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New Day
Family Livid After D.A. Says Andrew Brown Shooting "Justified"; New York Lifts Indoor Mask Mandate Today; Black Homeowner Says Home Appraisal Doubled After Concealing Race. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired May 19, 2021 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:30:54]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A big lie blunder this morning. In Arizona, folks running the election audit -- and that is in air quotes -- are now walking back one of their bogus claims because facts got in the way.
The official Twitter account of the auditors -- air quotes -- issued a statement without evidence that Maricopa County deleted election databases. The former president gleefully embraced this notion to push his big lie about the last election. Kevin McCarthy must be so upset he wasn't looking to the future.
Well, now, it turns out the data that the auditors -- air quotes -- said was deleted was not deleted. They found it. It was there all along. So the auditors -- air quotes -- were either a) lying, b) incompetent, or c) all of the above.
And this conspiracy is just one fueling this audit -- air quotes. The others involve innocent chickens, bamboo, and a hidden-in-a-picture riddle.
For example, there are claims that Donald Trump left secret watermarks on ballots to prevent Democrats from stuffing ballot boxes -- nonsense. Others assert that fake ballots from China or South Korea can be identified by traces of bamboo from those countries in the ballot paper -- nonsense. And there were allegations that ballots are being fed to chickens -- that's right, chickens -- after which the chickens are being incinerated -- sigh.
It is worth repeating that county election officials have already completed a hand-count audit -- no air quotes; two accuracy tests -- no air quotes; and a forensic audit with two certified firms -- no air quotes.
And you can be assured no chickens were harmed in the production of this election -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I can rest easy now.
Joining us to discuss is Jeff Flake, CNN political commentator and former Republican senator from Arizona. Sir, thank you so much for being with us.
And look, I will say as a fellow -- as a Californian, not a fellow Arizonan, what a beautiful state -- but what the heck is going on in Arizona right now? What do you make of this?
JEFF FLAKE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM ARIZONA (via Cisco Webex): Well, it's been quite something. These allegations of bamboo and the ballots and a chicken farm owned by one of the county board of supervisors burned down the other day and people thought well, there's ballots being burned over there. I mean, every conspiracy theory you can think of has been put forward.
And fortunately, the board of supervisors has spoken up and said this is ridiculous -- let's move on. But still, too many Republicans in Arizona are ready to push the big lie.
KEILAR: And not just Arizona. We're seeing that in state after state. And we're seeing this audit, which is a third audit. This isn't an official audit and it's not being conducted in the way others have been conducted.
Is this, do you fear, a roadmap for what we're going to see in state after state if Republicans don't like the outcome of an election?
FLAKE: A good point. That's exactly what the Republican Party in Arizona sees it as and that's what the Trump organization sees this as -- a template for other states to challenge the 2020 election, let alone elections going forward.
But this has been such an amateur hour down there at the coliseum where they're counting ballots. They were supposed to be done now. They only counted about a quarter of them and now they have to abandon the effort for a week while the graduations are held at the coliseum.
Now, they claim they'll be done by the end of June but that's far too optimistic given their pace. And they just keep coming up with crazy allegations. And so, I don't think it's turning out the way that some of the supporters of the audit -- so-called audit -- hoped it would.
Do you foresee a situation -- and I don't think it's too far out of the realm of possibility, so I want to ask you about it -- that if Republicans were to win the House in 2022 and then, let's say, a Democrat won election in 2024, could you foresee a situation where Congress does not certify the Electoral College results?
[07:35:07]
FLAKE: No, I would have never thought that would be a possibility until we went through what we did in January. Yes, definitely. The House demonstrated that they were beholden to one man in this case, Donald Trump, and did his bidding. And so, yes, unfortunately, given what has been said and done already by House Republicans, that's not beyond the realm of possibility at all, really.
KEILAR: We're expected a House vote on this January 6 Commission and Democrats control the House. It will likely pass. In the Senate, signs right now are that Republicans are not going to support it in its current form. Should they?
FLAKE: Yes, and if they need to change a few things they should be changed and then support it. But there's got to be a commission here. We need to know exactly what happened and it is important.
