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New Day

Osaka Reveals Mental Health Angst; Oklahoma GOP Turns on Lankford; Jimmy Choi Shares his Parkinson's Story; Spears' Mom Asks Judge to Let Her Choose a Lawyer. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 08, 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]

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: They need to be a little bit more progressive. But I think the 30,000 foot view here, when she talks about feeling like she doesn't want to be in a position publically where her medical history is under scrutiny ever again, is that tennis players are independent contractors. And they could benefit from having a players' union, a players' association that would give them the protections that they deserve, to set the rules and regulations for how these sorts of things are going to be handled.

And so if that's the outcome from all of this, and I think that that's largely positive. That's something that's been talked about internally within the sport for a long time. And it could be important because these players are largely isolated. Tennis is a physical game, but it's also a mental game. And she, unfortunately, found herself in an unavoidable situation where she was taking on a federation and a grand slam alone.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Look, she says in this essay that Michael Phelps told her that by speaking out she probably saved her life. Phelps came on our show. He was talking to us about how important it was that she do this for her own good.

MANNO: Yes. Michael Phelps basically told her, you might have saved somebody by doing this publicly, which I know is outside of your comfort zone. And that's what she says in this "Time" essay is that she never set out to be an ambassador for mental health. But this could very much end up being her vocation and she could create lasting change and be a change agent, similar to the way that Billie Jean King made real strides in tennis.

I mean this is where she finds herself. But it's not where she wanted to be, it's where she is. And she does say, she punctuates that essay by saying that, if that's, in fact, the case, if she did save someone through what's been a very difficult process for her, then it's worth it.

BERMAN: Look, and she will be at the Olympics, which, of course, are in Japan, her home country. I'm sure she will be a favorite there.

MANNO: She's a favorite.

BERMAN: All right, Carolyn, thanks so much for being with us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Track and field star Sha'Carri Richardson won't be bringing home the gold, but her case is bringing home the fact that America's marijuana laws make no sense.

John Avlon is here with a "Reality Check."

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Let's talk about pot. Specifically how our laws make no senseamealia (ph) any more. Sorry. Now, that's not just the opinion of dead heads like John Berman or folks who like to unwind with a green martini. No, that's the considered opinion of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who recently wrote, a prohibition on interstate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper. The federal government's current approach is half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.

Now, he's talking about the fact that recreational marijuana use is now legal in 18 states and D.C., while the federal government still classifies marijuana as a schedule one narcotic with no medical benefit and the high potential for abuse. That's the same category as heroin and LSD. Even cocaine is a schedule two narcotic. That didn't make a ton of sense when it was passed in 1971 and it sure as hell doesn't make any sense now, especially when legal U.S. cannabis sales just hit a record $17.5 billion.

National laws are in complete contradiction with many state laws, with a possible prison time hanging in the balance. Or, as it turns out, participating in the Olympics. Enter the case of Sha'Carri Richardson, who looked like she was going to bring home the gold for Team USA in the 100 meter sprint before testing positive for pot. Now, she copped to it and explained that she used marijuana after hearing about her mother's death, apologized and said, don't judge me because I'm human. I just happen to run a lot faster.

Now, that's true. But Olympic rules require a one-month suspension, which means that she was disqualified from the 100 in Tokyo later this month. Looked like she could participate in the relay race, but the U.S. track team decided to leave her off the roster.

Now, here's the extra crazy thing. The team called its own decision incredibly unfortunate and devastating for everyone involved.

Now, the rules are the rules, as President Biden said, but it's worth looking at why those rules are there. The World Anti-Doping Agency was established to police the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the Olympics, which has been a real problem, leading to Russia being banned from the next two Olympics because of its doping program.

But does anyone really think that pot can enhance performance in track and field? Marijuana has never made anyone move faster. It turns out that the World Anti-Doping Agency has been debating whether pot should be prohibited since the 1980s. In the meantime, roughly 40 countries have at least partially legalized it. With one of the agency's founders telling "The Washington Post," one of these days we should probably either take it off the listen entirely or say it's there but the minimum sanction should be something like a warning so you're not losing any period of eligibility.

