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New Day

Brothers Of Fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Join New Day; National Gas Price Average Nears All-Time High Of $5 A Gallon; PGA Tour Suspends 17 Players Participating In LIV Golf. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:33:06]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The family of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was at last night's prime-time hearing where they heard for the first time, along with the rest of the nation, exactly what happened to Officer Sicknick on that day. He confronted the rioters before suffering two strokes and dying of natural causes the next day.

Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was injured in the riot, described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER CAROLINE EDWARDS, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: All of the sudden, I see movement to the left of me. And I turned and it was Officer Sicknick with his head in his hands and he was ghostly pale, which I figured at that point that he had been sprayed. And I was concerned. My cop alarm bells went off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now are Brian Sicknick's brothers, Ken and Craig Sicknick. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being with us.

I know you were at the hearing last night and I know your mother was there as well. What was it like for you to hear Officer Edwards' testimony?

KEN SICKNICK, BROTHER OF FALLEN CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER BRIAN SICKNICK, ATTENDED LAST NIGHT'S JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE HEARING: It was -- yes. So I didn't know the part about -- I knew Brian got sprayed. I've seen the video only once because it's very hard for me to watch it. But I didn't know of the look of his skin -- that he was pale when he got hit by the -- so that was -- that was new to -- that was new to us.

I can't say that I'm hardened to this but it's been over a year of constantly seeing attacks, and video, and news agencies. So, there was -- there wasn't a lot of shock per se, but it was new information to us.

[07:35:03]

CRAIG SICKNICK, BROTHER OF FALLEN CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER BRIAN SICKNICK, ATTENDED LAST NIGHT'S JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE HEARING: In my case, I actually felt a knot in the pit of my stomach the entire time watching. It was hard to watch again. I've pretty much tuned out most news sources except for written since a couple of days after January 6.

BERMAN: I can only imagine. And I want people to know we had told you we were going to play that video as we were introducing you because we know that you don't want to see it, so you could look away for that. But you do want the American people to see it. Why?

K. SICKNICK: Well, I mean, honestly, I do pay attention to some of the conversations, rhetoric, whatever you want to call it out there pertaining to, in particular, the January 6 Committee investigating this -- the insurrection. That, you know, it was a tourist attraction. It was -- you know, everybody was singing Kumbaya with each other.

I wish -- and I saw -- I actually saw a lot of people saying well, I'm not going to watch it. It's a dog and pony show. That's just them being ignorant. They really need to see what actually happened that day.

C. SICKNICK: Both of us have spoken to quite a few people who were there. This was definitely not fake. It was definitely not a horse and pony show. There was -- there was a mob riot. People died.

How do we fix this? This is -- you know, it's -- everything's become so polarized people have their minds made up already. Many won't listen. It's sad.

BERMAN: I know you had a chance to speak with Officer Edwards in private around her testimony. What did she tell you?

K. SICKNICK: Well, she told us what a hero Brian was. That while she was going through what she -- the ordeal she was going through, Brian was right there with her. Brian was filling -- whenever there was a breach in the line, Brian was filling that breach.

It was just -- you know, it's reassuring to know he was a hero. I just wish he was still here.

BERMAN: I'm so sorry, again, for both of your loss and I know how hard it is for you to relive it again and again and again as the rest of the country sees this evidence, some of it for the first time.

Your brother's partner, Sandra Garza, issued a statement before the testimony last night. She said, "Justice for me, justice for Brian would be having Donald Trump in prison, but it doesn't seem like that ever happens. The man seems to escape justice time and time again. But maybe today would change that. That would be a wonderful thing."

For you, what would justice be for your brother?

K. SICKNICK: I mean, that's the least that could happen would be for him being thrown in prison. That night while he was laughing and cheering on the crowds, he still -- he still would wake up in the morning and be able to see his family.

C. SICKNICK: Donald Trump has never paid the price for anything he has done his entire life. Any mistake he's made, it's all been swept under the carpet. It's all been made to go away. Let's see if it happens again or if there is actually justice served.

BERMAN: And just again, as we sit here with, I guess, two weeks more of hearings in front of us, what is it that you want to see from these hearings?

K. SICKNICK: Well, I'd like to see the truth come out. There's a lot of fog -- there is a lot of fog out there that just -- you know, people, especially the people that are defending Donald Trump -- you know, oh he did this. He called up the National Guard. Well, that was -- that was debunked last night.

All of the hero that he is. He's not. He's -- by and large, he's a narcissist. It's all about him. He couldn't care less about my brother.

We -- you know, I'll say this. We got -- we got calls from a lot of politicians after everything -- after my brother had passed, including Mike Pence. Not one tweet, not one note, not one card -- nothing from him because he knows --

C. SICKNICK: Not even a postcard.

K. SICKNICK: He knows he's the cause of the whole thing.

C. SICKNICK: But he doesn't care.

BERMAN: Well, Ken, Brian, I do appreciate you being with us last night. I know it's been a difficult 24 hours for you. Please give our best to your mother as well. Thank you.