And I do think that some Senate Republicans will support it in its current form and more would support it if certain changes were made. So I do hope that it is supported and I'm confident that some of my Senate Republicans will go along with it.
KEILAR: Sir, it's always great to see you. I will say you always have a positive outlook but I imagine it is hard watching what is going on in Arizona from your perspective.
FLAKE: It's painful, I have to say. It really is given, particularly, the hard work that so many went through -- the election officials, the volunteers, and others -- to have their work cast -- doubt cast on their work and aspersions cast. It's really too bad. That's really what the shame is in Arizona.
KEILAR: Yes, it is painful. I think that's a very good word.
Former senator Jeff Flake, thank you.
FLAKE: Thank you.
BERMAN: So, a wise man said Arizona -- that's the western front -- not disconnected from this at all, the eastern front in Washington. Key Republican leaders are refusing to back the idea of a bipartisan commission to investigate what happened on January sixth.
John Avlon with a reality check.
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CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FBI: That attack, that siege was criminal behavior, plain and simple. And it's behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): Now we know what Republican House leaders will do when confronted with a domestic terror attack on our Capitol -- nothing. It's the most cynical and spineless act imaginable. It's the definition of putting party over country.
Because opposing a bipartisan commission to investigate the insurrection on January sixth, Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy is once again choosing Trump over the truth while carving out his profile and cowardice.
But just a few days ago there seemed to be a deal -- a 10-person commission, five members appointed by each party, due to submit a report by the end of the year. Representative John Katko, who helped negotiate it, said this is about facts, not partisan politics.
But that's not what Kevin McCarthy was looking for. He released a statement full of projection, complaining the commission wouldn't look at left-wing violence, which is both siderism at its weasel words worst.
And all the talk about how it's time to turn the page is textbook avoidance. And it comes from pretty much the same crew that insisted on seven congressional commissions to investigate Benghazi.
So what could explain the kind of flip-flops that would make an invertebrate jealous? Fear and greed, the prime conditions of life in the Trump-verse.
Kevin McCarthy's afraid of Donald Trump and greed to become speaker. He's concerned the inconvenient facts about an attack on the Capitol could make his life more difficult.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): And I wouldn't be surprised if he were subpoenaed. I think that he very clearly and said publicly that he's got information about the president's state of mind that day.
AVLON (on camera): A Washington truism is that personnel is policy. So it's worth noting that McCarthy hired Trump's former political director Brian Jack because of the run-up to the January sixth attack, Jack helped organize the "Stop the Steal" rally. And that's according to Congressman Mo Brooks who said Jack invited him to speak.
So this is self-interested cowardice. Defending the republic be damned. But maybe, just maybe, this will provoke some blowback from enough Republicans who don't like the idea of running defense for sedition.
The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which includes more than two dozen Republicans, announced they would back the commission. In the Senate, at least seven Republican senators have indicated openness, with Sen. Mike Rounds telling NBC News we clearly had an insurrection on that particular day and I don't want to be -- I don't want it to be swept under any rug.
Now, the vote is a choice between being an ostrich or an eagle. Bury your head in the sand because you're beholden to the big lie or stand upright and say that facts matter and put country over party.
[07:40:05]
This revisionist history around the attack is sinister. We need an official bipartisan report so we can agree on basic facts. We need to know why it took three hours to mobilize the National Guard so it doesn't happen again. We also need to know from witnesses at the White House, under oath, what the president said and did behind closed doors and what he was ordering in the days and weeks before.
This detail, for example, demands a little more explanation. According to Axios, Acting Sec. of Defense Chris Miller told associates he took the job with the goals of having no major war, no military coup, and no troops fighting citizens in the streets. These are not typical concerns in American government and it could speak to the president's state of mind during an extended attempt to overthrow an election. Trying to block this bipartisan commission is much more than a
dereliction of duty. It is an insult to our democracy.
And that's your reality check.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Thank you very much for that.
