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New Day

DeSantis Praises Biden; June Jobs Report; June Jobs Report; DOJ Suspends Executions; Olympian Speaks about Positive Marijuana Test; CNN Hosts July 4th Special. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 02, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Poppy, I don't need to tell you and John especially, I know you traveled there a lot, as I did, that used to be very -- very swingy. It used to go to Republicans or Democrats depending on the election.

In recent times it has been much, much more Republican. And now the question is whether or not if a very conservative Republican is elected, whether or not that is going to tip the balance towards the Democrats in the general election.

Can you hear that? There's a lot of construction.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: We can hear it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Construction. Construction in the D.C. bureau.

HARLOW: (INAUDIBLE).

BASH: A lot. A lot of construction.

HARLOW: Turn that off -- can you turn that off, guys?

All right, we're going to have confidence they can turn it off until the control room tells them (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: It goes on all day in the D.C. -- if you go visit the D.C. bureau, it's like construction nonstop there.

BASH: But it's going to look beautiful when it's done. So just be patient.

BERMAN: It is. It's all to make Dana's office bigger. I mean as if it's not big enough already. Sorry, we digress.

BASH: I mean that's kind of what matters. No.

Go ahead.

HARLOW: Where were we?

BASH: I don't know. J.D. Vance.

HARLOW: Yes.

BASH: But I think that's really going to be fascinating to watch. And, look, I mean it is true that he -- he diagnosed and explained who Trump voters were and the fact that he didn't think Trump was the answer to it is noteworthy, and that he deleted it --

BERMAN: Right.

BASH: Because he realizes that now, in today's politics, that's not an option for him if he wants to get the nomination.

HARLOW: His story's so important, so compelling and so telling, as John said. So this is a, as someone who's talked (INAUDIBLE), this is a striking turn of events, I'll just say that much.

Dana, there was something nice to talk about in politics. Can we do that for a moment?

BASH: Please.

HARLOW: And that was this moment caught on camera -- not caught on camera -- on camera where Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, is praising Joe Biden for his leadership after the crisis in the state. I think we can -- can we play it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me say just one more thing. You know what's good about this (INAUDIBLE) the nation (INAUDIBLE). These simple acts of everybody doing whatever needs to be done is -- and it really makes a difference.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Well, thank you, Mr. President. And you recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one.

You guys have not only been supportive at the federal level, but we've had no bureaucracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That's just good to see.

BASH: It's good for everybody. That's the way it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be that politicians, elected officials, leave their party affiliation, leave their political differences at the door when it comes to human tragedy of Americans, whether it is, you know, the governor's constituents, of course, or all of the president's constituents. I mean that is the way it is supposed to work.

And for so long we have not seen that, even in the face of raw, human tragedy. So it is very nice. And the fact that we have to take a moment and shine a light on it is a reminder of how rare it is these days.

BERMAN: You know, I hate to ask, but is DeSantis going to pay a price for saying something kind?

BASH: Maybe.

BERMAN: I mean, remember, you know, Chris Christie appeared with Obama after Super Storm Sandy.

BASH: Yes.

BERMAN: Charlie Crist, you know, basically --

HARLOW: Hugged Obama.

BERMAN: Was chased from the Republican Party in Florida after hugging Barack Obama when he arrived in Florida.

BASH: Yes. Listen, he might. I mean, and it's related to the conversation we were just having about J.D. Vance because it -- there is the question about Trumpism. I mean that's really what this is as well. It's not just being a conservative, it's being, you know, loyal to one man right now, and that is Donald Trump. And DeSantis certainly has been.

BERMAN: Oh, yes.

BASH: But this -- this is a time where it's different.

I will say, with Chris Christie, and you all remember, that was Hurricane Sandy. That was like weeks before the 2012 election and it was the --

BERMAN: Days.

BASH: Days, thank you. And it was the Mitt Romney campaign. They were the ones who were really upset with him behind the scenes. And Chris Christie writes about this in his book. Kind of ironic given where Mitt Romney, the senator, is right now. You know, I don't think that he personally would have batted an eye about bipartisanship in the wake of human tragedy.

HARLOW: No.

BERMAN: Dana Bash, stay safe. Thank you -- thank you for being with us.

And you can --

BASH: It looks OK.

