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Biden Administration Considering Reinstating Migrant Family Detentions; GOP Senators Push Back On Tucker Carlson's Efforts To Downplay January 6 Attack; Interview With Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA): I Am A Target Of The Rights "New McCarthyism"; Senate Unveils Bipartisan Bill To Ultimately Ban TikTok In The U.S. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 07, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: CNN has learned the Biden administration is considering reinstating the policy of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: It's one of several options administration officials are mulling as they prepare for the end of Title 42. CNN White House reporter Priscilla Alvarez Liz here with more. So, the White House is calling this a rubber. What do you know?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The White House's stance here has been that they are exploring a list of options for when that Trump era COVID restriction known as Title 42 ends in May.

Now what they are considering, according to the administration official, is bringing back detention for migrant families. Now this was a practice that was used in the Obama administration and the Trump administration. But it's significant that President Biden may want to bring this back because he ended it at the start of his administration. So, it marks a pivot by administration officials to consider bringing this back. Now White House press secretary was pressed on this earlier today in the briefing. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'm not saying any -- but I'm not saying it is and I'm not saying it is not. I'm saying that I'm not going to speak to rumors. There are rumors out there. Clearly the Department of Homeland Security is working through ways on how to move forward once Title 42 is lifted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now a Homeland Security spokesperson told me that no decisions have been made yet. But again, there is urgency behind the matter because of Title 42 ending in May, that is what has allowed border authorities to turn away certain migrants and when it lifts, they anticipate that more migrants may try to cross the U.S./Mexico border.

[15:35:00]

Now allies and advocates have slammed this decision, or at least considering making a decision on this, calling it disgraceful saying that it is a grave mistake.

So this is again a moment in which the Biden administration is at odds with its allies over border policy as they try to navigate the reality on the ground, which is they still are facing a high number of border crossings and they're being slammed by Republicans on the issues. So the White House here having to consider bringing back something that they set aside before.

BLACKWELL: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

Fox personality Tucker Carlson is facing bipartisan blowback for pedaling new falsehoods about the January 6th Capitol riot. His latest attempt to sanitize the violent attack follows House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's decision to give him access to more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage from that day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, FOX NEWS (voice-over): The crowd was enormous. A small percentage of them were hooligans, they committed vandalism. You've seen their pictures again and again. But the overwhelming majority weren't. They were peaceful, they were orderly and meek. These were not insurrectionists. They were sight seers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: The U.S. Capitol Police chief slammed Carlson, writing that he cherry picked to present offensive and misleading conclusions. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It was a mistake in my view for Fox News to depict this in a way that's completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Manu Raju joins us now. So, Manu, what is the reaction from those on Capitol Hill who were there and lived through that violent day.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're pushing back at the narrative of trying to whitewash exactly what happened there. Mitch McConnell not going as far as saying that Kevin McCarthy made a mistake in allowing Tucker Carlson access to the video footage. I asked directly did the Speaker make a mistake? He said Fox News made a mistake in how this was depicted.

But other Republican lawmakers say it was a mistake in fact to give Carlson this footage given that he has a history of down playing this attack. Saying all media sources and the whole public should have access to whole swath of the more than 40,000 hours of security footage. And others criticized Carlson and Fox News for down playing the significance of the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I think, particularly when you come into the chambers, when you start opening members' desks, when you stand up in their balcony, to somehow put that in the same category as a, you know, permitted peaceful protest is just a lie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's bull shit.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): There were a lot of people in the Capitol at the time, who I think were scared for their lives. So you can feel how you want to describe it but it was an attack on the Capitol.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I thought it was an insurrection at that time I still think it's an insurrection today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: And that last remark from Senator Mike Rounds in response to Carlson saying last night that the footage shows it was not an insurrection. And one of the Republican Senators, Mitt Romney, told me that it's, quote, dangerous and disgusting to provide this footage to Carlson. He said that it was a mistake to just give it to him. It should be given to all media sources because others could be encouraged also to act in if they believe it was not as serious as it actually was.

We still have not heard yet from the Speaker himself about the decision. Last week he down played giving it to Carlson saying he plans to give it to all media outlets and he doesn't care about an individual's point of view on this particular subject matter. McCarthy said he would answer questions later tonight so we'll see what he has to say about Carlson's depiction of the events -- guys.

BLACKWELL: Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thank you, Manu.

Congresswoman Judy Chu says there is a new McCarthyism on Capitol Hill right now after a Republican colleague questioned her loyalty to America over China. She joins us next.

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GOLODRYGA: A Democratic Congresswoman said she is the target of what she calls the rights new McCarthyism after a Republican Congressman questioned her loyalty and confidence. Judy Chu is the first Chinese American elected to Congress.

