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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Vote On 1/6 Commission Delayed By Senate GOP Stall Tactic; Kremlin Aids Belarus After It Forces Commercial Jet To Land; Tens Of Thousands Flee Goma As Threat Of Another Volcanic Eruption Looms. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 28, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:16]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett. It's 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.

A key vote on the commission to investigate the U.S. Capitol riot delayed for a reason that will floor you. After more than 14 hours of debate, Republican senators delayed passing a huge bill to increase U.S. competitiveness with China. Now remember, this China bill is bipartisan. No question it will pass.

So why the delay here? Well, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson hinted he wants a border security issue addressed. He says he's prepared to delay the process as long as possible.

Now, Republicans just threw in the towel just before 3:00 a.m. The delay means a key vote on creating this panel to investigate the insurrection had to be pushed back until later today.

All right, it's time for three questions in three minutes. Let's bring in CNN political analyst Karoun Demirjian. She covers national security issues on Capitol Hill for "The Washington Post." So great to see you this morning. Appreciate you getting up.

So, in my mind, this is just dysfunction in Washington at its finest. Even after the mother of this fallen Capitol Hill police officer, Brian Sicknick -- she goes up to Capitol Hill. She's wearing a necklace with his ashes and Republicans will not support this investigation.

You cover Capitol Hill every day. I am no longer in Washington. So explain to me how it is politically possible that only three Republicans are saying they're going to vote for this.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right, Laura. I mean, look, we're in a situation here where the party has swung so much from the criticism of Trump that you heard coming in from leaders right after the riot to where we are now where they're just trying to get away from this as fast as possible in the Senate. And it's that much more grand when you compare it to the fact that 35 House Republicans did support the bill.

You had Officer Sicknick's mother and long-term partner and friend on the Hill yesterday trying to push these GOP senators. You had Susan Collins running around all week trying to find a proposal that would make the changes to address the concerns that they had -- that they were voicing, at least -- with the bill as it stood. And still, it looks like -- unless there's secret votes someplace -- that it's going to fall short of the 10 that they need.

And so this is kind of classic chaos at the last minute in the Senate right before a holiday week and we're seeing it play out in one of these all-night jumbles where they haven't even yet to get to the question of the January six commission, much less get past that first hurdle, which doesn't seem very likely right now.

JARRETT: If there were secret votes I think you would know that -- that is for sure.

So, also last night, the former House speaker, Paul Ryan -- he called for the GOP to move beyond Donald Trump, yet he didn't call out Trump by name. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Twenty-twenty left Republicans powerless in Washington. Even worse, it was horrifying to see a presidency come to such a dishonorable and disgraceful end.

So, once again, we conservatives find ourselves at a crossroads and here's the reality that we have to face. If the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal of one personality or of second-rate imitations, then we're not going anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: OK, Karoun, first off, where's he been, OK? It is almost June --

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

JARRETT: -- and he is just now saying this. He's just now decided to take a stand.

By the way, he also sits on the board of Fox, while Fox News has never been shy about giving a platform to the Big Lie and other conspiracy theories.

Just -- he's talking about a crossroads, clearly trying to appeal to this idealized notion if you will of Reaganite Republicanism. But it's not out of some moral responsibility. He admits it's because he's afraid Republicans -- if they continue to go down this path they're going to lose future elections.

[05:35:00]

But it seems to me -- DEMIRJIAN: Well, I --

JARRETT: It seems to me that the sort of conventional thinking on this is that there's the Reaganite Republicans, there's the Paul Ryans of the world, there's the Mitt Romneys, and then we have the Marjorie Taylor Greenes. But the Paul Ryans set the stage for the Marjorie Taylor Greenes when they supported Trump.

DEMIRJIAN: When they supported Trump and when they exited the stage in Washington --

JARRETT: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: -- before actually having to oppose him.

I mean, this is the thing. Almost every last Republican who has really taken a vocal, vocal stand against the president has done so after retiring. And Paul Ryan is the poster child for that, having been speaker and left D.C. And his personal crossroads came over two years ago when he decided to leave Congress.

Liz Cheney is basically the only exception and she's been made to pay a price for it by her party ousting her from the leadership ranks. And that's the price that everybody's afraid of personally paying in politics when it comes to standing up to Trump, which is why you hear it. Even when they do criticize him they don't say his name.

So, yes, there is the potential original sin of having supported Trump and having continued to support him through his presidency. But there's also the continued cowardice of saying well, we're at a crossroads but don't ask me to completely pick up the mantle to be the one to go against him because I'm afraid that he might smack me down, which is what has happened as we've seen just earlier this month, frankly, with the one politician who tried to stay in position as she challenged him and it didn't really go that well.

