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Journalist Recounts What He Witnessed at QAnon Conference; President Biden Meets Today With Top GOP Senator On Infrastructure Bill; Hacked Meat Producer JBS Expects To Be Back Online Today. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired June 02, 2021 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
STEVEN MONACELLI, PUBLISHER, PROTEAN MAGAZINE: On Telegram, explicitly tried to deny the connection to the QAnon movement despite the fact that very popular phrases like "where we go one, we go all" were prominently featured as a part of the event and many of the speakers explicitly spoke about Q and the QAnon movement.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look --
MONACELLI: So given his general statements, I don't know if we can trust that walk back, to be honest.
BERMAN: We all heard what we heard him saying there out loud with our own ears.
You have some really interesting insights and reporting on the role that Michael Flynn holds, and Sidney Powell, the former president's former attorney. What do they represent right now in that movement, in the room you were in?
MONACELLI: Well, a lot of folks would refer to Flynn as the general. I mentioned the auction the night before. I was there. I saw them spending thousands of dollars on these sorts of portraits where Flynn and Powell and others were lionized and compared to the Founding Fathers.
Most notably, in my mind, Flynn held up and participated in the auction of a Q-themed quilt or a Q-uilt if you will, which sold for $6,500.
So, folks were very, very supportive of this movement. And, you know, some of that money is going to charity based on what they were saying. But I think there's some irony in raising money for a veterans' charity at an event that simultaneously seemed to promote a military coup.
BERMAN: Who were the people inside the room here? You also had some interesting reporting there on what they were and what they were not. It wasn't like it was a sea of economically displayed people, correct?
MONACELLI: That's right. The ticket price was very expensive -- minimum $500 or $1,000 for a VIP ticket. Now, that might be an automatic filter for folks that are working-class or can't afford a ticket like that. And so, as a result, the folks that were in the conference seemed relatively economically well off, willing to spend thousands of dollars on what I've described as pretty kitschy memorabilia.
So these folks tended to be over 40, whether they were Generation X or the previous generation boomers -- very few people similar to my age. Now, there were some and that's not to say that there aren't followers of the movement that are younger.
But these folks were certainly well off and comfortable and came from across the country, whether it was California or New York, or Florida. They had spent money on hotels and airplane tickets amounting to thousands of dollars, probably, in overall expenses to be able to spend a few days speaking with a range of speakers who were peddling a range of deeply disturbing conspiracy theories, whether it was a satanic Kabul or a global communist government. There's this general fear of a big enemy.
And a lot of these narratives, frankly, I don't think are new. You can trace them back to things like the satanic panic in the past or the red scare. But they're just composed in a very novel package that appears to be appealing to people who, in my mind, are afraid of social change or their position socially changing over time as a new generation comes to the forefront of politics that may not share all of the same values that they uphold.
BERMAN: Steven Monacelli, look, we appreciate you being in the room there and telling us what you saw. Thank you so much for your reporting.
MONACELLI: Thanks for having me.
BERMAN: Up next, why our guest says he'd be a Republican if not for the Republicans.
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[07:37:34]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: The Republican Party has long struggled to woo Black voters. They won only 12 percent of the Black vote in the 2020 presidential election, according to a CNN exit poll. So why is that?
In a new op-ed for "The Washington Post," a retired professor writes, "I'd be a Republican if it weren't for the Republicans. So might many other African Americans."
And he is joining us now -- the author of that article, Robert J. Walker. Robert, good morning.
ROBERT J. WALKER, RETIRED PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, FREELANCE WRITER, WROTE "WASHINGTON POST" OP-ED, "I'D BE A REPUBLICAN IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE REPUBLICANS": Good morning. Thank you for having me. KEILAR: OK, so you say you -- of course. Thank you for being here with us this morning. You say you'd be a Republican if it weren't for the Republicans. Tell us why.
WALKER: Well, I wrote the article -- the op-ed for primarily three reasons.
The first reason I wrote it was to basically share with the Republicans that African American -- particularly, African Americans who attend church share many of the Republican conservative views.
My second reason for writing the article was to give our Republicans a historical overview as to why African Americans who once voted for Republicans now vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic Party.
And my third reason for writing the article was to give the Republicans some recommendations of how to regain the African American voters.
I would be a Republican because I like the Republican platform. They talk about family values, talk about low taxes, and actually talking about living within your means. But the problem is once they get into office they don't abide by their own particular platform.
KEILAR: Yes. I mean, we've seen this sort of fiscal --
WALKER: So that's really why.
KEILAR: We've seen that fiscal conservative mantel be very much shed by the Republican Party in recent years in lieu of a different kind of mantel -- one that is perhaps better defined by some of these limits to voting rights that we're seeing across the country now.
