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Biden Heads to Georgia for Rally on 100th Day of Presidency; FBI Raids Giuliani's Home & Office. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 29, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: NEW DAY starts right now.

[05:59:36]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman, alongside Brianna Keilar, live from the nation's capital this morning on this NEW DAY.

President Biden tells Congress how he wants to expand the power of the government, but are the plans realistic?

Plus, new details on the FBI raid of Rudy Giuliani's home and office, including what agents confiscated from one of Donald Trump's closest confidantes.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Dramatic new video of the attack on the Capitol officer who later died after the insurrection. What this reveals and how it changes the case.

And just how big of a problem is vaccine hesitancy in America? One major city is set to lose thousands of doses today, because not enough people want them.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Thursday, April 29. And I think "the New York Times" put it best this morning.

During the campaign, Joe Biden touted himself as a transitional president, but after his first big speech to Congress overnight, it's clear he's positioning himself not just as transitional, but transformational; transforming the relationship between the government and the people.

Today the president is spending the 100th day of his presidency on the road, roads he wants a lot of money to fix. Speaking to voters in Georgia, voters for whom he wants to invest enormous sums in education, childcare and other services. And as he said last night, he wants to pay for it, trillions of dollars, with new taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

The White House calls this an issue of fairness and believes these taxes are popular with the American people, but it's clear the political terrain -- that this is the political terrain and the battleground, the political battleground we'll see in the coming months, maybe years. KEILAR: This hour-long speech also touched on gun violence, police

reform, and America's standing with its international allies and foes.

It was a historic night, and not just for the president but also for the two women seating behind him on the dais, which was a first. Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharing a COVID-friendly elbow bump to mark the moment.

Only 200 people were allowed in the House chamber, which is a number that is normally 1,600 pre-COVID.

Jeremy Diamond now at the White House for us with the latest. A lot to break down here, but there were certainly some very key moments in this speech, Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No question about it, Brianna. President Biden last night delivering his first joint address to Congress, as he hits today his 100th day in office.

And the president reflecting not only on those first 100 days, the fight against the coronavirus, projecting optimism about the future, but also laying out this sweeping, very ambitious agenda: $4 trillion in legislative proposals that the president is talking about here to not only rebuild the American economy and invest in infrastructure, childcare, healthcare, but really to transform the future.

And he talked about it not just in terms of the United States but also saying that autocracies around the world like China are counting on the U.S. to fail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Speaker, the president of the United States.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Delivering his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden touted the progress achieved in his first 100 days and pitched an ambitious agenda for the future.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can report to the nation is on the move again, turning peril into possibility, crisis to opportunity, setbacks into strength.

DIAMOND: The president making the case that America can grow even stronger with big investments from the government, pressing lawmakers to pass his $4 trillion proposals to modernize infrastructure, help families pay for child care and pre-K and expand healthcare.

BIDEN: We have to prove democracy still works, that our government still works, and we can deliver for our people.

DIAMOND: Biden framing his proposals as crucial for the U.S., not only at home but on the world stage.

BIDEN: We're in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century. We're at a great inflection point in history. We have to do more than just build back better. We have to compete more strenuously than we have.

DIAMOND: And while Biden highlighted his administration's success in handling the coronavirus pandemic, including the rollout of coronavirus vaccines --

BIDEN: Ninety percent of Americans now live within five miles of a vaccination site. Everyone over the age of 16, everyone is now eligible to get vaccinated right now, right away. Go get vaccinated, America.

DIAMOND: -- he also warned the crisis is far from over.

BIDEN: There's still more work to do to beat this virus. We can't let our guard down.

DIAMOND: The House chamber reflecting the pandemic reality, with lawmakers wearing masks and sitting socially distanced, all inside a Capitol under heightened security in the wake of January's deadly insurrection.

BIDEN: And as we gather here tonight, the image of a violent mob assaulting this Capitol, desecrating our democracy, remain vivid in all our minds. The insurrection was an existential crisis, a test of whether our democracy could survive, and it did, but the struggle is far from over.

