Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

European Countries to Open Travel to Vaccinated Americans in Summer of 2021; Elizabeth City Mayor Bettie Parker Interviewed on Family of Andrew Brown Being Allowed to View Body Camera Footage of His Shooting Death by Police; Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) Interviewed on Kevin McCarthy's Changing Account of President Trump's Response to January 6th Insurrection; Populist Leaders Oversee Some of the World's Worst COVID Outbreaks; Survivor Returns Home after Year-Long Fight with Coronavirus. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 26, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Do you like Nickelback?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It burns. I can't listen to Nickelback.

KEILAR: Yes, I know, it burns my ears. You can admit it.

BERMAN: It hurts.

KEILAR: Although I have a producer back here who likes it.

BERMAN: No, no.

KEILAR: I'm reevaluating.

BERMAN: The Dee Snider thing with Al Gore is too much. It's too much.

KEILAR: Wasn't it amazing? It was amazing to see.

And NEW DAY continues right now.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar. On this NEW DAY, a pandemic turning point, Europe opening up to American tourists this summer if they've had their shot. Plus, the family of a man killed by police may be able to watch the bodycam video today. When will the public get to see it?

KEILAR: And a miracle man walks out of the hospital after a full year fighting COVID. His story in his own words live here.

And the GOP's false beef with Biden's climate plan, those rumors about a burger a month are just a big juicy lies.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Monday, April 26th. That dream family vacation to Europe is possible this summer. The head of the European Union says travel could be restarted by then for fully vaccinated Americans. Nearly 29 percent of Americans meet that criteria as of this morning, 42 percent have received at least one dose.

KEILAR: But here's the thing. Vaccination rates are slowing from their peak levels. You can see here the average dipping under 3 million shots a day. And CDC data also shows that about eight percent of people who got the first dose failed to get their second dose on time. Let's get the latest now from CNN's Pete Muntean in Washington. Pete, tell us about this.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, this would be a big step for the struggling air travel industry, a bit of a return to normal. Non-essential travel has been essentially banned to the E.U. for more than a year, and now the head of the European Union is saying that fully vaccinated Americans could travel to the E.U. by this summer. Still some details to iron out here, though. The exact timeline, we don't know that just yet. Also don't know how vaccinate passports will be utilized. Also, the E.U. is clarifying here, saying that this will be up to individual countries to waive these rules. Travel will not be opened up to the E.U. all at once. But it is still a huge development, one that is being celebrated by the White House. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY SLAVITT, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: What the world is basically saying is they are looking at the U.S., they're looking the at the success of our vaccination program, they are look at the reduction of disease, and while they know we're not done yet, they are saying those Americans are safe to come to our country without risk of spreading COVID-19. Think about that. That's incredible. Just a few months ago we were the nation in the world that was one of the most cut off from travel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Now, this would be huge for struggling airlines. Domestic leisure travel has been going up since pandemic lows this time a year ago, but international travel, something that brings in a lot of money for the airlines, has remained flight, and airlines have had their eyes on this. United Airlines says it's actually adding routes to countries that will allow vaccinated travelers, Greece, Croatia, and Iceland coming soon. So this is something that airlines want more than anything right now. They want people to come back, and this relaxing of rules could be huge for them, Brianna.

KEILAR: Definitely. Thank you, Pete, for that.

And in just a few hours, the story that we are tracking very much today, the family of Andrew Brown may get the opportunity to watch the police body camera footage of his fatal shooting. This is according to the family's attorney. Brown was shot and killed last Wednesday but county sheriff's deputies when they attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. And dispatch audio from that day indicates that he was shot in the back.

Joining me now is the mayor of Elizabeth City, Bettie Parker. Mayor, thanks so much for being with us. The sheriff says that he

wants body camera footage to be made public but that there has to be a court motion to do it. Our expectation is that the family will see it today, and you've spoken with them. Are they definitely going to see it, do you think, and are we, the public, going to be able to see this?

MAYOR BETTIE PARKER, ELIZABETH CITY, NORTH CAROLINA: First, I would like to say thank you very much for having me. My answer to your question is that I am not sure. Actually, the city officials are getting more information from the media than we actually are getting from our county officials. However, my understanding is that the family will see the footage today.

As far as when the public will do it, I do not know. I haven't a clue. However, I do want to point out that the city council, the Elizabeth City city council, has requisitioned to see the footage as well as having the public see it.

