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House Republicans Set To Vote Out And Strip Liz Cheney Of Her Leadership Position; The Family Of Andrew Brown Jr. Is Calling For Justice After New Body Cam Footage Surfaced; The Biden Administration Is Pushing Schools To Fully Reopen This Spring. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 12, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar on this New Day. Liz Cheney's last stand for an impassioned please for truth on the House floor hours before the vote to remove her from Republican leadership.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And new body camera video of the death of Andrew Brown, Jr. in North Carolina. Attorneys for his family calling his killing by deputies unequivocally unjustified.

BERMAN: New this morning, the Biden administration making a push to fully reopen schools before the fall. The education secretary joins us live.

KEILAR: And this isn't your every day house cat. The search for a Bengal tiger on the lose in a Texas neighborhood and Carole Baskin is here to weigh in.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. It is Wednesday, May 12. A pivotal moment this morning for the Republican Party and frankly for the United States of America.

In just a couple of hours House Republicans will vote to strip Liz Cheney of her leadership position. Why? Because she refuses to promote the big lie that the election was stolen. The lie that Joe Biden was not freely and fairly elected. She won't do it. She won't lie and she's losing her job because of it.

Now Cheney may be on her way out, but she's not going quietly. Last night she was striking a defiant tone in a speech on the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R), WYOMING: Every one of us who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now to discuss this is former Trump White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah. Alyssa, you left the administration in December because you told me that you were concerned that the then president was misleading the public about the election.

He was lying to them about the results of the election and you were concerned then that it might lead to violence. So what are your feelings this morning as you watch Liz Cheney being pushed out of her leadership position for refusing to lie?

ALYSSA FARAH, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well John, great to be with you and thank you for having me. Listen, this is just a strategically unwise move by the Republican Party.

When you lose an election the last thing you should do is look back on the election and repeatedly relitigate it. The last think we should be talking about right now is the election that Republicans lost.

We should be focusing on the midterms and what the Republican Party is actually for. And I would pose this question to your viewers and to the broader American public. How many actual Americans even know what a House Republican Conference Chair is?

This is a Washington fight internally on Capitol Hill that has no bearing on the American public and it's a shame. It's not what the House Republican Conference needs to be voting on.

And I would assure you this. It's actually just going to make the midterms a bigger challenge. Republicans are not going to win back the House by winning, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz districts.

They're going to win by winning moderate, you know, D plus 1, D plus 2 districts with independents and even with some swing Democrats. And they don't do that by continuing to carry on this myth that the election was stolen.

BERMAN: Liz Cheney said on the House floor last night she's concerned that the former president's continued lies about this and frankly Republican leaderships acquiescence to those lies could lead to more violence. What are your thoughts on that?

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FARAH: I mean, it's certainly something to consider. We all saw what happened on January 6. We shouldn't assume ever that that can't happen again. We needed elected officials to roundly and continually condemn it.

And you know, I give a ton of credit for Liz Cheney because -- to Liz Cheney because she's putting her legacy and doing the right thing ahead of what is actually more beneficial to her career. She realizes she'd rather be remembered in the history books as telling the truth when others wouldn't and I giver her credit for that.

But again, this is just entirely the wrong focus. A couple weeks ago you'll remember Senator Tim Scott gave the response to Joe Biden's first address to the Joint Session of Congress. He talked about what Republicans are for, prosperity for all, economic inclusivity, a strong national defense.

And what did the House Republican Conference take from that? Oh, we need to unsit Liz Cheney who's in a strongly Republican held district in Wyoming. It's just entirely the wrong focus.

And this is at a time, by the way, when our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, is being pummeled by rocket attacks. We have civilian deaths. We have a pipeline in Georgia that's been hacked in a major cyber breech.

We have skyrocketing gas prices, we have large unemployment, 10 million people still unemployed. And by the way, we're in the midst of a global pandemic. Why this is what we are doing right now is just bizarre and makes no sense.

BERMAN: I wonder what you think is in store for Liz Cheney over the coming days and weeks? And I ask you this in particular, because when you came on and talked to me in January, condemning the big lie, condemning the lies about the election, after you talked to me you received death threats. So, I mean talk to me about that --

FARAH: Yes. And --

BERMAN: -- and what's going to happen to Liz Cheney.

