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Gun-waiving Missouri Couple Pardoned; Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is Interviewed about Voting Rights; Airline Backs Flight Crew over Unruly Passenger; Broadway Reopens Tonight. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 04, 2021 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: 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?

RASHEEN ALDRIDGE (D), MISSOURI STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Thanks for having me this morning.

You know, my heart is still heavy. And I'm just -- still a lot of emotions and feelings and just completely disgusted by the actions of the governor of this state. You know, it reminds me of the two worlds, unfortunately, that people still live in. In one world people take to the street non-violently just last year, last June, after the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, to take to the street to say, hey, something was wrong. To call out injustice and say that we need to change this system because wat we constantly see is black and brown bodies being killed at the hands of police and no justice happen.

And in the midst of that, of non-violently walking down the street, you also have a different world. You have a privileged world where individuals like Patricia And Mark McCloskey was able to come out of their home. Note, they were not the target. When we had that protest last June, we were going to the mayor's house. We didn't even know who Mark and Patricia was. They came out of their home. They pointed loaded firearms at individuals that were children in the crowd. They pointed firearms at non-violent, peaceful protesters and threatened us, to potentially shoot us and kill us. That night -- or that day could have really turned out to be deadly.

And then you have a governor that is pardoning this couple that admitted to saying, yes, we walked outside our house and pointed a gun at individuals and now they're walking basically scot-free. The only thing they had to do was pay a fine. It makes me think about individuals in this state like Kevin Strickhorn (ph) and Lamar Johnson (ph), who have been in prison for 41 years and 20 years that have no evidence against them. The prosecutors have even said that they should be let free. But, instead, we're pardoning political pundits and political people that are running for higher office, for U.S. Senate. And it's just -- it sends a very hard message for people in this state that are really trying to help move Missouri forward when you see divisive actions and racist actions from the governor by pardoning a couple who doesn't need to be pardoned. The only thing we've seen from them in the last year is just more hate and divisiveness and really just becoming famous off of pointing guns at individuals like me that was out there that day. it is -- it is gross.

BERMAN: And McCloskey's parlayed his fame now into a political run. How do you explain that?

ALDRIDGE: Yes, this -- this is -- they have been able to use the pain and anger and hurt of a movement, a multi-cultural movement, a movement especially in St. Louis. We're the epic (ph) center of Ferguson. We are -- we're known to protest and we have really changed the world and what it means and push back and make sure we just don't stay equal but equitable.

And now you have this couple that have become famous off the pain and hurt of black lives, off the pain and suffering of countless injustice that we have seen since Ferguson and way before my time. It is -- it is outrageous that, you know, you can literally say I'm running for U.S. Senate as a Republican and then admit to some charges and then a few months after that, you know, have a pardon. It is absolutely crazy.

BERMAN: Representative Rasheen Aldridge, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you.

ALDRIDGE: Thank you guys for having me.

BERMAN: Up next, what dozens of progressives in voting rights groups what President Biden to do on the issue right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And, please be seated. The lights are flickering and the curtain is rising on the first Broadway show in 17 months.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:35]

KEILAR: Nearly 50 progressive and voting right groups have sent a letter to President Biden. They are pressing his administration to do more to pass federal legislation to counteract Republican-led state legislation across the country that makes it harder to vote. The letter says, in part, our organizations will continue to do everything we can so that all eligible voters in our states have the resources and opportunities to exercise their fundamental right to vote. However, our organizing capacity is not unlimited. While grassroots efforts remain critical to insuring fair and representative elections, so too is federal legislation to protect and preserve the rights of the constituencies we serve.

Let's talk about this now with Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I do want to talk about a new piece of legislation that you are

calling on your colleagues to support. But, first, I what to ask you what you say to those grassroot organizers who feel like they're being largely abandoned by lawmakers.

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Well, I encourage them to keep pushing because the right to vote is fundamental. People bled and died to secure it. And that's why this week I'm introducing The Right to Vote Act.

And here's something that folks might not know. There does not exist in U.S. law an affirmative guarantee of the right to vote. And so The Right to Vote Act, which I'm introducing this week, establishes that affirmative guarantee of voting rights and it holds that any American citizen can challenge a state law which diminishes or restricts the right to vote, which makes it harder to vote, and require any state in our union to justify those restrictions with specific purpose and justification and to demonstrate what is the least restrictive means of achieving their ends. This is The Right to Vote Act and it is a major contributor to this ongoing discussion in the U.S. Senate about how we can bring legislative remedies to bear that will safeguard the sacred franchise in our country.

KEILAR: How does that fit in with the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act?

OSSOFF: Well, The Right to Vote Act may move as part of a broader measure that establishes national standards for the administration of elections.

