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CNN This Morning

Ohio Votes On Ballot Measure That Threatens Abortion Rights; Ex-Georgia Lt. Governor Subpoenaed In Fulton County Case; Trump Legal Team Singles Cut Biden's "Dark Brandon" Tweet. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 08, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- his attorneys accusing prosecutors of trying to restrict Trump's First Amendment rights.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As his rhetoric becomes more inflammatory against the judge, we are now learning that she is getting more security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Words matter. You have to protect the dignity of the process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the judge is going to keep him on a very short leash with this stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources tell CNN House Republicans laying the groundwork for an impeachment inquiry into President Biden this fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you move to an impeachment inquiry, it empowers Congress to be able to get the answers they need.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American people want to know the truth, and that's what our committee has been doing.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA): This is frivolous. This is a diversionary tactic. Bring it on. Just bring it on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ukraine's intelligence services foiled a Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskyy using an informant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ukraine now claiming Russia has fired nearly a half-a-million shots at Ukraine's forces in the past seven days. Western officials are telling CNN they are getting increasingly sobering updates on Ukraine's counteroffensive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arrest warrants have been issued in this massive brawl in Montgomery on a boat dock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many questions remain about the melee that appeared to be very much split across racial lines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was just doing his job, and for some reason they didn't like it. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's an unfortunate incident. It's something

that shouldn't have happened. And it's something that we are investigating right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Top of the hour. We're so glad you're with us. Victor Blackwell here with us all week. Good morning.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

HARLOW: A lot to get to, especially that video that everyone is talking about.

BLACKWELL: It's unbelievable. And it's creating memes across the Internet. So we will get into that.

HARLOW: They're investigating.

But we start with really severe weather this morning. Many communities on the east coast bracing for more storms after a powerful system ravaged the region on Monday, killing at least two people, leaving hundreds of thousands in the dark.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God!

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HARLOW: Wind gusts up to 75 miles an hour snapped this tree in half in North Carolina. And Indiana residents are waking to the debris left behind after a tornado touched down there.

BLACKWELL: Look at this. In Maryland, police say that these downed electrical poles left 47 people trapped in their cars until the power lines could be de-energized. Good news here, no injuries reported. On central Pennsylvania, a lightning strike caused this workshop to burn to the ground.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us live from Reagan National Airport. And of course, these storms are having an impact on travel. Talk to us about the airlines.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're seeing the impact, Victor, the spillover into today. A lot of folks impacted by these cancellations and delays. Yesterday, 10,000 flights impacted. No doubt a lot of folks trying to get on flights again today after they were bumped yesterday.

The big numbers are 1,700 cancellations just yesterday. That means that that is the top five, in the top five for cancellations since Memorial Day. We are already seeing cancellations piled up today. I just checked FlightAware. We've seen about 300 cancellations so far today. But the really big number from yesterday are the delays -- 8,800 flights delayed. That is a third of all flights scheduled in the U.S. delayed yesterday, averaging about an hour and ten minutes late to their destination. So a lot of misery for a lot of people as they tried to get out on flights on the east coast.

The worst airports, Atlanta, Charlotte, Reagan National, LaGuardia, and Newark. Those are some really big hubs. Atlanta, the single biggest hub for Delta Airlines, the busiest airport in the world, and it is apologizing to customers after it delayed about 1,300 flights yesterday, a third of all of its flights scheduled. It says it's working to get it's schedule back on track. But here is the warning from the FAA. We could see ground stops as the day goes on in places like Florida and Orlando and Fort Lauderdale and Miami and in New England at big airports like Boston. So we are not totally out of the words just yet, Victor.

HARLOW: Pete, thank you, appreciate it. Wishing people smooth on-time flights. It's been a rocky few days.

BLACKWELL: Yes, if they can get them.

We're keeping a close watch on Fulton County, Georgia, where there are new signs that indictments could be coming in the alleged scheme by former President Trump and his allies to overturn the election. We are now learning the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, Geoff Duncan, has been subpoenaed to testify to the grand jury in the case. Here is what he told our Wolf Blitzer.