FARAH: Yes. And that's something that anyone who speaks out in these very divided times in our country is potentially going to be subjected to. I think women often come against those threats even more.

Mine were scary, they were violent in nature and obviously I reported them to the authorities. I hope that Liz Cheney does not receive those. I would not be surprised if she did or if those around her do. But it should be a lesson to all of us why we need to just tone down the rhetoric.

There is room for disagreement within the House Republican Conference, just as there is room for disagreement within the Democratic Conference. This is what -- I -- just does not make sense to me.

Liz Cheney is absolutely entitled not only to her opinion but these facts that she is stating and those can co-exist with any other beliefs that we want to within the conference. But when you're trying to marginalize people for telling the truth you do subject them to dangers and to threats. And I hope that's now what she faces, but I commend her for doing the right thing for the country.

BERMAN: You say tone down the rhetoric and you full well know that it is your former boss who he's not on Twitter anymore or Facebook, that's a whole other thing, but he's putting out these statements. We did an analysis of him every day. You know, more than half of the things that he puts out in his blog are lies about the past election.

And given how you feel about he was saying -- what he was saying when he was still president, how do you feel about that? That that is what he continues to put out every day?

FARAH: I don't give it, frankly, all that much thought and I would actually encourage Leader McCarthy to kind of look at the president's -- the former president's statements, much like Leader Mitch McConnell does. Which is we don't really need to give them the time of day. We need to focus on governing for the American public.

Americans have mortgages to pay. They want to get students back to school. They want to pay for their kid's college. That's where the focus needs to be. Rebuilding this economy, coming back from the pandemic, not what you're hearing come out of Mar-A-Lago from the retired former president.

BERMAN: Listen, you talked about women being subjected more or treated differently when they take stands maybe than men do. What role do you think Liz Cheney's gender has played over the last two months in her position, the strength, the solidity of her position in the House Republican leadership?

FARAH: Well I'm biased, but I find that women tend to have stronger backbones than men. But no, I -- being serious I do think that you subject yourself to even more criticism and certainly backlash from a darker corner of whether it's the internet or elsewhere when you're a woman taking a leadership stance. I'm sure I'll have some very beautiful Twitter mentions after this.

But it certainly plays a role in it. But I give her so much credit for being that voice, as a woman, standing up within the conference. She's an important voice. She will have a future in this party because leaders tend to thrive and rise to the top. But I commend her for putting, you know, what's right for the country and telling the truth ahead of her career.

BERMAN: And I do want to give you once second here just to talk about Elise Stefanik who will, by all accounts, replace Liz Cheney, even though there are some members of the Freedom Caucus who aren't happy about that. You're a big fan of Elise Stefanik.

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FARAH: Oh yes, Elise is somebody who I think extremely highly of. Very similar to Liz Cheney, in the sense that she's a serious policymaker. She's not just a cable news talking head, which unfortunately a lot of House members default into being. She works hard, especially delivering for her district on the NDAA. She will thrive in this role and I hope that Elise ends up being the choice.

But I would note this and you were covering it earlier, there's already people saying she shouldn't be the leader now and then there's others within the conference saying, you know, Kevin McCarthy should have a vote of no confidence. If we let these wars within our own conference consume us Republicans

will not win back the midterms, we will not win the elections and we'll continue to lose. The focus should not be on the big lie. It should not be on taking out members within our own party who might slightly disagree with us. It should be on advancing smart policies for the American people.

BERMAN: Alyssa Farah, I appreciate you joining us. I'm genuinely sorry that you received death threats after our last conversation. I hope it doesn't happen again but I do, along with you, understand the reality we're living in now. So thank you for taking the time and having the courage to talk to us.

FARAH: Thanks so much John. Thank you.

BERMAN: Brianna, and just to reiterate, Alyssa Farah was the communications director in the Trump White House until mid December, right? And she left the job because largely she was deeply uncomfortable with the lies that were being told there. She is also as conservative as anyone I know on positions, on policy positions across the board there. Much like someone you might now named Liz Cheney.

