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Joe Walsh is Interviewed about the Capitol Insurrection; Riot Suspects Arrested; Texas and Louisiana Pounded by Historic Rainfall; Higher Vaccine Rates Shows Fewer Cases; Tatum Scores 50 in Celtics Game. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 19, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:48]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Here in just a few hours, the House is expected to vote to launch a bipartisan commission investigating the January 6th insurrection. This is expected to pass, though its future in the Senate is decidedly murkier. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has not said whether he'll oppose the bill. A source, though, tells CNN, McConnell was critical of the commission yesterday during a GOP lunch behind closed doors. This despite his previous criticism of the Capitol riot and former President Trump's role in it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation.

The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.

January 6th was a disgrace. American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of domestic business they did not like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:35:00]

KEILAR: With us now, former Republican presidential candidate and former Republican congressman, Joe Walsh.

Joe, always great to see you in the morning here.

Signs right now, they don't -- they're not pointing in the direction of McConnell, you know, wanting to move forward with this commission being in the current form that it is, and yet you listen to what he said after the insurrection.

JOE WALSH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Brianna, what a shame. I mean, you're right, that sounds like a completely different Mitch McConnell. Why the change? Why the move? Because Republican voters don't care. Republican voters don't believe January 6th was that big of a deal.

We've spent, rightly, so much time talking about the big, dangerous lie of the stolen election. People need to understand, I hear from thousands of Republican voters every day. Brianna, they have fully bought into a second big lie, a secondly equally dangerous big lie that January 6th was no big deal. Republican voters believe that, which is why McConnell has moved, which is why, not just crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene, but why you're getting these Republican members of Congress dismissing the insurrection because their voters just have bought the lie that it was no big deal.

KEILAR: And, look, at the risk of elevating comments by Marjorie Taylor Greene, I think it's important to play something that she said about the suspects in the Capitol riot because this is something that is taking hold.

Let's listen.

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REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): While it's catch and release for domestic terrorists, Antifa, BLM, the people who breached the Capitol on January 6th are being abused, some even being held for 23 hours a day in solitaire confinement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, this is a crazy view that she has, but this is becoming more entrenched with Republicans, Joe.

WALSH: Brianna, that's a crazy view, and she's nuts. But, again, this is mainstream Republican voter thinking. I can't say that enough. I hear from thousands of Republican voters every day. What Marjorie Taylor Greene said right there is what I hear from them every day.

This is a real wake-up call to America. You and I have talked about this, Brianna. One of our two major political parties right now is fundamentally anti-democracy, fundamentally pro-conspiracy in anti- democracy. It's metastasized way beyond Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And look what we're seeing with this bogus audit in Arizona is how that can be operationalized. You've talked a little bit about this, Joe, but I just wonder, are we going to see what we've seen in Arizona every time the GOP loses an election going forward here in the immediate future?

WALSH: Yes, this is a new normal. This is what America looks like when the biggest sore loser in the history of the world lost. And we can laugh about that, but we're living with the consequences of that because a major political party has not accepted the results of an election.

Brianna, I don't think most people -- I don't think most people listens to you and I right now understand how much trouble our democracy is in. If you attack our elections, you are attacking the very heartbeat of this democracy. If 40 to 50 to 60 to 70 million Americans no longer trust our elections process, our democracy is out the window.

Brianna, one more thing. I had a Republican member of Congress tell me privately a couple days ago that he was sickened by what is going on in Arizona and he said that he felt like he was on some out of control amusement park ride. And I said, are you serious? Shame on you. You put yourself on that ride. You allowed a president to lie about an election and you never stopped him. You allowed a president to incite an insurrection and you never stopped him. We had an insurrection and the Republican Party now is moving on beyond it. And now, Brianna, we're going to have a vote today on whether we should have a bipartisan commission to investigate an attack on our government, and the Republican Party is going to vote against that.

You and I wouldn't have thought that was possible four months ago.

KEILAR: No. And it is so real right now and alarming.

It is always great to see you, as I said, Joe Walsh. Thank you for being with us.

WALSH: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: This is a photo that we're showing you here that could send a Capitol riot suspect back to jail.

[06:40:07]

We'll tell you why. We'll have details, next.

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KEILAR: A man charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th could be going back to jail after federal prosecutors found a photo of him posing with a mountain lion that he had just killed. They argue that this photo proves he, quote, flagrantly violated both state and federal law during this hunting trip and that he should be thrown back in jail.

CNN's Whitney Wild is with us now.

Whitney, tell us why the case is here and why this photo is so instrumental in this.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: So, this man is one of the accused Capitol riot suspects. He's actually accused of going onto the Senate chamber floor. Part of the conditions of his release was that he didn't possess a firearm. However, there is apparently some back and forth here because he's also a convicted felon. Also not supposed to have a firearm typically if you're a convicted felon.

However, the conditions of his release allowed him to have a weapon as part of his job, but then the conditions of the Capitol riot case release said he couldn't have a firearm. [06:45:05]

So a little bit of a back and forth there.

But prosecutors are saying, look, he violated the conditions of his release. He's got to go back to jail. A D.C. judge said the restrictions here are pretty clear. He doesn't feel like he has much choice in this. However, this man's attorneys are arguing that he should be on House arrest. We'll learn a little bit more about this, Brianna. But, you know, one more example of some of these Capitol riot suspects doing things that they shouldn't do on photo, on camera.

