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New Day

Today: January 6 Committee To Show Alleged Links Between Trump And Extremists; Uvalde Families Call For Release Of 77-Minute Surveillance Video. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 12, 2022 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:15]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, the January 6 committee hearing will delve into possible links between extremist groups and Donald Trump's circle. So, how are these hearings playing, so far, in different parts of the country? CNN's Miguel Marquez traveled to Wisconsin to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Summer in Green Bay.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): The committee will be in order.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Washington, D.C. and the congressional hearings investigating the January 6th insurrection feel a million miles away.

JONATHON FERNANDEZ, WISCONSIN VOTER: They stormed the Capitol. That's what happened. They went in -- they climbed in through windows and they rummaged through offices and they did what they did. I mean, what more do I need to know about the fact that what occurred occurred?

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Some Democrats watching closely.

JOE REFSGUARD, WISCONSIN VOTER: Some of the testimony that's come out -- it's been a little more indepth than I -- than I had been aware of.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): But with so many hot button issues -- gun violence, inflation, abortion rights among others, the January 6 hearings even for those concerned --

MARQUEZ (on camera): Where does January 6 in those hearings fit on the priority list for you?

FERNANDEZ: On the bottom rung to me.

REFSGUARD: It's getting a little bit lost in the shuffle?

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Dawn Koors is a Republican who voted for Donald Trump twice and would vote for him again. DAWN KOORS, WISCONSIN VOTER: I think it's more of a distraction. What the real reason is -- is why these January 6 hearings are going on, I think is beyond what we're seeing, superficially.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Mark Becker was chair of Green Bay's Brown County Republicans. He left the party in 2015 as Trump rose to power.

MARQUEZ (on camera): How important are the January 6 hearings and the investigation that's happening?

MARK BECKER, FORMER BROWN COUNTY, WISCONSIN REPUBLICAN OFFICIAL: I think right now, in the way the world is right now, it's not as important as it should be. I think in 10 years we'll look back at this and say, yeah, that was a big deal. That was a really big deal.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Why and what do you mean? That --

BECKER: It was a coup attempt.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): And even some progressive Democrats.

Adrianna Pokela says she can do something here and now about abortion rights. But January 6 --

ADRIANNA POKELA, ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST: We can't do anything about that, but what we can do is something in our community immediately to save lives.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Rick Beverstein seems a rarity here, conservative and paying close attention to the January 6 hearings.

RICK BEVERSTEIN, WISCONSIN VOTER: Democracy is what is at stake.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): His take, all our current problems won't be solved if trust in democracy isn't restored.

BEVERSTEIN: We have huge issues in our -- in our country, but we don't have a country if we can't come together. We don't have a country to solve these issues if we can't reconcile who's in charge and how they got there.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Miguel Marquez, CNN, Green Bay, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: As today's hearing focus on extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, let's talk about this with extremism scholar Sam Jackson. He is an assistant professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany. He's also the author of "Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group." Sam, thank you so much for being with us.

And we're going to be hearing about these extremist groups, like the Oath Keepers, at this hearing. Who are they? What are they about? SAM JACKSON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE COLLEGE OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, HOMELAND SECURITY, AND CYBERSECURITY, UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY, AUTHOR, "OATH KEEPERS: PATRIOTISM AND THE EDGE OF VIOLENCE IN A RIGHT-WING ANTIGOVERNMENT GROUP" (via Skype): Oath Keepers, in particular, is an anti-government organization. I describe it as part of what I call the patriot/militia movement. These are people who perceive a threat of tyrannical takeover from the government and really want to mobilize those that they view as good, patriotic Americans to be ready to resist that tyranny. However, they kind of see tyranny everywhere and have been crying the tyranny wolf for a number of years.

KEILAR: In particular, we'll be hearing from a former spokesperson for the Oath Keepers and self-described propagandist Jason Van Tatenhove. What is he going to shed light on, do you think?

