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New Day

McCarthy Demanded Accountability After Attack; Ex-Employee Filed Complaint on Abbott; Celtics Beat the Warriors. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 09, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:49]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, in prime time, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol will begin its public hearings. This as new audio is released by "New York Times" reporters of Republican lawmakers and their initial reactions to the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): We need to know and have the facts exactly what happened and when. This needs to be done in a targeted way that doesn't need to distract from keeping the Capitol safe over the coming weeks. But what we learned is that people can get in. We learned that people planned. We need to have all the facts especially for all of us. And we should do it in a bipartisan manner.

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KEILAR: Joining me now is "New York Times" national political correspondent Jonathan Martin. He is the co-author of "This Will Not Pass: Trump/Biden and the Battle for America's Future." Also with us, "Washington Post" journalist Heidi Przybyla.

You have to point out, Jonathan, that that is Kevin McCarthy, because you might not recognize what he's saying for what he's said since.

JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, and those - those days after January 6th, as we capture in our book, Kevin McCarthy was in a state of agitation for two reasons. I mean, one, he feared more political violence in this country, potentially at the Capitol, but he also had a crisis of politics on his hand. He was desperately trying to grapple with how to contain the fallout that was going to impact his own party. And as we know from the previous tapes that we've released on this book, he was thinking about calling for Trump to resign, he was thinking about the 25th Amendment, obviously grappling with the impact of impeachment, and he eventually comes to this point where he thinks a bipartisan commission to investigate January 6th could be something that could unite, yes, both parties and even all the factions of his own party.

And, of course, that is what ultimately did transpire, that Congress voted on a bipartisan commission, but Kevin McCarthy has since moved away from his support.

KEILAR: Let's rewind to what Republicans were saying about the election and about election fraud. And there are delivering opinions in the conference about this, but I want to play something that Larry Bucshon of Indiana said about the vote to not certify the election result. Here is how he described the choice that he and many Republicans were facing.

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REP. LARRY BUCSHON (R-ID): The reality is, is this is a political vote for many of us.

I'm going to vote my district. My district wants me to object to the states that get bicameral reject - objections. And that's how I'm going to vote.

Do I like it? No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Do I like it, Heidi, no.

HEIDI PRZYBYLA, WASHINGTON JOURNALIST: I really think this is stunning because, at the beginning of the Trump administration, I remember very poignantly a Republican source of mine saying, Heidi, you have to distinguish in this moment between the liars and the lied to. And what this shows us is that the people lying about election fraud, the people lying about the fact that Donald Trump actually lost the election know that it's a lie.

MARTIN: Right.

PRZYBYLA: But the problem is, their constituents don't know that. They really believe it. And we've seen the implications -- we've seen what's happened as a result of that, which is a rash of voting laws across the country in various states that have now restricted voting rights across the country.

[06:35:10]

People running on the big lie. And only 20 percent, by some accounts of Republicans actually believing that Joe Biden was legitimately elected as president of the United States. It's had massive, massive implications. And here Jonathan has on tape the receipts showing that the people telling the lie know that it's a lie.

KEILAR: You also have on tape, Jonathan, the people who are the true believers, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, right?

MARTIN: Right. Yes, who are emphatically saying there was some monkey business with this election. We even have Louie Gohmert talking about the purported involvement of intelligence agencies. And that is quickly swatted down by none other than Adam Kinzinger, who, of course, would go on to become a member of the January 6th committee. And I think his own alienation from the party began in these days where he just can't understand -- can't comprehend his own party's refusal to accept Joe Biden's victory.

Well, I think that this is what we capture in our book is the sort of arc of this party from the immediate aftermath of January 6th, where you hear Kevin McCarthy grappling with the real implications of what happened in the Capitol that day, to today where they mostly have just moved on. Why? Because their voters don't want to hear it and their voters still, for the most part, like Donald Trump and don't want to hear anything that criticizes Donald Trump.

KEILAR: And they can't survive, most of them, politically if they don't --

MARTIN: In a primary, right.

KEILAR: Right, in a primary, if they don't hand out this information.

PRZYBYLA: And that's what we've seen with the gentleman from the northeast, what was his name, Chris Jacobs, who, you know --

MARTIN: Of New York state, yes.

PRZYBYLA: Of New York state. Well, that was on another issue, but if you don't tow the party line then it's over for you. And it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy as well with the big lie being something now that is a litmus test for Trump in endorsing candidates.

