell goes to Hawaii and gets an interesting perspective from the locals. He sees firsthand how the surge in tourists and transplants after COVID is affecting native people in a profound way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": Is it possible to move to Hawaii and not be an [bleep]? MELISSA, HAWAII RESIDENT: So, that's my question.

BELL: Yes.

MELISSA: Oh, man. Okay. I think in current times, especially if you know better, especially if it was a choice, no, there's no way to move to Hawaii. In my personal opinion, and not directly be a part of what contributes to our harm.

So, I mean, like --

BELL: I guess your t-shirt answered the question.

MELISSA: Yes. It really is, no matter what you're going to be taking up space.

BELL: Even if you're touristy?

MELISSA: Even if you're touristy and if you're touristy, you're just directly contributing to an industry that commodifies and bastardizes our culture, uses us as an aesthetic, tells us what parts of us are pretty, but we are your servers.

We're here to entertain you. We're here to take care of you. And you know, just give, give, give, but you don't need to give anything back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: W. Kamau Bell joins us now. He is the director of the Emmy- nominated series, "We Need to Talk about Cosby," and the co-author of "The New York Times" bestseller, "Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book."

Thanks so much for coming on, as always. I'm always fascinated by whatever topic/issue of the day you're digging into here, and this one in particular, besides the fact that you were able to frame a question to somebody on camera better than I could ever dream of. But it is a really important question.

You know, during the pandemic, Hawaii was locked down. Locals, more or less got a break from tourists and visitors. That's now over. Hawaii is seeing a huge influx of people. What is happening right now?

BELL: I mean, I think a lot of people outside of Hawaii think that tourism is the solution to Hawaii's problems, but as Melissa talks about in that clip, most of the jobs that Hawaiians have with tourism are low-wage jobs. A lot of the hotels that even though they are back at like full capacity, they haven't brought back all the workers, all the unionized workers who are working there.

So, tourism is not the solution in Hawaii and that's where I talked to a lot of people about.

MATTINGLY: You know, which raises the question, you make this point, this is a generational issue, right? This isn't something that just developed over the course of the last two or three years because of COVID or post-COVID.

When you talk to native Hawaiians, what do they lay out as the ideal situation? Do they want mainland people and influence completely removed from the island? Or is there some way for those individuals to play a positive role economically or otherwise? And why?

BELL: I mean, I would just be clear, Hawaiians -- Native Hawaiians are not a monolith, but I do think -- so they don't all think the exact same way, but I will say this that like, if you talk to too many Native Hawaiians for a long enough time, they will talk about how Hawaii did not agree to become a part of America. They say the land was stolen by America and a lot of the problems of Hawaii are the fact that because they're an American State, they like import 90 percent of their food on an island that grows rocks, they import their foods.

So, I think Hawaiians feel like if we were able to make our own decisions about our governance, maybe sovereignty is a part of that. A lot of Hawaiians believe in that, that they would be able to be a more healthy and sustainable island.

MATTINGLY: I have like 30 questions that I want to ask you about this, which I'm sure all are going to be answered in the episode tonight, which will be another brilliant episode as always. W. Kamau Bell, thanks so much for coming in.

The all-new episode of "United Shades of America" with W. Kamau Bell airs tonight at 10:00 PM Eastern only on CNN. Do not miss it.

Next, it may have been the biggest hairstyle in the 1980s. It is amazing, but these kids are vying for this year's title of Mullet Champion. We will tell you who won. We've got right pictures, too, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:59:24]

MATTINGLY: And finally, this hour most importantly, a set of locks that would make Patrick Swayze proud or give John Stamos a run for his money during those glorious "Full House" days. Take a look at this year's kid's winner of the USA Mullet Championship.

This is eight-year-old Emmit Bailey of Wisconsin and his golden mane beat out almost 600 competing mullets to claim first place and $2,500.00 in prize money, which he plans to spend on go kart.

The mullet boy isn't just inspiring an 80s comeback, He and his competition are taming their locks for a good cause. Each kid's $10.00 entry fee will be donated to the Michigan Wig Foundation for Kids.

I love it. Absolutely love it.

Ohio should have competed better and more. You can do better, Ohio.

All right, the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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