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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Abbott Vows To Defund Texas Legislature After Democrats Blocked Voting Bill; American Detained In Russia Speaks To CNN From Labor Camp; Deadline Day For Opposition To Form Unity Government And Oust Benjamin Netanyahu. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 02, 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: Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he is not bluffing on his threat to defund the state Legislature all because Democrats wouldn't get behind the GOP's sweeping bill to restrict voting rights. Yet, the threat goes beyond lawmakers. It also affects thousands of nonpartisan staffers in the Texas state government.

The Texas Republican who sponsored this Texas voting bill joins "NEW DAY" at 8:00 a.m. eastern.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

JARRETT: I'm definitely going to watch that.

ROMANS: All right, it's time for three questions in three minutes. That's where we bring in CNN Washington correspondent John Harwood this Wednesday morning. Good morning, there.

You know, last year, President Trump was in Tulsa violating all those COVID protocols to restart this campaign. Yesterday, President Biden was in Tulsa acknowledging a deadly massacre of some 300 Black residents of Greenwood. As part of that trip he's quietly been effectively here taking on some big Democratic priorities -- voting rights, the wealth gap, the border, oil drilling, more overseas.

What lit the spark for President Biden in the last few days, John?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, Christine, these are priorities that President Biden has expressed from the beginning, but we're seeing time running out on the early period in the administration where you have a burst of momentum and ability to get your program through. Some things you can do by executive order, so he's taken some executive action in the last 24 hours.

For example, suspending those new arctic oil and gas leases in the national wildlife refuge there, and also ending a border policy by the Trump administration about making people wait in Mexico while their asylum claims were being heard. But other things, like the steps he announced or discussed financially to try to remedy some of the racial wealth gap -- they're going to take action from Congress, and so will protecting voting rights.

And increasingly, it's becoming clear that Republicans across the country are launching an assault or a comprehensive attempt to curb voting rights and he's got to get moving if he's going to stop that. And so, we saw some of that yesterday, putting Vice President Harris in charge of that effort to counter Republicans on voting rights.

And the real question's going to be not the priorities of the Biden administration but whether or not he can galvanize all 50 Democrats to act because it's pretty clear that on any big issues he's not going to get substantial Republican support.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARWOOD: So that's why he called out, yesterday, both Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of the state of Arizona, who have been the most reluctant Democratic members to join his priorities.

JARRETT: Well, and yes -- I mean, he called them out because people are getting so fed up with him over voting rights, in particular. But I think his point was look, I can't do this alone.

ROMANS: Right.

JARRETT: John, at the same time, the former president apparently telling people close to him that he expects to be reinstated as president this summer. It's all crazy, it's all delusional, but it's also just another lie -- and it's another lie capitalizing on support that he knows he has from a faithful base.

But at some point, don't you have to say, as a Republican voter, you're making a fool out of me?

HARWOOD: Well, I think, Laura, we've long since passed the point that a rational person engaging in critical thinking would have reached that. But the president's -- former president's galvanizing a part of the Republican base that is desperate for someone to champion them -- that feels like their America is under assault.

And, Donald Trump has been extraordinarily effective in extracting money from those people. And he is now at a point right now where he is facing the increasing risk of prosecution. He needs money. He's pressed financially in various ways, including for his legal defense, including for the maintenance of his businesses.

And he has -- is continuing that effort to mobilize people. Among other things, he's trying -- in addition to the financial part of it, he's trying to convince a large segment of the population that if, in fact, the Manhattan district attorney and New York attorney general Tish James bring a criminal case against him, then it's politically motivated as opposed to motivated by the legal --

JARRETT: Right.

HARWOOD: -- merits of the case. And telling people that he's the rightful president, he really won the election and maybe he can get back in office is a way to try to rile those people to his side, and I'm not sure there's a lot of reasoning with some of those people.

ROMANS: You know, CNN also reporting, John, overnight that the Republican National Committee is vowing it will advise candidates against future presidential debates unless the debate commission makes some big changes here. The GOP chairwoman says the commission no longer provides a fair and impartial forum.

What do you make of all this?

HARWOOD: Well, it's insane and it's related to the last dancer.

Increasingly, the Republican base is motivated at a visceral level by survival instinct. By the -- you know, you hear from many, especially those blue-collar evangelical rural white voters who see the country becoming less white, less Christian, less rewarding to them financially within the American economy, saying our way of -- our way of American life is under attack in the 21st century because of the way the American society is changing culturally, economically, and demographically.

