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New Day

Viewer's Guide to Bundles after New Media Powerhouse Forms; GOP Election Official Blast Insane Lies of Arizona Audit; Will Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Testify in Inquiry, New Questions About Actions. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 18, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: They need to grow.

[07:00:00]

And sometimes, John, I think the word is not streaming wars, it's streaming Olympics. There's just going to be more than one winner in this. There already are more than one winner. There's a gold, there's a silver, there's a bronze. It's almost like a streaming arms race. But right now, we know who is winning the gold. It's Netflix.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: I do wonder though if the winners are the businesses and not the consumers here. I mean, how does a consumer now approach this because it seems everyone is all into cord cutting but you're going to end up with five or six streaming services if you add up the price tag, it's going to be more than your cable subscription.

STELTER: Right. And the average American home is still paying for cable as well as some of these bundles. I think what we're starting to see is a re-bundling. In some ways, that's what this deal looks like to me. I don't have any inside knowledge, even though we work for the company. But this starts to look like a re-bundling attempt. If you bring HBO Max and Discovery Plus, make it easier to pay for these together, you start to get something it sounds a little bit like cable.

And, frankly, that's what Disney was doing, by bringing all these assets together. It is a large part about trying to compete with Netflix, about trying to compete with Apple, trying to compete with Amazon. And so we're going to continue to see these pieces get taken apart and then put back together again.

BERMAN: Brian Stelter, always a pleasure to see you.

STELTER: Thanks.

BERMAN: Fellow member of the Superfriends under the D.C. umbrella.

STELTER: Good, that's right.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

New Day continues right now. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEW DAY: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman on this New Day.

A controversial audit of the 2020 election taking a new turn, Republicans in Arizona turning on each other as the former president fans the conspiracy theory flames.

BERMAN: The race to reopen, businesses in big cities grappling with the sudden reality of bringing people back to work.

KEILAR: And, quote, I don't care about you guys getting it. The GOP congressman accused of turning his office into a Petri dish of coronavirus infections.

BERMAN: And a vote coming this week on the commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection. Will House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy be called to testify?

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, it is Tuesday, May 18th.

A grift disguised as an audit, that is the state of the absurdist theater in Arizona this morning, where Republicans are finally telling fellow Republicans enough, enough with the big lie about the 2020 election. Your claims are ridiculous, accusations of ballots flown in from South Korea, allegations that chickens ate some of the ballots and then the chickens were incinerated.

The Republican-led board of supervisors at Maricopa County, Arizona's largest county, are now blasting the audit, sending a letter demanding the state senate president just put a stop to it.

Tensions boiled over at a meeting last night at the supervisors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN RICHER, MARICOPA COUNTY RECORDER: We all have our limits.

I have been accused of shredding ballots tabulated an election I didn't run, run by my predecessor, political opponent. I have been accused of inserting planes delivered from a South Korean plane. The claims have even been indulged by the senate majority whip.

JACK SELLERS, MARICOPA COUNTY CHAIRMAN: This board is done explaining anything to these people who are playing investigator with our constituent's ballots and equipment paid for with real people's tax dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Those two guys both Republicans saying enough now. The partisan audit run by the Florida-based company called Cyber Ninjas is now on hold temporarily after their lease ran out at the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum. Trucks moved the two million ballots past the crazy times carnival after only reviewing a quarter of them. KEILAR: Arizona secretary of state has already certified the election results showing President Biden won the state by about 45,000 votes. But the latest review highlights how many Republicans continue to cling to Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020. These are falsehoods that continue, of course, to roil the GOP.

Joining us now is CNN Legal Analyst and Republican Election Lawyer Ben Ginsberg. Okay, Ben, thank you so much, as we watch what is going on in Arizona. It's so important to have you here because we're seeing Republicans against Republicans. You have Maricopa County officials who have opposed this audit, to be clear, this entire time. They're calling this now a sham. They're calling it a con. And they have called on the Arizona state senate to end the recount. Where does this go from here?

