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Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) Asked Colleague To Mask Up, He Told Her To "Kiss My A**"; 12-Year-Old Swimmer Nearly Disqualified For Black Lives Matter Swimsuit; New Data Shows China Failing On Holding Up Its End Of Trump Trade Deal. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 09, 2022 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

REP. JOYCE BEATTY, (D-OH) (via Skype): And then, Speaker Pelosi said if you insult a high-profile, you have to do a high-profile apology. So I demanded a public apology and that is when he publicly apologized. And I have accepted his public apology and I'm moving on.

But I won't stop standing up for what I believe in. And if you ride the train, then the message is you put a mask on or you walk.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So ultimately, you think the in-person apology combined with the public statement -- you're satisfied?

BEATTY: Well, I'm going to move on. We have so much work to do and the real reality is there's not much more he can do. So I did accept the public apology. And I'm going to go on and continue to fight and stand up for all the things that we have to work on. And I'm hoping it's a lesson learned about this.

But as we practice civility, someone has to be a leader, someone has to be an adult, and that's the role that I'm going to play.

You know, we have so much work that we have to do. So as we look at voting rights, as we look at all of the great things that we have accomplished in this Congress, especially by our Democratic leadership, I think the American people would want me to continue fighting for them and not to continue to deal with Mr. Rogers.

BERMAN: I've got to let you go here, but do you think he ever would have said this to you had you not been a Black woman?

BEATTY: Well, that's another issue. I absolutely have some concerns about that. And maybe the question is had a Black man poked a white woman and then told her to kiss his blank-blank, you tell me what you think would have happened.

BERMAN: Congresswoman Joyce Beatty -- Madam Chairwoman, thank you for being with us this morning.

BEATTY: Thank you.

BERMAN: New data finds China failing to hold up its end of the trade deal it made with the Trump administration. So what, if anything, is the Biden administration going to do about it?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And a 12-year-old swimmer disqualified from competition for wearing a Black Lives Matter swimsuit. She is here next to tell her story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:36:34]

KEILAR: In response to the police shooting of Amir Locke, a 22-year- old man who was killed by Minneapolis police last Wednesday while they were executing a no-knock search warrant, our next guest decided to wear a Black Lives Matter swimsuit to her swim meet, and it resulted in her being disqualified. The story, though, does not end there.

So joining us now is the 12-year-old swimmer Leidy Lyons and her mom Sarah Lyons. And I thank you guys so much for being with us this morning to tell us what happened here.

Leidy, it was between your first and second race where you learned that an official said your swimsuit had to go. That you needed to change your swimsuit. Can you tell us what happened after that?

LEIDY LYONS, 12-YEAR-OLD DISQUALIFIED FOR WEARING "BLACK LIVES MATTER" SWIMSUIT (via Webex by Cisco): So, I was going to get ready for my next race until my coach comes up to me and tells me I have to change it or else I have to get disqualified. So I went to my mom and told her and I was like I'm not going to take it off and my mom goes, like, OK. Then she went to talk to the official and she started making phone calls because I said no.

KEILAR: How did that feel for you, Leidy?

L. LYONS: I felt bad and I felt disrespected because I wanted to show that I mattered.

KEILAR: Yes. I mean, that makes sense.

And so then, Sarah, at this point I know you called the NAACP. They get involved.

SARAH LYONS, MOTHER OF LEIDY LYONS (via Webex by Cisco): Yes.

KEILAR: Ultimately, the YMCA -- the Duluth YMCA overrules the official but not after a lot of drama and I would say some heartache for Leidy.

S. LYONS: Yes, for sure. So she came and told me that she was absolutely not taking the suit off and I said whatever you want to do, I support that. If you want to take it off -- she did have another suit in her bag. She could have taken it off.

And so, I said if you want to take it off, fine, take it off. That's totally cool. If you don't want to, I 100 percent support you. And she said mom, I'm not taking it off. And so, I said OK. Then before we go home we need to make a couple of phone calls. And one of those was to Classie Dudley who is the president of the local branch of the NAACP, and she immediately said Sarah, we'll be there in 15 minutes -- don't move

So, in the meantime, the directors of the YMCA came and some coaches did try to challenge the official. And unfortunately, there was no response on that end until some more pressure came. The media showed up and then, yes, ultimately, it was overturned and she got to swim.