[08:40:02]

For example, the For the People Act, which establishes minimum standards for access to voting by mail, for access to early voting. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the pre-clearance provision that allows the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to pre-clear changes to voting law in states and jurisdictions with a history of segregation and Jim Crow.

What my legislation would do, for the first time, is establish affirmatively as a matter of U.S. law that every American citizen has a fundamental right to vote and that any state that would impair, restrict or reduce it must be held to the highest standard and that American citizens can take them to court and force them to justify those restrictions.

KEILAR: Do you agree with what you're hearing from activists here, though, who feel unsupported? Do you think that the Biden administration needs to do more than it's doing?

OSSOFF: Look, every conversation I've had with the president, the vice president and senior White House officials, they have been extremely serious about their dedication to securing voting rights in this country. And I encourage those activists and those grassroots organizers to continue to push Congress and to continue to push all of us here to advance federal legislation that will secure the franchise in the face of state legislatures across the country that are restricting access to the ballot for purely partisan ends on the basis of Donald Trump's lies about the last election. And this legislation that I'm offering this week is a major contribution to that effort.

KEILAR: I do want to ask you about this extension by the CDC on the eviction moratorium in places that are hard-hit by COVID. So, you know, when you look at the map, this is something that is going to affect people in most of the country.

Cori Bush, who is an activist turned lawmaker in the House, was really the champion of this, sleeping on the Capitol steps and eventually really forcing the issue with the White House.

Why did it take that? How did -- how did the Biden administration, in your view, let it get to that point where there was this intra-party fight?

OSSOFF: Well, loo, I've got to give huge props to Congresswoman Bush for her fearless and dedicated effort to raise this issue and bring all the pressure she could to bear to insure that families are not thrown out of their homes in the midst of an outbreak of this delta variant, especially in areas of the country where there's low rates of vaccination and when we still don't have a vaccine for kids as schools reopen.

And I commend the CDC, which, as you know, is based in my home state of Georgia, for extending the moratorium so that folks aren't left homeless in the midst of what remains a pandemic. And I want to encourage everybody out there who hasn't yet gotten the COVID-19 vaccine to get vaccinated. What we're seeing is that it's parts of my state and parts of the country with low vaccination rates that are seeing the most dangerous increases in hospitalizations, putting the most stress on respiratory critical care facilities. The vaccine remains the most effective thing we can do to protect ourselves and to protect our communities.

And if you're still hesitant about this vaccine, you're putting yourself at risk by not getting immunized. So the vaccine is safe, it is free, it is widely available and it's highly effective and I encourage everybody to get vaccinated.

KEILAR: Yes, we know that the vaccination tracker for Georgia says your state is at 38.7 percent. So, obviously, there's a long way to go there and those are the constituents you're speaking to.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us. Senator Jon Ossoff.

OSSOFF: Thank you. Good morning.

KEILAR: A Frontier Airline flight crew going to extremes to subdue an unruly passenger. What the airline is now saying about -- after initially suspending them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:47:55] KEILAR: Frontier Airlines is reversing itself, now saying that it supports a flight crew that took drastic action to restrain an unruly passenger after he allegedly groped and assaulted crew members.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us with more.

And there's video, so we get a sense of what happened.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and flight attendants are calling this one of the worst cases they have seen yet amid this big uptick in unruly passengers.

This one is particularly ugly. This all happened over the weekend on a Frontier Airlines flight between Philadelphia and Miami. And Miami- Dade Police say this passenger on board this flight got drunk, spilled a drink on himself, took his shirt off and then groped two flight attendants. A third flight attendant was assigned to watch him onboard and then this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey! Hey! (INAUDIBLE). Chill. Chill.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chill out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Now this is where it gets really interesting. Flight attendants used something called restraint tape to keep this passenger tied down to his chair. It is something that's in the kit that flight attendants use in infight emergencies. But initially, after this part of the video surfaced, Frontier Airlines suspended those flight attendants.

Now it has released a new statement, a pretty big about face here, saying it now supports this flight crew and it also supports law enforcement in its prosecution of all this. Charged in this is 22- year-old Maxwell Berry. He's facing three counts of battery from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

We reached out to him and have not been able to reach him for comment.

Now, let's look at the big picture here, Brianna, Thirty-seven hundred cases of unruly passengers just this year alone. A hundred in the last week. Of all of those cases, the FAA has initiated enforcement action in only about 99 of those incidents. So flight attendants say the fact that Berry was charged so quickly is something that should be happening more often as we're seeing this big spike in these problems.

KEILAR: It does seem like there are a lot of people getting away with bad behavior, right?

MUNTEAN: Yes. I mean it's an issue. And flight attendants tell me they are scared and they don't want to have to deal with this. Eight-five percent of flight attendants said they've dealt with something like this. [08:50:02]

So they really want to try and nip this in the bud and make sure that this doesn't happen to them. You know, they're trapped in a small environment and they are the ones who are on the front lines of dealing with this.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a -- it's terrible.