You know, 26 members -- Republican members on the Problem Solvers Caucus. Curious to see if all of them vote for the bipartisan commission now that it signed on because that would be a bigger number than voted for impeachment.
The district attorney says that Andrew Brown, Jr.'s killing was justified. Now his family wants the Justice Department to get involved.
KEILAR: Plus, quote, "They're all f-ing short bus people." Those are words from the lawyer of a Capitol riot suspect. He's going to join us live.
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[07:45:49]
KEILAR: The family of Andrew Brown, Jr. urging the Justice Department to intervene immediately after a district attorney determined deputies were, quote, "justified" in the shooting and will not be criminally charged in the death of the unarmed Black man.
Protesters marched in the streets last night demanding the release of the full bodycam footage.
CNN's Joe Johns is live for us in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Joe, tell us what's happening there.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the D.A. here said, essentially, that the sheriff's deputies involved in the shooting of Andrew Brown were acting in self-defense because Brown was using his car, essentially, as a weapon. And the D.A. also played one of the bodycam videos -- at least part of it. Listen and watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POLICE OFFICER: Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop the car.
(Gunshots)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Now, there are a total of four bodycam videos and one dashcam. All of that video has never been released.
Here's what the district attorney Andrew Womble said about the case -- listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW WOMBLE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, PASQUOTANK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: When you employ a car in a manner that puts officers' lives in danger, that is a threat, and I don't care what direction you're going -- forward, backward, sideways. I don't care if you're stationary and neither do our courts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Now, Andrew Womble obviously has had one role in this and members of the family have certainly said they think he's too close to the case. They have called for a special prosecutor in the case, as a matter of fact.
Here's part of a statement they put out just last night. "We certainly got neither transparency nor justice today. We request that the federal Department of Justice intervene immediately."
The problem with that, of course, is that the federal government has already said there is a civil rights investigation. But there's a real sense here that the family might not get satisfaction because that could be a very slow and frustrating process. Perhaps the only thing they're going to be able to do is file a civil lawsuit.
In the meantime, a lot of concerns here about transparency, Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes. And that video -- that snippet of video that they're releasing, it may raise more questions than it even answers.
Joe Johns live for us in North Carolina -- thanks.
BERMAN: So, now here are five things to know for your new day.
Number one, millions of people across southeast Texas under flash flood watches as life-threatening torrential rains sweep through the region. There are multiple reports of trees and power poles down. More than 65,000 customers are still in the dark.
KEILAR: And brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown awarded $75 million decades after being convicted of a rape and murder that they did not commit. The brothers spent nearly 31 years in prison before they were exonerated in 2014.
BERMAN: India reported its highly daily COVID death toll since the start of the pandemic. It's the first time India had more than 4,500 COVID deaths in a single day and it brings the country's total toll to more than 283,000.
KEILAR: And an iconic rock formation in the Galapagos Islands crashing -- see this -- into the ocean. This is Darwin's Arch before and then on the right, you see Darwin's pillars, I guess. That's what it looks like right now. Officials say the top of the arch -- which, of course, was named for Charles Darwin -- fell as a result of natural erosion.
BERMAN: It made me so sad. It was like in New Hampshire when the --
KEILAR: Me, too.
BERMAN: -- Man of the Mountain came --
KEILAR: I know.
BERMAN: -- came crumbling down there.
KEILAR: Yes. It's not the same.
BERMAN: Also said this morning, Charles Grodin being remembered as a brilliant comedic actor. He died Tuesday at his home in Wilton, Connecticut after a battle with bone cancer.
[07:50:01]
He was known for his incredible talent and deadpan humor in roles in "Midnight Run" and "Heartbreak Kid," among other films. Charles Grodin was 86.
He was just so talented and his straight man act -- you know, you could see it on Letterman and other places -- just unparalleled.
KEILAR: Inspiration to you with the deadpan, I see, right?
BERMAN: I try. I do -- I try. See, I blew it right there.
But he was really good. He will be missed. And people like a younger generation. By younger, I mean people now in their 40s. Like "Beethoven," the movie with the dog, was probably the movie of his that made the most money.
KEILAR: I know, right?
