Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Miami Hospital's Virus Patients are Younger and Unvaccinated; Dems Unveil Budget Plan to Advance Biden Agenda; Unhinged & Unglued: What Slew of Trump Books Reveals; 10 More Suspects Wanted for Assassination of Haiti's President; Cuba Cracks Down on Protestors, 100+ Arrested or Missing; Dozens Killed as Protests and Looting Escalate in South Africa. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired July 14, 2021 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar. On this NEW DAY, disturbing new evidence that younger, unvaccinated people are behind the surge in coronavirus cases across the country.
[05:59:43]
Plus, breaking overnight, a major deal to advance President Biden's agenda, but will all Democrats get on board?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And just in, the Taliban responding now to CNN's disturbing report that shows militants executing Afghan soldiers as they surrendered. We're live from Afghanistan.
And a new warning that America could lose its perfect credit rating because of political polarization and the ongoing assault on democracy.
BERMAN: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Wednesday, July 14.
U.S. democracy in peril this morning, and that is according to the American president. President Biden is sounding the alarm on voting rights and efforts by Republicans across the country to restrict them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. That's not hyperbole. Since the Civil War. The confederates back then never breached the Capitol, as insurrectionists did on January 6.
I'm not saying this to alarm you. I'm saying this because you should be alarmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The president also blasting restrictive voting laws enacted in state after state, describing them as 21st Century Jim Crow, and he is pushing for federal voting rights legislation. Also, he's calling out those who spread dangerous conspiracies about the 2020 election. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The big lie is just that, a big lie.
In America, if you lose, you accept the results. You follow the Constitution, you try again. You don't call facts fake and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you're unhappy. That's not statesmanship. That's not statesmanship. That's selfishness.
We'll be ask my Republican friends in Congress, in states and cities and counties, to stand up, for God's sake, and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election and the sacred right to vote. Have you no shame?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Beyond the big lie and the whitewashing of the insurrection, the U.S. is also experiencing an increase in deadly anti-vaccination rhetoric, and it's having an impact.
Daily vaccination rates are down nearly 50 percent since last week, even as the average of new coronavirus cases jumps 97 percent across the country, and it's influencing not just the coronavirus vaccine in the wake of the firing of Tennessee's top vaccination official. The state's department of health is halting adolescent vaccine outreach altogether, so all vaccines.
In Florida, physicians at a Miami-Dade hospital say they treated about twice as many coronavirus patients over the weekend as they had been treating earlier this month. And that cases in 30- and 40-year-olds are accelerating faster than for those who are over age 65.
CNN's Leyla Santiago is live in Miami with more. Leyla, tell us about this trend that they're seeing there.
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, given what you just said, what the Jackson Health System experienced over the weekend, seeing twice the number of patients.
I talked to an infectious disease expert who tells me Florida is seeing a 125 percent increase in cases since June, mostly unvaccinated people and a few breakthroughs. She told me part of the problem is that you have unvaccinated people following the guidelines, the CDC guidelines for vaccinated people.
And she was quick to say, we jumped the gun, referring to the U.S. and Florida, wanting to believe that the pandemic was over, and of course, it's not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. AILEEN MARTY, INFECTIOUS DISEASE PROFESSOR, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: If we don't heed the fact that people need to be more cautious than what they're being right now, we're going to see more deaths. We're going to see more cases. And we're going to see a lot more long COVID, which is what's really, really troubling for the younger population.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANTIAGO: Now, I did talk to the Miami-Dade mayor's office. They are aware. They are monitoring the cases and weighing their options. I should mention that, according to a state report last week, Miami-Dade specifically seeing 73 percent of eligible residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
But here's the thing. Remember, back in May, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law that basically ties the hands of a lot of local governments, not being able to implement their own restrictions when it comes to COVID-19.
KEILAR: Yes. Very good point. Leyla Santiago live for us from Miami. Thanks.
BERMAN: And local governments in Miami can't enact vaccine requirements in any kind of way.
[06:05:03]
And new this morning, a sign that at least in some places, these vaccine requirements do work. A record 1.3 million French citizens booked coronavirus appointment Monday after President Macron said that, starting in August, anyone who wants to visits bars, cafes and restaurants must show a health pass certifying they've been vaccinated or recently tested negative.
After Macron's speech, the French booking site crashed amid a rush of people accepting that getting vaccinated is the only way to return to some version of pre-pandemic life.
So one Minnesota woman suffered more than 400 days of debilitating ailments after getting COVID, and this morning she is preaching the benefits of the vaccine. Melissa Jones joins me now.
