Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Biden to Defend Democracy in Normandy Address; Former Capitol Police Booed by Republicans in PA State House; Heat Dome Shatters Records, Expands North and East. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired June 07, 2024 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, June 7. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, President Biden about to address the world from the hallowed shores of Normandy.
[06:01:17]
Plus, they defended the Capitol on January 6, so why were they booed by some Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania?
Record-breaking heat and dangerous storms in central Florida. More severe weather on the way.
And, truly, the end of an era, Pat Sajak's final spin on "Wheel of Fortune" comes later today.
All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this Friday morning. President Biden, of course, not at home today. He's in France.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
When President Biden addresses the world from the shores of Normandy later this morning, he'll be standing where Ronald Reagan stood and echoing what Ronald Reagan called for, a comparison the White House is embracing.
The president's mission today: focus American minds on the urgency of protecting democracy and freedom around the world. He offered a preview of this in his remarks from yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: The fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today. Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The cliffs that Biden will stand on today were captured from the Germans on D-Day by us Army Rangers, men immortalized by Reagan in his address from that spot in 1984. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs.
And before me are the man who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: "The boys of Pointe du Hoc," he says [SIC]. A senior administration official telling CNN, quote, "There's no way there's not going to be comparisons to Reagan's speech 40 years ago."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAGAN: We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here, ready to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost.
We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, our panel is here. Let's bring in CNN political director David Chalian. Republican strategist Sarah Longwell is here and former White House senior policy adviser Ashley Allison. Good morning to all of you.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HUNT: Laying this out this way really underscores to me just how much, Sarah, the Republican Party has changed since that time, since it was Ronald Reagan and now Joe Biden sounds almost exactly like him as a Democrat in this moment.
I think I've spent some time over the last 24, 36 hours watching these men who were there on D-Day kind of reflecting on what a turning point moment this feels like for the country.
SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, you know, man, watching clips of Ronald Reagan, right?
I was like a Reagan baby. I was born in 1980. He had a tremendous impact on me as I moved into sort of more conservative politics. And he was an inspiration. And watching him today and thinking about how little the Republican Party today looks like the Republican Party that I was interested in becoming part of 20 years ago.
It just -- it's always a little bit of a gut punch still.
And you know, I -- then, in this, like, upside-down world where Joe Biden, he wants to reflect Ronald Reagan. Like, this is on purpose. He is not accidentally sounding like a Republican.
[06:05:07]
He is purposefully trying to echo Ronald Reagan and bring the idea that America's role in the world is extremely important, which is an idea I was raised on and which the Republican Party no longer believes.
CHALIAN: Which is kind of amazing when you think about Joe Biden's history. You know, launching his first presidential run in 1987 as a total opponent to Ronald Reagan and all things Ronald Reagan stood for. That was the Joe Biden then.
And you are right. It is -- it is clearly intentional. You know, I think the White House, when they say the comparisons are inevitable, they want those to be the comparisons on the substance, not necessarily on the oratory or the performance because those comparisons may not perform as well, provided, obviously, Reagan was in a sort of unique tier of a messenger in those -- in that Peggy Noonan speech. She'd only started at the White House a couple of months before then.
But -- but I do think Biden wants to associate himself, clearly, with Reagan's vision of America's role in the world, because it is such -- not only is it like a reach across the aisle, but it is such in complete contrast to Donald Trump, who the White House, I believe, has previewed for us, you know, is not expected to be mentioned, of course, in the president's remarks today but who will be hanging over the contrast on display.
HUNT: Yes. And speaking of the contrast, I want to remind everyone what we heard from former President Trump in the wake of the verdict that came down, the language that he used to describe the United States of America because it stands in very sharp contrast to all of the imagery that we have been seeing come out of France as this 80th anniversary of D-Day has been marked.
Let's watch President Trump talking about America as a fascist state. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're living in a -- in a fascist state. It all comes out of the White House. Crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And then there also was this from Donald Trump last night, his first campaign event since that verdict came down. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And I'm telling you, we are in more danger from the enemy from within with these lunatics, these fascists, these communists. And we're going to stop that also.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Ashley Allison, this is not actually new language, at least not about the people from Donald Trump. The idea that America itself is fascist is a little bit of a further step here.
But I just think it's important to focus in on what these words actually mean in historic context and point out what former President Trump is doing here.
ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SENIOR POLICY ADVISER: Yes, one of the things that Donald Trump and this current Republican Party has done is they appropriate language, and then they re-engineer the definition of words.
And so for Donald Trump to say that this current administration is fascist or -- you didn't say dictator, but to imply that there's a deep state that is kind of controlling and taking on people like him because he's the liberator.
It's contradictory to every factual point that we've seen right now.
