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New Day

Jenner on Governor Run; Capitol Police Part in Insurrection; Biden Open to Sharing COVID Vaccine; Debate over Required Vaccine for Military. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 11, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:06]

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys, we have sirens. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

(INAUDIBLE)

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was moments ago. Our reporter, Hadas Gold, and her team in Ashkelon in Israel, which is not far from Gaza, they heard sirens indicating incoming rocket fire. Hadas then told us over the phone that she did hear several explosions. Not clear whether they were ground impacts or these rockets being intercepted by the Israeli air defense system. This is part of what is rapidly escalating tension in the region.

With rockets incoming to Israel, Israel has taken action against what they call Palestinian militants in Gaza. There has been rioting and clashes inside Jerusalem, around the Al-Aqsa Mosque. There's a lot going on in that region. We're working to reestablish contact with Hadas and her team. We'll bring you a live report from the ground very shortly.

Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: John, Caitlyn Jenner sitting down for an interview with CNN. She is running, of course, to unseat Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in California's all but certain recall election and she's trying to navigate a delicate middle ground, championing some progressive issues while also trying to court Trump voters. Here's part of this interview that she had with CNN's Dana Bash.

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DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The former president still claims that the 2020 elections were stolen from him.

CAILYN JENNER, CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Uh-huh. BASH: So let me ask you, do you believe President Biden was duly

elected?

JENNER: He is our president. I respect that. I realize there was -- there's a lot of frustration over that election.

[06:35:05]

You know what, I'm frustrated over what -- what happened back then. But what have I done? OK, as a citizen, I'm frustrated. And I said, you know what, I want to do something about it.

BASH: The then Trump campaign went to court. They filed scores and scores of lawsuits. There was no evidence that there was anything fraudulent. Do you -- are you comfortable with that? Do you believe that the election was stolen?

JENNER: No, I -- I believe in the system. But I believe in the -- what we need to do in the future is we are a democratic republic. We need to have integrity in our election system. I'm not going to go on in the past, you know. We're in a post-Trump era and they still keep talking about him.

BASH: Are we, though?

JENNER: We're in a post-Trump era.

BASH: I don't think he believes that.

JENNER: We -- we have moved forward.

BASH: Well, the reason I'm asking you about this is because you are a Republican and there is a real --

JENNER: Well, kind of, yes. We're kind of on the Republican side. But, yes. Yes.

BASH: Are you not a Republican?

JENNER: Well, I -- I -- I hate to use -- we label everybody, OK. I don't like labels, you know?

BASH: What do you -- are --

JENNER: I'm me, OK, and this is how I deal it. Just because I have conservative economic philosophy, that's the only thing that the Republicans are kind of on that I'm on. But, I don't know, maybe you call me a libertarian. Maybe you call me in the middle. I really don't know because when it comes to social issues, I'm much more progressive, much more liberal.

BASH: Right.

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BERMAN: For more on this interview, want to bring in CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston.

Maeve, this was a really interesting interview. And if you hear the whole thing, what jumps out at you more than anything else is that for Caitlyn Jenner, policy and what's going on in California and a firm grasp of what she believes about policy, it's a work in progress. Let's just say that.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Right.

BERMAN: In that clip we just -- that clip we just played, it does seem like Caitlyn Jenner is trying to straddle the issue of Donald Trump, saying that we're in a post-Trump era, which is something that I guarantee you the former president doesn't like to hear, but also saying -- kind of hedging on whether Joe Biden won the election fairly, which, of course, he did.

So what's going on here?

RESTON: So it's absolutely a hedge. And, you know, we saw in that interview with Dana that Caitlyn Jenner was kind of all over the place on policy. She's speaking in favor of some major government intervention on issues like homelessness, but also trying to maintain this connection with Trump voters and Trump's base.

She supported Donald Trump in 2016, then rescinded her support in 2018. But as we know, those Trump voters are a huge base of financial support in the -- in the Republican Party. And so while she's looking at an electorate here in California, where Republicans actually tend to be more progressive than they are nationally, especially on issues like immigration, she's trying to find this middle ground where she can appeal to Trump's voters and not alienate them, but also speak to the electric here that really doesn't like him very much at all, John.

KEILAR: I wonder how she wins over folks when she's breathing life -- you know, she's certainly keeping the door open to the big lie being possible, right? She's not shutting that down at all.

RESTON: Right. Right.

KEILAR: Maeve, what is the feeling there on the ground about where all of this stands, about what the future holds for Governor Gavin Newsom.

