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Protest Grow Amid Brown Shooting; Oregon Lawmaker Charged; Gas Prices Near $3 a Gallon; Cruz Threatens Woke CEOs; Legal Implications of Giuliani; CNN Update From Around the World; Clinton Warns Biden over Withdrawal. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired May 03, 2021 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And that was redacted with blurred faces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JADINE HAMPTON, ANDREW BROWN JR.'S COUSIN: I think we're grieving but we're doing what we have to do. Because of the way that things happened, we have to be here. We have to support. We have to protest. We know that we have a long road ahead. This is literally just the beginning.
LILLIE BROWN CLARK, ANDREW BROWN JR.'S AUNT: This doesn't end today. It doesn't end tomorrow after we celebrate his life. It may not end for a year. But it's going to change things in North Carolina, not just in this -- the city. So he would not have died in vain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: Yesterday I also met five-year-old Jordan Foskey (ph), who was given the microphone for a few minutes during the march. Adults teaching her how to lead some of those chants. An example of families really bringing their kids out in this moment, asking for transparency, asking for all the body camera footage to be released to the public, which at this time a judge has denied. But that same judge did say that the family of Andrew Brown could view more of that body camera footage in the days to come.
Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we will certainly be waiting for that. It seems to be coming out in trickles.
Natasha Chen, thank you so much.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An Oregon lawmaker is now facing charges based on this surveillance video that shows him unlocking a door to the state Capitol and letting in rowdy, right wing protesters.
"EARLY START" Anchor Laura Jarrett is here.
Laura, what's going on with this?
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Yes, so, John, you may have heard this one before. It's kind of a crazy case. This is the video that landed Oregon State Rep. Mike Nearman in hot water and now has him facing criminal charges.
Late last year, before the riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., a different violent confrontation with police happened in Oregon. As lawmakers there debated COVID-19 health precautions inside the state capital building, protesters showed up outside and it turned ugly. Surveillance video shows Rep. Nearman leaving the building through a locked door, surrounded by protesters outside, allowing them to swarm into the building.
Now, thankfully, they weren't able to make it very far, but authorities spray they did spray officers with some type of chemical irritant. Where have we heard that before? And officers used pepper balls to keep the group at bay.
After the surveillance video was initially released last year, Nearman said in a statement, quote, I don't condone violence or -- nor participate in it. I do think that when the Oregon constitution says that legislative proceedings shall be open, it means open, as in anyone who has spent the last nine months staring at a screen doing virtual meetings will tell you, it's not the same thing as being open.
He is now facing charges of first degree official misconduct and second degree criminal trespass. He's set to be arraigned next week, John.
BERMAN: On video.
All right, Laura Jarrett, thanks so much for that. Appreciate it.
JARRETT: You're welcome.
BERMAN: Former President Trump's inner circle said to be rattled by last week's FBI raid on the home of Rudy Giuliani. We're going to take a closer look at the international dealings that led up to this point.
KEILAR: Plus, new concerns about the health and safety of the volunteers and workers at the Olympics.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:04]
BERMAN: Gas prices rising sharply. Millions of Americans are expected to hit the road for some much needed post-pandemic vacations this summer. And the national average for regular gas is already nearing $3 a gallon. That is up more than 60 percent from a year ago.
Pete Muntean in Bethesda, Maryland, this morning.
I mean, Pete, when we compare to last year, I mean gas prices went through the floor last year. So the year to year comparison, I get, but, still, prices are going up pretty quickly.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we've been talking about that whole idea of pent-up travel demand. And what's so interesting now is that gas stations are worried they just might not have enough gas to pump. In fact, industry groups tell us the problem is with tanker trucks, like this one. About a quarter of them nationwide, they tell us, are parked because of a shortage of qualified drivers. It's a highly qualified job. More retirements in the pandemic. More regulations in the pandemic. Fewer drivers available.
You know, I talked to one of these big trucking companies out in Oklahoma. Eight hundred drivers in 15 states, and they've had to double their recruiting budget because of this looming problem on the horizon. It could have a big trickle-down effect. The simple version, a shortage of drivers mean a shortage of gas.
