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Senate Republicans Prevent Debate on Voting Rights Bill; Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) Interviewed on Possible Redistricting Removing Her from Congress; Vote Counting Continues in Democratic Primary for New York City Mayor; Socialist Claims Victory in Buffalo Mayor Race; CNN: Ivanka, Kushner Distance Themselves From Trump. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 23, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KAT O'BRIEN, FORMER MLB REPORTER, "FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM" AND "NEWSDAY": Women, and seems there are thing that can be done. Obviously, you can't prevent everything, but there are things that can be done to help on a league level as well as a team level.

And in terms of naming, and I've also told people I should have named him at the time. First of all, even if people come forward at the time, fewer, I read, flipped through the statistics on that, fewer than one percent of people who are accused of rape are ultimately convicted and go to prison. In this case where I would have been accusing a professional athlete, and I was a 22-year-old woman. I think the chance would have been like one in 10,000.

And so I don't think -- I don't regret not coming forward because I would have just -- I would have lost my career and I would have -- without any actual good consequence coming of it. Now to come forward at this point when I can't prove it. I literally did not tell a soul because I was terrified that I would lose my job and my reputation, because it would have been turned on a, she slept with a player. Because I know that that's what he told his teammates. Obviously, he didn't say, I raped her. I'm sure, I can't imagine that they would have been -- thought that was OK. So he told some other version. And I was terrified to tell anyone that some wrong version would come out and I would have my reputation -- if I come forward now, I can't prove, and so I would just be the subject of a lot of negative vitriol, and ultimately he would not face any consequences.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Kat, I know this was difficult. It's so important that you spoke out about this, that you tell your story, and we really appreciate you joining us this morning to tell it again.

O'BRIEN: Thank you. One more thing. Well, two things. One, I really have been just heartbroken by the volume of women who have reached out to me, from friends to strangers to other reporters, to say this has happened to them. It's an astonishing number, and it breaks my heart. So I hope more people feel comfortable coming forward to tell their stories in some way. And then secondly, also there are things that people as individuals, young women can do. If your friend makes a joke, oh, she must have slept with that player. You need to say, that's not actually funny. You can be an ally in ways small and big.

KEILAR: That's a very good point. Kat O'Brien, thank you so much.

NEW DAY continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar. On this NEW DAY, a major voting rights bill blocked by Senate Republicans. You're about to hear from a lawmaker who thinks she could lose her seat because of it.

Plus, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner now distancing themselves from the former president. Brand-new CNN reporting on what's driving them away.

KEILAR: And a political surprise overnight could make Buffalo the first big city in 60 years to elect a socialist mayor, and she is standing by to talk with us right now.

Will a judge decide to free Britney Spears? The pop star set to speak out in court today as she tries to take charge of her own life.

BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Wednesday, June 23rd, and Senate Republicans say no to extending early voting, no to reforming campaign finance laws, no to non-partisan redistricting, and possibly even more important, no to the even debating any of those issues. That's despite the fact that moderate Joe Manchin gave Republicans what they demanded on key issues like voter I.D. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted it's up to individual states to sort it all out, claiming there is really nothing to see here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: There's nothing broken around the country. The system upheld very well during intense stress in the latter part of the previous Congress. There's no rational basis for federalizing this election, therefore, there's no point in having an election -- debate in the U.S. Senate about something we ought not to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It's bizarre logic because if it's nothing that is broken, why are so many Republican states commit today restricting or blocking voting rights? He said that the system upheld, and yet it's being dismantled in these states. According to the Brennan Center, 14 states have passed at least 22 laws limiting voter access. As we know there are so many more, right, that are out there as well that are attempting to. So nothing is broken, as the minority leader claims, why conduct an embarrassing sham of an audit in Arizona? Why all the lies about election fraud? Republicans sure seem determined to fix something there.

