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Obama Warns Democracies 'In Reverse' Amid Voting Rights Push; A Different World: Americans Realizing Pandemic Has Changed U.S.; Carl Nassib First Active NFL Player to Announce He's Gay; NYC Mayoral Race to Use Ranked Choice Voting. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 22, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar, alongside John Berman on this NEW DAY.

[06:00:26]

A key vote today in the Senate to overhaul elections and voting rights. Republicans pledging to obstruct and oppose as Democrats struggle to keep a united front. So where does the fight go from here?

And violent crime on the rise in America's big cities. Is this the new normal?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An historic announcement. The first active NFL player to announce he is gay, his message to supporters this morning.

And a shake up in the streaming wars from the man who brought you "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Steven Spielberg partnering with Netflix, putting his prior criticism aside.

KEILAR: A very good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It's Tuesday. Tuesday, June 22, and a key vote today on voting rights in America.

Today the Senate votes on advancing the For the People Act. Democrats see it as a test of their unity, Republicans, as well, as they will obstruct this piece of the Biden agenda.

At stake, the integrity of our elections and American democracy. President Biden meeting privately Monday with two moderate Democratic senators who can stand in the way of his legislative goals, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema. Both support keeping Senate filibuster rules in place.

Sinema writing a new op-ed in "The Washington Post," saying, "If we eliminate the Senate's 60-vote threshold, we will lose much more than we gain."

BERMAN: Former President Obama with some stark comments about this, invoking the Capitol insurrection to advocate for the passage of the Voting Rights Bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The violence that occurred in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, just a few months ago, should remind us that we can't take our democracy for granted.

Around the world we've seen once vibrant democracies go into reverse, locking in power for a small group of powerful autocrats and business interests and blocking out the political process, dissidents and protesters and opposition parties, and the voices of ordinary people.

It is happening in other places around the world, and these impulses have crept into the United States. We are not immune from some of these efforts to weaken our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now Peter Beinart, CNN political commentator and author of "The Beinart Notebook" on Substack.

Look, Peter, we know how this will turn out today. This will not pass the U.S. Senate. It may get 50 votes. It may achieve 100 percent Democratic unity, which is not nothing, but it won't pass.

And what former President Barack Obama was talking about there is that this somehow fits the pattern of the U.S. as a back-sliding democracy. How does it fit that model?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, it's important to remember that the United States is, in many ways, as a multi-racial democracy, we're very young. It's really only been about 50 years that most black Americans have had the right to vote.

And what we're seeing, I think, fundamentally, is that the United States is becoming demographically, less of a white and Christian nation.

The Republican Party is using and emphasizing those anti-Democratic elements of our political system, strengthening them by making voting harder, for instance, in state after state in order to maintain their political control. That's what Barack Obama is worried about.

KEILAR: So what we see is Republicans saying this is a federal power grab, that the federal government shouldn't be this involved in elections.

But what that does allow is the Republican efforts in states that we're seeing happening to proliferate. And what we're seeing in the states is clearly anti-democratic. What do you see in terms of this being reversed? Is this something that can be reversed?

BEINART: It's remarkable, you know, because this was exactly the argument that segregationists made in the 1960s. The federal government shouldn't be taking control of states' rights, but, in fact, the federal government had to step in because states, particularly in the south, were not allowing blacks to vote. Hasn't gotten quite that bad again, but what we're seeing is state

after state making it harder, especially for people of color, to vote. And the problem is that the filibuster, which was also ironically used to protect segregation, is now, again, being used -- is now being used by Republicans, this time to prevent a federal law that would stop the states from making it harder to vote.

[06:05:05]

BERMAN: We have to make clear that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, two Democrats, are not going to overturn the filibuster. All they do is keep telling us that they won't do it.

BEINART: Yes.

BERMAN: So that is what it is, at least today and for now. In terms of where the U.S. fits in a global pattern here, as you look around the world there are one-time democracies that are in trouble.

BEINART: Absolutely. And I think you see two patterns. First of all, leaders using -- undermining the rule of law to protect their corruption. That's something we've seen a little bit of in the Trump era in the United States.

And the second is leaders undermining equality under the law, because they have a vision of a country in which one religious or ethnic or racial or gender group is supreme over everyone else. We're seeing that in country after country, unfortunately.

KEILAR: Which countries in particular do you have your eye on as you watch this reversal?