BERMAN: And you can watch Dana this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on "STATE OF THE UNION." And, by the way, like a big part of the amazing 4th of July special.

HARLOW: Oh, yes.

BASH: Can't wait. It's going to be so much fun, you guys. Everyone should tune in. BERMAN: I know --

HARLOW: Are you going to wear your star earrings, those big ones?

BASH: I -- you know, I'm going to text you. I have some -- I have some options, some costume wardrobe options so you can help me, Poppy.

HARLOW: OK. I'll be waiting. I'll be waiting. All right.

BERMAN: All right.

So, just in, new information on the recovery in the U.S. jobs market. The June jobs report, chief business correspondent Christine Romans has all the details.

What's it say?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Well, 850,000 jobs added. And that was really an improvement, quite frankly, from what we had been expecting, maybe 700,000.

[08:35:02]

And when you put it in context here, 850,000 is the fastest pace we've seen all year. You want to see this job market really start to pick up more speed here.

And I think that into the fall the hope is it will. There's been a labor shortage issue that we've been talking about a lot. And even the Labor Day mentions it, you guys. And it's a release here saying that this quick speed of recovery in the overall economy, as we try to get out of the COVID era, that has caused some disruptions, it has been pushing up wages a bit too. So that's good for the worker, but something to think about when you're talking about inflation down the road.

When you look at the jobs -- oh, this is -- we're still down, though, millions of jobs. And I want to be clear, this chart is important. We're still down millions of jobs in this -- in this crisis, but we are picking up some speed and sort of adding those jobs back. And the hope is that we're going to do a little bit better in the -- in the fall when schools reopen and people can get child care, quite frankly, more reliable child care.

But 5.9 percent is the unemployment rate. It ticked up just a little bit. We'll get into the nitty-gritty about why that is. But a lot of these jobs, you guys, coming back in leisure and hospitality. That's where we're seeing some gains and some broad-based gains overall there.

So wages, watching that. Looking a little bit better. And 850,000 jobs added. You want to see that. The past couple of months have been a little bit disappointing. So want to see this 850 number continue in the months ahead.

HARLOW: It's great. Do we know about women? Because that's been the big issue here is that men have been recovering more quickly than women.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARLOW: Does this break that out?

ROMANS: I don't see that number in here specifically broken out in these tables yet.

HARLOW: Yes.

ROMANS: We'll look at that -- into that. But, you're right, you're still, I think, 1.8 million women out of the labor force, you know, over the course of the pandemic. So this has been an uneven devastation in the labor market and then an uneven recovery as well.

One thing that I think is really interesting about the discussion about labor shortages is that a lot of people have retrained out of hospitality and leisure and into tech and in finance.

HARLOW: Interesting.

ROMANS: One of the things that happened in the Recovery Act and all of the rounds of stimulus is we gave -- Congress gave people breathing space so you didn't have to pay your student loan, you know, you had to -- you got a break from student loans. Some cases you got a break from rent. You got a stimulus check. So people who were like caught in this cycle of short-term jobs or part-time jobs actually had a chance to kind of get their feet under them. So I hope to see that trend continue.

BERMAN: You never know how the market's going to react one way or the other. Sometimes good news is bad news, bad news is good news.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: But I do think that this number, 850,000, will come as a bit of a relief because it shows things are going in the direction and with the velocity that people had been hoping all along.

ROMANS: It shows that we -- we can see how the kinks are going to get worked out. And that's what you're seeing in the labor market, all these kinks in the labor market.

BERMAN: It's (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: This also shows -- we've had record highs in the stock market the past six days I think for the S&P 500. The reason is, investors are saying there will be a sustained recovery. We are in the midst of a sustained economic recovery. We've got manufacturing prices going up because of all of these supply bottlenecks, right? We've got inflation here and there. We've got gas prices up because the economy is recovering, recovering strongly. So there are these things that people point to and say, but, wait, this is bad. Overall, we are in a booming economy and likely to see some of the fastest economic growth in decades this year. HARLOW: Maybe it will last for a long time if you ask folks like Jamie

Dimon and others. That's going to be interesting, how long does this go.

ROMANS: And when the Fed has to take away the punch bowl, as they say.

HARLOW: There you go.

ROMANS: When is that going to happen? Even with the Fed telegraphing that a new era is coming, you still have records highs in the stock market.