[05:35:24]

And so, the Republican Party doesn't have a lot of reasonable rational policies to counter that. It's more a will to power and it's the belief that they can somehow stop these changes from happening.

Look, it's not an accident that the Republican Party did not adopt a political platform in 2020 --

ROMANS: Yes.

HARWOOD: -- at their convention. It was pure let's get behind Donald Trump and maybe --

JARRETT: Yes.

HARWOOD: -- he can protect us.

So the form of a presidential debate --

ROMANS: Right.

HARWOOD: -- where you're getting questions about policy and factual questions about where the party is going -- that's not where their strong suit is. Their strong suit is scaring people that they're on the wrong side of changes in the country and they can somehow stop those changes.

JARRETT: But you would think you have the better argument. You would think that you want to prove it. It's the same way they're trying to stop people from voting. If you think that you're the best candidate you would think you would want to be really aggressive and convince people.

ROMANS: But if it's a cultive personality --

HARWOOD: They know that they don't have the better argument.

JARRETT: Right.

ROMANS: If it's a cultive personality and not a series of policies --

JARRETT: Right.

ROMANS: -- then that becomes hard to sell.

All right, thank you so much, John Harwood, CNN White House correspondent.

JARRETT: Thanks, John -- appreciate it.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this morning.

JARRETT: All right.

Democratic State Rep. Melanie Stansbury has won't the special election to represent New Mexico's first congressional district. Her victory gives the slim Democratic majority in the House a bit more breathing room, but not much.

Stansbury is replacing Interior Sec. Deb Haaland. She defeated state Sen. Mark Moores who tried to make the race a referendum on Albuquerque's rising crime rate.

This race, along with the governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, seem as indicators of the electorate's mood heading into the midterms.

ROMANS: And we'll be watching those.

All right. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a new law banning transgender athletes in high school and college from participating in women's sports, and he did it on the first day of Pride Month. DeSantis denies that was a factor. He says it is important to have, quote, "integrity" and, quote, "fairness" in competitions.

Florida is now the eighth state to enact an anti-transgender athlete ban.

JARRETT: Meantime, President Biden recognized June as Pride Month, pushing for LGBTQ equality and calling out some states for targeting trans youth in discriminatory bills.

More than 40 House Democrats have introduced legislation to protect family members of military personnel who are transgender. The measure would prevent them from being stationed in a state or country that prohibits their limits, gender-affirming, healthcare, and treatments.

ROMANS: All right, to the job market now. It is the big, big debate of the great reopening. Is there a labor shortage or a surplus of awful jobs?

Restaurants are struggling to find workers as the economy reopens. One New Orleans chef told the author and journalist Micheline Maynard in a "Washington Post" op-ed, quote, "...people aren't returning because restaurant work sucks, is underpaid, or provides no upward mobility or benefits."

Now we know there are a record 8.1 million job openings in America. The Chamber of Commerce said the labor shortage is real and getting worse by the day. In fact, it launched an "America Works" initiative Tuesday to help employers fill these jobs.

Now, many pin the blame on enhanced jobless benefits. I mean, why look for a job if you're making money out of work, right? Maryland is now the 25th GOP-led state revoking those checks for its residents. Maryland has one of the highest unemployment rates of states, stopping benefits at 6.2 percent.

Look, there are two clear trends here. In education and healthcare, teachers and doctors are quitting and retiring after a year of COVID hell. And in hospitality, a year of stimulus and jobless benefits allowed young workers the breathing space to retrain for jobs in tech and finance -- not going back to that industry.

And as Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari told my colleague Poppy Harlow, women here are key to the recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEEL KASHKARI, PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIS: And we have to find a way to bring them back to work. And this is about our economic potential. It's only about fairness for those women and those families, but it's also about our economic potential as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: America is still down more than eight million jobs since February last year.

JARRETT: All right, now to a CNN exclusive this morning.

An American imprisoned in Russia, Paul Whelan, calling on President Biden to take decisive action to stop the detention of U.S. citizens.

CNN's Matthew Chance is live in Moscow. Matthew, tell us -- what is Whelan saying?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Paul Whelan -- we got extraordinary access to him. He's a U.S. citizen who is in a prison in central Russia -- in a labor camp there. He was convicted just over a couple of years ago for espionage -- of espionage charges, which he denies were valid in any way.

[05:40:00]

He's speaking out to us because it's just about two weeks from now that President Biden will be meeting his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Geneva, Switzerland for a face-to-face summit -- the first one in Joe Biden's presidency. And he sees this as a good first step towards resolving what he says is an outstanding case.

