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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Michael Flynn Seems To Suggest Myanmar-Style Coup Should Happen In U.S; White House Announces Plans To Reduce Racial Wealth Gap; Japan May Require Test Or Vaccination For Olympic Spectators. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired June 01, 2021 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: It now sounds like Michael Flynn is advocating a blooding overthrow of the government he swore to protect.
Flynn made the comments at an event attended by prominent peddlers of the collective delusion known as QAnon. QAnon believers cast former President Trump as the hero in a fight against a satanic cult of Democratic politicians and celebrities operating a child sex trafficking ring. I'm not making this up.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it sounds nut but this theory features this anonymous government insider called Q who reportedly shares secret information about that fight via cryptic online posts. It sounds nuts but these ideas take root in American culture and they spread in places friends and families go -- churches, diners -- and, of course, spreading like crazy online.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan reports for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Speaking at a conference attended by many believers in the conspiracy QAnon over the weekend, Trump's former national security adviser appeared to endorse the idea of a coup in the United States. Have a listen.
MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Trump won. He won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can't happen here.
FLYNN: No reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That's right.
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Now, Flynn came out on Monday saying that his words have been misinterpreted and that he was not actually calling for a coup. But across QAnon social media this has been something that has been discussed for many months -- essentially since Trump left office.
There are some Trump supporters, some QAnon believers who want to see Trump reinstated as president through a coup like the one in Myanmar.
Have a listen to some Trump supporters I spoke to back in February.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This whole thing with Biden is just -- he's like a puppet president. The military is in charge. It's going to be like Myanmar -- what's happening in Myanmar. The military is doing their own investigation and at the right time they're going to be restoring the republic with Trump as president.
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Of course, that is bizarre, chilling, and frankly, surreal to hear Americans there talking about wanting to see a coup in the United States of America. But it just underlines how corrosive and how potentially dangerous all this talk about election conspiracies and the Big Lie is and continues to be -- Christine and Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Donie, thank you for your great work on this subject. It always surprises me sometimes the people who really believe this stuff.
Major hat manufacturers, by the way, are now cutting ties with that Nashville hat shop owner -- that woman who was selling yellow stars that said "Not Vaccinated."
The English brand Kangol says "We feel strongly that we were right to give hatWRKS Nashville the chance to change. We did that. However, the further posts indicate that the shop owner is not sincere in her apology nor has she removed the offensive posts from her feed."
JARRETT: Three other hat makers -- Stetson, Tula Hats, and Goorin Bros. -- have also said they will stop doing business with hatWRKS.
Demonstrators gathered there at the Nashville store over the weekend to protest what you are about to see -- a yellow patch bragging about avoiding a vaccine that could save her life -- a match for the star Jews were forced to wear as they were marched to the gas chambers.
The shop owner claims she didn't mean to trivialize the star, but she also said she's been pushing back against what she views as government overreach.
ROMANS: You know, the simple, maybe inconvenience of wearing a mask -- to equate it with the Jewish star is just -- I --
JARRETT: It's beyond ignorant (ph).
ROMANS: It really is.
All right. This is day three now of the manhunt for the shooters who opened fire on a Florida club, killing two people and injuring 21 others. This, of course, goes well beyond Florida. There have been 239 mass shootings in the U.S. this year; 26 in the last few weeks alone.
Law enforcement concerned about what will happen as more people emerge from lockdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF ART ACEVEDO, MIAMI POLICE DEPARTMENT: It is a time in our country's nation where our courts have been shut down. Courts are not holding people accountable.
Here in Harris County, where I just left, the position of the elected officials is that no one should be held regardless of their criminal history and regardless of the crime they're committing, and they're out -- in one door and out the other and shooting other people. And so, unless the American people speak out it's going to be a long, hot, bloody summer and we can thank a lot of elected officials for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Police are making some progress in that Florida investigation. Leyla Santiago reports from Miami for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Christine, Laura, a key piece of evidence discovered. Investigators found the SUV the suspects drove to the banquet hall where the shooting occurred. Now, this comes as we learn more about what led up to that shooting.
[05:35:00]
Let me go ahead and show you the video -- the surveillance video that kind of walks you through it. A Nissan Pathfinder is seen arriving. Three armed individuals get out and within seconds they are running back. You know, that's just all it took was just seconds for lives to be forever changed.
And what you can't see in this video is that this was a pretty young crowd. Victims -- many of them in their 20s; one as young as 17, attending a private concert.