K. SICKNICK: Thank you.

BERMAN: We're going to be back --

C. SICKNICK: Thank you for having us on.

BERMAN: Always.

We are going to be back with much more on the hearings and what's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:58]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the national average for a gallon of gas is just one cent shy of hitting an all-time high of $5. For 18 states, $5 gas is already a reality. That's the case here in Washington, D.C. for sure. Californians are paying well over $6 a gallon.

So, joining me now is the head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, Patrick De Haan.

OK, the question I have is yes, we are at this point. We are at $4.99. How high will it go?

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY (via Skype): Well, I don't really see any improvement anytime soon. You wake up every morning and oil prices are up again this morning. The cost of RBOB gasoline continues to go up.

Supply and demand fundamentals aren't improving drastically. Americans are still taking to the road. In fact, last week government data pointing out that gasoline demand hit a 2022 high even as gas prices are now surpassing $5 a gallon in more areas. So, it's been incredible watching the resiliency of Americans that are taking to the road amidst high prices.

[07:45:03]

KEILAR: So, you've been showing on GasBuddy this huge increase in gas prices that we've seen here in the past year. So let's take a look at some of the maps that you have put up so we can discuss this.

What have you been seeing? What have the trends been?

DE HAAN: Well, in the last couple of weeks we have seen a rapid surge in gas prices in much of the Midwest -- really, the Great Lakes. In fact, earlier this week we saw a 95-cent weekly -- or, excuse me, daily jump in Elgin, Illinois where prices shot from $4.89 to basically $5.89 in less than seven days.

The increase in the Great Lakes have been fast and furious. You'll notice that Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois are all at that $5 mark. A lot of that is coming as gasoline supplies in that region are now at their lowest seasonal level since records began to be kept back in 1990.

KEILAR: You mentioned demand is really -- I mean, you're not seeing the prices impacting demand here. Is that just because people don't have a choice? Why isn't it impacting demand?

DE HAAN: Well, I think it's because few people have a choice, especially as many jobs are going back to in-person working environments, office working environments. But beyond that, keeping in mind that this is the best summer to hit the road since the start of the pandemic. It's better than last summer. Motorists may be feeling better.

The jobs market has been very good. Wages are up, unemployment is down, and that may be inspiring Americans and giving them confidence that they can spend more given the fact that they're feeling relatively good about being able to find another job if something happens, and hit the road. KEILAR: What could alleviate this? I mean, we talked to the White House and it seems like they are -- they are caught trying to do things but it's actually very difficult to make an impact on this number. What kinds of things might actually shave some cents off these dollars?

DE HAAN: Yes, it is very difficult because this is a global issue, not just a U.S. issue. Now, there are some laws and regulations that the president could choose to forego this summer. Requirements like burning summer gasoline. Winter gasoline in some areas of the country could usher in a drop of 25 to 50 cents.

But there's also ramifications that go along with that. That summer gasoline burns cleaner. It leads to cleaner air. And so, there is a tradeoff there.

Beyond that, the president may be able to improve the long-term outlook by giving the sector some security -- some certainty that the administration sees over the next five years ahead of the transition that oil companies are not going to be their target. I think that would do more in the long term.

But again, you don't build Rome overnight and you can't solve this gasoline price problem overnight either. It's going to take some time.

KEILAR: And in the meantime, we will all be paying dearly.

Patrick De Haan, thank you so much for being with us.

DE HAAN: My pleasure.

BERMAN: A life-threatening lung condition kept her attacked to an oxygen tank even when performing on stage. In today's The Human Factor, meet a singer-songwriter who is beating the odds and hoping to inspire others facing medical challenges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHLOE TEMTCHINE, SINGER-SONGWRITER, PULMONARY HYPERTENSION ADVOCATE: I was having that dream life singer-songwriter-performer. I was recording all the time. And then, this whole thing just happened.

I'm Chloe Temtchine. I'm a singer and a songwriter, and I received a lifesaving double-lung transplant. Pulmonary hypertension is high pressure in the arteries of the lungs. It makes your heart have to work too hard and eventually, your heart fails.

I was told by one of the nurses you're going to have to be on oxygen for the rest of your life. I was like, oxygen? I'm like I can't be on oxygen. I'm a singer. I'm a performer.

The idea always for me was I'm going to find someone who is thriving with pulmonary hypertension and they're going to be my source of inspiration. All I found was like die, death, death, death. So I thought all right, how can I turn myself into that person? And then it was years of just doing everything in my power to stay alive and to also try to live.

On my treadmill one day, my heart shot up to 175, and then I have a heart attack. I then ended up in a coma for four days.

On August 4, 2020, lungs came in just in time because nobody thought that I could push through much longer.

And my mission is to continue to bring awareness to pulmonary hypertension, to the importance of organ donation, and then to inspire hope in people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Lovely.

The Uvalde school's police chief opening up this morning about the response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Why he says he didn't think he was in charge.

[07:50:00]

KEILAR: And why the PGA Tour is suspending golfers who play in this Saudi-backed tournament.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, President Biden pivoting to the nation's top economic challenges as he hosts foreign leaders at the Summit of the Americas.

