Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Elsa Whips Florida's West Coast With High Winds, Heavy Rain; Biden Urges Vaccine Hesitant Americans to "Think Twice"; FBI Releases 11 New Capitol Videos Seeking Public Tips; Chris Paul Shines as Suns Take Game One Over Bucks. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 07, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:22]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Laura Jarrett. It is Wednesday, July 7. It's 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And we begin with the big breaking news on the storm in Florida. Elsa whipping the west coast of Florida as a tropical storm with sustained winds of about 70 miles per hour. It is expected to make landfall over the next few hours in the Big Bend region.

All day Tuesday, Elsa pounded the Florida coast from Key West, up past Tampa, with high winds and heavy rain.

ROMANS: That's right. Most of Florida's west coast now under a tornado watch until 8:00 a.m. Governor Ron DeSantis placing 33 counties under a state of emergency. The Tampa and Sarasota airports, they are shut down right now. And officials are urging residents stay indoors.

Duke Energy has pre-staged 3,000 employees from other states in north Florida ready to go and restore power after Elsa passes.

CNN's Derek Van Dam live this morning in Tampa.

Derek, tell us what you're seeing there right now.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, good morning, Christi. We've scoured the area of Tampa, we went to South Tampa and Bay Shore Boulevard, the areas that normally flood within in this area. It looks as if they have been spared the worst from what was Hurricane Elsa last night when we arrived and the storm notably collapsed on its in many regards.

But there are still a lot of concerns, especially in some of these bands, these feeder bands we've talked about as meteorologists. These are bands of rain that get fed in from the Gulf of Mexico and they basically move over the same location. So flood concerns still a possibility today. Anywhere from Cape Coral to Orlando, the I-4 corridor running north

and south along Interstate 75, remember brief spin-up tornadoes are also a potential today, because of these feeder bands. They often rotate. A lot of times those tornados are weak.

But there's a lot of pine within central Florida. It doesn't take much to topple trees over and take down power lines with them. So, still a concern.

Things are looking fairly normal here in Tampa. We don't want to over- exaggerate the situation. High tide has passed. That was about 3:30 this morning within the Tampa Bay area.

But are still noticing that the center of the storm, about 75 miles just to my north and west still has the potential to bring quite a punch to that Big Bend region. Fortunately, that's a less-populated area of Florida. It's really as we work our way inland across the peninsula, and, of course, we focus our attention into Georgia, Carolina, and Virginia, where the 5:00 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center has just hoisted new tropical storm warnings. And I'm sure my colleague, Tyler, will be covering all of that in his details.

ROMANS: Yeah.

VAN DAM: I'll send you back to you guys at the news desk.

ROMANS: All right. Derek in Tampa, thank you so much for that.

Laura?

JARRETT: All right. Speaking of Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp declaring a state of emergency, bracing for Elsa's impact. Tropical storm warnings have been extended from just north of Brunswick, Georgia, to the state border between the Carolinas.

Our meteorologist, Tyler Mauldin, is tracking the system from the CNN weather system in Atlanta for us.

So, Tyler, what should we expect over the next day or so?

TYLER MAULDIN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. So, as Derek just mentioned, the 5:00 a.m. update is in. And Tropical Storm Elsa has weakened a little bit more. It's now 56-mile-per-hour storm. And it is going to move to the north and east.

And what we're going to see here is it's going to make landfall later this morning as a weakening tropical storm. It's going to move over, let's say, Lake City, Florida, on into Southeast Georgia, on into the Carolinas. And this is where we do have watches and warnings in effect. You can see the blue here from Southeast Georgia, all the way up north of Charleston, right to the North Carolina/South Carolina line.

That is a tropical storm warning. Then the yellow here from Wilmington, North, that's a tropical storm watch. As this system takes this journey up to the north, it's going to take all of that rainfall, all the thunderstorms that you saw on radar, and it's going to spread it up the eastern seaboard. And for that reason, coastal Georgia and coastal South Carolina is under a level three out of four threat for flash flooding today.

We're also going to see it add some storm surge to this swampy, marshy region here. We could see 1 to 2 feet storm surge across this savannah area into Charleston.

Here's the timing for you. Notice it does may feel landfall right around 9:00 a.m. you can see the thunderstorms pushing up the peninsula, spreading into North Carolina and on into the Virginias, as well. Once we get later on into the week, I do want you to notice this.