Yes. And not like Elise Stefanik actually when you look at their records there. But I found it so interesting and I think it's debatable what she said about if the Republican Party goes this route they're going to ride it to loses in the 2022 midterms. I mean, it's very possible that they ride this to wins in the 2022 midterms. I think that is very much an expectation.

And so you wonder where is the incentive to stop doing this. It seems like the Republican, you know, it used to be the Republican establishment but now it is kind of the Republican fringe, right? The sort of traditional Republicans, they seem to be saying that, you know, eventually -- this is going to course correct and I just don't -- I just don't know about that John.

BERMAN: Right.

KEILAR: When you see redistricting favoring Republicans and the lessons that they're taking from the big lie.

BERMAN: It's working for them politically to an extent and more importantly they think it's working for them politically. And those two things will probably continue to drive this in one direct for as long as we can see.

So reopen schools now. That's the urgent message from the Biden administration this morning as teenagers begin to receive their coronavirus vaccines. We're going to speak live with the Education Secretary Miguel Cardona coming up.

KEILAR: And some new body cam video of Andrew Brown, Jr.'s death in North Carolina is adding to his family's outrage. Why they are now claiming that Brown was ambushed in his car.

BERMAN: And it's not every day you see a tiger on the land in suburbia, roaming the streets.

KEILAR: Beautiful.

BERMAN: And now this now this morning nobody knows where it is. The latest on the search coming up.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My father did not deserve to die at all. He didn't deserve to get killed. In any way, shape or form he did not pose any threat all. Come court there's no way that this could be justified, there's no way possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The family of Andrew Brown Jr. are calling for justice and transparency after reviewing new body camera video of his death at the hands of sheriff's deputies in North Carolina. The 42-year-old Black man was unarmed when he was shot and killed last month in his car while authorities tried to serve a warrant.

Joining me now is Chance Lynch. He is one of the attorneys for the Brown family who viewed about 20 minutes of footage yesterday. Counselor thanks so much for being with us. Look, we can't see the video because of the judge's ruling. You have now seen it. So please, in detail tell us what you saw.

CHANCE LYNCH, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: John first, good morning. Thank you for having me and for the opportunity to come and share the importance of this matter.

Yesterday we were able to go into the Pasquotank Sheriff's Office and we were able to view six videos. Of the six videos one video was a camera that was on the dash of one of the cars, vehicles there without any audio. It showed very little, but the remaining five showed quite a bit of detail.

Even though it was limited were able to see the sheriff's department for Pasquotank County go in to the community with a number of sheriff deputies on the back of a pick-up truck, pull up to Mr. Brown's home while he was sitting in his vehicle and they commenced to jump off the back of their vehicle yelling various commands.

John, the commands were very unclear. Some were saying lift your hands. Other was saying -- others were saying get out of the car. You could not understand what they wanted him to do.

Just moments in being on the property you could see Mr. Brown's hands on the steering wheel. At one point seems as though he's on a phone, he's hold the phone up with one hand and his right hand, if I'm not mistaken, was on the steering wheel. But his hands were visible.

And a shot went through the windshield. When the shot went through the windshield Mr. Brown began to back up and he put distance between he and all of the officers and he turned his wheel to the left to drive out across his yard trying to get away to save his life. You can see the fear on his face.

And john, as he began to drive another shot was fired. As he drove across his yard past all of the police, not coming in contact with any of them, they began to unload their vehicles. I mean several feet -- I mean if not yards in -- away from they were.

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They continued and persisted on firing their weapons. And we counted maybe six or seven shots in the back windshield, six or seven shots to the side of his car and you can see in the yard with the mud tracks, you can see when the car begin to take a turn it was right around that time that we heard that last shot. And, of course, it went to -- I presume that that was the shot that went into the back of his head. He lost control and went down the ditch, across the street into the neighbor's tree.

BERMAN: Counselor, so how you describe the events that day different than what the district attorney says. The D.A. said officers fired when the car Mr. Brown was driving moved toward them and they car made contact with officers at least two times before shots were fired.

So, I'm curious if either, A, did they talk you through the video as they were showing it to you at all or where is the disconnect between what they say and what you say you saw?