First of all, Melissa, I'm so glad that you're feeling well. You got COVID, like, in March of 2020. I can hardly remember March of 2020 at this point. How sick were you?
MELISSA GERADS JONES, SUFFERED WITH CORONAVIRUS LONG HAUL SYMPTOMS: Good morning, John. Thank you so much for having me.
I remember March 2020 really well. That is when my daughter and I were both diagnosed with COVID. And we were pretty sick right from the get- go. We had a lot of the chest symptoms, chest pain, chest congestion, incredible pressure on our chest, like someone was pushing down on our chest as hard as they could. A runny nose, sore throat, some nauseousness, and eventually, some brain fog and incredible fatigue.
BERMAN: Brain fog and fatigue. And for 400 days, this plagued you in one way or another. What lasted? What lingered?
JONES: So, the chest pain, which was centered right over my heart, was one of the things that hung on the longest. The chest congestion was there. The wheeziness. The wheeziness, and the brain fog and the fatigue. Those were -- those were the ones that were there the longest and kind of the hardest to deal with in a lot of ways.
BERMAN: So, when you got vaccinated, what happened to all these things you were suffering?
JONES: Well, I had my second vaccination in April, and initially, I had the Moderna vaccine, and I got pretty sick from it for about three days. And then that cleared up, and I felt how I had felt for, you know, almost 400 days at that point.
And then at about day five after that second vaccine, I was walking through the living room of my home. And all of a sudden, I became aware of the fact that the chest pain that was centered over my heart almost the whole time was gone.
And then another couple days went by, and the chest congestion seemed to clear up. And -- and as the days went on, the symptoms just sort of went away.
The last to go was that brain fatigue and -- the brain fog and the fatigue. And it was maybe a couple weeks after that second shot where I realized everything was gone. And I feel as healthy as I did before I got sick.
BERMAN: What would you say if I said to you, that the 400 days that you've endured of brain fog, of chest pain and other things, if you could have avoided it, skipped it completely, by getting a couple shots, what would you say?
JONES: I would have gotten them right away. I wouldn't wanted to have gone through 400-plus days of feeling the way that I felt and not being able to keep up with my children or enjoy my life. So I would have gotten the shot immediately.
BERMAN: So what's your message to people out there who might say that, you know, I'm young, I'm healthy. You know, COVID's not going to kill me. I don't want to get vaccinated.
JONES: You know, I don't understand that. I really don't. We've seen the evidence that COVID affects people of all ages, of all health. I was in perfectly great health before I got sick.
And I think about what is important. Every decision I make in my life is about what's important to me. My children are the most important thing to me.
And I do everything for them to be there for them. I fought through COVID so I could stay there for them. And if you're on the fence about getting a vaccine, I guess I would just ask you to think about what matters to you? What's important to you? And then make sure that you do the things that you can do to be there for them and be healthy for them?
BERMAN: Do you feel as if the vaccine has given you back your life? JONES: Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm -- I feel as great as I did before,
and I felt really great then. So I'm -- I'm not going to say that it is exactly what cured me, but the correlation is there. I felt miserable for months. And within a couple weeks of getting the shot, I feel the way I did before.
BERMAN: Listen, Melissa Jones, we're so glad that you're feeling better.
JONES: Thank you.
BERMAN: So sorry you had to go through what you went through the last 400 days. It's been tough. It's been tough on everyone, but it sounds like it's been really difficult for you. So best to you and your family.
JONES: Thank you very much, John. I appreciate it. And to you, too.
BERMAN: Brianna.
KEILAR: Really amazing interview there.
Developing overnight, Senate Democrats announcing an agreement on a $3.5 trillion budget resolution. Trillion, that's right. And this includes spending for President Biden's sweeping social agenda. It would be a first step toward unlocking the ability to pass their own infrastructure bill later this year for Democrats.
[06:10:19]
The effort is separate from a bipartisan bill on traditional infrastructure on roads and bridges. And Lauren Fox is covering this for us.
This could potentially be a way for Democrats to circumvent the filibuster. They wouldn't need 60 votes here.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Brianna. And look, there are a lot of moving parts on infrastructure on Capitol Hill right now. The biggest one, of course, this budget deal that came together last night.
Now, this is just the Budget Committee Democrats agreeing that they all support a $3.5 trillion price tag. And that means that every committee will go ahead now and try to write their infrastructure bill with these what they're known as instructions.
