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14 House Republicans Voted Against Juneteenth Holiday; 21 GOP Reps Vote Against Giving Medals To 1/6 Officers. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 17, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: They're encouraged that bipartisanship is happening. They would like to do something about bipartisan space. But, you know, this is going to be very challenging to them.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: And so it's -- and now we're talking about infrastructure because it is the gateway, if you will, that's the one they said, we're going to deal with this first, and then everything is lined up behind that if you would either you do a bipartisan deal, then you go to reconciliation, but whatever. You make an infrastructure decision first and then everything else, including voting rights.

Mitch McConnell just said at a daily briefing, that he's not for anything he has seen so far, that he doesn't believe you need one right now, which is why this is interesting, because Joe Manchin has said the big house plan, no, he thinks it's too big. He thinks it's too sweeping. But he wants he says he's open to trying to some compromise. So Stacey Abrams, the Georgia activist to whom Joe Biden knows quite a bit for the 2020 election, this is very interesting. Today she says, I'm listening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS, FOUNDER & CHAIR, FAIR FIGHT ACTION: Absolutely. What Senator Manchin is putting forward are some basic building blocks that we need to ensure that democracy is accessible no matter your geography.

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KING: If they can connect that significantly interesting within the Democratic side of getting your 50 votes or getting Joe Manchin to agree to do that in reconciliation or some version of interrupting the filibuster. But Joe Manchin wants a voter I.D. law.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. I mean, this is very complicated. I mean if you think about where the Republican Party is, right now, they are into curtailing voting rights in various states around the country, Texas, Georgia being one of them, Florida as well. So the idea that you're going to be able to cobble together 10 Republicans to back some version of these voting rights bill, whether it's the sort of skinny one, the John Lewis one, it's just hard to believe and hard to imagine that they would do that. They don't really want to give Joe Biden any sort of when going into the 2022 campaign.

I mean, John Barrasso I think says it quite plainly. They don't want to have any momentum behind Joe Biden's back. They want to flip both Houses. And listen, they're in a good position at this point, particularly in the House to do just that.

KING: That's dead on in the sense that it was hard to believe the Republicans would be for it anyway.

HENDERSON: Right.

KING: But when -- Barrasso was not nobody, he's very close to McConnell. And so when he says I want to make him a one-half term --

HENDERSON: Right.

KING: -- you know, sometimes believe what you hear.

HENDERSON: Yes.

KING: Yes, believe your ears on that one.

When we come back, President Biden today signs legislation creating a new national holiday, Juneteenth. Next, why 14 Republican members of the House voted against it.

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[12:36:46]

KING: This afternoon, President Biden will officially make June 19 known as Juneteenth, a national holiday to commemorate the end of slavery here in the United States. Lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed this designation was long overdue. Democratic and Republicans except for a very small group of House Republicans, 14 GOP representatives, you see them there, voted against making Juneteenth the federal hospital. The reasoning, this is one Congressman Chip Roy of Texas. He said the Juneteenth National Independence Day quote, needlessly divides our nation.

The panel is back with me. The President will sign this today. And because Saturday is the 19th, the federal holiday will be tomorrow.

HENDERSON: More off. I won't be here.

KING: Yes. You could try the leave that. Let me know how trying, more off day. But let's come back to the 14. And if you have it, you can put them back up on the screen, 14 Republican no votes. Chip Roy says it's going to needlessly divide us. Matt Rosendale of Montana says let's call an ace an ace. This is an effort by the left to create a day out of whole cloth to celebrate identity politics as part of its larger efforts to make critical race theory, the reigning ideology of our country. I'm going to say this, and I'm going to get in trouble for it. But Matt Rosendale, you might want to look in the mirror. You were not enslaved. And so maybe you don't have the standing on this issue. But I -- you can debate critical race theory if you want. Welcome to it. You can debate other things in school. Why is this one hard?

HENDERSON: You know, I'm actually surprised more Republicans didn't join those 14 because that's certainly where the Republican Party is now, in part of this is critical race theory, this idea that somehow, you know, 10 year olds are being taught is very complicated legal theory in their elementary schools, and they are moving to ban it in several states where it doesn't even exist again.

So yes, I mean, I think these Republicans are very much on brand are the ones who voted against this holiday, in terms of where the Republican Party is and not really wanting to acknowledge slavery, acknowledge the after effects of slavery, the lingering effects of slavery. And I will say that, listen, the symbolism of this is great. As I said, I'll be off tomorrow, you know, Jeff Sekar (ph) allows me to be off.

But, you know, I mean, slavery, the lingering effects of slavery are real, and we feel them to this day. It was a racial system. It was also an economic system. And you can see in all of the numbers in terms of economic inequality, the way that breaks down along race. So, you know, pat on the back for this holiday, it's great, its symbolism. But again, sort of the real effects of slavery, and segregation and everything that came after it are still being felt to this day and not being addressed.

