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New Day

Biden Arrives in Asia Facing Multiple Crises in U.S and Abroad; Key Pennsylvania Senate Race Tightens, Oz Ahead by 1,000 Votes; Committee Probing Tour Given by GOP Lawmaker on Eve of Attack. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 20, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I got so fired up talking to Marty because he's out there doing something. He talks about this problem in needing hard hats and hard -- steel-toed shoes to move this mass and actually get something done.

But he is not alone. The Department of Energy yesterday, John, announcing $3.5 billion of new spending on carbon capture on land, the biggest factory right now is in Iceland moving about ten tons a day. We need to get that to about ten tons a second for this to work out, but it is encouraging that people are out there really thinking about big solutions.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's going to take that kind of energy, it's going to take that kind of creativity to make changes in this.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. But I love this guy and I love this story.

BERMAN: It's fantastic, right? A seaweed farm. Who knew?

HILL: I'm in.

BERMAN: All right. New Day continues right now.

I'm John Berman, Brianna is off, Erica Hill with me this morning on this New Day.

President Biden in South Korea as North Korea appears to be on the verge of testing a missile.

And did a Republican lawmaker lead a tour of the Capitol complex on the eve of the insurrection?

HILL: Plus, new CNN reporting this morning on rising tensions among conservative justices over Roe v. Wade.

And U.S. health officials sounding the alarm on a new COVID wave disrupting American life, we are going to get answers from the White House coronavirus czar. BERMAN: Good morning to viewers here in the United States and all around the world, it is Friday, may 20th.

And just a short time ago, President Biden speaking in Seoul, South Korea, kicking off his first visit to Asia since taking office. Biden joined the new South Korean president, Yoon Seok-youl at a Samsung semi-conductor plant, an immediate display of unity. The main goal of this trip is to reassure America's Asian allies of U.S.'s commitment to counter and contain China. The president will also visit Japan on this trip.

HILL: There is growing concern over what North Korea may do next. The U.S. bracing for the possibility that Kim Jong-un would conduct a missile test in coordination with Biden's arrival. The White House says it's prepared for all contingencies.

Let's bring in now CNN Pentagon Correspondent Oren Liebermann with the latest. What more do we know about these concerns, Oren?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Erica, the U.S. has been watching this very closely. Now, the U.S. assesses that North Korea is getting ready to possibly fuel an intercontinental ballistic missile for a test, and that's obviously a key phase because you don't leave that fuel in the missile for very long before you carry out a test.

This went from possible to probable and now it looks like it might be imminent perhaps even while President Joe Biden is in South Korea or in Japan making that visit to meet with U.S. allies in the region expressing the concerns about North Korea.

The U.S. has been watching this closely at a test site near Pyongyang. The latest satellite imagery shows vehicles at the site. It doesn't yet show a missile or a launcher, according to a U.S. official familiar with the latest assessment, but that's what they're looking for.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said earlier this week the U.S. is ready for any contingencies. The U.S. has watched over the course of the last few months as it believes North Korea carried out tests of this system but it has not yet launched it with intercontinental ballistic missile range. And that's one of the concerns, that's what the U.S. is watching for now.

Sometime in May, as the U.S. announced that North Korea had carried out this test, the U.S. said it would increase its surveillance of the region there, of the sea in that area. And Sullivan said earlier this week the U.S. is ready to do so again to make sure not only U.S. interests are protected but also the interests of its allies as it looks to see if North Korea does indeed carry out an ICBM test.

Erica, also worth noting, the U.S. is looking for a possible underground nuclear test from North Korea. That perhaps not as imminent, not in the immediate future but no less urgent.

HILL: Absolutely. Oren Liebermann, I appreciate it this morning. Thank you. BERMAN: And we have new CNN reporting this morning about simmering tensions at the Supreme Court, specifically among the court's conservative majority, and this is happening over the looming Roe versus Wade decision.