So that's sort of the next step here. Now, Democrats will still have to pass this on the floor, and that's a holdover. Because remember, they have a broad coalition of Democrats. They have people like Bernie Sanders, who identifies as independent. They also have people like Joe Manchin, who is a moderate Democrat and has made it clear that he's not for a bunch of new government spending. Can they convince him to get behind this $3.5 trillion framework? That's really unclear at this point. Now, I think a very important message that Schumer is trying to send
and he sent last night is there is Democratic unity. And nothing is going to be clearer on that Democratic unity point than Joe Biden coming to the Senate Democrats' lunch today. That is something that is clearly Democrats trying to signal to their rank-and-file members this is what the president wants.
But Democrats are still trying to get somewhere on their bipartisan bill. People like Manchin are going to want some support from other progressives in order to support this Democratic-only bill.
So there's a lot of moving pieces. This is going to be a long July. And I think we're going to see things sort of ebb and flow before there's a final resolution.
KEILAR: Joe Biden had said, I don't want this -- I don't want to sign this bipartisan infrastructure agreement without getting this budget passed, basically, this budget proposal, this other kind of chunk of change -- let's be honest -- that can go with infrastructure.
How do Republicans feel about that? Because they're part of this bipartisan deal and yet there's also this going along on the side?
FOX: Well, I think that this is where nuance is going to be really important here, because a lot of Republicans knew that, even if there was a bipartisan infrastructure bill on roads and bridges, there probably was going to be a bigger Democratic-only bill.
What they do not like is the idea that these two bills would be linked in some way, that Pelosi won't bring up a bipartisan bill until she sees a reconciliation bill or a Democratic-only bill right alongside of it.
That is going to be a problem for Republicans, and that potentially could hemorrhage GOP votes. But if Democrats can get the messaging right here and say we're going to pass this bipartisan bill in the Senate. We're going to go ahead and pass our budget, but we're not going to hold anything up.
That probably is less of an issue for Republicans. But look, we're going to find out today, because it's all hypothetical until they saw a $3.5 trillion price tag for a Democratic-only bill.
And Republicans who are reluctant to support that bipartisan bill are going to be even more reluctant. And they're going to have something to point to now, saying, why would I support a bipartisan bill, and I'm just going to turn around and see Democrats pass way more government spending that I don't want to agree to at all.
KEILAR: Yes. They might see it as an end run around what they're doing, or essentially, it all becomes one bill to them, right? At least is its message.
Lauren, great reporting. Thank you so much.
And just in, the Taliban is now responding to CNN's disturbing report that shows the alleged executions of Afghan soldiers by Taliban militants.
BERMAN: Plus, unhinged and unglued. What the onslaught of books reveal about Donald Trump's final days in office.
And one of the Russian hacking groups that attacked U.S. companies has mysteriously vanished after President Biden called Vladimir Putin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:18:15]
BERMAN: Republicans have long railed against injecting politics into sports, but during last night's Major League Baseball All-Star Game, they injected politics into sports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. MELVIN EVERSON, FORMER MEMBER OF THE GEORGIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: This was supposed to be Atlanta's night, but we were robbed. Democrats stole our All-Star Game to push their divisive political agenda. To Democrats, it's just a game. But we're the ones who got played.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So that was an ad from the Republican National Committee, complaining about the fact the All-Star Game got moved from Georgia to Colorado because of Georgia passing the restrictive voting laws there, but this is a whole chicken and egg thing here, right?
KEILAR: That's right. They've said over and over they don't want the politics in sports, but now it's -- they're participating in it. So it's kind of -- yes.
BERMAN: Shut up and dribble, but we'll run a campaign ad here.
KEILAR: The message was very clear.
BERMAN: All right. This morning, a series of brand-new books: "I Alone Can Fix It" by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker; "Frankly, We Did Win This Election" by Michael Bender; and "Landslide" by Michael Wolff. They shed new light on the final days of the Trump administration.
Brian Stelter has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I alone can fix it.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From 2016 to 2020 --
TRUMP: Frankly, we did win this election.
STELTER: -- Donald Trump went from deceptive to downright dangerous. TRUMP: We won this election, and we won it by a landslide.
STELTER: And three new books using Trump's words as titles underscore just how ugly his final days in office were.
MICHAEL WOLFF, AUTHOR, "LANDSLIDE: THE FINAL DAYS OF THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY": Everybody knew that what was going on here was abnormal and dangerous and, on top of everything else, ludicrous.
STELTER: In Michael Wolff's "Landslide," Trump is portrayed as incompetent and alone.
[06:20:05]
WOLFF: It's just him and Rudy Giuliani.
STELTER: Wolff writes that no one in Trump's inner circle believed that Trump actually won the election.
WOLFF: They literally stepped back, so they're not helping him.
