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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

European Union Reopens to U.S. Travelers, Vaccinated or Not; President Biden Signs Juneteenth National Holiday Into Law; McConnell Rejects Manchin's Compromise on Voting Rights Bill; Iranians Head to Polls in Controversial Presidential Election; Bucks Bounce Back, Force Game 7 with Nets. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 18, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:25]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, June 18th. Happy Friday, everybody. Five a.m. exactly in New York.

And we begin with some breaking news, folks. A major milestone in global reopening from this pandemic. The European Union opening its borders to travelers from the U.S. whether they have been vaccinated or not.

CNN's Melissa Bell standing by live in Paris.

Melissa, this is what I find really interesting, whether they are vaccinated or not. Tell us about that and a when this begins.

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the big difference and it is officially adopted today by the European Council that's going to happen in a couple hours and basically that means it's up and ready. So far, it's been easier for vaccinated Americans who have begun to be able to come to some European countries. Now the big news is that non-vaccinated Americans are also going to be able to come and that's because the United States has been put on the E.U.'s green list, that means they consider that the situation in terms of COVID-19 is sufficiently under control that this change can be made.

It still remains up to individual member states to decide what those unvaccinated American tourists will need to bring with them, for instance, a negative PCR test. But the bottom line is that American citizens are once again going to be able to travel freely to and from the European Union whether or not they've been vaccinated.

I think the fact that they've been able to make this decision amongst the 27 countries this quickly in the end is really a measure of how much Europe needs those American tourist dollars back into the economy, back in 2019 free-pandemic times, 2019, tourism brought into the European union more than $2.5 trillion. And, of course, what we're seeing now is this reopening in terms of

the streets of cities like Paris, by the way, the most visited in the world, you can once again walk around without a mask. The terraces and cafes are open, life is once again up and going. But what everyone will tell you from the taxi drivers to the hotel owners to the restaurateurs is that the last and most important thing that's missing for the time being are the tourists.

ROMANS: Oh, yes. Let me ask you quickly. I mean, I'm assuming that someone who was unvaccinated can't just go to Paris and not be tested, PCR tested. Do we know?

BELL: No, that's right. Individual countries will be making that decision, the French foreign minister has been speaking about it this morning. He said, look, we want Americans back and we want them back fast for economic reasons. I expect you will see individual countries like France say an unvaccinated American wanting to come to Europe, want to go come to France can do to so with a negative test. It's going to be those details we will get over the coming hours and days.

ROMANS: And we'll be watching you for those details. Thank you so much, Melissa Bell.

BELL: All right. One person has been killed and a dozen others injured in what appears to be a terrifyingly random shooting rampage in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. The victims were spread out across eight scenes in three cities.

More now from CNN's Josh Campbell in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, just a horrifying violent scene yesterday near Phoenix. Police say four people were shot, one fatally as a gunman went on a shooting spree for more than hour in the city's northwest suburbs. Nine other people were hurt by shrapnel and debris during the rampage, authorities said, noting they were tracking a total of eight separate incidents.

As they attempted to locate the gunman, police said a firefighter spotted the suspect's vehicle as officers descended on that location, they took the gunman into custody without incident. Authorities believed there was only one shooter and have not released a suspected motive but said there was no longer an apparent threat to the community.

Just a terrifying series of incidents in the Phoenix area on Thursday. This, of course, comes as the nation continues to grapple with a rise in gun violence from coast to coast -- Christine, Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: It's official. Juneteenth is now a federal holiday in the U.S. The date June 19th, of course, commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. The bill celebrated at a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus

sailed through Congress despite some minor Republican opposition in the House, but let's be fair, this was overwhelmingly adopted by your lawmakers. It was signed into law Thursday by President Biden who called the event one of the greatest honors of his presidency. It's the first new national holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

JARRETT: Ninety-four-year-old Opal Lee spent years trying to get Juneteenth formally recognized as a national holiday.