Take a listen to what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CNN PRODUCER: And if you could get a message to President Biden ahead of this meeting, what would it be?

PAUL WHELAN, AMERICAN IMPRISONED IN RUSSIA: Decisive action is needed immediately. The abduction of an American citizen cannot stand anywhere in the world.

This is not an issue of Russia against me; it is an issue of Russia against the United States. And the United States needs to answer this hostage diplomacy situation and resolve it as quickly as possible. So I would ask President Biden to aggressively discuss and resolve this issue with his Russian counterparts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Aggressively discuss this hostage diplomacy situation, in the words of Paul Whelan there, speaking from his labor camp in central Russia.

To be honest though, Laura, there are -- there's a list as long as your arm of the issues that Presidents Biden and Putin are going to be talking about -- this issue of Americans in Russian jails because there's another one as well -- the very high-profile Trevor Reed.

And, you know, the situation in Ukraine, the situation in hacking, the situation with various other sort of aspects of Russian-maligned activity, all of which is likely to be discussed as these two countries attempt or, I suppose, reset their relationship, although neither side are framing it in those terms -- Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, it will be interesting to see just how aggressive President Biden is when he meets with Vladimir Putin at that summit coming up later this month.

All right, Matthew, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:58]

ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START.

A critical deadline in Israel. Opposition parties have until tonight to form a unity government to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hadas Gold live for us in Jerusalem. Hi, Hadas. HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.

So, yes, we just have 11 hours to go until those coalition parties need to bring forward their agreement. But a source close to the negotiations is telling us that they are very close and that things are progressing, but it could come down to the wire.

But I have to warn you, Christine, that even if things -- even if they make the announcement tonight that they have reached an agreement, it is -- an agreement, it is not over. Because the Israeli Knesset -- the Parliament -- still has to vote on this government and that could take up to seven days before the new government is sworn in.

And seven days is an eternity in Israeli politics. Netanyahu could still potentially try to convince some members of the coalition to pull out. Other outside events, like a collapse of the ceasefire with Hamas militants in Gaza -- that could cause things to change here.

So even if these parties announce that tonight they have reached an agreement to form a new government, things are still not over.

And until the new government is sworn in, Benjamin Netanyahu is still prime minister and he is still making certain comments. For example, he spoke about Iran at a swearing-in of the New Mossad chief and saying that they would rather have friction with the United States than have to deal with the existential threat of a nuclear Iran.

And I think, Christine, it's a sign of how people here think that Benjamin Netanyahu may be in his final few days and that those comments about the friendship with the United States versus Iran --

ROMANS: Yes.

GOLD: -- would normally be incredibly incendiary. But now, they've sort of been -- people are barely noticing them.

ROMANS: Interesting. All right, Hadas Gold, keep us posted. Thank you -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right.

While globally it is good news on the pandemic, the World Health Organization says COVID cases have declined worldwide for a fifth- straight week. But officials warn it would be a monumental error to treat the pandemic like it's over.

Case in point, the president of Brazil, one of the hardest-hit countries, is defending his decision to host a major sporting event there.

EARLY START is covering the pandemic around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, REPORTING FOR CNN (on camera): I am Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota, Colombia. And in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed his intention to host the South American premier soccer tournament, the Copa America, even though Brazil is a country struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brazil is the third country lined up to host the South American premier soccer tournament after the South American Confederation pulled out of Colombia and Argentina last month. And the Copa America is scheduled to start in less than two weeks.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm David McKenzie in Johannesburg.

Multiple Congolese media outlets are reporting that the vice president of the National Assembly says at 32 members of the Parliament have died of COVID-19, a devastating impact. This, in a country that has only distributed a very small amount of vaccines because of suspicion of a lack of capacity. In fact, they gave back more than a million vaccines to the African Union recently despite the impact of the virus.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Melissa Bell in Paris.

A digital COVID certificate system goes live in seven European countries this Tuesday. The certificate will show whether someone has either been fully vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID, or proven negative for the virus in the previous 72 hours.

The idea is that the system will be extended to the whole of the European Union by the first of July. And even beyond long-term, what Europeans are hoping is that American citizens, for instance, will be able to be given the certificate upon their landing in a European country.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Elliott Gotkine in Jerusalem where the Israeli government all remaining coronavirus- related restrictions -- the so-called Green Pass, which people had to show in order to show that they've been vaccinated. So, for example, dine indoors, attend cultural events or sporting events -- that has now been retired.

