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New Day

Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-CO); Cuomo's Top Aide Resigns as Governor Cuomo Faces Potential Impeachment. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 09, 2021 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:01:06]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar. It is Monday, August 9th. And this morning for the first time since February the U.S. is averaging more than 100,000 new COVID cases a day. That is the highest it has been an almost six months. Hospitalizations also continue to rise, more than 66,000 now. The number of deaths is headed in the wrong direction. We're going to talk to Harry Enten about that in just a moment. He's standing by with some brand new numbers.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: One out of every five people hospitalized in this country is in Florida right now. In Jacksonville, six members of one church died within two weeks. And the pastor says 15 to 20 other church members are hospitalized with a virus. On Sunday the church held its first vaccination clinic. One Florida doctor says children's hospitals in the state are overwhelmed, while Republican Governor Ron DeSantis resists calls to require massive schools. Here's how Dr. Jonathan Reiner described the surge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It's so high in Florida that I think that if Florida or another country, we would have to consider banning travel from Florida to the United States. He needs to understand that he has painted himself into a corner. People are dying in Florida. It's going to get much worse. The hospitals are filling with people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now Harry Enten, CNN senior data reporter. Harry, Dr. Reiner set it up, asking the question, if Florida or Louisiana were foreign countries, would we ban travel at this point? Let's look at it.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: This is bad. Florida, Louisiana, look at this. This is new cases -- worst of the entire pandemic in both Louisiana and Florida. Look at that per 100,000, up to 100 per day. Look at this, hospitalizations. Same deal, look at this. Worst of the entire pandemic in both Louisiana and Florida. The only difference is Louisiana is worse -- Florida is worse on this metric. Florida is worse than the other. Either way you look at it, it's bad.

BERMAN: Compared to other countries?

ENTEN: Compared to other countries, look at this. So these are countries. The United Kingdom, France, Greece, you basically have to wait 14 days after you've been in those countries. It's essentially a travel ban for most travelers. Look at this, COVID cases per 100,000, Louisiana plus 99, Florida plus 90, United Kingdom, only plus 40. Still really high, but not anywhere near as high as Florida or Louisiana. Same thing in France, plus 31, Greece at plus 25. So yes, these places, Louisiana and Florida, and there are some other states in there as well, they are worse than places in which travelers are mostly bad.

BERMAN: So Dr. Reiner was on to something.

ENTEN: He was on to something. The numbers back him up.

BERMAN: It is bad in Alabama, too. And I know you have a loved one in Alabama, Harry, so this is something you care deeply about. But I want to play you sound from Marjorie Taylor Greene who was in Alabama somehow getting applause for celebrating how unvaccinated that state is. So listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, (R-GA): You lucky people here in Alabama might get a knock on your door because I hear Alabama might be one of the most unvaccinated states.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Applause to that. Applause.

ENTEN: What the hell? I don't understand any of this. This is bizarro world. You mention I have a loved one down there. Fortunately, she got fully vaxxed back in March. But they are putting her life in danger. She's working every day. She's going out there dealing with a lot of unvaccinated people.

Look, Alabama, lowest in the country in terms of fully vaccinated people. Seven day average of new cases plus 58 per 100,000, that is fifth highest in the nation. This is a recipe for disaster, and they are putting innocent people who have done what they needed to do to keep themselves safe at risk. I would use a curse word honestly, but I don't do that. So this is just bad, man.

BERMAN: Luckily vaccinations are going up there. Not fast enough, but they are starting to go up.

[08:05:00]

I want to talk about daily deaths, because deaths are a lagging indicator, and the hope has been that even as cases rise and maybe even hospitalizations with the Delta variant, we have enough people vaccinated that deaths won't go up as quickly. What are we seeing?

ENTEN: Maybe, that is the hope. What we can see here, these seven day average of new deaths, we are starting to see that the deaths are rising a little bit. Hopefully we never get back to where we were back in the December and January surge. But here is the thing. And that is if you look at the percentage rise, that is what is worrying to me. If we look at the past week versus one week earlier, we see a 43 percent rise. We look at the past week versus, we see, again, a huge rise. So essentially what we are seeing here are large rises that are going on in deaths, and that to me is the worrisome sign where essentially what you see is, yes, the numbers are still relatively low, but we are seeing that rise, and that's what's worrisome to me.

BERMAN: They are going up. They are going up quickly. Let's hope, let's hope they stop at so some point and don't rise because we're vaccinated. But that is what we're watching very closely. So important, Harry. Harry Enten came more or less off vacation --

ENTEN: Thank you. Well, for you I'd do anything.