I want to bring in CNN Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic from Washington. Joan, what have you learned?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Good morning, John. Clarence Thomas is the senior justice in the block that would completely overturn Roe v. Wade, and he recently took aim at Chief Justice John Roberts and said something that he never had said before. Clarence Thomas prided himself never speaking critically about anyone on the court and he said specifically referring to the period just before John Roberts joined, that was when we actually trusted each other. We may have been a dysfunctional family, but we were a family and we loved it. We had trust.

[07:05:00]

Now, John Roberts is the one justice who right now is trying to forestall the absolute overturn of Roe v. Wade at this moment. He favors upholding the Mississippi abortion law before the justices, which would prevent a woman from ending a pregnancy after 15 weeks, after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but he did not want to completely roll it back.

And his greatest chance of making progress against what Clarence Thomas and the far-right conservatives want is to pick off Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett. And Clarence Thomas' words certainly laid bare what might be happening behind the scenes in terms of progress Roberts is making.

And one other thing, John, I'm going to take you to two years ago when John Roberts cast the single most important vote to strike down a restrictive Louisiana law. He joined with the liberals there, something he hadn't done before, but, again, he really wanted to preserve something of precedent.

And Clarence Thomas writing for himself said Roe was made up of whole cloth, it has no basis in the Constitution, it is time to overturn it. It was egregiously wrong. And right now, John, I can tell you that Roe v. Wade will soon be overturned, the question is will it be done immediately over protests from Chief Justice John Roberts or will that sort of action be slowed because of some compromise that Roberts is able to do, again, over the criticism of those on the far-right and specifically these days Justice Clarence Thomas who is the leading senior in that block of justices.

BERMAN: So, Joan, is this a one-way street in terms of the where this is being directed? Is Roberts responding at all? And also it's coded language, but what is Thomas accusing Roberts of, not being on the up and up?

BISKUPIC: You know, it's funny you say it exactly that way because Chief Justice John Roberts can be quite cagey about how he operates behind the scenes. I'm sure he wouldn't use that word on himself and would probably think he's just trying to deal with his colleagues as an honest broker, but he can be quite secretive.

In the times that he has pulled out a majority, essentially a rabbit out of a hat at a time when it looked like things were not going to be his way or he wouldn't be able to broker something, kind of an institutionalist middle ground result, which is what he has been aiming for, he did it by first working quietly, working in confidence with one or two other justices. And that has built up resentment over time among the justices on the far-right who have seen him kind of thwart the outcomes he wants.

But what's different this time, John, is that Clarence Thomas went public. Clarence Thomas -- he may have had those kinds of feelings toward the chief but he has always kept them outside of, you know, his speeches. He has not been so overt in terms of his complaints. But that is the dynamic behind the scenes.

So, I think that it just goes to show just how much the tensions are ratcheted up. Part of it, of course, is the disclosure that they are all pointing fingers at each other of who might have caused this, but the bottom line, the most important thing right now, is how far they're going to go on Roe v. Wade and, as I say, it will likely be eventually overruled, it's just a matter of whether it's this year or maybe in the next couple of years, John.

BERMAN: Yes, it's a good point. Ultimately, it may not be their feelings that matter as much as the actual policy and decisions that they make. Joan Biskupic, terrific reporting. Thank you so much.

HILL: The GOP Senate race in Pennsylvania still too close to call this morning. It is tightening, though, the gap between celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick narrowing overnight. Oz leads by a little more than 1,000 votes.

Joining us now to help break down the upcoming Georgia primary down, David Chalian, CNN Political Director, Host of the CNN political briefing podcast. Good to see you this morning.

So, let's start there in Pennsylvania. So, we did see this lead narrow a little bit for Dr. Oz. It's still going to be a little while likely via a recount before we know the answer here.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, but both campaigns are so focused on getting to that final number before the recount, the likely recount gets launched. So, what you see here is that narrowed lead for Oz, just over 1,000 vote margin, he's 1,088 votes ahead of Dave McCormick. Now you see, it's 0.1 percent difference, and the law says anything within 0.5 percent difference automatically triggers a recount.