[08:05:13]

So we did a requisition as of today. The sheriff department was the custodian law enforcement agency, but as you've just noted, Sheriff Wooten says that he did not have the authority to release it. So we're just waiting.

KEILAR: Should this have been released sooner?

PARKER: I'm not sure. And the reason I'm saying this is because I don't know the circumstances. I don't know what the law -- I didn't at the time know what the law entailed, and I think it's different from state to state. But personally, I think after 24 to 48 hours, that the investigation should be at a point that they can share more with public, because the longer that there is no transparency or accountability, the public gets anxious. And we have to deal with it, the city officials, the city police deal with protesters and what have you. But they have been -- thus far they have been very orderly. We haven't had any major problems.

KEILAR: Mayor Parker, thank you so much. We know this story is going to be ongoing. We'll be checking back in with you. Thank you.

PARKER: And thank you.

BERMAN: So the top Republican in the House, Kevin McCarthy, is now defending former President Trump's response to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): When I talked to President Trump about it, I was the first person to contact him when the riots were going on. He didn't see it. But he ended the call with telling me he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what de. He put a video out later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quite a lot later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now is Jason Crow, U.S. congressman from Colorado and a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman Crow, thank you so much for being with us. You were in the chamber during the riot. You were helping to protect and comfort your friends there. To hear Kevin McCarthy praise all of a sudden the president's videoed response to that much later in the day, what's your reaction?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Good morning, John. Well what's going on here is very simple. There's nothing that Kevin McCarthy won't do to try to win an election. He wants to win back the House majority. He knows that he needs the Trump base and Donald Trump's fundraising to do so, and he's trying to sweep this all under the rug. We had over 140 police officers who were brutally beaten, several lost their lives, and they just want to pretend that it never happened. I'm not going to allow that to happen. Me and my colleagues need to tell that story, need to honor those officers who did the right thing that day and fought back and gave their lives. But Kevin McCarthy obviously has taken a very different approach.

BAIER: The thing is, Kevin McCarthy himself, the one thing he was most critical of right after the insurrection was President Trump's slow response, the fact that he did not call people off. He gave this speech on the House floor condemning it. Now full reversal, rewriting what happened to himself. Why do you think he's doing this?

CROW: Well, John, I've learned you should never underestimate the power of somebody's ambitions. I think he looks at the election coming up in a year and a half. Again, he wants to be House Speaker, he wants to take back the House Majority, and that is more important than anything. And this is somebody, as you said, was caught in the riot that day, who had a heated exchange with the president as overheard by one of his colleagues and related to the media. But politics does strange things to some people, and I think you're seeing that with Kevin McCarthy.

BERMAN: Let me just read you that account that you mention. This is from Congressman Jaime Herrera Beutler. This is actually part of the impeachment record, the second impeachment, this was read into the record there. "According to Jaime Herrera Beutler, after McCarthy told Trump it was his supporters storming the Capitol, Trump responded, quote, well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are." You've explained what you think Kevin McCarthy's motivations are. I'm wondering what you think the impact of this is. As we get further and further away from January 6th, you see people trying to -- I've heard people call it memory hole the insurrection. What do you think the impact on our political discourse will be?

CROW: I've longed believe, John, that it's important that we remember our history and our past so that we don't repeat it, that we embrace truth and accountability as part of the healing process. I don't think you can fully heal and move forward unless you have that truth and accountability. [08:10:01]

But there is another really big danger here, and that is this radicalism, this domestic extremism that was born through the big lie that Donald Trump told over and over again, it's still with us. We just buried another police officer a couple of weeks ago who died as a result of another attack. There are people who believe this stuff. When Kevin McCarthy, when Donald Trump, and when others perpetuate, continue to perpetuate the big lie, when they sow these conspiracy theories, when they uplift these things that are happening on the dark web that are very dangerous theories, it has an impact on people, because some people act on it.

So we have this domestic extremism in America right now that's growing, it's not shrinking, it's growing. It's a law enforcement issue, it's a national security issue. And you have elected officials in some of the highest seats of the land that continue to validate it, justify it, or sweep it under the rug. So a real danger.

BERMAN: Congressman Jason Crow, appreciate your time, thanks for being with us on NEW DAY.

CROW: Thank, John.

BERMAN: Coming up, the world leaders with some of the worst track records when it comes to fighting COVID, they all have something in common.

