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Ranked Choice Voting in NYC Mayoral Race; Justices Back Payments to Athletes; Spielberg Strikes Deal with Netflix. Aired 6:30- 7a ET

Aired June 22, 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]

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Support is eliminated. Their votes reallocated to their voters' second choice candidates. The process continues until someone wins the majority of votes.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (R-NY): Maya Wiley is our number one pick.

JONES: Supporters say this allows voters to have more say over who is actually elected while avoiding expensive and time-consuming runoffs.

MAYA WILEY (D) NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I'm a proponent of ranked choice voting. I co-chaired the campaign to bring it because I believe in democracy and I believe in empowering the voice of people.

JONES: New York City launched a $15 million voter education plan in April, including community outreach and TV ads in 14 languages.

Some voters say they're ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think ranked choice voting is a phenomenal idea.

JONES: But.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really have to read through -- you have to read up on it.

JONES: The new system has made assessing the state of the race challenging.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's much harder because you have to go through multiple rounds in order to determine who would come out as the winner with 50 plus percent of the vote. The reason there are 13 people running for mayor right now is nobody has an incentive to drop out. Everybody thinks that there's some path to victory because if they're everybody's second choice, magically they could, in fact, end up placing respectively or even winning.

JONES: It also means having a strategy.

JONES (on camera): How are you handling the sort of strategizing around it?

KATHRYN GARCIA (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Don't try and strategize. But we are going to be everyone's number one. And if we don't have your number one, we want your number two.

JONES (voice over): With such a crowded field and no one candidate expected to win a majority in the first round, being someone's second or third choice and so on matters.

ERIC ADAMS (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: If you decide -- if you desire to do other candidates, that's fine, make me your second choice. But I keep it simple, Eric Adams is your first choice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I'm not one, then two. I'm good with that.

JONES: The winner of this race is heavily favored in November's general election. Still --

LOUIS: This very large unprecedented experiment in ranked choice voting is going to be handled by the New York Board of Elections, which has a reputation for screwing up big changes. So I think this is going to take a while.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: And in terms of strategy, this new system has led to some new alliances like Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang campaigning together in recent days to encourage voter turnout. Board of Elections officials expect to be able to release their first choices of in-person and early voters tonight, but it will likely be weeks before a winner is declared through the new ranked choice voting system.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Athena Jones, thank you very much. That was really interesting to see it all laid out there.

And you may have recognized one of the stars of that piece, Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and a political anchor for Spectrum News and host of the "You Decide" podcast.

Errol, from the street to our set here, from that piece.

Listen, this got very nasty, you know, in the last two days and it has to do with the ranked choice voting because Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang campaigning together. Eric Adams, who was sitting with me here yesterday, doesn't like it one bit, saying they're trying to somehow suppress the black vote by that alliance.

What's going on here?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, suppress is probably too strong of a word or the wrong word, but Eric Adams is right to be concerned because one of the things that happens with ranked choice voting is it creates an incentive for candidates to kind of team up, for two candidates, as we're seeing in this case, to team up against a third one. And the frontrunner has to deal with this possibility because once in a while the second and third choices actually do overwhelm the front runner and the person who in the initial rounds was second or third can end up winning.

So Eric Adams is right to be concerned because Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia have been campaigning together. They're getting a lot of press about it. And they're all telling their strongest supporters, hey, vote for that other person -- or implicitly they're doing it.

BERMAN: Yes.

LOUIS: You vote for the other person, my sort of partner, and the two of us together can perhaps beat Eric Adams.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It's allowed because you've got "Survivor" mayor's race edition going on, right?

BERMAN: Fully clothed.

KEILAR: Yes. Well, that's a -- I mean it could be worse here, right? It could be worse.

OK, but there's also this -- I mean we've seen a number of things but can you speak a little bit to these rob calls that went out. They're actually targeting Eric Adams and Andrew Yang. And what it is, is these are coming from the perspective of Jewish voters who are saying that they are actually going to hurt Jewish children when it comes to Jewish education.

LOUIS: There's been a controversy brewing up over the last few years in New York around some of the ultra-orthodox yeshivas, private schools, and they have not been meeting educational standards, meaning after about age 13 or so they pretty much stop teaching so-called secular subjects, things like history and English and social studies and so forth and so there's been a real controversy over it. Apparently this group, or people who are in sympathy with this group, have been saying, we've got to change this.