Maybe one of those days should be now because people's lives get caught up in these contradictions. Consider that according to FBI data, four out of 10 U.S. drug arrests in 2018 were for marijuana offenses, mostly possession. And black Americans are more than three times more likely to be arrested for it than whites despite similar usage rates. And there are still people serving time in prison on minor marijuana charges.

It doesn't make sense. Marijuana offenders should be released and have their records expunged if the law they were prosecuted under isn't in affected anymore, as they did in New York.

[08:35:02]

And the government should step up and finally change the absurd classification of marijuana as a schedule one narcotic. Because if we've come to a place where there's common ground between Cheech and Chong and Clarence Thomas, it's time to be -- stop being so dazed and confused when it comes to pot and consequences.

And that's your "Reality Check."

KEILAR: Hmm, that's an interesting Vin diagram, Cheech and Chong and Clarence Thomas.

John Avlon, thank you so much.

AVLON: I wanted to give you that gift.

KEILAR: Thank you. And you did.

Is Donald Trump's lawsuit against social media companies a serious case or is it just a big stunt? We will roll the tape, next.

BERMAN: And Britney Spears' battle to get out of her conservatorship. What her mother is now telling the judge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: George Conway, conservative lawyer and Trump critic, says the former president's lawsuit against social media companies for removing him from their platforms is, quote, as stupid as you'd think.

We'll delve into that in a moment.

[08:40:01]

But we should also note that this lawsuit strategy is same old same old for Trump. The art of the frivolous lawsuit has been his M.O. for decades. He does it for publicity. He does it to delay legitimate legal challenges. He does it to bury workers on his building projects who just want to get paid for their manual labor in legal bills. And, in this case, he's doing it to raise money. One hour later, he sent fundraising emails. Back in 2016, "USA Today" did a tally of lawsuits involving Trump

before he became president, and then more recently in the last year, Dana Millbank at "The Washington Post" compiled a rather complete list in some of these legal challenges here laid out. Trump was the defendant. In others, he was the plaintiff. And all told, there are 4,095 over three decades.

And these lawsuits span every category imaginable. There's the Trump brand, trademarks, golf clubs, taxes, defamation, personal injury,, real estate, employment, contract disputes, and the most involving his casinos. And over time he, his campaign and his cronies either sued or threatened to sue or just plain threatened the following "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," "The Associated Press," CNN multiple times and one time demanding an apology after he didn't like one of our polls, "The Daily Beast," Univision, NBC and an affiliate, "The Los Angeles Times," "USA Today," ABC, the BBC, an architecture critic for "The Chicago Tribune," along with the newspaper who once called one of his proposed buildings a, quote, ugly monstrosity, and "The Onion," which, of course, is satirical fiction.

The list, of course, isn't limited to media. There's the Culinary Workers Union, Club for Growth, the city of Minneapolis, and he also likes threatening individuals who he perceives as enemies, or frankly they just aren't nice to him, like Rosie O'Donnell, who he wanted to, quote, take some money out of her fat ass pockets -- that's what he said -- Bill Maher, after the host demanded to see Trump's birth certificate to prove that he wasn't, quote, the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan, a Miss USA contestant who called his pageant rigged, a random Twitter user, a woman critical of Trump University, a critic of his golf courses, the organizer of a Dump Trump campaign, author Michael Wolff, former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed, a 92-year-old widow in Scotland, his sexual misconduct accusers, Steve Bannon, his former aide, GOP Senator Ted Cruz, GOP former Ohio Governor John Kasich, who Trump said he wanted to sue for, quote, fun. And then there was a person who made anti-Trump t-shirts, also hi niece, Mary Trump, and an artist who painted a nude of him. The artist says that she was threatened by someone claiming to be part of Trump's team if the piece was sold.

But why? Why does he do this over and over? Well, perhaps he gave us a hint at the press conference for this new lawsuit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: If you say it long enough, hard enough, often enough, people will start to believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, that may have worked with the big lie that he won the 2020 election when he actually lost it. But when it comes to lawsuits, Trump has just become the litigant who cried wolf.

