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Biden Attends Town Hall Tonight; Cruz Blocks Diplomat Confirmations; Wildfires Force Evacuations; Bucks Win NBA Title. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired July 21, 2021 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:31:06]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden traveling to Ohio today for tonight's live CNN town hall with Don Lemon. The president's domestic agenda is teetering on the edge of collapse in Congress. The White House acknowledging the next few weeks could make or break Biden's first term.
Jeff Zeleny, traveling with the president now, and he's with us from Cincinnati this morning.
You know, how fortunes change, right? Things seem to be going so well. Now they are teetering on the brink of collapse and the stakes are so high, Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna, good morning.
I mean there's no question that it does often feel like a race against time inside the West Wing of the White House. A senior White House adviser telling me, we know the clock is running. The president certainly realizes that.
Certainly that infrastructure deal front and center today, as well as the rising cases of COVID-19, economic challenges and more. But the Biden supporters we've been speaking with here in Ohio said they are patiently waiting and hopeful the president's agenda can still go forward.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALICIA REECE, VICE PRESIDENT, HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: I think they heard from the election that, hey, we don't have time to play around. We've got to move and the people want action.
ZELENY (voice over): Alicia Reece is sizing up President Biden's first six months in office.
REECE: I'm not saying that the administration is perfect. We've got other things we've got to work on. Certainly voting rights has got to get done. Criminal justice. The George Floyd bill's got to get moving. ZELENY: Here in Cincinnati, some early promises from the Biden
administration, like economic relief from the pandemic, have been delivered. And other pledges, like improving infrastructure, are teetering.
REECE: If we keep the theme of delivering for the American people, I think we'll be OK. But if we get back to the old days of Washington, bickering back and forth while the American people watch it and say, hey, they're totally disconnected from us, then we'll be going backwards.
ZELENY: That sentiment from Reece, vice president of the county board of commissioners, sums up the challenges facing Biden as he tries advancing a bipartisan infrastructure deal, testing whether Washington can still work.
One face of America's failing infrastructure has long been right here, the Brent Spence Bridge, which cross the Ohio River on one of the busiest trucking routes in the country.
ZELENY (on camera): If the infrastructure bill does not go through, how much of a disappointment will that be?
REECE: I think it will be a big disappoint because we heard over and over that infrastructure's so important and the Brent Spence Bridge is so important.
ZELENY (voice over): Six months after taking office, Biden has entered the long, hard days of summer.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is much more to be done and so much more to do.
ZELENY: A critical stretch on which the success of his presidency will rise or fall, amid a COVID resurgence, inflation worries, and complex foreign policy challenges. Cincinnati and Hamilton County are just beginning to spend their piece of the American Rescue Plan that Biden signed into law in March. The city is receiving $280 million, and the county, $159 million, aimed at road construction, affordable housing and shoring up businesses.
ALLEN FLEURY, OHIO RESIDENT: It's good to see businesses picking up.
ZELENY: Allen Flurry voted for Biden, and so far is generally pleased with his new president.
FLEURY: A president that is working with others, consulting with others. I feel like he's -- has more strategic direction, less shooting from the hip.
ZELENY: Biden admirers point to his character in kindness as a welcome respite.
KIM GREEN, OHIO RESIDENT: I think he advocates justice and equally for all people. So far he's doing really good.
ZELENY: But in a country deeply divided, other Biden supporters want him to use the power of the Oval Office while he has it.
JOE MALLORY, PRESIDENT, CINCINNATI NAACP: No, I'm not running out of patience. You know, it's a tough job. I know he's got a tough job. I think there are some things he can do to be more forceful.
ZELENY: Joe Mallory is president of the Cincinnati NAACP. He's waiting for Biden to speak more forcefully on protecting voting rights by eliminating the Senate filibuster and police reform.
[06:35:03]
MALLORY: He has a lot of room for improvement, you know, because this is just the beginning part of his term, but we're still going to be pressing for more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, by the time President Biden arrives here in Cincinnati this evening, he will likely have a greater sense of if the infrastructure deal can be a bipartisan agreement going forward or if Democrats will have to try and do this through reconciliation. That, of course, is the Senate rule for allowing Democrats only to vote on this.
So, of course, infrastructure, COVID-19, the economy, many issues on the minds of voters here in Ohio, all of which will be front and center tonight at that CNN town hall with President Biden.
Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, he would love that bipartisan win. We will see if he does get it in the end.
ZELENY: Right.
KEILAR: Jeff Zeleny, in Cincinnati, thank you so much.
And you can watch CNN's exclusive town hall with President Joe Biden, hosted by our Don Lemon, tonight beginning at 8:00 Eastern.
Coming up, Florida's Republican governor is facing some harsh criticism from within his own state as coronavirus cases there rise.
JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: And a fiery exchange on Capitol Hill with Dr. Anthony Fauci taking aim at COVID misinformation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): They could have.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: And if anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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AVLON: A New York City police officer is being praised for saving a family trapped in a house fire. You've got to see this dramatic body cam video capturing the heroic rescue.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where -- where are they?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who else?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go! Let's go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go! You're OK. You're OK.