But, of course, what you said -- it came with heartache, right? She missed some races. She was -- she was broken. She went there to swim and that's really all that she wanted to do. And there were a lot of tears involved.

And then it was great when the NAACP showed up and tons of support. I mean, they really wrapped this child in love when they got there. But it's not something a 12-year-old should have to go through just to compete in the sport that they love, so --

KEILAR: Leidy, can you tell us a little bit about -- you know, when you're swimming, you're on this team. You're looking at the other athletes at your meet. Are there many other Black kids who are swimming there?

L. LYONS: No. It's just me with the whole swimming pool with white kids and I'm the only one.

KEILAR: And she's the only one, Sarah?

[07:40:00]

S. LYONS: Yes. In our area, we've never seen another swimmer -- another Black swimmer at any of the meets that we've been to. So, yes, she was definitely --

KEILAR: Do you think, Leidy -- do you, Leidy, if there were more Black swimmers there wouldn't have been this blind spot? If there had been more diversity that the official might have recognized how what they were doing was going to go over?

L. LYONS: Yes. I would have definitely thought of that and it would have worked.

KEILAR: So in the end --

S. LYONS: And maybe she would have felt some more support, you know? More people would have stood up and said hey, hold on, wait.

KEILAR: Yes, I think maybe that would be the case.

So, in the end, Leidy, you swam your events but were you swimming them with other swimmers? Tell us how this went.

L. LYONS: Yes. I ended up swimming with other racers and it went well. KEILAR: And it went well. Well, Leidy --

L. LYONS: Yes.

KEILAR: -- we wish you the best of luck.

L. LYONS: Thank you.

KEILAR: I do want to mention here that the YMCA says it's committed to be an anti-racist organization.

And finally, Leidy, as we wish you luck, someone else has.

L. LYONS: Thank you for sharing --

KEILAR: You heard from LeBron James. Tell us about that.

L. LYONS: I was so excited when I heard about it. I told my friends and they were like oh my gosh, he's the best. So I was pretty excited when I heard about that.

KEILAR: What did you hear?

L. LYONS: I heard that he called me a beautiful young Black queen and I was like yay.

KEILAR: Well, I hope that gave you the opposite feeling of what you were feeling there during the swim meet.

L. LYONS: Thank you for sharing my story.

KEILAR: Leidy and Sarah, thank you to both of you very much.

L. LYONS: Thank you for sharing my story.

BERMAN: What a courageous young woman.

KEILAR: Yes. She -- I loved hearing from her and how she said she was just trying to say she matters and doing so in a pool where she's so completely underrepresented.

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, she stood up for what she believed in there and I think she learned an important lesson. And I think you could see the pride --

KEILAR: Yes.

BERMAN: -- in her face when she was talking to you. Also, the confusion over what happened and how it could happen to her. But I think she feels good about what she did.

KEILAR: Yes. Maybe some other folks learned a lesson --

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: -- too, right? Household debt increased by $1 trillion in 2021, the biggest jump in 15 years. The White House's top economist is going to join us on this, next.

BERMAN: And could the 14th Amendment keep Donald Trump from running for office again? A case in North Carolina testing that possibility.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:46:52]

BERMAN: Brand-new data from the U.S. Commerce Department shows the trade deficit increased 27 percent in 2021 to an all-time high of nearly $860 billion -- underscoring, first of all, a lot spending and buying, but also the country's strong dependence on imports from China and other countries.

This, as new data also shows that China is failing to hold up its end of the trade deal it made with the Trump administration.

Joining us now is Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council. Brian, nice to see you.

Including -- in addition, I should say, to the overall trade deficit numbers, the trade deficit -- specifically with China -- increased 14.5 percent. So what concerns do you have with that kind of imbalance with the country that the White House considers the U.S.' greatest competitor?