[08:05:10]

BERMAN: Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Sharice Davids from Kansas, the only Democrat in Congress from Kansas, who could easily lose her seat in partisan redistricting that would have been addressed in this bill. We'll get to that, Congresswoman. Who do you blame for this bill failing to even get a debate in the Senate?

REP. SHARICE DAVIDS, (D-KS): Well, it's good to be here to talk about this. It's so important. I am so disappointed in my Republican colleagues in the Senate for continuing to block the will of the people. There are so many people in Kansas who have reached out to me to tell me that they want to see the For the People Act passed. And obviously it is -- you all said it yourselves. It is a huge failing on their part to even bring such an important issue up for debate, particularly when they are across the country, the Republican leaders across the country are trying to -- trying to inhibit people from voting, trying to suppress the vote. And it's true in Kansas, we're still trying to dig ourselves out of the voter suppression issues that Kris Kobach got us into.

BERMAN: So just then, just the Republicans, no blame on Democrats, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and others, other Senate Democrats who refuse to blow up the filibuster? No blame on the administration which supports what you're after here, but there are some who suggest Joe Biden could have been out there working harder on this.

DAVIDS: Look, the Democratic Party -- and I know the folks in Kansas, the Democrats that I've been working with -- have been pushing for this since before I even got elected. This was -- the For the People Act was something that I was a strong proponent of to be at the top of the priority list when I got to Congress in 2018, and -- or 2019. And I think that what we're seeing is really just obstruction from the Republicans in D.C., and then in states like Kansas where we have Republican supermajority that is really trying to suppress the vote. It is clear to me that the Republican elected right now are really just trying to stop people from voting.

BERMAN: Obviously, nonpartisan redistricting was part of this, in Republican states and in Democratic states. Let's be fair. There are some states run by Democrats which district Republicans out as well. But you could easily be partisan redistricting. And the Republicans in your state aren't even trying to hide it. Listen to what some of them said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN WAGLE, (R) THEN-KANSAS SENATE PRESIDENT: A Republican bill that gives us four Republican congressmen, that takes out Sharice Davids up in the third, we can do that. I guarantee you, we can draw four Republican congressional maps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Do you think that's inevitable?

DAVIDS: No, I don't think it's inevitable. I do think -- this is some of the most -- the way that they're being so blatant about it, it's insulting to the people, to the voters in the state of Kansas, and frankly across the country. I think that nonpartisan -- a nonpartisan, independent redistricting process would be a win for the people. And I think that we can talk about individual members of Congress, but really, at the end of the day this is about making sure that our democracy is strong. This is about making sure that the American people, all eligible voters are able to exercise their freedom to vote.

BERMAN: Congresswoman Sharice Davids, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you very much.

DAVIDS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Obviously, this is just one part of a hugely important week for President Biden in terms of his domestic agenda. I'm joined now by CNN political director David Chalian. Look, David, one of the questions I wanted to ask Sharice Davids, but I think it's good to you as well, what can Democrats do about this? At this point at the federal level, there's nothing they can do.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No, you're right. Well, there's one thing they could do. They could decide collectively to end the filibuster, and then they would be able to pass this on 50 votes alone. That is something that was -- that's within Democratic power to be able to do in the United States Senate, John. But obviously, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have made clear publicly that they are not at all on board with that idea. So Democrats are doing what they're doing. They're trying to take this now to the people, to the vote.

But you're right. This is a big week for Biden's legislative agenda. And issue number one, and everything else sort of pales in comparison inside the Biden White House right now, is this infrastructure bill.

[08:10:02]

And you know these talks have been going on all week long in a bipartisan nature. Biden White House aides up on Capitol Hill meeting with a group of 10 senators. White house aides say we will know by the end of the week most likely if a bipartisan infrastructure deal is actually in the cards or not. So pay attention to that. We've been discussing voting rights. That went down in flames yesterday. The path forward, totally unclear other than to try and take it to the voters in the midterm election.

