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Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) is Interviewed about Rep. Greene; Israel Launches Fresh Gaza Attacks; Biden Facing Headwinds; Lawyer for Murder Suspected Linked to Missing Tiger Speaks. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 14, 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]

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I'm a woman. I'm a female business owner and I'm proud to be an American woman. And I do not support your socialist policies.

If you want to be a big girl, you need to get rid of your diaper and come out and be able to talk to the American citizens instead of us having to use a flap, a little flap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of like, just kind of flappy.

GREENE: It's sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about this now with Virginia Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Thank you so much for being with us.

REP. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: What is your response, Congresswoman, to what is clearly a pattern here and most recently Marjorie Taylor Greene verbally accosting and running after your colleague Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the halls of Congress?

SPANBERGER: Well, Brianna, I think we have to look at it within the context of the interview you just had. You have Officer Dunn recounting his experiences on January 6th, talking about what it continues to be like to work in a crime scene, and he said, we're going to continue to do our job. It's our responsibility. We'll continue to do our job.

And that level of decency and commitment and leadership is what we should expect of every person who works in the United States Capitol, members of Congress, Capitol Police, and staff across the board. And for a representative of Virginia, where we're dealing with the crisis caused by the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack where, you know, my constituents are worried -- deeply, deeply worried about how to get to work and how to get their kids to school in the middle of an ongoing pandemic, though there's bright light at the end of the tunnel, the fact that there would be a legislator focused on taunting and harassing another member of Congress when we should be governing and demonstrating the leadership like Officer Dunn demonstrated in his interview and certainly demonstrated on the day of the insurrection, you know, I have nothing but disappointment for the negative example that we continue to see from particular members of Congress.

KEILAR: Do you think an ethics investigation, an ethics action would do anything? I mean she just seems basically emboldened by having her committee assignment stripped.

SPANBERGER: You know, I think that the American people should expect that every lawmaker who was sent here to govern is focused on governing. The sad reality is that there are a few who are not, and I hope that her voters will hold her accountable for what she does or doesn't deliver on their behalf.

And I think that, unfortunately, what we're seeing is just an ongoing trend of people who want to be celebrities more than they want to govern. And so it's certainly adding anxiety and a lack of purpose that some people bring to the Congress.

But, you know, I'm focused on my constituents and speaking for the rest of my caucus and, frankly, the majority of Congress, most of us have that significant focus and it's just unfortunate that someone continue to want to be such a distraction, particularly when we can see what those sorts of aggressive tactics lead to, and it was an insurrection on January 6th.

KEILAR: You mentioned the pipe attack. Your constituents have been affected by this. Virginians, folks all up and down the East Coast have been affected by this. So what is your reaction to the revelation that the pipeline company, Colonial, actually did pay some sort of ransom to DarkSide, which hacked their system?

SPANBERGER: My reaction is that that is, frankly, not that uncommon. With these ransomware attacks so frequently the companies or the entities that are attacked do pay the ransom in order to be able to restart their operations.

Ransomware attacks happen far too frequently. They're a significant threat. And the reality with the Colonial Pipeline attack is that the implications actually shut down major U.S. infrastructure and halted distribution of gas to the eastern seaboard.

So I'm not surprised, but it speaks to the fact that we need more engagement, we need to fully empower the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FCEN, and the Department of Justice to be able to get at the heart of the motivation of these criminal networks.

DarkSide has claimed responsibility and they said they were motivated by money. So we need to make it much harder for these criminal organizations to be able to move their ill-gotten gains. That's -- striking their money is part of countering their efforts, their motivation, and ultimately stopping these sorts of actions and attacks.

KEILAR: Yes, there's clearly so much work ahead for Congress and for this administration on this issue.

SPANBERGER: Yes.

KEILAR: Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, thanks for being with us.

SPANBERGER: Thank you.

KEILAR: Is Israel preparing to launch a ground offensive in Gaza? We are live on the ground as violence intensifies.

[06:35:01]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, Liz Cheney calls out Fox News for spreading the big lie about the election while appearing on Fox News.

And another subpoena reportedly issued as part of the investigation into the Trump Organization. The information New York prosecutors are now seeking. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Developing overnight, Gaza coming under heavy artillery fire amid growing questions about whether Israel is preparing to launch a ground invasion against Hamas in response to days of rocket fire from Palestinian militants. The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 119 people, including 31 children, have now died in Gaza.

CNN's Nic Robertson live in Jerusalem with the very latest.

Confusion, Nic, over how far and whether ground troops are now involved from the Israeli side.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Ground troops are involved. Precisely how, it seems to be the ambiguous way and perhaps some of the confusion came last night when the Israeli defense forces said that there were air force and ground forces involved in attacking in Gaza, in Gaza, and that gave the impression that there were actually troops on the ground.

[06:40:10]

There weren't. What they were doing was laying down a very, very heavy artillery barrage. Hundreds of artillery rounds they said were fired. Dozens of tank rounds fired as well. And they were targeting, it appears to be, Hamas tunnels. A spokesman in the -- rather the defense -- spokesman for the Israeli defense forces described it as the -- Hamas' metro network of tunnels. An underground network of tunnels that were the target.