WALKER: Correct.
KEILAR: And you call their efforts on that, quote, "A campaign for a 21st century Jim Crow." And you say this is turning --
WALKER: Yes.
KEILAR: African Americans up. Why do you call it that?
[07:40:00]
WALKER: Well, a perfect example was that the vote in -- the law that they passed in Georgia. For instance, you haven't given much airtime to it but if you look on -- I read the entire Georgia law.
On page 23, it talks about that any voter can talk -- can deal with another voter is suppression. For instance, if a voter says that Georgia's law -- they can actually talk about another person. For instance, if -- let's say that they think that another person is not voting properly they can actually protest that individual -- even an entire church.
So that's why I just think that they're not really helping the African Americans in that way because of these laws that they're passing.
KEILAR: Yes. And, of course, that's a big effort by the African American community. People often go to church on Sunday and then they go to the polls.
WALKER: Right.
KEILAR: Souls to the Polls, as it's called.
Robert, thank you so much. This was really an interesting article that you wrote. We appreciate you discussing it with us.
WALKER: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
KEILAR: So it could be a make or break day for President Biden's infrastructure plan. Is he going to be able to strike a deal with a key Republican in the Senate?
BERMAN: In a wild scene caught on camera, a teenager going toe to toe with a mama bear. She and her dog will join us live.
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[07:45:56]
BERMAN: This afternoon, President Biden will meet with the lead Republican negotiator on infrastructure, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. The president's latest $1.7 trillion proposal is still miles away from the Republican counterproposal. Despite that divide, Sen. Capito thinks a bipartisan solution is possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): I think we're building those blocks towards a really good solid infrastructure package that has bipartisan support. So we're responding to what the president has said. He told me on the phone just the day before yesterday, let's get this done and I think that means that he has -- his heart is in this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Joining us now, one of the key cabinet officials on infrastructure, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. Madam Secretary, thank you so much for being with us this morning.
What needs to happen at this meeting today between President Biden and Sen. Capito?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, SECRETARY OF ENERGY: Yes, I think that there clearly needs to be some additional movement on the part of the Republicans, and I think they're can be. There are things, for example, that weren't included in their counterproposal that I know for a fact that there are a good number of Republican support.
For example -- I mean, in my realm and my column, investment in the transmission grid. I think that there is broad bipartisan support that we need to do that. Same thing with investment in the water infrastructure that leads to people's houses if it includes lead pipes.
There are things like that that are basic that are in the American Jobs Plan that have not been part of the Republican counterproposal. Lots of things like that that I think should be and could be part of this next round of negotiations.
BERMAN: How much movement does there need to be on the pay fors. You talk about where there could be movement on the actions, the proposals. There's been no movement on how you think it should be paid for versus how Republicans think it should be paid for. They say they're not --
GRANHOLM: Yes.
BERMAN: -- willing to touch President Trump's tax cuts.
GRANHOLM: Yes. They -- the president has said repeatedly if you don't like my proposal come with another one, but don't come back with a proposal that raises taxes on people who earn less than $400,000 a year.
What the Republicans have come back with so far are pay fors that include what they call user fees for infrastructure -- which means, essentially, gas taxes. The president has ruled that out.
But there's a lot of room in between. So this is what a negotiation is all about and hopefully, today, we can make significant progress toward closing the gap.
BERMAN: Where's the -- I don't know where the room is in between, though. If they say they're not willing to raise corporate taxes at all and you're saying you're not willing --
GRANHOLM: Yes.
BERMAN: -- to go user taxes at all, where's the -- you know, where's the sweet spot in between?
GRANHOLM: Well, that's what -- that's what this is all about. I mean, as you know, when you get into a room there are all sorts of pockets to be able to look at -- all sorts.
But the president really does believe very strongly that the current tax structure is skewed and he wants to rebalance it in favor of the middle class, the working class, and to close loopholes that allow corporations to offshore and to get away, in many cases, with not paying any income taxes. And that's not fair either.
So there are other ways of skinning the cat and that's part of this negotiation. But ultimately, we cannot just sit and negotiate forever. We have to get to an end.
I was just looking at some stats this morning, John. I mean, China invests 10 times as much in infrastructure that the United States does. That's just not tenable for us if we want to lead.
BERMAN: You say we have to get to the end. Your colleague Sec. Buttigieg basically said January (sic) seventh, at this point, is the time to fish or cut bait, which is just a few days from now, right? That's five days from now. We're getting there.
What is --
GRANHOLM: June, right.
BERMAN: What is cut bait -- June seventh, sorry -- June seventh. What does cut bait mean? If you cut bait, what does that mean here?
[07:50:00]
GRANHOLM: Well, obviously, the Democrats have some options and that's the question of whether that happens.