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GEOFF DUNCAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I'll be there to answer the facts as I know them and to continue this process of trying to discover what actually happened during that post-election period of time. Certainly, we can never repeat that as a country. Certainly, I never want to see that happen in Georgia. A lot of good people's lives were uprooted. A lot of people's reputations have been soiled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00]

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia is live outside the Fulton County courthouse. Nick, the D.A. there, Fani Willis, said that the work was accomplished, they are ready to go. So why subpoenas now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that Duncan was testifying or had to testify in front of the special purpose grand jury, and now the Fulton County grand jury wants to hear from him. It's perhaps just the latest indication that this sprawling investigation is wrapping up.

And while lieutenant governor, the Republican, Geoff Duncan, who has been a harsh critic of President Trump, he was the president of Georgia state Senate. It's the same state senate where former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani appeared in front of three times to spread conspiracy theories and election interference lies. Previously Duncan has said that those were unofficial, that he did not sanction them. He has even gone so far as to call them an embarrassment.

So now he is one of three people who have been subpoenaed by the Fulton County grand jury, the other being former state Democratic senator Jen Jorden who appeared at those meetings where Giuliani made his presentations. The third is Atlanta independent journalist George Chidi who back in 2020 stumbled into the room where fake electors were having their meeting. In an interview with me last week he says he believes they were trying to conceal something from him when they told him it was an education meeting. In his words, they frog-marched him out of the room. So these three subpoenas along with the dramatic increase in security around the Fulton County courthouse, perhaps the strongest indications yet that this sprawling investigation, which has been going on more than a year, is perhaps close to an end. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia for us there outside the courthouse, thank you.

HARLOW: Yes, Nick, thanks.

Behind the scenes on Capitol Hill, many House Republicans are privately saying it's a foregone conclusion that President Biden will face an impeachment inquiry this fall. That's according to really fascinating reporting from our own Manu Raju that Speaker McCarthy has been insistent to reporters a decision has not been made yet to open a formal inquiry and evidence is still being gathered. Here is what he said last night on FOX.

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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: I raised it on this show not long ago that because the actions of the Biden administration withholding information, that that would rise to the level where we need impeachment inquiry to give the strength of the Congress to get the information that we need to give to the American public and follow through on our constitutional authority. That is exactly what we're doing, and that's exactly what we will continue to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Manu Raju live on Capitol Hill. Manu, what's your reporting on this? Walk us through it.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, the Republicans in the House have been investigating the Biden family really since the beginning of this Congress. But now is the time, according to a number of Republicans that we have spoken to, that they believe an impeachment inquiry will be launched in the fall. The speaker has not officially said that or made an official decision yet, but all signs are pointing to that as Republicans are trying to make the case that Joe Biden as vice president engaged in a pay it to play scheme with his son Hunter Biden in Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings.

Now, they have not had evidence yet to prove that very provocative claim, but they have turned up evidence showing that Hunter Biden tried to use his dad as leverage as part of his business efforts. There was testimony last week from a former Hunter Biden business associate that said that Joe Biden was on the phone some 20 times as speaker -- on the speakerphone when Hunter Biden was meeting with those foreign associates.

Now, there was no business discussed at those meetings, and the Republicans don't yet have evidence to show that Joe Biden profited or acted in any official capacity to help Hunter Biden in those business dealings. But they are saying an impeachment inquiry could help them gather that evidence because it would strengthen their oversight posture, especially if they are in court trying to get some key records.

James Comer, who is the Oversight chairman who has been leading this investigation indicated over the weekend us in Kentucky that more bank records would be part of this committee's focus, and they plan to release that to detail Hunter Biden's business dealings in the weeks ahead.