LYNCH: I'm not sure what the elected saw. I don't know -- now you -- he -- we were only permitted to see about 18 minutes or so of it. And of the 18 minutes I did not see what the elected D.A. said he saw. I was very clear. I know that I could see everything and hear the shots in the audio. His rendition differs completely from mine and from Khalil and Jha'rod's.

We set there for almost two hours, if I'm not mistaken, I didn't even -- I didn't look at my phone and keep up with the time and we rewind the video, we went back and forth, back and forth to make sure that we were able to try to see every detail that we possibly could, only from the vantage point of the officer that was wearing the body cam.

BERMAN: Right.

LYNCH: So, I'm not certain what the elected district attorney saw in his rendition. Now I will tell you that at no point did Mr. Brown pose a threat to the police. Let me -- let me correct myself with that.

At no point did Mr. Brown pose a threat to the sheriff deputies who were on his property at that time. Now twice we saw where they came towards him, but at no time did we see where he intentionally went towards a police officer to cause any harm. And in fact, John, if I'm not mistaken, I recall the elected saying that when he backed up he backed into police officers making contact. Well, the videos that we saw yesterday there were no sheriff deputies behind his car when he backed up. There was not one standing behind his vehicle. And so, I'm not sure what he saw, but clearly we didn't see the same video.

BERMAN: Well again, the public could get their own opinion on this if that video were to be released. But as of now it will not be.

LYNCH: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Chance Lynch, thank you for being with Counselor. I appreciate it.

LYNCH: Thanks for having me. Thank you.

BERMAN: The Education Department making the case to fully reopen schools this spring instead of waiting till the fall. How realistic is that? We're going to ask Education Secretary Miguel Cardona next.

KEILAR: And if you tell the truth in Michigan you may have to pay up. The new bill that Republicans have proposed to fine fact checkers, including journalists.

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KEILAR: The Biden administration pushing schools to fully reopen this spring. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona writes in a new CNN.com op- ed, quote, "Anything less than 100 percent of students being offered the option to return to in-person learning full-time is not enough. We must continue to lead with the same urgency as the president to put every resource to bear to reopen schools this spring. Waiting until the fall is too late."

And he is with us now. Thank you so much sir for being with us.

MIGUEL CARDONA, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Glad to be with you. Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: So you say that state and local leaders must act quickly to draw down on these federal funds that are available to them through the Rescue Plan to get more school buildings open now, not just this summer, not just this fall, every student you say should have this here in the spring.

But I'll tell you , I read this and I thought, it's mid-May. I mean, we are there. Schools close starting at the end of this month into late next month. It's almost summer. Is this too late for this kind of call?

CARDONA: Not at all. The call has been there since we know students can come to school safely and that's where they deserve to be. Every day that passes is a wasted opportunity.

What we're finding, our data is showing that there are disproportionate access to school, which is furthering widening gaps in an opportunity and achievement for our students. So we have to act with urgency.

Even two to three weeks being with your classmates, being with your teacher helps students be prepared for not only summer learning experiences but the fall. There's no reason to wait any longer.

KEILAR: So how do you make this happen? What if the school district says no, we're not opening in spring? What if you say they say, no we're not opening in the fall?

CARDONA: You know, I think it's really important for us to be seen as a support, to see what -- how we can support them problem solving. But we -- the resources are there. The science is there.

We have great examples of across the country where it can be done. So we really need to work with our partners at the state and local level to make sure that we're helping address whatever issues are preventing it.

And in some cases, you know, we're offering options. But students are not coming back in because of hesitancy or fear or just because they felt even prior to the pandemic that schools weren't really serving them well. So, we have to make sure that we're taking a holistic approach to addressing whatever problems are causing schools to reopen.

KEILAR: But, so of course some parents have some concerns about sending their kids. You also have some stakeholders within your own party who are having concerns. That are pushing back on reopening schools. There are some teacher's unions that still are not on board with this.

At what point do you -- you know, I hear you -- I hear you sort of issuing this call to action, but where's the teeth behind it? At what point can you kind of go tough love on people who, yes, you know support your administration and say, look this is what has to happen?

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