BERMAN: I didn't know about the naked painting.

KEILAR: I didn't either. But, you know, we do our research and we uncover all these interesting things, and that might be the most interesting and disturbing.

BERMAN: Well, I hope you didn't do too much research on that one there. But, no, I mean, clearly the lawsuit is his default position there. Great, interesting reporting there.

Up next, the Republican facing a revolt from his own party because he refused to go along with the big lie about the stolen election.

KEILAR: And how Britney Spears' mom is now backing her in -- backing her in her battle to regain control of her life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:06]

BERMAN: Oklahoma Senator James Lankford is one of the most conservative members of the Senate. But that's not good enough for the head of the Oklahoma Republican Party. According to the "Tulsa World," the state's Republican Party chair is supporting Lankford's primary opponent, Jackson Lahmeyer, a far right candidate who has fully embraced Trump's -- Donald Trump's false claims about the election. The main issue seems to be that Lankford did not go far enough in backing the big lie from Donald Trump.

Joining me now is Mickey Edwards, former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma. He was a member of the Republican leadership, the chairman of the party's policy committee in the House. He left the Republican Party after the Capitol insurrection, saying it has become a cult idolizing a ruler.

Congressman, it doesn't get -- you don't get much more conservative than James Lankford, yet the state party chair from your -- you know, your home state is saying it's not good enough anymore. Lankford, in the end, did not back all of Trump's election lies, and that seems to be the sticking point.

What does it tell you?

MICKEY EDWARDS, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN FOR OKLAHOMA: Well -- well, first of all, to put it in perspective, there are probably not 200 people in Oklahoma who have any idea who the Republican state chairman is.

When I was in Congress, I didn't know who my state party chairman was. So it doesn't mean that it -- but it does mean, as it often happens, you know, that the small number of extremists who are really fired up can easily take over a party organization. I don't think Lankford is in any problem, but it is true that there is a hard core group that are not really interested in public policy, they're not interested in constitutional issues, they're Trump loyalists. They believe the lie. And they -- it's happening here in Massachusetts where the state party chairman is opposing the Republican governor, Charlie Baker.

[08:50:01]

You know, it's a group of people who just want to keep Trump up front. And they also want to disrupt Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress because they want to take control again.

BERMAN: I agree that many, you know, normal people don't necessarily know who the state party chairs are. But it does say something that the official party apparatus now, and it's not just in Oklahoma, that their primary driving issue in some cases is the big lie, and loyalty to the former president.

EDWARDS: Yes, and I think that's part of it, is loyalty.

I think the thing that's disturbing is a lot of the people who are doing this are not watching this program. They watch other programs. They watch -- they have other news sources. A lot of them, you know, may be nuts, but a lot of them actually believe what they're saying. They believe what Trump is saying because that's the news sources that they depend upon.

I think Lankford, back to Oklahoma, Lankford's not going to be in any problem. I think he's going to easily win his primary and then probably easily win re-election. But it does say something that this is happening all across the country where the people who are the most zealous and really the ones who know the least about what's true and what's not true are able to take over an organization, and then they shut other people up. People become afraid to stand up to them. It's the intimidation factor, you know, because we'll bring Trump in and we'll denounce you and we'll sue you or whatever else. And I think that's -- it's a problem all across the country. The Trump poison has been spread throughout the party.

BERMAN: And, again, and I agree, I don't think Lankford necessarily is vulnerable in Oklahoma, but it is striking that for some candidates around the country, and it seems to be a growing number, that adherence to the big lie or things that just aren't true, it's not a bug, it's the feature of their candidacy.

EDWARDS: Well, it is. Remember, they have a secret weapon, and that is that we have the kind of a party system in the United States where, in order to be on the ballot in November where you might be able to win with a lot of independence, a lot of Democrats. But to get on the ballot in November, you first have to navigate a party primary. And that helps a lot. It helped Ocasio-Cortez in New York. It helps people all across the country who are able to be either more left or more right than the general voter, but they have to please the people in the primary to get onto the ballot. And if it's a heavily Democratic area or a heavily Republican area, that's all you need to do.