Now, Eric Adams and Andrew Yang have both promised some of the biggest religious leaders in this ultra-orthodox community that they're going to kind of let them do whatever they want.

[06:35:06]

That they're going to have a hands-off policy when it comes to having these yeshivas meet educational standards that are required by law. And that has got a lot of people upset, hence the rob calls.

BERMAN: Errol, I was joking when you came in that today is the Errol Louis Super Bowl, today, whenever you have a New York City mayor's race up for grabs. And you put together a list of the seven keys that you think that Americans at large need to know about this race.

Just go over the top three because I think they're really interesting.

LOUIS: Well, yes, I mean, look, the reality is crime has overwhelmed all other issues and it wasn't anticipated. Six months ago we were in a very different place. People were talking about George Floyd. They were talking about police reform. We were still in the grips of the pandemic. There were nothing but Zoom conferences going on.

A lot has changed. There's been a lot of opening now and we've seen this increase in crime that you were talking about a little while ago with Commissioner Bratton. And so people have a very different take on it and they've told all of the pollsters that this is their number one issue. And that accounts for really the rise of Eric Adams. That's really kind of what's going on in this race. Again, it wasn't anticipated, but it's what it has come down to.

One of the reasons things have gotten so nasty is people are -- some of his rivals are trying to change the subject because if the subject is crime and you've got a candidate who spent 22 years on the NYPD, he wins or he, you know, he gets a lot of attention. And that's the dynamic that really led us to this point.

One of the other dynamics that the -- your national audience should be aware of is that we've had 109 mayors and all but one of them have been white men going all the way back to the 17th century. And so this is the first time that of the top candidates, the four or five -- the top four or five, all of them are either women or candidates of color. And so we're going to have history made here probably by the time the dust settles from this -- this ranked choice voting.

BERMAN: It may be a moderate as well. That's another interesting -- because you look at where the democratic is going -- the Democratic Party is going nationally. We don't know who will win today, but it very well could end up being a more moderate candidate, which may tell us something there.

LOUIS: Yes. New York is not nearly as liberal, progressive or crazy as the rest of the country thinks. They're not. I would just remind viewers that we had five consecutive Republican mayors, you know, for a 20-year period going from 1994 all the way up to 2002 we had Republicans running this city. And so it's not as if the most left candidate always wins, at least in that position.

Now, we have some city council members and we have some other politicians here, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who are very local and are very, very liberal. But when it comes to actually making the city run, New Yorkers tend to be very practical. So it's not clear whose view or vision of the city is going to prevail.

KEILAR: How fun.

BERMAN: Errol, it was great to have you with us to talk about this race and understand. I think we'll be talking to you in the next few days or the next few weeks as they count and figure this all out.

LOUIS: It's going to take a while.

KEILAR: It's a lot of fun for you. Have a good time.

BERMAN: All right, there is news this morning with coronavirus. The highly contagious delta variant leading to a surge in hospitalizations in some areas. How concerned should we be? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us.

KEILAR: And the professional athletes making excuses instead of rolling up their sleeves and getting vaccinated.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:13]

BERMAN: The push toward normal in the sports world hitting some surprising road blocks. Vaccine hesitancy not from the fans but from some of the country's most elite pro athletes. The latest, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley, who posted this message on social media, quote, I'm not vaccinated, I will be outside doing what I do. I'll be out in the public. If you're scared of me, then steer clear or get vaccinated. Point. Blank. Period. I may die of COVID, but I'd rather die actually living.

So here's the thing, you can do some great living after getting the vaccine. Phenomenal living. And the vaccine almost eliminates the risk of being hospitalized or dying from the disease all together.

KEILAR: So lots of living, right?

BERMAN: Lots of living.

KEILAR: Lots of living. Less dying.

Now, Beasley was responding there to an NFL memo listing the ways that vaccinated players can partake in pre-pandemic comforts while in training camps and during preseason games. He's not alone, though. Here is Carolina Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM DARNOLD, QUARTERBACK, CAROLINA PANTHERS: I haven't been vaccinated yet. You know, I've still got to think about, you know, all those certain things that go into it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Washington's Montez Sweat said, quote, I'm not a fan of it. I probably won't get vaccinated until I get my facts and all that type of stuff. I'm not a fan of it. I haven't caught COVID yet. I don't see me treating COVID until I actually get COVID.