RESTON: No Jenner is one of several Republicans who is running to try to replace Gavin Newsom in this all but certain recall. It has not been scheduled yet, but there are enough signatures to qualify.

But Governor Newsom's approval ratings here have really been pretty steady, about 53 percent of likely voters approve of his job approval right now. And only four in 10 say that they would vote to recall him. Not only that, but the economy is improving. He announced a $75 billion surplus yesterday. He's going to go around -- he has a plan to go around and try to hand out stimulus checks to Californians. And, obviously, the pandemic case numbers have gotten better.

So things really have stabilized for him and I think we'd have to see a big shakeup here in order for him to be recalled. But, obviously, these Republicans are doing their best to get out there and persuade voters that they'd be better off with someone else, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. As a -- as someone who grew up in California, this is just part of our drama. This is part of our political drama that we have as Californians.

RESTON: It is.

KEILAR: And, you know what, America, we're taking you along with us on this ride.

Maeve Reston, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

RESTON: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, some new questions about the police response to the Capitol insurrection. Why did officials direct resources elsewhere after seeing hundreds of Proud Boys marching toward the Senate?

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BERMAN: Plus, we have breaking news out of Israel. Sirens going off. Explosions heard. That's our reporter Hadas Gold running for shelter as she heard sirens. CNN is on the ground. We're working to reestablish contact.

Stay with us.

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KEILAR: Did Capitol Police observe 200 Proud Boys moving toward the Senate on the morning of January 6th and send its resources elsewhere? Well, that is what a congresswoman is alleging. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren just revealed that in a House administration committee hearing. And Whitney Wild is in Washington -- is here in Washington with us tracking the latest developments.

So what happened here?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the question that Representative Lofgren is trying to figure out.

So this came up in a hearing yesterday with the Capitol Police inspector general. And so she was reading from a timeline in which she said there was just one mention of the fact that Capitol Police had eyes on 200 Proud Boys -- this is an extremist group we've covered extensively -- who was moving toward the Senate side.

[06:45:05]

And so in this hearing she was sort of exasperated and she asked the inspector general, what happened? How did this happen? The entire hearing was focused on their threat assessment and counter surveillance operation. And so she was looking for answers there.

However, the inspector general said he didn't know. He didn't have an answer for her at that moment. But he thinks that that will come up in subsequent reports.

The -- as far as redirecting resources, what Representative Lofgren also said was, she was making this distinction that Capitol Police had eyes on 200 Proud Boys and yet seemed to monitor about a half an hour later three to four counter protesters. Obviously a fraction of what we would have seen from these Proud Boys, many of whom are now facing charges, some of whom are now facing conspiracy charges.

Capitol Police had this to say. USCP did have counter surveillance teams in the field reporting on the Proud Boys. The intelligence operations section also received information regarding the 200 Proud Boys from MPD. USCP pushed that information out to the intelligence distribution. The department was on the lookout for any and all potential threats on January 6th.

Brianna, but another big question, because what we know is that those Proud Boys were a very big part of the riot. So the question is, if you had eyes on them, what happened?

KEILAR: It seems at least clear, and you correct me if I'm wrong, that they just didn't consider that to be a threat.

WILD: Well, the information they were always working with was that they had expected that Trump supporters would be there. And we've heard this over and over that their expectation was that these Trump supporters were not going to be violent because they felt like they had never seen violence out of that before.

However, it's also in conflict from one of the things we've also heard out of Capitol police, which was, they knew there would be white supremacists in the crowd, they knew that there was a potential that they would be armed and would be violent. So there's still not really a good answer on what they actually thought. There's seems to be these two conflicting ideas. And we've been working vigorously and I know, you know, Senate investigators, House investigators too, are trying to figure out like, what did you really know, because we've got these two conflicting themes.

KEILAR: And did you prepare for the worst case scenario?

WILD: Right.

KEILAR: I think that's very clear they did not.

WILD: Exactly.

KEILAR: So, why not?

Whitney, thank you so much.

The Biden administration is extending an olive branch to North Korea amid the coronavirus pandemic. We have some brand new details just in to CNN on that next.

BERMAN: Plus, why are so many service members turning down the coronavirus vaccine? We'll speak with a veteran who is working to fight vaccine hesitancy after losing his mother to COVID.

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[06:51:34]

BERMAN: New this morning, a pandemic olive branch from the U.S. to North Korea. Sources tell CNN the Biden administration is open to sharing vaccines and other humanitarian assistance to help North Korea fight coronavirus.

CNN's Kylie Atwood live at the State Department.

