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New Day

House Republicans Deny Facts about January 6th Insurrection and Former President Trump's Accusations that 2020 Election Stolen; Representative Liz Cheney Removed from House GOP Leadership Position; Gas Stations Experiencing Shortages and Consumer Hoarding; Americans Panic-Buying Gas Following Pipeline Cyberattack; Ohio Gov Announces $5M Lottery for Vaccinated People. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 13, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Are blatantly lying about.

Plus, panic at the pump, drivers hoarding gas and making the fuel shortage even worse. We have a station manager standing by to speak to us live.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And what is going on between Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Details of Greene confronting Cortez with one shouting at the other.

And million-dollar shots, get the vaccine and you could get rich in one state if you're lucky.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Thursday, May 13th. This morning, the sky is blue, the sun rises in the east, and water is wet, unless you are certain Republican members of Congress. They are telling you what happened did not happen, telling you what is real, is not real, telling you what you see with your own eyes is not there, lying on a breathtaking level about January 6th.

KEILAR: They are lying about voter fraud. They are lying about the 2020 election, and they are lying now about the violent and deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, and there's now even more evidence to prove it.

BERMAN: New this morning, CNN obtained exclusive video of what happened in the attack from one of the officers fighting back against the mob. Officer Michael Fanone is outside on the Capitol steps in the lower west terrace at approximately 3:15 in the afternoon. There's this scuffle with the insurrectionists. He is tased. You hear him screaming. As one rioter says, "Got one." The video you're about to see is disturbing and it does contain vulgar language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got one!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get off me. Get off me.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't hurt him. Don't hurt him. Don't hurt him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're better than this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold it. Hold it. I got you. I got you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: See the violence, hear the screaming. The video came to light hours after a House hearing in which some Republicans tried to rewrite the history of January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANDREW CLYDE, (R-GA): There was no insurrection, and to call it an insurrection in my opinion is a bold-faced lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was Representative Andrew Clyde just 24 hours ago. He and other Republicans tried to rewrite history, claiming the rioters were peaceful patriots even though many brought weapons, dozens assaulted officers like Michael Fanone, hundreds have been charged with federal crimes. On the left side of your screen, you will see their comments. On the right the context that contradicts their claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANDREW CLYDE, (R-GA): There was no insurrection and to call it an insurrection, in my opinion, is a bold-faced lie. Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes taking videos and pictures. If you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you'd think it was a normal tourist visit.

REP. PAUL GOSAR, (R-AZ): Outright propaganda and lies are being used to unleash the national security state against law-abiding U.S. citizens, especially Trump voters. As a result, the DOJ is harassing peaceful patriots across the country.

REP. JODY HICE, (R-GA): It was Trump supporters who lost their lives that day, not Trump supporters who were taking the lives of others.

REP. RALPH NORMAN, (R-SC): When I see this sheet on our timeline and on the -- let's see. OK, at 2:07, a mob of Trump supporters breached the steps. I don't know who did a poll that it's Trump supporters. You had the media saying the same thing, just like you had the media saying Officer Sicknick was killed with a fire extinguisher, which he was not. But I don't know who did the poll to say that they were Trump supporters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00]

KEILAR: He wants a poll. He's not willing to hang his Trump hat on all the Trump hats or the Trump shirts or the Trump flags or all of the insignia of extremist groups who support Trump or their demands to overturn the election of Joe Biden. OK, so what about the people who were arrested then for their part in the insurrection, the 400-plus people now facing charges? They are Trump supporters, and we know that. These Republicans know that. They are just lying. And while that hearing was going on where Republicans were denying reality about what happened at the Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What is perhaps most disturbing about that remark is that he said it with a straight face. So let's look at the facts here. McCarthy booted Liz Cheney from House GOP leadership for telling the truth about the election, that Joe Biden had won. His hand-picked replacement for Cheney, Elise Stefanik, supports a sketchy as hell fourth audit of the votes in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK, (R-NY): I fully support the audit in Arizona. We want transparency and answers for the American people. We need to fix these election security issues going into the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: But nobody is questioning the legitimacy, according to Kevin McCarthy. But what about McCarthy's friend, the former president, who wrote on Monday, quote, if a thief robs a jewelry store of all of its diamonds, the 2020 presidential election, the diamonds must be returned. And what about McCarthy himself and the many Republicans who also question the 2020 results?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: President Trump won this election, so everyone who is listening, do not be quiet. Do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK, (R-NY): I have an obligation to act on this matter. If I believe there are serious questions with respect to the presidential election, I believe those questions exist.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know that this has really been a stolen election.