Investigators say this was targeted and it stemmed from an ongoing rivalry between two groups. They even confirmed that some sort of back-and-forth on social media was a factor here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fear is for the retaliation. We have to get to these people and make this stop. This indiscriminate shooting into a crowd because somebody they want to target may be there obviously is just a cowardly, heinous act.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People who would have the nerve, the audacity to shoot down a group of people in the community don't deserve to be in our community. They don't deserve to have freedom. They deserve to have the weight of the justice system of the United States of America brought down upon them.
SANTIAGO (on camera): And, you know, it wasn't just city leaders expressing frustration. The father of 26-year-old Clayton Dillard III interrupted the press conference, clearly distraught over the loss of his son in that shooting.
A reward now totaling $130,000 for any information leading to the arrest of those responsible -- Christine, Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Leyla, thank you for that report.
Well, the reward to find the killer in a suspect California road rage shooting is now more than $400,000. Six-year-old Aiden Leos was fatally shot last month as his mother was driving him to kindergarten.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the suspect's vehicle appears to be a 2018 or 2019 model white Volkswagen SportWagen with non-tinted windows. A woman was driving with a male passenger. It's still not clear, though, which one was the shooter.
ROMANS: All right, 36 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on CNN Business this Tuesday morning.
Looking at markets around the world to start a new trading month, you can see gains in European shares and a mixed performance in Asia. On Wall Street, stock index futures leaning up just a little bit here.
You know, blue chips are up now four months in a row. Despite inflation worries, stocks rose again in May.
The Dow was up nearly 13 percent this year. The S&P 500 up 12 percent. The Nasdaq is up seven percent year-to-date -- solid evidence of the sustained economic recovery. Inflation fears have not derailed stocks.
But you might be noticing some higher costs in your family budget. The national average for a gallon of regular gas is still above $3.00 a gallon, with drivers in California paying an average of $4.20 a gallon.
The world's largest meat supplier JBS USA says it was hit by an organized cybersecurity attack. It affected its servers supporting I.T. systems in North America and Australia. Unclear who carried it out or how customers may be affected.
This is just weeks after the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline forced a six-day shutdown of one of America's largest fuel pipelines. It led to panic buying and gas shortages.
JBS said it's working to restore its systems as soon as possible.
Supply chain pressures are making Teslas more expensive. Responding to a comment on Twitter Monday, the CEO Elon Musk said "Prices increasing due to major supply chain price pressure industry-wide. Raw materials especially."
In April, Musk told investors Tesla experienced some of the most difficult supply chain challenges because of the global chip shortage.
The Web site Electrek reported Tesla raised prices for its Model 3 and Model Y in May, the fifth increase for its cars in just a few months, Laura.
JARRETT: All right.
Overnight, hundreds of people braving the rain in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the 1921 massacre where hundreds of Black people were killed by a white mob.
President Biden is heading to Tulsa today.
CNN's Jasmine Wright live at the White House with more on this. Jasmine, good morning. You have new information on the steps that the president will announce to reduce the racial wealth gap on this day. What do you know?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Laura. And look, these steps come as President Biden is on -- will be on his way in a few hours to Tulsa to witness firsthand a community that survives 100 years after that deadly massacre.
And when I go through these steps I also want people to recognize that this kind of fits in line with the White House's guiding ethos that they want to center race and equity in the middle of all their major economic proposals.
So, today in Tulsa, President Biden will announce that the White House will use federal purchasing power to grow federal contracting with small, disadvantaged businesses by 50 percent, which the White House says will translate to an additional $100 billion over five years.
And the administration's jobs package -- that American Jobs Plan -- they will spend $10 billion from the Community Revitalization Fund to support civic infrastructure projects. And, $15 billion will go to new competitive grants targeted to neighborhoods where people have been cut off in jobs, schools, and businesses because of previous transportation investments. And they will also invest $31 billion to support minority-owned small businesses.
[05:40:09]
Now, these are aimed to really help communities like the Greenwood community in Tulsa -- the one that was coined Black Wall Street because it had its own functioning Black banks, Black restaurants, Black hotels, cinemas, you name it. And that was destroyed 100 years ago by that white mob. So these actions the president will take will go to help communities like that, that kind of popped all over the country.
But notably absent, Laura, is anything to do with canceling student debt loans -- what many organizations say would be one of the most profound ways to really close that Black and white racial wealth gap.
The president today -- in just a few hours, like we talked about, we will see President Biden on his way to Tulsa where he will visit the Greenwood Cultural Center and visit with surviving members -- Laura.