BERMAN: He said he didn't mind acting with the dog. He said -- he said they would throw outtakes where he looked good but the dog looked bad. They always took the takes where the dog looked good and he looked bad.
KEILAR: Oh, that's so sweet. Well, he will certainly be missed.
New York, which was once, of course, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic -- it is lifting its mask mandate indoors for vaccinated people today. Governor Andrew Cuomo saying vaccinated New Yorkers no longer need to wear masks indoors or even practice social distancing, though masks will be required on public transit, also in schools, and in some communal spaces.
Alexandra Field is live for us in New York City. This is a big day in New York. How are folks reacting there?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Brianna, this was almost unimaginable if you think back to where we were about a year ago. This is a city where you have seen mask compliance remain very high throughout the course of the pandemic as officials have noted many times.
But this is a big turning point for the city. You're seeing across New York State and the tristate area a move toward a more robust reopening -- the lifting of restrictions on a number of businesses. But the biggest change really happening in New York where they are saying that fully vaccinated people can remove their masks, both outdoors and indoors. There are, of course, the exceptions that you pointed out.
But we spoke to people on their commutes this morning, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, to see how they feel about the new guidance. And New Yorkers are this morning like most mornings, in a word, skeptical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD (on camera): Are you vaccinated?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
FIELD (on camera): OK. What do you think about the fact that so many people will be walking around unmasked?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With a mask?
FIELD (on camera): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think -- I'm not ready. I don't everybody is ready to have their mask off yet. I think it's too soon to relax the mask mandates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the thing that we have to not let our guard off because the point is that it's not that the virus has gone away -- it's still very much there -- it's just that the chance of spreading and infection has gone down because more people are vaccinated. But I think if too many people let their guard down too much then maybe -- you know, we don't want to go back to where we came from.
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FIELD: And we can all understand the fact that people are feeling hesitant. Among them, New York City's very own health commissioner who says the CDC guidance is based on science but that he personally will be keeping his mask on indoors for now -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Very interesting. Alexandra, big day. We'll be watching there in New York.
More trouble for Donald Trump. Why the former president's family business is now the target of a criminal investigation.
BERMAN: And a Black homeowner says appraisers doubled the value of her house when she tricked them into thinking that she was white. She joins us live with her remarkable story.
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[07:57:38]
BERMAN: An Indianapolis woman claims the appraisal of her home was cut by more than half simply because of her race.
Carlette Duffy, who is Black, suspected she was being lowballed in the true value of her property on two separate appraisals, so she removed pictures of herself and other items from her home and had a white male friend stand in for her during a third appraisal. She watched the price rise from $110,000 to $259,000.
Joining us now, Carlette Duffy. And joining her is Amy Nelson, the executive director of Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana -- a fair housing non-profit assisting Carlette with her complaint.
Carlette, first of all, wow. I mean, this is an amazing story. What made you suspect that something was up and how did you come up with this plan?
CARLETTE DUFFY, HOMEOWNER WHO ALLEGES DISCRIMINATION IN HOME APPRAISALS: Well, the language from the first appraisal is what really sent red flags up for me. And the language had to deal with -- it was talking about COVID -- about it being COVID and I should try later.
And it also talked about the construction quality of my home and that surrounding neighborhoods, especially those to the south, had superior construction quality. And the neighborhood to the south of me is actually another historic Black neighborhood, but that neighborhood has been gentrified.
So when I read the -- actually, I was at a meeting with Amy and Amy was discussing consent decrees as it pertains to banks and whether or not they were following what they were ordered to do in communities of color. And she talked about an appraisal that happened in Florida and that case was sent to me approximately at the same time by a friend of mine. So when I read it I said, you know, this is something that I have to do.
KEILAR: Amy, you know, you can speak to how often this kind of thing occurs.
I do want to mention that CNN reached out to the appraisal companies that are cited in your complaint from the first two appraisals that got you the $110,000 and $125,000 appraisal. They deny that discrimination took place.
But explain, Amy -- I think this is a key point what happened here -- the way those appraisal companies decided on that number.