He is set to speak about inflation and the steps his administration has taken to tackle supply chain issues. A White House official says the president will underscore that one key way to fight inflation is by lowering the cost of moving goods through supply chains.

[07:55:00]

He's also expected to highlight his administration's focus on decongesting the nation's busiest ports, including the Port of Los Angeles where he will deliver these remarks.

It sounds like a scene out of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Two people fell into a tank of chocolate at the Mars M&M factory on Thursday. Fire crews had to cut a hole in the tank to rescue them. Both were taken to the hospital. No word on the extent of their injuries nor how they fell into the chocolate tank.

Britney Spears' big day interrupted by an unexpected wedding crasher just before Spears was set to marry her fiance Sam Asghari Thursday. Police were called to the residence because her ex-husband was trespassing. Spears was married to her childhood friend Jason Alexander for about 55 hours in 2004.

Police say Alexander got into a scuffle with Spears' security. He was later arrested for trespassing, battery, and vandalism. The PGA Tour suspending 17 of its players for participating in the controversial Saudi-backed golf league. The commissioner says participating in the Saudi golf league violates tournament regulations. And the suspension would also apply to any other golfer who decides to join the league.

Joining me now, our friend, Golf Digest staff writer Dan Rapaport.

There is an earthquake --

DAN RAPAPORT, STAFF WRITER AND PGA TOUR INSIDER, GOLF DIGEST: Yes.

BERMAN: -- in the world of professional golf right now.

RAPAPORT: Yes, it's once-in-a-generation stuff. It's been kind of percolating for two years. We started hearing about this back in February, I think of 2020 and it's been just sort of a slow trickle of this guy might go, it might be this day, it might happen now.

But it really feels like in the last week it's become very real. The release of the names last week -- Dustin Johnson, kind of headlining that initial batch, and then Phil Mickelson. And then reports that Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed. So these are significant names in the world of golf who are making this jump to this new entity and the PGA Tour finds themselves in a really, really precarious position right now.

BERMAN: What does this mean for those of us who watch golf on T.V.? When the PGA Tour suspends --

RAPAPORT: Yes.

BERMAN: -- these players, what does that really mean? Does that mean we won't see them at all the big tournaments?

RAPAPORT: So, no, and that's kind of a crucial distinction. So, in golf, the five biggest tournaments in the world, which are the four Majors and the Ryder Cup, are actually not owned by the PGA Tour, which puts them in a tough position because they can suspend guys from their tournaments, which is what they did yesterday, but they can't -- at least not unilaterally -- not without communicating with the governing bodies -- they can't suspend them from the Major championships.

So, next week at the U.S. Open you're going to see these guys who are playing in this LIV event. You're going to see Dustin Johnson, you're going to see Phil Mickelson at the Open championship. Next month, you're probably going to see them again.

So we're waiting to hear, really, from the Masters and what they're going to do next year. Because if the Masters says if you play in this LIV event you can't play at Augusta National, that would be a game- changer. But if the Majors allow these guys to still play in the Majors, they can -- they can stomach not playing in PGA Tour events because the Majors are what really matters. That's where legacies are made. So, it's -- the PGA Tour doesn't have as much leverage as you might think.

BERMAN: What's this tension all based on? There's a lot of focus in sort of the news world that we all live in about the fact that the Saudis are backing this LIV Golf league and all the ethical issues there. And I'm not diminishing that in any way because there are very real ethical issues there. But I also get the sense that for the PGA Tour and these players it isn't about that.

RAPAPORT: No, it's not. It's about money. I mean, we can try and play verbal gymnastics here but really, there's an entity that has come up that is telling them we will pay you more money and require you to play less golf tournaments. You have more time with your family.

And crucially, in PGA Tour events, if you don't play well, if you miss the cut, you don't get any money. These tournaments is guaranteed money. So it's guaranteed money no matter how you play and they're paying them to actually show up -- appearance fees -- which the PGA Tour can't do.

So this has the potential, even if LIV Golf doesn't succeed, to fundamentally alter the way that the PGA Tour operates looking forward. It might start to look more like other sports leagues where there's guaranteed contracts and deals for years -- $40 million. Right now, that's not a thing at all. So really, nothing is off the table right now with professional golf and how it's going to have to evolve moving forward.

BERMAN: Yes. We just have no idea what's going to happen at this point.

RAPAPORT: No idea.

BERMAN: Dan Rapaport, great to have you here. Thank you very much.

NEW DAY continues right now.

Good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Friday, June 10. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

The case against Donald Trump. That is what is being presented by the January 6 Committee. They are making a case that he was central to the events surrounding January 6 and was a key player -- the key player in trying to overturn the election. The Committee presenting never- before-seen video of the violence as rioters breached the Capitol.

The committee's vice-chair, Republican Liz Cheney, alleged Trump had a 7-point plan to overturn the 2020 election, which included pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count certified electoral votes. And when Pence defied him, there was this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIOTERS: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!

(END VIDEO CLIP)