Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Riot Suspect's Defense; Asian-American Diplomats Claims Discrimination; Protests in Colombia; Rocket Debris to Crash into Earth. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 07, 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]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Now this. An attorney for one of the Capitol riot defendants says his client became hooked on Fox News and developed, quote, Foxitis, Foxmania. Believing the lies that he was fed by Fox and then President Trump.

We have CNN's Whitney Wild joining us with more.

This is quite the defense.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And when you look at the range of defenses, this is sort of, I think, in the middle of some of the more creative defenses.

But basically what this attorney is saying is that this person was influenced by what he saw on TV. The attorney for defendant Anthony Antonio said his client lost his job at the start of the pandemic and basically only watched Fox News afterward. He said, quote, for the next approximate six months, Fox television played constantly. He became hooked on what I call Foxitis or Faxmania and became interested in the political aspect and started believing what was being fed to him. What was being fed to him, according to his attorney, were the lies of election fraud consistently pushed by former President Donald Trump.

Antonio is charged with five federal crimes related to the January 6th Capitol riot, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. In court documents, he's accused of pouring water on an officer being dragged down Capitol steps and throwing around broken furniture inside the Capitol. Antonio has not yet entered a plea, although clearly has offered some sort of explanation through his attorney.

KEILAR: Interesting. And, I mean, there are a lot of people who have been won over by the BS that Fox shovels. So it's -- it's interesting, though, does it rise to the level of a defense?

OK, so there's another defendant and he wants to call mom.

WILD: It's a holiday this weekend.

KEILAR: It is. Happy Mother's Day, by the way. WILD: Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to you. And that is the reminder for

all of our viewers in some kind of weird way. Basically what's going on here is this -- this defendant and his mother are actually co- conspirators. And what that means is because they were both released from custody, one of the conditions is that they can't speak to other co-defendants.

I'm sorry, I said co-conspirators. I should have said co-defendants. I'm sorry, I'm getting about other -- I'm getting cases conflated here.

They are just co-defendants. And the condition of their release is just that they can't speak with one another. However, this man is asking a judge to give him some deference here, asking for some leniency. He'd like to call his mother on Mother's Day, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, I wonder, do we have any idea if that will work out for him or we're just waiting to see?

WILD: I guess -- I guess we'll see. You know, the -- that's the -- I think the thing about what judges have indicated throughout this entire process is there's a lot of variety and they actually are -- they -- they really do listen to the needs and desires of the defendants. And so that's why we've seen a real variety in, say, keeping people in jail, for example. So, maybe.

KEILAR: Maybe. We will see.

Again, happy Mother's Day to you.

WILD: And to you too.

KEILAR: It's wonderful to see you ahead of this weekend.

Asian-American diplomats say the discrimination is holding them back at a critical time for the State Department. CNN's brand-new reporting, next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a live report from the streets of Colombia, where deaths are rising as protesters face off with police. They're complaining about the economic pain from lockdowns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:01]

BERMAN: This morning, a new indication that anti-Asian hate crimes are surging in the United States. A new study says there have been more than 6,600 reports of racism and discrimination against Asian- Americans since March of last year. More than 2,000 incidents have been reported in the first three months of this year alone and the majority have been reported by women.

In San Francisco, a man was arrested this week for allegedly stabbing two Asian women while they were waiting for a bus. And in Baltimore, a suspect is accused of beating two Asian-American sisters with a piece of cinderblock at a liquor store.

Meantime, Asian-American diplomats are telling CNN about discrimination they have faced in the State Department and how holding them back could hurt the U.S. on the world stage.

CNN's Kylie Atwood joins us now live with this brand-new reporting.

Kylie, what are you hearing?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, I want to give you an example just to kind of set the picture for you here.

Thomas Wong, he was an American who graduated from West Point, served in the U.S. Army, served in combat zones for the United States, became a diplomat. And when he became a diplomat, he was prevented from serving in China. And he told CNN that he felt like his loyalty to the United States was being questioned when that decision was made. He also said that he felt that his race played a factor in that decision.