JARRETT: Yes, it's certainly an issue that he has tangled with progressives over quite a bit.
All right, Jasmine, thanks so much -- appreciate it.
All right. So it's probably a safe bet most college graduates don't remember their commencement ceremony, but if this happened I bet you would.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELFORD ANTHONY PINKARD, PRESIDENT, WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY: Because you have shown that you are capable of doing work under difficult circumstances, because you represent the best of your generation, we wish to give you a fresh start. So, therefore, the Wilberforce University board of trustees has authorized me to forgive any debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Life-changing news there given by the president of Ohio's Wilberforce University. The canceled debt applies to all 2020 and 2021 graduates of the historically Black university. The total amount, more than $375,000. The school says the amount will be covered by scholarships from the United Negro College Fund, Jack and Jill, and other funding.
You know, it's just life-changing, as I said, for people who are so saddled by that student debt years into adulthood after they leave college.
ROMANS: To be able to move on with your life with a college degree and not the debt is just amazing.
JARRETT: And it's why people are calling on President Biden to do something about that.
ROMANS: All right, we'll be right back.
JARRETT: All right.
ROMANS: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:46:29]
ROMANS: Welcome back this Tuesday morning.
Free samples, free groceries, cheap concerts -- new benefits for vaccinated Americans popping up over the holiday weekend.
Target reopening its fitting rooms in all its stores starting today.
Free samples at Costco are back. The warehouse chain said it will start phasing samples back into 170 stores during the first week of June.
And more retailers are doing whatever it takes to get people vaccinated.
Kroger is offering customers who are vaccinated at its clinics a chance to win $1 million and free groceries for a year. Registration for the hashtag immunity giveaway starts June third.
Krispy Kreme says it has given away more than 1.5 million donuts through its special vaccine promotion, which runs through the rest of the year.
One Florida concert promoter is trying to sweeten ticket sales with a major discount for people ready to see live music again. Leadfoot Promotions is selling tickets for a show later this month for just $18.00 to people who are vaccinated. If you're not, the tickets run about $1,000.
As demand for concerts and outdoor events grows, so does the demand for porta-potties, by the way. Suppliers are scrambling to make sure they have enough to go around. That's right -- the latest shortage is the porta-potty.
JARRETT: The Krispy Kreme and the fitting rooms don't seem to go well together, I've got to say.
ROMANS: True.
JARRETT: All right, new overnight, Olympic organizers in Japan considering a big move to keep visitors safe at the upcoming Summer Games.
Blake Essig is live in Tokyo for us. Blake, what, some 52 days left to go here? What's the plan?
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time is ticking, Laura.
Assuming that these Games do happen, and the jury is still out, we know that there will be no foreign spectators allowed to attend the Olympics. But according to local media citing an unnamed source, Olympic organizers could allow local spectators into venues with proof of a negative PCR test. That being said, Olympic organizers maintain that the official decision on spectators will be made sometime in June and that at this time no concrete measures have been decided.
Now, if local spectators are allowed, they could have the chance to watch the softball team from Australia compete. Now, other than the South Sudanese track and field team who have been here in Japan since before the pandemic began, the Aussie Spirit, as they're known, is the first international team to arrive in Japan in preparation for the Olympics, further sending the message that these Olympic Games will go ahead just as the IOC and Japanese government have been saying for months.
Now, while the team from Australia has been fully vaccinated, starting today, the vaccine rollout for Japanese athletes officially got underway. The Japan Olympic committee officials say that 200 athletes received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Now, as for the general population, currently, only medical workers and people over the age of 65 are eligible to be vaccinated. But in an effort to reduce the burden on local government and speed up Japan's painfully slow vaccination program, later this month vaccinations will start being offered at workplaces and universities.
But as of today, Laura, still only about 2 1/2 percent of Japan's population has been fully vaccinated.
JARRETT: Wow, still just at two. That's just incredible.
All right, Blake, thanks so much.
ROMANS: All right. The earth is set for a close encounter today. A huge asteroid expected to whiz past, and this is close by astronomical standards -- 4.5 million miles. This asteroid is about 600 feet across. That's the size of Seattle's Space Needle.
Now, of course, they've come even closer, and recently, another one passed just 12,000 miles away in April. Bigger asteroids have changed the course of life on earth, like the one the scientists say wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Not forecast in this case but still, it's going to whiz pretty close.
[05:50:08]
JARRETT: All right.