So that's not exactly a forward-looking strategy since the entire point of getting vaccinated is to not get COVID.

KEILAR: Yes, the vaccine is not a treatment for COVID, it's a prevention for COVID.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: Earlier this month, Chicago Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward shrugged off the attention on pro athletes getting vaccinated. He told "The Chicago Tribune," quote, in the grand scheme it doesn't matter.

And then there's NBA megastar LeBron James, who still hasn't revealed whether he's been immunized, calling the decision a private matter for him and his family.

BERMAN: So despite what you just heard, these are the facts about the vaccine, the one that so many desperate countries are waiting for. As of Sunday, 45.1 percent of the total U.S. population was fully vaccinated, 53 percent had received at least one dose according to the CDC.

In the timeframe since COVID vaccines became available, both deaths and hospitalizations have fallen dramatically. That's according to Johns Hopkins University.

KEILAR: A recent CNN analysis found that states with 50 percent or more of the population vaccinated tend to have lower than average case rates and they're seeing those numbers trend downward while states with fewer than 50 percent vaccinated are seeing higher than average rates of COVID.

And now the country's top health officials are sounding the alarm over the potential threat of this delta variant, which is the one that was first identified in India. In Missouri, for instance, where just 38 percent of people are fully vaccinated, the CEO of one hospital system says the delta variant is driving a surge of new cases there.

[06:45:12]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE EDWARDS, CEO, COXHEALTH: We've seen a five-fold increase in hospitalized patients in less than four weeks. Our doctors are describing them as younger, sicker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And all preventable. A study set to be published in the coming days by scientists at Helix says the delta variant is overtaking the alpha variant as the dominant one and it's happening more quickly in counties with lower vaccination rates. So vaccines work. The excuses that many athletes are giving, don't.

KEILAR: No, they don't.

BERMAN: So other major news in the sports world, a case sure to alter the landscape of college sports, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of certain compensation for student athletes after decades of legal pushback from the NCAA.

Joining me now to discuss the historic ruling is Nicole Auerbach. She is the senior college football writer for "The Athletic."

Great to see you again, Nicole.

I kind of want to skip ahead a little bit. I know this case in some ways was incremental but it still is a major shift.

Just bigger picture, what happens to college sports, in your mind, if players can be paid?

NICOLE AUERBACH, SENIOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER, "THE ATHLETIC": Well, I don't think it blows up or people stop watching the sport, if that's what you're getting at, because that's what the NCAA has said, that there's something about the amateur status that people know the players are not paid and that's why we like it more. And I think that that was something that Justice Kavanaugh took aim at in his concurring opinion yesterday, which was really interesting because his opinion basically said, hey, bring on more legal challenges. There are a lot of issues with the way that the NCAA model is set up. And that really does suggest really fundamental changes down the line if there are more antitrust violations.

BERMAN: This is what Brett Kavanaugh wrote, since you brought it up, and it is interesting. Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers at a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law.

So this specific ruling doesn't mean they can all of a sudden get salaries. It means they can get certain compensation for education, computers, maybe scholarships to graduate schools, things like that.

How much of a difference do you think that will make in a student athlete's life?

AUERBACH: Well, it should make a lot of difference. I mean this is a group of athletes that have so much time restrictions. So the idea of getting paid internships and post-grad opportunities is a big deal. And I think just fundamentally it shifts what schools are allowed to provide for their athletes. We've talked so much in the last year or so about name, image and likeness and endorsements and sponsorships. That's all third-party stuff.

This is directly what a school can provide to its own athletes. And, yes, it's narrow, it's education-related expenses, but that's still a big deal because they weren't able to do this. And these are, again, opportunities that other -- other students in school have had.

Like, I had opportunities to get paid internships. These athletes were not able to have that help from their athletic departments.

BERMAN: It's a big deal and this does open the door to maybe challenge the entire system, as Brett Kavanaugh suggested.

Nicole Auerbach, always great to have you on. Thanks so much for joining us.

AUERBACH: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: So prosecutors are putting full court pressure, no pun intended there with the sports thing, on the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, trying to get him to flip on the former president. That's ahead.

KEILAR: I think that was intended.

And the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Steven Spielberg is teaming up with Netflix. What is that all about?

BERMAN: The director of "Hook" in 1941.

KEILAR: Your favorite movie.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:57]

KEILAR: It's a movie marriage that no one saw coming. Did you see it coming?