Here's what they told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLLY MCCORMICK, GROENDYKE TRANSPORT, NATIONAL TANK TRUCK CARRIERS ASSOCIATION: We've been talking about a driver shortage within the industry for the better part of 20 years. But now you've got this pandemic affect that's accelerated the issue. So I think most people probably won't realize that this could be a crippling effect on our economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: The price of a gallon of gas has gone up about 60 percent nationwide in the last year. And the concern is that it's those vacation hot spots that could run out of gas first, and that could create a bit of a panic as people are trying to get home from vacation on a Monday morning, like this one. It could be a big problem, John.
BERMAN: Pete, I had no idea about the tanker truck driver shortage. That was a new piece I -- honestly, that's a really interesting piece of information there. Thank you so much, as always, for your reporting.
Brianna.
KEILAR: John, thank you.
Senator Ted Cruz says he is fed up with woke companies, as he calls them, that oppose the Georgia voting law. The Texas Republican wrote in a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed this, quote, corporations that flagrantly misrepresent efforts to protect our elections need to be called out, singled out, and cut off. To them I say, when the time comes that you need help with a tax break or a regulatory change, I hope the Democrats take your calls, because we may not.
Joining me now is CNN White House correspondent John Harwood.
OK, there is -- I mean there's so much to talk about here. We do know that there's, I think, been some frustration among Republicans that they've had a little bit of a schism with business, but this is something that Ted Cruz thought out before putting to paper.
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And it's just so dishonest, the argument. He -- remember, Ted Cruz is one of the people who fostered the big lie after the election.
[06:40:00]
Now he is compounding that with another lie, which is making the argument that what's happening in the state of Georgia and states around the country is not about reacting to Donald Trump's defeat to try to constrain voting procedures. He's pretending in this article that that wasn't what it was about at all. It was expanding voting opportunities. We all know and the law is complicated and long, but it takes control away from the officials who certified that Joe Biden won the election.
He is then going on to say, because you are doing this, you woke corporations -- and, of course, corporations are simply recognizing the reality here -- people who work for these big corporations tend to be better educated and more diverse than the people that Ted Cruz is trying to mislead with this argument -- and -- and they're calling it out and he's saying, well, if you want a favor from the government, if you want your -- not to pay taxes, I won't look the other way anymore because you're calling us out on this election, and I won't take your money.
He is -- he is, in essence, in addition to lying about the election and the efforts to constrain voting, he's also confessing that he doesn't make decisions about tax policy or regulatory policy based on the merits. It's on -- based on whether or not I think you like me and whether you're going to do a favor for me.
KEILAR: Yes. And he's - he's saying that loud and clear. I think part of it is just to get this attention by saying something outrageous.
But I want to get to your interview.
HARWOOD: Yes.
KEILAR: You were able to put many questions to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at such a crucial time because President Biden is proposing these tax hikes on businesses and on the wealthy to pay for his initiatives.
How is she responding to Republicans like Senator Tim Scott, who last week called them, quote, the biggest job killing tax hikes in a generation?
HARWOOD: Well, she's saying a couple things.
First of all, that there's no evidence that the Trump's tax cuts in 2017 actually had a lasting, positive effect on productivity or job growth. Of course, these attacks on job-killing tax hikes are things that we've heard in the Clinton administration, in the Obama administration. Subsequent economic events did not bear them out. So the Treasury has done a lot of scrutinizing and modeling of these,
as outside groups have, and nobody's found a dramatic effect on jobs from these tax hikes. And she's saying, in addition to that, that you have to consider the tax hikes in conjunction with the effects of the spending increases, education, infrastructure, help for families. And what she's saying is, if you put all that together, is it clear that this will help the economy in the long run? She says, yes, it is clear. That's her argument.
KEILAR: It is a big bill, right? It is -- it is a big proposal of his, but it is interesting that Republicans are mad about spending when they weren't before when they were doing the spending.
HARWOOD: Right.