[06:05:09]

DIAMOND: The president also highlighted the challenges ahead for the country, calling for gun reform and changes in policing.

BIDEN: We've all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of black Americans. Now's our opportunity to make some real progress.

My fellow Americans, we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system, and enact police reform in George Floyd's name that passed the House already.

DIAMOND: But before laying out any policies, Biden noted the historic scene behind him.

BIDEN: Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President -- (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) -- no president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words, and it's about time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And President Biden will mark his 100th day in office TODAY with a drive-in rally in Atlanta, Georgia. It's the beginning of the post-speech travel blitz by the president and his cabinet officials to sell these ambitious proposals that he pitched in this joint address to Congress.

The president today also meeting with former President Jimmy Carter, who was in office when President Biden started his career in the United States Senate -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Jeremy Diamond at the White House. Thank you so much.

We're joined now by CNN political analyst David Gregory. You know, when you listened to his speech last night, it was very much about the role of government in American life, which does take us back to, I think, a more conventional debate of Republican versus Democrat. Are Americans ready for this progressive agenda as Joe Biden defined it?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't know. You know, the organizing theme, I think, of President Biden winning the election was to be an anti-Trump. I'm not sure he has a mandate to refashion government's role in our life that would really undo the constrictions put on the federal government going back to the Reagan era.

But they're making a different bet here. Their bet is that dealing with the pandemic, which is the -- the end of which is coming into view, the economy is poised to take off, that this is the time to invest.

And I think -- we were just talking about this, John. Joe Biden is a moderate guy. He is not this progressive. He knows he can wheel and deal on Capitol Hill. He did that as vice president for President Obama. I think they've made the argument that, look, that's a fool's errand. You're not going to be able to really negotiate with Republicans. Let's ram through with a progressive agenda. We can, under the guide of competition and helping America, that's been beaten down further during the pandemic, and get what we can. And that's a real question, is how much of this will get through.

BERMAN: You know, even as I said, according to "The New York Times" this morning, it's the issue of whether he's a transitional president, which gets to you were saying, he was running on being the not-Trump, or transformational, which is what he's proposing now.

And I was struck by the framing of this entire thing, not just domestically, not just this is what we're going to talk about for the next several months, but making it a worldwide issue, making this a we need to build roads.

GREGORY: Yes.

BERMAN: We need to invest in our education so we can beat China. It's really interesting.

GREGORY: It is interesting, because -- because it is competitive. Right? I mean, how our economy grows is based on the kind of job creation, new markets we have, new training we have, dealing with things like economic inequality, access to the middle class, things that other countries are thinking about and investing in and where we are losing ground, despite the fact that we are the most envied country in the world in so many respects in our innovation and our higher education in other areas.

But it is, and you said it, Brianna. I think we had some of these debates under President Obama, too, which is what is the government's role in a down economy, in an economy that needs to be transformed, even in social engineering, you know?

Republicans and Democrats have different views of what the federal government can actually do, versus what states can do, versus what cities can do, versus what the private enterprise can do.

And Biden is making a bet that seems to a lot of us to be far more progressive than he's ever been. To say he's going to go big and bold, and that he's got America's ear. He's got this opportunity that he didn't have before.

But he doesn't have the votes. He doesn't have that kind of mandate. He's not LBJ, you know, after winning re-election in 1964. He's just not. So he'll have to see how it plays out.

KEILAR: He's making a bet that Americans, after the year they've been through, don't want to see very wealthy people and corporations getting richer while the middle class is really taking it very hard. He did talk about the insurrection. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:10:14]

BIDEN: As we gather here tonight, the image of the violent mob assaulting this Capitol and desecrating our democracy remain vivid in our minds. Lives were put at risk, many of your lives. Lives were lost. Extraordinary courage was summoned. The insurrection was an existential crisis, a test, on whether our democracy could survive, and it did. But the struggle is far from over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He says it did survive. The question is going to be at that inflection point in American history, do we look back and say that was a disaster and that bent us in a certain direction, or is there a way to recover from that? What do you think?