BEINART: Look at India, for instance, which was long called the world's largest democracy. It's been downgraded now by Freedom House from what they call free to partly free.

It was created to be a secular country, but under Narendra Modi, it's increasingly seen -- being made into a country where Muslims are second-class citizens and where the government is using colonial-era laws to crack down on opposition leaders, forced Amnesty International out of the country.

KEILAR: That's very telling, isn't it?

BERMAN: Peter Beinart, great to have you this morning. Thanks so much for coming in.

This morning about 45 percent of the U.S. is fully vaccinated. The country really is opening up, but as that's happening, it is revealing kind of a nation that's very different than it was pre-pandemic.

People's lives are different. The economy is different. Challenges are different. And I want to start with that, the challenges.

A surge in crime and gun violence gripping major cities. Last night in St. Louis, seven people were shot, three killed in a shooting. Over the weekend, ten mass shootings, with seven people killed and at least 45 injured.

KEILAR: There have actually been nearly 300 mass shootings so far this year. That is an incredible number, and that's according to the Gun Violence Archive. That's a 39 percent increase compared to the same time period in 2020.

And for instance, here in New York City murders, shootings, hate crimes are up when compared to the same time last year. This is according to the NYPD. And it's not just violent crime that we're talking about.

BERMAN: Yes. Last week there was this daytime shoplifting incident captured on video at a Walgreens in San Francisco. It highlighted what local officials say has become a consistent problem, particularly for chain drugstores in that city. And there is concern that all of this could get worse this summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF SHON BARNES, MADISON POLICE: We're trying to determine what are the ramifications of coming out of a pandemic. What are the frustrations that are Americans feeling? How are we dealing with mental health? How are we dealing with some of the stressors related to unemployment?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So what else has transformed since February of 2020? The economy, which is barely recognizable from 16 months ago. This includes the leverage, yes, that American workers now hold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead of workers competing with each other for jobs that are scarce, we want the companies to compete to attract workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Well, that is becoming reality. The "Wall Street Journal" reports that a tight labor market, plus a shrinking labor force is, quote, "giving low-wage workers perks previously reserved for white- collar employees -- bonuses, bigger raises and competing offers."

"The Journal" also reporting that, quote, "Pay for those with only high school diplomas is rising faster than for college graduates." And another big change: working from home is more possible than ever. The McKenzie Global Institute predicting nearly a quarter of workers are likely to work at least a day or two from home each week.

And also changing, how we shop. Daily necessities that are being bought online.

BERMAN: Online grocery sales grew 54 percent in 2020, or 7.4 percent of all grocery sales. Then there's surging home prices. The median price for a home hit a

record $341,600 in April. That's the highest since the National Association of Retailers began tracking the numbers in 1999.

Single-family home prices soared by 20 percent from last year. That's the biggest jump since the group began tracking price in the early '70s.

And it's not just home prices on the rise. The economy is reopening fully. Soaring demand, together with supply chain issues and material shortages pushing prices higher.

The key question now, how long will it all last?

So we're seeing changes in the economy, sociology, everything here. We're going to talk first about crime.

Joining us now is former New York City police commissioner, former Boston police commissioner. He also served as the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and now is the author of the new book "The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race and the Arc of Policing in America," Bill Bratton. Thanks so much for joining us today.

BILL BRATTON, FORMER NYPD COMMISSIONER: Good to be with you.

BERMAN: Look, this is the hardest question to answer. It's also the easiest to ask, which is why are we seeing this rise in violent crime in cities across the country?

[06:10:00]

BRATTON: Well, effectively, speaking to New York specifically, the police department for 30 years was proactive going against crime and disorder; has become reactive.

Legislative changes, you know, criminal justice and bail reform. It's a department that is now back in the 1970s style of policing, which is responding to crime after the fact and not dealing with disorder.

And that's the reality of it. And it's being echoed around the rest of the country. Policing has stopped being proactive in America.

KEILAR: And how do you change that?

BRATTON: It's going to be great -- with great difficulty. The idea is that there's been a tremendous criminal justice reform movement around the country, a lot of it coming after the death of George Floyd, the murder of George Floyd. And trying to get that momentum back again is going to be extraordinarily difficult.

You're not going to see it this summer. Crime in America is going to increase dramatically over the summer months. Overnight here in New York City, you're talking about murders. Two murders overnight in New York City.

