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U.S. Student Found Dead Had Texted, I Hope I'm Not Being Abducted; Schools Hold Vaccination Drives To Prepare For Fall; Iran's New Hardline President U.S. Needs To Return To Nuke Deal Fast. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 21, 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]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Serou multiple times. He then stabbed her at least twice with a knife he was carrying and tragically the 34-year old woman did die of her injuries at the scene. The last person she was in touch with was her mother, Becky Serou, back in the United States.

She's spoken to local U.S. media outlets and she says her daughter texted her in a car with a stranger, "I hope I'm not being abducted." Those were her final words. Absolutely chilly to repeat them, John. Now this investigation, the suspect that is now being charged with her murder, we do understand he had a previous record of several grave crimes.

Her mother again Becky Serou telling us media outlets. Her daughter was tough. She was a U.S. Marine. She had survived combat in Afghanistan. She was creative, intelligent, intellectual, she loved living in Russia. That's what her mother told U.S. media. She said her daughter sold her apartment in California in 2019, to pursue her dream of moving to Russia, getting her master's degree there and she wanted to eventually come back to the United States and work as an immigration lawyer.

Now, of course, tragically, her life cut short and her mother searching for answers, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: I know. Clearly she knew she was in danger from that text. Salma, thanks so much for this report. I appreciate it. Just ahead schools in the race to vaccinate before children head back to the classroom.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And pro athletes making excuses instead of rolling up their sleeves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:00]

BERMAN: The COVID school year is ending. Graduations taking place but school districts already scrambling to get as many students 12 years and up vaccinated as possible before the next school year begins. In Columbia, South Carolina officials are holding vaccination drives with live music and raffles to sweeten the deal. This as South Carolina's governor announced all schools will be required to open five days a week and masks not required.

Evan McMorris-Santoro joins us now and Evan, you've been covering this and you know, the relief of finishing this one school year, you know, not even a minute to enjoy it before being concerned about next September.

EVAN MCMORRIS SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, barely a second. If you think about it, this particular school year has been one of a huge experiment for students where they had to go through this, you know, graduating under COVID. But for school administrators, they only get to see those kids walk out the door and then worry about the next ones coming right behind them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You excelled you persevered.

SANTORO: Graduation day for the Richland One school district in Columbia, South Carolina. This county was hit hard in the pandemic, more than 47,000 cases reported so far, and nearly 600 deaths. The schools were not immune, longtime staff died, students lost family members.

That makes these the final moments of high school for students who learned a lot about chaos, fear and loss. In the last two academic years.

ERICKA HURSEY, PRINCIPAL, LOWER RICHLAND HIGH SCHOOL: You were unstoppable despite the many challenges faced, car accidents, illnesses, job losses, the deaths of immediate family members, medical scares, and the horrible COVID-19 pandemic.

SANTORO: Richland South Salutatorian Joe Gilmore took the stage as his family impacted this year by the pandemic, and economic and mental health crises looked on.

JOEL NEHEMIAH GILMORE, SALUTATORIAN, LOWER RICHLAND HIGH SCHOOL: This graduating class is very special, and very remarkable.

SANTORO: It was a moment of normalcy, and a year that's been anything but. So mom how you feeling? You feel pretty proud.

DANYA COHEN, PARENT: Oh, I'm so proud. I'm just going to burst.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may now turn your tassels.

SANTORO: Do you ever worry, you weren't going to have a graduation like this this year at some point during this time?

HURSEY: Yes, we did. We were really concerned because we were watching the COVID numbers and how things were going up and down. So we weren't starting to we will make it to this point. SANTORO: But just a few hours later, for some it's time to start

worrying again. Whilst salutatorian Joe and his brother Steven celebrate their graduation at home, their mom Donya is already thinking about their younger siblings. They have to go back to school in the fall.

You have to still think about pandemic school next year?

COHEN: Yes, it may actually come right back to where we were all year, this year. So, you know, we just have to hope that it's going to be different, but it's challenging.

SANTORO: It's a valid concern. Elected leaders and South Carolina has but public schools at the center of their push to get life back to normal. Orders from Republican governor Henry McMaster requires schools to reopen five days a week this fall, allow students to opt out of in-school mask requirements, and bans schools from requiring students provide proof of vaccination.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.

SANTORO: School leaders are telling us that vaccination sites like this are really one of the most effective tools they have to keep transmission rates down when classrooms reopen. The last school year just ended. But the next one is only weeks away. The morning after graduation, school leaders are focused on one thing, shots in arms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if we want to get back to a sense of normalcy, this is the way to do it.

SANTORO: If we're looking at the last 24 hours, you got to see you take a look a tiny breath of relief, a tiny break, and then right back to being nervous again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. Well, that's the role of a superintendent.

SANTORO: Especially in COVID.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Especially in COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTORO: Everyone wants the pandemic to be over in school to go back to normal. But the big challenge here is that in places like South Carolina where those vaccination rates are low, the big challenge john is getting people vaccinated so they can get kids back in and keep them safe when they get them back in.