Kylie, tell us what's going on here.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, John, what we're learning from sources in the administration is that the Biden administration is open to sharing COVID vaccines with North Korea. And that largely comes as the administration is looking at diplomacy with North Korea. They believe that North Korea isn't going to engage diplomatically with the United States until the threat from COVID is largely passed. And so providing vaccines, providing humanitarian support could be something that could grease the wheels for diplomatic engagement.

Now, a senior administration official said there aren't any plans at the time to share COVID vaccines, but they did say that if North Korea made requests for humanitarian assistance, the U.S. is open to that. And one thing that they would do is have to provide some monitoring mechanisms to make sure that that assistance reached the right people. Essentially that it got into the hands of the North Korean people.

Now, there are a few things to consider here, John. First of all, the U.S. is receiving a tremendous number of requests from countries around the world for vaccine assistance. Of course, as far as we know, that request hasn't come in from North Korea yet. So they would really have to make the ask. That's what a senior administration official is making clear.

The other factor to consider is just, you know, the situation with the COVID pandemic in North Korea is a bit unclear. We know that Kim Jong- un, according to experts, really shut down the country to international -- any contacts internationally during the pandemic to try and prevent the spread of the virus in his country. North Korea hasn't recorded any large outbreak of COVID, but experts are skeptical that the pandemic hasn't actually gotten into North Korea at all.

And of course, would North Korea even accept vaccines from the United States? They're very skeptical of accepting anything from the United States. But this could be one way to sort of spur diplomacy if it was something that North Korea was interested in.

John.

BERMAN: Very interesting reporting. Please keep us posted.

Kylie Atwood, thank you very much. More on our breaking news, sirens going off. That's our reporter Hadas Gold. And explosions heard as the violence in Israel intensifies. We are live on the ground.

KEILAR: Plus, we have some brand new, breaking news about the sex trafficking investigation into Congressman Matt Gaetz. The person investigators are now pushing to cooperate.

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[06:56:51]

KEILAR: All members of the U.S. military and their family members insured through them are now eligible to get the coronavirus vaccine, but the Pentagon is now fighting vaccine hesitancy within its very own ranks. Thirty-six percent of the Marine Corps, which is the branch providing details on this, are saying no thanks to the vaccine. But at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, 67 percent of the Marines there are refusing to take it. That is huge. So should the COVID-19 vaccine be required for members of the military?

I am joined now by Charles Eggleston, who served more than 16 years in the Army. He is a Purple Heart recipient and he is now a board member for Blue Star Families, which is a military advocacy group, it's a non-profit that is working right now to combat vaccine hesitancy.

Full disclosure, I too am on the board, which is how I have been so blessed to come to know you, Charles.

This work that you're doing, I mean, right now it's voluntary, the vaccine. It seems like this is going to move towards required, but you have this vaccine hesitancy. Are members of the military going to maybe push back on getting the vaccine even when it's required?

CHARLES EGGLESTON, LOST MOTHER TO COVID, HELPING TO COMBAT VACCINE HESITANCY AMONG MILITARY FAMILIES: It's a possibility. But they have to basically follow official order. If it's passed down the higher command, they have to follow that or suffer consequences pretty much.

KEILAR: And what does that mean? I mean what -- when you are talking -- you're reaching out to members of the military, trying to convince them, hey, you know, you need to do this, this is your duty. You also have a personal message for which I am so sorry. You recently lost your mom to COVID.

EGGLESTON: Right.

KEILAR: Because of someone, as you say, who was younger and healthier who got her sick.

EGGLESTON: Yes. It's -- it's a tragedy that sometime it has to hit home to hit home, you know? The smart philosophy is, do the right thing, not just for me, do it for the next man, for the next woman.

You know, with me, my mother, she was in a nursing facility. She never left a nursing facility. I had to visit her through a window. And her nurse that was taking care of her at the time decided she wanted to go to a party somewhere. She come back and she infected half a dozen and it spread from there to there.

KEILAR: People -- service members are younger. They're healthier.

EGGLESTON: Yes.

KEILAR: Maybe they think they don't need this protection. How are you trying to get through to them?

EGGLESTON: Well, we -- you know, as service members, you have to think of it, you're going to different countries that has this readily available in the air. If you're not fully protected, you may bring that back home, if you make it back home. The COVID-19 is not a joke.

KEILAR: Why are they hesitant? Why are service members hesitant?

EGGLESTON: We call it sideline judges and lawyers. You know, on top of certain folks that have allergies to like egg or whatever the case is. But these actual individuals listen -- rather listen to the misguidance of those rather than listen to the actual -- the big instruments in the game, the actual persons that put this product together that save our lives.

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