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Gov. Cuomo Could Face Criminal Charges In Sexual Harassment Probe; Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) On Biden's Targeted Ban On Evictions After Liberal Backlash; Democratic Establishment Prevails In Ohio Over Progressive Candidate. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 04, 2021 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

NANCY ERIKA SMITH, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY AND ADVOCATE: Don't really want that. They're forced into it when a man refuses to take responsibility for his actions. When the employer here, the state of New York, enables him to sexually harass and retaliate, which happened here.

But what's really galling is yesterday's press conference where he's the feminist. If you are criticizing his female enables, you're anti- feminist. And he's helping this 25-year-old sexual assault victim when he's asking her about her sex life, according to him. It's really galling and he's -- by calling 11 women and their witnesses -- and there's a lot of evidence to support these women --

Charlotte Bennett has contemporaneous texts, e-mails, fresh -- what we call fresh complaint witnesses. Calling all of them crazy liars in light of all the evidence, I think is very dangerous and is really forcing these women to sue him.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Maggie, we had a chance to speak last night and at that point, you felt that Andrew Cuomo's on a very small island here. I'm not sure it's gotten any bigger -- that island -- since last night.

What direction is this headed, and did that news conference -- what impact did that have on these powerful Democratic politicians who will decide this?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Look, nothing has changed since last night when we spoke. Andrew Cuomo is still alone on an island with a very small number of people in New York State politics who have not talked about this yet.

For the most part, you have seen his fellow Democrats from New York to Washington say that he needs to go. Nearly every newspaper, if not every newspaper in the state, has editorialized that Andrew Cuomo needs to go. He -- this is unprecedented as a moment for him.

The news conference was incredibly damning. The report, itself, is incredibly detailed. It was worked on by professionals -- professional investigators with good reputations. And the details that they laid out point-by-point at this press conference -- it was compelling and it told a very compelling story.

And Andrew Cuomo's response, which was this taped statement saying I like to kiss people and hug people -- that's nice, but that's not what the allegations were only about. This is not just about one picture where he put his hands on a woman's face and kissed her. These are allegations of groping. It's allegations of unwanted touching.

And so, he had this -- what I thought was candidly, a very Trumpian response to these allegations, which was something along the lines of everyone is a crazy liar, as was just said. And here's this other thing that has nothing to do with what I'm actually accused of.

Now we go into a process where he is facing impeachment. It seems as if it is headed that way. It will take a couple of months for that to happen if it goes ahead and he then has to decide whether he wants to see that out or resign before that. But it does not seem like this is going to be an improving fact-set for him.

BERMAN: I suppose with his news conference there could be two ways to look at it -- saving your political life and saving your legal life. They're not always intertwined but there -- you know, there is a number. There's a gray area there where they do meet.

Did it help him legally in any way?

SMITH: No, it -- one, it's not a defense that I didn't know that I'm not allowed to kiss and hug and touch young women who work for me. That's not a defense that you didn't know that at 63 as the governor of New York.

HABERMAN: Who signed sex harassment laws --

SMITH: Right.

HABERMAN: -- workplace sex harassment laws.

SMITH: Right.

HABERMAN: You would think he was familiar with the laws that he, himself, signed. So --

SMITH: Right. You're not allowed to put your hands, your lips, or your body on women who work for you without their consent, period. If he doesn't know that, that alone disqualifies him from being the governor of New York.

BERMAN: And David Chalian noted yesterday with Charlotte Bennett somehow trying to paint himself as the hero in that interaction -- at least initially --

SMITH: Shocking and unbelievable. And she is very poignant. All the other victims, we haven't really heard from them. But she very poignantly talked about how he actually enjoyed making her uncomfortable, which is what sexual harassment is about. It's about power. It's about reducing women to sex objects and not as equals.

BERMAN: If he resigned, do you think they would pursue the legal case?

SMITH: I think it's less likely that they would want to continue to engage with him if he resigned quickly.

BERMAN: Talk to me about impeachment now because Speaker Heastie in the New York State Assembly has said they may accelerate the investigation process here but it still will take some time to go through. Facing impeachment here in New York would seem to be -- I mean, almost an untenable situation for Gov. Cuomo.

HABERMAN: It's very hard to imagine him wanting to go through it. But what the process looks like for those of us who have now been steeped in impeachment as a word federally for the last couple of years, it's different in New York State. The process is not identical to the federal one where the Senate votes and the trial and that's it. This is -- this is Senate and judges vote. It takes 76 votes in the Assembly to move ahead with an impeachment before you get to the trial.

Heastie had been accused of slow-walking this. He's an ally of Andrew Cuomo's -- or had been. His statements yesterday were pretty definitive that he -- that Andrew Cuomo has lost the confidence of the Assembly conference -- the Democrats -- who overwhelmingly exist in this state. This is a very heavily Democratic state.

