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New Day

Key Figure in QAnon Returns; Giuliani Claims Assault; Melissa Millis is Interviewed about the Roe Reversal; Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 27, 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]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: We're getting a look at the alleged assault.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Q persona at the center of the QAnon conspiracy is back. This is after an 18-month absence. The account where he has posted, or she or it has posted most of its stuff had new posts purporting to be from Q again Friday night.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is here with that report, and John Avlon also with us.

Donie, tell us, again, been gone for 18 months, back all of a sudden on Friday after the Supreme Court issued its Roe versus Wade decision.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, this is as dumb as it is dangerous, but QAnon, for folks who haven't been paying attention, is at the center this is this character called Q, who the believers believe without any evidence that they -- that person is a government insider and has been posting these kinds of predictions and a whole community, a cult has built up around it.

Now, despite Q being basically BS. I mean back in 2017, when this got started, Q predicted that Hillary Clinton was about to be arrested in October of 2017.

[08:35:05]

That didn't happen. People believe it. And they're following it.

On Friday night, after 18 months, hadn't posted since December 2020, after Trump lost the election, which, of course, QAnon believers don't believe that, began posting uncharacter -- characteristically ambiguous posts saying stuff like, we're back. But, obviously, that pushed everything into a whole frenzy.

And, look, the reason why we're talking about this on national television is that we saw in those images that we just played there of January 6th and so many people wearing the Q paraphernalia. A community has built up around this and it's dangerous.

KEILAR: Believers believe and they act on it, right? And also you said it's ambiguous, some of these posts. They spend all their time trying to figure out or really just picking what they want it to mean.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

KEILAR: So why does this matter?

AVLON: Well, it matters because, as Donie said, I mean at one point heading into the 2020 election, as much as 20 percent of the American people said they believe in it and the QAnon iconography and all that nonsense was evident in January 6th. It's important to highlight how totally nutburger the collective conspiracies pushed by this account were.

But what's interesting to me is not only that it stopped posting after Trump left, and all its predictions were basically exposed to be bogus, but the language being used now about, you know, shall we play another game, indicates what I think most people thought, which is that this was a live-action role playing game centered around a conspiracy and it was a way of gamifying conspiracy theories. And look how many people were sucked into it, particularly during Covid?

So, you know, it - a number of people have been identified as possible sources of Q, and I do think this is the kind of thing that should be looked into given how much it captured the imagination. But let's reinforce that this is a completely baseless nut burger conspiracy that still managed to wag the dog of our politics for a point.

O'SULLIVAN: And, look, can I just say, I mean, there's people in Congress now, there are many people running for Congress who have spouted some of this stuff.

AVLON: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN: But I just spent a lot of time the past two years, particularly since January 6th, speaking to families of people who have loved ones who have gone down the rabbit hole of this stuff. There are a lot of families in this country who are probably hearing about these new posts today and are saying, oh, my Hod, here we go again.

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: And, look, I know, Donie, you're asking the question right now. It will be interesting to see what law enforcement says or does about this in the coming days.

Donie O'Sullivan, John Avlon, thank you very much.

So, Rudy Giuliani claims he was assaulted at a supermarket in Staten Island. What the video evidence shows.

KEILAR: And NASA digging into a mystery on the moon. Just what caused this double crater?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:39] KEILAR: A supermarket worker in New York could face criminal charges after Rudy Giuliani says that the man slapped him on the back and called him a scumbag. This is a picture of the alleged slap. Giuliani says this happened yesterday at a Staten Island ShopRite where he was campaigning for his son, who is running for governor.

CNN's Athena Jones is following this story, and she is here with more details.

We see the still picture there. What happened here?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you see him in a group there talking to folks at that ShopRite. He says he's campaigned there many times. He's there, as you said, on behalf of his son, who is running for governor. You see that worker, that employee, come up behind him and place his open palm on his back. It's like he slapped him in the middle of the back. And you hear the NYPD has said that this man was a 39-year-old suspect who approached Giuliani. Giuliani is 78 years old. Slapped him in the back and said, what's up, scumbag? Giuliani refused medical attention at the scene and the 39-year-old was taken into custody with the NYPD recommending charges of second-degree assault. It's enhanced by the fact that there could be injury to someone who's over 65.

Well, Giuliani spoke about this in a Facebook Live presser just a little while ago. Here's more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI: I got hit on the back, as if a boulder hit me. It knocked me forward a step or two. It didn't knock me down, but it hurt tremendously. I did not know what it was. I had no idea what it was. And all of a sudden I heard someone yell at me something I can't repeat. And then he turned around and he said that I was a women killer. You kill women. Your party kills women.

Might have made a reference to the word abortion in there. But mostly it was killing women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so this employee seems to have an issue with the recent ruling of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Of course, Shoprite says we have no tolerance for aggression toward anyone.

But it's interesting to note, if you watch the video, there isn't much reaction that is visible, at least to me watching the video, once Giuliani was hit. He did not lurch forward in a major way. He did also say though in that Facebook Live press conference that while -- his shoulder was hurting overnight and that he's going to go and see a doctor. But he also says he didn't file a complaint. So, we'll see what else comes out of this.

KEILAR: And why did that guy even do that, though, you know? Not a smart move.

Athena Jones, thank you so much for that.

The daughter of Roe, from the landmark abortion case, is going to join us next with how she thinks her mother would react to the Supreme Court's decision.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:39]

BERMAN: Time for "5 Things to Know for Your New Day."

Airlines warning of a chaotic holiday weekend ahead after canceling nearly 900 flights on Sunday alone, blaming everything from weather to staff sickouts.