Overnight, another Israeli citizen died. That's eight Israeli citizens have now been killed through the fighting so far. But in Gaza, the situation there, the humanitarian situation, does seem to have taken a step backward down, if you will. The U.N. reporting a lot of people, civilians, moved into some of their shelters overnight. And today, in the last hour or so, we're learning that the electricity in Gaza is now not working. The electricity cables going from Israel to Gaza, they're taking the bulk of power have been damaged and they're down the electricity generating station that runs on fuel inside Gaza has run out of fuel.

So those artillery strikes are now over in Gaza, or are pretty much over. But there is now a real concern about the -- by the U.N. in Gaza about what people are doing and how they're trying to avoid these strikes.

John.

BERMAN: And no letup in the situation, to be sure.

Nic Robertson, please keep us posted with developments in Jerusalem. Thank you very much.

KEILAR: Let's talk about this now with CNN White House correspondent John Harwood, who is with us.

So, you know, this is one thing, we're keeping our eye on Israel. Obviously, the Biden administration is too. But this isn't the only challenge that the president is facing. There is the violence, the challenge of violence, with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. You have inflation. These are some headwinds that he's facing.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is when the presidency gets hard. The longer you're in office, we're well past 100 days now, the more stuff happens in response. The consequence of your policy. So he's pulling troops out of Afghanistan. We're seeing a reaction. And just things that are completely out of your control. And how well a president responds to those, how resilient his team is, determines how successful you are. So far, still in the low 50s popularity. So far so good for -- from his point of view, but this is the challenge.

KEILAR: How do you respond while trying to stay focused on the priority that you want as a president?

Right now on CDC mask guidance, that's a win, right? He -- the CDC has said that in many cases, in most cases, fully vaccinated people don't have to wear masks indoors, so that's sort of a success. The Colonial Pipeline is back up and running, so that should -- that issue of gas shortages should be alleviated soon. That is the good news for the administration.

HARWOOD: Both of those are tempered successes. So the pipeline, yes, is back up, but people were alarmed by the shortages of gas, and that gave Republicans something to talk about and hit the administration, why aren't you more on top of this? We know that there are going to be more ransomware attacks and they've got to show the ability to try to marshal resources to prevent those.

On the mask guidance, that is a fantastic piece of news, but it also comes with complications because how do businesses handle this? How are they know who's vaccinate and who's not? And if people are not vaccinated, are they going to be willing to wear masks? What does -- what does a grocery store do? What does a church do? Very, very difficult challenges.

KEILAR: Yes, they certainly are.

Let's talk about Liz Cheney.

Liz Cheney on Fox News calling out Fox News. She was ousted for saying the big lie is not true and she pointed a finger at Fox.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Fox News especially, especially Fox News, has a particular obligation to make sure people know the election wasn't stolen.

Every single one of us, everyone watching this show, everybody who works at Fox, everybody who's elected to office, all of us have to love our country more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What did you think about that?

HARWOOD: She is 100 percent correct, as she is correct about the insurrection and the president's responsibility here. This is a remarkable moment when you see a politician who's intelligent and strong and has a spine, who grabs on to an issue of principle and is not willing to bend, is not willing to say, well, I -- if I do this, are other people in my party going to like me? She understands what she's doing. There's a long-term potential that she could lead her party to a different place. It's not going to happen soon. But she's impressing everyone with her singular focus on what the issue is at stake and she's not backing down, not even on Fox, which is, in fact, part of the problem.

KEILAR: That's right. And that's the point that she's making. Would there be Liz Cheney ousted in House Republican leadership without that voice -- the amplification coming from Fox, coming from other networks that are even more extreme to the right?

[06:45:04]

I also want to ask you about -- you know, as we look at sort of former President Trump's legal issues, "The Wall Street Journal" has reported that prosecutors have actually subpoenaed a Manhattan private school for information related to the grandkids of the Trump Organization's CFO. This is a big deal and perhaps this portends something here in the future.

HARWOOD: Manhattan prosecutors are not playing around with this case. They are putting pressure on Allen Weisselberg in the belief that he may have information about Donald Trump that is relevant to potential fraud, tax fraud, other problems within the Trump Organization. This is the most significant area of legal vulnerable for former President Trump, not the only one. But when you start getting so up close and personal with a close associate of the president, that indicates the jeopardy that he faces.

KEILAR: And will he cooperate, right? That is the -- that is going to be the question. We'll see going ahead.

HARWOOD: They're trying to make that happen.

KEILAR: Yes. That's pretty aggressive pressure.

HARWOOD: Exactly.

KEILAR: When you have grandkids, you don't want to be looking at any potential time away from them, shall we say.

HARWOOD: Absolutely not.

KEILAR: John Harwood, thank you so much for being with us.

Tiger on the lam, on the lam, as John Berman says, still. Does the man last seen with the cat named India (ph) know where he is? Surely, right? Well, let's see if we can find out some answers here. His lawyer is going to join us next.