STELTER: But outsiders like Sidney Powell took over and told Trump what he wanted to hear.
In Michael Bender's book, "Frankly, We Did Win This Election," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is quoted as saying, "The crazies have taken over." Bender's takeaway --
MICHAEL BENDER, AUTHOR, "FRANKLY, WE DID WIN THIS ELECTION": Is how dangerous the people who are closest to Trump thought he was for the country.
STELTER: Bender says Pompeo tried to intervene.
BENDER: Privately, he sets up a call with -- daily call with the chief of staff and Mark Milley, the nation's top general, in order to try to keep temperatures down.
STELTER: But in public, Pompeo weirdly appeased Trump.
MIKE POMPEO, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.
STELTER: Next week's big Trump book continues the theme of aides trying to manage Trump's emotions. "I Alone Can Fix It" by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker describes Trump boiling over as his opponent Joe Biden pulls ahead,, with an adviser calling GOP strategist Karl Rove and saying, "He's in a meltdown. Can you call him and tell him that all is not lost?"
TRUMP: Save our country.
STELTER: Months later, Trump is still in denial about losing, and he's denying some accounts from these books.
BENDER: He's attacking this book, because he knows how many people I talked to him, people who don't normally talk to journalists.
STELTER: These new releases are filling in the first rough draft of history, describing democracy under attack, and the role of the military.
Leonnig and Rucker reporting that a retired military buddy told Milley the chairman of joints chief of staff, quote, "You represent the stability of the republic" and that then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper told his deputies that he wanted this election to be clean and clear and feared that anything less might give Trump some shred of a reason to call out troops.
Esper, the authors wrote, wanted Biden to win for the good of the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STELTER: And we are learning more about this now, because almost six months have passed since the end of the Trump administration. More sources feel more free to talk, but they're still mostly speaking only anonymously.
I think it's going to be important to see some of these officials and aides and advisers start to speak on the record so everybody has a full accounting for history of what went wrong at the end of the Trump era -- John, Brianna.
BERMAN: Thanks to Brian Stelter for that. We should try to book some of these authors. Bring them on NEW DAY to talk about -- to talk about their books. Just saying.
KEILAR: That was like your book report yesterday. I enjoyed your book reports yesterday, though. Fascinating. Fascinating.
BERMAN: I was going to bring the diorama. My best book reports always had an accompanying diorama.
KEILAR: I love dioramas. Waiting for this one.
BERMAN: Next time.
All right. Is an American pastor behind the assassination of Haiti's president? The latest on the investigation into the intricate murder plot, next.
KEILAR: Plus, new CNN reporting that shows Taliban fighters allegedly executed 22 unarmed Afghan special forces soldiers. The Taliban has issued a response, and we're live in Kabul next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:27:36]
BERMAN: Growing violence and unrest this morning all around the world. In Haiti, ten more suspects are wanted for the assassination of the president, and Cuba crackdowns on protesters escalating. In South Africa, dozens have been killed as protests and looting intensify. IN Afghanistan, the Taliban is denying CNN reports that they executed nearly two dozen Afghan commandos.
CNN has reporters in all four of these locations, standing by around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matt Rivers in Port- au-Prince, Haiti.
Up until now, only foreign nationals have been officially listed as suspects in the investigation into the assassination of Haiti's president.
But that changed on Tuesday afternoon, when CNN got confirmation from a government source here in Port-au-Prince that ten Haitian citizens have now officially been added to that suspect list. All ten citizens remain at large at this point.
The government officially named three of them, including a former senator from here in Haiti. That means the total number of suspects in this investigation now sits at 39.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Patrick Oppmann in Havana, where the Cuban government is continuing its crackdown on the protesters who took to the streets by the thousands demanding change.
According to one activist group, at least 100 of the protesters are either in jail or are missing. And according to the Cuban government, one protester was killed after clashing with police.
The Biden administration has called on the Cuban government to let the protests continue. But the Cuban government says they will do whatever it takes to safeguard their revolution.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm David McKenzie in Soweto.
The people you see behind me are private citizens trying to protect this mall from looters after several days of unrest in two parts of the country where more than 70 people were killed and many structures destroyed.
They say they exchanged fire with potential looters overnight. The military is on the streets, trying to restore order. Still sporadic looting as they try to tamp down the worst unrest this country has seen in decades.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: So in Afghanistan, the Taliban -- the Taliban in Afghanistan just responded to brand-new CNN reporting and video evidence showing Taliban fighters executing 22 unarmed Afghan commandos as they try to surrender in June.
This is a portion of the evidence. We do want to warn you it is graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
