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New Day

New York City Mayor Race in Chaos; DHS Warns of August Violence; Obama Comments on Misinformation; Search for Survivors Enters Day Seven; Iran and U.S. Near Breaking Point. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 30, 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]

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But basically, even though it's the New York City Board of Elections, it's set up under the state constitution. So no mayor can do this alone. You need the governor, the state legislature and the mayor to do this.

But given the -- given the prominence of this, the shear incompetence, this is not a problem with rank choice voting. I want to make that really clear. Rank choice voting I think is actually a great thing when it comes to representative elections. This is about the board of election not being able to do its job again on a higher stage under more scrutiny than ever before.

So the state legislature, the governor and the mayor need to work together to get this done. This thing needs to be ripped up and reformed and turned into a non-partisan, professional organization. Not some relic at Tammany Hall that managed to screw up everything it touches.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: So it is a uniquely New York City problem.

AVLON: It is.

HILL: Now the other question this morning is, right, if you're saying, you're not even totally convinced that this is about 135,000 test ballots that were left in there.

AVLON: Trust but verify. Yes.

HILL: What does this do to the integrity, right, of the election? What does it do to the voters in New York and New York City when they look at, they've cast their ballot and here's where they are more than a week later?

AVLON: This is the ultimate potential tragedy of this. You've got a new system of voting put in place. People are going to blame that. You've got an ex-president who's been trying to raise questions and concerns about the integrity of our elections. And then you have an election administration that can't do its job, which raises those questions. And so folks will be going into their own camps and questioning the results of this mayoral election for a long time to come. So it cuts to the heart of the integrity of our elections and that's what we need to be strengthening right now.

Look, if New York City board of elections had been in the deep south, this thing would have been the subject of a DOJ takeover a long time ago. That's how corrupt and incompetent it is. But what the -- what the board of elections needs to do now is to try to dig itself out of a hole, have total transparency, which is almost impossible given the fact that it's run by a bunch of politicians, wife and children and mothers, literally, to actually restore confidence in the system. Again, this is not about rank choice voting, this is about the incompetence of the board of elections. That needs to be fixed now because we're at a time when our -- the integrity of our elections is being under attack by partisan forces, this is the last thing we need in America's largest city.

HILL: That is saying a lot when you say that if this was a different state, if this was in the south, as you just said, this would have been taken over by the DOJ.

AVLON: Yes.

HILL: There's a lot going on there and this will not be the last time we talk about it.

AVLON: No, it will not.

HILL: Thank you, my friend.

Just ahead, we're actually going to speak with candidate Kathryn Garcia. She joins us live on NEW DAY. Stay tuned for that interview.

The Department of Homeland Security warning state and local officials about the potential for violence this summer. So what's behind that threat?

Plus, the NSA in a rare move, going public to debunk Tucker Carlson's claim that he's being spied on by the NSA. What they're saying, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:48]

HILL: The Department of Homeland Security says it is watching closely for any potential violence this summer, particularly leading up to the August anniversaries of extremist attacks, including the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting which left 22 dead and the 2017 Charlottesville car attack by a white supremacist where one woman was killed.

Now, this DHS bulletin shared with state and local officials, first reported by "Politico," also included concerns that, quote, QAnon conspiracy theory adherence continue to promote the idea that the former president will return to power in August. Historically, some DVEs have conducted violence in furtherance of conspiracy theories.

Joining me now is CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild and CNN's senior media reporter Oliver Darcy. So, Whitney, what more do we know? So there's this -- this bulletin

that went out. How concerned are they about actual events transpiring and what does that bulletin tell us about the concern level?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: So it -- it is a heightened level of alertness without saying that there's an actual threat. So DHS -- and this is very common with these type of bulletins -- where they're saying to their state and local partners, you really need to be aware of what's going to happen. Start -- basically start reading the room and figure out if there's a threat.

Right now, though, DHS says that they don't believe that there is a credible threat. So an important distinction there.

However, this follows previous CNN reporting that the FBI had put out another memo that basically said people who are adherence to this QAnon conspiracy theory, some of them are going to grow more emboldened, more likely to commit acts of violence, while others start to realize that this whole thing is just totally untrue and are falling away from the theory and falling away from being followers. But people who -- the small majority of people who are militant adherence to QAnon, they pose a real risk.

HILL: How much, if any, influence or impact did what didn't happen prior to January 6th, despite heightened concerns, despite alerts that may have been sent out, wither official or otherwise, how much is that influencing even just sort of the rate of these bulletins?

WILD: Well, it's hard to say. I mean what we know is that there was a recent report that came -- that was given to members of Congress that said DHS, even prior to January 6th, had put out like 4,000 pieces of intelligence products to, you know, a variety of sources. So we know that they do produce intelligence products at a pretty high volume.

But what we know now is that these pieces of intelligence are taking on a much new meaning because the reality is you cannot ignore these, you know, these things that seem to be percolating because you just don't know when they're going to explode. And so the point is, DHS is really taking on a new way to bring in their partners to the conversation. That was a change they made following January 6th when they realized they have to get their state and local partners to understand and start considering more the intelligence products they're putting out, rather than just sending out an email and saying, hope you -- you know, hope you get it.

HILL: Hope you read this.

WILD: Yes.

HILL: Yes.

WILD: Hope this email finds you well.

HILL: So --

WILD: Yes, that doesn't fly anymore. HILL: So -- so we're also hearing -- so -- so former President Obama speaking out. His concerns about the misinformation that's out there. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The degree to which misinformation is now disseminated at warp speed in coordinated ways that we haven't seen before, and that the guardrails I thought were in place around many of our democratic institutions really depend on the two parties agreeing to those ground rules, those guardrails.

[06:40:11]

And that one of them right now doesn't seem as committed to them as in previous generations. That worries me. And I think that we should all be worried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Oliver, how significant are those comments.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, I mean, those are pretty stunning comments from Obama, raising the alarm, saying that one party is not dedicated to the guardrails of democracy.

Look, Obama has been the, you know, only national leader really raising the alarm about the information crisis this country is in. The poison that flows through the political discourse on a daily basis that makes it difficult to govern, you know, when you have one party basically or, you know, generally adhering to facts and reality and another party in la-la land, it's difficult to come together in Congress and elsewhere and pass legislation.

But outside of even that, it's difficult to live in a country with one another, right, where, you know, in the past year, for instance, you have people who refuse to wear masks because of misinformation and conspiracy theories and now people are refusing to get vaccinated and, obviously, on January 6th you saw what misinformation can do.

So it is a real issue, the information crisis. Obama's addressing it repeatedly. It's about time, actually, that some of the other national leaders start talking about this.

HILL: Oliver Darcy, Whitney Wild, appreciate it. Thank you both.

This morning, a critical, new clue from an eyewitness about the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. The latest on that investigation is next.

Plus, an emotional, new interview with a Miami-Dade fire captain who has been working at the disaster site nonstop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. EDDY ALARCON, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: And, listen, I can tell you that none of us have lost hope. Because I know miracles happen. And I -- and I -- and I believe in a higher power. And I believe that if somebody's going to find them, we're going to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the painstaking search and rescue efforts entering their seventh day here in Surfside. More than 50 agencies and more than 900 personnel have been working tirelessly combing through the debris.

Overnight, I spoke with Miami-Dade Fire Captain Eddy Alarcon just ahead of his shift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's the hardest part about this right now?

CAPT. EDDY ALARCON, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: Well, I think the -- just the hardest part is, you know, the first day that we got here and just seeing just how -- how devastating everything was. It's just -- I mean we're all trained to kind of maintain our composure and do our jobs the way we're supposed to, but -- man. I'm sorry, I've been working on very little sleep right now but -- and -- and it's hard not to get emotional about this stuff, but we're -- you know, it's hard not to put yourself in that situation, you know, not to put yourself in the position that these families are in. We start thinking about it in that way, in that -- what would I do? How hard are we going to work to save our family members if something like this were to happen?

BERMAN: You're there for the families.

ALARCON: Yes, sir.

BERMAN: What are you finding mostly?

ALARCON: It's just so hard to -- I mean unless you're there, you -- you don't understand how difficult this work -- all I can say is that I thank God for the support of my teammates, all of the rescue specialists. They're doing an amazing job. I've never seen so many people come together.

I'm sorry.

BERMAN: No, I get it. I mean, I get it. It's exhausting. It's physically exhausting. It's emotionally exhausting. You know, you want to find people.

ALARCON: That's right.

BERMAN: That's what you do.

ALARCON: That's right. BERMAN: You're a rescue coordinator. And that's -- that's not what's happening here. Is it -- is it just chunks of cement at this point?

ALARCON: Listen, I can tell you that none of us have lost hope. Because I know miracles happen. And I -- and I -- and I believe in a higher power. I believe that if somebody's going to find them, we're going to do it. you know, we're going to make it happen and working together as best we can.

BERMAN: Have you had moments over the last several days where you thought you might get that miracle?

ALARCON: All the time. We don't stop thinking that. That's what we do.

BERMAN: Any signs, any visible or physical signs, though?

ALARCON: I personally haven't seen any but it doesn't mean that it can't happen.

BERMAN: If you could say something to the families who are waiting tonight, you know, what do you want them to know?

ALARCON: I just want them to know that we're doing everything we can. Everything in our power. Every single one of us that are here are doing everything in our power to -- to either bring somebody out alive or -- or, just like I said, just to bring some type of closure and to let them know that we're doing everything we can for them. That's all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And after this discussion, Captain Eddy Alarcon, he went to work on a 12 hour shift. He's not off that shift yet. He's on the pile right now. And he goes, unless you see it for yourself, you simply can't understand.

Joining me now is the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us.

Unless you see for yourself, you can't understand. That's what Captain Alarcon told me last night.

I just want you to speak for a moment about the heroic work that's being done.

MAYOR DANIELLA LEVINE CAVA, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA: I cannot tell you the admiration and pride that I have. It is overwhelming. These folks that go in, day in and out, 24/7, and they are -- they will not leave. We have to pull them off the site. These men and women were trained to find people alive and they live for that.

[06:50:00]

It is devastating for all of us waiting and watching the families. It's excruciating. And I agree with him, seeing it is -- is unbelievable and that's just

from the perimeter. To be on that pile and digging through the rubble, it's not just concrete, it's dust. Things have been crushed because of the weight of that pancake effect. It -- it is -- it is truly overwhelming the experience.

The dogs, they continue combing as well. The cameras, the sonar equipment, the cranes and we have hundreds of people now taking turns on that pile.

BERMAN: I want to ask you a little bit about the investigation. I spoke to an eyewitness, a survivor last night, Sara Nir (ph), who escaped from the building with her two children just before the collapse. She heard sounds. She heard sounds and then she saw with her own eyes the pool deck area, the garage, collapse first, and then she left the building and the rest of the building went down.

I wonder what that tell you and what the current thinking is about the sequence of events?

CAVA: So, of course, we're focused on those we're trying to rescue. That is the -- the real focus of our work and making sure that our first responders are safe on the pile because it is very dangerous, the conditions there.

Of course, the investigation is going to be critical. We all want to know so that it can never, ever happen again. There's certainly lots of evidence that's coming out and the building itself, the rubble pile is evidence. So everything will be exhaustedly reviewed. We have federal, state and local agents looking into all of the causes -- possible causes.

BERMAN: There will be a grand jury investigation and I'm wondering what you hope to get from that.

CAVA: We want to know, what were the signs? What were the causes? What could have been avoided? There -- there is so much to this investigation. Not only engineering, construction, leadership. We have so many things to learn from this.

And, of course, here in Miami-Dade County, I've initiated already a very through review of all the buildings and the recertification process. Obviously, when we're talking about people's lives, nothing can be spared.

BERMAN: Right.

CAVA: Our building department for the county, which is not the city's, is -- is very, very thorough and we will continue our efforts.

BERMAN: President Biden coming to visit tomorrow. Do you have any sense of what he will see or exactly who he'll be meeting with?

CAVA: Well, first of all, let me emphasize, the president called me in the morning of this disaster to ask me what do I need. And I told him, FEMA. Send FEMA. And he did. And we have been processing the individual assistance for survivors. We've also been getting the support that we need from an investigative and a -- the rescue perspective. So we have received incredible resources.

Moving ahead, we need his support to make sure that we can support investigation and changes. But also, for right now, I know that he'll make sure to bring us all of the -- all of the support we need.

BERMAN: Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, thank you for being with us this morning. We appreciate seeing you. We see you a lot on site here several times every day. Thank you for the work you're doing.

CAVA: Thanks. All day -- thank you. All day and night. Thank you, sir.

BERMAN: U.S. forces coming under rocket fire in Syria, a day after launching air strikes on Iranian-backed militias. This as tensions between the U.S. and Iran near a breaking point.

HILL: Plus, temperatures shattering records on both coasts. What role is the climate crisis playing?

And, could mask requirements make a return as the delta variant surges. I'll ask the surgeon general.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:20]

HILL: U.S. forces in Syria coming under the largest barrage of rocket fire in recent months, just a day after the U.S. carried out air strikes on Iranian-backed militias on the Iraq-Syria border. Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are hitting a boiling point.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live now with more.

Fred, good morning.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Erica.

Well, and one of the things that we've been seeing from the Iranians that the Biden administration could be in for a pretty rough ride, not just as far as Iran is concerned, but also as far as the situations with those pro-Iranian forces in Iraq and Syria are concerned.

And one of the things we have to keep in mind is they don't necessarily get all of their orders from Iran, but they certainly are strategically on the same page as Iran and they also get a lot of weapons from Iran as well. And, you know, having been in that country in Iran a lot over the past couple of years, sometimes you do get to go to military expositions there. And one of the things that we saw is a lot more drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. So the Iranians certainly have been making big leaps in those fields.

And they do have a new hardline government that's coming into office very soon in Iran. I was able to speak to some pretty senior people who are set to either be in that government or be close to it and they said they're certainly not going to back down in the Middle East. They said that their foreign policy is going to be both active and dynamic, as they put it.

Well, Erica, one of the things that we know is one of Iran's big goals for the Middle East is to see the U.S. leave that region. And, of course, Iran will continue to be very, very active, not just there, but, of course, in other areas as well.

Erica.

HILL: Frederik Pleitgen with the latest for us. Thank you.

NEW DAY continues right now.

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. It is Wednesday, June 30th.

[07:00:00]

I'm John Berman in Surfside, Florida, along with Erica Hill in New York this morning.

And we're nearly a week into the search for survivors of this catastrophic building collapse.