New York City over the last two years has seen 100 percent increase in shootings and a 50 percent increase in murders in two years. That's after 28 straight years of crime decline, murder decline. Those numbers aren't going to change anytime soon. That's the regret -- regrettable reality.

BERMAN: You brought up bail reform when you were listing things you were talking about. Bail reform is an issue that's important to a lot of people, a lot of people who are on the other side of the criminal justice system. But when we talk to active and former police chiefs like yourself, it's something that people always bring up. Why? What are you seeing?

BRATTON: It's a system that was abused in many respects, that in terms of particularly poor and minorities were kept in jail, because they didn't have the money to get out of jail.

You're going to find most police chiefs are supportive of bail reform, but it's the expression of bridge too far. We went many bridges too far.

And coupled with the coronavirus issue, the criminal justice system, the court system, collapsed in America. We didn't have trials, so people would be let out, and with no trials, they would commit additional crimes.

So the bail reform issue was needed, but basically, too much too soon, and we're feeling the effects of it.

KEILAR: You really take a long-term look at law enforcement and its effect on crime, the history of it all. And you do so in your book, as well. I know you're frustrated with this movement and the hashtag for defund the police. And you propose -- I see you rolling your eyes. You propose a different approach: refund the police.

BRATTON: Refund the police.

KEILAR: Tell us about that.

BRATTON: Effectively, police have never wanted to deal with the homeless issue, the narcotics addicted issue, the idea of the emotionally disturbed. All of that has been dumped on police because, in well-intended efforts to deal with that problem, society has failed miserably.

Releasing people out of the mental institutions in the '70s, well- intended, they became the homeless population. So society's failures end up with a safety net. Police catch all of that.

Police would love to get out of that business. But the defund the police movement was the idea let's take this money away from the police, and we'll use it in other ways. They've tried that. It didn't work. I can guarantee that when moneys that the cities would like to put into this effort are not there, the police are once again going to be called in to be the safety net.

It would be wonderful if we could find a way to deal with those three issues, but American society, American government, American political leadership has failed miserably in dealing with those seemingly intractable problems.

BERMAN: One issue that may be approachable and achievable is training. I mean, you bring up the fact that when -- you're a young man, but you were trained to be a police officer, what, in the early 1970s. It was just, like, six weeks of training?

BRATTON: Six weeks. That was an aberration, but even then, training was three months, four months. Even now, it's usually six months in a very good department and some departments as little as four.

Just think of the myriad of things that a young cop today has to deal with. Back in my day, it was crime and disorder. Now we have all of the cyber issues they have to deal with, terrorism, domestic terrorism now, in addition to international terrorism. The stress on a young cop. And we train them, but then we don't keep training them. In- service training is missing.

So we need to refund the police, reinvest in the police. We can help dealing with homelessness, with the mentally ill, with the narcotics addicted. We're not the solution, but we're part -- definitely part of the resolution of that problem, of those problems.

KEILAR: Commissioner, it is great to see you this morning. Thank you.

BRATTON: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Crime on New York City, certainly on the minds of voters here in New York City, because they are heading to the polls today. It's a very busy day here. So we're going to have a look at what makes this year's mayoral election unlike any other.

BERMAN: And Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib announced that he is gay, marking an historic shift for the NFL.

KEILAR: And a new contender in the streaming wars. Steven Spielberg nabs a new Netflix deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:01]

KEILAR: An historic announcement from Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL NASSIB, DEFENSIVE LINEMAN, LAS VEGAS RAIDERS: What's up, people? I'm Carl Nassib. I'm at my house here in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just want to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So this makes him the first active NFL player in league history to announce that he is gay. Joining us now is Ryan Russell, a former defensive end for the Tampa

Bay Bucs, currently an NFL free agent, who came out as bisexual in 2019.

Ryan, thank you so much for talking with us this morning about this. I just want to get your reaction to Nassib's announcement.

RYAN RUSSELL, NFL FREE AGENT: Yes, I mean, it's a moment of celebration. It's a huge moment, not only for Nassib as a person and as a player, but for the NFL and for sports at large.

KEILAR: And he seemed very, you know, kind of nonchalant about how he announced this, like, By the way, this is me.

And we've seen the NFL respond very openly. We've seen his team tweet and respond very supportively. How do you think other players will respond?

RUSSELL: I hope that other players will continue to respond as they have, as we've seen players like Saquon Barkley, Malcolm Jenkins, just to name a few, with support. You know, just acknowledging that this is their brother in arms. This is their brother in the league. This is their brother on teams.