What to watch for today, we are expecting in the 9:00 A.M. Eastern hour that Allegheny County out near Pittsburgh is going to release some votes. They are -- I think that county holds the biggest bucket of still outstanding vote.

We think it's fewer than 10,000 votes overall across the commonwealth that are still out there to be counted.

[07:10:05]

So, watch this morning to see if indeed McCormick can make up some of this ground out of Allegheny County, which is a strong area for him. He may -- he may get this margin into the hundreds. And that's what we may be talking about at the end of the day here, a race that is within a few hundred votes either way.

BERMAN: And that really is close. And, obviously, a recount, a few hundred votes, that may be close enough where the results could change over the next several weeks as we look at this.

David, we are already thinking about next week. There are some big races to watch for next Tuesday. What are you looking at?

CHALIAN: Yes. Let's look first at that Georgia gubernatorial primary on the Republican side, John. This is a recent Fox News poll. And look at how the incumbent, Brian Kemp, is performing against David Perdue, this is the former senator who has Donald Trump's backing. And, basically, Brian Kemp has former Vice President Pence and the rest of Republican establishment. He has got a 32 percentage point lead right now over David Perdue, and that is a lead that has grown since March, if you look at the Fox poll. He had an 11 percentage point lead. So, Kemp heads into this primary with significant wind at his back and that is not good news for Donald Trump.

Just to show you some other contests on Tuesday that we're taking a look at, the Alabama Senate race, this also has a Trump storyline, one where Donald Trump unendorsed Mo Brooks. He rescinded his endorsement because Mo Brooks was not strongly advocating for the baseless election lie about 2020. So, we will see how this turns out on Tuesday.

On the Democratic side in Texas, take a look, there is a runoff between Henry Cuellar, the moderate incumbent Democrat, versus a progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros. Also, they do not have the same position on abortion rights, even inside the Democratic Party. We've got more of an anti-abortion right, pro-abortion right candidate here. So, Roe v. Wade has been playing into this race.

And in Arkansas, the Republican gubernatorial primary there, familiar face, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Trump press secretary, she is the frontrunner in this race to emerge as the Republican nominee on Tuesday. So, a lot to come up next Tuesday, guys.

BERMAN: All right. David Chalian, we know you are going to be a big part of it. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

CHALIAN: Sure.

BERMAN: So, Republican Congressman Barry Loudermilk says the House January 6 committee is pushing a false narrative by asking for information about a tour he gave the day before the Capitol attack. In a letter to Loudermilk, and this is the news, this just happened, the committee Chairs Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney requested his voluntary cooperation, saying they believe he has information about a tour he gave in the Capitol complex the day before the insurrection, citing reports that some rioters were gathering information about the Capitol layout through tours ahead of the attacks, though the letter does not directly connect the tour Loudermilk gave with those allegations.

Joining us now, a very special guest, Dana Bash, CNN Chief Political Correspondent and co-Anchor of State of the Union. Great to see you.

HILL: You should always have that introduction.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I know. Do I just follow me around in my life?

BERMAN: That would be a promotion for me. Believe me.

BASH: Also this lighting would help.

BERMAN: Listen, what's the important issue here at this point? The committee is getting at something here. What exactly is it?

BASH: This has been the unanswerable or unanswered question since January 6th, right? Were there members of the Congress, sitting members of Congress, who were at all involved in helping rioters, helping insurrectionists. And what the committee said in this new letter last night was that they believe the answer is, yes, despite a Congressman Loudermilk in this particular case, his denials, and the denials more broadly of Republicans who produced their own report, saying that they looked at all of the footage for 48 hours before January 6 and there was no evidence of it.

What the letter suggests is that there is evidence that the answer is yes, that Congressman Loudermilk did give a tour. We haven't seen that evidence. We don't know how critical it is and what we do know is that Loudermilk is saying, well, what I did was I had a group of families -- excuse me, a family that they met at a church in my office.