Also, you're going to see the agenda turn to policing. That is in the balance this week. Tim Scott, the Republican senator who is working with Cory Booker and House Member Karen Bass on this issue, John, he says they must reach a deal by tomorrow if it's going to get done at all. He thinks they're very, very close. Others have said there are still major issues dealing with qualified immunity and other things to work out there.

On guns, we're going to see President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland today address this issue along with the uptick in crime across the country. Guns and, more largely, crime is going to become a more present issue for this administration. And we talked about the filibuster, which is not an issue. It's just a process piece of this that this debate will go on in Democratic circles about how you move the rest of this agenda forward.

BERMAN: All of those things are so interesting. There are five things there. The one that is actually the Biden agenda, the thing he said he is going to work hardest on, is infrastructure. That's the one that everything else, in a way, everything flows downhill from there because that's where he proves -- wants to prove he can get something done. I'm not saying he isn't supportive of the other thing, but infrastructure for him, he told us, he told us that's his priority.

CHALIAN: And it's in two parts, right. If they get this bipartisan deal on traditional infrastructure, roads and bridges and tunnels, a, that's going to accomplish the goal of bipartisanship that Biden has said he really wants to accomplish, and it will spend new money, of course, on those things. But then it's going to leave all that human infrastructure that Biden also said is a total priority, whether it's childcare or health care matters or other pieces of the Biden agenda, that is going to be a much larger package in the fall, and that would be something that Democrats would have to do on their own. Both pieces of the infrastructure are the goal for the Biden administration for the rest of this year.

BERMAN: David Chalian, great to see you this morning.

CHALIAN: You, too.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for joining us.

CHALIAN: Sure.

KEILAR: The race for New York City mayor hangs in the balance this morning. Right now Eric Adams is in the lead. He's got quite a lead, actually. Andrew Yang says he's out after a disappointing fourth place finish overnight. And CNN senior political analyst John Avlon is with us now. What are you tracking here?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm tell you, first of all, because of rank choice voting, this isn't over. Adams does have a strong lead, but he's got to hit 50 percent. Rank choice voting just happened in New York. And so there are going to be tabulations about people's second and third choice.

Here is what to look at -- Adams clearly is in the poll position. Maya Wiley, the most progressive candidate, endorsed by AOC, in second place followed by Kathryn Garcia, a kind of a technocrat. Andrew Yang now out. As these votes come in, it's more likely that yang's and Garcia's votes would go to Adams or vice versa than Maya Wiley.

What does this tell us? First of all, a lot of the stereotypes about deeply Democrat big cities, and New York definitely is, seven to one Democratic registration advantage, are not de facto far left, particularly in a time of rising crime. And that was Eric Adams number one issue. So that's one thing. To other thing is turnout is incredibly low. We had 750,000 people --

BERMAN: Harry says it could get up to 800,000 or 900,000.

AVLON: Still pathetic.

BERMAN: Which would put it on part or higher than almost every other Democratic primary they've ever had here, and June is earlier.

AVLON: I respectfully disagree with you. It's roughly on track with 2013, which itself was the lowest in 50 years. You have got to remember there are 3.7 million Democrats registered in the city, 750,000 turning out is around 20 percent. That's not robust, especially because there is effectively not going to be a general election because Donald Trump killed the Republicans in the city.

Remember New York City had 20 years Republican independent mayoral rule, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. But this turnout, in a city of 8 million people to be determined effectively by 800,000, that's not great. That's just not great. Rank choice can make it more representative, but this turnout is not what it should be for determining the strong mayor of America's largest city.

BERMAN: And 67 percent of the first place votes went to the more moderate candidates, 67 percent. That's a pretty telling number.

AVLON: That's right, very important. Big time.

KEILAR: Certainly is. John Avlon, thank you so much.

AVLON: Great to see you guys.