KEILAR: Plus, how one man beat the odds and survived nearly a year in the hospital with COVID. We'll have his story of survival and recovery next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Populist leaders with a track record of downplaying the threat of coronavirus have presided over some of the world's outbreaks, leaders like Bolsonaro in Brazil, Andres Manuel Lopez- Obrador in Mexico, Modi in India and of course, Donald Trump here in the United States.

[08:15:00]

So is this just a mere coincidence? Let's bring in CNN's John Harwood. John, what do you think?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not a coincidence. Look politicians of all kinds are always tempted left or right, Democrat or Republican, whatever party to tell people what they want to hear. But that is especially dangerous when you're in a pandemic in which science is trying to constrain activity in the name of keeping people healthy and what we've seen with these populist leaders they want to pit themselves against the sort of smarty pants academics and scientist who are going to hurt your life, restrict your freedom, keep you from doing things that you want to do, and so a lot of those populist leaders encourage people to defy the science. They defy it themselves. Donald Trump encouraged people to be

reluctant to wear masks. He talked about hydroxychloroquine, things that were phantom cures. And the same thing is true, Lopez-Obrador in Mexico, didn't wear masks even those public health officials urged him to do it to model that behavior.

And you get people like Modi in India who are saying yes, go ahead, have your political rallies, have your religious gatherings. Those are the kinds of things that get people in trouble if you're trying to say, don't listen to the scientists, listen to me. That's a politician trying to get votes and support.

BERMAN: So, John, the President speaking to the country this week, but we also learned there may be some new guidance coming from him on mask wearing. What do we know about this?

HARWOOD: Well what we know is that this is a President who, as you know, John, has been singularly focused on getting this pandemic under control, accelerating the rates of vaccination, getting people to try to mitigate the spread as much as possible, uneven success so far.

But what he wants to do going into this Wednesday's speech to Congress is be able to say and now, it's paying off. Get in front of the well of the House and say, we've put 200 million shots in arms. We're getting to the other side of the pandemic and part of getting to the other side is saying, you know what, now the science says you can, if you're vaccinated go outdoors and perhaps not wear a mask.

We'll see what the C.D.C. has to say about that, but the scientists within the administration and Anthony Fauci yesterday had been teasing the idea that pretty soon we'll get new guidance that will be more permissive.

That is the case of telling people what they want to hear after you've taken a lot of aggressive steps to try to get control of the pandemic and that's the focus of Joe Biden's first 100 days. He wants to celebrate that this week.

BERMAN: Every President wants to be the one to deliver the good news. I mean, clearly, some politics are involved in here as well. John Harwood at the White House, thanks so much for this.

HARWOOD: You bet.

KEILAR: And now to a man who beat the odds by surviving a grueling year-long battle against COVID. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That is the moment last month when 52-year-old John Kwiecinski, from New Jersey walked out of a rehab center after 361 days in the hospital.

John was on a ventilator, 67 of those days. He also suffered two strokes, cardiac arrest and he lost about 120 pound. John's road to a full recovery is by no means over, but he is back home with his family, and now, he's here with us. John Kwiecinski and his wife, Roxanne are with us now.

That is -- I mean is an amazing video to watch. I'm so grateful that you are both here to be with us. John, how are you reflecting on this battle?

JOHN KWIECINSKI, BEAT COVID-19 AFTER 361 DAYS IN HOSPITAL: I never thought it would happen to me. It's been very hard to spend a year in the hospital, many hospitals without coming home and I'm so glad to finally be in my own home again.

And I still have a lot of recovering to go, but just glad to be home with my family.

KEILAR: Roxanne, I am sure that your fear was that it was not going to end this way, this battle.

ROXANNE KWIECINSKI, WIFE OF JOHN KWIECINSKI: The fear was definitely there. But I had a lot of faith and a lot of support and we had a huge prayer army that I think really, really made a difference in his recovery, and John has a very strong will. He doesn't give up easily.

BERMAN: I can't tell you how great it is to see you both. It's so wonderful to see you, John, sitting there after everything you've been through. Three hundred and sixty one days in the hospital. I just can't imagine that, and reading what you went through and all the medicine involved and the ventilator and everything else, you say one of the hardest things was the loneliness at times.

[08:20:18]

J. KWIECINSKI: Yes.

BERMAN: I wonder if you can talk about that.

J. KWIECINSKI: Just for me, part of that time at the hospital, most of the time I always dreamed I would wake up and be home only to wake up and, you know, look at my feet still in the same position in the hospital bed. It was really hard.