HUNT: Let me stop you, actually, because there was also a fundraising email. Unfortunately, I don't -- I'm not -- I don't think I can put it up on -- on the screen. But this went out yesterday as we were covering Biden's speech and the meetings with these D-Day veterans.
It says -- the headline is "Biden's Soviet tactics don't scare me." And then, "It's about restoring power where it belongs to you, the people, and ending the tyrannical Biden regime's reign of terror."
ALLISON: Right. So let -- let's just review some of the language Donald Trump has also said, that he would be the dictator on day one of his presidency.
That he is the one who deployed a mob of folks to try and overturn an election and overturn our democracy on January 6. These are the actions that Donald Trump has done not too far in the past.
And the irony is that Joe Biden is standing on the shore, moralizing D-Day and saying, that's what we actually fought against. That is what -- when you were talking to her about Ronald Reagan and being a Republican, I was like, I think it's actually just Joe Biden and Ronald Reagan being Americans that believe in our Constitution and believed that, at some point, it's not about the difference of policy.
HUNT: Who knew a Democrat would be saying this about Ronald?
ALLISON: I know. I know. Right, right. The final thing, I was just going to say is yesterday, I was watching those clips, too, and I was thinking probably that in every generation, we're seeing people who have lost folks because they are -- they are of an age where they are passing away.
And every generation has to make a choice. Who will we be in the toughest moments? And I think this election is a choice point for us right now. Will we become 80- or 90-years old, God willing that we're the age of some of these soldiers standing on the shores today? Will we be able to actually say we did stand up against tyranny? We did stand up against fascism.
And I think that means not enabling a second Trump term. Not saying not enabling Republicans to win, but not enabling Donald Trump to win this election, because that is actually what he stands for.
HUNT: Yes, and Mitch McConnell wrote in an opinion piece yesterday in "The New York Times" that honestly, David, sounded a lot like Joe Biden.
[06:10:08]
He says, "We forget how influential isolationists persuaded millions of Americans that the fate of allies and partners mattered little to our own security and prosperity. We glossed over the powerful political forces that downplayed the growing danger, resisted providing assistance to allies, and tried to limit America's ability to defend its natural interests. Of course, Americans heard much less from our disgraced isolationists after the attack of Pearl Harbor."
CHALIAN: Yes, and I think what you'll hear from Biden today is this real push against this isolationist trend, not just here in the U.S., but globally, as well.
Obviously, McConnell aligns himself with that. But also supports the candidacy of Donald Trump, who has these isolationist tendencies, you know, pulling back from NATO and the like, which is totally antithetical to what McConnell states is his vision of -- of America's role in the world.
HUNT: Yes, for sure. All right.
We've got to pause here. Millions of Americans coping with dangerous storms and record-breaking heat. We'll have your rough weekend forecast ahead.
Plus two Capitol police officers who put their lives on the line on January 6, booed by Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania.
Plus, the Boston Celtics, drawing first blood in the NBA finals.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:15:52]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back. Former officers who were at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 attack booed by Pennsylvania state lawmakers.
Officer Harry Dunn and Sergeant Aquilino Gonell were both thrust into the spotlight after testifying to the January 6th Committee about their harrowing experiences on that day.
You can see Gonell here in his riot gear while the Capitol was being overrun by rioters.
They both visited the Pennsylvania state house this week, where their introduction caused some Republican state representatives to walk out in protest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are traveling the nation and sharing their stories to raise awareness to the threats of democracy in our nation.
Sgt. Gonell and Officer Dunn, please stand. Welcome to the floor of the House right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. You heard some cheering there. That was apparently from Democrats who were cheering them.
David Chalian, it's -- it's just sort of stunning to me that this is where we are, that these guys, you know, I've repeated -- I mean, I was in the building. I was in the complex that day.
These people protected me and everyone else who was in the building that day. And it's really hard to see them booed.
CHALIAN: Yes. Obviously, what they did that day deserves nothing but the respect of all Americans.
There is this inherent political piece of this, which is why you end up getting a reaction like that. I mean, Harry Dunn himself was just running as a Democratic candidate for Congress, lost the primary. The -- went outside Donald Trump's trial, which got so politicized.
And so what happens is, once you sort of enter the realm of the political arena, all of this, it's like -- and I don't blame them. They -- they have a mission that they're on, and they want to defend democracy and promote that mission.
But once you enter the arena, you invite this kind of reaction, which is totally out of bounds because of what they're there to talk about: their experience on January 6 and how they did try to defend democracy that day. That seems like you should be able to separate that from just pure partisan politics.
But -- but this issue of defending democracy, I mean, look at all the polling around this issue. It, like, evenly splits the country. It's like a high-priority issue for voters. Republicans and Democrats see it from two totally different vantage points.
And so you end up taking these heroes of that day, and -- and now they're sort of mired in the mud of our -- of our toxic politics.