[05:50:02]

In fact, the only restrictions remaining will be on people to wear masks indoors -- and even that may not last much longer.

So, Israel, the country that led the world in vaccinations, looks to have put, possibly, the coronavirus pandemic completely behind it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right, thanks to all of our reporters for those updates.

Now to courtroom drama in Belarus as a human rights activist stabs himself in the throat. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us live from Berlin. Fred, who was the activist, why was he in court, and why did he do this?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, his name is Stepan Latypov, Laura.

And essentially, he did his because he was on trial in Minsk against the authorities and they were trying to put -- or they had put him in jail in September for asking the I.D. of a police officer. And when his dad gave testimony inside that trial, he later then said that he was being pressured by the authorities. He said that they had threatened to go after him and go after also his family and his papers as well. And then he took out a pen and stabbed himself in the neck.

Now, you can see on that video he's inside the cage so, therefore, it was difficult for court workers to get to him. He was later brought out on a gurney and had to go into surgery. His issues are not life- threatening.

All this, of course, comes as we see an increasing crackdown there in Belarus. Yesterday, there was a meeting between the seventh (ph) delegation and the opposition of Belarus in Lithuania. The Belarusian opposition calling what's going on in Belarus right now state terror.

Of course, all this comes only 10 days after a Ryanair plane was brought down and a journalist was taken off that plane.

Now all eyes, guys, are obviously on that meeting between President Biden and Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin, the last big backer of the dictator Alexander Lukashenko, guys.

JARRETT: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much -- appreciate it.

ROMANS: All right, just about the top of the hour. Let's take a look at business on CNN business this morning.

Looking at markets around the world here, pretty much a mixed performance. Asia closing mixed here. You can see European shares have opened just slightly higher. Those are not big moves. U.S. stock index futures, right now, also not showing a really clear direction overall.

The Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen spoke to China's trade negotiator Liu He yesterday. The Treasury Department said Yellen talked about the Biden administration's economic plans but didn't really say any other details.

Back on Wall Street, stock index futures at the moment here -- again, barely showing direction after ending the first trading day of June mixed. Only the Dow closed up but still fell just short of a record high.

Big news for Amazon. First, it announced dates for its annual Prime Day, June 21 and 22, this year -- and big changes for its employees. First, it will stop tracking workers' productivity by analyzing how much time they spend on breaks. Critics complained it makes Amazon a stressful work environment.

And Amazon says it now supports the legalization of marijuana and won't include marijuana in its pre-employment drug tests.

Amazon said those changes are aimed at its commitment to becoming an attractive employer.

Elon Musk is known, of course, for his controversial use of Twitter. "The Wall Street Journal" reports two of his tweets violated an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Remember, after being criticized for tweeting he was thinking of taking Tesla private, Musk agreed to a deal with the SEC that required Tesla's lawyers pre-approve certain posts he makes on Twitter. The "Journal" said two tweets from 2019 and 2020, one involving solar roof production and one on Tesla's stock price, did not receive that pre- approval.

It's unclear if the SEC will take action against Musk because of those tweets. Tesla did not respond or comment.

JARRETT: All right. A 46-year-old man from China has become the first blind man in Asia and the third in the world to climb Mount Everest. Zhang Hong scaled the tallest peak on the planet from the Nepal side. Hong scaled the 29,000-foot-high Himalayan Mountain on May 24th accompanied by three high-altitude guides.

He says that disabilities and differences do not matter. You can always complete a thing that other people say you can't.

That's an uplifting note to end on.

ROMANS: Inspiring and definitely not on my bucket list.

JARRETT: To climb Mount Everest?

ROMANS: No --

JARRETT: No.

ROMANS: -- but inspiring nonetheless.

Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this new day.

This morning, Donald Trump is telling people he'll be reinstated as president by August. Madness -- dangerous madness.

Plus, a new and stark warning democracy, right now, under attack, and President Biden is putting his number two in charge of fighting it. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And chilling new bodycam video showing the moment that officers first encountered the gunman in the mass shooting at a railyard that took nine lives.

And a socialite and partner of a billionaire's son charged in the mysterious death of a police chief. Was it a drinking game gone awry?

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, June second.

And this morning, our entire democracy is now at risk. History will judge what we do at this moment. Those words from 100 scholars as they watch what is happening across the country -- new voting laws, they say, that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections.

President Biden announced that Vice President Harris will lead the administration's effort to preserve voting rights.