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Manchin Won't Support Voting Rights Bill, Biden Agenda Crippled; Mexico's President Loses Grip On Power in Midterm Elections; Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Welcome A Baby Girl, Lilibet Diana. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired June 07, 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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[05:31:24]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour.
Senate Joe Manchin tanking Democrats' hopes of going it alone on their sweeping agenda. This means bills on voting rights, police reform, and more may be on life support.
On Sunday, Manchin defended his decision to vote against a sweeping voting rights bill. In an op-ed published in the "Charleston Gazette" he says, "I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy."
Of course, that fails to consider dozens of partisan GOP-sponsored bills and states across the country already making it harder for people to vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I think it's the wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country, and I'm not supporting that because I think it would divide us further. I believe there's a lot more of my Republican colleagues that feel the same way. I'm just hoping they are able to rise to the occasion to defend our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: You may remember Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said his number one objective is to block President Biden's agenda.
So what now? Progressives are already frustrated and likely going to ramp up pressure on President Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMIE HARRISON, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I'm very disappointed in Sen. Manchin's decision and obviously, I disagree. Because listen, I know he wants to protect democracy but there will be no democracy if we don't protect the rights to vote to all Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Manchin didn't stop at the voting rights bill. He also reiterated his opposition to gutting the filibuster, the Senate rule that requires 60 votes for most legislation to pass. This all but guarantees any legislation opposed by even a small number of Senate Republicans will fail.
JARRETT: It's time for three questions in three minutes. Let's bring in CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. John --
ROMANS: Hi, John.
JARRETT: -- happy Monday.
So, the president has said repeatedly --
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Laura.
JARRETT: Good morning -- that he wants bipartisanship but that he won't wait around forever for the GOP. But it seems to me members of his own party -- in particular now, Sen. Manchin, by his own admission -- is the real stumbling block in this 50-50 Senate. So how does the president navigate all this?
HARWOOD: It's very difficult. It's hard to know whether Joe Manchin is performing and showing his constituents in West Virginia who voted for President Trump by a margin of more than 30 percentage points -- a very Trumpy state that he represents -- whether he's trying to show them that he's gone as far as he can possibly go with Republicans and then decide to stick with his own party or whether he, in fact, does not want to see an infrastructure bill of the size and with the financing that the president's proposed or a comprehensive voting rights legislation to pass.
The fact that he opposes the For the People Act -- which has -- is packed with a lot of other things like public financing for campaigns -- doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't support voting rights. But we're not going to know for sure until Democratic leaders decide we've played this out long enough, let's put it to the test. Let's put some of these things to a vote. That's when we're going to find out.
ROMANS: Hey, John, I want to play deejay this morning. I want to play this old-school Johnny Paycheck song.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY PAYCHECK, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "Take This Job and Shove It."
(END VIDEO CLIP) JARRETT: I like Christine as deejay.
ROMANS: You're welcome. That's going to be in your head all day long.
But John, 'take this job and shove it' seems to really be the mantra for American workers right now. For the first time I can remember in the American economy, the worker has the leverage here, not the employer.
[05:35:00]
Now, you write that President Biden is delivering more leverage for workers even if it's not how he planned. Explain.
HARWOOD: Christine, as you know because we both covered it, the story of the American economy over the last generation or two has been one of rising choices for business.
ROMANS: Yes.
HARWOOD: They could go overseas for cheaper labor to build factories. They could turn to automation and reduce the number of people who work for them. We've seen that in a lot of different kind of manufacturing processes.
Joe Biden came in saying well, I'm going to strengthen unions so you can bargain for more money. I'm going to spend a lot of money on infrastructure so it will create a lot of high-paying jobs. And I'm going to expand your skills through higher -- through expanded education and make it easier for you to command more money in the marketplace.
That's not what's happening right now. What's happening right now is that because of the uneven recovery from the pandemic -- businesses closed, workers scattered -- businesses are scrambling to find people. And there's been -- through relief checks and through expanded unemployment, there have been more options given --
ROMANS: Yes.
HARWOOD: -- to workers to say wait, I won't take that job. I'll wait for this job. That's bidding wages up and that is a good feeling for a lot of American workers.
An unsettling time for the economy overall and a lot of people have paid big prices for the pandemic, but this is a moment of opportunity for workers.
ROMANS: Yes, I agree.