REP. MATT GAETZ, (R-FL): And an election that was stolen as a consequence of illegal, last-minute changes to the rules.

REP. JIM JORDAN, (R-OH) HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: I don't know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn't actually win this thing based on all the things you see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, unless you're Kevin McCarthy, unless you're these Republicans what we hear and what we see simply didn't happen.

KEILAR: And they know it. That's the thing. This is them saying something that they know is not the truth, seeing political opportunism in that. And it's immoral. It is un-American what they are doing. Elise Stefanik, what she says there, raising these issues about the election that she knows was fair, that former Trump administration officials say was not rife with voter fraud in any way that would have changed the outcome of the election. She knows. They all know.

BERMAN: And tell Michael Fanone that they were just tourists. It was tourists that were beating him up. Tourists making him scream for his life.

KEILAR: Tourists that made him appeal to them by saying that he had kids at home. Maybe they should think on that.

So new, moments ago, Liz Cheney, who is now out as a Republican leader in the House, just listen to what she told NBC about her plans to lead the fight against former President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does it say about former President Trump that he will not accept this loss?

REP. LIZ CHENEY, (R-WY): That he's unfit, that he never again can be anywhere close to the Oval Office.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How far are you willing to take this? Would you run for president?

CHENEY: I think that it is the most important issue that we are facing right now as a country. And we're facing a huge array of issues. So he must not ever again be anywhere close to the Oval Office.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But my question was, would you run for president to stop that?

CHENEY: I'm going to do everything that I can, both to make sure that that never happens, but also to make sure that the Republican Party gets back to substance and policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So you're saying there's a chance. Joining me now, CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel. What was your reaction to that?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: She didn't say no.

KEILAR: She didn't.

GANGEL: And in Washington, you know what that means. Look, people keep asking me because I report on Liz Cheney a lot. Will she run for president? I think that she will if she thinks that's a way to keep Donald Trump, as she said, away from the Oval Office. And I think she's going -- we're going to see in the coming weeks and months that she's putting together a team both to deal with the 2022 elections, and then let's see be on that 2024.

[08:10:00]

But there was an op-ed in "The New York Times" today by Peter Wehner. I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly. And I spoke about five allies. These are true allies of Liz Cheney about the battle ahead of her. And he said in this something they all said. He said, "Liz Cheney understands that only a decisive break with Mr. Trump will stop the continuing ruination of the Republican Party. But her break with the former president, while courageous, came too late to change anything. She is trying to rally an army that doesn't exist." And that is the battle ahead, which we see with our own CNN polling.

KEILAR: I wonder what would have happened if it were sooner, though. What really would have happened? It's interesting to think of her maybe running for president. It's almost like someone throwing themselves on a grenade, right, trying to move the Republican Party along here to what a real reckoning needs, what it needs to be.

I do want to ask you, though, because there were some GOP lawmakers who were celebrating the fact that Cheney was removed, really kind of dancing on the grave of her political position in the House. You had Congressman Madison Cawthorn tweeting, na-na-na, hey -- I don't have the tweet right in front of me. But he missed a "hey," I'll tell you that. You know the drift. He said good-bye. What do you make of this?

GANGEL: So mature, isn't it? This is, look, he has a rather checkered history himself, but this speaks to the Republican -- the problem in the Republican conference. He's not alone. We have Marjorie Taylor Greene. Lauren Boebert, others in the Freedom Caucus who are just out there. They're not Republican conservatives. They are fringe. And they're still in Trump's big tent, and they're still in Kevin McCarthy's big tent, but not Liz Cheney. And so again, this is the uphill battle. This young man won that seat. Can she rally Republicans in districts like that?

KEILAR: We will see. Can she foil the overall process?

GANGEL: Correct.

KEILAR: Which is also very likelihood. Jamie, great to see you. Thank you so much.

This morning, a critical gas pipeline is actually back up and running again after a ransomware attack shut it down for days. The Colonial Pipeline shutdown triggered panic buying and major gas shortages. Those shortages not over, though, because company officials say it is going to be several days before service returns to normal. And that can't come soon enough for drivers who are facing long lines at the pump because of this sudden fuel shortage. Right now, 74 percent of gas stations in North Carolina, so three out of four, are just dry. You go there, there is no gas. And other states are also facing major shortages.

Joining us now is Kim Morales, she is the manager of a RESCO Mart gas station in North Carolina. This is in Zebulon, just 15 miles outside of Raleigh. Tell us what's happening there, because I know your station pumped more than 12,000 gallons yesterday. What is that compared to what you'd typically see?