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Well, as you said, John, the strength of those numbers reflects the strength of the economic recovery in the United States. We saw the strongest period of economic growth last year in nearly 40 years and it is being driven by strong consumption -- consumption, particularly, of goods.

Obviously, the trade deficit is a combination of both imports and exports. We're breaking records on the export side as well. That's good news for American businesses.

You saw, for example, record agricultural exports in 2021, breaking prior records by a significant amount. American farmers and growers are able to export more goods, which was a real problem under the prior administration.

That said, we are concerned that China has not lived up to the commitment that it made. We are engaging directly with them. Some of that is the flawed nature of the trade agreement itself. But we are where we think it's feasible and practical to make them live up to their commitments but also reset the trade relationship around protecting core U.S. interests around I.P. and other areas where we know that China is violating the rules.

BERMAN: All right, let me -- let me just read people a quote here that explains what we're talking about here. This was the deal made during the Trump administration just before the pandemic. It included trade promises. And it says -- this is from "The New York Times" -- "China would have needed to purchase at least $227 billion of U.S. exports in 2020 and $274 billion in 2021, for a total of $502 billion." This is according to Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. "But China didn't come close, buying only $288 billion or 57 percent."

That's, you know, just over half of what was promised. So, what happened there, Brian? Are you just saying it was a bad deal the Trump administration made?

DEESE: That agreement was flawed in multiple ways, including having unrealistic commitments and also not having a mechanism to actually hold China to account to the commitments that it did make. Flawed in many ways.

We are taking a different approach. Number one, holding China accountable where they have made commitments to say if you're not going to live up to these commitments then we need -- we need -- we need to take a different approach.

But number two, to really focus on those areas where Chinese action is posing strategic threats to our economy. The overcapacity issues in areas like steel. The intellectual property issues where we know that our companies operating globally and in China are at risk.

[07:50:03]

And so, we have reoriented toward a focus on those areas that are core to our national economic interests with an understanding that we're going to reset this trading approach and not try to -- not try to remake the flawed elements of that prior deal.

BERMAN: So, President Biden, in December, said he felt we'd reached the peak of the inflation situation here. That was in December. Do you think December was the peak or where do you see it going?

DEESE: Well, we have seen some welcomed moderation in the price increases over the last couple of months in areas like food. And we are also looking at some moderation in places where we've seen big contributions to price increases, like used cars and car prices. We're starting to see some moderation on that front. So that is positive.

But prices are too high, which is why the president has also said he is waking up every morning focused on what he can do to actually make products and services move more quickly and more cheaply through this economy.

You know, fixing our broken supply chains is at the core of this. As you know and as you cover, this is a global issue. We're seeing inflation globally and that is connected to the supply chain challenges that the pandemic has wrought.

BERMAN: Do you think --

DEESE: We had an announcement here yesterday. A CEO said because we've passed this infrastructure law, they're going to bring production here to the United States and build electric vehicle charging here. That's good news for American jobs but also for supply chains. The more that we can build the resilience of our supply chains, the less we will be at risk of these kinds of price swings going forward.

BERMAN: Very quickly, do you fear that this demonstration at the Canada-U.S. border -- the bridge to Windsor, Ontario could increase supply chain problems if goods can't get across?

DEESE: Well, we're monitoring it closely and obviously, it is having some disruption in the immediate term.

We are looking at trying to move goods and services as quickly through the economy. Trucking is obviously an area where we need to have more trucks moving on the road. We're taking a lot of actions on that front.

The issue in Windsor is one we have our eye on. But more generally, what we're trying to do is get more truckers into the profession in good-paying jobs and more trucks moving on the road from our ports, to our trucks, to our stores. We've seen real progress on that front but we have more work to do.

BERMAN: I want to ask you about a meeting the president's going to have today with CEOs of utility companies. This is going to be to talk about the Build Back Better agenda. What do you expect from this?

DEESE: Well, the president convened about 10 CEOs from across industries a couple of weeks ago and had a really good discussion about the economic imperative to actually address these costs that American families are facing.