GREGORY: Well, I think -- I think our institutions help. And I think we saw that throughout the Trump presidency, when there were assaults on those institutions. And I thought January 6 was the low point of all of that.

But I think that our democracy has held, but there are certainly challenges. There's challenges around the world, but there's challenges to voting security and how well our institutions work. And the Biden presidency, in that part as a transitional, will be -- will be a test to that.

You know, but the fact that they were there, that it's standing, that even -- you know, I was just noticing Liz Cheney coming over to shake his hand before, you know, the address last night. You know, there are people who deserve to be in high office who are -- who are, I think, the adults in our government, who are going to stand up for these institutions. BERMAN: You know what the best part of that? So they had that moment

where they fist bumped beforehand, an actual human moment. And afterwards, Liz Cheney put out a statement from her office, criticizing all of what she called the liberal progressive policies. Fine.

GREGORY: Right.

BERMAN: Right? I mean, have the policy debate, but at least have a human moment where we can acknowledge that we're here working on it.

GREGORY: You know, I mean, I've spent time with friends, Republicans and Democrats, where we'll really engage in these -- the kind of -- the ideological warfare, you know, big questions about what is it the federal government can do, what can it do well, and what can't it do well? And that's a real debate.

Unfortunately, in power politics in Washington, people are not really having that conversation. It's about, you know, taxing the rich and pitting people against each other, when these are fair conversations to have.

And I think to your point, you know, Liz Cheney has emerged as someone we've known for years, having covered her -- her father as vice president, who's an ideological conservative, but who believes in institutions and believes in democracy and appropriate behavior in office and so forth.

KEILAR: Shows you there is some common ground, right?

GREGORY: Right. And now people have to adjust to, is it exciting enough in this, like, post-Trump-traumatic order to just have an ideological debate?

KEILAR: That may be the question.

BERMAN: David, very nice to see you. Thank so much.

GREGORY: Good to see you in person.

BERMAN: All right. FBI agents raiding the home and office of Rudy Giuliani, right, who of course, was the president's attorney. This development advances a criminal probe by prosecutors that's been under way for more than two years into Giuliani's political activities in Ukraine. Giuliani has not been charges. He denies all wrongdoing.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman, Washington correspondent for "The New York Times," who helped break the story. Maggie, great to see you. This popped on all our phones yesterday, and I think America went, Wow.

First of all, what were they after in the raid? What did they get?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, John, it is an extraordinary step that this was not -- not simply a subpoena. This was a search warrant. This was -- this was seizure of devices, among other things that we are aware of. They took electronic devices, phones. I believe there were additional ones, as well.

They were searching for specific conversations between Rudy Giuliani and key figures who were related to another probe of -- of Ukrainians who were seeking to potentially influence the U.S. government. They were seeking communications between Giuliani and a reporter named John Solomon.

They also issued a search warrant at the home of another former Trump lawyer, briefly a Trump lawyer, Victoria Toensing, in the Washington, D.C., area. Now, her law firm told reporters that she is not -- she was told she was not a target. Federal officials have declined to comment.

But there's a broad effort here to, it appears, at least stemming from this initial probe into Giuliani's efforts around looking into negative information around President Biden and his son dating back to at least 2019 and likely earlier, to looking at whether he was engaging in unregistered lobbying activity that could influence U.S. policy.

[06:15:04]

That's what we know about the investigation right now. It could go in other directions. As you know, John, these things often start in one place and go in another direction. One person who knows that well is Rudy Giuliani, who's a former U.S. attorney.

KEILAR: And he's been under investigation for nearly two years now, Maggie.

HABERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: It was almost like, oh, here we go, that something came of this. Why did this raid happen now?

HABERMAN: It's an excellent question, Brianna. And as best as we can tell -- and, again, this has not been said by anyone by anyone, but certainly just looking at the timing, there was a change in top brass at the Department of Justice in the last couple of weeks.

The -- the Trump-era folks, you know, were finally gone from the top ranks, and then you had the Biden team having their own people in the top ranks sworn in.