MARTIN: I think, just real fast, I think so much of this is because a lot of these members in the House especially are singularly focused on surviving their primaries because that's where the real action is. You know, they don't have competitive general elections. So in the past, in American politics, people were consumed with, how do I keep people in the broad middle happy so I can get re-elected with the general electorate in the fall. Now the focus is entirely on the primary.

PRZYBYLA: And the challenge tonight, of course, and we've said this before, is breaking through to those audience that haven't already seen this information.

MARTIN: Yes.

PRZYBYLA: Those audiences who this would be new revelations to. And that's why I'm told, Bri, that tonight, Liz Cheney is going to play a leading role in presenting some of this information. Of course, there will be others, but they've agreed that she should be the face, at least for tonight. And that is -- she's their one hope of breaking through to potentially some of these Republicans.

KEILAR: And also the people who I think have kind of zoned out the drip, drip, drip. They want it all in one bucket.

MARTIN: Yes.

KEILAR: Are they going to get that tonight? I think that's probably the goal and we're going to see if they do that effectively.

Jonathan, Heidi, thank you so much to both of you. MARTIN: Thank you.

PRZYBYLA: Thank you.

KEILAR: Tonight at 7:00 Eastern you can join CNN for our special coverage to hear new details on what happened inside the White House on January 6th.

News from NASA in morning. A space rock crashing into the James Webb Telescope in space. How this could impact its mission.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we will hear from the pediatrician who treated victims of the Uvalde massacre, children he had cared for since they were babies. He described seeing their small bodies pulverized by bullets. My conversation with him ahead.

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[06:42:54]

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DR. ROY GUERRERO, UVALDE PEDIATRICIAN: Children whose bodies had be pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue of their identities was the blood splattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none.

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BERMAN: That was Uvalde pediatrician Dr. Roy Guerrero testifying during a hearing on Capitol Hill, describes what he witnessed at Uvalde Memorial Hospital on the day of the mass shootings. I spoke with him about his experience.

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BERMAN: What was going through your mind today in those moments?

DR. ROY GUERRERO, UVALDE PEDIATRICIAN: I think the biggest thing that was going through my mind was that deciding how much of the truth I wanted to expose and to say. But I felt it was important because only by painting that visual image could you actually get people to understand the gravity of what happened to our community and to understand how much my community is suffering and how much we're just completely devastated and still hurting two weeks after this happened.

BERMAN: What is the truth?

GUERRERO: That these weapons of war cause wounds that are war wounds, the things you see on movies. Things that no pediatrician, much less any doctor, is ever ready to see. We were forced into this situation by someone that was out to murder children.

BERMAN: Do you think it's possible for people across the country to fully grasp the horror of what you saw? GUERRERO: No. I think unless you -- you lived it and you felt it and

you still feel it like the community does today and how Uvalde is mourning still at this point, you will never truly know or feel what we felt. But at least if I can -- can at least paint a mental picture of these horrendous acts that shouldn't be happening, I think that's a start because, like I said, no one should ever experience this.

BERMAN: What do people need to know? What do people need to know about the sights that you saw?

GUERRERO: I just think the people need to know that these type of guns, assault weapons, AR-15s, have no place in our society, merely because of the type of injuries and wounds that they cause.

[06:45:12]

And as you mentioned, you know, with these types of scenarios and with the things that we saw that day, I'm not going to repeat what the injuries were. The reports are out there. Everyone's read it. Everyone's seen my testimony. That's something that no family or no community should ever relive ever again.

BERMAN: How are you doing? How is your community doing tonight?

GUERRERO: We're struggling. We're broken. Uvalde will never be the same. I really think I really haven't dealt with the full impact of what's happened to me, what's happened to my community, which is -- today we actually had a meeting on Capitol Hill with some policymakers just speaking of the -- the counseling and the psychology help we're going to need for the community, the parents, aunts, uncles, friends, even myself weeks to months to years from now after this tragedy.

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BERMAN: I want to be clear, Dr. Guerrero was treating children that he's known since they were born, including Miah Cerillo, who is someone that NEW DAY, Nora Nuse (ph), our producer, has spoken with, who survived that shooting. He saw them wounded and then he saw other kids dead. And it's part of a discussion and he thinks it's important. I know you're having this discussion, too, Brianna, later in the show about if it's important that the American people see -- see the horrors of what's happened, as painful as it is.

