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Biden Gets Infrastructure Deal; Pence Contradicts Trump; Weather Provides Challenge in Condo Collapse; Frantic Race for Survivors. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 25, 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]

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: Pop up -- tax cuts pop up again with Republican presidents.

Here it is. OK. Quickly, Bill Clinton does the Family Medical Leave Act. Obviously a big deal. Now, this one is now legislative but he appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. You know, obviously, a landmark thing. That happened during his first term.

Now, as I said, here's -- here's a common theme. George W. Bush. What does he do in 2001? This is pre-September 11th, obviously. Big tax cut. Lowering the top rate.

What does Donald Trump do? I'm skipping -- I'm coming back to Obama. What does Donald Trump do his first year in office, 2017? Lowers the marginal rate. OK.

So this -- this keeps happening. This this what Republicans do in their first year in office.

Obama. Now, I just had to note this because he doesn't sign the Affordable Care Act until March 2010. So the -- technically, what -- we're fudging a little bit on first-year accomplishments. But this is the defining element of Barack Obama's presidency in many ways. His -- his -- one of his biggest legacies is the Affordable Care Act, which is his biggest priority and he pushes it through, not easily, remember, that Massachusetts special election to replace Ted Kennedy -- the late Ted Kennedy, Scott Brown, a Republican, wound up winning. There were a lot of political impacts both right in the moment and beyond from that, but that's his accomplishment.

Now, what does all this tell you? You know, I'll go back here and we'll look at this. New deal. Voting Rights Act. Reagan tax cut. And then back here, Family, Clinton, medical leave, tax cut, tax cut, ACA. What does it tell you, John? Well, it tells you that, in the first year of presidencies, particularly those elected in mandates, big elections, or those elected at times of real struggle, COVID-19, Great Depression, et cetera, et cetera, presidents do their big things in their first year because they have the ability, to the extent they have any ability to do these big things to push them through, this is when they do them. So, Biden getting these things passed, if he can get infrastructure

all the way through, is consistent with what we have seen in the past. And I'll tell you, if a Republican gets elected in 2024, in 2025, there's probably going to be a thing that says tax cut here next to the next president of the United States if history -- if past is prolog, John.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the thing is, though, look, to get this agreement with moderate Democrats and Republicans, they had to jettison a lot of stuff that liberal Democrats would want, right?

CILLIZZA: Yes. Yes.

KEILAR: So -- so how is that going to work with getting that support from the left wing of the party?

CILLIZZA: That's right, Bri. So, I think one of the important things to say is, this is a moment -- OK, I don't think -- we in Washington sometimes underplay, oh, well, it's not a -- it's not a done deal yet, et cetera. It isn't a done deal yet, but the fact that they have ten senators, five Democrats, five Republicans, saying we're for this and the White House saying we're for this, if they can keep that coalition together, it's likely to pass.

But you're right, liberals are going to say, we're not voting for this until we see the size of that next package, the one that they're going to pass on a purely partisan vote using, as you mentioned, a tactic called reconciliation that you can use for budgetary matters, Brianna.

So, it's not a done deal. They do still have to make liberals happy in this.

The one thing I'll say is, it seems unlikely to me, just having looked at politics, that liberals are going to tank the major infrastructure package that the Democratic president of the United States worked on and spent all yesterday touting and will spend weeks and months touting in the future. It just seems unlikely that's going to happen, in the same way Republicans who didn't love everything about the Trump tax cut aren't going to tank that.

KEILAR: Yes.

CILLIZZA: So, we'll see. I mean if any -- if history has proven anything, it's that legislative fights go in a lot of different directions.

KEILAR: Yes.

CILLIZZA: And this one may well, too.

KEILAR: Totally, agree with you on that. Will they be jazzed enough? Will liberals be jazzed enough going into the midterm elections? I don't know. We'll see.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look it, will Republicans who made the compromise stick to it if they are told there is this other thing that is also going to be signed in into law?

KEILAR: Yes. That's a huge question.

BERMAN: Other big news this morning, the former vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, delivered his strongest rebuke to date of former President Trump. Pence contradicted the big lie and said he was proud of what he did on January 6th, allowing the election results to be certified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Now, there are those in our party who believed that, in my position as presiding officer over the joint session, that I possess the authority to reject or return electoral votes certified by the states. But the Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority.

There's almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now with more.

That last sentence there is sort of the harshest thing Mike Pence has ever said about Donald Trump.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Notably, notably did not say his name.

BERMAN: Right.

WILD: Trying to thread a very tough needle here.

This morning, this Republican politician pushing back against the base, pushing back against the president -- former president himself, and that's exactly what former Vice President Mike Pence did yesterday.

[06:35:03]

Speaking at the Reagan Presidential Library, Pence told the crowd he will always be proud of his role in affirming the election results on January 6th that followed the deadly riot of Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. He even called the effort to decertify the election, quote, un-American.