KEILAR: A disturbing mystery in South Africa after 22 young people were found dead in a tavern. The youngest, 13 years old. No word yet on the cause of death.

BERMAN: A mystery on the moon. NASA officials say a mystery rocket body crashed into the moon and left a double crater. NASA says astronomers spotted the rocket on a collision course with the moon last year. It's not clear who is to blame for the crash.

KEILAR: CNN's Dana Bash will be sitting down with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and much more today at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

BERMAN: So, "Full House" actress Jodie Sweetin shoved to the ground by an officer at an abortion rights protest in Los Angeles. Police were trying to stop demonstrators from marching on the freeway. The LAPD says it is reviewing the incident.

KEILAR: Those are "5 Things to Know for Your New Day." More on these stories all day on CNN and cnn.com. And don't forget to download the "5 Things" podcast every morning. Just go to cnn.com/5things.

BERMAN: So, as Americans respond to the decision to overturn Roe versus Wade, one woman has had a front-row seat to what this decision has meant to families.

Joining us now is Melissa Mills. She is the daughter of Norma McCorvey, who was better known by the synonym -pseudonym Jane Roe, as in Roe versus Wade, of that very decision.

[08:50:07]

Thank you so much for being with us, Melissa.

Let me just ask you, what was your reaction the moment this ruling was released?

MELISSA MILLS, DAUGHTER OF "ROE" IN ROE V. WADE: I was in disbelief. I was devastated. I knew it was coming, but it was just -- it was too real that it really happened and that they've taken us back 50 years from all the hard work and everything that women have went through to get to where we are now.

KEILAR: And to - sorry, Melissa, go on.

MILLS: No, my mother would just be devastated. Just hard to believe that now her grandkids aren't going to have the same rights as we've had for 50 years.

KEILAR: What are your concerns as a mother? You have two daughters.

MILLS: Yes, ma'am. The same thing my mother worried about, you know, someone telling you what to do with your reproductive rights and someone having their hand on you telling you when and where and how you need to live your life. As a woman, you know, we have to take care of ourselves, and sometimes we have to take care of ourselves in that way. And that should be our decision, nobody else's. Nobody. Especially not a man.

BERMAN: The history of this, it's hard to calculate at this point, we're just days away from it, but the history of the initial decision is something that has been part of your life for 50 years. I just wonder what it's been like for you.

MILLS: You know, for me, it's always been there. And I always thought we would have it. It just never crossed my mind that it would get overturned because it's -- I just thought Texas would never do that because we're so much a part of everything now. And women have came so far. I just never thought Texas would be the one to go all the way backwards.

And my family, you know, we've suffered over it, from mom being a part of it. And she did a great job with what -- what she had and I was very proud of her for going through and helping everyone with it. It wasn't just herself. She helped all women.

And, yes, it's devastating to know that all that hard work and all the sacrificing and, you know, we're right back to where we were 50 years ago.

KEILAR: You know, as we talk about what is next, if you're talking about Texas, there are going to be a lot - there are going to be a lot more babies.

MILLS: Right.

KEILAR: And families in need who are raising those children and need help. You work with special needs children. I wonder what your view is on what the needs are going to be that are the responsibility now of the state and of supporters of this decision to provide for those families?

MILLS: Most of the children now, even with insurance, they don't have services because services are so limited. They're on waiting lists to get services. And it's hard for families with children with developmental issues or any type of disabilities to get on those waiting lists. And it takes forever, like I said, even with insurance to get those services. It can take years. And the families, the money they have to go through, the loss of time at work, the loss of time with everything. And these children don't get their needs met. And this is families with insurance. So, I don't know how they're going to take care of all the kids that are coming into the world that don't have support, don't have insurance, and the people around them to push them through and get them taken care of.

We've got so many kids that -- in a large city like Houston that are on waiting lists for two years sometimes for developmental and for -- even for psychiatry. We're going to need psychiatry for women and children. It's hard to get a psych appointment for anyone. It's hard to get the supplies they need. And then with -- there's just so many things that they're not calculating on that it's going to, you know, take away from families, and the families that have to support these other children when they're trying to care for these children -- these children that have special needs, it takes away from everybody. It takes away from the other children when they don't have the things that they need to take care of them. So, it's really going to hurt a lot of people everywhere.

BERMAN: Melissa Mills, obviously, you've got a unique perspective on this. We appreciate you joining us this morning and sharing your insight.

MILLS: Yes.

BERMAN: Be well.

MILLS: Thank you. Thank you.

KEILAR: So, the crowd at the Yankees/Astros game captivated, not by the game, or not by what was happening on the diamond.

[08:55:06]

We have some "Good Stuff" headed your way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Time now for "The Good Stuff."

A crowd of baseball fans cheering on a little girl and making her the star of the stadium. Not every minute of baseball is packed with excitement, so during a lull in the ninth inning of a Yankees/Astros game, the crowd noticed a girl trying the bottle flip trick. The viral video shows the entire section on the edge of their seats rooting for the girl as she attempted to land the bottle upright. And once she did, I mean, they went wild.

[09:00:02]

And just like a true champion, the girl then lifts her arms, holding the bottle like a trophy.

BERMAN: This is the best thing to happen in Yankee Stadium since the Red Sox beat the Yankees there in 2004 to win the ALCS. I don't know if you remember that. The Red Sox won three in a row against the Yankees and ended up winning the American League Champion.

KEILAR: I do remember that.

BERMAN: Yes.

KEILAR: This boots that out, doesn't it.

BERMAN: Not often good stuff happens at Yankee Stadium, but this is one of the rare times.

KEILAR: CNN's coverage continues right now.