[05:05:04]

We're going to see it actually push all the way up into the mid- Atlantic and on into New England, too.

New England, Laura and Christie, could see a 50-mile-per-hour storm, right off its doorstep come Friday.

ROMANS: So definitely working its way up north now.

All right. Tyler, thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. To the pandemic now, President Biden determined to get shots into reluctant arms. The White House fell short of getting 70 percent of adults vaccinated by the Fourth of July, but with the delta variant on the rise, the president says anyone who is still hesitant to roll up their sleeves should think twice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Right now, as I speak to you, millions of Americans are still unvaccinated and unprotected. And because of that, their communities are at risk, their friends are at risk. In today's briefing, we discussed how the delta variant is already responsible for half of all cases in many parts of this country. It's more easily transmissible and potentially more dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yeah, we've reached the point of this pandemic where deaths from here on out are preventable deaths.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Laura and Christine.

President Biden is making this renewed push for people to get vaccinated, something he has obviously been saying for months, but now he says it has a new twist to it, given the number of cases we are seeing with this new delta variant circulating throughout the United States.

And even more alarming, because just hours after Biden spoke, the CDC says now more than half of all the new cases in the United States are because of that delta variant. It is more transmissible, that is causing a great concern for President Biden's top health aides, but also for the president himself, because he has been asking advisers about this in private meetings, questioning, what is the broad impact on the United States going to look like because of this variant?

And the message that you have consistently seen from the White House, which is that if you're vaccinated, you are safe. This is not something you have to worry about. But if you're not vaccinated, you have even more to worry about given just how highly contagious the delta variant is. And now how prevalent it is in the United States.

But I think the question that's also facing the White House is, how do we combat this? How do we focus on this? Because, yes, they sent out those response teams last week, where they are focused on combating the delta variant specifically, we have not seen that yet from the White House.

But also, a lot of the steps that the president talked about yesterday are steps that the administration is largely already taking. He's essentially saying, we're going to keep these going and reinforce them. But I do think at the end of the day, when you look at things like the Kaiser study that came out last week which does suggest that most Americans who are going to get the vaccine have already done so, that raises a level of concern in the White House, about how are they going to convince those millions of Americans who have not yet gotten vaccinated to do so.

The White House is straddling this line of talking about what's going on with the variant, but also marking the progress that the country has made, at points, almost a celebration, where you saw President Biden was saying that he does believe by the end of the week, we are going to get to 160 million Americans fully vaccinated. We're about 3 million short of that right now. And, of course, this has a goal he set for July 4th. We are going to be a few days late in getting the country to get there.

And that comes as the White House says that right now, President Biden does not intend to set any new numerical goals when it comes to vaccinations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Kaitlan Collins at the White House for us, thank you so much.

And it's not just the White House making this big push right now. West Virginia's Republican governor, Jim Justice, offering a few choice awards for anyone in his state who still refuses to get vaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R), WEST VIRGINIA: If you're out there in West Virginia and you're not vaccinated today, what's the downside, if all of us were vaccinated, do you not believe that less people would die? If you're not vaccinated, you're part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Other Republican governors are following suit as well, imploring the unvaccinated in their states to get with the program before the delta variant gets them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON (R), ARKANSAS: We are in a race and if we stop right here and we didn't get a greater percentage of our population vaccinated, then we're going to have trouble in the next school year and over the winter.

JUSTICE: The red states probably have a lot of people that, you know, are very, very conservative in their thinking.

GOV. SPENCER COX (R), UTAH: We're hopeful that reason will rule and people will see how effective these vaccines are. Again, 95 percent of deaths since May have been amongst unvaccinated people in the state. So those are deaths that don't have to happen, hospitalizations that don't have to happen. It's very simple and very easy to get the vaccine now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: These deaths do not have to happen. Governor Spencer Cox of Utah says the politicization of COVID has led to a lot of bad decisions during the pandemic.

ROMANS: Again, we have reached the preventable part of the pandemic here. Preventable with vaccinations.

All right. To the legal battle now over states ending jobless benefits early.

[05:10:02] Temporary relief for out of work residents in Maryland, the state is paying their jobless residents unemployment benefits for another ten days, after losing several court battles to end the program early.

Governor Larry Hogan said he was ending the programs on July 3rd in order to get more people to return to work. One lawyer for the jobless said more than 300,000 Maryland residents are at least one pandemic unemployment insurance program and 85 percent of them will lose all of their support when those payments end.