JACKSON: If I had to guess, I would -- I would assume he's going to talk about his experiences in the group. He was a national spokesperson for the group for a number of years and presumably, has some insight to share from that experience.

KEILAR: How worried are you about future violence in the vein of what we saw on January 6, 2021?

[07:35:00]

JACKSON: I think it is certainly a possibility. I think there are different possibilities moving forward. What we have certainly seen from a number of state governments that are controlled by Republican- elected officials is attempts to rig the voting process so that another January 6 insurrection isn't necessary. And I think that is a huge concern and something we should all be paying more attention to.

If those attempts aren't successful though, I think it is certainly possible that we would see another insurrection in the future, especially with efforts by elected Republicans in Congress to sort of whitewash the insurrection and claim that it wasn't as bad as we all know it to be. That really sets the stage for others to decide in the future that it is reasonable for them to undertake that action again.

KEILAR: Sam, do you think the Oath Keepers and groups sort of in that vein are stronger or weaker after what happened at the Capitol?

JACKSON: I think that's probably hard to say. To a certain extent, we've been going through an extended period of transition for groups like this as some members see the actions of January 6 and think that they never signed up for that type of extremism. But we've also seen others double down and really recommit themselves to groups like Oath Keepers in the aftermath of the insurrection.

As to which of those two trends is more powerful or more dominant, that's really hard to say.

KEILAR: What are you looking for today? What do you think is the most important question that someone could be asking this former spokesman for the Oath Keepers? JACKSON: I'm really interested to hear more details about coordination, both between these groups and people within Trump's circle. How close these groups had connections to Trump himself -- where these sort of three degrees of separation, two degrees, one degree.

And I'll also be really curious to hear about any coordination between the different groups. We've seen evidence roll out over the past year and a half where we hear more and more about planning ahead of time for what would take place on January 6. One thing that isn't resolved for me yet is what level of coordination between different participants in the insurrection actually took place beforehand

KEILAR: Well, we will be watching with you this afternoon to see if some of those questions are answered. Obviously, very important ones.

Sam Jackson, thanks for being with us.

JACKSON: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Officials in Uvalde, Texas voting unanimously in support of raising the age to purchase assault-style rifles. Will Gov. Greg Abbott listen?

BERMAN: We're going to be joined here by the family of 10-year-old victim Amerie Garza as loved ones continue to fight for answers and accountability.

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[07:42:14]

BERMAN: This morning, new details about the 77 minutes police spent inside Robb Elementary School during the Uvalde massacre thanks to a new video taken inside the hallway. A journalist with the Austin- American Statesman viewed the video and told CNN what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY PLOHETSKI, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN: They actually proceed down to that room and there is an exchange of gunfire at that point, and you see the police officers actually getting blown back.

But then, over the next more than hour, you see on this video police officers converging on the scene, arming themselves more and more with helmets, with assault rifles, with ballistic shields -- even with tear gas canisters. But essentially, they stand there for an hour as these minutes tick by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining me now, Angel and Kimberly Garza, and Berlinda Arreola. They are the parents and grandmother of 10-year-old Amerie Garza who was murdered in that mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School. Thank you all for being with us this morning. I'm looking at your t-shirts at the beautiful images of Amerie. And I am so sorry and I just want people to know that I did warn you in advance we were going to hear from the reporter, Tony Plohetski, describing the 77-minute video that he saw on (INAUDIBLE). What do you think when you heard him talking?

ANGEL GARZA, FATHER OF UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM AMERIE JO GARZA: It makes you angry. It makes you wonder what they were doing now or why they didn't do their job. I mean, as a parent -- well, as a father, I have a job and that's to protect her, and they kept me from doing my job.

They literally had the chance. And somebody tells you not to do something but you have a moral obligation to do it -- like, why don't you do it? Like, they told me not to go in but I still was trying to go in and save them, and they put me in handcuffs.

Like, it's just disturbing that the -- that they can't come up with the right explanation to us that they owe us because, I mean, that's the least that we deserve.

BERMAN: They kept you from doing your job, you say.

