Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Francis Suarez is Interviewed about Cuban Protests. England Players Hit by Racist Abuse; Space Tourism Begins; Boebert's Claims at CPAC. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 12, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:14]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Back with me now is the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez. We're talking about the demonstrations, really the unprecedented demonstrations we saw all over Cuba in the last 24 hours.

Mayor, you mentioned you wanted to see a statement from the Biden administration. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan did tweet last night. He said, the U.S. supports freedom of expression and assembly across Cuba and would strongly condemn any violence or targeting of peaceful protesters who are exercising their universal rights. That's from the U.S. national security adviser right now.

What do you think happens next on the island, Mayor?

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), MIAMI: Well, it remains to be seen because we've already seen the kind of violence that the national security adviser is warning against. I think at the beginning, the Cuban government was shocked, frankly, and I think your correspondent in Cuba noticed and said about the impressent (ph) and atavists (ph) and I think they just didn't know how to react. (INAUDIBLE) --

BERMAN: All right, Mayor Francis Suarez, I do appreciate the effort. We thank you for joining us this morning.

I know you're expressing your solidarity with the people who are on the streets of Cuba right now.

Developing overnight, Prince William and the mayor of London condemning the racial abuse on social media that targeted some of England's players following their crushing loss to Italy in the Euro finals.

CNN sports contributor Darren Lewis joins me now from Wembley Stadium. She's an assistant editor and columnist for "The Daily Mirror."

Darren, thank you so much for being with us.

And just to be clear, for American sports fans or Americans in general who don't know what happened, England lost in a penalty shootout. It was -- it was heartbreaking and crushing from a sports perspective.

But what we saw after was repugnant from a human perspective, where three black English players who missed their penalty kicks were attacked in racist terms overnight on social media.

What's your take on this?

DARREN LEWIS, ASSISTANT EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, "DAILY MIRROR": Well, John, it would be the equivalent of players from the NBA or the NFL, black players, being singled out for racist abuse by fans who believed that they were going to achieve some sort of success, or maybe the national side, the women's side, the men's side. Three players, black players, who people felt on the outside were culpable for a defeat being targeted with racist abuse.

And it's kind of symptomatic, you know, John, of the problem with this country. England, Britain has been mired in racist abuse for quite some time. It's been a divisive nation. I'm sure you'll note the many years with Brexit and all the other things that have pushed a wedge between different sides of the country. There are lots of good people, white people, who call out abuse, who have been very vocal since George Floyd last year and before that.

And then you have the other people empowered by the division, empowered by the rhetoric, the politicians who run the country, who have no compunction about being disparaging about the black and the brown people who are just trying to exist in this country at the moment. It's a -- it's a -- a set of circumstances overnight that really has sparked a lot of anger and emotion because these are young, black men just trying to go about their business, but they are symptomatic of the many black people in this country who find themselves subjected to racist abuse with no one able to defend them or do something about it.

BERMAN: English soccer players have been taking the knee before games all year long. And all through the European championships as well. And, in some cases, they were getting booed for it. The Italian team, I should note, before the game yesterday, took the knee as well. And some of these players have been getting booed for doing this.

This is why. What we saw overnight, Darren, is why they've been kneeling before games.

LEWIS: You hit the nail right on the head, John. Here's the thing. At the start of the tournament, as you rightly say, the players were kneeling to highlight racial injustice and the issues around racist abuse. And fans were, indeed, booing.

Then, when the teams started to win and they were playing well and they're within sight of a first major tournament final in 55 years, and a first major trophy since 1966, everyone got behind them. They were everyone's team. They were the people's team. And everyone hailed their diversity. And they were all very positive about it.

Then they lost. Then we went right back to the way we were before. And that's the problem with this country. We are black and we are brown when the country is winning, doing well. But when things are going badly, we are the reason for the problems.

And I think the debate will continue. But what has happened in the last 18 months or so, I would say, John, on both sides of the Atlantic, is that people are more empowered, they are more vocal, whether you are black, whether you are white.

[08:35:10]

If you are seeing this kind of thing, you are calling it out. And as I said before, there is a huge amount of anger, some of it directed at the prime minister, who saw fit to come out and condemn the racists when he has been racially offensive himself. There is documentary evidence of a number of occasions where he has referred to Muslim women in a disparaging way. It comes from the top. It needs to be addressed at the top if we are going to address it as a country.