BEN GINSBERG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's not immediately clear where it goes. Look, Republicans in Arizona have a big problem. The Cyber Ninjas gave a series of charges to the senate president. The senate president wrote about those charges to the Maricopa board. The Maricopa board was able to refute each and every one of them in a convincing 14-page letter and 17-page supplement.

[07:05:08]

And the other development that's noteworthy is that Donald Trump took one of the allegations from the Cyber Ninjas, put out a tweet that said that the database in Maricopa County had been deleted. That is demonstrably not true. So, all of a sudden, the credibility of both the president's overall charges and the Arizona senate Republican's audit is being thrown into doubt.

KEILAR: Of course the problem, Ben, is there are a lot of Americans out there who are not -- they are going to believe President Trump. And he has the backing of state senators. I mean, this isn't just some random audit, although it is sort of and it's led by people linked to conspiracy theories, but it has the backing of state senators, which gives it this kind of air of legitimacy.

So, explain why there should not be one. Explain to us what this audit has been like.

GINSBERG: Well, the audit itself and the way it's been run has been really sloppy, unprofessional and, ultimately, what it comes up with its credibility is going to be really challenged. But the context of this is that an audit where Donald Trump forces got to make their case about why the election was rigged and the results fraudulent was right here in Arizona. So I'm not sure we ought to be faulting the basic concept of the audit.

But, now that we're getting in to the deep details of what this audit is, and it's clear from the charges made by the Cyber Ninjas that they just don't understand what they're doing. And all of a sudden, this calls into doubt the credibility of the Arizona senate Republicans and it is going to dawn on the president and his supporters that this is costing them their credibility because here is their chance to make the case about fraudulent election and they're going off looking for rice and bamboo in ballots.

KEILAR: How damaging do you think this could be for future elections?

GINSBERG: The whole process is damaging for future elections. I mean, just look at the political peril this has now put Arizona Republicans in. You've got Republicans fighting with each other. There is a significant segment of the Republican base that doesn't believe that elections are valid. If people don't believe elections are valid, they are unlikely to participate. And so, that has the effect of Republicans doing a voter suppression operation on themselves, which is destructive not only to Republicans but also to faith and credibility in the whole system.

KEILAR: You think that's what will happen that Arizona Republicans who are more in the Trump camp who support the audit are less likely and are not going to turn out in the numbers they would have otherwise?

GINSBERG: Well, one never knows what an election is going look like 18 months from now. We should go back to the Georgia runoff elections, where Republican turnout was less than it was on election day after the Trumpian barrage against the credibility of the November election, those were chickens that came home to roost for the Republicans in the January runoffs.

KEILAR: That's a very intersection point. And we'll have to see if it comes to fruition in Arizona as well. Ben, great to see you this morning.

GINSBERG: Thanks, good to see you.

BERMAN: So, after a year of Zoom calls and conference calls in the kitchen or from the coach, business and employees around the country are all trying to figure out how fast to get back into the office itself.

Christine Romans just us now to figure what they're thinking. Romans?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, from the mute button now to the elevator button, work from home is now return to work. A growing number of executives, John, say it's time to get back to the office. Vaccinated Americans are safe from coronavirus. The CDC is relaxing those mask and social distancing rules. Meetings are no longer a super-spreader event and in-person collaboration is safe for vaccinated adults.

Goldman Sachs wants most of its employees back in the office by late June. The CEO, David Solomon, called work from home an aberration. Last week, WeWork's CEO told The Wall Street Journal, companies know their most engaged workers, they're the ones who want to come back to the office. Even in a hybrid model, he says, office time is essential. J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Diamond says, working from home doesn't work for young people who want to, quote, hustle. Some J.P. Morgan employees are coming back into the office this week for a few days a week. But are the workers ready? John, safety isn't an issue. An Axios/Ipsos poll found 60 percent of employed Americans, they say working indoors in an office is a small or no risk activity.

