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New Day

A New Twist In The Mystery Over The Origins Of The Coronavirus Pandemic; Majorie Taylor Green Comparing Mask Requirements In The House To A Holocaust; America Emerging From The Pandemic Into Another Crisis, Gun Violence; A State Sanction Hijacking In Europe When Fighter Jets Urged A Commercial Plan To Land; A Period Of Calm After The Worst Outbreak Of Fighting In Years Has Left Gaza In Ruins. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 24, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Of what the U.S. is doing across the region. That's why you're hearing so many calls from so many different countries looking at the extra vaccine supply that exists right now in the United States saying, we could really use those vaccines but we're not exactly sure where the Biden administration is planning on exporting all of those vaccines. Everybody here is hoping its going to be in the western hemisphere.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they work. If it's one thing we're showing here in the Untied States and they've shown in Israel and the U.K., they work.

RIVERS: Yes.

BERMAN: Matt Rivers thank you so much for being there for us. We appreciate it. New Day continues right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman on this New Day. A startling twist in the mystery over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. We now know what happened to several Wuhan lab scientists in the months before the global outbreak.

BERMAN: From a concert to a house party gun violence exploding across the U.S. over the weekend. And new numbers show how the crisis is getting worse.

KEILAR: Plus a state sponsored hijacking. A strong-man regime accused of forcing a commercial airliner down in order to take an activist into custody.

BERMAN: And the first drawing of the Ohio vaccine lottery is tonight, but hear why one Republican in the state think it's a frivolous use of taxpayer dollars.

KEILAR: Welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. It is Monday, May 24, and this morning the mystery deepens surrounding the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a U.S. intelligence report several scientists at a lab in Wuhan, China became so sick they had to be hospitalized with an unknown illness. That was November of 2019 just before the pandemic began.

BERMAN: The new detail about the severity of their symptoms adds new fuel to the debate (inaudible) over how the pandemic began. Overnight the Chinese government refuted the latest intelligence report saying the U.S. was hyping the lab leak theory and questioned U.S. motivations.

Joining us now is Warren Strobel National Security Reporter for the "Wall Street Journal" and one of the reporters who broke this story overnight. Warren thanks so much for being with us. Congratulations on the great story.

Look, there had been reports the U.S. intelligence said that people at the Wuhan lab were sick, but this was the first. You were the first to report that the scientists had been hospitalized. Why is that important?

WARREN STROBEL, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER WITH WALL STREET JOURNAL: What we reported is they sought hospital treatment. It's a little unclear frankly whether they were hospitalized or just went to the hospital for treatment.

It's important primarily because of the timing. This timing is in November and we now know that the coronavirus was spreading in the city of Wuhan around that timeframe, not in -- not in December as we originally believed.

And, of course, if they went to the hospital, even if they didn't stay overnight, that indicates a certain level of severity to whatever they had.

BERMAN: Right. It means they could have had it. It could have been worse than we thought. Certainly, worse that we knew and that's one of the real issues here. What do we know? And the answer for more than a year has been not much because the Chinese are so opaque here, correct?

STROBEL: I think that's correct. And what we have, our report I think is more circumstantial evidence in favor of the potential lab leak theory, which as you recall six or nine months ago sort of dismissed this conspiracy theory.

But now what we have I think is a fair amount of substantial evidence -- excuse me -- circumstantial evidence that supports both theories and what we need is more information from the Chinese government and a more serious investigation and frankly more information, if possible, from the Biden administration about what they know.

BERMAN: I'll get to the Biden administration in a second. And the WHO, just to be clear, which for a long time hadn't really pushed China or seemed satisfied with the explanation from China that it wasn't a lab leak. Now thinks need more than investigation needs to happen.

For our viewers who may not be as up to speed as you are on this, just explain what the lab leak theory is.

STROBEL: Certainly. So the lab leak theory is that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was doing research, we know, with coronaviruses and we know that they had also -- they collected some years ago bats from a mine in Wuhan and the theory basically is that through bad safety practices or some other events the virus, which was manipulated in the lab, escaped either through a worker there or through a sewage system or in some fashion and that is basically how the coronavirus pandemic began.

Again, I want to stress that you don't know that that's true, but there are certainly some circumstantial evidence, including our report yesterday.

BERMAN: That's right. And right now all the evidence on each side of this, all sides of this circumstantial, again, largely because the Chinese haven't been as forthcoming as they can be with all the data that they might have.

You said the Biden administration, you talked about whether or not the Biden administration can do more or should do more.