[07:35:08]

So what will happen is they will move forward -- as it seems now, they will move forward. There will likely be a vote at some point. Not this month, I don't think, but probably next month.

And then after that, assuming that there are 76 votes -- which I think there will be simply because I think every Republican in the state will vote to impeach and then you only need 30-something Democrats, and it certainly seems that way as if there are enough now -- then it will move to a Senate. And the judge -- the state judges in the highest court vote as well.

That is a grueling process for Andrew Cuomo to stand there and go through and try to remain governor and try to do the business of governing through. It is very, very hard to imagine.

BERMAN: And I guess when you're impeached -- when the Assembly impeaches you during the trial itself --

HABERMAN: That's right, you're on pause -- that's right.

BERMAN: -- you're on pause. You're actually not the acting --

HABERMAN: That's right.

BERMAN: -- governor -- administration. And that, to me, is the part where it's just -- it's just hard to conceive -- HABERMAN: Yes, it's untenable.

BERMAN: -- of Andrew Cuomo letting it get to that point.

Thank you both so much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate it.

The Biden administration reversing course on evictions after intense pressure from progressives. One member of Congress who led the charge, camping out on the steps of the Capitol for days, is here next.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And ahead, parents sound off over masks in one Florida county after the governor's executive order banning mandates.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A temporary reprieve for millions of desperate Americans who are on the verge of being forced from their homes. The CDC issuing a moratorium on evictions, specifically for areas of the country where there are high levels of COVID transmission. This is a move that extends a ban on evictions in much of the country that expired just days ago.

Congresswoman Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, led this fight. You see her there sleeping on the steps of the Capitol for several nights to draw attention to the issue.

And Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush with us now. Maybe not sleeping -- staying awake, I think, because that were the -- was the rule. But you had to spend, obviously, several nights there on the Capitol steps, Congresswoman.

And I wonder -- you know, at this point in time with this victory that you have, if you've spoken to President Biden?

REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): I have not. I have not. But I've had conversations with so many others -- with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and our assistant speaker, and just so many from within our caucus. And also, so many senators. It's just -- the response has been overwhelming.

So -- but look, this is the thing. I am just happy that people right now are not fearful that they'll end up with that eviction notice on their doors and that we have bought some time.

[07:40:00]

KEILAR: Why do you think that the president -- the administration allowed this to expire, sparking this protest in his own party? Do you know?

BUSH: I don't. I don't know. But I -- you know, I wasn't privy to certain conversations. I'm not in certain rooms. So I don't know the step-by-step -- you know, private conversations.

But I just -- I know that at some point there was this -- the question kept coming back -- like, is there -- do we have a legal standing to be able to get the moratorium -- to extend the moratorium. But then, still not clear on why we got the information in Congress so late.

But we're here, though. We're here at this point, right now. We are here. Somewhere around 11 million people, possibly -- around six million families are now safe.

But the work is not over. We have to do the work right now to make sure that the states and the localities disperse that money and that the structures are there for our -- for these areas to be able to efficiently do the work to get that over $40 billion out. We have to get that done. We've got to get it done in 60 days.

KEILAR: The experience that you bring to Congress is particularly unique -- you know, your background as an activist. And I wonder what did you learn on the streets of Ferguson that brought you to this moment?

BUSH: You know, on the streets of Ferguson, we -- it was totally organic. We were outraged, we were frustrated and upset, we were angry. It was very emotional and intense.

And our -- and the hurt fueled us to want to do more. It fueled us -- the idea behind just saving Black lives. Making sure that we were saving lives -- it was at the forefront.

And this, again, was that. This was that. This was I don't know what the next moment brings. I don't know how long we're going to be out here. All I knew was -- all we know is how to put our bodies on the line in a moment like this.

And that's what I learned from Ferguson. Ferguson taught me that. St. Louis taught me that. Show up, stand up. Sometimes presence makes all the difference and that's what this was here.

I didn't know the hour before that I would be out here. I didn't know that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez would say yes when I asked her to be out here with me, and the squad and so many others. I didn't know. We didn't know it would take four days -- four nights and five days. We had no clue.

But Ferguson also taught me how to stay. There is stick and stay that comes with it. It doesn't matter what you're faced with -- what the adversity is.

Then it was rubber bullets, real bullets, white supremacist attacks. It was -- there were dogs -- you know, tear gas. All of that that we were fighting against while trying to save Black lives.

Here, it was structures -- trying to be able to break through structures and helping people to be empathetic and understand that everybody deserves a voice.

KEILAR: You mention St. Louis. I do want to get your reaction to a big story coming out of St. Louis. The governor of Missouri, a Republican, has pardoned Mark and Patricia

McCloskey, who were famously photographed pointing guns at protesters during June of 2020 in those demonstrations in St. Louis. You were actually among the marchers who encountered the McCloskeys that day.