[07:10:03]

At the same time, the Society for Human Resources Management found people do like their flexible work life. 35 percent of workers said, John, they would accept a pay cut if they could work full-time at home permanently.

Now, the general timeline we're seeing first round of return to work to the office is June, then after Labor Day for everyone else. Vaccines make it possible and that same Ipsos poll shows the majority of employed Americans, John, they say they support approving vaccinations as a way to get back in the office.

BERMAN: It makes some sense. Look, these are issues that we all have to grapple with, the businesses do and all of us as employees, exactly how we want to approach this going forward.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: Christine Romans, thanks very much. Brianna?

KEILAR: I think it's what's on everyone's mind.

A reckless and dangerous, a former aide to Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn alleging that he was fired for calling out the lawmaker's handling of the coronavirus in his office. Brandon Pope says Lamborn dismissed protocols, mocked staffers for wearing masks and forced aides to work in person at the height of the pandemic.

CNN's Laura Jarrett joins us now. The allegations are serious here, Laura.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: They really are, Brianna. The congressman says it's all rubbish though, just a disgruntled employee he says, but the allegations, as you say, are striking. COVID running rampant in a congressional office, a cover-up and favors for family members on the American taxpayer's dime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT (voice over): A new lawsuit offers a disturbing portrait of Congressman Doug Lamborn's alleged handling of the coronavirus pandemic. A former staffer now claims he was fired after raising concerns about Lamborn's reckless and dangerous approach to COVID-19. According to the complaint, the congressman, quote, claimed that COVID was a hoax and asserted that the pandemic was being used to alter the course of congressional and presidential elections.

Lamborn tested positive for COVID-19 last November and yet Brandon Pope, a former policy adviser, now claims the eight-term congressman refused to implement or follow reasonable and responsible COVID-19 protocols, resulting in the widespread transmission of the virus throughout both the district and Washington, D.C. offices.

The complaint goes on saying, throughout the pandemic, Lamborn and his chief of staff often mocked safety protocols, such as measures to keep distanced employees from each other and the use of masks and, quote, minimize COVID-related concerns. The congressman also allegedly ignored calls to allow employees to work from home.

Lamborn's office did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment, but told The New York Times, the workplace safety allegations made by Mr. Pope are unsubstantiated and did not result in the termination of his employment. Congressman Lamborn looks forward to a full vindication as all facts come to light.

That's not all. The lawsuit additionally claims Lamborn allowed his son to live in the U.S. Capitol basement for weeks, having staffers help him with job applications as well as running personal errands for the Colorado lawmaker's family. It also claims Lamborn had staffers use official time to perform campaign work, violating House rules.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT (on camera): When asked about the son in the Capitol basement, the congressman told CNN the housing market in D.C. is, quote, very tight. And there are no ethical issues with it. CNN has reached out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Ethics Committee about these allegations, Brianna.

KEILAR: I have never lard heard of that and I've certainly heard of anything like that being considered appropriate or ethical. Laura Jarrett, thank you so much for that report.

JARRETT: Sure.

BERMAN: So, while COVID cases in the U.S. are averaging all-time lows, cases continue to spike in parts of the world. President Biden announced the U.S. will share millions of doses of COVID vaccines now with other countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Over the next six weeks, the United States of America will send 80 million doses overseas. That represents 13 percent of the vaccines produced by the United States by the end of June. This will be more vaccines than any country has actually shared to date, five times more than any other country, more than Russia, China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And this is the first time that the president has promised to donate doses that could be used here in the U.S.

Joining me now is Gayle Smith, she is the State Department Global COVID Response Coordinator, and she will be leading the diplomacy in this effort. Coordinator, thank you so much for being with us. The announcement from the president came the very same day that the director general of the WHO said, we have now entered a phase of vaccine apartheid. What does that phrase mean to you?