BERMAN: It's a great thing. The vaccines are wonderful things, they work incredibly well. Evan, thanks so much for that report. Appreciate it. Just in, President Biden expected to invite members of Congress to the White House this week in what is shaping up to be a critical few days for the fate of the infrastructure deal.

KEILAR: And the U.S. Senator booed and heckled at a Juneteenth celebration.

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[07:40:00]

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BERMAN: So the White House has declared today Child Tax Credit Awareness Day. In just a few weeks the families of more than 65 million children will start receiving enhanced child tax credit monthly payments of up to $300. The enhanced child tax credit was signed into law by President Biden as part of the American Rescue Plan.

Joining me now is the Director of the White House National Economic Council Brian Deese. Brian, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Child Tax Credit Awareness Day, who is getting this money and for how long?

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Well, thanks for having me, john. It's a great day because we will be delivering tax relief to millions of American families. So this is a tax credit that will go to families with children.

If your children are under age six, it's $3,000. If it's six to 17, it's $3,600. And any family making less than $150,000 is eligible to receive this tax cut, which means almost all of American families will see this benefit in their pockets.

[07:45:00]

BERMAN: So you know that the Fed has just moved up the date with which it predicts it will need to raise interest rates because of inflation. Inflation concerns are rising. What will the impact be? Isn't it inflationary to put more money in the economy starting this month when inflation is already a concern?

DEESE: The most notable thing the Fed did yet last week was raise its growth forecast for this year to 7 percent, reduce its projection for unemployment by two percentage points this year, reflecting an economy that's growing at a historic rate. And that's good news for American families, because it also means jobs are growing at a historic rate and wages are going up as well.

All these things are going to help ease the burdens on middle class families allow them to have access to more jobs and better jobs. And at the same time, we think that American families, particularly middle class families with kids really need a little bit of extra boost in their pocket. That's what the child tax credit is about.

And in addition to it being a tax cut, it also will be delivered monthly. So this is new, and starting July 15, if you file your taxes in an ordinary way, you will automatically start receiving this tax cut in monthly payments in your bank account.

BERMAN: All of those things, all of those things may be true. It doesn't actually answer my direct question, though, which do you worry it's going to be inflationary?

DEESE: No, I that this is this is designed to actually deliver benefits to working families who have particular needs. Childcare, we've seen that the evidence actually suggests that this kind of tax credit, boosts employment and boosts labor force participation and particularly among women because it provides families with more options, for example, to pay for affordable childcare. So no, actually, it's the exact opposite.

This is the kind of relief that our economy needs as we sustain this recovery. And certainly look, we're going to see some bumps along the road as we restart this economy but overall, we see a very strong trajectory. And this kind of relief, this kind of Direct Relief to middle class families is the kind of thing that can sustain that.

BERMAN: You've also got a hat in the ring in the infrastructure talks. You've been - you've been intimately involved with this. President Biden, we understand is going to have some members of Congress over to the White House this week to meet again to have more discussions about infrastructure. To get what at this point? Where exactly are you in these discussions and with whom?

DEESE: Well, we've been making a lot of progress, having constructive - constructive conversations with the group of Democrats and Republicans that have been putting together this latest bipartisan package. We still have some issues to work through, some details that we want to understand.

We engaged with them last week, we've been doing that over the weekend. And as you say, the President will be engaging on this issue directly. So we're making progress, particularly on key investments that we need to build out our nation's infrastructure and prepare for the clean energy economy that is coming.

We still have some sticking points, particularly around how we pay for this. And there's some elements that the President has been clear, he just is not willing to do. To the conversation earlier, raising taxes on middle class families at this point in the recovery is just not something the President's willing to do. So we're going to have to work that through.

BERMAN: No gas tax, no usage tax on electric vehicles. That I think is the current White House position. How important is it though, for you, because we're listening to some Democrats in Congress, like Steve Cohen, for instance, who just says flat out taxes need to be raised on corporations and need to be raised in the wealthiest people who got a terrible, tremendous windfall from the Trump tax game.

It's almost as if tax increases are an end in themselves, not a means to something else. So how important is it to you to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy?

DEESE: Well, we're proceeding these conversations on multiple fronts. And so there's going to be multiple ways to get things done. But what I would say is the President has been talking since the campaign about the need for tax reform. We have a corporate tax system right now, that is over two, it raises too little revenue to invest in critical priorities for our families and our seniors.

But it also encourages investment to move overseas, jobs to move overseas, in this race to the bottom to find the lowest cost tax jurisdictions across the country, I mean, across the globe. So we have a real opportunity to reform the tax system to make it fair, to establish a minimum tax so that we end that global race to the bottom and also raise revenue to invest in critical priorities. There's a lot of common sense things we can do on the tax side, enforcing the laws that are already on the books. I mean, we're seeing just extraordinary stories of the wealthiest Americans and corporations just playing by a separate set of rules by actually just enforcing the tax laws that are on the books.

We think we could raise $700 billion over the next decade. So there's a lot of common sense things we can do here and a lot of support for those types of proposals.

BERMAN: That has bipartisan support right now, enforcement does Brian Deese, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Look forward to speaking with you again.