[05:05:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPAL LEE, "THE GRANDMOTHER OF JUNETEENTH": I guess I thought it would be like this, but to have it actually happen was -- which use the phrase the children use, it off the chain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Good use of that phrase.

At the same time, others have worried that celebrating this new holiday serves as a foil when there is still such staunch opposition to facing harder issues of systemic racism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLI)

DL HUGHLEY, AUTHOR, "HOW TO SURVIVE AMERICA": When we order was justice, it's dope (ph) that we got Juneteenth, I think that it's horrible we can get 100 senators to vote on Juneteenth but not George Floyd. You can't want to teach -- you can't want to celebrate Juneteenth, what is the end of slavery, but not want to teach it in your schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yeah, this isn't the end. This is the beginning of a national reckoning on the original sin of America's past, America's development.

June 19th falls on a Saturday this year. The law went into effect immediately making Friday the first holiday leaving a bit of a scramble for employers. As a result many workers will have to wait until next year to enjoy the day off.

Sometimes the New York Stock Exchange is closed on federal holidays, it will be open today but they're evaluating that for next year. It happened too fast to be able to close markets.

JARRETT: Yeah, even though it seemed to be heading that way, everyone seemed surprised still.

All right. Speaking of resistance to change, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is vowing to block new voting legislation from moving forward. Now, that's despite a compromise offer from key Senate Democrat Joe Manchin that had included GOP proposals. Now it's all about guaranteed Republicans will filibuster the sweeping voting rights bill Democrats plan to send to the floor next week.

Ryan Nobles has the latest on all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Significant reforms to America's voting laws have been a key priority for Democrats in this version of the U.S. Congress and they do feel like they're making progress. The house has already passed a sweeping bill called the For the People Act but it's run into road blocks here in the United States Senate. Not just with Republicans, but with a key Democrat, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.

Well, Manchin has now released his version of this bill that he thinks he can support and it's been met with some optimism from Democrats. They don't like everything that Manchin has proposed, but the negotiations seem to be headed in the right direction. Still there remains a significant obstacle and that is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Listen to what he had to say about Manchin's proposed reforms to the bill.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: I think all of you surely know how all Republicans feel about this proposal, it's a solution in search of a problem. There's now a debate among Democrats over a revised version. All Republicans, I think, will oppose that as well.

NOBLES: Now, McConnell's opposition is significant because in order to get anything through the Senate, it requires ten Republican votes. If McConnell says Republicans are not going to support it, they likely will not.

So, that means forward for this bill to get through Democrats would need to break up the filibuster for it and that's something that Manchin has said he cannot do. So, while Manchin believes that he can come around to supporting some form of voting reforms, unless he's willing to also break up the filibuster, this bill is not going anywhere.

Now, Democrats remain hopeful that Manchin will come around. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she believes in Joe Manchin, there is certainly a lot of pressure being applied to Manchin to make that change and take that step.

At this point, he says, he is unwilling to do so, but we'll have to see what happens as Democrats continue to apply that pressure. The Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he will bring the bill to the floor, at least begin that process as soon as next week.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Ryan.

All right. Bank of America is giving workers a Labor Day deadline to get back to the office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN MOYNIHAN, BANK OF AMERICA CHAIRMAN & CEO: The view is after Labor Day, our view is all the vaccinated teammates will be back and we will be able to operate fairly normally, and we'll then start to make provisions for the other teammates as we move through the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's not just Bank of America, all the big Wall Street banks want workers back to the office, the Morgan Stanley CEO said he would be disappointed if New Yorkers aren't back to the office in the fall.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JAMES MORGAN, CEO, MORGAN STANLEY: If you can go to a restaurant in New York City you can come into the office and we want you in the office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Goldman Sachs workers returned to the office this week. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said remote work doesn't work for those who want to, quote, hustle and it hampers collaborative work.

Experts cite a few reasons for this rush back to the office like culture. Banking is a face to face business, and Zoom and Zak -- and Slack rather are no substitute for in person bonding and training.