What's the address here? What city is that, Williams (ph)?
CHILD: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Right here.
I'm getting people out right now.
Hey, how many people are in there? What's the address here? What's the address?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need help!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. I got you. I got you. Come on. Jump. Jump. I got you. I got you. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe there's entrapment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: Unbelievable. That's Officer Mark Conklin, who was on a separate call Monday night, Jamestown, New York, when he was alerted of a fire. And as you can see, he ran toward the residence, which was engulfed in flames. Ran toward the fire. An adult and several young children were trapped on the top floor. So Conklin directed the family to jump from the upstairs window and into his arms. Five people inside the home were treated for smoke inhalation but are otherwise OK. And the cause of the fire is under investigation.
KEILAR: That is something to behold. Just -- you know, he doesn't even hesitate. He just runs right toward them and they're alive. AVLON: And that is what our first responders do. And you saw that
house was completely on fire. I mean that was completely in flames and the officer ran in and saved that family's life.
KEILAR: Yes.
AVLON: God bless him. That's great.
KEILAR: I have goose bumps, to be honest. It's -- it gave me goose bumps watching that.
AVLON: Yes, love to see that. Thank you, Officer, and all our first responders.
All right, we've got new CNN reporting, why Texas Senator Ted Cruz is blocking diplomats from being confirmed and, in the process, creating hurdles for the Biden's administration and America's foreign policy.
Plus, a Capitol rioter, who's a former Army Ranger, is accused of weaponizing his military training to organize the mob. We've got the video ahead.
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[06:46:35]
KEILAR: A divided Washington agrees on something. Look at that. The main reason that major State Department jobs are unfilled, Ted Cruz. The Biden administration waiting now on about 60 nominees to be confirmed and is facing more resistance in securing those confirmations than any other agency. For his part, Cruz is proudly claiming responsibility as he tries to pressure the administration on a specific point of Russia policy.
Kylie Atwood has more on this story.
OK, what is the issue here that he's having?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: OK. So he is pressuring the Biden administration, as you said, over a very specific piece of Russia policy. Nord Stream 2. He wants the Biden administration to implement more sanctions on this Russian geopolitical project which he and many others say is going to harm countries in the region, like Ukraine. But the Biden administration has already made their policy decision on this front.
So, essentially, he is fighting over something that is no end in sight, right? This is a fruitless endeavor a lot of folks on The Hill said to me. And we should note, both Republicans and Democrats are frustrated by this.
And what this is doing is just demonstrating how hyper-partisan the nomination process has become. Traditionally, it was sort of a pro- forma, folks got their vote. They had their hearing. And, you know, and that was done. We move on and we debate other things. But what this is doing is really creating a very tense dynamic on the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And I want to show you what has erupted in some of these business meetings between Senator Cruz and the leading Democrat on the committee.
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SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): Maybe it's your presidential aspirations, I don't know, but you're turning to political purposes and you held over every nominee, every nominee. I've never seen that.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Well, and I did so for a policy that, Mr. Chairman, you've supported with Nord Stream 2 --
MENENDEZ: It has no -- it has no policy --
CRUZ: That the Biden administration has deliberately undercut and given a gift to Putin and Russia. And at least with the prior administration, you agreed with that. You -- you levelled a charge against me right now.
MENENDEZ: Had -- well, I never --
CRUZ: Apparently you don't want a response from me.
MENENDEZ: I never, in the prior administration, held up all of the nominees on an agenda because I had a policy difference. You're the first member that I know to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ATWOOD: So now the question is, how do you actually get these nominees through, right? What this means is that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is in the hot seat. He has to be the person to invoke a procedural step that essentially gives floor time to these nominees. That's challenging right now when there's a lot of other issues that Congress, as a whole, wants to use floor time for. So it's forcing him to essentially decide, OK, I'm going to prioritize these.
The Biden administration is working with Schumer on prioritizing some of these nominees to get through. One example is, today, they are actually voting on one of these senior State Department officials. But her nomination went forward more than four months ago. So this is a really long, drawn out process.
And I just want to note that administration officials are also pointing out that a lot of these folks are then getting bipartisan support in their votes. So it's not as if there is actual division over their competency. This is just an issue about politics.
AVLON: It's just a reminder that, first, I mean the old idea that partisan politics ought to end at the water -- stop at the water's edge no longer operative, particularly when Ted Cruz is involved. It also recalls a quote by former Senator Al Franken, who said --
[06:50:05] KEILAR: What was it?
AVLON: What was it? I like -- oh my God, I can't believe I'm blanking on my favorite Al Franken quote. It is --
ATWOOD: About how much he likes Ted Cruz.
AVLON: Yes. Yes. I hate to --
KEILAR: He --
AVLON: I like Ted Cruz more than most of my colleagues and I --
KEILAR: OK, we're not going to pop quiz you --
AVLON: This is my worst --
KEILAR: And I hate him, he said, right?
AVLON: Yes.
