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FOX News Host Tucker Carlson's Coverage of Hungarian Leader Viktor Orban Examined; County in Florida Requiring Parents to Opt-Out of Children Wearing Masks in School; Former Coronavirus Testing Czar Under President Trump Admiral Brett Giroir Interviewed on Continued Measures to Reduce Spread of Coronavirus. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 04, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00]

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Also put a 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.

But if you're looking for the real emotional heart, why Orban is so admired by many of America's populist, nationalist right, here's the money quote, "We do not want to be diverse. We do not want our own color, traditions, and national culture to be mixed with those of others." That pretty much gives up the ghost, right? Orban's self- styled illiberal democracy is no democracy at all. It is all culture war all the time, where the ends always justify the means.

I reached out to the prominent Russian dissident and founder of Renew Democracy Initiative, Garry Kasparov, to get his take on Tucker's authoritarian curious adventure, and here's what he told me. "Unsatisfied with Trump's attacks on democracy in the United States, Carlson went looking for a more successful model in Orban's Hungary. I'm sure Tucker can pick up some useful tips there to bring home about crushing independent judiciary, attacking the free press, and hijacking elections." Ouch. Tough, but fair.

Tucker's flirtation with Orban goes back to his defense of Hungary's anti-abortion and anti-immigrant laws. He lavishes praise on the Orban government's pro-family incentives, which is not a little like Michael Moore's praise of Cuba's health care system, now flailing in the face of COVID, driving mass protests. But in some ways, that's all the point. This is the equivalent of some liberal opinion decamping to Venezuela for fawning sit-downs with Nicolas Maduro for which they would be rightfully savaged.

Tucker is following in the footsteps of other members of the conserva- who are charmed by Orban's strongman model, including authors associated with "The National Review," "The New York Post," the Heritage Foundations Daily Signal, and the Claremont Review of Books.

Now, there's no word on what or if Tucker is being paid for his speech to the group that Orban has been granted more than $1.7 billion in state money to create a new college for a conservative elite. But we do know from disclosure forms unveiled by Open Secrets researcher Anna Massoglia that Hungary paid some $265,000 to a D.C. lobbying firm just to get on Tucker's show. It seems that was money well spent, translating to a sustained bromance with anti-democratic forces abroad.

But that's why all this matters. Tucker's travels are only news outside his echo chamber because they aspire to celebrate and normalize a sustained assault on democracy from a position of aggressive defensiveness. As historian and author Heather Cox Richardson explains, "For him to visit Organ and to broadcast from Hungary right now when American democracy is under the very sort of threat Orban represents, seemed to me to be a deliberate demonstration of the Trump Republicans plans for our future."

And that's your Reality Check. NEW DAY continues right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman. On this NEW DAY, President Biden facing off with Republican governors as the coronavirus pandemic enters a dangerous new phrase.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A comprehensive report of sexual harassment by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, we're going to speak to a Democratic state senator calling for his resignation as the impeachment inquiry moves forward.

KEILAR: And an about face from Frontier airlines after suspending crew members for restraining an unruly passenger with duct tape.

BERMAN: And the lights are on on Broadway, about to shine again under strict health and safety rules. The director of the first play to reopen joins us live.

KEILAR: Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Wednesday, August 4th. And battle lines between states and local schools are being drawn this morning as classes resume. New this morning, parents in Duval County, Florida, are required to opt out if they don't want their child to wear a facemask at school. Governor Ron DeSantis is threatening to cut state funding in districts with mask mandates, all while COVID-19 cases among U.S. children and teens jumped 84 percent in just the last week.

BERMAN: Cases are rising sharply nationwide, hospitalizations up dramatically 27 percent in the last seven days. In Florida hospitalizations are up 29 percent. President Biden singled out governors, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for his handling of the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I say to these governors please help. If you aren't going to help, at least get out of the way of the people that are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00] BERMAN: Leyla Santiago begins our coverage in Jacksonville, Florida. Leyla?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, here in Duval County, school begins in less than a week. And every single parent that we have spoken to encourages, supports getting kids back into the classroom. But there is a strong divide when it comes to that mask policy. We watched parents get pretty emotional over this, especially at last night's school board meeting. But what we learned is it's not just passionate parents taking to the podium.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LILA HARTLEY, STUDENT: Dear superintendent, Dr. Green, and schoolboard members, I would like to encourage the requirement of masks at school in Duval County.