BERMAN: Darren Lewis, I appreciate you being with us this morning.

LEWIS: Thank you, John. Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Just ahead, a dozen dangerous lies about the insurrection. We will fact check the former president.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And billionaire Richard Branson reaching the edge of space. What are the chances that you will, too, one day?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:59]

BERMAN: At the conservative CPAC conference this weekend, an eruption of lies about the insurrection, making it sound like a betimes story rather than an event that injured law enforcement and shook the foundation of democracy, literally. Lies repeated, aggressive, intentional, dangerous lies.

CNN's Marshall Cohen, who reads through court documents involving every suspect in the Capitol attack, pointed out 12 lies that the former president told on his Fox News interview on Sunday. All, of course, enabled by the host.

Here is lie number one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They asked me if I'd speak. And I did. And it was a very mild-mannered speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A speech to push his election lie, which he teased and promoted, which was anything but mild.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And then lie number two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They just came out with a report in Congress, and they didn't mention my name, literally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wrong. The report references tweets and other statements from the then president, including the entire transcript of his speech from that day. Plus, Senate Republicans voted against an independent investigation into the insurrection and its origins.

Lie number three.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The reason, in my opinion, you had over a million people there, which the press doesn't like to report at all because it shows too much -- too much activity, too much -- too much spirit and faith and love. There was such love at that rally. You had over a million people there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That one is a whopper. A final count is hard to come by but organizers permitted the event for about 30,000, which is far fewer than 1 million, 970,000 fewer to be sure.

And lie number four.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They were peaceful people. These were great people. The crowd was unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Peaceful except for all of the violence, the blood, the assaults, the beatings and the destruction.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yes, that is just not peaceful. Not even close.

All right, lie number five, involving Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I had suggested to the secretary of defense, perhaps we should have 10,000 national guardsmen standing by. And he reported that, as you know. But I -- we should have -- and he was turned down. And I said, it's subject to Congress. You know, they run it. Nancy Pelosi runs it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So she does not control the D.C. National Guard. That would be the president and the secretary of defense.

Lie number six.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: There were no guns whatsoever and yet they have people still in jail. There were no guns. There were no guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: There were guns, along with other weapons, from bear spray to baseball bats to Tasers. And it's impossible to know how many rioters were armed since most were allowed to walk away from the scene unchecked and unsearched.

Lie number seven.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: By the way, while you're at it, who shot Ashli Babbitt? Why are they keeping that secret? Who was the person that shot an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Again, Marshall Cohen, who pours through all these court documents, that notes, while tragic, Ashli Babbitt was committing a crime when she was killed.

Trump is also using her death to promote baseless conspiracies about it, even insinuating that Democrats are responsible.

Lie number eight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Who is the person that shot an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman, right in the head, and there's no repercussions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Just to be clear here, Babbitt was shot in the left shoulder. She was not shot in the head.

Lie number nine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You have people with no guns that walked down and, frankly, the doors were open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, frankly, a lot of doors and even some windows were forced open after a stream of violent insurrectionists battled police officers.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And speaking of, lie number ten.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: There was also a love fest between the police, the Capitol Police, and the people that walked down to the Capitol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:45:04]

BERMAN: So this is the love fest of which he is speaking.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Lie number 11 involves the evidence that we are seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They have hundreds of hours of tape and they're not releasing the tape. They ought to release the tape to see what really happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, first of all, the tapes are hardly an exoneration of his supporters. In fact, they're at the center of the cases against them.

Also, a major reason we're seeing the tapes, slowly but surely, is because CNN and the rest of the media are demanding it from the courts.

And finally, lie number 12.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They have people who walked with no guns, with no nothing. They're currently incarcerated. And there's large numbers of them. And it's not right. And they're military people. And they're police officers. And they're construction workers. And they're tremendous, in many cases, tremendous people. Tremendous people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now regardless of what their occupations are, hundreds of suspects are free. The ones who are not are charged with violent crimes. And one of the central reasons that some of them remain behind bars is because judges point to Trump's continued lies and rhetoric for why they are dangerous to society.