BERMAN: And stop calling me Shirley (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:32]

BERMAN: This morning, the whereabouts of India the tiger remain unknown after he was spotted in a Houston suburb on Sunday. This video shows India being wrangled by a man named Victor Hugo Cuevas, who is -- who police say was -- who police say later fled with the tiger in an SUV. He was arrested in his home on Monday for evading arrest. A felony. But the tiger does remain at large.

Joining me now is the attorney for that man, Michael Elliott.

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

Where's the tiger?

MICHAEL W. ELLIOTT, LAWYER FOR MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO MISSING TIGER: Well, good morning from tiger king central here in Fort Bend County.

We are looking diligently for that tiger and we really want to find India. And we are running every trap that we have trying to get our hands on India. We're working hard. That's what I can say, we're working hard.

BERMAN: Does your client -- does your client know where the tiger is?

ELLIOTT: Well, we know who last had the tiger, and that was an individual named Dejuan (ph), or DeAndre (ph). He goes by the street name of "D." That's the last person that we know of that had the tiger. So we're looking diligently trying to find DeAndre and India.

BERMAN: When was the last time your client saw the tiger?

ELLIOTT: Well, it was on Mother's Day, right -- you know, kind of the whole world saw the video when my client captured the tiger there in the -- in the front yard and shortly thereafter Dejuan, DeAndre, or "D" had the tiger. And, you know, that's the last time we've seen it.

Look, of course, we are looking very diligently trying to find that tiger. We'd really love to get him to a sanctuary, get him somewhere that everyone -- the whole world could see him and enjoy him.

BERMAN: Is it your contention that it was not your client who drove off with the tiger?

ELLIOTT: Well, we're still working on that. You know, and it may very well have been, but, you know, we'll -- we'll kind of get to the bottom of those facts --

BERMAN: That's a yes or no. I mean that's -- you know, (INAUDIBLE), did your drive off with the tiger or not. That's not something that requires a lot of work to figure out, is it?

ELLIOTT: Well, you know, it's not that simple because there's a lot of people there and a lot of things were going on. And HPD has kind of made a lot of assumptions in this. And so really the focus on whether someone evaded arrest is not just whether or not he was in the vehicle, but whether or not he's legally responsible for evading arrest. And you have to run intentionally from the police when they have a legal basis to even stop you. And so far we haven't found any of those factors that seem to be available in this particular case.

BERMAN: What is your client's relationship with the tiger? Because watching the video, you know, your client seemed comfortable with the tiger. So is -- did your client care for the tiger? What was their relationship?

ELLIOTT: Yes, there's no question that my client cared for the tiger. Basically I think what we're going to figure out or find is that my client basically babysits this tiger on occasion. He knows the individual that owns him. And so he would, on occasion, look after him and take care of him. And, clearly, you know, they do have a bond and he loved this tiger.

BERMAN: What is your client telling authorities about what he knows on the whereabouts of the tiger? Is he cooperating in the search for the tiger?

ELLIOTT: My client is fully cooperating with the federal authorities who are working on this and they're good, honorable people. We have not been cooperating with the Houston Police Department because they have shown themselves to be less than credible and, quite frankly, you can't trust them. And they have -- also have not tried do anything on this case. They haven't reached out to us at all despite us telling them from the very inset of this case that we're more than happy to help them, to cooperate, to do anything we can do to try to find this tiger and cooperate in the investigation. And, quite frankly, as soon as it was over, they arrested their guy and they were done. They haven't done a -- lifted a finger since.

BERMAN: Well, Michael Elliott, I appreciate you being with us. To be clear, you know, we do not know the identity of this man you're referring to as "D." This is not something that we have independently confirmed here. But I appreciate you joining us and talking to us about what you know or what you contend at least.

Thank you, sir.

ELLIOTT: Oh, you're very welcome.

BERMAN: Brianna.

KEILAR: I'm so glad you pressed him on that, John, because, I mean, look, this is, especially if you are living in that area, you want to know, is this tiger -- where is it? Is this tiger inside somewhere? Is it safe? Is it outside? Are people safe? And if -- if the -- his lawyer is alleging that some other person has it, how did it get from the -- what's the chain of custody here going from Victor Cuevas to this other person that they allege has it because Victor Cuevas is the last person to have been seen with this tiger.

BERMAN: That's right. Again -- and then he's been doing interviews where it's murky on who exactly was in the truck when the tiger was driven off.

[06:55:04]

He is saying, well, maybe my client was, maybe my client wasn't.

Look, the tiger is missing. If this guy knows where it is, he should be telling people right now because he's putting people in danger.

KEILAR: Yes, and does he have something to gain by having that information? That is certainly a very reasonable question in all of this.

BERMAN: All right, a major milestone in the coronavirus pandemic. We will answer your questions about the new CDC guidance on face masks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The CDC relaxing its stance on masks for vaccinated folks just in time for warmer weather.

Let's bring in our meteorologist Chad Myers.

[07:00:00]

This is good news, Chad. There's that mask-induced upper lip sweat. There's the masked (INAUDIBLE). Perhaps this is a season where we won't have to deal with these things