GAYLE SMITH, STATE DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR FOR GLOBAL COVID RESPONSE AND HEALTH SECURITY: Well, I think what we're seeing is that we don't have adequate vaccine supply around the world. And the president's announcement aims to squarely take that on by donating the 80 million doses. And that's only one of the steps we're taking. We're also working on the supply, strongly supporting COVAX, which delivers vaccines to 92 countries, we're the largest donor there, and looking what can be done to increase manufacturing.

[07:15:09]

BERMAN: So, the announcement of 20 million doses after an earlier pledge of 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the distinction there being that cannot be used here in the United States. But 80 million doses total, how much of a difference will that make given the global problem?

SMITH: I think it will make a difference in two ways. First, that's 80 million doses, that's 80 million people. I think the second point is that there are other countries willing and ready to share doses. And I think U.S. leadership on this will spur that forward. So we'll see an increase in donated doses worldwide.

BERMAN: There are a lot of business leaders now and also medical activists who are looking at this saying, there needs to be more. There needs to be more. There was one AIDs activist who noted overnight that donating 80 million doses of vaccines without a plan to scale up production is like putting a band aid on a machete wound. What do you think of that?

SMITH: Well, there is a plan. Look, this is only one component of a comprehensive plan. Part of that is absolutely increasing production. That's absolutely key. And there are two ways to do that. One is engaging with the producers, the other is making investment, which is we're starting to make, in places where injection of capital can mean a ramping up of production. The other is increasing financial support to COVAX, again, we're the largest donor there, and that's absolutely key.

But the last point is mobilizing the world to work with us, and the president referred to that, and our role in working with other countries in the G7 and elsewhere to mount a truly global response.

BERMAN: Let me give people a sense of the statistics right now. Nearly half of Americans have received at least one dose, 5 percent of people in Asia, 1 percent in Africa. I think that's what the WHO director general means about vaccine apartheid here, is there is just a vast disparity between parts of the world compared to other parts of the world.

You've spoken about the challenge of figuring out where to send the vaccine first. That is something a couple weeks ago you said you were working on. What have you come up with? Where are you in that process of figuring out who gets the 80 million vaccines?

SMITH: Right. Well, we're finalizing a plan on that and we'll have something to say about that soon. But, again, what's key here is that this is one component of a broad push to increase the vaccine supply. So, we will make those decisions and make them public, but, again, we are counting on other countries and we believe they will deliver and working on the supply side and the production side. Because to get to the volume we need, we have got to move out on multiple fronts. Dose sharing is absolutely critical, but it's only one piece of the puzzle.

BERMAN: You made clear that the U.S. isn't doing this as a tool for trying to gain influence. But Russia and China, they haven't been giving out vaccine, they've been selling it but they sold quite a bit of their vaccines so far. Do you think they're doing this to get influence?

SMITH: Well, they've actually made less available than you might think. But I think we have seen cases where vaccines have been deployed as a tool of influence, on an almost transactional basis. And I think the president's very strong view and the correct one is that vaccines are a tool of public health. They are the means by which we finally end this global pandemic.

So, our vaccines will be provided on the basis of data, on public health information, on need and as part of a strategy to bring this pandemic to an end.

BERMAN: We know this is such a hard job and it's such an important job. We're so glad you're on it. Coordinator Gayle Smith, thank you for joining us this morning. I appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you so much for having me.

BERMAN: So the House has reached an agreement on a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection. Will key witnesses, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, be called to testify?

KEILAR: And a relative calm overnight on the Israel-Gaza border, as President Biden calls for a ceasefire. We're going to speak to a leading expert on Middle East relations about what happens next.

BERMAN: And just in, Rudy Giuliani with a new defense for his call to action just before the insurrection. So is that defense believable?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

KEILAR A bill establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol riot is expected to pass the House tomorrow. Here is the rub for Republicans. Their House Leader Kevin McCarthy could be subpoenaed to testify about his actions.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill. LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Brianna. We expect this vote to take place tomorrow in the House of Representatives. We expect that it will pass out of the Democratic- controlled House.