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REP. JIM COMER, (R-KY) HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: This next week we will release more bank records. We will do our third bank memo where we show some interesting wire transfers and suspicious bank activity that I think the American people will have a lot of questions about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, the political calendar also dictating this as well. Republicans indicating that if they do not move forward with an impeachment inquiry after all this investigation, it will essentially clear Joe Biden, potentially boost him politically, which is the reason why many expect that official probe to begin this fall. Democrats believe this is all an effort to try to hurt Joe Biden politically. They say there is no evidence to back up any of their most salacious claims here. The White House calling this a partisan political stunt. But that is the battle line that is being drawn right now as Republicans making clear what their intentions are in the months ahead.

BLACKWELL: It could hurt some Republicans politically, those who have been elected in districts that Biden won. The conference is more than the Freedom Caucus. Does McCarthy have the votes to move forward with this?

[08:10:08]

RAJU: Yes, that is going to be the real challenge here, because there are those 18 House Republicans from districts that Joe Biden carried, and there is only a majority in which Kevin McCarthy can lose no mar than four Republican votes on any party line votes. So therein lies the challenge here.

But in talking to some of those members in those swing districts, they are not sold yet that an impeachment inquiry is necessary. Don Bacon, who represents one of those swing districts from Nebraska, told me he supports the current ongoing probes, not an official inquiry, impeachment inquiry yet, given how high a bar it is to impeach someone, charging them with high crimes or misdemeanors. If Joe Biden ask faced with that, that would be just the fourth time a president has faced that in history. Donald Trump, of course, was impeached twice. So it is a very significant bar. Members are not quite ready to go there just yet. But if an official inquiry is launched, the exception among House Republicans that they will eventually go to vote on articles of impeachment, because as one House Republican told us, once you let the horses out of the barn, it's hard to get the horses back in the barn, especially on something as significant as this.

HARLOW: No question. Manu, thanks very much.

BLACKWELL: Right now, the polls are open in Ohio. Voters will decide whether they can still amend the state's constitution with a simple majority vote. The Republican statehouse wants to change that by requiring amendments to get 60 percent of the vote instead of 50 percent plus one. It's been a simple majority for more than a century. So why is this on the ballot now? One reason is access to abortion. It's not on the ballot today, but it will be in November. And it raises the threshold. That would make it harder to pass an abortion rights amendment. CNN's Daniel Strauss is covering this one for us. So you have a piece on this on CNN.com. You write, "This vote puts Ohio at the center of the abortion rights debate." Although technically, it is not on the ballot, explain what we are watching today and the perspectives on this vote.

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, first, we are watching various interest groups. We want to see the turnout among women, you want to see the turnout among suburban voters. And we want to see, of course, the turnout among both registered Republicans and Democrats. And again, the question here is, on the surface, how much of this to Ohio voters is about abortion?

The opposition, the organizations opposing keeping the threshold where it is now are a mixture of groups. It's the NRA. It is abortion -- or anti-abortion activists. It is police organizations. But at the same time, the premise for this, the real trigger for this vote is that the looming vote in November over adding abortion protections to the state constitution. And we are going to see in both exit polls and interviews today how much of that was on voters' minds.

HARLOW: Does this thing pass so it makes it harder to change the state constitution? What do you think?

STRAUSS: Well, first, I want to premise that I'm terrible at predictions. And as a reporter, that's not my specialty. But I'm hearing from the activists, the pro-choice activists, that they are very optimistic about today, and that their opponents are starting to pivot towards November and that November vote.

HARLOW: Yes, when they would take up the abortion issue as a ballot measure. Thanks, Daniel, for the reporting. Sorry to put you on the spot. Appreciate it.

STRAUSS: You're all good. BLACKWELL: Joining us now, Ashley Allison, CNN political commentator,

former White House senior policy adviser under President Obama, Joe Pinion, a Republican strategist, and Elie Honig is back with us as well. Joe, let's start here in Ohio. If the line was from Republicans after Dobbs, send it back to the states, let states decide, why not let states decide under the rules as they were? It seems that if this isn't a framework of abortion rights going into November, changing the rules, changing the threshold would defy that?