BERMAN: I have a direct quote, let me read a direct quote from the letter, so you can see exactly what the committee is saying. Republicans on the committee on House administration of which you are a member claim to have reviewed security footage from the days preceding January 6 and determined that there were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on, however, the select committee's review of evidence directly contradicts that denial.

BASH: That's going to be the key here because it's a he said/he said. And if they do actually have evidence, it's going to be up to the committee to produce that, first and foremost perhaps to him in private so that he comes and talks to them before the public hearings, but then if that doesn't happen, assuming that nothing changes, to show the public.

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HILL: Right, and that's what --

BASH: And we don't have it yet.

HILL: So, we will either get it before or if not hopefully in these hearings in June.

We do want to also talk about this new law in Oklahoma which would be the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. And for people who maybe aren't familiar with it this morning, it also very specifically uses language in the bill that defines an unborn child as a human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth, and that's what's key with this bill here. They're saying, from the moment of fertilization except in a few very small instances, there can be no abortion in the state.

BASH: It is, like you said, the most restrictive law. And this isn't something that is even temporary or isn't hypothetical because the reason Oklahoma was able to pass this and did it the way that it did is because of what we saw in Texas. This is actually separate from what we expect to happen with Roe v. Wade.

A couple of months ago, the Supreme Court, they decided that they weren't going to shut down a law in Texas which gets around Roe v. Wade, which, again, might be irrelevant in a couple of weeks, by making it sort of a civil action, that people, regular people, can enforce this, and they use other legal mechanisms to do that.

So, the point is that with this law today, tomorrow, in Oklahoma, you cannot get an abortion at any -- you cannot end a pregnancy at any time after fertilization, which for people who have gone through the process of getting pregnant and having a baby, that's almost impossible to know.

HILL: Yes, it is.

BASH: I mean, it is possible in some ways, but it's impossible to know in other ways. So, it makes it incredibly restrictive and it's really unclear how this would be enforced.

HILL: It's also interesting that the couple of carve-outs that are there, right, it's the health of the mother in a case of rape or incest, but those cases of rape or incest have to have been reported to law enforcement, which adds another layer for the woman or perhaps young girl who is dealing with this. It's also interesting the civilian -- sort of the civilian enforcement aspect of it.

There is a lot of concern about how that could extend beyond state lines. So, if somebody, say, in New York were giving money to a fund to help women in Oklahoma, there are now questions being raised as to whether that donor could then be in the target of some of these people maybe in Oklahoma going after people who are helping a woman get an abortion. Is that something we are going to see play out in other states, do you think?

BASH: Possibly. Absolutely. I mean, there are so many aspects to the change in laws that we are already seeing. One, of course, is the -- what happens to the woman, what happens to her life, what happens to the life of the child. All of those are understandably important questions.

But then there's the criminalization of this, as you mentioned. Who is culpable? I mean, some laws actually explicitly say it's the provider, it's even perhaps somebody who helps them get to the medical professional to get what would be an illegal abortion. And then how are those -- those illegal acts, because they would be, how are they enforced?

And then there's a whole question I know you were talking about with Laura Jarrett, which has to do with just modern science, which is IBF, because a lot of people have babies these days with the miracle of modern science and technology but it requires making an embryo. What happens to those embryos?

BERMAN: A new legal wilderness really over the course of the summer almost definitely.

Dana, you have got a big show on Sunday. Who is going to be on State of the Union?

BASH: Well, one of the topics that is definitely going to come up with the Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson, he is going to be on. His state, Arkansas, is one of 13 that has a trigger law and they have -- would have, as soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned, one of the toughest anti-abortion laws on the books.

And then you see Josh Shapiro, his first national interview since he became the Democratic nominee for governor in Pennsylvania.

HILL: Looking forward to both of those this weekend.

BASH: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: Circle it on the calendar. Dana, thank you.

So, a Texas border town fearing a surge of migrants as the Biden administration prepares to lift border restrictions. We are going to go there live, next.