A. GARZA: Yes, sir.

BERMAN: Kimberly, how do you balance mourning -- how do you balance grieving with whatever desire you might have for transparency to find out what happened?

KIMBERLY GARZA, MOTHER OF UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM AMERIE JO GARZA: It's just hard. It just -- it's hard to wake up. It's hard to think. I -- sometimes I don't even look at social media because I'm -- I don't want to see her. I'm scared to -- that it's just always going to be in my mind. And it's just so hard.

[07:45:13]

BERMAN: What answers do you want now?

K. GARZA: Well, I want accountability. I want -- I want them to admit what they did. I want them to -- I guess, I'd take accountability and --

BERMAN: Are you getting anything from them. When you say to them I want accountability, what do you hear back?

K. GARZA: That's the thing that upsets me is that I feel like us and all the other families -- we don't -- we don't get answers. We don't get calls like, you know, this is happening or, you know, they don't -- we don't get updates. We feel like we are the last people who know anything. We feel like when we find out things it's on social media.

BERMAN: You're learning more on social media than you're hearing from them directly?

BERLINDA IRENE ARREOLA, GRANDMOTHER OF UVALDE SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM AMERIE JOE GARZA: Pretty much.

BERMAN: And Berlinda, just so people understand, why is it that you feel you need these answers?

ARREOLA: Because we need closure. We need to know what exactly happened. They failed us and I -- to be honest, like, there's no explanation that will justify them not going in. It's just so hard to believe that they sat there for 77 minutes.

We haven't been able to see the video but we've heard. Again, this needs to give his explanation of what happened. But it just doesn't make sense no matter -- again, there -- 77 minutes is just way too long.

BERMAN: Berlinda, do you want to see it? Do you want to see the video?

ARREOLA: We have mixed emotions about that. We do, I do. But at the same time, I'm afraid of how I'm going to feel. Because right now, we have so much anger. We have so many mixed emotions -- hurt, more than anything because of what happened. But then anger because we're not getting the answers that we need.

And seeing that, I think is just going to make everybody else more angry knowing that they were just standing there basically doing nothing for that whole -- long period of time. They may say they were waiting or they were getting prepared, but 77 minutes to get prepared is way too long -- way too long.

BERMAN: What can you do with this anger that you're feeling?

A. GARZA: Oh, we can do --

ARREOLA: We can fight. That's all we can do is fight. We don't want to hate. That's the last thing we want is to hate. We don't it to consume us. But we are going to fight for justice and we are going to fight for changes for these kids and the teachers, and the husband that lost their lives due to this horrible situation.

BERMAN: I know you say you're going to fight -- fight for what?

A. GARZA: Fight for change. Fight for, like they say, accountability. It's real easy for something like this to get just swept under the rug and brushed off, especially when you're not in the -- when you're not in the area. You're not from Texas or anything like that.

Just like how we are yet to be updated of a full timeline. Like the incident that happened in, what -- was it Highland Park, I believe? We know everything that happened. We know everything already. And that happened, what, two weeks ago, three weeks ago?

BERMAN: Do you feel like you know more personally about what happened in Highland Park than you know about what happened to your daughter?

A. GARZA: Yes, absolutely, and that's wrong. That is so wrong. We've had multiple people tell us that they've never seen anything

like this -- agencies arguing, fighting, pointing the finger at each other. Nobody wants to admit that they were wrong.

But our daughter isn't here anymore, so we deserve to know what happened. We don't know what she did in her last moments. We don't know what she was thinking. We don't know any of that. So we deserve to know what happened.

If you were wrong -- I mean, admit that you were wrong. You cost kids their lives, adults their lives. This is one of the biggest mess-ups in probably the history -- in American history. And everybody's sitting here playing the blame game because they want to look like they were the ones that made a change -- that stepped up and told them we should go in there. We should -- we should do something different. And it was just a lot of cowardly actions

[07:50:22]

BERMAN: Kimberly, you're going to Washington today. Why?