But one of the key questions is whether or not Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican the House, will actually support this legislation. They released the bipartisan plan on Friday. He still has not said whether or not he backs it. And part of the questioning, of course, is whether or not McCarthy himself would be called as a witness in the commission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOX (voice over): House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy facing renewed scrutiny over his phone call with former President Trump on January 6th. Now, the bipartisan agreement has been reached to form 9/11-style commission, some lawmakers are looking to McCarthy to testify about that call.

CNN previously reported that the conversation between McCarthy and Trump resulted in a shouting match, with McCarthy insisting that the rioters were Trump supporters who were breaking into his office through the windows.

According to sources who were briefed on the call by McCarthy himself, Trump said, quote, well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. McCarthy then yelled at Trump, who the F do you think you're talking to?

In the days following the Capitol attack, McCarthy said Trump was responsible.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

[07:25:00]

FOX: But a week later --

REPORTER: Do you believe that president -- former President Trump provoked?

MCCARTHY: I don't think he provoked it if you listen to what he said at the rally.

FOX: In January, McCarthy travelled to Mar-a-Lago to visit the former president and since then has downplayed his phone conversation with Trump.

MCCARTHY: My conversations with the president are my conversations with the president.

FOX: Representative Liz Cheney, who was recently stripped of her leadership position for speaking out against Trump, believes McCarthy should testify. REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Leader McCarthy has spoken to a number of people in large groups and small groups since the 6th about his exchanges with the president. He's spoken publicly on the House floor about his view of the president's responsibility. I think it's very important that he clearly has facts about that day that an investigation into what happened into the president's actions ought to get to the bottom of. And I think that he has important information that needs to be part of any investigation.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: But what do you think it accomplishes to talk about a conversation on January 6th? Do you think that raises issues of President Trump's responsibility for the riot, whether or not he's trying to tamper with Kevin McCarthy as a witness?

CHENEY: Certainly. I mean, I think that any conversations -- and we know certainly that that conversation happened.

FOX: Just a few weeks earlier, McCarthy was also asked by Fox News Sunday Host Chris Wallace about witness tampering.

WALLACE: Has the president ever reached out to you since that report came out to discuss what you and he talked about on the January 6th phone call? And did you say to him, I can't because we're under oath?

MCCARTHY: No.

WALLACE: That never happened?

MCCARTHY: It's never happened.

WALLACE: And you would --

MCCARTHY: Never even close.

WALLACE: And if it did happen, you would agree that would be witness tampering?

MCCARTHY: Yes, but it never happened, never even came close. I never had any conversation like that.

WALLACE: Okay.

MCCARTHY: I never heard that rumor before until today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (on camera): And, of course, this commission was actually established, it would be five Republicans and five Democrats, at least those are the groups that would be appointing the members of the commission, Brianna. So it's still unclear whether or not they could actually get McCarthy as a witness given the fact that this commission would be split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

KEILAR: Very interesting. And tomorrow, this vote, I mean, should we expect that this is going to pass the House, obviously, right, when it comes to a January 6th commission? FOX: Well, I think that's exactly what we're expecting, Brianna, that this will easily pass the House of Representatives. Now, the bigger question is what happens in the U.S. Senate. You know, several of us were talking to Republicans yesterday about whether or not they supported this commission. Remember, Democrats need ten Republican votes in order to move ahead with it.

And there was a little bit of discrepancy in the leadership ranks about whether or not this commission was actually a good idea. You had people like Senator John Thune saying it likely would pass. You had people like Senator Roy Blunt, another member of Republican leadership, saying it might not be the best idea given the fact that he thinks there are immediate changes that need to happen in Capitol security. And he worries that a commission could delay further actions up here on Capitol Hill to make lawmakers and staff safer. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Lauren Fox on the Hill, thank you.

Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani coming out with a brand new defense for his speech to a pro-Trump crowd on January 6th just before the insurrection, that's just one of the many legal battles though that he is fending off.

BERMAN: Stiff new penalties aimed for unruly passengers, including not wearing masks. Is it legal? We'll ask the head of the FAA.

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