SANTIAGO: In a letter to school leaders, Lila Hartley explains what worries her. She's 12 years old, about to be in seventh grade in Duval County, vaccinated. But her little brother, 10-year-old Will, isn't old enough to get the vaccine.

L. HARTLEY: I'm so worried that if masks are not required, my brother could go to school one day, and the next be dying in the hospital.

WILL HARTLEY, STUDENT: At school I wear two masks because I want to make sure I don't get sick.

SANTIAGO: Their father, Matt Hartley, wants Duval County public school to mandate masks.

MATT HARTLEY, FATHER: I care about your kid as much as I care about my kid. And I don't want any kid to risk being hospitalized or getting long COVID symptoms, or just being a part of our community spread.

SANTIAGO: Mandating masks, however, would defy an executive order signed by Governor Ron DeSantis banning schools from forcing students to wear masks. After hearing from dozens of parents, the Duval County public school board voted to change its code of conduct for students late last night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any student not wearing a mask pursuant to this policy must, through his or her or their parent or guardian, complete the opt out procedures.

SANTIAGO: Moms for Liberty, a nationwide group whose local chapter of Duval County mother against mask mandates believe requiring masks in school is government overreach. Mother of two, Quisha King, will not be sending her daughter to school with masks.

QUISHA KING, MOTHER OF TWO: The best and most fair thing to do is give parents the option of whether they want their children to wear a mask or not.

SANTIAGO: What the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC say is best, universal indoor masking at schools, in part to protect unvaccinated students and stop the spread of COVID-19.

DR. BETHANY ATKINS, JACKSONVILLE PEDIATRICIAN: Masks not only prevent me from passing it to you, there also is you not giving it to me. Vaccinated people do have the possibility of transmitting even though they're not sick. It's layers of coverage.

SANTIAGO: And layers of comfort and security for students like Lila Hartley and her little brother, both well aware of the fiery debate surrounding the masks they're advocating for in the upcoming school year just days away.

L. HARTLEY: It's OK to have your own opinions. You can think what you want to think. But also, these masks have proven that they are saving people. Masks are important so we can continue to enjoy in person school and not have to hurt families and staff with this terrible virus. Sincerely, Lila Hartley, student at Landon (ph) Middle.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SANTIAGO: And Duval County not the only school district to take up the mask issue. Last night in Alachua County, also in north Florida, the school board voted to require masks of students in the first two weeks because of surge in cases.

BERMAN: Layla Santiago, thank you so much for being there for us, appreciate it.

This morning, CNN has confirmed that former president Barack Obama has scaled back his 60th birthday bash which had been planned for Martha's Vineyard this weekend. He was set to host more than 400 guests, family, friends, celebrities, former administration officials, about 200 people had been hired to help. Earlier we spoke with the "New York Times" reporter who broke the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNIE KARNI, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Seemingly Obama up until yesterday, it seemed like he had a disregard for the optics of tearing ahead with this party. It was to be outdoors. Everyone was required to be tested. The crowd was going to be fully vaccinated as far as the Obamas knew in terms of who they invited. That being said, there was being pressed I heard from a lot of Democrats yesterday, saying I'm surprised he's not scaling it back. It seems like an unnecessary headache.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now is the former coronavirus testing czar under President Trump, Admiral Brett Giroir. Admiral, thank you so much for being with us this morning. We don't know how small this party is now going to be. We're told family and friends. It's not going to be as big as it was. We don't know how small it is. But your take on the decision to at least scale it back?

[08:05:02] ADM. BRETT GIROIR, FORMER COVID-19 TESTING COORDINATOR: Well, thank you for having me on. Obviously, President Obama is an important national leader, and we really need all our presidents, current and former, to set as best of an example as possible. As you pointed out, our hospitalizations and cases are higher this year than they were last year at this time, which is almost hard to believe. But the Delta variant is serious, and if President Obama is scaling back, I think that's an important message and very good leadership for the country.

