Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
U.S. Warns Americans Not to Travel to Japan Ahead of Olympic Games; New Jersey Man reunited with Family after being Stuck in India; Biden's DOJ Appeals Order to Release Trump Obstruction Memo; Michael Gerson is Interviewed about Violence in GOP Politics; COVID Investigators Find Overlooked Data. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired May 25, 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]
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: In the past week versus the previous week. A lot of green. That means that the coronavirus cases are dropping. Only three states have been an appreciable increase, and most of those not very well populated. A lot more green, especially in those populated states like New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas and California, with the yellow holding steady.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Green wave.
ENTEN: Green wave.
BERMAN: We'll take it.
ENTEN: Definitely will.
BERMAN: Harry, thank you very much for that.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BERMAN: So this morning, the State Department urging Americans not to travel to Japan just two months before the Olympic games set to begin. Overnight, top Japanese officials downplayed the new advisory.
CNN's Selina Wang live in Tokyo with more.
They're downplaying the advisory, but I have to say, this has to sting as Japan is trying to make the case that the Olympic games are safe.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, absolutely. I mean the timing, the optics of this are a major blow to Olympic organizers, even though most foreign travelers have been banned from Japan since last year.
Now, the U.S. State Department issued a level four do not travel advisory. This is the highest cautionary level and the CDC is saying that even fully vaccinated travelers run the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 variants in Japan. But you had the U.S. Olympic Committee saying that they're confident their athletes can compete safely. Japanese officials saying that this does not impact U.S. support for the Olympic games.
But, John, the contrast between what Olympic officials are saying and the situation here on the ground is only growing. Tokyo and large parts of Japan are still under state of emergency. Just 2 percent of the Japanese population has been fully vaccinated. And the medical system is under strain. In Osaka, doctors are warning of a system collapse with hospitals running out of bed space and ventilators. At the same time, though, you have Olympic officials only portraying absolute confidence that these games are going ahead as planned. In fact, I spoke to Dick Pound, who is the longest serving member of the IOC. He tells me he's already booked his plane ticket to come here to Japan. He says a cancelation is off the table.
But that optimism is something that much of the medical community here disagrees with. They say it is impossible to hold a safe bubble at the scale of the Olympic games and that they need to be cancelled in order to save lives.
John.
BERMAN: Yes, it's hard to square, you know, warning that Americans shouldn't go there with the claims that they're totally safe.
Selina Wang, you stay safe. Thank you so much for your reporting this morning. Appreciate it.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a family is back together after a New Jersey man became stranded in India as the country's COVID cases and deaths skyrocketed. Ashu Mahajan traveled to India to care for his father, who was sick with COVID, only to lose his dad to the virus and get stuck in the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): After being told they wouldn't see each other for nearly a year, I am so happy that Ashu, Neha and their girls were reunited yesterday. He's back home in New Jersey with his family where he belongs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: That, of course, was their home state senator, Bob Menendez. We first spoke with Ashu and his wife Neha about three weeks ago when they were still separated. They are very much not separated now, as you can see here as they sit together before us here.
It's wonderful to see both of you together.
Ashu, I know you are, of course, mourning the loss of your dad. Now, though, you are back with your family safe and sound. How are you feeling?
ASHU MAHAJAN, WAS STUCK IN INDIA AFTER FATHER'S DEATH FROM COVID-19: I'm feeling glad to be -- frankly speaking, I'm feeling so glad, I'm feeling so happy I can't explain it. I'm back with my family. I can see them. I can -- I still can't hug them, but still I can see them at least from a distance. So that's -- that's a great feeling.
KEILAR: You're sort of -- you're distancing from them until you, what, can be sure that you have a negative test?
A. MAHAJAN: Yes. Yes, that's what I'm doing.
KEILAR: Neha, you and your kids must just be thrilled.
NEHA MAHAJAN, REUNITED WITH HER HUSBAND AFTER HE WAS STUCK IN INDIA: My little one, she's nine years old, Brianna, she hasn't stopped jumping. And, yes, Ashu has been quarantining in the basement. We are on the main floor. And the way we are -- we are dealing with this is, we -- I sleep with the girls on top of the, you know, stairs, and he sits in the basement, and that's how we've been talking inside the house.