[05:10:01]

Others worry about cybersecurity, working remotely puts that at risk especially when conducting billions of dollars in transactions.

When we began this show talking about Europe opening for unvaccinated Americans, a new phase in the coronavirus pandemic and these banks recognize that new phase, time to go back to the office.

JARRETT: But why wait until September? The rates of the virus are actually really low right now. Why wait until September when it might resurge because of variants?

ROMANS: Schools.

JARRETT: Yeah.

ROMANS: Day care, child care, all of these reasons that have disrupted so many working families, they want to make sure the provisions for all their workers to get back safely and for their families. JARRETT: All right. It's election day in Iran. We'll tell you why

turnout is expected to actually be so low for this controversial presidential election. We are live in Tehran. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Fresh off the Geneva summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now lavishing praise on President Biden, calling him a professional who is completely knowledgeable on all issues.

[05:15:01]

The Kremlin state media has portrayed Biden as weak, not up to the job and even as someone who might not last through his presidency. Putin now says, never mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This image of President Biden which is pictured by Russian and U.S. media does not correspond to reality.

This image of him can feel discouraging but there is no need to be discouraged because President Biden is a professional and he should be very precise while working with him to not miss anything. He doesn't miss a thing.

I repeat once again, he is focused, he understands what he wants to achieve and reaches it very skillfully. You can easily feel it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Interesting comments there.

Well, during their three-hour meeting, President Biden pressed Putin on a host of issues including cyber attacks targeting U.S. companies and infrastructure that have been attributed to Russia-based criminals.

ROMANS: Iranians are heading to the polls today in a presidential election that is all but decided. The practically uncontested front runner is judicial chief Ebrahim Raisi, a close associate of Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Al Khamenei. He became the front runner after most of their other serious contenders were barred from the race.

Frederik Pleitgen is in Tehran.

So glad to have you there.

We know you have such expertise in the region. We understand Iran's electronic balloting machines are malfunctioning and that's creating some sort of a delay in voting. Tell us what's happening there.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it certainly, Christine, it's created some issues early on in the voting. Apparently, some people also went home after they waited for a long time for the electronic ballot machines. Those are only in some places, though. Authorities say they are trying to get that under control.

As you can see here, we are in one of the main polling stations in Tehran and there is quite a few people who were coming here to vote. One of the big issues or the big question about this election really is how many people are actually going to turn out. There was some fear on the part of the authorities that people might stay home, that voter turnout could be very low. In fact, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the voted early today and urged people to go to the polls because he said no voting would strengthen as he called it the enemy -- which obviously referring to the United States.

The main issue on the minds of most voters that we've been speaking torques we've been to several polling stations in the city has been Iran's economy, suffering under the crippling sanctions put in place by the Trump administration. Then, of course, trying to get the nuclear agreement back on track. And the candidate you were talking about who is very much the front runner, Ebrahim Raisi, he has said, despite being very, very conservative, we has said he wants to remain in the nuclear agreement and wants the U.S. to come back in, but simply because that's what the supreme leader has decided he wants as well as, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Fred for us in Tehran, at that voting place, thanks so much, Fred. Talk soon.

JARRETT: All right. Tensions on the rise once again in Gaza. Israeli Defense Forces striking Hamas military targets overnight. It's the second time this week.

Hadas Gold is monitoring all the latest developments for us live from Jerusalem.

Hadas, what started this latest round of violence and what happened to the ceasefire?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, for the second time in three days, Israeli fighter jets have struck what they say are Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Now, the Israeli military saying that these air strikes are in response to a barrage of incendiary balloons that militants have been sending from Gaza into Israel.

These are essentially helium-filled. They look like party decorations but they are attached to either explosive or other devices that are lit on fire and send over the border.

Israeli officials say that over the past few years, these types of balloons have caused thousands of acres to burn in southern Israel. This is part of a new position on the Israeli side where they want to respond to everything. In the past, these balloons -- it's hard to say they would have been tolerated, but they wouldn't have received the same level of response as these amount of air strikes we're seeing in the past few days.