BERMAN: Since you brought up the issue of all presidents current and former setting an example, let me read you a quote that came from an op-ed from former HHS Alex Azar, whom you worked very closely with, who wrote about vaccinations and former President Trump. He said "as I reflect, we could have done more to address vaccine hesitancy. I'm glad former President Trump got vaccinated, but it would have been even better for him to have done so on national television." Your view?

GIROIR: I think we did try to do everything we could on vaccine hesitancy. And we often did not get the cooperation of national media when we did that.

But that being said, President Trump has a very large and loyal followership, and I think anything he did and can do, including getting vaccinated on television, could be important. I get very nervous about even a president during medical procedures doing that in public. I think we need to respect some of that privacy. But yes, I think President Trump has come out in favor of vaccines. Anything he could do to support that would be very well received and important at this critical time.

He has a lot of the credit for developing the vaccines and providing that leadership as well as the Biden team for sending out the vaccines and carrying the baton. Don't make this a partisan issue. We need everyone to provide that --

BERMAN: What Azar is saying, though, is that he's agreeing with you, he's in your line of thought here that you did a lot, but that he wishes that at least on that issue, because he was surprised by the level of resistance to the vaccines in some circles, particularly among some of Donald Trump's followers, that had the former president gotten that shot on camera, it would have made a difference. You say yes?

GIROIR: I think I answered the question, and that is, yes, anything President Trump could have done or can do could be important. And I think it might have been helpful, but these are personal medical decisions, and you remember the time, it was quite a divisive time. So it's hard to go back and turn those pages.

BERMAN: Let me ask about Florida right now, because we just had a report, I think you heard it, from Florida, this issue among some of these county school boards and localities, some that do want to issue mask requirements in their schools but now feel they can't because of restrictions placed on them by Governor Ron DeSantis there. Do you feel that these local school boards and local schools should be able to require masks if they think it's best where they are?

GIROIR: So I think we shouldn't scapegoat Florida and Texas. The vaccination rates in both of those states are really approximately that of Ohio and Illinois, and the rates are going up dramatically. But on your specific question, and I disbelief this based on principles of government, is that the localities should have the decision-making authority of what they do, particularly with public health. This has been a vital and, I would say, a foundational principle of Republicans, that local school districts should have autonomy. It should be about the parents in those local communities.

So I do support a lot of what Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott do. But I don't align with them on this. They would not like the federal government mandating things for their states, and localities don't like the governors mandating things that are reasonable public health issues that they would like to have implemented. So I hope there would be some discussion about that and allow the people closest to their children, to their communities, to make the decision.

BERMAN: What about vaccine requirements in local areas or businesses for instance?

GIROIR: I do believe that -- and I think the law is on this side and I think it's reasonable that we should support businesses that have vaccine requirements. I do not believe the federal government should have vaccine requirements. I don't believe in state areas having vaccine requirements, except for their employees. But yes, we should support businesses like Facebook and Google and Morgan Stanley and so many others that in order to keep their employees safe and their customers safe, have vaccine, or some of them have vaccine or testing requirements. I think these are very reasonable. They're legal. And I support that.

BERMAN: I think you along with many scientists and medical experts have been surprised by the virulence of the Delta variant.

[08:15:02]

The delta variant is bad, right? And you've looked at data here and you think it's real bad.

How many people do you fear could die in the United States over the coming months?

GIROIR: You know, models have assumptions. But the IHME out of Seattle has been really tremendously helpful since the beginning of the pandemic. And I've reviewed their models.

And if don't make major changes in vaccinations, combined with masking indoors in public spaces, they estimate -- and I support their estimate -- that we could lose as many as 75,000 additional Americans by November. Our death rates could be above 1,000 per day in mid- September. The only reason they're relatively low, that's still horrendous, is we've done a good job vaccinating our seniors.

But that is what we're facing, up to 75,000 deaths. And we can avoid this by getting vaccinated, get fully vaccinated, and until we understand delta and get more information about it.

The CDC's recommendation about masking indoors even if you're vaccinated is a reasonable one. I support that. I urge all Americans to support it.

BERMAN: There's no mystery how to get through this. Get vaccinated.

Admiral Brett Giroir, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you very much.

GIROIR: Thank you.