And he is not an isolated incident. My colleague, Nicole Gallette (ph) at CNN, who did a tremendous amount of reporting for this story, spoke with more than 20 Asian-American diplomats about their experiences. And the pain and anxiety that these Asian-American diplomats have felt because of these restrictions and where they can serve is really real.

And there are some numbers to back this up. I want to point to a survey. This is -- this was conducted in 2020 by the State Department's Asian-American Foreign Affairs Association. And 70 percent of those respondents said that they believe that the restriction process was biased and 41 percent believed that there were outright errors in the process.

Now, assignment restrictions are implemented by the State Department diplomatic security. And the foreign affairs manual says that they are to prevent diplomats from being harassed or tracked by foreign intelligence service. But the pain and anxiety that these diplomats are feeling is very real and this is something that is being looked at and on the rise in recent years.

BERMAN: It's being looked at. What's the State Department doing about it?

ATWOOD: Yes, so the State Department -- Secretary of State Tony Blinken was someone who actually looked at this, one of the first people to look at this, when he was the deputy secretary of state. That was back in the Obama administration. And what he did was help to implement reform so that these diplomats were told, if they had restrictions in place for their assignments and why those restrictions were in place.

And this issue has been on the rise, as I said, with diplomats finally feeling like they can speak out about this.

[06:40:02]

And there is bipartisan focus on The Hill about this. And in 2018, a few years ago, during the Trump administration, there was a task force set up to look at this issue. And that has continued. That effort continues now during the Biden administration.

So we expect that the secretary of state, Tony Blinken, is going to speak about the findings of that task force, perhaps implement some reforms. But I want to point out that the real problem here, one of the real issues comes down to competition, global competition. These are diplomats who have linguistic skills, they have cultural skills that they could apply in certain regions and they are being prevented from applying those skills.

John.

BERMAN: Kylie Atwood, I'm so glad you're shining a light on this. Thank you so much for you and your team reporting on this.

KEILAR: Developing this morning, another day of protests on the streets of Colombia over police brutality and the government's handling of the pandemic. At least 26 people have died. Dozens have been injured in clashes between protesters and police.

And CNN's Polo Sandoval is live for us in Bogota with more.

Polo, tell us what's happening.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Brianna, we're now well into two of these protests. In order to fully understand exactly how Colombia got here, it's also important to keep in mind that what initially brought Colombians out onto the streets in the country is very different in -- compared to the what's actually keeping them there. Remember, it was about a week and a half when president -- when the president of the country actually rolled out this tax reform plan that it hoped would actually help them dig itself out of this post- pandemic economic hole. But then that was later -- he later withdrew that. But anger, widespread anger has remained and the result now has been these nightly protests that have taken a deadly turn.

The list of demands, now, has evolved to calling on the government to not only address economic inequality, also to address poverty levels, also to address what could be described on the ground as a heavy- handed approach by security forces, by police, by the military. The result has been, according to Colombian officials, close to 26 people already reported dead over the last week and a half.

Now, authorities saying that about half of those have been directly linked to these protests and much of that violence has been reported in the city of Cali (ph).

But what is for sure is really the entire country right now is essentially in pain here, especially with these poverty levels that continue to increase. And when you hear from people on the ground here, Brianna, their concern is that conditions are only going to worsen.

Last night here in Bogota, a large vigil was held memorializing the victims of these protests here because there is a very real human toll that's happening on the ground and that's also, obviously, running right next to the real economic toll. There's a big concern that some of these protests continue to essentially disrupt many operations throughout the country and even limiting some of the supplies, including those crucial medical supplies into some of those cities because, obviously, this country is still dealing with the coronavirus. It's still keeping a very firm grip on this country as it deals with this kind of civil unrest.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, Polo, and those pictures, thank you so much for bringing us that report from Bogota.

Coming up, our first look at the piece of space debris that is currently hurdling toward earth. When will scientists know where it's going to hit?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:20]

BERMAN: So, just in, the first image of the space debris that is currently hurtling towards earth. There it is. An Italian scientist captured this image of the chunk of Chinese rocket in the sky over Italy. It's expected to reenter the earth's atmosphere this weekend. The problem is, scientists don't know really exactly when or, more importantly, exactly where it will land.