Situation is much different in Indiana. Benefits there ended on June 19th and have not begun again, despite a state judge blocking the governor's decision to end payments last month. Roughly 230,000 residents are waiting for payments while a lawsuit

works its way through the court system. About half of the states are cutting off extra jobless benefits. The goal is to try to push people back to the jobs market, but economists have said, jobless benefits are only a part of the problem of the worker shortage. You've got child care, school, and health concerns. Family responsibilities are holding millions of workers back. Pandemic programs are set to expire anyway in early September in the states that have continued them.

JARRETT: Still ahead, the FBI releasing 11 brand-new videos of the deadly riots on the Capitol in January. We're going to take a closer look at the disturbing new body cam footage. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:40]

ROMANS: Six months after the capitol insurrection, the FBI has released 11, 11 new disturbing videos of rioters attacking police. The FBI is hoping the new body cam videos will draw additional tips from the public. So far, the agency says it has received more than 200,000 digital media tips leading to the arrest of more than 535 suspects and charges range from assault to conspiracy.

CNN's Whitney Wild has more on these videos and the efforts to shore up security around the U.S. Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Roughly a dozen newly released videos show rioters' vicious attacks on police. In one video, rioters are heard chanting, "our house."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's our house.

WILD: In another, a man in a pro-Trump hat fights with law enforcement. And this footage released Tuesday by the Justice Department captures the moment a rioter allegedly stole a badge and radio from D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone.

Six months after the insurrection, the Capitol Police say the agency is changing to adapt to the new threat landscape. They've purchased more equipment, offered new training and now share intelligence with officers, something glaringly absent before rioters attacked the Capitol.

But officers tell CNN they're worried that the changes amount to marginal differences and fear they're no better prepared today than they were in early January.

Since the insurrection, at least 75 officers have resigned.

TERRY GAINER, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Providing security is done by people. Those officers have to be rested, trained, sharp with good information and well led. The -- when morale is bad, that makes it more difficult. WILD: Terry Gainer is a CNN contributor and the former chief of

Capitol police as well as a former Senate sergeant at arms. He worked on the first review of Capitol security that generated more than 100 recommendations from hiring hundreds more officers to ramping up intelligence operations.

GAINER: We thought some of the recommendations could take upwards of a year or two.

WILD: Physical security around Capitol Hill is slimming. The National Guard, once a large presence, is gone. The outer perimeter fence taken down and in coming days, the inner perimeter fence will likely be folded up too, according to reports.

Long-term fixes will ultimately require Congress to pay for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: CNN's Whitney Wild, thank you for that report.

President Biden is also calling on Americans to stand up to the lies that led to the January 6th insurrection. He still wants to see a bipartisan effort to investigate how it all happened, saying in a statement, quote: This was not dissent, it was disorder. It posed an existential crisis and a test of whether our democracy could survive. A sad reminder that there is nothing guaranteed a about our democracy.

ROMANS: Many Republicans still refuse to consider any kind of investigation, claiming it would be a partisan effort to attack the former president, Donald Trump.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has yet to indicate which Republicans, if any, he will name to the House panel, currently set to investigate the riots.

Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger says that's a shame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I think the vast majority, if not all of them, my colleagues believe that this was a Trump-incited insurrection. If you watch the videos, you get that tinge of guilt. And it's much easier to just paper over that tinge of guilt, hope that this organically just kind of fixes the glitch. And nobody's willing to step up. It's disappointing, of course, it's sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: One can recall just in recent history, the -- the Benghazi, you know, the Benghazi accountability for the Republicans and now right here in our own country, no accountability.

Daniella Diaz joins us from Capitol Hill.

Good morning.

Where do things stand with this House investigation?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, as you guys just discussed, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not yet appointed any Republicans to this House Committee that would investigate the January 6th insurrection. And most Republicans don't want to touch this committee with a 10-foot pole. They want nothing to do with this, because they believe it will be politically damaging for them ahead of the 2022 midterms.

However, there is one Republican that is part of this committee who was appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that is, of course, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and two other conservative firebrand Republicans have expressed interest in joining this committee, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

[05:20:07]

But, you know, other than that, most Republicans don't want to be anywhere near this.

And McCarthy is not offering any hints yet as to where he stands on this. The bottom line is we don't know how this is going to play out yet, or if he will appoint anyone at all -- Laura.