JARRETT: Afraid they might smack them down even though he lost the election -- just still, I find fascinating.

DEMIRJIAN: It --

JARRETT: I also -- I want to get your thoughts, while we have you, on the economy as well. Because the same day that jobless claims reach a new low for the pandemic, the CEO of JPMorgan, Jamie Dimon -- he's had this to say. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE: People actually have a lot of money and they don't particularly feel like going back to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: So, the GOP can't find a coherent message but the economy is sort of doing some work for them. There's anecdotal reports that you hear Republicans talk about all the time. People don't want to go back to work because they're making more money on unemployment.

Does this help the GOP make their point or does it -- having CEOs like Jamie Dimon say people are happy to just sort of sit at home -- is that out of touch?

DEMIRJIAN: You know, I don't know totally how to answer this question, right? Because you had the party rally around somebody like Trump recently, who is kind of the ultimate poster child of the rich, out-of-touch elite guy who has made a lot of money. Yet, giving rise to this thing of oh --

JARRETT: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: -- they're too lazy.

There's always a question in politics about whether you can believe a philosophy about what everybody else is doing wrong and you're doing right and that's why you're justified in feeling downtrodden, or whether it crosses that line where you're like hey now, wait a second -- you might be talking about me.

And so, this is a gamble for the GOP to have some of their richest figureheads talking about oh, people are too lazy to go back to work. That works as long as your people who are not rich believe that it's the other guy who is too lazy to go back to work.

But the second at which that starts to hit home and say wait a second, I just needed to be there. I was out of a job. I lost my job. I couldn't pay for food, et cetera. Like, I'm trying to find my way back here.

And you've had huge real income divides even during the pandemic that have made these splits between rich and poor worse. It's going to be really interesting to see where that split and if it manages to kind of keep the party going on this like philosophical high of like yes, people are too lazy and Biden's spending too much, or if it starts to hit home too close and lose them -- some of their supporters if they need to rally around that message.

So I think this is what the risk is going to be and what we'll see play out as we get closer into the midterms.

JARRETT: Yes. The question is always is where is that tipping point. And it also depends on how the economy keeps going.

DEMIRJIAN: Exactly.

JARRETT: That remains to be seen as well.

All right, Karoun. Thanks so much. It was great to see you.

DEMIRJIAN: Thank you.

JARRETT: All right, now to this. Prepare now or risk losing everything. That warning coming from the Democratic Secretary of State in Michigan and Arizona. They're telling the Democratic National Committee that efforts are already underway for 2024 results to be overturned if Republican officials aren't satisfied with the outcome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: The election of 2020 is behind us, but this battle over the future of our democracy is escalating. Decisions are made right now, and people are being put in place right, and rules are being discussed right now that in 2024 all those folks who tried to undermine the count, stop the count, undermine democracy even to the escalation of the attack on our U.S. Capitol on January sixth -- all of those forces are going to be back in '24.

KATIE HOBBS, ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: There are many leaders on the other side who have been too remiss in standing up and telling the truth as well. They know that our election was secure. They know that it was accurate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: A sham election audit in Arizona is being conducted by a company whose leader promotes the Big Lie.

[05:40:01]

All right, an intensifying battle to dominate the skies over Belarus this morning. The country's dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, now getting help from Russia days after a Belarusian fighter jet forced a commercial flight to the ground, all so that a dissident journalist could be arrested there.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in Berlin. Fred, what's the latest?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Laura.

Well, the skies over Belarus -- they certainly remain an issue still. One of the things that we've learned is that planes that are trying to circumvent Belarus to then fly into Russia are not receiving permission to do so.

In fact, today, once again, an Air France flight was denied permission. However, we have just learned that apparently, an Austrian Airlines that's changed its route to get around Belarus -- not fly over that airspace -- that actually did get permission today. But still, it remains a major issue.

And once again, the credibility of Alexander Lukashenko and his regime undermined. You know how the Belarusians had said that the reason why they diverted that plane and forced it to land in Minsk was if they got an e-mail saying that there might be a bomb on board?

Well, we got in touch with the ProtonMail company, which actually is the company from which that -- from one of its accounts that mail was sent -- and they confirmed to CNN that the mail was actually sent half an hour after the plane was diverted. So, after the fact.

Obviously, a lot of the international community not buying some of the things the Lukashenko regime is saying.

Meanwhile, the mother of that arrested journalist, Roman Protasevich -- she came out with an urgent call for the international community to help her son and to take action. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIA PROTASEVICH, MOTHER OF ROMAN PROTASEVICH, DISSIDENT JOURNALIST ARRESTED IN BELARUS (through translator): Please understand that every single day of waiting counts and more lives -- more innocent lives are being taken. Please save my son and all the other people that are being tortured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Meanwhile, one person that Alexander Lukashenko can rely on, Vladimir Putin. The two leaders have a meeting today in the south of Russia, guys.