JARRETT: John, the president is heading overseas for his first overseas trip this week. Ahead of the G7, he writes this. Quote, "This trip is about realizing America's renewed commitment to our allies and partners, and demonstrating the capacity of democracies to both meet the challenges and deter the threats of this new age." One of those big new threats obviously includes cyber warfare -- why -- where -- warfare -- excuse me -- it's a Monday -- now a daily threat to American life. Of course, we've seen this fuel. We've seen food.
What is Biden's top agenda -- objective on this threat, I should say.
HARWOOD: I think the core foreign policy objective for President Biden that we'll see reflected on this trip is a turn away from what was seen during the Trump administration as a go-it-alone -- that America First strategy --
JARRETT: Yes.
HARWOOD: -- where you had an impulsive president saying I'm going to protect America and not pay so much attention to the concerns of allies.
Joe Biden has spent 40 years working in the field of foreign policy. He understands the nature of the power that you get from countries with like values -- advanced democracies working together -- and so I think he's going to underscore that.
And that's relevant to cyber. It's relevant to the recovery from the pandemic, for the economy, for standing up for the interest of liberal advanced democracies, liberal small --
ROMANS: Yes.
HARWOOD: -- notion people that are concerned about human rights and concerned about democracy against China and Russia and countries that want to challenge what those democracies want to do.
And I think both in the meetings with NATO and his meeting -- sit-down with Vladimir Putin, he's going to try to stand up for those interests and tell Vladimir Putin you're not going to get this easy of a ride as you had under President Trump under me.
JARRETT: Yes. It will really be interesting to see what that summit holds for the two of them.
All right, John. Thanks so much for getting up with us -- appreciate it.
ROMANS: All right, what keeps --
HARWOOD: You bet.
ROMANS: -- what keeps the Senate sergeant-at-arms up at night? Not what you think.
Karen Gibson says political rhetoric is leading to an increase in threats toward lawmakers. Gibson tells CNN threats began rising in 2020 before the insurrection even happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAREN GIBSON, SENATE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: I think what concerns me is a group of Americans that have fallen for some conspiracy theories and just some whacked-out ideas that are not based in fact. And, you know, I say tongue-in-cheek now that we have a vaccine for COVID I think we need to work on one for disinformation, but I am concerned about people who just cannot separate fact from fiction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: She added that it's the threat of a cyberattack on the U.S. Capitol, not another riot, that keeps her up at night.
JARRETT: All right, a major setback for Mexico's president in Sunday's blood-stained midterm elections.
Matt Rivers is in Mexico City for us. Matt, good morning. What's the latest there?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, commonly known as Amlo here -- Mexico's president -- certainly didn't have the kind of night that he was hoping for with preliminary election results showing that he will actually -- his party will actually lose seats here in Mexico's lower house of Congress. They're going to win somewhere around 200 seats. Even when you combine those seats with those seats of the political governing allies here -- the coalition that they have -- it's not going to be enough for a supermajority in the lower house of Congress.
And this is a small setback for Mexico's president who was hoping to get that supermajority in order to push through some constitutional reforms and major legislation items. That is not going to happen now without the help of opposition candidates.
[05:40:00]
Critics are going to say look, this is Mexico's voting electorate rebuking a president that they say has centralized power in the presidency, has undermined democratic institutions. Amlo supporters here would say well, he's still the most powerful political figure in this country, he still holds a majority, and he still has more power than anybody else here. But there's no doubt that practically speaking, Amlo has less political power this morning than he did yesterday.
Meanwhile, these elections continued a very bloody trend here in Mexico. At least 96 politicians or candidates from campaigns throughout the campaign season, which started last September, that have been killed since last September. More than 900 crimes against candidates have been committed as well -- Laura.
JARRETT: Oh, just remarkable. Thanks so much -- appreciate it.
ROMANS: All right, Monday morning. It's that time to get a check on CNN Business to start the new week.
Looking at markets around the world, a mixed performance in Asia. Also, European shares have opened narrowly mixed here.
You're looking at U.S. stock index futures there, barely moving this morning. Stocks rallied after Friday's jobs report with the S&P 500 closing just below a record high.
This week will test how well investors can stomach signs of inflation. The consumer price index for May is due on Thursday. In April, the CPI jumped more than four percent year-over-year. That's the fastest jump in prices since 2008. Investors are hoping the price spikes are temporary and supply bottlenecks will work themselves out.
Of course, it's the downside of a roaring economic recovery -- those higher prices. And global food prices hit their highest level in a decade, spiking almost five percent from April to May. That's according to the United National Food Prices Index. Prices are up nearly 40 percent year-over-year.