HILL: Also ahead, we will be joined by White House COVID Adviser Dr. Ashish Jha with the latest on this rise on case numbers that we're seeing nationwide.

Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one, and liftoff.

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HILL: Liftoff finally, Boeing's Starliner on its way to the International Space Station after previous attempts were marred by technical problems. We will get you the latest.

[07:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So, with the White House set to end Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic border restriction next week, an already overwhelmed Texas border is bracing for a surge in migrants that official fear could strain resources.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez live with the latest for us in Hidalgo, Texas. Priscillia, give us a sense of what you're seeing down there.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: John, border communities have seen the ebbs and flows of migration for years, but there is added urgency and concern now with the end of the Trump-era pandemic restriction known as Title 42.

I spoke with the mayor, Javier Villalobos, about the concern he has that his city is going to have strained resources and his warning that the preparations by the Biden administration just might not be enough.

[07:25:05]

Take a listen.

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MAYOR JAVIER VILLALOBOS (R), MCALLEN, TX: I have confidence in the preparations. I don't think it will succeed.

I think we really need -- and we always talk about a comprehensive immigration policy, they need to sit down in Washington. And I'm saying this now, I don't even want them here anymore to come take pictures, I don't care about the president being here for a photo op or the vice president or anybody, I want them to be in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, there is also discord in Washington, D.C. among Republicans and even Democrats about the end of Title 42. And, again, this is a public health authority invoked at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic that allowed officials to turn migrants away at the U.S. southern border as a result of the public health crisis.

Now, the CDC said in April that it could -- that this authority was no longer necessary given the access to vaccines and other treatments for COVID-19 and had set the May 23rd date, that is on Monday, for this restriction to end.

Now, we are still waiting for a judge to make a decision on whether the administration can continue with those plans or whether he will block the administration from ending Title 42 as it intends, the Justice Department asking this judge this week to rule before Monday because of operational challenges. John?

BERMAN: Yes, it will be a busy few days there. Priscilla Alvarez, I know you're tracking it closely for us. Thank you so much.

HILL: Boeing's Starliner spacecraft heading into space.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one, and liftoff.

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HILL: the uncrewed test mission now on its way to the International Space Station. Last night's launch comes after two previous launch attempts were marred by technical problems.

CNN's Rachel Crane joining us now. So, Rachel, if successful this time, Boeing is hoping that NASA astronauts could fly on Starliner by the end of the year?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erica. But if history is any indicator, Boeing is likely to miss that goal not just because, you know, these goals and timelines in the space industry always slip, but because, as you pointed out, the Starliner program has been plagued by failures and delays.

Yesterday's launch came after two failed launch attempts. Back in 2019 in December, they had a launch that had major problems, in fact, an internal clock was 11 hours off that caused thrusters to prematurely fire and that that spacecraft never made it to the International Space Station. Another launch attempt had valve issues.

So, yesterday showed the third time was the charm for Boeing, but it wasn't out -- it wasn't without some bumps in the road. Shortly after liftoff, Boeing had a press conference where they revealed that two of the 12 thrusters on board the spacecraft and those thrusters are -- they are intended to control the maneuvers of the spacecraft, they failed. Luckily, redundancies were in place and they kept that spacecraft on course to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

Boeing says that they're confident that the mission objectives won't be interrupted as a result of this failure and the team is, you know, troubleshooting what exactly happened there. But, you know, Boeing and NASA are really hoping that this test launch is successful. That's because, Erica, over $4 billion of taxpayer money has been sunk into this program. SpaceX luckily has been flying our astronauts to the International Space Station for some time now. They've had five successful launches, Boeing hoping to follow their lead. Erica?

HILL: All right. Well, we will continue to follow it along with you. Rachel, I appreciate it. Thanks.

Michigan secretary of state revealing for the first time that former President Trump suggested she be executed, refusing to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

BERMAN: Plus, all of your questions about the new COVID wave, we are going to get answers from the White House COVID czar, next.

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