BERMAN: That's why you bring a hip flask. That's all I can say.

HARLOW: A what?

ROMANS: Hip flask.

BERMAN: Hip flask. Different era.

HARLOW: 8:38 in the morning.

BERMAN: OK. Thanks so much, Romans.

HARLOW: Thanks, Romans.

Up next, why the Biden administration just put a stop to executions.

BERMAN: Plus, how marijuana could make an American athlete miss the Olympics.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Hat down, cross town, living like a rock star, spending lot of money on my brand new guitar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: From the old town road to a brand-new CNN special, Billy Ray Cyrus joins us right here in the studio.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:17]

HARLOW: Attorney General Merrick Garland ordering a temporary pause on federal executions. There was a flurry of -- there were a flurry of executions during the final months of the Trump administration. There are 46 people currently on federal death row.

Whitney Wild has more from Washington.

This is significant, Whitney. What does it mean? WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, what Merrick Garland

is doing is saying we need to pause while we take a review of the policies and procedures surrounding federal executions. Merrick Garland has said during his confirmation hearing that the death penalty, frankly, gave him pause because of the number of wrongful convictions across the country.

Now, what the Department of Justice is doing is reviewing these policies then were enacted under then Attorney General Bill Barr, you know, former President Donald Trump that expanded the options, the methods for executing people federally to go beyond lethal injection.

So, again, a review of the policies. This is a temporary pause, not an outright ban. Here's what the latest memo from Merrick Garland said. Serious concerns have been raised about the continued use of the death penalty across the country, including arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases. Those weighty concerns deserve careful study and evaluation by lawmakers.

Poppy, as you point out, there were a flurry of executions under then Attorney General Bill Barr. In the final seven months of the Trump administration, there were 13 federal executions.

Poppy.

HARLOW: Whitney Wild, we'll see how long this lasts, where it goes. It's significant for sure. Thanks very much.

BERMAN: So track star Sha'Carri Richardson was set to represent Team USA in the 100 meter dash in the Olympics later this month but that is now in doubt after testing positive for marijuana at the trials last month.

Andy Scholes joins us now.

So what's Richardson saying about this, Andy?

[08:45:01]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sha'Carri Richardson saying, you know, she lost her biological mother right before competing at the U.S. trials last month and she told the "Today" show this morning she was very upset at that time and she used marijuana, adding that she does take full responsibility for breaking the rules.

Now, Richardson, she won the 100 meter dash at the trials in Oregon in impressive fashion. That's where she tested positive. And the positive drug test means that her first place result was thrown out and she's not going to be able to compete in that race in Tokyo where she was the favorite.

This morning Richardson apologized for letting her fans down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON, U.S. OLYMPIC SPRINTER: I apologize for the sense (ph) that I didn't know how to control my emotions, or deal with my emotions during that time. And to the -- and what I would just leave with my fans -- I would just leave it out there to say, like I tweeted and said yesterday, I'm human, we're human.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, so now we wait and see what U.S. Track and Field decides to do. The minimum 30-day ban would prevent Richardson from running the 100 meters in Tokyo, but it would end in time for her to run the 4x100 meter relay later on in the games.

All right, in the meantime, Trevor Bauer still scheduled to make his next start for the Dodgers Sunday against the Nationals despite being investigated for assault. According to a domestic violence restraining order filed in L.A. superior court, a woman alleges that the -- Bauer choked her until she lost consciousness, repeatedly punched her in the face and other areas and gave her injuries that required hospitalization. The woman says she consented to sex, but not to the alleged actions by Bauer she claims caused her injuries. Bauer denies any wrongdoing and his agent, in a statement, says the alleged victim asked for rough sex and they have the messages to prove it. Bauer has not been charged with a crime. Major League Baseball says it's going to continue to investigate the matter.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, will be celebrating their World Series title at the White House later today, John. Bauer, though, he was on the Cincinnati Reds last year, was not a part of that championship team, so he will not be at the celebration.

BERMAN: No, he won't be there. Still may be uncomfortable, though, if they're asked about the decision to let him start this coming weekend.

Andy, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: So, just ahead, a big milestone for President Biden's promise to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan.

