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Interview with Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) about Burn Pit Bill; NFL Coach Walks Back Remarks Calling January 6th a "Dust Up"; Dems Falsely Claim Mehmet Oz isn't Registered to Vote in Pennsylvania; Vietnam's "Napalm Girl" Says U.S. Should Show Mass Shooting Pics. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 09, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): But the truth is, this is too important to this country to try to find a reason to vote no. We do need to get this bill passed, Brianna. It has been decades in the making. It is the number one issue for every veterans group that is out there. And its time has come. We've worked hard over the last year and a half in a bipartisan way to get this bill to the point it is. 86 is a big number.

And it's one of the reasons why we got that is because we've been communicating to folks about how important this legislation is. And, by the way, more importantly, the Veteran Service Organizations, the folks who represent the people who fought in the field of war have been out there talking about this issue day in and day out for the last decade, but really hard the last year and a half.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. This covenant that the nation has with its fighters, they don't always make good on it, but this is certainly a big instance where they are.

And Senator Tester, we appreciate you being on to talk about it. Thank you.

TESTER: Thank you.

KEILAR: An NFL coach apologizing this morning for comparing George Floyd protests to the insurrection.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, happening now the U.S. Marines still waiting to find out the status of five crew members after an osprey military aircraft crashed in California.

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[08:35:20]

BERMAN: Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio is now walking back comments he made calling the events of January 6th a dustup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK DEL RIO, DEFENSE COORDINATOR, WASHINGTON COMMANDERS: People's livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down. No problem. And then we have a dustup at the Capitol, nothing burned down. And we're not going to talk about -- we're going to make that a major deal. I just think kind of two standards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So in a new tweet, Del Rio backpedals saying, quote, "I made comments earlier today in referencing the attack that took place on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. Referencing that situation as a dustup was irresponsible and negligent and I am sorry." CNN has reached out to the Commanders for comment, but has not heard back.

Joining me now is journalist and host of "Naked with Cari Champion," Cari Champion.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning. Great to see you. What do you think Del Rio's statement and then his walkback?

CARI CHAMPION, HOST, "NAKED WITH CARI CHAMPION": Well, the statement when I first heard it, I didn't -- honestly my first reaction was this cannot be true, John. I thought this is not what he's saying, but I do understand two things here. Coaches approaching this as if I love America. And as an American, because I love America, if you read any of his tweets or seen anything that he says in regards to what is going on in this country today, it is very much that is the way in which I'm approaching myself.

It truly offensive that he has the audacity to say two different standards when for so long this country has been fighting with the two different Americas in which he lived in. I think it is offensive to the players in which he coaches, it's offensive to that team which is in all sorts of trouble on its own outside of what he has to say. And it's clearly deaf because he's working with players who feel as if January 6th was completely disrespectful, not only to this country as an American, but if they were black, if people were black, who stormed the Capitol, you and I know it'd be a different outcome today.

And so that is why I'm so offended by what he said, let alone this walkback, because he doesn't even mean it.

BERMAN: What he walked back was comments about January 6th, calling January 6th a dustup. He didn't seem to walk back a comparison between January 6th and the protests and the violence that took place over the previous summer in different cities in the country, correct?

CHAMPION: Correct. So here we are, the insurrection, not the dustup, it's rightfully what it's called, he has been known to have these random quotes from, you know, the dark Web, that he says to his players. It's been documented that people had issues with him. And so he has no issue, quite frankly, with January 6th, but he has an issue with looting. And I know you've heard this argument before, what he calls people who were looting over George Floyd. Now when you compare the two, I honestly don't see that there is

anything to compare. There is, let me say this first and foremost, you do not loot. You do not riot. I am not promoting that. But you're speaking as an example for some of their way of expressing themselves because they felt hopeless and they felt like they didn't have any other way to be heard. I am not excusing that behavior.

January 6th in my opinion was not that. That was far more than something that I don't have a way to express myself. It was a coordinated attack. And so as a result we have someone in this position that leads, who considers himself a leader, and is completely blind and deaf to what is happening and it's so disturbing because everyone, even when they talk to the coaches or when they talk to the players, on the Washington Commanders, their answer was, well, you know, I, you know, I just don't want to get into, I'll talk to him privately.

There is no way, especially in the NFL, that you feel free enough to express yourself without repercussion. And I don't want to make this up as an example, but he talks about because I love America, didn't Colin Kaepernick love America and yet he was black balled? It goes to the hypocrisy for what the league stands for and what is seemingly a slap on the wrist for somebody who just had to walk back his tweet, not necessarily the dustup.

BERMAN: It is worth noting also that Jack Del Rio opposed the anthem protest that Colin Kaepernick started because he said it reflected badly, he thinks, on the team.

Cari champion, nice to see you this morning. Thank you.

CHAMPION: You too. Thank you.

BERMAN: So is Pennsylvania's Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz registered to vote in both New Jersey and the commonwealth? The fact check next.

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[08:43:46]

KEILAR: Pennsylvania's Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz is facing criticism on social media with some Democrats questioning if he is even registered to vote in the commonwealth.

Joining me now to fact check this is CNN reporter Daniel Dale.

All right, just set the record straight on this one.

DANIEL DALE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Dr. Oz is registered to vote in Pennsylvania. You can find his voter registration record on Pennsylvania's government Web site. He's been registered to vote there since late 2020. So where did this come from? Well, Oz's Democratic opponent John Fetterman posted a tweet this week noting that Oz has registration listed as active in the state of New Jersey. Now some Democratic commentators then went from that to say, OK, he

has a New Jersey registration, therefore he's not registered in Pennsylvania. But that's not how it works. As average people who have moved from state to state know, it takes time for you to be removed from the voter registration rolls in your original state unless you actually go to the elections authorities and tell them, hey, I moved, it can take years for them to remove you from the rolls.