KIM MORALES, MANAGES NORTH CAROLINA GAS STATION THAT'S NOW OUT OF GAS: Normally we typically see about 4,000 to 5,000 gallons. And a load would last us about every two days. And now we can't hardly get anything.

KEILAR: Which is tough. And Ashley Nichols, you are the owner of the station. Tell us what you are doing right now. Is there anything you can do to prepare for this demand for gas outpacing your supply?

ASHLEY NICHOLS, OWNER, RESCO MART AND RED STAR OIL COMPANY: Yes, ma'am. So what we do is we work with multiple suppliers, and we try to get it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our transport division, they have been working around the clock getting products. They've had to wait in long lines to get the product, and they're just trying to get it to us as quick as possible.

KEILAR: So gas prices right now are rising. Sorry, go on. To make sure that -- you said both locations?

NICHOLS: Yes, ma'am, to make sure both locations have product for our normal customers. We try to make sure all of our customers are taken care of, as well as the rest of the community.

KEILAR: Kim, have you seen people putting a lot of gas into containers? Have you seen any kind of bizarre behavior when it comes to people hoarding gas? You're smiling. I think you have.

MORALES: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. We have had them pull up with 10 jugs and led them up and go home and get their other vehicle and come back. And so we -- Ashley made the decision to cut the gas cans out, and we're not letting anyone fill up with their gas cans.

Get what you need for your vehicle, and we're trying to save enough for everybody.

[08:15:04]

KEILAR: Has anyone, Kim, or actually told you, you know, that they're worried, that they do a lot of driving, that this is going to affect them?

ASHLEY NICHOLS, OWNS GAS STATION THAT HUAS RUN OUT OF GAS: A few have, but most of them, they normally have about a half a tank and here in Zebulon, most people are local. It's a small community. So there are some people that have to do a lot more driving than others, and so -- but they're just trying to be cautious and careful and make sure they have gas to be able to take care of their kids, get back and forth to work, so there's no issues there.

KEILAR: Yes, they certainly need it. Ashley and Kim, thank you so much for letting us know what's going on on the ground there. We really appreciate you joining us this morning.

NICHOLES: Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

MORALES: Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right. Let's take a look behind some of the numbers facing drivers right now.

We're joined by Harry Enten, CNN senior political writer and analyst.

You know, rising gas prices, gas shortage in some places all at the same time. What are the numbers saying?

ENTEN: It's both a national story and more of a regional story. Look at the regular average prices. Look at this -- Wednesday, $3.01, the highest since 2014. That's up from a month ago, and it was $2.86. A year ago, it was just $1.85.

But it's also a regional story. Look at this. Gas stations without fuel as of Wednesday at 5:23 and these numbers have been climbing.

Look at this, North Carolina, with 69 percent. Virginia, 52 percent. South Carolina, 48 percent. Georgia, 46 percent.

So, there's been a run on the gas as people have been going to those stations filling up their tanks even though they may have had a half a tank of gas.

BERMAN: All right. This is a manmade problem beyond just the cyberattack. We look toward the summer when they get this ransomware figured out, you still see some potential issues that would be plaguing us.

ENTEN: I think that's exactly right. There could be issues. Could be summer gas problems.

We have a lack of drivers to drive the gasoline to the gas stations. Right now, tank drivers parked, 20 percent to 25 percent. That's up from just 10 percent back in the summer of 2019.

Also, a lot more people are going to be taking vacations because they see a lot lower health risk than last summer. Just 16 percent say there's a large health risk to take a vacay. That is way down from 36 percent in June of 2020. BERMAN: This state is really starting, right? Twenty to 25 percent of

tankers are parked because they can't find drivers.

ENTEN: They can't -- that's part of the larger job problem in the U.S. Some people trying to find people to go work.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: So, kids as young as 12 now getting coronavirus shots. A top COVID adviser from the White House joins us next.

KEILAR: Plus, Ohio just rolled out a new incentive to get more people vaccinated. More on the million-dollar vaccine lottery just ahead.

And Marjorie Taylor-Greene seen verbally accosting and running after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a hallway of Capitol Hill. What happened? We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:45]

BERMAN: So, if receiving a life-saving vaccine isn't jackpot enough, Ohio is raising the stakes big time. The state is going to give five people a million dollars each in return for getting vaccinated as part of a weekly lottery program.

Joining us now is Andy Slavitt, White House senior adviser for the COVID-19 response.

Andy, this "Ohio Vax-a-Million" strategy, this lottery, what do you make of it?

ANDY SLAVITT, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER FOR COVID RESPONSE: I wish I lived in Ohio.