KEILAR: Buffalo, New York, is on the verge of a big political upset this morning. This is the fascinating political story that we're tracking. CNN has not yet projected a winner in Buffalo's mayoral race, but self-proclaimed socialist India Walton is declaring victory over incumbent mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic primary. He was going for his fifth term, by the way, and she would be Buffalo's first female mayor and the first socialist to lead a big city in the U.S. in decades.

[08:15:09]

And India Walton is joining us now.

India, you declared victory. It's a little too early for me to say congratulations for you. We have not projected your win, so we're still awaiting that officially. But you're very much on the verge of victory here.

When we go back and look at how this was covered, you know how it was covered. You were called the long shot. Now you're being called the upset.

Were you surprised by the outcome?

INDIA WALTON (D), BUFFALO MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Not really. We set out about a year ago to do exactly what we did. We knew that this race was going to require help from outside of our local geographic area. We knew that we needed to garner national attention to challenge a 16- year heavily entrenched incumbent. And the people spoke. KEILAR: And so, you know, as you are a self-proclaimed socialist,

you're very aware this has become a big issue politically. Lately, Republicans use this label as a political cudgel and it makes sense that they do because the polls show that it works. That there's actually sort of a net negative view on socialism.

Historically, what socialism means is putting the means of production in the hands of the people, the profits as well. It seems to be more in modern times used for not being profits for, you know, say companies versus for the people.

What are your plans for Buffalo? How do you plan to use socialism and implement it in Buffalo?

WALTON: My plan is to put our resources into community, into neighborhoods, and govern in a deeply democratic way that the people who are governed have say over the decision-making process and how resources are deployed in our community.

KEILAR: How is that going to be different than the way Mayor Brown is doing it right now?

WALTON: It's a complete 180. We have lived through decades of the trickle-down theory, believing that if you build it, they will come. And we have not built anything, many things at all for the folks who have stuck out economic downturn, population and job loss in the Buffalo community.

So we are looking forward to doing things differently, and I'm so excited that we are ushering in a new era of progressive leadership in Buffalo, New York.

KEILAR: And again, as we await the outcome here, there is still absentee votes that need to be counted. But you're on the verge of a victory here. You're on the radar of folks today that you weren't yesterday, and so I want to discuss your personal story because it's amazing.

You had your first child at 14, and you moved out of your family home. When you were 19, you had twins, and all of your children had medical issues, and you didn't have a car. You would take your babies with, I think, oxygen -- supplemental oxygen in the case of one of them, on the bus to their follow-up appointments, many of them, of course.

And yet you became a nurse. And now, you are on the verge of becoming the mayor of a big city.

That story would foreclose the opportunity of this for so many people. How did you do it?

WALTON: Just believing that anything is possible. And what you set your mind to, you can do it. And we're never alone. We're not built to be islands.

And the myth of rugged individualism is a lie. And by building coalition in community, anything is possible. I owe everything that I am, every victory to the people who have been so faithful in supporting me, in believing in my leadership, and really building me up.

This is incredible.

KEILAR: Well, we're going to continue to follow the results here as we are waiting for the final outcome in this mayoral race in Buffalo. But India Walton, thank you for being with us today.

WALTON: Thank you.

KEILAR: Up next, strained relations in the Trump family. New CNN reporting on the growing gap between the former president and his own daughter and son-in-law.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden speaking just hours from now about the surge of violent crime. CNN's Don Lemon talks us -- joins us --

KEILAR: He will.

BERMAN: -- to talk to us about that, and many other things you'll want to know about.

And the free Britney movement comes to a head with the superstar speaking for herself later today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:23:57]

KEILAR: New this morning, increasingly strained relationships within the Trump family, this is a fascinating story. CNN learning that the two people closest to the former president during his time in office, Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, they actually have been distancing themselves from Trump and his constant grievance about the, quote, stolen election.

CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett is here with the details.

OK. Why is this happening, Kate?

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, I think just like you said, this is clearly a former president who cannot move on, who continues to talk about, you know, everything from who betrayed him on a late night comedy sketch show to the election that he still claims is, you know -- was not accurate.