KING: They just threw it in the 14, 15 months of COVID --

HENDERSON: Right. Yes.

KING: -- as well as the health care disparities. The numbers speak for themselves.

HENDERSON: Yes.

KING: It's just the -- you cannot deny facts and numbers. When Rosendale said that in his statement, that this is some idea of the woke left. John Cornyn, Republican Senator, this passed in the Senate easily, said kooky in retweeting that. Is he's saying Rosendale is kooky?

PAUL KANE, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes, he's saying that, theoretically, that is, look, there is a difference between Senate Republicans and House Republicans. It played out in the votes on certifying presidential election where overwhelming majority of Senate Republicans certified Joe Biden's win. And on the House side, two-thirds of House Republicans did not. This is an example of that.

[12:40:10]

John Cornyn was one of the main sponsors of this bill. It is about Texas because Texas was sort of the final frontier of the Civil War and the last slaves were freed there. It passed 100 to nothing. It was a unanimous consent vote in the Senate. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin had been holding it up a little bit. But it passed unanimously. Over in the House this happens again and again, where things that even a unanimous 100 to nothing Senate vote happens. There's a block of anywhere from 10 to 35 House Republicans who are embracing the ideology that Nia has just been talking about that is really, really, you know, far right.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: But I'm going to be --

LUCEY: And it's also worth noting, John, just that this is at this point, Juneteenth is marked in most states, private businesses, a number of them give us off that this is pretty widely recognized at this point. And so which makes it a little more --

KING: Right. The train was leaving the station and yet this group decided they wanted to -- even though they knew it will fail, they wanted to make the point.

TALEV: Well, I'm going to be a little bit cynical here and say that if you vote to create a holiday for Juneteenth, it gives you cover to then say, I just, you know, I -- they use support efforts to muzzle critical race theory teachings in school, there are 21 states now, where their efforts to ban find somehow curtail what teachers and professors are teaching. It gives you cover to say that you disagree that there's systemic racism, undeniable the impact that the death of George Floyd debate over police reform and then the discussions about Black Lives Matter we've had over the past year. This is a way for some lawmakers to split the difference and say I support the holiday but not these other things.

KING: Interesting to watch as we go forward.

And up next for us, disturbing new video from January 6th in a rude new wrinkle in the Republican denial, a Republican lawmaker who says there was no insurrection refuses to shake hands with one of the Capitol Police officers attack that day.

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[12:46:47]

KING: New disturbing video today of what happened on January 6th and a reminder of what it was like that day inside the Capitol.

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CROWD: (Shouting).

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KING: Your eyes tell you right there everything you need to know, a huge crowd of Capitol rioters ramming their way into the Capitol tunnel. This is what led up to an officer being crushed in a doorway. We know that one officer died the next day. Two others have committed suicide since, 140 officers or so were injured. This morning, one of those officers tell CNN, a Republican congressman who has been whitewashing the insurrection. Georgia Republican Andrew Clyde refused to shake his hand. Listen here, Officer Michael Fanone describing that moment.

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OFFICER MICHAEL FANONE, DEFENDED CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6: I believe he was, you know, incredibly uncomfortable. I mean, I think a lot of times, you know, these lawmakers on Capitol Hill, they feel like they could say whatever they want, and they're never going to be held accountable for those words. Well, you know, your words have consequences, Congressman. You're lying about what happened on January 6th. And I'm going to be there to confront anyone who lies about January 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It is. We talked about this earlier in a different context. But it is remarkable that there is sort of a core group numbers grow and shrink a little bit depending on the issue. That just say no to fact. We could put up. These are 21 who voted against giving medals. There was a proposal to give medals to the officers to Capitol Police officers. Officer Fanone is a Metropolitan Police officer who came to help the Capitol Police officers that day. This was to give them medals and 21 Republicans voted against it, saying that essentially that this was some kind of a Democratic ploy. Really? It's just was -- tell me the harm.

TALEV: I just think this is a this is a particularly dark time in American politics in American history. You can argue in good faith about how many of the protesters who were part of the storming of the Capitol knew what they were getting into, meant to do what they do, got whipped into a frenzy like whatever, you know, people can argue that in good faith. But you can't argue the facts of what happened. You can't argue that the police and law enforcement were attacked, and you can't argue that it is -- it's a national tragedy and a call to action, the call to reform. And so I just think the continued example of lawmakers who are kind of seeking to redefine the facts of the day is it's a shame and it makes it difficult to --

KING: Yes. And just -- I'm sorry, I asked the control room, they're not expecting this. But can you just show that video just for another second, if it's too hard to do. I just -- especially if you're a Republican watching at home, hold your own members accountable. Those are not tourists. Those are not people walking between the rope lines. And so you have members of Congress who swore an oath to the Constitution, just lying about what happened that day even though they were there, they were at risk, and some of those rioters were chanting kill the Republican Vice President of the United States.