KEILAR: Isn't that what he said?
AVLON: And I -- yes, I like -- yes, I like Ted Cruz. Most of my colleagues and I hate Ted Cruz.
KEILAR: Don't have a Rick Perry moment on us, Avlon.
AVLON: I did just have a Rick Perry moment.
But it's -- in all seriousness, it is a real issue because this is impacting U.S. foreign policy.
KEILAR: Yes.
AVLON: The Biden administration did shift on this position, but if Ted Cruz is going to freak out --
ATWOOD: Right.
AVLON: About -- about, you know, Biden administration and Russia policy, he should really, you know, maybe pay attention to what happened under the last administration.
ATWOOD: And there are other Republicans who are pushing other things, but then they kind of go into a back and forth with the administration. When the administration provides something to them, they let the nominees out. Ted Cruz is the only one who's picking an issue that the administration just isn't going to move on. So it's so, so, so fruitless.
KEILAR: Do you remember years ago, actually, though, because that was Bob Menendez saying this, he actually held up an Obama judicial appointee. Do you remember that?
AVLON: No. KEILAR: Which is incredibly unusual, and that was unprecedented.
ATWOOD: Well, then there's a history to it.
KEILAR: So, Bob Menendez is actually -- I mean you can argue that this is a -- you know, this is a State Department issue.
ATWOOD: Yes.
KEILAR: Maybe this is a bigger issue. But I'm just saying, I see -- I've seen a lot of politics when it comes to holding up nominations.
ATWOOD: Yes.
KEILAR: Yes.
Kylie, great reporting. Thank you so much.
AVLON: Great reporting. Thank you.
I'll try to remember my Al Franken quotes.
KEILAR: Hey, if I had known it, I swear to God I would have saved you, but I didn't know it, so what does that say?
So the delta variant, it's surging across America. This is what we're really focused on this morning. We're going to speak with an E.R. doctor who says it's time to mask up again indoors.
AVLON: Plus, a war of words breaks out on Capitol Hill again between Dr. Fauci and Senator Rand Paul. See what happened.
And, a 50-year drought is over. Milwaukee erupts over the world champion Bucks. Congratulations.
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[06:56:57]
KEILAR: Extreme heat and dry conditions are fueling raging wildfires in the western U.S., scorching more than a million acres and forcing residents to abandon their homes. The smoky conditions are stretching now as far as the East Coast. They're even visible from space.
So let's check in now with our meteorologist Chad Myers.
This is serious. Just looking at that picture behind you, it's stunning.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really is. I was out in Vail, Colorado, last week and it was not choking but you could certainly smell it every single day. And now that has moved to the East Coast. And you can see it in the air. The problem is, when it gets to the ground and you have to breathe it.
This weather is brought to you by Carvana, the new way to buy a car. So where's that smoke going? Well, right now, today, it's still over
the East Coast, but there is a cold front that will push it farther to the south and clear the northeast for tomorrow. Now, that's good news here but bad news here for Nashville because that's where it's going. And most of the smoke is, obviously, still concentrated out west.
That cold front will make some severe weather. There will be thunderstorms around today, mainly around Philadelphia, but there could be a couple of big storms right along that I-95 corridor that we expect for later on around 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. Some accumulation still coming down here but probably only 1 to 2 inches, maybe enough to wash away a little more of that smoke.
Brianna.
KEILAR: All right, Chad, thank you so much. That is some good news.
MYERS: Yes.
AVLON: And for the first time in 50 years, the Milwaukee Bucks are NBA champs.
Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report."
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.
So Bucks fans, they've been waiting a long time for this moment. You know, and their superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo, delivered in epic fashion, scoring 50 points in game six against the Suns to close out this series.
You had more than 80,000 people inside the arena and outside in the Deer District hoping to celebrate a championship last night.
This game back and forth in the first half, but in the second half, Giannis just took the game over. The two-time MVP scoring 33 of his 50 points in the final two quarters. In the last 50 years, only two players have ever scored that many points in a half of a finals game, Michael Jordan and now Giannis.
Bucks would win game six, 105-98, to take the series four games to two.
Giannis the unanimous finals MVP. It's been quite the journey for him. Growing up in Greece, Giannis would sell CDs on the streets to try to make ends meet. Now he's an MVP NBA champion and forever an NBA legend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, NBA FINALS MVP: Eight years ago, eight and a half years ago, if I can believe, I didn't know where my next food would come from. You know, my mom was selling stuff in the street. You -- like, and now I'm here sitting at the top of the top. You know, And I'm extremely blessed. And that's why I cannot -- I can never get -- I'm extremely blessed. Even if I never have a chance to sit on this table ever again, I'm fine with it. You know, I'm fine with it. But like I hope this can give everybody around the world hope. Allow them to believe in their dreams.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[07:00:00]
SCHOLES: Yes, the Bucks are going to have a championship parade tomorrow in Milwaukee.
Then Chris Middleton and Drew Holiday are going to hop on a plane to Tokyo to join Team USA for the Olympics.