[07:05:00]

So far Josh Rogin, who's done a lot of reporting on this from the "Washington Post", has written a book on this, points out that at this point where the Biden administration is, is they won't rule out the lab leak theory. What more do you think they could or should do here?

STROBEL: Well, they are pushing for a more vigorous investigation by the WHO and by China, but they're sort of doing primarily through, you know, quite diplomacy and I'm not a policymaker, it's not my job to tell them what to do --

BERMAN: Right.

STROBEL: -- but one would see a situation where they, you know, sort of step the temperature as it were. Then the second point I would make is the Avril Haines the Director of National Intelligence said publicly that, you know, we're -- the intelligence community is investigating both theories.

And I would say that, you know they should take a hard look through their files and see if there's more they could -- not (ph) they could tell us about what they know, about each theory.

This reporting took us weeks and weeks and weeks and it was, you know, involved material that was secret or hidden and anything they can do to shed more light on this I think the American people in the world deserve to know.

BERMAN: Yes, you're not a policymaker. You're a journalist, which means you want facts and as much information as you can get. You've done a terrific job digging up this much. Warren Strobel thank you for being with us this morning. Congratulations to you and your team for this report.

STOBEL: Thanks so much for having us.

BERMAN: And again, this new reporting it adds more fuel to the debate about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic and it comes after Dr. Fauci said this earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATEI SANDERS, MANAGING EDITOR OF PUBLICFACT: There's a lot of cloudiness around the origins of COVID-19 still. So I wanted to ask, are you still confident that it developed naturally.

DR. FAUCI, DIRECTOR OF NIH: No, I'm not convinced about that. I think that we should continue to investigate what went on China until we find out to the best of our ability exactly what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I want to bring in CNN Political Analyst and Washington Correspondent for the "New York Times," Maggie Haberman. Maggie, so nice to see you this morning. This matters, understanding where coronavirus and how the pandemic began matters.

A lot of the discussion about the lab leak I think was clouded early on because there was a suggestion by some that it was somehow a Chinese weapon that caused this.

That's no what we're talking about here. We're talking about a lab accident. But we've come a long way from people dismissing this as a conspiracy theory to a lot of people taking this seriously, Maggie.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We have John. And look, I do think it's important to remember that part of this issue when this was first being reported on and discussed back a few months after the pandemic had begun was that then President Trump and Mike Pompeo the Secretary of State both suggested they had seen evidence that this was formed in a lab and they also suggested it was not released on purpose, but they refused to release the evidence showing what it was.

And so because of that, that made this instantly political. I think that that was, you know, example 1,000 when the Trump administration learned that when you have burned your own credibility over and over again people are not immediately going to believe you, especially in an election year.

However, that does not mean it's not worth discussing. There has been a sort of persistent, albeit, relatively quite focus on whether that was the origin of the virus and it is compounded by the fact that there are -- have not been clear answers from Chinese officials about it and that investigators trying to find out the origin have been stymied.

So I do thing we're in a different period of this, John. But I also think it's important to remember, because I think it's getting reframed in a way that's just not true to what happened. I don't mean here.

BERMAN: Right.

HABERMAN: I mean in this broader debate by Trump supporters about what happened when this was originally raised.

BERMAN: And I think a lot of people want just answers at this point and it is important.

HABERMAN: Right. That's right. That's right.

BERMAN: I want to ask you about Marjorie Taylor Green and I want to figure out how I want to frame this question. Her comments comparing mask requirements in the House of Representatives to a Holocaust are so repugnant that I do not want to give them voice and I refuse to give them more voice than we already have this morning. They're awful. They're abhorrent.

I think a more important political discussion is how much longer will Kevin McCarthy let this happen? I mean, he already fought against Green being stripped of her committee assignments. He's giving her space in a lot of ways to operate in the House of Representatives. Why the silence? What do you expect here?

HABERMAN: The silence I think, John, is because she is a problem and I think that, you know, he and his caucus don't want to look as if they're giving into criticism of here in the media.

However, to your point, and I don't want to say what she said, it is -- it is deeply offensive to a very large number of people. She also appears to be, you know, given that she's doubling down on it, seeking attention and that's her goal.

I think that she will continue doing that until McCarthy feels like he has a problem with her and she is problematic for his own caucus and then he will do something more to crack down. But candidly John I'm not sure exactly what he can do other than sort of isolate her.

Remember Steve King from Iowa was a huge problem for the Republican caucus in the House for a very long time and it took until he went -- Steve King said something that was so incredibly over the top that his colleagues started distancing themselves. You'd think this would be up there, but so far it's not.