KEILAR: I mean you have a lot to catch up on as you're mourning as a family. And it's so important that you are together.
N. MAHAJAN: Yes.
KEILAR: So how did this happen, Ashu? Because last time that we talked, as we heard from the senator there, it was going to be maybe a year until you'd be able to come home and be together. Tell us how things changed.
A. MAHAJAN: So as -- last time I told you, right, I got -- I got an appointment for (INAUDIBLE) in 2022 (ph). And there is a provision of getting an expedited appointment, which Senator Menendez and his office helped us with. Like -- and we -- I mean luckily we fell into that category where we could request for the expedited appointment. And Senator Menendez and his team, they helped us -- they helped us going through the process.
[06:35:02]
They -- basically they made us go through the whole process and made it easy for us and then they applied for the expedited appointment. I got one. And immediately I got the expedited appointment and I went for the interview. I got my visa stamping done and immediately I traveled back.
KEILAR: It's amazing. It's amazing that you are back. As you left, of course, India still seeing -- is still seeing record days of people dying.
A. MAHAJAN: Yes.
KEILAR: Just tell us what it was like. What was it like there?
A. MAHAJAN: So during the time I was there, like, when I arrived there, the pandemic has actually started. And April is not as bad as it was a week after. So, I mean, when I went to cremate my dad, like my dad, he -- he -- he passed away on April 21st. I went to cremate him. There was a huge line of ambulances on the cremation ground. And I was -- I was scared. I was like, OK, these are the -- I mean that is when you realize, look, these are -- this is the level of impact that the pandemic has right now.
In fact, after seeing that, I -- I just got myself into the house and I just locked -- locked myself in there. I didn't want to go out. I didn't want to speak with anyone. In fact, even the people who wanted to come and convey their condolences, I told them, let's do it over the phone. Let's not -- let's not meet.
And that's how it was, right? And when I was looking at people, everyone around me, every family around me was -- was COVID positive. So that was scary. But, again, in next two or three weeks, the way it happened, the beds were available, the oxygen was available in Delhi, so things, when I traveled back, things were improving. And it was -- it was a good sign that I was looking -- looking at.
KEILAR: Well, that is certainly some good news.
And it is wonderful news to see you back together.
A. MAHAJAN: Yes.
KEILAR: Very soon we hope you will not be talking to each other up and down the stairwell, but you'll be able to hug and just enjoy your time together even more.
A. MAHAJAN: Yes.
N. MAHAJAN: Yes.
KEILAR: Neha and Ashu, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
N. MAHAJAN: Thank you, Brianna.
A. MAHAJAN: Thank you, Brianna.
N. MAHAJAN: Brianna, if I may, just urge, you know, there are still thousands of people stuck in India because of travel bans. Some have visa stamping, which Ashu did not have, and some are without the visa stamping because the consulates are closed. If we may just urge, you know, the U.S. administration here to help us because these are both (ph) visa holders. They're on the brink of not only losing their jobs, their lives that they have made, and are also separated from their families. So we were lucky. You know, Senator Menendez's help. You know, we were able to get back together. But I think this needs to be seen from a humanitarian lens.
KEILAR: Yes, Neha, that's a good point, there are many people who are looking for the kind of relief that you guys have just gotten.
Thank you so much for bringing that up. We appreciate it.
John.
BERMAN: The Biden Justice Department fighting to keep a memo about not charging Donald Trump with obstruction under wraps. So, why? KEILAR: Plus, one of President Bush's top former aides says American politics is now being conducted under the threat of violence. Why he says we should all be afraid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:42:23]
KEILAR: New this morning, the Biden Justice Department is appealing an order to release the full 2019 memo on why Trump was not charged with obstruction in the Russia investigation in the Mueller investigation in an effort to keep it hidden.
CNN's Paula Reid joins us now.