BERMAN: President Biden joining the list of prominent Democrats calling on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign in the wake of the damning sexual harassment report. Is impeachment the next step?

KEILAR: Flight fury. A rowdy passenger subdued with duct tape after attacking flight attendants.

BERMAN: And we're live on Broadway as the first post-pandemic play opens for previews tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:38]

KEILAR: In the wake of a damning report that found New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed nearly a dozen women, several Democrats in the New York state legislature are renewing their calls for the governor to resign or be impeached.

Joining me now is none of those lawmakers, Democratic New York State Senator Samra Brouk. She called for Governor Cuomo to resign back in March as well.

Senator, I do want to remind our viewers how the governor responded to this report. Let's play some of his press conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: I do kiss people on the forehead. I do kiss people on the cheek. I do kiss people on the hand. I do embrace people. I do hug people, men and women. I do on occasion say ciao bella.

On occasion, I do slip and say sweetheart or darling or honey. I do banter with people. I do tell jokes, some better than others. I am the same person in public as I am in private.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Senator, what did you think of that slide show he showed?

SAMRA BROUK (D), NEW YORK STATE SENATE: You know, I am in some cases at a loss of words for looking at that. The first thing that comes to mind is thinking about those 11 women and the countless women who didn't feel safe enough to come forward with their own experiences.

Imagine sitting there listening to someone who has used their power and influence, abused that power and influence against you in this way and then to get on television like that and basically say, yes, I did it, but I think it's okay.

I think shows there has been no lesson learned from our governor and that's why it took a split second to get out there to renew the call for him to resign. And so, hopefully, if he doesn't do that, actually start the impeachment process.

KEILAR: Why do you think he's being so defiant? He knows what he even has signed into law. He knows what behavior is okay and isn't okay.

BROUK: I could not begin to even fathom what can go through your head as you see, you know, hundreds of pages of -- a document and a report with witnesses and tens of thousands of pieces of evidence saying you've done wrong. And as you said, you signed the laws that prove that you've done wrong.

And so, at this point, I don't expect the best out of this governor. And that's why it's incumbent on those of us who have the power to make this right to bring justice, not only for these women, but for all New Yorkers so that we can actually focus on doing the work that, you know, we're in Albany to do. That's why I'm calling on all of us to use that power and actually get this man out of office.

KEILAR: The Albany county district attorney said yesterday that Cuomo is now under criminal investigation. Do you think that there's enough to charge him criminally?

BROUK: You know, I'm not a lawyer. I -- that is not my wheelhouse. So, I don't want to opine on that.

I think certainly, what we saw yesterday, just in the initial reports of that investigation that the attorney general did, it's very clear that there is mountains of evidence that there was a lot of wrongdoing. And so, I would encourage everyone to move forward and whether it's investigating, whether it's criminal charges, whether it's impeachment, I think we have to do all everything we can to make sure -- let's remember, to make sure that this man cannot cause more home for more people.

KEILAR: Are there enough votes in the state senate? You need a two thirds majority to convict him if there's impeachment. Are there enough votes for that?

BROUK: I haven't gotten a chance to meet with my conference as a whole. But I think probably anyone can tell looking at the statements that we've seen, I'm sure we've hit that mark. But obviously can't speak to that officially. But I have been encouraged that a lot of my colleagues have joined the ranks of us asking for his resignation and I hope that that would also lead to them feeling strongly enough to vote to convict as well.

[08:25:06] KEILAR: Thank you so much, Senator, for being with us. New York Senator Samra Brouk, we appreciate it.

BROUK: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: A Missouri couple who pointed guns at protesters is now off the hook after getting a pardon from the governor. One of the leaders of that protest will join us with reaction next.

BERMAN: Plus, frontier airlines saying they stand by its flight crew that had to duct tape an unruly passenger last weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New this morning, the Republican governor of Missouri is pardoning the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters last summer. Mark and Patricia McCloskey had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for brandishing a long rifle and hand gun outside their man, pointing to the protesters who are working in a private street near their home.

Joining me now is Missouri State Representative Rasheen Aldridge. He was one of the leaders of that demonstration.

Representative, thank you so much.

What do you make of the governor's decision to pardon the McCloskeys?