It's a challenge for Joe Biden to try to make that case. And Janet Yellen's going to help him. But it's -- when you have a big price tag like that, as we heard from Sunlen's piece earlier in the show, it's a challenge to get voters to accept that it's not going to cost them.
KEILAR: Yes. They think it will.
HARWOOD: Yes.
KEILAR: We'll see if they can get past that.
John Harwood, always great to see you. Good morning to you.
HARWOOD: Thank you.
KEILAR: Senator Mitt Romney booed by Republicans in his home state.
BERMAN: We're going to speak live with one Republican who voted against the censure against him.
KEILAR: Plus, a man who attended the riot at the Capitol is seen counting ballots, yes, at the Arizona audit, calling into question Joe Biden's win.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:47:31]
BERMAN: So members of former President Trump's orbit are reportedly feeling uneasy about the escalation in a two-year-old probe of Rudy Giuliani that led to the raid of his New York City apartment last week. So, what are the legal implications that Giuliani faces in this probe and to his activities in Ukraine?
CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig is here to look at that. He, of course, is a former state and federal prosecutor.
Walk me through what the prosecutors needed to do, the agents, to get this warrant. ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, John, so prosecutors have a
lot of power, but they can't just search anywhere they want. There's a very specific, legal process you have to go through.
First, you have to allege probably cause that a crime was committed and that you're likely to find evidence in that crime in the location you're searching. Then a federal judge has to review and sign off.
Now, in this case, the search warrant is based on the crime of FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which essentially has three parts to it.
First, the person was involved in lobbying the U.S. government. Second, he was acting as a foreign agent on behalf of some foreign interest. And, third, without registering with the Justice Department.
This is a rarely used statute. It's only actually been charged about 20 times in the last 60 years. But that's the basis for the search warrant on Rudy.
BERMAN: OK. Now overly this to Rudy Giuliani, why him?
HONIG: Yes. So, first of all, lobbying. It now appears the Southern District is focusing on Rudy's effort to remove U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch. People will remember Ambassador Yovanovitch from her testimony in Donald Trump's first trial, first impeachment trial.
Now, how do we know Rudy was involved? Well, guess what, he went on national TV and bragged he about it.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now this hit piece, and it's a hit piece --
RUDY GIULIANI: Of course.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Also has you on the record admitting that you forced out Marie Yovanovitch.
GIULIANI: Of course I did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said you needed her out of the way.
GIULIANI: I --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you're a personal attorney for the president. So why do you need her out of the way?
GIULIANI: I didn't need her out of the way. I forced her out because she's corrupt.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HONIG: You know who else bragged about it, by the way? President Trump in his infamous call with the Ukrainian president that got him impeached. Donald Trump said this, Rudy very much knows what's happening and he's a very capable guy. If you could speak to him, that would be great. The former ambassador from the United States, the woman was bad news.
So that's the first thing prosecutors have to prove.
BERMAN: Yes. Giuliani saying I forced her out, that's kind of, you know, on camera. That's a problem.
HONIG: Yes.
BERMAN: What else does the government need to prove?
HONIG: Yes. So they have to get into the issue of lobbying. Now, here's where things get a little tricky.
[06:50:00]
We don't know exactly whether Rudy was working on behalf of foreign interests. What we do know is Rudy has deep, personal, business, financial ties with Ukrainians, including to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who you may remember from the still pending SDNY, same office, indictment of Lev Parnas.
And as part of that case, John, remember, they paid Rudy $500,000 through fraud guarantee. Yes, fraud guarantee. We don't know why. But the question is, does it relate back to that firing of Marie Yovanovitch.
The last piece prosecutors need to prove, there's nothing necessarily wrong with lobbying or lobbying on behalf of a foreign interest, but you have to register with the Department of Justice. It's simple paperwork. I've looked it up online. You could probably fill it out fairly quickly. Rudy certainly did not register.
Now, this is causing Rudy and his supporters to say, who cares, it's a paperwork crime. But the fact is, this law is designed to protect the United States' national security because if people are lobbying our government and they're working for a foreign government, we need to know that.
BERMAN: If you're working for a foreign government, you need to know.