So I think that there is certainly some correlation, at least in terms of the timing. It's worth noting that officials had been trying to get a search warrant or some effort to get hold of Giuliani's information since last summer and were unable to move forward with that under the Trump administration's Justice Department. So I do think that the new leadership there is why.

That has invited some criticism from some of President Biden's critics and some Trump supporters, or at least Trump allies, suggesting that this is politics at play.

The flip side of that, the argument that folks under Biden would make is these were things that should have been dealt with last year, at least, and never were.

BERMAN: We heard from the White House, Cedric Richmond, yesterday that they knew nothing. The White House says it knew nothing about this.

Do you know how high up the approval would have had to go in order for this to happen? Are we talking about the attorney general, Merrick Garland, or Deputy Lisa Monaco?

HABERMAN: We -- as far as I understand, I think we definitely would have been talking about Lisa Monaco. It is hard to see that Merrick Garland would not have been briefed on such a politically sensitive matter.

We -- we did hear from White House officials that, you know, this was not something that reached them. I don't have insight into whether there were specific conversations between them and the DOJ.

But this is very -- this is very politically sensitive. So I think -- I understand why they want to make clear that, you know, they're not -- they're not involved in this. But it would be unusual for a White House not to be at least, you know, glancingly briefed about something this volatile.

KEILAR: It's rare for prosecutors, Maggie, to execute a search warrant on a lawyer, which is something you point out in your reporting.

HABERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: But Manhattan federal prosecutors, they've done this before. They did this with Michael Cohen. You know, this does happen sometimes, but there is a threshold they have to meet.

HABERMAN: That's right. There's a threshold they have to meet, and they have to convince a judge that there's probable -- enough probable evidence of a crime to warrant this kind of an extraordinary step.

And again, as you know, this was taken on another lawyer, the -- really where this all began with Michael Cohen, a couple of years ago. This was also taken on Victoria Toensing. She's another lawyer. And she, again, only worked briefly for President -- former President Trump. She was working closely with Rudy Giuliani on a number of other issues.

It does suggest, at minimum, a big escalation moving forward in this case.

I should note one other thing that happened. Rudy Giuliani's personal assistant was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury. That is a big deal, because that is not just a sort of human interview and allowing for fresh information, but it suggests that it's not simply restricted to activity Rudy Giuliani himself was doing but what could have been being done on his behalf. Any way you look at it, this is a dramatic step forward.

KEILAR: Maggie, it's great to have you this morning. Thank you.

HABERMAN: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: All right. This isn't the only legal trouble facing Rudy Giuliani. Our legal experts here to break down the investigation and what happens next.

KEILAR: And dramatic new video just released of the assault on officers who were defending the Capitol during the insurrection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:04]

KEILAR: Federal agents raiding the apartment of office of Rudy Giuliani, the president's -- the former president's longtime attorney, which is an extraordinary move in the Justice Department's ongoing criminal probe.

Joining us now with a closer look at how we got here is CNN legal analysts and former federal prosecutors Elie Honig and Jennifer Rodgers.

Elie, this is really, as we said, extraordinary. What does this tell us,, then, about the case that prosecutors have?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Brianna. This is really important, because it gives us a glimpse inside the SDNY's ongoing investigation.

Now, the key phrase here is "probable cause." Now, probable cause, of course, is less evidence than the beyond a reasonable doubt that you need to get a conviction in front of a jury.

What does it mean? It means a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.

Now Jen, you and I have dealt with this. You know you can't just go to a judge as a prosecutor and say, Hey, judge, take my word for it, we have probable cause. You and I have done this. You have to type it all out, all of the evidence, bring it to a judge. Then a judge reviews it. The judge may agree or disagree. Here, we know the judge has signed it, so we know the prosecutors and the judge have both found there is probable cause.

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And before you even get to the point where you're going to a judge, of course, there are a lot of obstacles in the way of prosecutors in these kinds of search warrant.

The sanctity of attorney-client communications is something prosecutors take very seriously. So there are lots of hurdles in the way.

First you start in your own office. You have to go all the way up to the top. So at the Southern District of New York, of course, acting U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss would have approved this.