Global inflation is raising prices on everything from lumber to steel and energy. In the U.S., consumers are feeling those increases. Overall, food prices -- food prices in the U.S. were up 2.4 percent in April from last year. Food and vegetable prices up over three percent. Prices for beef, pork, and chicken are also rising.
And it's not just food. Toilet paper, diapers, soft drinks, plane tickets, used cars, chlorine for your pool -- even a can of paint about double what it was last year.
A huge rebound also in energy prices. U.S. oil prices hit $70.00 a barrel over the weekend, the first time in nearly three years.
Now remember, prices tumbled below zero -- I'm not kidding -- in April 2020 after the pandemic caused this crash in demand. As the economy reopens and demand for gas and jet fuel increases, so do prices. The average price for a gallon of gas, about $3.00 a gallon. It's up about two bucks from last year.
We'll be right back.
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[05:46:40]
ROMANS: All right, some baby news this Monday morning, and all baby news is good news. It's official -- Archie is a big brother. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announcing the birth of their second child, a baby girl named after both her grandmother and great-grandmother.
CNN's Anna Stewart is live in London. OK, the name -- a nickname and Diana's name as a second name. What do we make of it?
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's all pretty cute, isn't it, Christine? A nice story to start the week with.
Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, a bit of a mouthful -- but for short, she will be called Lili. And I can tell you, this is a name fit for a queen because Lilibet, as you said just then, is actually the queen's nickname at home and has been since the queen was a toddler and struggled to say Elizabeth. A very tricky name. I think Lili will be easier.
And I think this is quite nice, in a way, because it shows that despite all the tension that we've spoken about for the last couple of years now between the Sussexes and the royal family -- clearly, family is important to Prince Harry and Meghan.
And this baby very much part of the Windsor dynasty. Middle name, Diana -- a tribute to her late grandmother, Princess Diana.
So really sweet news very much welcomed by all of the royal family. We've had lots of tweets yesterday as the news was announced.
Interestingly, Christine, we got the news two days after Lili was born and it was just such a stark difference to when Archie was born here in the U.K. and we were told by Buckingham Palace within just hours and there was a huge media storm. And I think the birth of Lili really reflects the more private life, I guess, of Prince Harry and Meghan.
ROMANS: The baby born in Santa Barbara, right -- in California?
STEWART: Exactly.
ROMANS: All right, California Dreamin'.
All right, thanks so much. Nice to see you, Anna Stewart -- Laura.
JARRETT: All right, a hard right turn --
ROMANS: Yes.
JARRETT: -- after some fun baby news.
A new video shows an Oregon lawmaker appearing to offer tips on how to break into the state's Capitol building. State Rep. Mike Nearman there was previously accused of allowing protesters to flood into the building while lawmakers were debating COVID restrictions.
Now, in this new video posted on YouTube, you can hear the Republican lawmakers hinting at how to access the building.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STATE REP. MIKE NEARMAN (R-OR): You know, we're talking about setting up Operation Hall Pass, which I don't know anything about, and if you accuse me of knowing something about it I'll deny it.
But there would be some person's cell phone which might be (audio gap) -- but that was just random numbers that I spewed out. That's not anybody's actual cell phone. And if you say I'm at the west entrance during the session and text to that number there, that somebody might exit that door while you're standing there.
I don't know anything about that. I don't have anything to do with that and if I did I wouldn't say that I did. So -- but anyway, that's -- that number that I didn't say was (audio gap) so don't text that number -- but a number like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: That dead air that you were hearing there were numbers that we bleeped out, but they aren't random. CNN confirmed that the numbers he gave out are, in fact, his number.
Nearman has been charged with misconduct and second-degree criminal trespass related to letting those protesters in the building.
Just an incredible story there.
ROMANS: Wow.
JARRETT: All right, two are under arrest in California now for this road rage incident that left a 6-year-old boy dead. Eriz Marcus Anthony (sic) and Lee Wynne (sic) are expected to be charged with murder.
Aiden Leos was shot as he was riding in the back seat of a car being driven by his mother. At a memorial service this weekend, Aiden's mom said "The joy that Aiden brought into our lives was insurmountable."
[05:50:04]
ROMANS: I'm glad there's arrests there but still, a terrible, terrible story there.