DEESE: Happy to be here.

BERMAN: Ahead U.S. Catholic Bishops moving to deny communion to President Biden. Hear why. Plus.

KEILAR: Iran's new hardline President Elect has a message for President Biden. We are live from Tehran, next.

[07:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So just in, in the first news conference for Iran's President Elect Ebrahim Raisi restoring the nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States was top of mind. Raisi says the U.S. violated the 2015 agreement, which placed restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen joins us now live from Tehran and Fred, it was your question that Raisi was responding to?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly was. And I have to say Ebrahim Raisi certainly made clear that the U.S. is going to be in for a pretty rough ride the next couple of years that he's going to be in office. He is of course, a hardliner, someone who's always been against the United States, against United States policy. In fact, when he was asked whether he would ever meet with President Biden, he simply said no. No explanation, nothing. He simply said absolutely not.

[07:55:00]

Then I said to him whether or not he would actually ever negotiate with the U.S. administration, possibly also on the nuclear agreement and he simply said he believes the U.S. needs to lift sanctions as fast as possible, and also that Iran is not willing to talk about its ballistic missile program. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: You've already told us how you feel about a direct meeting with President Biden. But would you be willing to talk to and negotiate with the Biden Administration? Would your administration be willing to do that? What do you expect of the Biden Administration? And how do you feel about the U.S. proposal for a possible expanded nuclear agreement that would also cover Iran's ballistic missiles, and also regional issues as well?

PRESIDENT ELECT EBRAHIM RAISI, IRAN (through translator): Americans broke their promise and the Europeans also did not make good if their commitments. So we are stressing that the U.S. administration, when it comes to its commitment within this deal, the U.S. needs to adhere to that and act accordingly. Regional issues or ballistic issues are not negotiable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So there you have it, John. The new, strong man here in town, the new administration here in Tehran vowing to be very powerful and very strong, especially towards the United States. You know, I've spent the entire weekend really speaking to people within the Iranian power structure, and also people who could be very senior in this new administration and they told me to expect an active and dynamic foreign policy from Iran that they say will reach not just this region, but possibly the entire world.

So in other words, they say they want us to be very active and they certainly are not going to back down vis-a-vis the United States and are going to continue to challenge the U.S., especially in this region, John.

BERMAN: Frederik Pleitgen in Tehran, it is wonderful to have you there in the scene, in the middle of it, pushing the president elect of Iran. Thanks so much, Fred. Brianna.

KEILAR: A crowd of Juneteenth revelers in Milwaukee jeered and heckled Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, as he made an appearance at the nation's oldest Juneteenth celebration this weekend. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So you can hear people there yelling, nobody wants you here. Johnson had objected last year to making Juneteenth, a national holiday, citing concerns about the cost of granting federal workers an additional paid holiday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining me now is Victor Jacobo, who is a reporter with CBS58. He was one of the reporters interviewing Senator Johnson when the heckling took place. Victor, we should note that the senator dropped his objection to

making Juneteenth a holiday last week. But of course, that came after a lot of opposition as well. You were there. Tell us what happened.

VICTOR JACOBO, REPORTER, CBS58 & TELEMUNDO WISCONSIN: That's right. Thank you for having me. You know, his staff let us know that he was going to make himself available to take questions at this event, as you mentioned, well, the oldest and longest running Juneteenth celebrations in the country. And so that's a very big deal.

1000s of people were there. We arrived. We're starting to ask him questions. One woman kind of noticed him and started the heckling. And as the questions kept coming, the booing get louder and louder, to the point where it was difficult for the reporters to hear Senator Johnson and for Senator Johnson to hear our questions.

At one point, once the temperature of the moment, in the heat of the moment kind of reached a boiling point, his staff kind of came over and said, hey, thanks. That's enough. And that's when they escorted him. And that's what you saw on the video where, you know, the heckling and booing continued.

KEILAR: So how did he respond? Did he respond?

JACOBO: Yes. So he was asked by one of the reporters, you know, did you expect this type of reception, and he called it unusual. He said it was kind of an outlier, that there was some nasty people who were there. But again, given the high profile nature of his position, being in the way of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday is certainly not something where you could expecting warm reception there.

KEILAR: So he has said - he said later that the media was pushing a false narrative about his objection. His point is that he has voted yes, on resolutions that recognize the significance of Juneteenth. He does have opposition, though, to making it a federal holiday that he has had for some time until he dropped it last week, right?

JACOBO: That's correct. He kind of made that clear. I asked him like, you know, you're here. You know, what, what is it that you want to accomplish here? He said it was a day to celebrate, that he wanted to be here. He had gone to other Juneteenth events in other parts of southeastern Wisconsin before arriving in Milwaukee.

He wants to kind of make his presence known. He had met with some of the event organizers and officials, and so he kind of wants to be there to celebrate but again, it was very clear that the crowd knew of his objection to it and the we're not really pleased with that.

KEILAR: Well, Victor, thank you so much. You were there. You're the eyes and ears. Victor Jacobo, we appreciate it.

JACOBO: Thank you.

KEILAR: New Day continues right now.