JOSEPH PINION III, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, I think it's consistent with it, but at the same time, I do think that it also does call into question a little bit of gamesmanship. Are you trying to change the rules midstream? So certainly, the state legislatures, the voters of that state do have the right to make those types of decisions. The issue is that why are you changing it now after 100 years? I would argue that perhaps the issue is as politics becomes more contentious, that we should make it at least a little bit more than 50 plus one for us to be going back and forth on this seesaw depending what the kind of -- the trends are of the day. So look, I think I could see it both ways, but certainly I think, again, it is fair to question the timing of why the decision --

HARLOW: Of why Republicans -- I mean, because let me read what the Republican secretary of state Frank LaRose said, who is running for U.S. Senate, by the way. He said, issue number one, quote, is "100 percent about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our Constitution. How huge is this? We'll see what happens in Ohio.

[08:15:00]

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

HARLOW: But as it pertains to nationally, other States looking to Ohio on this?

ALLISON: Well, Ohio is my home State.

HARLOW: Yes.

ALLISON: I'm from it and my beloved State. You know, Ohio has often been ground zero for voting rights. I think what's interesting is that this is a special election. Back in January, the State legislature said they didn't want special elections in August, because turnout was so low. And it really didn't showcase the will of the people.

So, to do this in August, and then, actually have the issue come out.

HARLOW: When there's no candidates on the --

ALLISON: Exactly. I mean, think about how hard it is to organize to get people out. I was just back in Ohio, it's not like when you see a normal campaign, and you see yard signs and commercials all over the air. This is really people having to pay attention to what's going on in their local politics. And I think this can be a tactic that's used in other States across the country to say like we can do special elections, to get ballot initiatives to go one way or the other. So, I'm interested to see what is going to happen. I saw my mom put her special early vote and vote by mail ballot in. And I know that a lot of grassroots organizers have done the work, but it will be interesting to see the outcome.

PINION: I think also, I mean, to that point, right? We see this from all parties, right? I mean, right now, in the State of New York, we've got the State legislature, basically trying to redraw the lines in between the actual 10-year period based off of, you know, some bizarre notion.

So, I think we should just get some basic ground rules. Are we against people trying to gerrymander voters and allow politicians to pick who votes for them? Are we against people trying to game the system to achieve an outcome through a legislative process that they want on their own terms? Yes or no, let's draw that line the sign and put the politics of it.

HARLOW: We're going to move on Trump. I just say think that what's happening in New York and the redrawing is because of what a court said, we'll send it back to them.

PINION: Well, I mean, that'd be the -- it's a little bit more complex but --

HARLOW: It's a very complex to qualify.

ALLISON: Yes.

PINION: Long --

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Of course, we're seeing, I think, increasingly with voting rights issues, with the abortion issue is. We're so focused, you're taught through school, it's Congress, you at the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives. But so much of the real action happens in the State Houses.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn to Trump and specifically the former Lieutenant Governor in Georgia.

HONIG: Yes.

BLACKWELL: What does he offer now, considering what we heard from the D.A. there? Works done, it's accomplished, we're ready to go.

HONIG: Yes.

BLACKWELL: What does he offer at this point?

HONIG: It's a good question. I texted him, he wouldn't say anything more than he said on there.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HONIG: Look, he was the Lieutenant Governor in Georgia when these efforts to steal the 2020 election was happening. It's important to know, in that capacity, he presided over the State Senate and that was the locus for some of what's being investigated here. Rudy Giuliani went in front of the Georgia State Senate and made a string of unequivocally false statements.

There is no debate, he claimed made wild accusations of voter fraud. Rudy Giuliani, we know, has been sent a target letter by the Fulton County D.A. So, speculating a bit here, but it's consistent with what Geoff Duncan has said publicly and where the Fulton County D.A. has been looking.

HARLOW: So, there's this video. Do we have it? Are we able to show it? President Biden with the mug and there you see it.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Dark Brandon mug.

HARLOW: Victor understands this better. You go.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So, this is apparently his alter ego, his born out of what was supposed to be this derogatory chat. Let's go Brandon, and then he, his campaign has adapted this, and they sell it with merchandising. The Trump lawyers in the decision over how much control will be placed over in this protective order fight, over the January 6. Investigation say that is a thinly veiled reference to the indictment. And that is I guess it's happening on both sides when the Special Counsel reference, if you go after me, I'm coming after you.