His commitment to the truth enraged Capitol rioters who chanted, hang Mike Pence, for failing to perpetuate the big lie.

Former President Trump has continued to spread the lie that he somehow won the election. We know, we've said it a million times at this point, he did not win that election.

Take a listen to what else Pence said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Now I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election. But, you know, there's more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment. If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won't just lose elections, we'll lose our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: He didn't address President Trump by name but still tried to identify himself with the Trump administration's agenda, particularly on immigration, border control, and trade.

Again, I cannot stress enough how rare it is for Pence to contradict President Trump. This is the first time we've seen anything even remotely close to this. And it's pretty much the only clear break he has had with the president he loyally served for four years. But he's trying to have it all ways.

BERMAN: He is. I mean I have a few things to say about Mike Pence. Number one, you know, Mike Pence sat by, quietly, while the former president lied about the election for two months after the November election, right? So, Mike Pence did the bare minimum that he could do not to overthrow the government and basically throw out the Constitution and he gets credit for that. He gets credit for being able to read the Constitution and understand what it clearly says the vice president's role is that day. So credit to him for that.

Not for the profile in courage that he, sort of, I think, is trying to claim here.

The other thing is, I don't know that there's a needle to thread for Mike Pence at this point, right?

WILD: OK. Yes, is he done?

BERMAN: I mean I just don't know what on earth he can do that would ingratiate himself with the Trump people. There's just no space for him there in that. Maybe I'm wrong.

WILD: There's no -- there's no gray area anymore.

BERMAN: Right.

WILD: Meaning, you know, that they want to live in an alternate reality and there's no -- no gradation between that and this reality, which is where we all live, where the rest of us live.

KEILAR: I think that's completely true when you're talking about Republicans who have their eyes on a political future and perhaps a run for the presidency, they aren't trying to, as -- as you said, it is threading a needle, but like it is a needle that doesn't exist. And I wonder, you know, what is Pence doing here? Is this the long game of he's trying to promote kind of conservative principles, like traditional conservative principles and priorities and then he's taking what is really like -- I mean, yes, he's contradicting Trump, but this is not full-throated contradiction.

WILD: Right.

KEILAR: This is just sort of lightly disagreeing. And he has to because he did proceed, as one does, with accepting those certified results, right?

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, again, he did choose to say this at the Reagan Library yesterday.

KEILAR: Yes.

BERMAN: So this is a thing.

KEILAR: Right.

BERMAN: I mean he did take a stand. I'm curious to see if he says this again. I'm curious to see if he does a Constitution tour where he goes and educates Trump supporters about what actually happened, why he did what he did. We'll see. Notable moment to be sure.

WILD: Yes. A lot of time left until he -- I guess, if he really does want to make a run for it, he's got plenty of time to figure it out.

KEILAR: Maybe he's playing a long game that we don't see.

WILD: Yes.

KEILAR: I don't know. We'll see.

BERMAN: Whitney, thank you so much.

WILD: You bet.

BERMAN: The search for victims in this huge building collapse in Florida, it's been hampered by rain, by wind, all kinds of issues. So, what's the weather going do as they continue these rescue operations this morning?

KEILAR: And we will be joined by the former Miami-Dade fire rescue chief. What kind of risks are search teams facing? And what are the chances that they will find any survivors?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:57]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sanjay Gupta. We are back here in Surfside, Florida, where this desperate search and rescue mission is ongoing here. You can sort of see this over my left shoulder. Light is starting to break.

We know that rain had been happening here since about 10:00 last night. It stopped overnight. There's been some heavy gusts of wind. And the weather so dramatically impacts these search and rescue missions. Chad Myers joins us now.

Chad, you and I spent a lot of time covering disasters. Nothing quite like this. But I'm wondering, what does the day look like going forward?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Today is the best day of the next three, Sanjay, although this isn't going to be anything perfect by any stretch. Winds out of the east at 14, gusting to 23.

Every time a storm or shower comes onshore, that's when the wind will get higher. And that's, obviously, when the threat of that building shift. You have a building that's standing up there, barely. You also have rebar hanging off with pieces of concrete still stuck to it. You talk about a 23-mile-per-hour wind or even 25 in a storm, that is going to try to -- try to shake that thing, and that would put any first responder, any responder down on the ground, really in some jeopardy.

So we're going to watch these storms as they come through to today. Probably somewhere around noon, 1:00 would be the next bigger storm. And then after midnight tonight, more weather in the forecast. And those winds don't die down. In fact, for tomorrow, they go up just a little bit, Sanjay.

GUPTA: You know -- you know, Chad, I don't know if there's an answer to this, but you and I have both covered, again, these natural disasters. These buildings down there, I mean they withstand hurricanes. We've been in those situations. I mean this is just really -- it's shocking to me. And I guess, again, I don't know if there's an answer here, but does anything sort of strike you about this? It is the ocean side of the building that sort of collapsed. I had not -- never seen anything quite like this, at least in this country.