Now that was the "in" --
HONIG: Yes.
BERMAN: In terms of the search warrant here. Does that mean that nothing else matters?
HONIG: Very important point. If FARA gets them in the door for a search warrant, they can still charge whatever crime they find evidence of. They can use whatever evidence they pulled out of Rudy's apartment that day.
BERMAN: Elie Honig, fascinating. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
HONIG: Thanks, John.
BERMAN: All right.
Brianna.
KEILAR: John, new warnings as America begins to end its longest war and they're coming from President Biden's allies.
Plus, India now experiencing the worst virus -- coronavirus outbreak in the world as cases break records. And those are the ones that we know about. We're going to take you to where families are running out of oxygen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:55:47]
KEILAR: North Korean saber rattling full speed ahead for the Tokyo Olympics and new fears of a Taliban resurgence.
CNN is around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Will Ripley in Hong Kong.
We've come a long way from the fire and fury days. North Korea now issuing a series of heated statements warning President Biden and President Moon ahead of their summit talks at the White House later this month, saying that there is a looming crisis. The North is angry, they say, about President Biden's speech to Congress. He just had a couple of sentences about North Korea, but he said that their nuclear program was a serious threat and his newly unveiled North Korea policy calls for actual negotiations instead of love letters and grand gestures. But from Pyongyang's point of view, they say it's more of the same hostility from the U.S. And they're also angry at South Korea over propaganda leaflets flying over their borders.
The question, what could happen before that big sit-down between Biden and Moon.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Blake Essig in Tokyo.
Over the weekend, Japanese Olympic officials have once again said organizers are not considering canceling the summer games, pointing to COVID-19 countermeasures highlighted in the latest edition of the Tokyo 2020 playbooks. For the roughly 70,000 volunteers expected to participate, those countermeasures essentially include two masks, hand sanitizer, and a request to socially distance. But with less than three months to go before the scheduled start, cases nationwide are on the rise and Japan has just set a new record for the most COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I'm Nick Paton Walsh in London.
And fears are growing for security in Afghanistan, particularly for that of the Afghan government as the U.S. begins and accelerates its withdrawal of troops there from America's longest war.
After at (ph) the weekend, the Taliban briefly overran an Afghan army base to the south of the capital, Kabul, near a city called Gazny (ph), one of a number of signs of the insurgency growing in strength, moving through territory that's previously been held in a stalemate with Afghan security forces. Something, sadly, that Washington, I think, accepts as an inevitable factor as they remove their troops from that country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: A stark warning from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Afghanistan could face bad possible outcomes as the U.S. begins turning over military bases to Afghan security forces.
Hillary Clinton also alerting of huge consequences, as she put it, including a resurgence of terror groups worldwide.
CNN's Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon with more.
These are allies of the Biden administration criticizing this move or certainly raising alarms about it, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Brianna.
Of course, General Mark Milley is the president's chief military adviser. And he says, you know, the Taliban, maybe they'll stay peaceful, but way too soon to predict anything. Traveling with reporters over the weekend, including our own Oren Lieberman, let me read you part of what Milley told those reporters. And I quote, on the one hand, you get some really dramatic, possible bad outcomes. And on the other hand, you get a military that stays together and a government that stays together. Which one of these options becomes reality at the end of the day, we frankly don't know yet, and we have to wait and see how things develop over the summer. There's a lot of variables to this and it's not 100 percent predictable.
Now, the beginning of U.S. troops withdrawing from Afghanistan is underway. Mainly it is starting in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. This is an area -- I've traveled through it, Nick has, many reporters have -- been the scene of bitter fighting over many, many years. Many U.S. Marines losing their life in Helmand province. It's a real barometer of Taliban strength. And that is part of the concern right now, the Taliban again potentially regrouping. Hillary Clinton appearing on CNN's "GPS with Fareed Zakaria," warning about all of this. Secretary Clinton saying, you know, the Taliban could again be giving shelter to terror groups and we could begin to see the rise of the Taliban across the country again. [07:00:05]
A dire warning from so many places.
Brianna.
KEILAR: Indeed.