HUNT: I just think it's important to underscore that it's Donald Trump that dragged them in there.
LONGWELL: Yes. They weren't just -- they weren't defending democracy. They were defending the legislators who were at the Capitol that day who had a mob sicced on them.
And this is where Republicans have completely lost the plot. I mean, it is like the Alitos' flag at their house. It is completely upside- down in terms of what -- what -- the Republican Party has decided that it is going to side with the insurrectionists actively.
And you're going to see a lot of signs in here, a lot rhetoric about backing the blue. And that is going to exclude people who backed the blue against insurrections.
And instead, they're going to sing a national anthem to defend the people who attacked the Capitol that day. It's not just politics, like, and this goes back to the conversation were having about Ronald Reagan and Joe Biden.
Right now, these people, this -- these MAGA Republicans, that movement, they don't like America. Donald Trump doesn't like America. One of the characteristics of the Republican Party that I was attracted to is that it thought America was a good place. We did things right here. We would never do something like storm our own Capitol. That's third-world banana republic stuff. And it's not what happens in the United States of America.
And the MAGA movement and Donald Trump has decided to lionize these people to the point where legislators, it is -- in the state house, think that it is OK to boo the people who defended us actively when they show up.
HUNT: Yes, it's -- and your point about America. I mean, it's built into the message of the Trump campaign, right? That America is not great, right? Fundamentally. And it's gotten darker with this -- with this third, I guess, presidential run.
[06:20:00]
OK. President Biden on the record about the possibility of pardoning his son, Hunter. We'll have that next.
And I am really interested to know more about this story. A Texas toddler who almost became lunch for a hungry giraffe. Oh, my goodness.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right, 23 minutes past the hour, five things you've got to see this morning.
Severe storms moving through central Florida Thursday night, collapsing the roof of a 7-Eleven and a gas station just North of Orlando.
Thankfully, officials say no one was injured.
And Montreal police in riot gear deploying tear gas to disperse pro- Palestinian protesters at McGill University. Demonstrators locked themselves inside a campus building, calling for an end to the war in Gaza. [06:25:04]
Wow, SpaceX's mega rocket Starship blasting off successfully in its fourth attempt from Texas on Thursday. Flight-forward booster and rocket, both splashed down in a controlled re-entry about an hour later.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Goes inside! Oh, what a slam!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The Boston Celtics cruising to a dominant 107-89 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in game one of the NBA finals. Jaylen Brown leading the way for the Celtics with 22 points.
Game two scheduled for Sunday night in Boston.
Then there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, look! Oh -- hey!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Oh, my God. A two-year-old Texas girl lifted straight out of her family's truck while feeding a hungry giraffe at a drive-thru safari.
That's a thing?
The giraffe quickly dropped the child back into the arms of her mom. Apparently, everyone is OK.
The Fossil Room Wildlife Center says it will no longer allow guests to ride through the park in truck beds. Wait, do we have the wide shot of this? Because the wide shot is like totally crazy. OK. Maybe we'll find it in a minute.
In the meantime, time for weather. Oppressive heat over California and Nevada expanding North and East this morning after shattering records across several states. Our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, joins us now.
Allison, good morning.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Yes. And even though it's expanding, it's also not really going away for a lot of the places that have been dealing with the heat this week.
Here you can see where that heat dome has really kind of set up, and it's still really focused over much of the Southwest. That's where you still have a lot of these excessive heat alerts. That includes Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, even around the Albuquerque area, looking at those heat advisories and excessive heat warnings.
Now we will get a little bit of a reprieve as we go into the weekend, meaning the temperatures will come back down. But they're still going to be above average.
Take, for example, Palm Springs: 107 today, down to 10 to Sunday. So coming back down, but their averages is 101.
Phoenix, Las Vegas, look at that: 109 on Friday, down to 104 on Sunday. But normally, they'd still be about 97.
So here's the thing. We will see those temperatures coming back down, still going to be above average. But it's also only going to be a temporary reprieve.
Look at Phoenix, for example, going from 110 down to 105, but then right back up to the 110, 111 as we get get into the rest of the week. That average, again, keep in mind only about 102.
Las Vegas, pretty much the same thing seeing triple digit temperatures for every single one of the next seven days, even though their average is only 97.
HUNT: Yikes. All right. Allison Chinchar for us.
Allison, thanks very much. Have a great weekend.
All right. Coming up next here, the NBA commissioner weighing in on the not-so-warm welcome Caitlin Clark's been receiving in the WNBA.
Plus, what does comedian Jimmy Fallon think of Trump's criteria for a running mate?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW": They're vetting a shortlist of candidates. Yes, you've got to appreciate the irony of a convicted felon running a background check.
My question is, what could they possibly dig up that would be a red flag for Trump? It's like, this person only committed arson, not a deal breaker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