Then you go down to Washington. There's a special unit there that handles these kinds of applications called the Office of Enforcement Operations.

And now there's even another hurdle in the way, which is put in place by Jeffrey Rosen, the former deputy attorney general under former President Trump. He issued a memo on his way out the door in December of 2020 that says now in the case of lawyer search warrants, prosecutors have to get approval from the deputy attorney general.

[06:25:07]

So this one, Rudy Giuliani's search warrant, we know went all the way up to the position that's now held by Lisa Monaco. Whether or not Merrick Garland, the A.G., approved it, we don't know for sure. It's likely in a case of this political sensitivity, that he would have. But we're not 100 percent sure.

BERMAN: That's a high bar. That's a lot of hoops you have to jump through to get to where they got to yesterday, inside Rudy's apartment and office, grabbing his stuff.

What happens next, Elie, to that stuff, everything that was seized?

HONIG: Yes, John, so first the FBI and federal prosecutors will take all those cell phones, laptops, whatever devices they seized, and they will do a forensic review of those electronic devices. Essentially, they'll tap into those cell phones. They'll recover all the emails, texts, DMs, whatever is in there.

Now, people sometimes think they can delete these things. You and I both know, Jen, the FBI is really good at finding them. You think you may delete. They're usually still in there.

Then prosecutors will sit down and review all the evidence from this search warrant and elsewhere. You and I have done this. And then make a charging decision. Do we have enough evidence to charge? Do we have enough evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury?

Now, if you're wondering how long could this take, there's no specific timetable. But for reference, Michael Cohen's office was raided by the FBI in April of 2018. It took four months, until August of 2018, for him to be charged and plead guilty.

RODGERS: And speaking of charging decisions, the act that seems to be the most relevant here is called the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA for short. And what that prohibits is this. It's acting as an agent of a foreign principle, which means you're acting at the direction or control of someone foreign, a foreign person, a foreign government, to engage in political activities within the U.S., such as intending to influence a U.S. official in U.S. or foreign policy.

And the kicker here is that, if you do all of that without having properly registered with the Department of Justice, that's illegal. And that's for transparency purposes. It's OK to lobby on behalf of foreign interests, of course, but the U.S. government wants to know who's behind the lobbying. It's a matter of national security. So that's why FARA is an important law. That's why prosecutors, we think, are looking at Rudy Giuliani in connection with that statute.

KEILAR: And the thing, guys, is this isn't Rudy Giuliani's only problem, his only legal problem here. What else is he looking at right now, Elie?

HONIG: Yes, Rudy's legal problems are piling up, Brianna. We know that Rudy has been sued civilly by Dominion Voting Systems, alleging that he caused over a billion dollars of damage for defamation based on false statements about election fraud.

Relatedly, we know Rudy is being investigated criminally by the Fulton County district attorney down in Atlanta for potential perjury from when he went in front of the Georgia legislature and, again, made false statements about election fraud.

And, of course, we know DOJ continues to investigate the causes of the January 6 Capitol insurrection. We all remember when Rudy Giuliani stood in front of that crowd and said --

RODGERS: Let's have trial by combat.

HONIG: Trial by combat. So DOJ continues to investigate and potentially make those cases, as well. Rudy's got an awful lot of legal problems, and now he's got one more.

BERMAN: Elie Honig, Jennifer Rodgers, smart people having a smart discussion there. That was really good. Thank you, guys, so much.

I will also note Rudy Giuliani is something like a human pigpen. Right? Over the last five years, everywhere he's walked, you have two impeachments, all kinds of lawsuits. I mean, everywhere he goes, problems follow.

KEILAR: That's right. All kinds of -- all kinds of problems, as well. Cosmetic problems, with hair dripping. Everything.

BERMAN: All kinds.

KEILAR: It's everything, really.

Some newly-released video that shows the chemical attack on Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick who, of course, later died. What this reveals about the investigation into the deadly insurrection.

BERMAN: And three white men in Georgia facing federal hate crime charges in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. Hear the reaction from Arbery's mother.

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