KEILAR: Yes, can you confront the horror without really looking at it? And I think what he was doing there was in a way forcing people at least to have a visual, even if they aren't looking at it. I can't imagine what he endured that day. I can't imagine how hard it was for him to testify before Congress. But, clearly, he thinks it's so important, John, that people do think about it so that maybe there is change.

BERMAN: Yes, I was just struck by the very first thing he said to me in that interview, that he was struggling with how much of the truth to tell. So moving.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a -- it is a tough line. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who has been really at the forefront

of these gun negotiations on Capitol Hill in the Senate, he's going to join NEW DAY here in minutes.

A new report revealing a whistleblower filed a safety complaint about an Abbott baby formula plant months earlier than previously known. How the company is now responding.

Plus, the third Broadway show in three days announces it is shutting down. What this means for the struggling theater industry.

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[06:51:54]

BERMAN: So, this morning, a source tells CNN that a former Abbott employee filed a whistleblower complaint about its Michigan baby formula plant eight months earlier than previously known.

CNN anchor Laura Jarrett joins me now.

What have you learned here, Laura?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Yes, John. So, as we know, parents around the country are still struggling to find baby formula, but the timeline of exactly what happened at that Abbott plant in Sturgis, Michigan, is coming into sharper focus.

CNN has now learned, as John just mentioned, that a former Abbott employee filed a whistleblower complaint about the company's practices far earlier than previously known. This individual who was apparently fired back in August of 2020 first raised product safety concerns with the Labor Department in February of 2021. OK, look at that timeline. The person claimed that the equipment defects had allowed bacteria into the formula production line. Something pretty serious. So OSHA, the department within Labor, then alerts not only the FDA but Abbott about the issue.

In a statement to CNN, Abbott says that this former employee was actually dismissed due to serious violations of Abbott's food safety policies and that it investigated the matter. But beginning last September, federal officials received notice four babies had been hospitalized with rare infections after drinking formula made at that Abbott plant. Tragically, two of those babies died.

But here's the thing, the CDC says the babies' bacteria didn't conclusively match with the strains found in the Abbott plant. So, they had the bacteria, but maybe they got it from somewhere else.

Yet this same Abbott whistleblower then expands on the allegations in yet another complaint sent to the FDA in October of 2021. That's the complaint that ultimately lands in the hands of Congress and why we know about any of this at all.

But it's not until February of this year that Abbott's plant in Michigan shut down, which then layered on to this crush of other supply chain problems causes the massive shortage of formula that is hurting families right now.

The FDA says in a statement to CNN, we know that there have been various questions about the timeline of events leading up to the FDA's warning and Abbott's recall of its products, but it goes on to say, the top priority right now is addressing the dire need for infant formula. It's a dire need.

And, John, that Abbott plant, that same Abbott plant, opened up last Saturday.

BERMAN: Yes, and there still is a dire need, to be clear. But the time --

JARRETT: Still can't find it. Trust me, I've tried.

BERMAN: But the timeline here matters too.

JARRETT: Yes.

BERMAN: And there are still these open questions. Wow.

Laura Jarrett, thank you very much.

JARRETT: Sure.

BERMAN: Overnight, gas prices rise so close to $5 a gallon. The White House joins us on what's ahead.

KEILAR: And new details about the man charged with attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. What he says set him off.

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[06:58:51]

BERMAN: A glorious morning in sports as the globally beloved Boston Celtics take a series lead in the NBA finals.

Coy Wire here with this morning's "Bleacher Report."

And this was a convincing win, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I hear even the parties in the North Pole were epic for the Celtics, John, let's go.

Boston was in 11th place in the Eastern Conference halfway through the regular season. They never gave up. And they refused to lose back to back games this post season.

Beantown crowd getting loud for the Celtics. First home game of their final series with the Warriors. The Celtics running up an 18-point lead at one point in game three, fueled by a franchise record tying finals first quarter by Jaylen Brown, 17 of his 27. Golden State jabs back in the third, though. Steph Curry helping them take a lead. They drop a game - he drops a game high 31. But check out this scary moment for Curry in the fourth, rolled up

while scrambling for a loose ball. He was -- did continue to play and he said afterwards he should be good for the next game.

Boston's trio of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart combining for 77 points, a 116-100 win. And, good news, John, in NBA finals history, teams that have won game three when the series is tied at one, they win it 82 percent of the time, every time.

[07:00:01]

BERMAN: I like those numbers. Very physical game. These finals getting very rough.