JARRETT: All right, Fred, thanks so much -- appreciate it.

Tens of thousands of people are trying to escape the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Authorities there issuing an evacuation order warning a volcano that first erupted last week could erupt again.

CNN's Larry Madowo is at the foot of the volcano and joins us live. So, Larry, what more are authorities saying? How imminent is this threat?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, authorities are saying they're a little confused by the seismic activity they're seeing because the volcano erupted Saturday and now there's been earthquakes -- hundreds of them -- and there's cracks in the road. And they just don't understand why this is happening because the last two times the volcano erupted the earthquakes preceded the actual eruption in 2002 and 1997.

But this is what it looks like when a volcano erupts. What you see in the back is a mountain. That's Mount Nyiragongo, which has an active volcano -- one of the most dangerous in the entire world.

What we're standing on is the lava that's now cooled off. This is what swept up this wooded area, swept up trees -- and now, this is what's left of it. It's igneous rock. It seems like charcoal.

To say how serious this is, if you look over on the other side, Laura, that is a major highway that was completely taken out. There's tarmac under there. This connects to major provinces and all the way to Uganda. It is gone.

And across the road on the other side, that was a settlement area. Some 900 or so homes were completely flattened by this lava.

That is how serious this is and that is why the authorities here asked 10 neighborhoods to flee -- to leave. It's a mandatory evacuation even though it was preventive just because they don't know what could happen. There could be magma underground that could implode or there's a lake nearby -- Lake Kivu -- and the methane gas there combined with the lava could lead to what they're calling a catastrophic event.

So yesterday, we saw tens of thousands of people -- possibly hundreds of thousands fleeing -- many children -- leaving with nothing but the clothes on their backs and everything they own tied around their backs, tied around their heads, trying to get as far away as possible from this either across the border to one of the neighboring countries or further east to an area called Sake.

The Norwegian Refugee Council says the Democratic Republic of Congo is the most neglected -- this present crisis -- in the world. There's armed groups operating in this part of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. They just don't get enough attention.

So this is really the last thing they needed being in the direct path of an active volcano that could flatten their entire livelihoods.

JARRETT: Well, thank you for being there and shining a light on this for us, Larry -- appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

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[05:48:36]

JARRETT: All right, 48 minutes past the hour here.

Florida's Holocaust Museum vandalized by swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on the outside of the building. Police in St. Petersburg are investigating the incident as a hate crime. They're asking anyone with information to contact them.

There have been a number of anti-Semitic attacks in the last month alone following the latest clash between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.

Well, sadly, it is looking like a soggy start to the holiday weekend for most of the eastern U.S. Here's meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Good morning, Laura, and happy Memorial weekend, everyone.

Now, this may not look like your traditional summer holiday weekend that you had envisioned. You have to be a bit more patient for the real beach weather to settle in.

A cold front and low-pressure system will bring a soggy start to our holiday weekend across the Eastern Seaboard all the way to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River Valley. You can see the precipitation moving in, especially by late this evening along the east coast. So a wet weekend in store for New York, D.C., as well as Boston. Even a chance of stronger storms. Keep an eye to the sky for central

Virginia. And some of that marginal severe weather risk extends across the southeast where it becomes a slight risk over the western sections of Texas.

You can see the cold weather that's going to settle in this weekend from the Great Lakes to New England, so bear that in mind for your weekend plans. Hey, don't hate the messenger. I'm just doing my job here.

We have warmer conditions, though, as you travel towards the west. You can see L.A. in the upper 60s -- even triple-digit heat for Arizona.

[05:50:01]

And then finally, by the end of the long holiday weekend, we rebound our temperatures nicely. Look at New York City -- 72 and plenty of sunshine.

Back to you, Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Derek, thank you.

What a difference a year makes -- a stark difference between last Memorial Day and this one. In 2020, the big concern, of course, was Americans going out and spreading COVID. This year, states are encouraging people to go out.

While ramping up efforts to get everyone vaccinated, states like New York, Colorado, and now California are offering more incentives.

It's worth noting not a lot of incentives in states that are struggling to actually get people vaccinated, though, in places like Mississippi and Alabama, although Kroger Health just announced $5 million -- $1 million payouts to people who get vaccinated.

And new research this morning. Nearly all adults who want a vaccine have already gotten at least one dose, but that's only 62 percent of Americans.

EARLY START has the pandemic covered coast to coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Nick Watt in Los Angeles where the governor of California has just announced a massive war chest -- cash incentives to get more people to get vaccinated. There will be $50.00 gift cards with every shot while stocks last, and there will be 10 $1.5 million jackpots available to people who get the shot.