[12:50:00]

KANE: Their explanation some of them that have explained that vote, some of those 21, have said that they don't like the word insurrection in the legislation. That they do not believe that what happened was an insurrection. That video is pretty clearly not tourism, that video also is a really important location. It is literally the door of the peaceful transfer of power upon which president -- the new president and vice president walk out on to the west front plaza for the inauguration. That just wasn't any old door. That clash was two weeks before the Biden inauguration. Right there at that spot.

HENDERSON: You know, I do think this speaks to a larger historical trend, which is oftentimes Americans don't know what to do with displays of white rage. And we saw that, for instance, with Tulsa, which, you know, the 100th anniversary of that that was rewritten as not an attack on a black community which were obliterated very wealthy and prosperous black community. It was rewritten as a race riot, right?

And so we see that I think happening now. And we really saw it happening immediately, even as this sort of display of right rage and anger and fear was going on, you know, there's the idea that it was really Antifa. The idea now that these were really, you know, just tourists and it was just a peaceful gathering. So, you know, it's a dark time. But it's also a familiar time. We've been here in this country many times before, when it comes to these kinds of events.

KING: The social media aspect and the media silo where some people just stay in their cone of what they perceive to be true is what makes it extra dangerous in the sense that it's hard to break through to people who just refuse to watch the video and to see what they see. So there's a politics impact of this, there's a policy impact of this, the politics first. This is Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Majority Leader today asking a question.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Republicans, you've become an anti-police. Some of the same Republicans who falsely accused Democrats of wanting to defund the police are actively refusing to defend the police.

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KING: This will echo in the midterms without a doubt.

LUCEY: No, this is an issue. I mean, he raises a real question here, which is that Republicans do stress that that they're part of law and order. They made a huge issue in 2020 questioning Democratic support for police because there were Democrats who were suggesting, you know, changing police funding. And so you can be sure that Democrats will come back to this and the fact that, you know, some Republicans are not supporting, you know, giving these medals to officers who are there to protect them.

KING: And the policy part of it is this five months later, the Capitol Police Inspector General testify, asked a pretty simple question.

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SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Which individual is ultimately responsible for the security of the United States Capitol? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a difficult question to answer.

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KING: That's petrifying. If you look at what happened on January 6th, I get it's, you know, the Capitol Police in the city of Washington, federal law enforcement, but who's on first, who's in charge? Five months later, they don't answer that question.

KANE: Let me give you a real world example. I was in the Senate chamber as this was all unfolding. I saw Mike Pence get ushered out by a Secret Service. We went into lockdown at about 2:14 p.m. in the Senate chamber as the police were, and 15 minutes later, they evacuated us to a safe, secure location. The House chamber was in session for 15 minutes longer. Nobody figured out like, hey, we're locking down on the Senate side, maybe you should evacuate the House now. The total keystone cop situation that day, and really, most days is petrifying.

[12:53:42]

KING: Well, that hearing as part of the conversations about what to do about it. And hopefully there's a better answer, and a better answer soon. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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KING: Topping our Political Radar today, a troubling sign for the American economy. The number of Americans applying for first time jobless claims, you see it right there, rose unexpectedly last week. The Labor Department reports 412,000 workers filed for new benefits. That's the highest amount since April. This as consumers, you know this, paying more for everyday items in the fridge, whole milk up 7 percent, fresh fruits and vegetables up over 3 percent, alcoholic beverages up almost 2 percent, and in your car, gasoline of all types up 56 percent.

Politics and religion mixing this afternoon, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will meet to discuss if politicians should be able to take communion if they support abortion rights. President Biden of course is the nation's second Catholic president. Pope Francis has said the communion quote is not the reward of saints, but the bread of sinners. But there is a push by some conservative American bishops to revisit that issue.

Check out these shades Randolph USA, a Massachusetts company, made the pair of custom aviators President Biden gave to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Randolph USA has also made aviators for the U.S. military and interestingly, NATO partners for years. The CEO of the company says it's a high honor. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER WASZKIEWICZ, RANDOLPH USA CEO: The phone started going off the hook. Social media was going crazy. And we knew then, OK, something happened. This is the style that was gifted. It's what we call our conquered style. To have something like this happen it just puts a smile on our faces. It's an honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And it is always great to get a little Boston accent in the program. We strive for that here. This quick CNN programming reminder new details about exactly what happened on January 6th. Drew Griffin talks with those who were there, assault on democracy, the roots of Trump insurrection, airs Sunday 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

[13:00:14]

Thanks for spending your time with us today. We'll see you back here tomorrow, we hope. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.