BERMAN: All right, what Richard Branson's space voyage means for the future of space tourism.

KEILAR: Plus, we will fact check the Colorado congresswoman who says Republicans don't want government benefits.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:08]

KEILAR: Time now for "The Good Stuff."

British billionaire Richard Branson has become the first person to ride into space aboard a rocket that he helped fund. Branson's historic flight bringing astro tourism a step closer to reality and he beat out rich rival Jeff Bezos, who will fly in eight days.

CNN's Kristin Fisher live from New Mexico with more on this.

You know, this is a test launch that is coming just days before Jeff Bezos'. What's going to set his apart? Or is this same old same old, Kristin?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brianna.

So what we're going to see in eight days from Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos is very different in the sense that it is just a good old- fashioned rocket ship with a rocket and a capsule on top. What we saw yesterday with Virgin Galactic was much more like the space shuttle, where you have a supersonic space plane with wings and takes off and lands from the same runway.

Another big difference, it's a much shorter flight. The Branson launch took about 90 minutes in total. Jeff Bezos' flight only going to take about 11 minutes. But it will go much higher than what we saw Virgin Galactic's space plane do. It will actually reach the carmen line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space. Though the U.S. says that Richard Branson reached it yesterday, 50 miles above the earth's surface and he is now an astronaut.

Brianna.

KEILAR: So how often, Kristin, are we going to be seeing these flights? Is this just going to become normal?

FISHER: I think so. I mean it hasn't happened quite yet, obviously. We're still very much in the test flight phase. But think about this, you already have between 600 and 700 people who have put down deposits to get a ride on Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two. And they've put those deposits down, some of them, years ago, and they're willing to pay $200,000, $250,000. And the FAA just granted Virgin Galactic its approval to begin flying paying customers into space. And Blue Origin, they've already had 15 successful test flights of

this New Shepherd rocket. So they could begin getting -- they could get their FAA approval any day now, too.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. When is it going to be cheaper? That's the question. Right now it's going to be flying rich people into space.

FISHER: I know.

KEILAR: Kristin, welcome to CNN. We're so excited to have you.

Kristin Fisher, live for us in New Mexico.

FISHER: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: And just ahead, we're going to fact check the Colorado congresswoman who told the CPAC crowd, quote, we don't want your welfare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:53]

BERMAN: Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert gave a suspect speech at CPAC over the weekend. She blasted lockdown restrictions and made this claim about government benefits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): We're here to tell government we don't want your benefits. We don't want your welfare. Don't come knocking on my door with your Fauci ouci (ph). You leave us the hell alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, in Colorado, many of Boebert's constituents receive government assistance and have received money from COVID relief bills passed in Congress.

Joining us now to fact check the claims, CNN reporter Daniel Dale.

Are her comments in line with what people in her district are going through, Daniel?

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: Oh, John, as of May of this year, the four Colorado counties with the state's highest unemployment rates were all in Boebert's district. Now, I'm not blaming her for those unemployment rates. I'm not blaming the unemployed for being unemployed. But I think it's worth noting that a significant number of her constituents do rely on government money to buy food and put roofs over their heads.

In addition, Colorado has received significant government money during the coronavirus pandemic. By one count, 60 billion in total, including about 15 billion through the Paycheck Protection Program.

Now, not all of that has gone to Boebert's district. But if you just go to CNN's PPP database and type in the name of one of the cities or towns in her district, you'll see a whole bunch of businesses that have taken that much-needed money, you know, from retirement communities to a dry goods store to a dental clinic. So this view that she expressed certainly is not shared by everyone she is purporting to represent.

KEILAR: And there is one false viral claim circulating that she received PPP money. Can you break that down for us?

DALE: Yes, so that -- that is false. So what happened was an Ohio restaurant company called Shooter Sports Grill got a PPP loan and intentionally or unintentionally some left-leaning Twitter accounts confused that restaurant company with the restaurant Boebert owns in Colorado which is called Shooters Grill, no sports. Those companies are simply unrelated. And as Boebert herself tweeted, no, she did not take PPP money.

[09:00:00]

BERMAN: Daniel Dale, thank you for the facts here. We appreciate your time.

DALE: Thank you.

KEILAR: CNN's coverage will continue right now.