MYERS: Well, it's the salt air. And when you go to the beach, and even if you walk with a pair of flip-flops in the salt water, you want to take them home and rinse them off in a freshwater wash-down, otherwise they are going to deteriorate.

[06:45:01]

Well, building and things and concrete and walkways would deteriorate in that salt air a lot worse than it would be just in fresh air or freshwater. So, yes, that doesn't surprise me, although, obviously, this event takes anyone by surprise by any stretch of the imagination.

GUPTA: Chad, thank you very much.

John, you know, I -- I have to say, you know, it is -- it is, obviously, heartbreaking to see this. We are, obviously, in the middle of these dramatic search and rescue missions. But there's going to be some lessons in here, I think, as to exactly what happened here and obviously trying to prevent it in other buildings, other places like it.

BERMAN: Absolutely. And there's clearly a knowledge that there's some kind of risk here because the code in Florida is that, after 40 years, a building needs to be checked out and reengineered for this type of thing, for potential corrosion, for potential risks of being near the salt air. And this building is exactly 40 years old and was due for just that type of maintenance.

One other point here. This building was built before the Hurricane Andrew codes, which I know you're so familiar with. Building codes in Florida drastically changed, particularly by the sea, after Hurricane Andrew. Unclear whether those enhanced codes would have made a difference here.

We just don't know. There's so much more we have to learn, Sanjay. We're going to get back to you in just a second.

Behind Sanjay, these rescuers have been working around the clock, moving piece by piece of rubble, trying to find some of the 99 people still un-accounted for in that tower.

Let's get more insight on the search and rescue efforts. I'm joined by Chief Dave Downey. He's the former Miami-Dade fire rescue chief.

Chief, thanks so much for being with us. Give us a sense of exactly what the workers are doing, at this moment.

DAVE DOWNEY, FORMER CHIEF, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: Well, good morning, John. Thanks for having me.

They've been working since the collapse in affecting rescues. First, they took the people off the rubble, those that are lightly trapped. All through the day and through the night last night, they've been conducting more meticulous void searches and area searches. Also, they've been trying to stabilize the areas that need to be stabilized.

We heard earlier about, you know, the danger of a secondary collapse. They've got monitoring devices on the existing building, paying attention to any movement of that building. They're also trying to secure some of those -- some of that hanging debris so the rescuers can continue to operate, continue to do the void searches.

Today, we're moving in more search and rescue personnel. And we're also moving in some equipment to start a very precise de-layering to lift up some of those heavier slabs and, again, start to uncover any potential void spaces.

So this is an ongoing, very deliberate, very precise process of search and rescue.

BERMAN: Chief, you know the area well. What are the risks they're dealing with this morning?

DOWNEY: Well, I think you highlighted them just before I came on the air, and that's the weather. You know, fortunately, we're not worried about any aftershocks, as we've seen in -- in earthquake regions. But the wind plays a major role in this rescue operation. And the wind load on the existing structures can present a problem. The rain presents problems because we need to make sure that we're

channeling that water. The rescuers have been de-watering areas of the structure to make sure that it -- it stays as minimal as possible.

But those are the big elements.

And then, obviously, the heat and humidity. Although the rescuers are, you know, trained and experienced and from that area, but making sure that the rescuers stay hydrated, the rescuers are paying attention to working in these long -- working these long hours in the heat and the humidity.

BERMAN: Yes, you have to stay alert for any sound, any possible movement and you have to stay alert so you protect yourself from the risks that are very much present.

Former Chief Dave Downey, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

DOWNEY: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: A day after getting probation, instead of prison time, the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced downplaying the attack on the Capitol. We will roll the tape, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:16]

KEILAR: The first Capitol rioter to be sentenced in the January 6th attack is a woman who pleaded guilty to trespassing in the Capitol. On the day of the attack, she posted on FaceBook that it was the best day ever, according to her court filings. But in court this week, she stood before a judge. She cried. She apologized to the court and to the American people. And he gave her three years of probation and a $500 fine instead of prison time, saying that she didn't participate in the violence.

But then, just a day later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX HOST: Why did you go to the Capitol that day?

ANNA MORGAN-LLOYD, FIRST PERSON SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN CAPITOL RIOT: I went to support Donald Trump. To show my support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: To show support for a complete and utter lie, to be clear, that the election could be overturned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA MORGAN-LLOYD, FIRST PERSON SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN CAPITOL RIOT: Where I was at, we seen nobody damage anything. And people were actually very polite. I had a young man accidentally knock my phone out of my hands and he's like, oh, excuse me. And he hurried up and picked up my phone and made sure it was OK. If anybody bumped into anybody, it was, excuse me. And people were very polite.