HARLOW: You know, Elie never looks confused.

HONIG: No. I am.

HARLOW: And you look genuinely confused this morning.

HONIG: I do look confused because that's it -- that feels like a stretch to me.

BLACKWELL: But that's to the question --

HONIG: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- more than is it there. This judge is going to get tired of it.

HONIG: Yes. I mean, it's also irrelevant to the legal issue if Joe Biden saying nicer mean things often. He's not a party to this lawsuit. The question is whether Donald Trump who is a party to this lawsuit and let's remember has absolutely a First Amendment, right? To speak about his case, to campaign that's legitimate. But he's the one whose conduct. The concern is could potentially influence witnesses or a jury. Joe Biden's conduct is a sideshow, it doesn't matter.

ALLISON: Oh, look, I love every time Dark Brandon comes out. It's hilarious. It often is a zinger when something goes wrong on the Republican side, but I agree with Elie, it's a stretch. Trump should just focus on not being on social media doing very direct threats to judges, to potential witnesses. And, you know, I love it. I think it's great, and I think the campaign is right on mark when they do it. [08:20:07]

PINION: Oh, look, I think it is reasonable. Again, protective orders, pretty common. I think it is reasonable to ask the question, or have it proposed to the Trump defense team, that certain materials cannot be disclosed. They have that in writing certainly. We know that President Trump, the ink was not dry on the settlement that he had for the alleged a sexual assault. And all of a sudden, he was still continuing with the same type of rhetoric.

So, I think that is reasonable. I think, Republicans would push back on and say is unreasonable, is saying that a kind of one word sentence, all of a sudden is equitable, to saying that there is a threat to witnesses or a threat to the judges. I think that's where people say, you got to really want it to look at that sentence and try to make that influence.

ALLISON: Just to be clear, though, like, this is the Democrats flipping a joke that they tried to put on Joe Biden that like --

PINION: Oh, no. I'm not making it. I'm not evoking Dark Brandon as--

(CROSSTALK)

ALLISON: They created the Dark Brandon as a -- you know?

PINION: -- some type of legal issue.

ALLISON: So, you know, you guys, keep it up.

BLACKWELL: Well, we did that this morning.

HARLOW: Here it is.

BLACKWELL: Dark Brandon. All right, Thank you, Ashley and Joe and Elie.

HARLOW: Thousands of public city workers are striking in Los Angeles today. We're going to tell you what they're calling for and how long this strike might last.

BLACKWELL: And a mother is suing Southwest Airlines for racial discrimination. She says she was accused of human trafficking when travelling with her biracial child. That mother joins us next.

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HARLOW: So, a mother is suing Southwest Airlines for racial discrimination. She says she was accused of human trafficking when flying with her biracial child. Her name was Mary MacCarthy, who was white. She travelled from California to Denver with her daughter, who is biracial, to attend her brother's funeral in October of 2021.

This is according to a new lawsuit filed this week and here's what the suit alleges, quote, "While they were in the air, a Southwest employee called the Denver Police Department to report Miss MacCarthy for suspected child trafficking for no reason other than the different color of her daughter's skin from her own."

Now according to this lawsuit, as MacCarthy and her daughter were walking on the jet bridge, and this is video of that, by the way, they were confronted by Denver Police officers. After significant questioning MacCarthy was eventually allowed to leave by the officers, quote, "And this is in the lawsuit but not before this display of blatant racism by Southwest Airlines caused Ms. MacCarthy and her daughter extreme and emotional distress."

I appreciate her being with us. I just want to show you first, though part of this recorded interaction that she had when they got off the plane with a Southwest official and Denver Police Officers, here it is.

[08:25:03]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The flight attendants were just concerned about the behavior when you boarded the aircraft but that's all we're following up on. We're not -- we're not suspecting anything. That's all we need to know, that I mean, you guys are good. I do apologize.