So, Jared and Ivanka were with him all the time, so much so that they were coined the Javanka term. This is interesting. They do not want to be around nor do they want to be in the orbit of this continued sort of not being able to move on, not being able to let go. And they've made a very calculated and thoughtful decision to back away and not spend as much time with the former president who, of course, also happens to be Ivanka's father and Jared Kushner's father-in-law.

[08:25:11]

One person described it to my colleague on the story, Gabby Orr, saying it's sort of like the parent who less and less stays in day care in the morning dropping off their child. Like, slowly, Jared and Ivanka backed away and left Trump up to his own abilities with people around him that are varying in terms of scope and conspiracy theories and people who listen to him and his rhetoric as he continues to not be able to let go of the 2020 election.

BERMAN: To be clear in that analogy, Jared and Ivanka are the parents dropping their child, aka, the former president off at preschool. He is the toddler here.

To what extent are you hearing that they are embarrassed by his post- election behavior and the sort of lies he's spreading about the election?

BENNETT: Well, John, I think they would like -- people we talk to indicate that they'd like that he'd move on. That this is something that clearly, elections have consequence. This is part of the consequence. They would like that he continue forward in different path.

But they are not involved at all in any of the political apparatus. So these rallies that are being planned, the political endorsements, anything having to do with the super PAC or the statements that come out, this is not something that Jared Kushner nor Ivanka Trump are involved in at all. They've really put some distance, and also physical distance.

Remember, Jared and Ivanka moved to Florida after the election to south Florida. Well, they're not too far from Mar-a-Lago where the former president lived up until recently. He switched to a summer home in Bedminster, New Jersey. But, you know, there were no sightings. There weren't any extended stays at Mar-a-Lago as there had been in years past.

So, clearly, this is a relationship that has changed dramatically since the end of the Trump administration.

KEILAR: There are some really interesting data points in your reporting, like Jared Kushner's seven-figure book deal. Sources telling you that Trump is questioning if Jared Kushner actually did bring about Middle East peace which, hello, I mean, no, because what we've seen here in the last month or so.

This is fascinating. Why would he be jealous over the book deal?

BENNETT: Well, I think what we've learned about Donald Trump is that he's not happy about anybody who could possibly profit off of something he feels he facilitated. So if Jared is writing a book and he's getting a seven-figure deal, this feels like to Trump, this is something that he is responsible for, that he had something to write about, so to speak.

So behind the scenes there has been some talk about jealousy. Again, President Trump, former President Trump questioning what actually went on in the White House with Jared Kushner.

On Kushner's side, the people we spoke with said this is just pretty standard that he's used to criticism from his father-in-law. That this is part of the cycle of letting go of the presidency as these critiques will come up. But certainly, it has caused a rift.

What's going to be interesting is that currently Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are on a road trip with their family, their young children from Florida up to Bedminster where they typically spend the summer where the cottage is -- cottages, large homes, the Bedminster golf club where Donald Trump and Melania Trump reside in the summer, and where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner reside for a large part of the summer when they vacation. They're really quite close to one another.

So there will be now physical distance will be closed between the two. Both sides insist there is no estrangement, but certainly, the people we spoke to said there is a rift. There is something going on here where these two sides that were really together almost every day, and Jared and Ivanka involved in almost every aspect of the Trump administration from policy to messaging, onward, are now -- have nothing to do with what's happening with President Trump right now.

BERMAN: Kate Bennett, juicy reporting. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

KEILAR: Road trip? Maybe a U-turn at the Chesapeake house rest area, maybe. Right back down south on 95.

BERMAN: The turnpike, you know, the Grover Cleveland rest area, one of my favorites.

KEILAR: Many options. Okay.

BERMAN: Guns, violence, vaccines and broken cultural barriers. How the modern NFL is a microcosm of America.

KEILAR: And the capitol riot suspect citing a Steven Spielberg movie in her plea deal.

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