BERMAN: Thank you for being here.

ENTEN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Yes, and his PSA, WTH so important, right? Harry, thank you for that.

ENTEN: Thank you.

KEILAR: One party that has been canceled because of this pandemic is this year's New Orleans Jazz Fest which was scheduled to take place in October. The lineup was to feature the Rolling Stones, the Foo Fighters, Lizzo, and Dead & Company, but it was canceled because Louisiana broke its own record for COVID-19 related hospitalizations multiple days last week. It has seen its highest number Friday with more than 2,400 people hospitalized with the virus.

And joining us now is CNN political commentator and former mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu. This is terrible. This had already been bumped from the spring. We are talking two years in a row Jazz Fest canceled. What does this mean to New Orleans and the state?

MITCH LANDRIEU, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is a tragic blow for us. I talked to Quinn Davis last night who runs the Jazz Festival, I think he made the absolute right decision. It was very wise. But it is unfortunately and tragic for so many reasons. First of all, Jazz Fest is our seminal event. If you ask anybody in New Orleans what is our favorite thing to do? To see other people, to be with them, to feel part of the community at Jazz Fest.

And on the top of that, it is the number one job provider for our artists, for our musicians, for our restaurants. And it is symbolic of who we are as a people. It also portends that other major events that have been set for October, which are huge job providers, are now also at risk. This is the fourth time, actually, Jazz Fest has been planned and canceled over the last year-and-a-half. So it is a blow to everybody in New Orleans.

However, it portends, as Harry was saying a minute ago, something much more traffic. And it's all driven by the fact that people will not get vaccinated, which is so tragic about what is going on is that it's all preventable, and that wearing a mask and getting the vaccine can actually not only save lives but save livelihoods. So, as all the statistics show, your previous segment about Florida and Louisiana, the numbers do not lie. Hospitalizations do not live. Our healthcare providers, our nurses, our doctors, are so frustrated and they are very angry because they know this is preventable. And it is very unfortunate.

KEILAR: The vaccination rate in Louisiana 38 percent, dramatically lagging behind the national average. But what else do you think this is going to affect? Could football be in jeopardy?

LANDRIEU: I think that if everything continues the way it is now, which is people not getting the vaccine and more people getting sick, at the end of the day you have to protect life and health and safety. And if that is not getting done, it is going to force decisions that people do not want.

And so as the governor has said many times, this is in the people's hands. They are trying as hard as they can to convince people to get what it is that they need. But if they don't, then decisions have to be made that protect people's lives. And so I do think that this pretends not a good trajectory for us. We'll see how it develops over the next week and have or so, but it actually puts everything at risk.

KEILAR: I know you think people want to see LSU play, they want to see the Saints play. Do you really think that's in jeopardy? And do you think that is going to drive it home for people?

LANDRIEU: I don't know what is going to drive it home for people. But if in fact people continue not to get vaccinated and more people get sick, and the science dictates that when we are that close together, I think they are all at risk.

Of course, a private business or a not-for-profit does not need the government to tell them what to do or not to do in this. They can choose to do it themselves. They can choose to require proof of vaccination. They can require people to wear masks. At the end of the day I think the governor and the mayor of New Orleans, and I think elected officials around the state are going to try, except for a couple of them, to articulate what the science dictates us to do. But clearly the fact that people are not getting vaccinated are now putting everybody at risk, not only just their lives but also their livelihoods. And I think that is tragic.

[08:10:05]

And so I think this is going to be a big wake-up call, much like the decision that Adam Silver made with the NBA very early on. You can see that had a ripple effect. This may very have that. But I think it might be a little bit too early to make a call on that. KEILAR: But look, the Jazz Fest lesson is it is putting lives at

risk. It is also putting fun at risk, right. It's putting fun and normalcy at risk. Thank you so much, Mitch Landrieu, appreciate it.

LANDRIEU: You're welcome. Thanks, Brianna.

BERMAN: So a landmark climate report released just this morning by a U.N. scientific panel says there is no avoiding a hotter future. It said earth's climate is warming at a rate faster than previously thought, and warns that the window for action to avoid the most dire consequences is narrowing fast. The U.S. Secretary-General calls the report a code red for humanity.