Overnight, last night, the IDF says it struck a rocket launch site as well as military compounds. On Tuesday night, the military said it struck military targets in Gaza but so far, no casualties have been reported.

And I think we need to keep in mind the messaging being sent by both Hamas sending balloons but not rockets and the Israeli military striking targets in the Gaza Strip but not high level targets and no casualties reported. The Israeli military chief of staff who is actually supposed to fly to the United States on Saturday need says he has held a situational assessment where he instructed the Israeli military to increase its readiness and preparedness for a possible resumption of hostility.

So far, Hamas not launching any rockets from Gaza into Israel, but it shows you how tense the situation is here and any sort of move any which way could cause this situation to even further escalate -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right. Hadas, we know you're staying on top of it. Thanks.

ROMANS: All right. Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka with another big announcement where fans can see her on the court, next.

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[05:24:24]

ROMANS: All right. Friday morning, 24 minutes past the hour.

The Bucks bounce back to force a game seven in their series with the Nets.

Coy Wire has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Good morning, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Good to see you.

After blowing a 17-point lead in game five, the Bucks knew they had to be more aggressive at home in game six or they would be knocked out of the playoffs early again this season. And aggressive they were.

Giannis in attack mode, didn't attempt a three-pointer all game for the first time all post season. Good on eight of his first nine shots, but it was Chris Middleton putting this one of the best games of his career. Leading the way for Milwaukee 38 points, ten rebounds, five assists and five steals.

[05:25:00]

My goodness.

Brooklyn's Joe Harris said afterwards this series has been like a dog fight. Well, it's the Bucks with the big bark and bite last night. The Greek freak went for 30. Bucks win it 104-89, forcing the best two words in sports, game seven. In Brooklyn tomorrow, the home team has won every game of this series.

Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from Wimbledon. Her agent confirming the 23-year-old wants to take some personal time with friends and family but she will play next month's Olympics in her home country Japan. Osaka withdrew you may remember from the French Open last month after being fined for refusing to speak to the media there, citing potential negativity that can arise during media sessions. Osaka says she's suffered long bouts of depression dating back to her first grand slam title win in 2018.

An emotional scene in Copenhagen where Denmark and Belgium paying tribute to soccer star Christian Eriksen who suffered cardiac arrest and nearly died on the field on Saturday in Euro's action. Eriksen wearing the number 10, both teams stopping in the tenth minute to applaud him, the fans joining in. Eriksen has been recovering in the hospital, just yards from the stadium and it will be given a heart starter device to help prevent future attacks. Belgium beat Denmark 2- 1.

To golf now and the U.S. Open under way at Torrey Pines, Brooks Koepka had his putter working early. Four birdies in his opening round. He finishes 2 under par, two shots behind co-leaders Russell Henley and Louis Oosthuizen. Koepka has had a well-publicized a feud with Bryson DeChambeau in recent weeks.

And check out Bryson trying to photo bomb him, just like he did in the PGA championship. Koepka was up on the riser, so maybe didn't quite have the same effect there.

All right. Finally, the Diamondbacks making history yesterday and not the kind they want. Arizona losing its 23rd straight game away from the desert, getting routed by the Giants 10-3. That, Christine and Laura, is the longest road losing streak in modern baseball history dating all the way back to the year 1900. It's their 14th straight loss overall, and the 37th loss in their last 72 games.

Talking about being on the wrong side of history, Diamondbacks fans know that all too well.

ROMANS: I'd say so.

JARRETT: Not so great.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Coy. Thank you.

WIRE: You, too.

JARRETT: Thanks, Coy.

All right. This housing market is so hot. Christine Romans tells you it every day, even a house from hell rakes in all cash above asking price, offers, graffiti everywhere, a freezer in the basement -- get this -- full of meat with no electricity. It attracts a bidding war. That's next.

ROMANS: Gross. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)