BERMAN: Congressman Mickey Edwards, always a pleasure to speak to you. Thanks so much for joining us.

EDWARDS: Yes. Thanks. Thanks for having me on.

BERMAN: Brianna.

KEILAR: Parkinson's is not just a disease for the elderly. Nearly 10 percent of Parkinson's patients get it before they're even 50. Meet one man who took his diagnosis and fought back in today's "Human Factor." (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY CHOI, PARKINSON'S ADVOCATE: When I was first diagnosed with Parkinson's, I was only 27 years old. I was in shock. I figured, if I just ignored it, it would just go away.

My name is Jimmy Choi and I am a five-time competitor on "American Ninja Warrior."

I had just gotten married. We had all kinds of dreams. Over the next eight years, all of my symptoms started to progress. The tremors got worse. The rigidity got worse. I was constantly losing my balance.

And then one day when I was walking down the stairs with my son, the two of us fell. I knew that I had to make a change.

And I finally got myself into a clinical trial involving exercise and I noticed that I felt better.

So I started adding more activity in my life. I would try to just get outside and just walk, and just keep adding every day trying to do a little more. That walk became a jog. The jogging became running. So by April of 2012, I ran the Chicago Marathon.

Even though I was getting stronger, Parkinson's never goes away. I'm simply preparing my body so that it's better at handling these symptoms when my body is cramping. I have a better chance of pulling myself out of that cramp.

With "American Ninja Warrior," it was actually my daughter that got me into it. And this year I've completed by fifth season.

Today I'm an advocate for Parkinson's research. My goal is to help encourage others to be more active, to make themselves stronger. You don't have to be on "American Ninja Warrior." You don't have to run marathons. Just find something that you enjoy doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:57]

BERMAN: New developments this morning in Britney Spears' conservatorship case. The pop star's mother, Lynne Spears, told the court that her daughter is in a much different place now than in 2008 and should be allowed to choose her own attorney.

CNN's Chloe Melas joins us now with more.

So what's the mother doing here

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: So Lynne Spears files a petition saying that my daughter should have the right to choose her own attorney. We heard Britney said that last month at that bombshell hearing in which Britney said it's been 13 years, I've had a court appointed attorney this entire time, I want to choose my own counsel. Well, Britney's court appointed attorney resigned earlier this week.

But what's complicated about this is that Britney said during that hearing, not only is the conservatorship abusive, John, but that my parents have never intervened for my good will and my parents, I want to sue them. They should be in jail.

So Lynne Spears coming out here with this petition acting as though that she's acting on the behalf, best interest of her daughter here, but really is this a public peace offering from Lynne to her daughter saying, you know, I do care about you and I want to --

BERMAN: Stop suing me.

MELAS: Stop suing me and I want to make things right.

BERMAN: Yes, you have to question everyone's interest in perspective in this certainly at this point.

Another major development overnight in terms of filings.

MELAS: So many people filing different petitions, all acting as though they know what Britney needs and what Britney wants.

So the latest is Jodi Montgomery, who is the conservator of Britney's person. This woman has been overseeing Britney's medical decisions, medical affairs for the last two years since her father stepped aside from that particular role. And she has come under immense scrutiny since that hearing because Britney says, I can't take my IUD out. I change in front of people. I have no privacy. I'm forced into therapy. These are all things that Jodi Montgomery oversees on a day to day basis.

Well, Jodi filing a petition yesterday saying Britney needs a guardian ad litem. A guardian ad litem is a court appointed person that basically acts on behalf of Britney's best interests. It's something you see with incapacitated people or minor children. But, John, Britney wants the conservatorship terminated. Nobody, her mom, Jodi, her family members has filed a petition, her attorney, to terminate the conservatorship.

[09:00:05]

That's what Britney wants. So all these petitions, all these filings, but none of it is what Britney.