So there's nothing illegal here, there's nothing nefarious here, might be politically embarrassing but it's entirely normal. And I'll also note that there's no sign of voter fraud. Even though we have millions of people double registered in two states at any given time, double voting actual fraud is very rare.

[08:45:00]

KEILAR: Yes. Double voting, not double registering.

DALE: That's right.

KEILAR: OK. What's the residency situation here?

DALE: So Dr. Oz, you know, famous TV personality, surgeon, lived in New Jersey for decades. He says he moved to the state of Pennsylvania in late 2020 after the election. Now the kind of quirk here is that the address listed as his residence on that voter registration is his in-law's' house in Montgomery County. His campaign says he's paying rent there as he awaits construction on a property that he and his wife bought nearby for $3.1 million this year.

So I'm not saying this fact check, you know, you can't question, you know, the 2020 move, you can't question legitimacy of his ties to Pennsylvania, that's all political fair game, but the claim that he's not registered to vote in Pennsylvania, Brianna, is just false.

KEILAR: He certainly is. All right, Daniel Dale, thank you for that as always.

The Department of Justice announcing new details in its review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde mass shooting.

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[08:50:03]

KEILAR: This week marks the 50th anniversary of an iconic image depicting the horrors of the Vietnam War. On June 8th, 1972, 20-year- old AP photographer Nick Ut took this photo of a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl. Her name, Kim Phuc, running naked down a road after being severely burned by napalm bomb dropped on her village. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph quickly became known as the "Napalm Girl," though officially it is titled "The Terror of War."

In light of recent tragedies like the one in Uvalde, Texas, Kim Phuc writes in "The New York Times," quote, "It is easier to hide from the realities of war if we don't see the consequences. I cannot speak for the families in Uvalde, Texas, but I think that showing the world what the aftermath of a gun rampage truly looks like can deliver the awful reality. We must face this violence head on, and the first step is to look at it."

Kim Phuc Phan Thi and Nick Ut are joining us now. And I thank you so much. Tell us about what that day was like as it did turn to terror.

KIM PHUC PHAN THI, WOMAN FROM ICONIC 1972 "NAPALM GIRL": Well, I just turned 9 years old and I never forget that day, what happened to me, and as a children we were just hiding in a temple, playing around inside of the temple, nearby the bomb shelter. But then suddenly the soldiers, South Vietnamese soldier, they yelling to the children, ask us to run. Run out, and then I was one of them.

Then when we run in the front of the temple then I just got into the highway, Highway 1, then I saw the airplane was so loud, so fast, too, was to me, and then I just stood right there, I didn't run. And then I turned my head and I saw the airplane. I saw the four bombs landing like that. And then I heard the noise. Then the fire, everywhere, around me, and my clothes was burned by the fire. And I saw the fire over my left arm and I used my right hand, I just wrap it up.

Then I was so terrified, and I thank God my feet weren't burned. Then I was able to run out of that fire. I was so tired to run anymore, I stopped, then I cry out, too hot, too hot, and then one of the soldiers gave me some water to drink, and he poured water over my body. And that moment I lost consciousness. I didn't remember anything else.

KEILAR: Nick, will you tell me about seeing Kim Phuc for the first time and what it was like to take that photo?

NICK UT, PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AP PHOTOGRAPHER (through translator): I was beyond shocked when I saw a naked girl running towards me. We did not know that there were people still in the village, and even to this day it's still a horror to see innocent civilians including a naked child and children running on that day, away from the napalm.

KEILAR: You put your camera down after taking this photo, tell me, Nick, what happened next.

UT (through translator): I put my cameras down in terms of humanity, and I -- and I ran towards her. I was really shocked on that day. But it was instinct in terms of just saving a life. And also upon -- right before that I saw her grandmother holding a baby boy. And as soon as I clicked a photo of that, I saw that he died. And that affected me greatly.

KEILAR: You talk about having a very complicated relationship with this photo of you throughout your life. Realizing in adulthood how it did make a change. How do you grapple with that, that a photo is important, but there are a lot of negatives that come along with sharing it?

PHAN THI: Yes. That's true. I just asked, why he took my picture, I'm a little child, I'm a little girl, naked, and ugly and ashamed, why he print that picture? And, you know, and why I was just the only child naked, while my brothers and my cousin with clothes on? Does everyone understand my pain?

[08:55:03]

And, of course, for long time I just didn't like that picture. But then the moment I have freedom in Canada, I became a mother, and I hold my baby on my arm, and I look at that picture, it moved me to the moment that I say, wow, that picture became powerful gift for me. I wanted to dedicate my life to do everything to help children and that is what I'm doing through my foundation, the Kim Foundation International. Our mission to help children who are victims of war around the world.

KEILAR: It is amazing the work you're doing and I really appreciate speaking with both of you as I think right now this is a nation, for sure, that is looking for some peace.

Kim Phuc and Nick Ut, thank you so much to both of you.

PHAN THI: Thank you.

UT: Thank you.

PHAN THI: Thank you.

BERMAN: New details on the man charged with attempting to murder Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The new dispatch audio CNN just obtained.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Time for the "Good Stuff." NFL legend Tom Brady getting a new hairstyle for a good cause. The Buccaneers is taking part in their eighth annual "Cut and Color for a Cure" event to raise money for pediatric cancer research and awareness. Kids color Brady's iconic locks red and orange and raised more than $117,000 in the process.

You know what, he looks good. Still. No matter what color his hair is. Always.

KEILAR: Not permanent? Didn't really happen, I say.

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