I thank God for Facetime. They were able to actually connect me and my family. So at least I could hear them while I was getting better each day.

KEILAR: And, Roxanne, eventually you were able to get special privileges near the end of John's rehab and visit on holidays and birthdays. Of course, that wasn't the case every day.

But did that make a difference there in this fight near the end? Do you think being able to have that in-person interaction was medicinal?

R. KWIECINSKI: Absolutely. Absolutely. I can't imagine being in his position and being alone, fighting that type of a battle, the hardest battle of his life and having to do it alone and I think it also helps to be there and to see the nurses and meet the doctors in person, it just makes a difference. You feel better when you get to see them in person and see the people who are caring for him. BERMAN: I under you lost 120 pounds, John. I can't see it. Looking at

you, I can't see where that even would have been. What do you need -- what still needs to get better in terms of your recovery?

J. KWIECINSKI: My endurance, my muscles. I lost all of my muscle mass. And, you know, I have a hard time with stress, you know, of going through this. And also I haven't eaten in over a year. I have a hole in my -- I have a fistula, which I am still waiting the greenlight go to begin eating again, and also drinking again.

Right now I'm being fed through a tube in my stomach.

KEILAR: And that really does speak, John, to the road ahead for you and your family. We're so glad you're home. We hope that that helps with your recovery as you still have challenges ahead of you.

Roxanne and John, thank you for coming on. It's great to see you both.

R. KWIECINSKI: Thank you for having us.

J. KWIECINSKI: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I mean, the spirit. Imagine what it must have taken for the last 361 days.

KEILAR: And they were crowdsourcing the prayer. It is what they were saying. You know, so often we have, unfortunately, had to tell stories that ended in a different way. And when we see people who have been able to battle through it, you know everything and everyone that went into that, you know, it's just amazing.

BERMAN: Hopefully the crowd just got bigger who will be pulling behind John and Roxanne. They need all the help they can get.

So, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says there is no systemic racism in America. Hear what he is offering as proof next.

KEILAR: And Regina King not holding back at the Oscars. You'll hear what she said just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:33]

KEILAR: Senator Lindsey Graham is pushing back on President Biden's assertion that there is systemic racism in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): No, not in my opinion. We just elected a two-term African-American President, the Vice President is of African- American Indian descent. So our systems are not racist.

America is not a racist country. Within every society you have bad actors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now to discuss this and some other topics, is Mara Schiavocampo. She is a journalist and host of the "Run Tell This" podcast.

Mara, it is wonderful to see you. What do you think about what Senator Graham said?

MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO, JOURNALIST: You know, Brianna, we don't have enough time in this segment to talk about ways that it is demonstrable that there is systemic racism in this country in everything from education, to housing to employment.

And for him to cite Obama as evidence that there is no systemic racism is about as logical as citing Oprah to say that there is no systemic economic inequality.

So it is demonstrably false.

But here is the thing. Lindsey Graham likely knows that this is demonstrably false because he is not a dumb man but he is a politically opportunistic one.

It's not a coincidence he made these remarks on FOX News and these are the same talking points that we saw from Trump administration officials when trump was still in office, "Oh, racism doesn't exist. Systemic racism doesn't exist."

The 1776 Commission was just a few months ago disputing the very founding of this country.

So he is speaking to a very large portion of the country that doesn't want to hear that the systems are flawed.

KEILAR: Yes, that's a really good point. I'm sure he knows, there's no way doesn't know.

BERMAN: Lindsey Graham knows, so does Tom Cotton, by the way, on the subject of things and this is connected. There's this battle about D.C. statehood going on.

The House passed it, the Senate won't. But there is this discussion going on. Tom Cotton, senator from Arkansas stood up and he gave a speech comparing Wyoming to Washington, D.C. The reason is because D.C. has more people than Wyoming, but what Cotton did was he waxed poetic in his mind about all the virtues that Wyoming has that Washington, D.C. doesn't exactly have.

So Congressman Mondaire Jones from New York took issue with that framing. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MONDAIRE JONES (D-NY): I have had enough of my colleague's racist insinuations that somehow the people of Washington, D.C. are incapable or even unworthy of our democracy.

One Senate Republican said that D.C. wouldn't be a quote, "well- rounded working class state." I had no idea there was so many syllables in the word white.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:30:03]