Paula, some people might hear this and scratch their heads and say, say what here? So tell us, why is the Justice Department trying to keep this memo secret?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna.
Well, this is all about precedent because the outcome of this case could impact future public records request. And, as we know, there's a long standing tradition at the Justice Department, leaders from both parties really working to try to keep internal documents secret.
So just because the Biden Justice Department is working to keep most of this memo secret, it doesn't necessarily mean that they agree with the actual decisions that were made by the Trump administration related to the Mueller investigation.
Now this whole legal controversy started when a government watchdog that has been very critical of the Trump administration sued to get this memo saying that they believe the public has a right to see it because it would give some insight into former Attorney General Bill Barr's decision not to charge former President Trump, even though the Mueller investigation uncovered strong evidence of instances where the former president tried to obstruct that investigation.
Now, earlier this month, a federal judge ordered the memo to be released. She actually accused the Trump administration of misleading her, saying that this was legal reasoning when she said, no, it's not. She said, no, the attorney general knew what he was going to do before this memo landed on his desk. She ordered it to be released.
The Biden Justice Department has released a few pages, but they really didn't release anything new and it's likely that most of this memo, Brianna, will remain secret as this litigation continues.
KEILAR: Yes. It was so redacted it really did not give us any new information there.
Paula, thank you so much. Paula Reid.
BERMAN: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's deeply offensive comments comparing mask mandates with the Holocaust are just the latest in a rise of vile and violent rhetoric coming out of Republican politics. Hear what some other high profile Republicans have said.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Second term kicks off with firing Wray, firing Fauci. I'd actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor, England. I'd put the heads on pikes, right? I'd put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats.
JOE DIGENOVA, TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAWYER: Anybody who thinks that this election went well, like that idiot Krebs, who used to be the head of cybersecurity at DHS.
HOWIE CARR, HOST, "THE HOWIE CARR SHOW": Oh, the guy that was on "60 Minutes" last night.
DIGENOVA: That guy -- that guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot.
[06:45:03]
RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP'S FORMER PERSONAL ATTORNEY: Let's have trial by combat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Joining me now is Michael Gerson, former aide to President George W. Bush and "Washington Post" columnist.
And, Michael, you wrote a column about this and you said, American politics is being conducted under the threat of violence. That's a chilling statement. What do you mean?
MICHAEL GERSON, COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, it's a column that I never thought I would have to write. I've been in and around Republican politics for a few decades. And we have seen, sometimes we need to step back and realize what you're seeing.
We saw the then third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives accuse the president of the United States, Liz Cheney, accuse the president of the United States of using violence as a political tool in American politics. This is really extraordinary, unprecedented.
Now, some of that is just the way that Trump conducts himself. He has created essentially a discourse around violence. But some of it also seems to be a strategy to influence future elections in -- with a kind of authoritarian populism. And that -- that really should frighten all of us.
BERMAN: And that's where you say it crosses the line when the violence becomes more than just language and actually becomes practice, which is what we saw on January 6th. And I know you're concerned that we could see, leading up to 2022, you say the only way to diffuse the bomb is to embrace the truth. What do you mean?
GERSON: What I mean is, you can't do ritual condemnations of violence occasionally. You have to reject the lies that feed the violence. This is, in fact, Cheney's main point, is that it's the lies about the last election that are setting up the possibility of violence in future elections. The same language that produced the January 6th attack is being used by the president almost every day. The former president almost every day. And that is an incitement to violence. And it's part of a strategy by which local officials are being either replaced or intimidated, that have defied the Trump authoritarian approach. And I think that this bodes very, very poorly for the future.
BERMAN: Well, if you want to see something that I think you will find to be an ill omen, George P. Bush, who is a Texas statewide official, considering running for even higher office, and, of course, the son of Jeb Bush, the nephew of George W. Bush, the Bush family ridiculed, maligned by Donald Trump. George P. posed this on Twitter. Great to speak with President Trump to discuss the future of Texas and how we are keeping up the fight to put America first.
So, when you see that, to me it's a sign of how hard it is for some Republican politicians to make the break from Donald Trump.