CNN Chief climate correspondent Bill Weir joins us now for a live look. We were just finishing Brianna and Mitch talking about how bad things are in Louisiana with COVID. This is a worldwide, blinking code red.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is a code red for humanity is the way the Secretary-General puts it now. This is 234 scientists, 66 countries that spent eight years really doing the state of the science, where things stand. And there's nothing new here. It's just like the worst thing you want to hear from your doctor -- yes, you have it, and you have this, and you have that.

They've moved up the warming trend as the tools get better, as computer models get better, as satellites get better. They are able to now say it looks like we are going to blow past the Paris Accord target. We've warmed up the planet about two degrees Fahrenheit in the industrial revolution. The Paris line was 2.7. We will probably blow past that in 2030, a decade sooner than previously thought.

But every fraction of every degree counts because we all want to live on a planet that is at two degrees, not one that is four or eight is where things are going if nothing happens.

BERMAN: What about rising sea levels, things like that?

WEIR: So I was just up in Greenland recently with some scientists up there who are really the first responders. And their lives are becoming more endangered every they go out on this melting ice. And as much of Greenland melted in one day last week to cover Florida and two inches of water, the whole state. And that is a daily occurrence. And now the new science in this reports says it also is grinding the gears of the oceans' currents, the Gulfstream, which runs weather patterns from the Bahamas to Ireland, all of the northeast United States is being affected by this.

And so even if you live inland, this will affect weather patterns because everything is so connected. But there is the science there. There is the solutions there that ultimately all this comes down to is human nature and politics.

BERMAN: We have just go to make changes.

WEIR: Absolutely. BERMAN: We've got to do it.

BERMAN: And demand them, talk about it.

BERMAN: You are the only guy I know who can say I was in Greenland last week the way some people say I was in New Jersey last week.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: I was at the diner around the corner. Bill Weir says, I was in Greenland last week.

WEIR: I wish I could take everybody with me. Because if you could see these things up close, the story would land in a much better way.

BERMAN: I have a feeling you are going to take us there at some point. We're going to be able to see the fruits of your labors. And we really appreciate it. Bill Weir, thank you very much.

Just ahead, new revelations from the final days of the Trump administration Justice Department. A senator who says the country came close to a total catastrophe joins us live.

KEILAR: Plus, chilling new comments from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, what she feared as the insurrectionists stormed the Capitol. And a race against time to save three friends trapped in a flooded elevator.

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[08:17:07]

BERMAN: New and dramatic evidence of former President Trump's efforts to overturn the election, former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen provided testimony over the weekend to the Senate Judiciary Committee about Trump's pressure campaign on the Justice Department.

One senator in the room, Richard Blumenthal said after hearing from Rosen, quote: "I was struck by how close the country came to total catastrophe."

Joining me now is Senator Richard Blumenthal. He is one of three senators who sat for the entire session with Rosen. Senator, thank you so much for being with us this morning. What exactly was the country close to when you say total catastrophe? What is it that you think almost happened?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): John, thanks for having me. The country came very close to a coup because the President of the United States, then Donald Trump sought to break the Department of Justice, enlist it in his attempt to overthrow the election. He relentlessly and purposely pressured and sought to break the Department of Justice, but they withstood that pressure.

And fortunately, although he would stop at nothing, the relevant officials in the Department of Justice stood up to him. BERMAN: So, Rosen testified that the pressure was relentless, or what

did Rosen testify about the nature of the pressure?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, I can't go into the details at this point. We will produce a report. The American people deserve to know it, but meetings in the Oval Office using the full weight of the President's Office in phone calls and other kinds of settings, and then enlisting some of the lower officials, at least one prominent one, to try to undermine the authority of the acting Attorney General, and that was really an attempt to go around him, and eventually it was a kind of slow moving Saturday night massacre. Fortunately for the country, it failed.

BERMAN: You're talking about Jeffrey Clark, right, who was inside the Justice Department at that point, drafting letters to we know Georgia, with lies saying that the Justice Department felt that the election was somehow fraudulent in trying to get Georgia to seek its own electors. What else do you know that Clark was doing?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, it may have been more than just Jeffrey Clark. It may have been others in the Trump orbit and that's the focus of our investigation going forward.

BERMAN: Do you have reason to believe it was more than Clark?

BLUMENTHAL: There is a lot of reason to believe that more individuals than just Jeffrey Clark participated in this scheme. And there is more than ample reason to think that some kind of criminal charges may be appropriate. We will be working on a report.

BERMAN: What kind of charges? What kind of criminal charges?