Pete, thank you so much for that. Pete Muntean.

MUNTEAN: Any time.

KEILAR: I don't know, Berman, that's --

BERMAN: Many jerks. Too many jerks on these airplanes.

KEILAR: Too many jerks.

BERMAN: I mean, honest to God, like, what was this guy thinking? It's just -- it's terrible. No flight attendant should have to endure that once, let alone three flight attendants, let alone 85 percent of flight attendants who say they have to go through this kind of stuff.

KEILAR: Yes, and then you have all of the passengers sitting there. You know, they're concerned. And it just is insane that it gets to this point where you have someone who to duct-taped to a chair.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: But then you wonder, what is the alternative? And then what do you do with someone who might spend much time yelling and saying terrible things to a lot of people who also could have adverse reactions to that? I think, you know, there are a lot of questions that are raised here but this crew certainly, you know, why are they dealing with this?

BERMAN: In my experience in life, oftentimes there is no alternative to duct-taping to a chair.

All right, coronavirus cases rising exponentially in some states, overwhelming hospital. A live report from Louisiana, which is shattering records.

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[08:55:47]

BERMAN: All right, time for "The Good Stuff."

Broadway preparing to raise the curtain on shows once again almost 17 months since the pandemic forced a shutdown. Seventeen months. Previews begin today for "Pass Over," the first play to resume production. It comes just as New York City's mayor announced new proof of vaccination requirements for indoor events, including Broadway shows. Joining us now to talk about this is the director of "Pass Over,"

Danya Taymor.

It's so nice to see you. It's so nice to see a theater that will be open behind you.

DANYA TAYMOR, DIRECTOR, "PASS OVER" ON BROADWAY: Yes.

BERMAN: How does this feel?

TAYMOR: It feels amazing. We had our final dress rehearsal last night. We had 500 people in there. And the feeling of excitement and gratitude is so palpable. So I couldn't be more excited. A little nervous, but all good.

KEILAR: So, how do you feel, Danya, because we are seeing, obviously, more COVID concerns here cropping up recently? We're seeing states across the country increasing in numbers. How are you feeling -- I know that this is something that you've planned for, for some time, probably with the understanding that things would be doing a little better than they are right now.

TAYMOR: Well, you know, our team has pretty much been prepared for anything. I think part of the reason why our group has had so much success is that we're moving with the times. We have an epidemiologist working with us to advising both backstage and in the audience. So I feel good. Even as the world is changing, we have precautions that are kind of up to date with exactly what's happening in the world right now.

So our company backstage gets tested a lot. Our whole audience will be vaccinated and wearing masks. So we feel like we're creating a safe space to finally come back and see live theater, which is a healing thing that I think after this year of isolation everyone could really use.

BERMAN: I mean could we ever.

I know some of the cast is returning to Broadway after 17 months, which seems like an eternity. Others, I believe including you, this is your first Broadway show. So, in a way, you've waited a lifetime, right, to get there. It's just -- I -- the emotions of the last 17 months for people in the theater community, it's been such a roller coaster. It just has. And I imagine this is just a breakthrough moment.

TAYMOR: It's a total breakthrough moment. I mean, on our production, it's my Broadway debut. But across the board, across departments, my costume designer, many members of the cast, some of our people on the producing side. So, to be able to come back and do what we do is such a beautiful release.

We've spent the last 18 months as an industry out of work trying to figure out, how do we also go on. You know, we're still in the pandemic. But theater is, I think, a basic human right and something that people need. So it's thrilling to have so many firsts. You know, we have come through this year of the pandemic, not just seeing so much death, so much loss, but also the real reckoning for racial justice in this country. And so hopefully this production is leading both in terms of, how do we make theater in a safe way, but also, how do we make Broadway that actually reflects the city that we live in, the world that we live in.

KEILAR: And, look, I think you're on to something with the masking and the vaccinations because we've heard experts say that that's really the dynamic duo. Those are the keys to returning to some normalcy.

What have you heard from people who are looking forward to being audience members who have gone without, I mean, really their biggest hobby for 17 months?

TAYMOR: I would say, come on through. It's safe. You're going to get to be with other people in a safe way. That is something that we have not experienced since March of 2020. So we are working so hard to make it a safe and nurturing environment for people to come back to the theater.

And, listen, I can tell you from even our dress rehearsal last night, the feeling of joy, to be with other people, to see live actors on stage -- this is not Netflix. You cannot get this on Netflix.

So I would say, come. We are making it safe for you. We are taking care of you. And we need you to share this moment.

BERMAN: Danya Taymor, to you and your cast and your crew, break a leg.

[09:00:03]

TAYMOR: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: Really, I couldn't be happier that this is happening. We wish you all the best.

TAYMOR: Thank you.