JARRETT: I assume Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are not interested in taking on Donald Trump's role in the insurrection --

ROMANS: Are they looking for truth and accountability or are they looking for, you know --

JARRETT: Headlines.

ROMANS: -- social media headlines?

JARRETT: So, Daniella, while we have you, Representative Andy Kim, he's donating an item to the Smithsonian that apparently he was reluctant to touch again after the riots at the Capitol. Tell us more about that.

DIAZ: Yeah, it's remarkable. Congressman Andy Kim went viral. He became very infamous, where he's on his hands and knees cleaning up the trash before the capitol riot before the joint Congress resumed to certify the election.

He was one of few people other than the custodial staff that got on their hands and knees and personally cleaned the Capitol himself. And he is donating the suit he wore that day to the Smithsonian, as part of an exhibit that will be part -- it will reflect on what happened on January 6th.

He said he couldn't touch that item. It brings back a lot of memories for him. It's really part of a bigger issue here that lawmakers are still processing what happened that day on January 6th when the rioters stormed the Capitol.

JARRETT: You know, there's a lot of trauma leftover from that. And I remember all of the vivid pictures that you took on that day of folks cleaning up, just doing their jobs, cleaning up somebody else's mess made there deliberately.

Thank you very much for all of your reporting, Daniella. Nice to see you.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-one minutes past the hour.

A decision for star sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson now in ahead of Tokyo Olympics after her completely legal marijuana use. What she's saying, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:26:27]

ROMANS: All right. Chris Paul shines for the Suns in game one of the NBA finals.

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

Good morning, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Chris Paul has waited 16 years to play in his first ever NBA finals game, but you would never know it by his performance against the Bucks last night. Sixteen thousand fans on hand to see the first NBA finals game in Phoenix since Michael Jordan and the Bulls won the title in '93. Ten of the Suns' 16 players weren't even born the last time the Suns hosted a finals game.

The Bucks getting two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo back after missing multiple games with a knee injury. He finished with 20 points on the night, but the night belonged to 36-year-old Paul. He scored half of his 32 points in the third quarter alone. Paul joining hall of famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tim Duncan as the only players in finals history age 36 or older to score earn 30 or more in a game. Suns taking the game one in the first step towards their first title with 118-105 win.

Now, Phil Mickelson has won six majors. Tom Brady, seven Super Bowl rings, but they do not make a winning team on the golf course. They lost to Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers in the match for big sky Montana last night, raising $2.46 million for various charities. And from crushing nearly 400 yards drive, to clinching victory with a birdie putt, it seems like there's nothing that the quarterback turned "Jeopardy!" host Aaron Rodgers can't do, except for talking about his future in Green Bay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Hey, Aaron, we go way back. You can tell me, I'll keep it a secret. I promise, I will not put it anywhere.

AARON RODGERS, GREEN BAY PACKERS QUARTERBACK: Charles, I'll tell you this week in Tahoe and you can -- you can leak it.

REPORTER: Okay. I got you. Dinner's on me.

RODGERS: That'll be a first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Plenty of trash talking.

The reigning NFL MVP has skipped the entire off-season program in a riff fueled by Philosophical difference with the team.

And former navy football captain Cameron Kinley will get a cans to be Tom Brady's teammate after all. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, reversing course, granting the undrafted quarterback permission to attend training camp with the Bucs later this month. President Biden praised the decision, saying in a statement, quote, I am confident that Cameron will represent the Navy well in the NFL, just as he did as a standout athlete and class president at the Naval Academy. After his NFL career is over, he will continue to make us proud as an officer in the United States Navy, unquote.

Kinley majored in political science and says he dreams of being the president of the United States one day. I did a feature on him for our annual Army/Navy coverage. Kinley carries three daily planners with him to stay organize when he was there at school. One for sports, one for academics, and one detailing all of his duties being class president. It's the type of person you can root for, and we will make us all proud.

JARRETT: I love a type "A" personality. All right, Coy, thank you. Appreciate it.

Well, star sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson will miss the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, now officially left off the roster for the U.S. track and field's relay team after a one-month suspension for her marijuana use. Richardson tested positive for the drug after winning the individual 100-meter race at the U.S. trials last month in Oregon.

Now, drug is legal there, but it's still a banned substance under USATF rules. That sparked an outcry from critics who point out that marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug.

Richardson, though, taking the news in stride, tweeting that she believes her misfortune.