Carl has had a long career with many different teams and had many different successful games. So just for players to continue to encourage him and to, of course, keep the focus on football and on playing the game that we all love.

KEILAR: What do you say to players and to fans who actually might not be inclined to do -- to respond as you just described?

RUSSELL: I would say, you know, we are all here to play a game. Carl is a professional football player. If you do not support the Las Vegas Raiders, if you don't support him, then, you know, that's your prerogative, but focus on the game.

Also don't send people hate just for being who they are, for having the comfortability and the courage to do who they are in a league that has little to no representation, you know. If you want to focus on football that's your prerogative, because that's how you know him, that's how you know of his story. But don't go out of your way to send anyone, player or otherwise, hate or negative comments. It's just unnecessary.

KEILAR: You have talked about the mental edge, about how, obviously, you need one to be your best at professional athletics, but it's difficult to have that when you are pretending to be something that you're not. Tell me about that.

RUSSELL: Yes, I mean, it's definitely difficult. There is a level of excellence, a level of talent, a level of professionalism that is second to none in the NFL in anything, any moment, whether it be your own life outside of football, whether it be your sexuality, your identity, race, especially in the height of the Colin Kaepernick/Black Lives Matter movement, social injustice. All of those things take mental weight, a mental toll on you in a game where you need to be your sharpest, where you need to be your most instinctive, where you need to really trust and rely and focus solely on the game.

So I have no doubt that this announcement for Carl will enhance his game, will enhance his physical edge, his physical prowess and allow him to have, hopefully, the best season that we've seen him have in his career.

KEILAR: You know, I think one of the most noteworthy things about Carl coming out as he has, is that he's not the only active and openly gay player in the NFL, but also in the NBA, the MLB and the MLS.

And I wonder what that says to you, because it's hard to imagine that there aren't, you know, many other athletes who are hiding part or feel compelled to hide a very important part of who they are.

RUSSELL: Yes. I mean, like we see Carl in his video message, like, say nonchalantly announce who he is, I think the more that we take the pressure off of it, the more that, of course, the stigmas go away and the more that leagues like the NFL, like they did -- like they did yesterday, acknowledge and encourage and support, you know, we'll see that trend start to set in with other athletes.

I don't necessarily think everyone is terrified in the closet. I think some guys are just trying to focus on their careers and focus on having success, whether it be on the field or on the court or the pitch or wherever you play.

But it's the small things. It's about teams supporting. It's about the NFL, you know, having talks Pride Month and having, you know, forums that make players feel comfortable and let players know that they are not a distraction. That who they are is not going to take away from their job security or their game play. And I think we're starting to see that trend happen.

KEILAR: Yes, we certainly are with this historic announcement. Ryan Russell, thank you so much.

RUSSELL: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Still ahead, the unanimous Supreme Court decision that could forever change college sports.

BERMAN: And the New York City mayor's race turns ugly in the final days. We are live as voters head to the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:42]

BERMAN: The polls now open for New York City's Democratic mayoral primary. It is a crowded field of 13 candidates. The city is rolling out a new ranked choice voting system, and we'll have to wait a while to find out who won.

CNN's Athena Jones live at a polling site in Manhattan. What are you seeing, Athena?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

We're seeing some activity around these two polling sites we've been moving between. But this is being called the most significant election in New York City in a generation.

And as you mention, it's going to be using this new ranked choice voting system. New York City is the largest jurisdiction in the country to use this new method. Here's how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYA WILEY (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I hope you'll consider voting me No. 1.

KATHRYN GARCIA (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: So I'm earning your No. 1 vote?

ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I look for your vote for No. 1.

JONES (voice-over): Ranked choice voting --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, NYC voters, as you may already know, New York City is introducing ranked choice voting.

JONES: -- seeing its first big test in New York City's Democratic mayoral race.

ANDREW YANG (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I think it's going to help our campaign.

JONES: Unlike past elections, instead of picking just one candidate, primary voters will be able to rank up to five in order of preference.

YANG; I love ranked choice voting, and I hope it's the future of democracy, not just in New York City but around the country.

ADAMS: It's a complicated process.

JONES: Here's how it works. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote of first-choice ballots, the candidate with the least support is eliminated, their votes reallocated to their voter's second-choice candidates. The process continues until someone wins a majority of votes.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Maya Wiley is our No. 1 pick.