[08:20:09]

BLUMENTHAL: Well, again, I'm not going to go into the details at this point, we know that there is more than ample evidence to refer to the Department of Justice, at least for its consideration, at least I feel at this point. But the chairman of the committee, Dick Durbin, is going to make a decision about the witnesses going forward, and we should hear from them, but the American people also should see and hear all of these evidence that you've been asking about.

BERMAN: I guess, what I want to know, and because you're an attorney, I have a guy who is the former Attorney General of the State of Connecticut here, among other things, I don't -- I don't understand what laws could have been broken or what people could be charged with. So just help me understand exactly what laws we're talking about.

BLUMENTHAL: We're talking about potential false statements, obstruction of justice, and attempts to impede the lawful activities of the United States. What Donald Trump did here, in effect, was try to overthrow the election, and there are all kinds of potential criminal charges, because asking the Department of Justice to call an election corrupt falsely is potentially criminal violation, and there ought to be responsibility and accountability here.

BERMAN: Thank you for clarifying that. In the last few days, I had John Bolton -- former Ambassador John Bolton who worked for Donald Trump as national security adviser, you know, has condemned the insurrection and condemned Trump's activity, but doesn't think calling it a coup was appropriate. And we just had on former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who sort of agreed in their framing is that the institutions held. We should be relieved that the institutions held.

How do you feel about that?

BLUMENTHAL: I agree that we should be very grateful that the institutions held, John. There were some real profiles encouraged here. The acting Attorney General enlisted the top leadership of the Department of Justice on his side, and probably only their determination to hold those institutions and uphold the rule of law preserved our democracy at that critical moment.

There is a lot here and our investigation are continued very aggressively. My hope is that Jeff Clark will appear voluntarily along with others in the Trump orbit, including possibly Members of Congress, who had a role.

BERMAN: And very finally, overnight, a key procedural vote, you got what -- 18 Republicans as part of the bipartisan infrastructure deal to sign on. How concerned are you that when this goes to the House, it could all blow up there?

BLUMENTHAL: I think there is a real determination to make sure that we rebuild our roads, bridges, ports, and airports. The country has delayed for much too long this much needed effort. And I am hopeful, I'm never optimistic or confident about anything in the United States Congress, but Nancy Pelosi is a supremely competent leader and I'm very hopeful about the results there.

BERMAN: Senator Richard Blumenthal, we appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you.

Up next, a top aide of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just quit. Is this the beginning of the end for the Governor who is about to face impeachment?

And Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez relives the day the insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol in a new CNN interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I didn't think that I was just going to be killed. I thought other things were going to happen to me as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[08:27:48]

BERMAN: New this morning, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's top aide, Melissa DeRosa resigned less than one week after a report from the State Attorney General found that the Governor sexually harassed 11 women. DeRosa put out a statement that said, quote: "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve the people of New York for the past 10 years. New Yorkers' resilience, strength, and optimism through the most difficult times has inspired me every day."

"Personally, the past two years have been emotionally and mentally trying. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such talented and committed colleagues on behalf of our state."

Joining us now, CNN political commentator, Errol Louis. He is a political anchor for Spectrum News and the host of "You Decide" podcast.

No one knows more about New York politics, Errol, than you are. We are lucky to have you here.

Melissa DeRosa resigning overnight, and not banking or saying it's been a pleasure to serve with Governor Cuomo distinctly not mentioning him by name. What's the big takeaway from this resignation?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the main takeaway, John, is that this is an administration in freefall.

The top aide, as you describe her, really, all of the departments report up to her. This is an administration that has basically been decapitated, that has over $2 billion worth of housing assistance, much needed assistance to people who have not been able to pay their rent over the last year. That money has not been spent. New York is behind all other states in getting it done.

The administration is grinding to a halt, and the Governor has not been heard from, he has been holed up, has not resigned, has not made any clear statements about what's supposed to happen to this state of 20 million people, and this just sort of makes clear that his closest advisers, his top aides are just walking away from him. He apparently is not listening to them.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, look important business, as you mentioned, is not getting done, and that is sort of a victim as well of what we are seeing here. But I just wonder behind the scenes, do you get a sense of what is going on? What is the Governor doing? How is he spending his time?

LEWIS: Apparently, what's happening is that unlike in past situations, where the Governor would seek the counsel of some really talented aides that he's had over the years, aides in some cases who had also served his father. Instead of bringing them together in trying to sort out what he ought to do, apparently, the Governor is talking to people one-on-one. He is keeping his own counsel.

[08:30:14]