KEILAR: That's right. Fair to say, he did not -- or he did not strangle this mountain lion, just to be clear, I think we know that, but, obviously, a weapon was used.

Whitney, thank you so much for that report.

WILD: Right.

Oh, I -- you know, I should say, he pleaded not guilty to these charges. He's -- that's important. He's been charged with ten crimes. He's pleaded not guilty in that case, Brianna.

KEILAR: It is important.

Whitney, thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The photo is pretty stark evidence there.

KEILAR: Right. I know.

BERMAN: So this morning tens of thousands of Texans without power as severe storms and heavy rain bring a threat of flash flooding to the eastern part of Louisiana.

Let's get right to meteorologist Jennifer Gray.

Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John, these are the same areas that we've seen get excessive rainfall all week long and still getting just streams of moisture piling in across the deep south, southeast Texas to south Louisiana again today.

This weather report is brought to you by Carvana, the new way to buy a car.

So let's get to it. You can see just lots of rain, showers, thunderstorms, lightning across southeast Texas. Houston included in that. Southwest Louisiana, that's going to march to the east as we go throughout the day.

Observe rainfall since Monday. A huge area across the south has received anywhere from six to 10 inches. Those little pockets of pink. Ten to 20 inches of rain and more is coming. Of course, obviously, we're going to have flood alerts because of this. Thirty-two million people this morning under some sort of flood alert.

So here's your high-rise forecast radar going forward in time. You can see more moisture coming in across south Louisiana, south Texas getting a lot of it, and then it just continues. It doesn't stop. So we're going to continue to see rain throughout the day today, tomorrow, and again on Friday for these same regions across Texas and Louisiana. Rain accumulation through Thursday. You could see an additional two to four, up to six inches in some places, John.

BERMAN: That's a lot of rain.

All right, Jennifer Gray, thank you so much for that.

So more proof that coronavirus vaccines work. What's behind the new numbers, next.

Plus, 45 is the new 50 for colon cancer screenings. What you need to know about these new guidelines.

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[06:51:51]

BERMAN: New evidence this morning of the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines. They work really well based on data from the CDC and Johns Hopkins. A CNN analysis found that seven states that have vaccinated at least 70 percent of adults with at least one shot have case rates that are 10 percent lower on average than states that have not.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now.

That's some pretty glaring data, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is some glaring data. And here's the problem, John, is that the people who are not vaccinated in the U.S., they're not evenly spread around the country. They tend to cluster in certain places.

Now, you might say, well, I'm vaccinated, what do I care if there's a cluster of people over there or a cluster of people there who aren't vaccinated. Here's the problem. When people aren't vaccinated, the virus can flourish. When the virus flourishes, that's when variants happen. They get these mutations and variants can happen and those variants could possibly be resistant to the vaccine.

So let's take a look at some of the differences in vaccination rates in this country. It's really pretty stunning. Here's a county with a high vaccination rate. It's Bristol Bay Borough in Alaska. Eighty-four percent of people there are fully vaccinated. That's pretty amazing.

Now let's look in McPherson County, which is in South Dakota, 11 percent are fully vaccinated. So right there, John, you can see that there are stark differences in vaccination rates in the U.S.

BERMAN: Yes, more vaccines, fewer cases. It's just that simple.

COHEN: Right.

BERMAN: So, Elizabeth, I have a question coming from a key demographic, one that I have a keen interest in. A new announcement on guidance for colon cancer screening. What are they now saying?

COHEN: You know what, John, if you're in that age range that I think you might be in, you might be to be getting a colonoscopy sooner than you thought. We've always said start at age 50. That's when you should be getting your first colon cancer screening. Now they're saying, you know what, begin at 45 instead. And if it's a colonoscopy, you should be getting it every five years. You don't have to get a colonoscopy. You can also have a test done on your stool. You should be getting that every one to three years.

And, by the way, you should start even earlier and do this even more often if you have a family history or personal history or something else that puts you at high risk.

John.

BERMAN: Elizabeth Cohen, new guidance. I'll wait until at least the end of the show.

Thanks for being with us this morning.

COHEN: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, Donald Trump's legal troubles just took a turn for the worse. New details about the criminal investigation into the ex- president's business practices.

KEILAR: And we are just hours away from a House vote to create a bipartisan insurrection commission. We have new details about why House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is opposed to it.

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[06:58:44]

KEILAR: The NBA's play in tournament tips off with a huge performance from Celtics star Jayson Tatum.

Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report."

I mean, unstoppable, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: He certainly was, Brianna. And, you know, the Celtics, they struggled to the finish line this season. They lost 10 of their final 15 games. But their star, Jayson Tatum, making sure that they would not be going home early. Tatum catching fire in the second half, led Boston on a 22-4 run to start the third. Tatum finished with 50 points in the 118-110 win over the Wizards.

Boston now claims the seven seed with that win. They'll face the Nets in the first round. The Wizards now head to an elimination game for the eight seed where they will face off against the Pacers. Indiana just pouncing on the Hornets from the get-go in this one. Doug McDermott had 14 points five minutes into the game. It's the most any player has scored in the first five minutes of a game this season according to ESPN. Pacers win easily, 144-117. Their elimination game with the Wizards tomorrow night on TNT.

All right, to baseball. Detroit's Spencer Turnbull throwing a no- hitter last night against the Mariners. Just two years ago, Turnbull led the majors with 17 losses. He had never gone more than seven innings in any of his previous 49 starts over three seasons.

[07:00:05]

But now Turnbull owns the fifth no-hitter of this season. Just the second time