BERMAN: He could say something out loud, right? Or he could write something down on paper --

HABERMAN: He could (ph). Sure.

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: -- in this case.

HABERMAN: Yes. Right. Right. He could -- he could do either one of those things. I think he's going to avoid talking about it. I'm not sure that's going to be possible, especially given that this particular member seems to enjoy, as I said, getting attention from saying outlandish and outrageous things.

BERMAN: I want to talk about Adam Kinzinger and what has to say recently about the big lie, Donald Trump and others, continuing to say that the election was stolen, which they continue to do. The question is what will the impact of this be?

We're seeing more audits now, in air quotes, in other states. You're seeing it in Georgia. Clearly this is spreading.

Congress has refused to. At least so far as far as we can tell I don't think they're going to get the bipartisan commission on January 6. But Kinzinger says it will become an election issue. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: Here's a revelation, this is going to the 2022 midterms anyway, particularly if us as Republicans don't take ownership for what happened. If every other day there's a new conspiracy theory about what happened the Capitol. Anybody but what it was. And so, yes, then I think it will go to 2022 and we'll look like we're just sitting here denying reality and facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You think this will be an election issue? You know, right now Republican support for the big lie is awfully high.

HABERMAN: I think it will be an issue in various districts and I think in one of two ways, John. In some cases it will be an issue in primaries and in another -- in other cases it will be an issue in the general election.

I don't know that it is going to be the overriding issue. I understand what the congressman's saying that it will be on the ballot. I think most voters, and we have seen this, your point, about the support for Trump's lies about the election is growing among Republicans, not receding. I think that this is not an issue that a majority of Americans are going to be voting on.

I think people are going to be voting on how happy they are in their own lives. And so it will be on the ballot in some places. Not everywhere. But it is -- it is certainly not going away as issue. And to the extent that's what he meant, I think that's true.

BERMAN: Maggie Haberman, great to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

HABERMAN: You too.

KEILAR: America is emerging from the pandemic with another crisis and that is an explosion in gun violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive more than 7,500 people have died from gun violence in the U.S. this year. That is a 23 percent uptick over the same period in 2020. And there have been at least 12 shooting incidents since Friday across

the country, including a mass shooting at a packed house party in New Jersey that killed two and wounded dozens.

Polo Sandoval is live for us in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Polo, good morning. This is such a terrible reality that we are seeing across the country.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And that reality, Brianna, for the people in this community in southern New Jersey is that their region is now added to that growing list of towns that have experienced this growing crisis.

And we're going to share with you in just seconds those numbers that are showing that this is worsening situation, that the president has labeled an epidemic. But first, the very latest on what this situation -- the situations that took place over the weekend and what the governor has described as a horrific mass shooting just outside this town, a massive house party resulting in the deaths of two people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice over): A deadly spike in gun violence putting communities across the United States on edge this morning. Two people were shot during an attempted robbery at a New York City subways station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting over COVID. It looks like the madness is coming back.

SANDOVAL: And the New Jersey police are investigating an incident at a house party that left two dead and 12 others wounded late Saturday night. Police also discovered three people shot to death at an Atlanta area condominium. And in Youngstown, Ohio, three people are dead and at least eight others injured after a shooting out side a bar.

JAMAEL TITO BROWN (D), YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO MAYOR: It breaks my heart to hear when we have young me and women who die at a young age, so much potential ahead of them.

SANDOVAL: A 14-year-old girl was killed and 14 other shot attending what police are calling an unauthorized concert in North Charleston, South Carolina.

REGGIE BURGESS, CHIEF OF POLICE NORTH CHARLESTON: It is a sad day that we have to be here today to talk about another death of another young person.

SANDOVAL: Two me were shot and killed and eight others injured in downtown Minneapolis early Saturday morning. One of the victims died the same day he was scheduled to graduate from college. According the Gun Violence Archive, over 7,500 people have died from gun violence in the United States this year, that's including at least 471 teenagers and 120 children.

ALEXIS CLOONAN, AIDEN LEOS' SISTER: He said, mommy my tummy hurts. So she went hand she picked him up and he was bleeding on her.

SANDOVAL: Aiden Leos was fatally shot in an apparent road rage incident in Orange County, California, and his mother was driving him to Kindergarten Friday morning. The 6-year-old's family is seeking justice and asking the public for any information.

[07:15:00]

CLOONAN: Please help us find the people that did this to my little brother. He's only six and he was so sweet.