MARY MACCARTHY, SUING SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION: It is not -- it's not because I have a daughter who has already unfortunately been traumatized by the police in her life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm not intended to do that by any stretch of the means.

MACCARTHY: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, that he's business and OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: At the time, Southwest said they were, quote, "Disheartened by her account of the events adding in part, we are conducting a review of the situation internally. Our employees undergo robust training on human trafficking. Above all, Southwest Airlines prides itself on providing a welcoming and inclusive environment."

We did, of course, reach out to a Southwest spokesperson, again, given this litigation, they had no comment. Mary MacCarthy, the mother, joins us now. Good morning. I appreciate you being with us. Why did you file a suit? What do you want?

MACCARTHY: When I initially spoke out about this back in October of 2021, the reason I went public with it, which, you know, takes a certain risk. You know, in the meantime, my daughter and I, our names have been dragged through the mud, we've received a lot of backlashed.

But it was really because this is an opportunity for me to speak out against racial profiling. If one less family, one less child can go through an experience with the airlines or elsewhere in life and not be racially profiled to me, it's worth speaking out, it's all about -- HARLOW: Yes.

MACCARTHY: -- the crux of the matter, which is in 2021 now, 2023. No corporation should be able to get away with this kind of behavior.

HARLOW: I read through the lawsuit that you're seeking unspecified damages, and you want an apology from the airline, and you want mandatory training to change. What's the ultimate goal here? What do you hope at the end of these changes for other people?

MACCARTHY: So, I hear, you know, on a regular basis from other parents who go through this. Families like mine that are mixed race for a number of reasons, whether it's their biological children happened to look a little bit different from them in terms of skin color, lots of families who have adopted children.

And this is happening quite regularly, more often, I'd say, to fathers than to mothers, where they are sometimes pulled off of flights or very aggressively questioned. Sometimes even separated and detained the parents and the children, simply due to largely a difference in skin color. This is racial profiling has no place in the United States of today.

And that's what I'm speaking out against the airlines are teaching their staff to look out for human trafficking, child trafficking on airlines. But clearly that training is failing, if they're not as part of that training, also warning them to look out for their own behavior and racial profiling.

And by the way, child trafficking and human trafficking is not an epidemic on commercial flights that's, you know, like a moral panic. Trafficking isn't something that we have to worry about on commercial flights too much. So, how about focus on reducing racism more than on somebody's kind of boogeyman type of moral panics that they've got all worried about.

HARLOW: I did read a statistic that you're correct that most of the human trafficking does not happen on airlines, but it was pointed to in one study around 38 percent. I do want to read to you what the International Air Transportation Association set in terms of their guidelines for combating human trafficking.

And they say, "Cabin crew are in a unique position to notify law enforcement, because they quote travel with passenger sometimes for many hours, they can spot the smallest signals and behaviors." But they also go on to say that, you know, you need to defer to another person, not to speak for them. My question to you is, do you think it could have been an honest mistake by one person?

MACCARTHY: Honest mistakes happen. I'm deeply sympathetic to anyone doing their job. I'm not only a mother to a biracial child, but I've always been a single mother. So, I'm very careful when I travel that I always take documentation. I carry her birth certificate. I'm prepared to show my I.D. and her birth certificate at TSA.

They have the right to ask me any questions. They can ask me questions about race because frankly, that's a physical difference, it's the reality. But there's a big difference between TSA doing the screening that they're -- that they're doing as part of their job and a flight attendant, not even taking the time to ask me a question.

HARLOW: Yes.

MACCARTHY: Find out if we have the same last name, the basic due diligence before they call the police. You can see in the body cam footage that they lie about numerous things. The Southwest attendance is heard on the body cam footage, repeatedly lying about why I was travelling, saying that I lied about the fact that I was travelling to a funeral.

Like that's appalling behavior towards one of your customers on any level. And I feel like the public should know that this is how they are treating and talking about their customers. And I want to build awareness around all of that.

HARLOW: And as I understand, you said you travel with the birth certificate of your daughter, and you were not even asked.

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