A major win for the Biden administration. The G7 finance ministers agreed to back a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent on multinational companies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: The G7 has taken significant steps this weekend to end the existing harmful dynamic, making commitments today that provide tremendous momentum towards achieving a robust, global minimum tax at a rate of at least 15 percent. That global minimum tax would end the race to the bottom in corporate taxation and ensure fairness for the middle-class and working people in the U.S. and around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen called it an unprecedented commitment from the world's richest economies. The aim here, to prevent companies from avoiding taxes by shifting profits overseas.
Getting support for the global tax rate is critical ahead of the G7 leaders' summit. A large part of paying for President Biden's $1.4 trillion infrastructure plan hinges on support for this global minimum tax.
The agreement could also affect Silicon Valley. Foreign governments have repeated argued tech giants like Apple, Facebook, and Google should pay them more in taxes. Some have passed taxes specifically targeting revenue generated by big tech -- or passed laws doing that.
JARRETT: The U.S. men's soccer team pulls off a dramatic win over Mexico despite some unruly fan behavior. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Laura.
So, the U.S. Men's national team looking to continue to improve as they head towards World Cup qualifying in September, and their Nations League finals matchup with Mexico in Denver -- it certainly got ugly towards the end of this game. In the closing moments of the second half, the game actually halted for three minutes due to fans using an anti-gay chant.
Now, the game would go to extra time and U.S. men's star Christian Pulisic gets a penalty and he would bury it into the right corner to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead. Now, while celebrating, Mexican fans throwing cups and bottles at the players, hitting Giovanni Reyna right in the face.
Now, moments later in the game, Mexico did have a chance to tie this game on a penalty, but backup goalie Ethan Horvath comes up with the save of his life. That would win it for Team USA. Three-two was the final.
All right, we're less than two months away from the Summer Olympics and Simon Biles looks like she is certainly ready. The 24-year-old -- she put on a masterful performance, claiming a record-breaking seventh U.S. gymnastics championship. She won the all-around by nearly five points.
In Tokyo, Biles is going to become the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic all-around titles in more than 50 years.
All right, to the NBA -- game seven between the Clippers and the Mavs. Luka Doncic doing everything he could to try to get Dallas in the second round. He scored 19 in the first quarter and had 46 for the game.
But, Kawhi Leonard leading the Clippers on a 24 to four run in the third quarter. L.A. would run away with it 126-111. The first time the home team won a game in this series.
The Clippers now move on to face the Jazz in round two.
All right. Serena Williams' quest for grand slam title number 24 is going to have to wait after she was upset yesterday in the fourth round of the French Open. The 39-year-old losing in straight sets to Elena Rybakina. Get this, Rybakina wasn't even born when Serena began playing in the French Open back in 1998.
Serena now going to set her sights on Wimbledon later this month.
All right, to golf, where Patrick Cantlay said his victory at the Memorial yesterday felt weird, and for good reason. John Rahm was up by six shots on Saturday when officials told him on
the 18th green after he finished his round that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Rahm breaking down in tears when he heard the news and that he was going to have to withdraw from the tournament.
Rahm had come into contact with someone who had the virus on Monday and all of his tests had come back negative throughout the week until Saturday. Rahm is asymptomatic but is going to have to isolate for 10 days.
All right. Finally, Floyd Mayweather back in the ring last night taking on YouTuber Logan Paul in an exhibition. Paul outweighed Mayweather by 35 pounds, six inches taller, and 18 years younger, and he was able to last all eight rounds against Mayweather. Neither guy knocking the other one down.
And since it wasn't an official match, the judges ended it in a draw.
And Mayweather, guys, saying after the match that hey, Paul was better than he thought he was going to be. But the fight getting mixed reviews on social media --
ROMANS: Wait --
SCHOLES: -- as most fights do when there isn't a clear winner.
ROMANS: Is that -- was that -- the Logan Paul guy -- he was like a YouTuber or something first, right?
SCHOLES: Oh, yes -- Vine, YouTube, yes. And now he's a professional fighter.
JARRETT: You're dating -- you're dating yourself.
ROMANS: Am I? I don't know. All right, Andy, thanks so much.
JARRETT: All right, Andy, thank you -- appreciate it.
ROMANS: Two things I don't know anything about, boxing and YouTubers.
JARRETT: A YouTuber.
[05:55:00]
ROMANS: All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.
ROMANS: Did you know he was a YouTuber?
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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this new day.
Breaking overnight, new comments from Liz Cheney. What the Republican congresswoman said about Kevin McCarthy, her safety, and why she compares Donald Trump to Communist China.
Plus, a rare warning from Israel's security chief. Be prepared for January sixth.