Look, I think you said it exactly right. There are plenty of reasons to get vaccinated, but, look, anything we do that draws attention to getting vaccinated, why it's important to get vaccinated, to make people pay attention, you know, generally speaking, is a good thing.

I haven't spent any time looking at the specific state programs. But I sure hope that it does draw attention to the fact that this is a really good thing to do.

BERMAN: I understand Mike DeWine, the governor, saying he will use some of the COVID relief funds. Is that -- is that OK, do you think? Are you okay with that?

SLAVITT: Well, we haven't looked at that yet and we haven't commented on that. I don't think Treasury has a view on that. But, you know, in general, I think we like the idea of contests, haven't looked at this one specifically yet. BERMAN: I want to put up the chart of average daily vaccinations,

right, because after going down for a while, they've started to tick back up again.

And I'm not asking you to pat yourself on the back here. I'm asking if you actually know what has caused it to go back up again.

SLAVITT: Well, look, we have still about 5 percent to 6 percent of adults getting vaccinated every week, which is pretty incredible when you think about it. And so, you know, I think what's going on is that there are plenty of Americans who want to get vaccinated but they just want a little more information. They want a little more time. They need a little better access. They need it to be a little easier.

They're not sworn to not get vaccinated as I think maybe the mythology is out there. But, you know, the people that take a longer time to make a decision, and that's okay. You know, I think we need to completely respect and honor people's processes.

And so, I do think people will continue to get vaccinated. It probably won't be as quick as it was at the beginning, but, you know, at the beginning, we moved probably faster than we thought we would.

BERMAN: Now, as of now, 12 to 15-year-olds can get vaccinated. What's your plan to help that happen?

SLAVITT: Well, John, I can't help but smile today. I think about what kids have been through over the last year -- interruptions in school, interruptions in their social life, the dealing with the anxiety that they're just not prepared to deal with. And the fact that they can now get vaccinated and head back to their summer activities and school without a worry, it makes me so happy.

As I'm going to talk about later in my press conference, my own son has -- still dealing with symptoms of COVID that he got a long time ago. So this can be really tough on kids. So, we've got 15,000 pharmacies around the country that are ready today to vaccinate kids. We're getting vaccines to pediatricians.

If parents are uncertain about the vaccine, they should talk to their pediatrician. And I think it's just a really important day for kids.

BERMAN: Do you expect a different type of hesitancy for -- the parents in this case, for parents having their teenagers vaccinated?

SLAVITT: Sure. Of course -- parents probably care more about what happens with their kids than they do themselves.

[08:25:04]

At least that's my experience. I think it's most of our experience. So they're going to ask good questions, and they should.

I mean, these were incredible clinical trials on kids, 100 percent effectiveness, very high response rates, very well-tolerated. So I think as people do their homework, they're going to get

comfortable. But, you know, I expect people to do their homework. I wouldn't call it hesitancy per se. I would just say it's the right amount of thinking you want to do.

BERMAN: All right. Now you're the vaccine guy. You're not the mask guy. But part of getting people vaccinated is to tell them that their lives will be different, changed, better, if they get the vaccine.

There's this Oval Office meeting yesterday with the president and the leaders of Congress. Everyone in this room has been vaccinated.

So why were they all wearing masks, and what message does that send?

SLAVITT: Well, look, I think people who have been vaccinated are starting to get impatient with what can I do? Can I go indoors? Can I take masks off, et cetera?

And I think the CDC is getting there step by step. So, right now, you can do pretty much everything outdoors without a mask. You can do everything indoors if you're around vaccinated people without a mask.

BERMAN: So why were they all wearing masks in there yesterday?

SLAVITT: Well, I don't think -- I'm not sure that the president is the average person. I personally think there's a lot of protections around the president. Why does he need lots of Secret Service agents? Why does he -- why do they, you know, belt and suspender everything with the president?

Because he's a very important person and I think you shouldn't take your mark just by what you see in the Oval Office.

I think most people -- if you're indoors around other people who are vaccinated, CDC says it's okay. And I think you should listen to the CDC on that.

BERMAN: All right. Andy Slavitt, we appreciate you joining us. Thank you and congratulations to you and your son and your family, to all of us with young kids or young teenagers who can now get the vaccine. I think we all feel great about that. Thank you.

SLAVITT: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene seen confronting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Capitol Hill shouting at her, according to witnesses. Reaction from the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, next.

KEILAR: Plus, more on those million-dollar prizes for just getting a COVID shot. Ohio's governor on his new vaccine lottery just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)