SANDOVAL: In Minneapolis city leaders are offering a $30,000 reward to find who's responsible for three recent shootings that left one child dead and two others critically injured.

JACOB FREY (D), MAYOR MINNEAPOLIS: The community has been exceedingly clear. We need to perpetrators to justice.

SANDOVAL: One of the victims, 6-year-old Aniya Allen who was shot in the head while riding in the car with her mother last week. She later died at the hospital.

KG WILSON, ANIYA ALLEN'S GRANDFATHER: Not only do we want justice for our babies, we don't want these people out here to shoot somebody else babies. It will be another press conference because another family will be standing up here with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And here in southern New Jersey I've also see some of that level of frustration from members of the community calling on something to be done here. But the question is exactly what will we see, Brianna, in terms of the investigation into that weekend house party shooting.

We do know that from New Jersey state police that they haven't updated us yet (ph) on a motive or any suspect information, but we do expect New Jersey's governor to offer an update later today.

KEILAR: Oh Polo that is -- I mean your report is -- it's so difficult to watch. I can't even imagine being the families that are going through this. I do want to get that perspective though.

I want to bring in Fred Guttenberg, because his 14-year-old daughter Jaime was one of 17 people who was killed in the 2018 shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

He is now the co-founder of Orange Ribbons for Jamie. He's the author of, "Find the Helpers; What 9/11 and Parkland Taught Me About Recovery, Purpose and Hope."

Fred, I mean I'm having a hard time keeping it together just watching this report that we just saw. And I mean what do you -- what do you think with what you've gone through and looking at just what we experienced over the weekend, 12 of these shootings? FRED GUTTENBERG, ACTIVIST AND DAUGHTER KILLED IN MASS SHOOTING: Thank you for having me. You know, my daughter should actually be graduating from high school in two weeks. This weekend she should have been at dance recitals. And my frustration, my fury, it is directed right now at those in Washington, D.C. who keep watching this happen and won't do anything.

Listen Brianna, this weekend was predictable, it was. Those of us in the gun safety movement had been warning that this moment is going to happen and it's going to continue, because the last administration unleashed this gun surge through COVID and as we come out of COVID we have all these new gun owners and all these new guns. They said guns were the solution.

So here's my advice to anybody who wants to put an end to this. Right now, today, pick up everyone you know working in the gun safety movement and find out what we can do. The Republican Party, I saw it last week, I testified in Congress, they have checked out of governing.

They do not want to be a part of stopping gun violence. They do not want to be a part of saving lives. It is time for the Democratic Party to go it alone. We have to do this. This will keep happening if we don't change what we're doing.

KEILAR: You -- and look, the key is legislative, right?

GUTTENBERG: Yes.

KEILAR: Doing something when it comes to laws, because you were actually at the executive order for -- that we saw -- several orders actually that we saw President Biden put out here recently. And what that really highlighted was that it's pretty limited actual what the administration can do.

That said, he has the bully pulpit. Is he doing enough?

GUTTENBERG: You know, listen, that day was a really important day because the executive actions and the appointment of Dave Chipman for the ATF, which he must be approved, were big deals.

He needs to push the Senate. The House is passing legislation. The House is holding the hearings. The Senate is finally holding hearings. Thank you Senator Blumenthal. But no, we need to do more. It's not enough. I demand the Senate at this point. Break the filibuster on this issue, because if they don't every single day, every weekend this is going to be normal.

And I again say it, the Republican Party has said, we will not engage in anything to govern. We are all now sadly about Marjorie Taylor Green, they will not govern. So it is time for the Democrats to do this alone. And so, for those in Senate who think, you know, should we or shouldn't we break the filibuster. Do it.

KEILAR: Fred, I always say this to you, I love talking to you and I also dislike having you on. This is something, you know, we're going to be talking about for years. We're going to -- you and I will be discussion this for years. And we always appreciate you bringing your personal experience to it. Really, thank you.

[07:20:00]

GUTTENBERG: And can I just say thank you for your network's coverage all weekend and today on this. This is such an important story. Our kids are dying and we need to put a stop to this and we can.

KEILAR: Yes. The numbers show us it could be our children. It has been your child. It could be our children as well. Fred, thank you.

GUTTENBERG: Thank you.

KEILAR: It's being called a hijacking. A strongman regime forcing a commercial flight to land. Now we're learning that Americans were onboard this plane.

BERMAN: Increasing security in Jewish communities as anti-Semitic hate crime attacks surge across the country.