GERSON: Well, it shows you where the activist base in the party is. They're supportive of Trump's approach, his language, his brutality and that -- and elected Republicans and future elected Republicans are scared to death in this environment. They're scared of their own constituents. And this is a -- you know, a sorry state to be in.
Right now the Republican strategy is not to pick up new voters in elections, it's to change the electoral system to make it more favorable to themselves so they can claim and win close elections, even if they lose them. And that, I think, is -- you know, Republicans, elected Republicans, who were providing cover for that message are engaged in a very dangerous game.
BERMAN: I saw you shaking your head. You looked sad when we put up that picture of George P. Bush there.
GERSON: Yes, it's disappointing. But he's not alone.
BERMAN: Right.
GERSON: You know, I mean, much of the responsible, you know, voices of the Republican Party have given in. And that has to change.
BERMAN: Michael Gerson, we appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you so much.
New details this morning concerning the possible origin of the coronavirus pandemic. What the World Health Organization is looking at now that was previously overlooked.
KEILAR: Plus, the Pentagon suddenly taking UFOs seriously after years of largely ignoring these reports. Why now?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:53:26]
KEILAR: New details this morning on the investigation into how exactly the coronavirus pandemic began. Previously overlooked data on China's screening of animals for coronavirus is getting new scrutiny from the World Health Organization.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is joining us live with some details on this.
Nick, tell us why is this screening of animals for COVID getting this new attention?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, Brianna, this comes from the enormous 200 page annex to the WHO report that was released back in March and often overlooked. In that there is a remarkable discovery, certainly it was felt to be such by a source close to the investigation I spoke to, in which China says that it took some samples on December the 7th of animals well known to potentially be couriers or carriers of the novel coronavirus and it tested them for coronavirus. They all tested negative. But essentially the question the investigators asked themselves was, what was China doing in early December before China even knew this virus was in humans testing animals for it.
Now, China's explanation to us and to them was this was done a few months later when coronavirus testing was possible and that they regularly collect these kind of samples from animals. But it does appear that there is a substantial database or storage of these animal samples that WHO could now look at. That could give them interesting extra clues.
Conversely, the annex to the report also says that key human samples, collecting from around that time in a major hospital in Wuhan, well, they've all been destroyed. So lots of questions here for WHO investigators to look at. And they do want to get back possibly in smaller groups to continue their investigations.
[06:55:03]
Interestingly, too, though, Brianna, remember the Huanan Seafood Market everyone talks about in Wuhan as possibly being key to the beginning spread of the virus. Well, this annex goes into detail, too, about who was exposed to that seafood market and many, many of the first cases of the virus weren't (ph), had no contact with it at all. In fact, a total of 28 markets around the city seem to have been in contact with these early cases.
And the patient that China says was the very first on December the 8th, well, he was an accountant working for his family company. He never went to any of these more exotic wet markets where world animals are sold. He went to the Chinese equivalent of a Walmart.
So, essentially, there are lots of confusing pieces of information in this annex. And you can mill it out, if you want an (INAUDIBLE) I've written online explaining it in better detail. But really it adds more reasons for why these investigators need to get back, need to look at this detail in the raw and question it thoroughly. And as one source close to them said, it really says this was happening back in November, the first cases, not in December. So many more questions to be answered, Brianna.
KEILAR: I will say, that was a pretty good explainer, Nick, and yet I still have almost more questions than when we began. And I know that researchers need to be looking into this.
Nick Paton --
WALSH: I need a white board behind me where I can -- I can (INAUDIBLE).
KEILAR: Right: It was great, though. Thank you so much. It's really many things that investigators need to answer for here.
Nick Paton Walsh, appreciate it.
It has been now, can you believe this, one year since the murder of George Floyd. Today, President Biden is welcoming the Floyd family to the White House. So what will they say? What will their message be? We're going to ask Floyd's brother when he joins us live.
BERMAN: And signs of progress and police reform talks. What top Senate negotiators are saying about the George Floyd bill. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