K. GARZA: To fight. To express and to voice what we feel and what we want to change. And to make sure that nobody forgets my daughter.

BERMAN: No. No one is going to forget your daughter. No one will forget your daughter.

Are you -- do you believe you're going to get to meet with the president?

K. GARZA: I'm not sure.

BERMAN: What would you say to him if you had a chance to talk to him?

K. GARZA: Just the same thing. Just what can we do -- just ask him what can we do to change things. What can we do to make things betters at schools -- security, law enforcement to make -- to not let this happen again. Because I don't want -- I don't want these parents to ever feel what we're feeling.

BERMAN: Berlinda -- go ahead.

A. GARZA: We need to come together. This isn't -- this isn't Democrat, this isn't Republican. This is human beings that need to come together. We all have children and we all understand that nobody should ever have to bury their child.

BERMAN: Berlinda, if you could look him in the eye, if you get that chance, what will you tell the president?

ARREOLA: To help make the change. He does have the power to help make that change. And we would -- we would ask him to help in every way, shape, or form. It shouldn't -- it shouldn't --

When Sandy Hook happened, these kids were barely being born -- the ones that -- and 10 years later, here we are. Those same parents were saying the same thing.

And enough is enough. Enough is enough and we need to stand our ground and we need to fight. And he needs to help fight for us also.

BERMAN: Finally, just the school year, you know, starts up again in a month or so. How are you approaching that? What do you want to see happen?

A. GARZA: Better security. Our kids will not be going to school unless there's better security and there's -- not just, you know, putting a police guard standing out in front. Obviously, we know that didn't -- that that's not going to help them.

We need locks on doors. We need fences. We need at least some sort of difficulty to get into the -- to get into the building. It shouldn't be so easy to access a children's classroom like that.

BERMAN: And you won't send them back unless it --

A. GARZA: No, and I encourage more parents. We encourage everyone in Uvalde, don't send your kids. If they're not going to change for us we have to do something.

ARREOLA: We'll stand our ground and we're going to do a walkout. That is our goal -- that if they don't make the changes.

Dr. Harrell has expressed to us that he is trying to make the changes but we have not spoke with him. We don't see that happening.

They've been offered free locks. And I know that they -- people have reached out, companies have reached out to us stating that they've offered to put locks -- to put locks, to do blueprints, to do this and do that, and they have not responded.

We don't know why. They haven't spoken to us. We've gone to school board meetings. They don't talk to us.

We've been shut down. We're always shut out. And you all get to know everything -- the media, the social media -- everybody knows everything before we do.

BERMAN: Berlinda, Kimberly, Angel, you're making a difference. You are changing things. We thank you for being with us. And no one will forget Amerie. Be well.

ARREOLA: Thank you.

BERMAN: We'll be right back.

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[07:58:25]

BERMAN: I'm John Berman alongside Brianna Keilar.

On this new day, the January 6 hearing set to resume just hours from now, focusing on the role of right-wing extremists and the impact of a pivotal Trump tweet.

Also, CNN has exclusive new reporting that the former Overstock CEO who helped strategize ways to overturn the election, is now cooperating with the committee.

KEILAR: A new escalation in the war on Ukraine. U.S. intelligence says Iran is set to supply Russia with hundreds of armed drones.

And Twitter stock takes a nosedive as the legal fight against Elon Musk officially takes off.

BERMAN: And good morning to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. It is Tuesday, July 12. I'm John Berman with Brianna Keilar.

And we do have new reporting about what we will hear this afternoon in the next public January 6 committee hearing. And also, revealing new information about what they are digging into behind the scenes. A specific meeting inside the White House is looming large -- a meeting the committee says has been described as insane. A meeting that preceded by hours former President Trump's tweet calling on supporters to be at a protest in Washington on January 6, and that it would be wild.

Committee member Jamie Raskin, who will lead today's hearing, says that when Trump wrote this he became the first president in American history to call for a protest against the peaceful transfer of power.

[08:00:00]