Joining us now is Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist at the City University of New York and the author of a new book called "The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything." A New York Times" best seller.

Professor, it's great to see you.

I mean how worried should we be? This 20-ton chunk of rocket.

MICHIO KAKU, THEORETICAL PHYSICIST, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (CUNY): Well, like a bat out of hell, this 20-ton rocket, the Chinese Long March 5B rocket, is tumbling out of control and it could hit anywhere as far north as New York City or as far south as New Zealand.

BERMAN: That narrows it down.

KAKU: Yes. And it's a huge part of the earth's surface. Now, chances are it's going to land harmlessly in the ocean. But there's a finite chance that it could even land right here at CNN headquarters right on top of our head. We simply don't know where it's going to land.

BERMAN: People have a hard time, I think, understanding that. Almost no chance at all, but it is a nonzero chance.

KAKU: Nonzero. And it's traveling at 18,000 miles per hour. Like a flaming meteor from outer space, it's going to light up the sky. And this is the second time this happened in one year. Last May another Chinese Long March rocket burned up over the Atlantic Ocean. Parts of it was sprayed over the Ivory Coast of Africa. And so remember that the great powers used to do this regularly but 30 years ago they decided it's too dangerous and so they very carefully deorbit their space junk after launch.

The Chinese are simply playing catch-up to the west. Their theory is behind in much of their technology and I think they're just being very careless, allowing their booster rockets to burn up over somebody's backyard.

BERMAN: Yes, so -- so I think this is an important point to make, the Chinese country, which is accelerating its space program, is doing this and they really just aren't being careful about it and there's no indication that this will change any time soon. There could be a lot more coming.

KAKU: That's right. And also, remember, that the great powers used to do this all the time over 30 years ago. The most famous one was Skylab back in 1979. It broke up over the Pacific and Australia. And in Las Vegas, the bookmakers in Las Vegas were taking bets as to where Skylab would eventually fall.

And the Russians had Cosmos 954, a nuclear reactor with weapons grade uranium, burn up over northern Canada in 1977. And it spewed -- it contaminated several hundred square miles of Canadian tundra.

[06:50:06]

And so this used to be the norm. And the Chinese, in some sense, are playing catch-up.

BERMAN: So Bianna and I have been having this debate, whether or not they should take the "Deep Impact" approach to this and try to hit it with nuclear weapons, or the "Armageddon" approach, do the oil drill thing.

You know, but I understand it's not a joke. The Pentagon has actually said it's not going to try to shoot this down. Why not?

KAKU: It would be worse because you would have hundreds of debris from that collision. The Chinese experimented by shattering one of their own satellites years ago and created thousands of pieces of debris, which will eventually wind up on someone's backyard.

And, remember, that we have 6,000 satellites in orbit right now, 6,000 satellites, of which all of them will eventually be, quote, deorbited, unquote, because, of course, the fact that they're going to come back down onto planet earth. And so that's one of the byproducts of this space program, 6,000 satellites will eventually deorbit.

BERMAN: For the record, which of the films is more accurate, "Deep Impact" or "Armageddon"?

KAKU: I think "Deep Impact" was more realistic. Bruce Willis is not going to come and save the day for everybody.

BERMAN: That's a downer. You're just throwing water on it because I've been counting on Bruce Willis for a lot of things, really, way beyond asteroids and things like that.

Just -- I don't want to leave people scared here. People shouldn't be changing their weekend plans, correct?

KAKU: More than likely the overwhelming probability is it will land in the oceans. Remember that every year about 150 tons of debris, manmade debris, come raining down onto planet earth, burn up as meteors and land in the oceans. But you can't rule it out. One day it's going to land on someone's backyard.

BERMAN: Brianna, I mean, you've got to be honest --

KEILAR: That's pretty scary. There's got to be like a better way to deal with this. And I wonder if at some point, you know, maybe we are going to need Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck to save the day?