It was a very good conversation. We heard CEO after CEO say the economic imperative right now is to help with childcare so more people can get into the workforce. To help with having reliable, low-cost, clean energy in America so that they could supply their businesses.

Today, we'll have America's top CEOs of utility companies here -- a striking group. All of them saying providing long-term technology and neutral incentives to drive clean energy in the United States is good for their business. It's good for the reliability of the electricity sector and it's good for the American consumer because it will mean lower utility prices over the long term. So we're looking forward to this conversation.

And at the end of the day, I think what it underscores is these issues we're talking about are core economic issues. We can provide some relief directly to American families. We can do so without increasing inflationary pressures, without increasing the deficit -- likely, reducing deficits across time. It makes a lot of sense.

BERMAN: Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council. Thanks very much, Brian.

DEESE: Thanks, John. BERMAN: So the rift within the Republican Party widening drastically between those who consider January sixth -- between -- they consider the insurrection legitimate political discourse and those who do not.

KEILAR: Plus, Stacey Abrams responds to the backlash over her maskless picture inside a classroom. Hear how she explains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:56:32]

BERMAN: President Biden has threatened to block the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany if Russia further invades Ukraine. So what actually is this pipeline and how has it become the biggest bargaining chip against Vladimir Putin?

CNN's Bianca Nobilo explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Nord Stream 1 is a gas pipeline running from Western Europe all the way to Germany under the Baltic Sea. It was completed in 2012 and has the capacity to transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas every year or power 26 million homes.

Nord Stream 2, owned by Gazprom, runs parallel to Nord Stream 1. And the $11 billion project was completed last year but it's yet to receive the official sign-off from the German regulators that it needs to start operations.

Now, this is of huge geostrategic significance. Nord Stream works for Russia because it gets to supply its biggest European energy customer, Germany, directly -- bypassing all these transit countries, which saves Russia a lot of money. Plus, the more European countries get gas from Russia, the more they rely on Russia. Hello, leverage.

As far as Germany is concerned, the new coalition has mixed views on Nord Stream, but the country really needs affordable and reliable gas supplies with prices rising and renewables just not generating enough yet.

But the U.S. sees huge potential for exploitation. They worry that Russia will seek to undermine national and energy security across Europe through Nord Stream.

And Ukraine -- well, President Zelensky says that he thinks Putin will use Nord Stream as a dangerous political tool. Nord Stream 1 already bypassed Ukraine. Add another pipeline and Ukraine stands to lose hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars of gas transit fees that it used to get from Russia when it transported gas through Ukraine. Russia's gain, Ukraine's loss.

And with tensions between the two countries, the U.S. and U.K., among others, have seen Nord Stream as a bargaining chip on a point of political pressure to exert on Putin to try and deter aggression, at least until the gas taps turn on. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: All right, Bianca. Thank you for whiteboarding that for us.

Now, in spite of weeks of diplomatic efforts, concerns over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine remain while both countries are primed to hold military drills and exercises tomorrow. For those who are living near the Ukrainian border with Russia, this anxiety is palpable.

CNN's Sam Kiley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kharkiv, Ukraine -- glory to Ukraine. Russian troops and ships muster on land and at sea and few places in Ukraine feel more vulnerable than Kharkiv.

KILEY (on camera): Here, it is only 30 miles from the Russian border. It's a city of about a million and a half people. At least 75 percent of those speak Russian as another tongue (ph). Demonstrations like this are important because this city could be one of the first to get attacked in the event of an invasion.

KILEY (voice-over): Volodymyr Zelensky, the president, has warned as much, and U.S. officials are saying that Vladimir Putin could order an attack at any time.

ANNA ZYABLIKOVA, KHARKIV RESIDENT: Every day, I'm trying to be calm and I'm trying to go through my daily routine. But I'm trying to have the thought -- OK, where are my documents? Where is food? Where is my mom? Do I have enough money?

KILEY (voice-over): In a city that's been identified as a potential Russian target by the Ukrainian president, there are attempts to carry on as normal.

[08:00:00]