BLACKWELL: During a recent Fox News interview Texas Congressman Lance Gooden suggested that Chu should be invested by the FBI and barred from accessing sensitive classified materials over her defense of Dominic Ng. Chu was part of a joint letter defending Biden's appointment of Ng to lead the U.S. trade interest in Asia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LANCE GOODEN (R-TX): I think everyone that's standing up for Chinese Communist Parties should be looked into. Yes, I question her either loyalty or competence if she doesn't realize what's going on. Then she's out of touch with one of her core constituencies. And I'm really disappointed and shocked that someone like Judy Chu would have a security clearance and be entitled to confidential intelligence briefings until this is figured out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Congresswoman Judy Chu joins us now. She's a Democrat from California and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and chair of the Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucus. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. We don't have to go through your bio. Voters elected you.

[15:45:00]

You are an American born to Chinese parents and immigrants. But that aside I'm just curious to get your reaction when you initially heard those comments and those words from Congressman Gooden.

REP. JUDY CHU (D-CA): I was outraged. I was disgusted. I was angry. Most of all because it was so racist. This accusation was based on long-held stereotypes in this country that Chinese Americans and Asian Americans are forever foreigners in their own land no matter if they've been here four generations or if they are like me, I was born in Los Angeles. My father fought for the U.S. as a World War II veteran. I graduated from UCLA, taught psychology in the community college for 20 years. And I served in elected office for 37 years going from the city council to Congress.

And this country is the only country I know. And yet, still, Lance Gooden would consider me a foreigner in my own land. That's unacceptable.

BLACKWELL: You wrote this op-ed and we reached out to Congressman Gooden's office to some response to that.

And he said: No one has questioned Representative Judy Chu's loyalty or competence based on heritage that's her own fabricated narrative to distract from her ties to Chinese Communist Party front groups that she glosses over and refuses to truthfully acknowledge.

And then they sent us a link to a picture of you holding a certificate that says there's a logo that looks like it's similar to a logo of some other organization. I mean, the -- there seems to be no connection to what he's talking about here. I wonder what is the impact beyond you, though? What do you think this means beyond Lance Gooden, Judy Chu?

CHU: Well, they are trying to dig up false information and then make implications for things that did not occur. And so, they have these links, these very, very spurious links with -- like, for instance, this picture. What does this picture prove? Nothing. But for them, it's absolute proof. Actually, I could ask them, have they ever heard any public speech that I made that supports what they are charging me with?

You could examine my 37 years as an elected official and you will not find a single speech of that sort. And so, this is coming from a man who -- he's questioning my loyalty but he is a man who supported the January 6th insurrection, where Mike Pence our vice president could have been killed, in order to overturn this election. How loyal is that to America?

GOLODRYGA: How important was it for you to see members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, both Democrats and Republicans, come to your defense, including those that sit on the new House Select Committee on China, and even its chair, Republican Mike Gallagher, said we should not question anyone's loyalty to the United States, this is out of bounds. It's beyond the pail.

CHU: Well, it was so gratifying to see immediate support, and immediately the Congressional Black Caucus, the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the American Jewish Council all issued statements saying that this was outrageous and condemning these accusations.

It's that kind of ally-ship that we need -- that Japanese Americans did not have during World War II. Now remember that 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, they targeted the leaders first. And then they isolated those leaders from the rest of the Japanese American community. And this was all based on accusations of espionage amongst Japanese Americans. Well, they lost everything that they had, but as it turned out now, there's never been a single case of espionage proven.

GOLODRYGA: We never want to see that history repeated. That's for sure. Congresswoman Judy Chu thanks so much for your time.

BLACKWELL: The U.S. government's pressure on TikTok is mounting. Now there is a bipartisan Senate bill that would grant the president full authority to ban that app. That's next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: On Capitol Hill, Senators Mark Warner and John Thune have just unveiled a new bipartisan measure that would expand President Biden's authority to mitigate foreign technologies such as TikTok even possibly enacting a ban on them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): So instead of playing whack a mole, will they one day, CT you the next, Kaspersky, Tik-Tok, we need a more comprehensive approach to evaluating and mitigating these threats posed by these foreign technologies from these adversarial nations.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): It's safe to assume that if the CCP is willing to lie about its spy balloon and cover up the origins of the worst pandemic in 100 years, they'll lie about using TikTok to spy on American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Brian Fung is following this story for us today. So, lots of fans of TikTok, what could this mean for them?

[15:55:00]

BRIAN FUNG, CNN REPORTER: Well, as you said, this could absolutely lead to a ban of TikTok, Victor and Bianna. This legislation doesn't just cover social media. It gives broad powers to the Commerce Department to scrutinize, you know, tech platforms and websites of all kinds. Businesses in A.I. and quantum computing and financial technology services in e-commerce. It's a really, you know, wide- ranging bill that gives the U.S. government broad discretion and latitude to determine, you know, what companies may pose security risks through foreign spying.

And for the U.S. government to take action against them with tools up to and including a ban. This could be a bill that, you know -- there have been many proposals to ban TikTok, but really the amount of bipartisan support we've been seeing for this bill, the White House just came out endorsing it, makes it really feel like this is a proposal that has legs -- guys.

GOLODRYGA: All right, we'll continue to follow the story. Brian Fung, thank you as always.

"THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right after this short break.

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