But really, I can tell you in all honesty the White House really wants this to be a bipartisan effort and so we're not willing to pull the ripcord on cutting bait until we really make sure that the Republicans are not willing to budge anymore. Everybody's testing out the other side to see who is earnest about wanting to get to a bipartisan -- a bipartisan vote.
And hopefully, Shelley Moore Capito, in the conversation today, can bring along nine other Republicans so that we can get there. Because I think that they're -- you know, it's there for the taking. It's just a question of whether he can -- Mitch McConnell will allow it and we'll have 10 Republican senators who are willing to invest in us -- our country.
BERMAN: I want to ask you one question on the battle against COVID, which is obviously something the administration -- not necessarily your cabinet agency, but writ large has been dealing with right now.
And the EEOC put out advisories talking about how companies can require vaccinations for people coming back to work. Not saying they should or they have to, just that they can require vaccinations.
How important do you think vaccine requirements could be to getting life back to normal?
GRANHOLM: Well, I think it depends on the company, too, right?
I mean, some companies have people in closer proximity. Some companies are dealing with the medical field. You can understand why the exigency for those circumstances would be greater. I know that -- and some companies have a lot more freedom to allow people to telework, et cetera. So I think it's very context-sensitive, John.
But I do think getting everybody vaccinated is really important. And so whether it's the private sector that sends that message, the public sector, families, friends, we need people to be vaccinated. If you really want your freedom then get a vaccine because then we'll all be free. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, thank you for joining us this morning. I appreciate it.
GRANHOLM: You bet. Thanks, John.
BERMAN: So, the White House blaming Russian hackers for yet another ransomware attack, this time targeting one of the world's largest meat plants.
KEILAR: Plus, as the manhunt continues for the suspects behind the country's latest mass shooting, one Republican governor is giving away guns to convince people to get vaccinated.
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[07:56:33]
BERMAN: Five things to know for your new day.
JBS Foods expects to have most of its meat plants back online today after a cyberattack hit the company's operations in North America and Australia. The White House blames a criminal organization likely based in Russia. Overnight, the Kremlin confirmed it is in direct contact with the U.S. about the ransomware attack.
KEILAR: Israeli opposition parties are facing a midnight deadline to form a unity government and oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And if they succeed, Netanyahu's 12-year run as prime minister will come to an end. If they fail, Netanyahu could be granted a political lifeline in the form of a snap election.
BERMAN: Miami-Dade police say the search is very active for the suspects in the mass shooting over the weekend that left two people dead and at least 20 people hurt. The department is now offering a $130,000 reward for information. Police say the shooting was planned -- was a planned and targeted attack.
KEILAR: Guns, trucks, and cash just a few of the giveaways in West Virginia's new vaccination lottery. Governor Jim Justice says that people need to have their first vaccine shot to be eligible for the lottery. The first drawing, which includes a million-dollar prize, will be on Father's Day.
BERMAN: Happy Father's Day.
Thousands of e-mails to and from Dr. Anthony Fauci have been obtained by news outlets, including CNN. They offer a glimpse into Fauci's frantic schedule and the weight that came with his role of being a bearer of honest news -- frank and honest news on the Trump administration's coronavirus task force.
In one e-mail from February of last year, Fauci wrote it was reminiscent of post-anthrax days. Days later, he told a reporter, quote, "I am really tired. Not much sleep these days."
NEW DAY continues right now. I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar.
On this new day, President Biden puts Kamala Harris in charge of protecting the right to vote. The Republican who is working to change voting rules in Texas is standing by to talk to us right now.
Plus, Michael Flynn, a retired general, trying to deny what he said about a military coup to put Trump back in power. We'll get reaction from a Republican who served as Defense secretary.
KEILAR: And an inspiring terrorist arrested at the airport just as he was about to board a plane. Prosecutors reveal what they say his chilling plans were.
And wild video of a teen taking on a bear to save the family's dog. The teen and the dog will join us live.
BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Wednesday, June second.
This morning, our entire democracy is at risk. History will judge what we do with this moment. Those words from 100 scholars as they watch what is happening across the country -- new voting laws, they say, that no longer meet the minimum conditions for free and fair elections.
President Biden announced that Vice President Harris will lead the administration's effort to preserve voting rights. The announcement comes after Texas Democrats begged for federal help after they walked out of their Legislature, blocking -- but only temporarily -- some of the most restrictive voting regulations in the nation.
Fourteen states have enacted 22 laws making it harder to vote. That's according to the Brennan Center.
There are 61 additional bills moving through 18 state Legislatures. Much of that movement is fueled by misinformation and lies, including conspiracy theories from the likes of QAnon about voter fraud.