Mark McCloskey, at the Republican convention, called you the Marxist liberal activist leading the mob through our neighborhood.

What is your reaction to this pardon?

BUSH: It is absolutely unbelievable. There are other people that should have -- that -- there are pardons that we have been asking for -- pardons that actually should happen in Missouri -- and that was not one. That was not one.

They stood there, they pointed their guns, totally reckless to a group of non-violent protesters walking down a street that had no clue that they lived there, didn't care that they lived there. Didn't know them. Didn't want -- didn't want to know -- didn't want to know them.

Mark McCloskey is an absolute liar. He has spat on my name and because of that, his day -- his day will come. You will not -- you will not be successful in all that you're trying to do when you are hurting the very people that are out trying to save lives. Nothing good comes from that. And he can try it, but I will not stand by and allow him or our governor to hurt the very people that are doing the work that they should be doing.

So, that was -- there are other people, Gov. Parson, that you should be looking at. We have an activist that's been sitting for such a long time -- sitting. Do something.

Actually show up and be a -- the governor of all the people of Missouri, not just those that follow your type of politics that actually hurt Black people, that actually hurt brown people, that actually hurt people who are unhoused (ph). That actually hurt our LGBTQ community. That actually hurt people who are of the Muslim faith. People who are struggling in this country and people that are burdened differently than you.

[07:45:17]

Stand up and be the governor of everybody. It's ridiculous.

KEILAR: Congresswoman, obviously -- look, you feel very strongly about this and we appreciate you talking to us this morning.

I am curious to see if you do end up speaking with the president anytime soon, so please do keep us posted on that.

BUSH: Absolutely.

KEILAR: It's been great to see you this morning. Thank you.

BUSH: Thank you.

KEILAR: Progressive Democrats suffering a defeat in the House. We'll have the results of last night's special election in Ohio.

BERMAN: And flight attendants forced to take drastic action to restrain an outrageous, unruly passenger. What the airline is now saying after initially suspending the crew.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Results in this morning from the special congressional primary elections in Ohio. CNN projecting that Mike Carey, who was endorsed by former President Trump, will win the Republican primary in Ohio's 15th congressional district.

And then, Shontel Brown will win the Democratic primary in Ohio's 11th district. Brown was endorsed by Congressman James Clyburn and by Hillary Clinton and defeated progressive hopeful Nina Turner, who had been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Joining us now to discuss this is CNN political director, David Chalian.

And this was fascinating to watch. And the first thing I want to do is actually play what Nina Turner said in her concession speech just to give people a sense of how non-Kumbaya this moment is. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NINA TURNER (D), FORMER OHIO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, DEFEATED IN PRIMARY: See, we didn't lose this race. Evil money manipulated and maligned in this election. It took evil money to come in here and do this. But I swear to you that as sure as there is a God in heaven, Sister Turner going to continue working with every fiber of her being until true justice reigns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What does this race say to you about the state of affairs in the party?

[07:50:01]

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, it says to me that this now is fitting a pattern that we've seen over the last year.

Let's start with Joe Biden's Democratic primary victory in the presidential race over a lot of progressive firebrands, or Bernie Sanders, who is totally identified with Nina Turner, right? She worked for his campaigns, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Follow that up.

Terry McAuliffe, a more of a centrist guy getting the nomination in Virginia for the governor's race. There was a special election to replace Cedric Richmond in Louisiana. We say the more establishment figure there -- the more moderate figure there win inside a Democratic primary. And then, of course, we've seen more recently, Eric Adams in New York City do the same. I think what you are seeing here and what the results last night of Shontel Brown's victory in Ohio indicate, there may be a lot of activity and vocal activism --

KEILAR: We just heard from Cori Bush.

CHALIAN: Totally -- in that -- and by the way, Cori Bush just had a success, right? I'm not suggesting that progressives are not able to have sway in this party. They clearly are. But electorally, the coalition to win Democratic primaries right now is one that is broader than just the progressive sort of left-wing woke crowd if you will of the party.

KEILAR: That's a really interesting point.

BERMAN: I'm beginning to think that Twitter may not always be real life, David.

CHALIAN: You think so, John?

BERMAN: I'm beginning to think -- Nina Turner's got like 400,000 -- several hundred thousand followers there. And I just checked -- Shontel Brown has 22,000 --

CHALIAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- and she is now the Democratic nominee there. So this is yet another example of where some of the things that you may see in certain places are not reflective of what's happening on the ground.

Let's talk about the Republican side because last week, the former president endorsed a candidate in a Texas special election and he lost. And there were questions about oh, is his influence waning? Has he lost his juice? Well, overnight, the guy he wanted in Ohio in a special election won the primary.

So what do you think?