HARLOW: And also this, country music trail blazer Billy Ray Cyrus joins us for a preview of his big CNN performance this weekend. Here it is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:51]

BERMAN: So flags, fireworks, great music, it is time to celebrate the 4th of July and the reopening of the United States. CNN put together some of the biggest names in music, including our next guest, the iconic Billy Ray Cyrus.

Thank you so much for being with us. It's so great to see you. So glad you're part of this remarkable event that will air Sunday night.

Tell us about your performance.

BILLY RAY CYRUS, SINGER, SONGWRITER AND ACTOR: Well, my performance was basically me going to school. I get to perform with the New York Youth Symphony, which was unbelievable. A 72-piece orchestra with a rock band. And Michael, the orchestra leader, was just brilliant. It -- I've played "Achy Breaky Heart" for 30 years and didn't know it had an f sharp minor -- major.

HARLOW: And they told you it did.

CYRUS: Yes, I learned that last night. So, it was amazing. It was brilliant.

We do Neil Diamond's "Coming to America." It's -- it's just so special, you know.

BERMAN: First of all, I love that song. But what I did not know is that Neil Diamond changed your life, Billy Ray Cyrus?

CYRUS: He did. He did. I was goings to be a professional baseball player, and was being scouted by the Reds and the Dodgers at the time. And I kept hearing this voice tell me buy a guitar and start a band and you'll find your purpose in life. And one thing led to another and oddly enough I won tickets to a Neil Diamond concert in Charleston, West Virginia. And it was at that moment that I kind of felt hands upon me saying, buy a guitar and start a band. This is what you're supposed to do. The music is your purpose.

And I went the next day and bought a left-handed guitar and never played another game.

HARLOW: Wow.

CYRUS: I started a band the very next day and never played another baseball game. I started making my living playing music the very, like the next week.

BERMAN: What does Neil -- and you've -- what does Neil Diamond think about this story?

CYRUS: Well, I -- we talked about it. I -- the -- oddly enough, the last show before America closed down for the pandemic, I was with Neil Diamond in Las Vegas. It was for the Cleveland Hospital and all that great benefit there that they do. And, you know, just seeing him -- he knows -- he's one of the greatest song writers in history. And his voice is pure fire. Like, as I studied for "America" and I'm listening to that -- the way his voice just cuts, I'm going, how am I going to do that? I'm going to need a lot of help and study. And I studied really hard for is.

But Neil Diamond's a great man. His wife, she's a great lady. And, you know, the music that he's made throughout the years, he's truly a legend and a gentleman. A nice man.

HARLOW: You've got a new song, and we did not plan this, but the name of the new song is?

CYRUS: "New Day."

HARLOW: "New Day."

CYRUS: "New Day."

HARLOW: Let's play a little bit of it for our viewers.

CYRUS: Let's do it. It's a "New Day."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYRUS (singing): It's a new day. It's a new day . And it's a new day. It's a new day . The whole lot different changed. You took me (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:55:01]

HARLOW: They're -- it's a beautiful song. And there is an extraordinary story about how this came to be.

CYRUS: Yes. Firerose, she's a great artist. She's from Australia. And she actually debuted yesterday in her home country on their "Today" show. A big moment for her.

But she's a great singer, song writer, got a great voice, and it's a true story of persistence. She's got the talent and stayed with it and wrote a great song, asked me to write a verse for it, which was kind of like the same as when "Old Town Road" came along and Lil Nas asked me to write a verse for it.

HARLOW: Love that song.

CYRUS: I said, you don't really need a verse. It's already a hit. But I wrote the verse for "New Day." And I thought, you know, this has really got something about it. And now being in this moment of this "New Day."

And, again, I bought a guitar and started a band in the belief of the purpose of the music. And to find a song like this, at a time like this, with an artist like this, where it is a new day for everyone. That's what was so exciting about being with the symphony last night. That was their first show together since everything closed. It's a new day. This is a special time for all of us. It's going to be a great 4th of July. And just being here, being with you guys on this new day with the new single called "New Day," you can't make it up.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: It is a new day. We keep telling people that.

CYRUS: It's a new day.

BERMAN: Billy Ray Cyrus, it's a great song.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: We really appreciate you being with us. We're so glad you're a part of this special.

Everyone, be sure to download and stream "New Day" wherever you listen to music. It is available today. And tune in Sunday as we celebrate the Fourth of July, beginning here at CNN at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

We'll be right back.

HARLOW: That made my day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)