BERMAN: No one saw it coming.

KEILAR: No one saw it coming.

Steven Spielberg partnering with Netflix. The deal is a major coup for the streaming giant and noteworthy because Spielberg has been strongly critical of streaming in the past.

CNN's Frank Pallotta joining us now to talk about this.

OK, tell us what this deal means.

FRANK PALLOTTA, CNN BUSINESS MEDIA WRITER: It is a really big deal. I mean there's production deals in Hollywood nearly every day. But this one is significant because it's one of Hollywood's old guard working with the company that is redefining entertainment in all of Hollywood right now.

So, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions is -- signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to do a few movies a year. Now, will Spielberg direct any of these movies? We are not sure yet. But that's beyond the point because it's more of a symbol of the changing dynamics we have in Hollywood right now.

And, Spielberg, a couple years ago, he had a -- what I like to call a kerfuffle with Netflix in that he's a big proponent of the theatrical experience and, obviously, Netflix is watch at home whenever you really want. Spielberg wants you to go to the movies, see it on the big screen. So he's been critical of streaming in the past but he's been a little bit clearer saying that it doesn't matter if you watch on big or small screens, movies are movies and stories are stories.

BERMAN: Look, this is him caving to reality.

PALLOTTA: Yes.

KEILAR: Totally. BERMAN: I think this is him acknowledging that he may have been opposed to it a few years ago but it's past that point where you can actually fight it now.

So, Frank, look, I think a lot of people like to discuss what the best Steven Spielberg movies are, but there's so many and they're so good. I think the more interesting discussion and more fun one on social media is often, what's the worst Steven Spielberg movie.

PALLOTTA: So the worst Steven Spielberg movie, in my opinion. So my favorite movie of all time is "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which is also his best movie. His worst movie is "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,. Which is the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie.

If you haven't seen it, it is terrible. It is not very good. A lot of people kind of love it because it's still "Indiana Jones." But, at the end of the day, it's really, really bad. Other bad once are like "Always," the Richard Dreyfuss (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Terrible.

PALLOTTA: It's really bad.

Another bad sequel --

KEILAR: Good cast, though.

PALLOTTA: Yes, a good cast.

But another bad sequel is "Jurassic Park: The Lost World," which is the sequel to "Jurassic Park," obviously. And "The BFG," there's -- it's just a big, giant CGI guy.

[06:55:02]

It doesn't -- it doesn't work for me.

BERMAN: Your least favorite?

KEILAR: This is going to be controversial.

PALLOTTA: I'm ready.

KEILAR: "Jaws."

BERMAN: What?

PALLOTTA: No.

KEILAR: I told you I would blow your mind.

PALLOTTA: He's from New England.

BERMAN: This is wrong.

KEILAR: It -- it ruined -- PALLOTTA: We're two weeks away from Fourth of July.

KEILAR: It ruined my childhood. I grew up like ten minutes from the beach. I always thought I was going to die when I would go swimming.

BERMAN: And you're Australian. You're supposed to like not fear great white sharks.

KEILAR: Well --

PALLOTTA: I watch it --

KEILAR: Or you're supposed to.

PALLOTTA: I watch it every Fourth of July. And now -- now it's (INAUDIBLE).

KEILAR: I'm not saying I haven't watched it.

BERMAN: It changed -- it changed movies.

KEILAR: I'm not saying I don't quote it. I'm just saying it ruined my life. That's, you know.

PALLOTTA: Come on.

BERMAN: But it's a -- (INAUDIBLE) could ruin your life.

KEILAR: It's a great movie, I guess, if, you know, psychologically you can handle the (INAUDIBLE).

PALLOTTA: That's a 20 footer, 25, three tons of them. Come on.

BERMAN: You're going to need a bigger boat.

KEILAR: We're going to need a bigger boat. I know. I know. I know.

PALLOTTA: Come on.

KEILAR: I know. I know. I know.

PALLOTTA: Awful.

BERMAN: All right.

KEILAR: Good movie.

PALLOTTA: I woke up for this.

KEILAR: Bad life choice.

BERMAN: Frank Pallotta, thank you for coming in. Sorry.

KEILAR: Yes. I'm not sorry.

Free and fair elections are on the line today as the Senate votes on the For the People Act.

BERMAN: Plus, news from Australia. The Great Barrier Reef in danger according to a new warning. Why Australia disagrees.

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