And why Lebron James refuses to say whether he has been vaccinated as the U.S. deals with problems over vaccine hesitancy. This is New Day.

[07:20:50]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:24:50]

BERMAN: So a state sanction hijacking that is basically what just happened in Europe. A commercial flight with passengers onboard brought down, forced to land by fighter jets.

[07:25:00]

Now NATO and International Air Transport Association calling for an investigation into this Ryanair flight that was forced by a fighter jet to land in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. A prominent Belarusian activist was on board and arrested after the plane landed.

Now CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is live for us this morning. Fred, just to be clear the leader of Belarus is considered to be, you know, one of the last true dictators in the world. This plane forced to land by a fighter -- a commercial plane in mid air forced to land by a fighter jet. What's going on here?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean and it's certainly something that Europe hasn't seen in a very long time. You're absolutely right, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, he certainly is considered to be the last dictator, in Europe at least, and he's been in power for the last 26 years. Had some anti-government protests against him last year and that seems to be the reason why he wanted to have this activist and journalist arrested.

Now the details of this are, as you put it, absolutely remarkable. This plane was actually flying from Athens in Greece and supposed to go to Vilnius in Lithuania when those fighter jets came and forced it to divert to the capital of Belarus, to Minsk. And that's when it -- their luggage was taken off, there were sniffer dogs there, but especially that journalist and activist was arrested.

Now his name is Roman Protasevich. And I can tell you, I covered those protests last year in Belarus and the platform that he founded, called Nexta, was absolutely key to showing some of the police brutality that was going on there, some of the hard -- heavy-handed tactics that were going on there as well and also to organize those protests. And that seems to be the reason why Lukashenko wanted to get his hands on him.

Now, there are people who are also now (inaudible) say he could face torture right now at the hands of the authorities and possibly even the death penalty because he's on a terrorism list. Needless to say the Belarusians are saying they did everything according to international law.

The U.S. for its part is not buying that. I want to read you what Antony Blinken Secretary of State said. He said, quote, "This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenko regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens where also on the plane."

Initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of a Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation. The U.S. says it's working together with its European allies on all this, John.

Because in the end this was an E.U. flagged plane that was flying from E.U. capital to another E.U. capital. So certain, the European Union meeting later today to decide what they want to do about this, John.

BERMAN: Yes. The implications of this are immense. I mean think about it, if passenger planes --

PLEITGEN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- can just be brought down, forced to land anywhere by the whims of the dictator, this is a serious international incident that I think we're just beginning to understand the scope of.

Frederik Pleitgen thank you so much for your reporting.

KEILAR: Just in, Secretary of State Tony Blinken heading to the Middle East this week at the request of President Biden as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants continues to hold in its fourth day.

The period of calm coming after the worst outbreak of fighting in years and it has left Gaza in ruins. Israeli authorities have reopened the Jerusalem holy site called the Temple Mount by Jews and the Noble Sanctuary by Muslims, lifting restrictions that came into force nearly three weeks ago when tensions escalated.

And while the ceasefire is holding, attacks targeting Jewish people are on the rise across the U.S. One person has been charged in a disturbing anti-Semitic attack in New York's Time Square. And we need to warn you that this video of this crime is very disturbing.

A 29-year-old man wearing a Yakima as punched, kicked and pepper sprayed and this beating continued while he was on the ground seeking cover.

Some of the attackers shouted, F Jews. They shouted F Israel and the victim of that brutal gang assault, Joseph Borgen is with us now. Joseph, how are you doing? Tell us how you're feeling.

JOSEPH BORGEN, JEWISH MAN BEATEN IN NYC: Well you know, first off thank you for having me on the air, allowing me to spread the message and just bring more awareness to what's going on in this ongoing issue.

I'm just resting up, recovering. I'm home with the family trying to just, you know, get my bearings back. You know, banged up. My head's still, you know, bothering me. My body is sore, banged up, you know, bruised and all over. And yes, I'm just, you know, trying to get back into it and get back, you know, to 100 percent.

KEILAR: So, tell us what happened, because I know that you were heading to a rally that you had been to the week before with no incident. What happened in this case?

BORGEN: Yes, in this case unfortunately I never even made it to the rally. I was in the processing of communicating, texting with friends who I was going to meet at the rally. I mean the rally was at 47th and Seventh Street. I got off the subway at 57th (ph) and Seventh, off the Q.

By 48th Street by Broadway, you know, where Seventh and Broadway kind of, you know, come together, you know, I was walking down the street, I see out of the corner of my eye someone.