The governor said money well spent.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

Tomorrow, Massachusetts lifting all remaining COVID-19 restrictions. That includes allowing businesses to fully reopen at 100 percent capacity. As you can imagine, that's probably going to be welcome news for establishments ahead of the Memorial Day weekend and what they hope will be a very busy summer.

The state's face-covering advisory will be eliminated and replaced by current CDC guidelines. Masks still going to be mandatory on private and public transportation, as well as some healthcare facilities.

By now, about half of the state's residents have already been fully vaccinated.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Brynn Gingras in New York City where getting vaccinated could land you seats at Madison Square Garden for a Knicks playoff game. Now, you don't have to a basketball fan to get excited about this one. The Knicks are on a roll right now, winning their first playoff game since 2013.

OK, here are the details. June first or June third, according to the city, if you get vaccinated on one of those dates at the Pennsy Food Hall near Madison Square Garden, you could win tickets to a future Knicks playoff game.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right, thank you.

Speaking of the NBA, three teams have now banned fans for disrespectful behavior towards players during playoff games.

Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report. So, Andy, is this more than usual? There have always been unruly fans but it seems like this is different.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (via Cisco Webex): Yes, it does, and it seems like the NBA is really taking it very seriously. And the NBA released a statement yesterday saying they are going to vigorously enforce a new enhanced code of conduct policy. This comes as three different teams had to ban fans after bad behavior this week.

The Philadelphia 76ers -- they banned a fan after he poured an entire thing of popcorn on the Wizards' Russell Westbrook after he left the game due to an injury. And that fan also losing his season tickets.

The New York Knicks, meanwhile -- they say they've banned a fan from Madison Square Garden for spitting on Atlanta guard Trae Young.

And the Utah Jazz say they've banned three fans for disruptive behavior and abusive language directed at Grizzlies' John Marrant's family.

After his game last night, LeBron James says he's happy these teams are stepping up to protect the players.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, FORWARD, LOS ANGELES LAKERS: All the heckling, that's great, you know. And we don't mind that. We're going to hear the boos and we understand that. Maybe be even a couple of curse words here and there and we understand that as well. Actually, I love that. I'm actually OK with that.

But there is a line and I think we're all -- we're all grown and we all -- we all know what the line is when you cross it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: As for the game, LeBron and the Lakers pulling away from the Suns in the second half. Check out Jae Crowder trying to body-up LeBron, but he spins off and puts in a reverse layup. The Lakers bench is going wild.

LeBron had 21; Anthony Davis, 34. Lakers win 109-95 and take a 2-1 lead in that series. The first Lakers home playoff win for them since 2012.

All right, Tiger Woods, meanwhile, giving his first interview since a car crash in February left him needing emergency surgery.

The 15-time Major Champion telling "Golf Digest" that his rehab is more painful than anything he's ever experienced, adding, "My physical therapy has been keeping me busy. I do my routines every day and am focused on my number one goal right now, walking on my own. Taking it one step at a time."

Tiger did not comment when asked about his hopes of playing golf again.

Finally -- all right, this play may have set baseball back 100 years.

Two outs in the top of the third and the Cubs' Javy Baez -- he's going to ground into what should be an inning-ending out. But instead of just stepping on first and ending the inning, the Pirates' Will Craig comes off the bag and tries to chase Baez towards home plate.

[05:55:05]

In the meantime, Will Contreras comes in to score. They still could've just got the out at first to end the inning but they screwed that up. Baez isn't actually getting to second in all of the confusion.

The Cubs won that game five to three.

Look at their bench, Laura. I mean, they are just laughing hysterically because that may have been one of the worst plays in baseball history.

JARRETT: You know --

SCHOLES: All he had to do was touch first base. JARRETT: You know, Andy, I'm a White Sox fan by jurisdiction, being from the South Side of Chicago, but what can I say. It's my home team, the Cubs. You have to root for them too, right?

SCHOLES: Yes.

JARRETT: Have a good Memorial Day weekend, Andy.

Thanks so much for joining us, everyone. I'm Laura Jarrett. Have a meaningful and safe Memorial Day weekend. "NEW DAY" is next.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman on this new day.

Drama unfolding right now on Capitol Hill. Republicans, overnight, holding up a vote on the commission to investigate the insurrection.

Plus, a tale of two parties. A former Republican House speaker criticizing Trumpism while two Trump apprentices compare Democrats to Nazis and encourage supporters to take up arms.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, breaking news -- America under attack. Russian hackers target e-mail used by the State Department. A brazen, almost cheeky assault just weeks before a proposed summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.