And there was no -- nobody was breaking anything. And it was calm enough that people were actually walking out of the Capitol Building that worked there, walked right past us. And they had no fear on their face at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: People died. Officers were beaten. They were called pigs, f- ing traitors. The Capitol was vandalized. But people were polite, she says. Nobody damaged anything. Not that she could see, anyway. Sure.

By the way, in court, before this interview, she also described how she's a changed person because she watched "Schindler's List" and read "Just Mercy."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA MORGAN-LLOYD, FIRST PERSON SENTENCED FOR ROLE IN CAPITOL RIOT: But I read the books. It didn't bother me because I'm not racist. And it -- they were interesting and, you know, I would recommend anybody read "Just Mercy" because it was a very emotional book. But it didn't bother me. I was more than willing to read them because I'm not racist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Her lawyer told NEW DAY that she makes her clients pick from a reading list in order to take them as clients. Unclear, though, why watching "Schindler's List" or reading "Just Mercy" may have prevented her from going to the Capitol that day. But, whatever.

And look at the banner there as she spoke, "riot" in air quotes because that is, after all, Fox, one of the preferred networks of the alleged Capitol rioters, according to a lawyer defending at least one of them. Fox, where instead of hard-hitting questions about her involvement or what she was apparently remorseful for, she got the hero treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX HOST: Thank you for telling this story. And this is just -- I -- it's like I can't even believe I'm hearing any of this. A charge for parading through the Capitol. For that you're held for two days, lose your job and, obviously, incredibly traumatic. But I'm glad you read a couple decent books, I guess. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That is the reaction for a white defendant charged with illegally entering the Capitol Building as Congress was accepting the certification of a secure election. But this is how Laura Ingraham described black defendants who broke into buildings during a riot. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX HOST: And what began as peaceful protesting ended up in a very counterproductive and even criminal place.

Excusing criminal behavior as somehow justified when it's carried out in response to police brutality or any other abuse only ends up making a bad situation worse because it lowers the bar for everybody.

[06:55:04]

RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Antifa, Black Lives Matter, the communists, and their allies are executing a plan they wrote about four or five years ago. Just go back and read what they wrote in the manifestos that they wrote, including Black Lives Matter. They want to destroy our government.

Black Lives Matter wants to come and take your house away from you. They want to take your property away from you.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

This is where it all happened. May 27th. Two days after the killing of George Floyd.

This is the famous door where everyone was coming in and out during the nights of the riots and the looting. They took as much as they could out that door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That's right, she even parachuted into Minneapolis to highlight the riot so that she would have some props for show and tell.

But when it comes to the Capitol, Officer Fanone, who was assaulted and tortured that day, told me that he can't get booked on Fox to tell his story. This is the same Fox where you heard this same host recently call to defund the United States military for being too woke as generals defended diversity in their efforts to root out domestic extremism in their ranks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX HOST: We are sending our tax dollars to this military, to -- an attempt to weed out so-called extremists, which just means conservative-evangelical, as far as I can tell. We're paying for that? Well, why -- why is Congress not saying we're not going to give you a penny until all of this is eradicated from the military budget. Nothing. We are -- this is my offer to you, nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It's not just Ingraham who is disparaging military brass. She's just copycatting this guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST: Milley got the job because he is obsequious. He knows who to suck up to and he's more than happy to do it. Feed him a script, and he will read it. Hard to believe that man wears a uniform. He's that un-impressive. He's not just a pig, he's stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Un-impressive, he calls him. What does he mean? You know, setting aside any disagreements that he has with Milley, Milley is not immune from criticism. But look at the stripes on his sleeve. Ten of them, we counted. Each one of those overseas service bars is six months deployed. That is five years. That is more time than Tucker Carlson spent at his probably third choice boarding school. Tucker Carlson didn't serve. His biggest achievement is having nine lives in the world of cable news, making a bowtie famous, and getting away with promoting conspiracy theories night after night after night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST: The question is, and this is the question that we should be meditating on day in and day out, is how do we get out of this vortex, this cycle, before it's too late? How do we save this country before we become Rwanda?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That isn't just a dog whistle. It's a white whistle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST: So he reads about white rage as if it's totally real. It's a medical condition. And, by the way, since it's a medical condition, at what age can you catch white rage, by the way? Most of us assume that our two-year-olds were just teething. Now we know it's their whiteness that's making them so angry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He pretends white rage doesn't exist. He is white rage. Don't sell yourself short, pal.

It is a horrifying scene in south Florida. A desperate search underway right now for survivors of a deadly building collapse that is just north of Miami. We're going to take you there live.

BERMAN: We'll also speak to a trauma surgeon who has treated two of the victims. How are they doing this morning? How are hospitals preparing for other possible survivors? We have it all covered for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)