BERMAN: What do you say to that?

KEILAR: I'll put that there.

KAKU: Oh, one day will we need our heroes from Hollywood? Just remember, they are Hollywood heroes and they don't know anything about the laws of physics. And the laws of physicians tell us that sooner or later it's going to land in someone's back yard.

BERMAN: Thank goodness you know the laws of physics and thank goodness we have scientists looking out for us and watching over this. Again, it will land sometime this weekend. It's moving so fast, it's just impossible to tell where, New York, New Zealand, anywhere in between.

Professor, always a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much.

KEILAR: And he really puts it into perspective there when you're talking about thousands of satellites, John.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: I mean, like you said, this is going to be a problem at some point.

BERMAN: Again, but people have a hard time grasping, there's almost no chance at all it's a threat to anyone, but it's a nonzero chance, which means it could happen and it could be dangerous. So we'll be watching.

KEILAR: And that's why we're making "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" jokes.

BERMAN: Exactly.

KEILAR: For the record.

BERMAN: Exactly. But I can't believe he thought that "Deep Impact" was better. That changes everything for me.

KEILAR: Kind of breaks my heart. BERMAN: So just in to CNN, breaking news from Pfizer that could have a big impact on vaccinations across the country.

The details, next.

KEILAR: Plus, a Trump voter admits to casting a ballot for his dead mother and registering another dead woman. Why he says he did it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:29]

KEILAR: Seniors have been one of the most at-risk populations during the pandemic. And over the past year, firefighters in Glendale, California, have gone beyond the call to care for the most vulnerable in their community. Now they are doing the same to make sure that seniors get vaccinated.

CNN's Stephanie Elam has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHEN ELLIOTT, FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC, GLENDALE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Are you ready for your vaccine?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Lily Shaw --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Lily.

ELAM: Vaccination means freedom.

LILY SHAW, VACCINATED BY GLENDALE FIRE DEPARTMENT: I think I've lost (ph) a whole year.

ELLIOTT: Is that your ID in there?

ELAM: Now thanks to her local firefighters, that's about to change.

ELLIOTT: Well, the citizens we serve are like our family. And just seeing the toll it took on them was -- was -- was pretty tough.

ELAM: Glendale fire department, in partnership with Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital, is offering free at-home vaccinations for residents 65 and older who may need help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes sense to use the Johnson & Johnson for this effort. We come to your home one time. Each team has three people, two fire department employees and then a nurse.

ELLIOTT: It's just going to be a little shot here.

ELAM: Finding innovative ways to care for their community is what Glendale Fire does.

Last year, just as the pandemic began --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For food, medications or other special needs --

ELAM: The chief asked the city's senior citizens to stay at home and let the firefighters do their grocery shopping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We made a connection with them. We want to get vaccine into them and get them back to do all those type of things, to be somewhat normal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the vaccines are going to be in transport cases.

ELAM: An important step for a city slammed by the pandemic.

ELLIOTT: It was something I'd never seen in my career.

CAPTAIN SCOTT MOHLENBROK, GLENDALE DIRE DEPARTMENT: Emotionally, it was extremely difficult, call after call after call, going on, on patients that were really sick.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been waiting to get his vaccine.

ELAM: With his shot in his arm, 69-year-old Nelson Navarro (ph) feels safer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the city of Glendale, to actually come over here, it's a huge, huge service for us.

ELLIOTT: Quick poke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're all done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's it. You're all done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're kidding?

ELAM (on camera): Now that you've got your shot, what is Miss Lily going to do?

SHAW: I wish I could drive to Malibu.

ELAM (voice over): Seeing people past the pandemic is the payoff for the firefighters.

MOHLENBROK: Really enjoyable for my heart and for my head to be in the front of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's at the core of what we do, saving people's lives, and this vaccine is saving people's lives.

ELAM: Giving residents their freedom back one house call and one shot at a time.

Stephanie Elam, CNN, Glendale, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:00]

KEILAR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar in Washington, alongside John Berman in New York on this NEW DAY.

Breaking news, the first drugmaker asking for full approval.