A 7-year-old boy in Florida being called a hero after swimming for an hour to save his stranded family. Chase Poust was with his father and 4-year-old sister in the family's boat Friday when they anchored on a river to swim. But suddenly, things turned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHASE POUST, 7-YEAR-OLD WHO SWAM AN HOUR TO SAVE HIS FAMILY: The current was so strong that my sister let -- she really hangs out at the back of the boat and she let go. So I -- so I let go of the boat and I grabbed her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: His father jumped in to help and told Chase to swim to shore. An hour later, floating on his back and doggie paddling to conserve energy, Chase somehow reached shore and ran to the nearest house for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How'd you get so good at being in the water and dealing with those kind of situations?
POUST: I have no idea.
STEVEN POUST, FATHER OF CHASE POUST: We're here. By the grace of God, we're here. (END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: I love that "I have no idea."
First responders managed to rescue Chase's dad and sister, as well, who had drifted more than a mile and a half from their boat. That is good news for sure.
All right. Well, for the fifth time in less than a week, fan behavior overshadowing the NBA Playoffs. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Andy, what happened this time?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, guys.
You know, we're still only in the first round but, so far, we've had a fan pour popcorn on Russell Westbrook, throw a water bottle at Kyrie Irving, and spit at Trae Young.
Now we had a fan running on the court during the Wizards game last night. And you can see the fan full-sprint out of the stands and he's going to run over to slap the backboard. He was then quickly tackled by Capital One Arena security and removed from the arena.
The Wizards' ownership group releasing a statement saying the fan will be banned from the arena and charges are being pursued with police.
Players and coaches, though -- they want all this nonsense to stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BROOKS, HEAD COACH, WASHINGTON WIZARDS: There's great fans in Boston, in New York, in Philly, in D.C., in Utah, but there's some that need to just know, you know what, stay home. Your thinking is barbaric.
Stay home. We don't need you. We don't need your dollars. Just stay home and get away from us.
BRADLEY BEA, GUARD, WASHINGTON WIZARDS: No fan would try me individually. I mean, you can throw anything at me but you're not going to approach me and try nothing. I know that. I don't want to use my hood slang, but these hands work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, the fan in Boston who threw that water bottle at Kyrie on Sunday was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
All right, meantime, troubling news for the 76ers. Their MVP Joel Embiid going down hard after getting blocked by Robin Lopez. Embiid tried to stay in the game but eventually left to go to the locker room and never returned after the first quarter. Head coach Doc Rivers says he expected Embiid to undergo an MRI on the right knee later today.
The Wizards went on to beat the shorthanded Sixers 122-114 to avoid the sweep. Game five of that series Wednesday night in Philly.
All right, to baseball. The Mets' Kevin Pillar activated yesterday just two weeks after taking a 95-mile-per-hour fastball to the face. Pillar got a standing ovation as he came to the plate in the eighth inning, then delivered a single.
Pillar suffered multiple nasal fractures when he got hit with that ball and he's going to -- he's got to wear a face mask in the field while running the bases for the next four to six weeks.
You see the fans and his teammates there cheering him on, though, Christine. They called him -- his teammates called him a warrior after the game and that's certainly what he is because, wow, coming back just two --
ROMANS: Yes.
SCHOLES: -- weeks after that is rather impressive.
ROMANS: All right, Andy, nice to see you this morning. Thank you.
SCHOLES: All right.
ROMANS: All right. Finally, this morning, the Beacon is back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TREY ANASTASIO, GUITARIST, PHISH: Playing "Forward People."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio announcing he'll play two solo shows at New York's famed Beacon Theater later this month. They will be the first full-capacity indoor shows in Manhattan since the pandemic began. Concertgoers will need to be fully vaccinated.
Anastasio actually performed an eight-week residency in an empty Beacon last fall with proceeds from virtual shows going to charity.
Quick, what's your favorite Phish song?
JARRETT: Yes, no. That's a no. I'm not even going to try to (INAUDIBLE) that.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us this morning, everybody, from the set. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:59:19]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman on this new day.
America's democracy is in peril. That is the warning from the American president as Republicans intensify their war on voting.
Plus, he may be on the ropes but Benjamin Netanyahu is getting some last-minute support from American senators as the Israeli prime minister tries clinging to power.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: He was once in charge of the nation's military intelligence but now Michael Flynn is denying that he supports a military coup in the U.S.
And new reaction overnight as one of the world's top tennis players abruptly quits the French Open after being threatened with expulsion for refusing to talk to the media, citing depression and anxiety.