CHALIAN: Won the primary and won big.

BERMAN: Yes.

CHALIAN: Look at that margin there --24 points in a crowded field. A 24-point margin over his next competitor there.

So, yes, the Mike Carey endorsement for Trump was an important moment. You are right, John. It comes off a loss that Trump had. He had gotten involved in that Texas race.

And he and his political team were eager to have a data point that says hey, inside Republican primary politics, Donald Trump's stamp of approval still means something. And that's why you saw them pour $350,000 in digital ads and text messaging into that race.

He didn't just endorse, he wanted to make sure he emerged with a victory here in Ohio, and he did. And that will now give him yet another data point to go back to the party inside these primaries and say you need my endorsement to move forward.

So I think it's tough to make the argument given what we've seen in his fundraising, given that he still can turn out victories with his -- the weight of his support, as he did in Ohio -- that Donald Trump's power and sway is waning in the party.

KEILAR: If the midterms were held tomorrow would Democrats lose the House? There's actually a top Democrat who says yes, David.

CHALIAN: Yes, the chairman of the committee responsible for winning back -- for maintaining the House majority for Democrats, Sean Patrick Maloney. You see our colleague reporting on this.

And this was a poll done by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and they were briefing their members, saying exactly that, Brianna. That they -- they're saying if the midterms were held today the Democrats would lose control.

Now, part of this is to scare up the membership. Listen, you've got to do everything you need to do -- all those invulnerable races. Make sure you're raising all the money. Make sure you're getting back home. Make sure you're doing all the things. So part of this is sort of messaging to the caucus, right?

But listen, we know what the historical trends are. Democrats have a real battle to maintain control of the House of Representatives. The margin is so narrow right now and we know what happens in the first midterm for presidencies in the past.

I will just note, though, this also fits into what we're saying. Part of what they were saying is we have to be careful as Democrats, is what Sean Patrick Maloney's team was saying to the membership, about how we message things. We can't be about defund the police. And so they were trying to also guide their membership into a more -- what they see as a productive message that will help them try and maintain control.

Remember, vulnerable districts are the ones that are in the middle. Those are the most vulnerable districts. Those are the majority makers.

So some of the activism and progressive sort of activity that we can see, like in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's district. OK, but that's a totally reliable Democratic district.

So that's the message that you're hearing from the party leadership. To maintain control of the House, they feel they have to walk a path that is more broad and welcoming than just one slice of the party.

KEILAR: We'll see if they can do that.

CHALIAN: Yes.

KEILAR: It's going to be a challenge.

CHALIAN: Very tricky. KEILAR: David, great to see you this morning.

CHALIAN: You, too, Brianna.

KEILAR: It could be a game changer in the race to get more Americans vaccinated. How soon until the first coronavirus vaccine gets full FDA approval?

[07:55:03]

BERMAN: And why former President Obama is scaling back his 60th birthday bash.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The extreme summer heat continues. Heat alerts cover more than 18 million people in the west. So let's go now to Chad Myers. When will it end, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm thinking fall, at this point in time because we don't really see an end to it. We're now in the middle of summer. Temperatures today are going to be in the one-teens, even probably 120-something in Death Valley.

This weather brought to you by Carvana, the new way to buy a car.

So let's get to the next three days because you know it doesn't end by then. Look at Death Valley, 122. Palm Springs, 120. People actually live in Palm Springs, not just visit Death Valley.

So there's an awful lot of heat out here in the west. Pacific Northwest as well, back well above normal here. The east coast, nice, cool, dry -- a little smoky but not too bad -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Chad. Thank you so much for that.

BERMAN: So what's the best way to promote democracy? One television entertainer thinks it is to wallow in the rhetoric and essence of a right-wing autocrat.

John Avlon with a reality check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (on camera): I don't know about you, but I generally try to avoid vacations in authoritarian regimes. But Tucker Carlson decided to take a mid-summer jaunt over to Viktor Orban's Hungary and film his entire week's show in Budapest before speaking to a far-right conference backed by Orban. It promises to be a weeklong infomercial for authoritarian nationalism, opening the Overton window while providing an in-kind gift to the regime's P.R. campaigns.

And if you're not familiar with what's been going on in Hungary, here's a quick glimpse of what seems so appealing to Tucker. The Atlantic has describe Orban as a state-of-the-art autocrat

subverting the institutions that might challenge his authority. That includes, essentially, rigging his nation's elections through redistricting, packing the courts, rewriting the constitution.

He's enriched his cronies, setting up a kleptocracy while taking control of the media and loading it with partisan loyalists who call critics fake news while peddling conspiracy theories often aimed at alleged enemies of the people, from George Soros to Muslim immigrants.

He's also put up razor wire along the border to block the flow of refugees while sucking up to Vladimir Putin by opposing sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea.