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New Day

Mayor Eric Adams is Interviewed about Migrants and Covid; Tim Alberta is Interviewed about the FBI Raid on Trump. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 12, 2022 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:59]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Migrants by the bus load continue to arrive daily into New York City from Texas, straining shelters that were already dealing with overcrowding issues. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has accused Texas Governor Greg Abbott of forcing migrants on to the buses and using them as political pawns to draw attention to the influx of migrant crossings from Mexico. Adams said many of the migrants endured 45-hour bus rides with limited stops, even though he says some wanted to go to an entirely different state.

Joining us now is New York City's Mayor Eric Adams.

Sir, thanks for being with us this morning.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: Thank you. Great to be with you this morning.

KEILAR: So, this is a back and forth between you and Governor Abbott. And here is what Abbott said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): I kind of feel like Clint Eastwood. Go ahead, Mayor, make my day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What do you say to that?

ADAMS: Well, first of all, it's unfortunate that he believes this is a Hollywood script and it's not. It is lives of human beings. And to watch a governor lack coordination and show the humanitarian aspects of our country, placing people on a bus without adequate water, without adequate food, sending them to cities and, in many cases, they don't understand the language, that is just not who we are as Americans.

So, I don't want to make his day. I want him to make the day of those that he are - he has treated in this inhumanitarian fashion.

KEILAR: You say they're arriving without having adequate food and water. What -- how are they arriving to New York City, in your knowledge?

ADAMS: Oh, the conditions are really deplorable. When I met a group of migrants on Sunday, it was clear that the conditions were inhumane of, when you're on a bus for that long period of time and you don't -- can't stop as needed as much, and the lack of coordination, crisis really calls on us to coordinate.

[08:35:03]

He has not coordinated with this city or state at all. And, in fact, he denied he was doing this at first until it was revealed, and he finally admitted he was sending people outside the state of Texas, not coordinating with any cities along the way.

KEILAR: He says that actually he wasn't sending migrants direct - I just want to be clear what he's saying compared to what you're saying. I'm sure, obviously, you have a different point of view. But he's saying that he wasn't sending buses directly to New York City but that he heard you complaining about it, and then he thought, OK, yes, I'm going to go ahead and send some buses to New York. Are you saying he's lying?

ADAMS: Yes, I am. There are documents - there's a document that he had migrants and asylum seekers sign that specifically state they would be going to New York and Washington, D.C. So, it's not only I'm saying he's lying, but his documents are saying he's lying.

KEILAR: I want to ask you about something totally different, which is just this trio of health crises that you're dealing with here in New York. Polio case identified outside the city in Rockland County, New York. The concern of officials is that, yes, this may be one case, but there could be several hundreds. There could be asymptomatic folks who are carrying this.

Is New York City prepared to deal with a polio outbreak?

ADAMS: Yes, it is so important. When I look over my life, my life has shown the importance of crises and building the right team. Our coordination between the governor's office and the department of health, and our department of health and mental hygiene, we are dealing with a trifecta.

Covid is still very much here. Polio, we have identified polio in our sewage. And we're still dealing with the monkeypox crisis.

But the team is there. And we're coordinating. And we're addressing the threats as they come before us. And we're prepared to deal with them and with the assistance of Washington, D.C.

KEILAR: Any worries about these new guidelines on monkeypox when it comes to how to administer medications?

ADAMS: Our team here in New York, the new manner of putting it under the skin. My doctors and healthcare professionals updated me on this new method of the federal government is stating this allows us to double the number of vaccines that we can do. And we have to believe that the CDC and other government officials on the federal level is going to give us good advice and we going to comply with the ruling.

KEILAR: When it comes to Covid, the CDC is also out with some new guidelines. We're going to go ahead and put those up. In general, talking about removing social distancing, some quarantine measures, contact tracing limited to hospitals in high-risk situations. And then in schools, which obviously is so essential as they're reopening, removing cohorting recommendation and also removing that test to stay recommendation.

Do you think these are the right moves when it comes to New York City?

ADAMS: Well, I think the CDC, they have successfully showed us how to navigate our way through the Covid crisis. Now, in New York City, we have done things that are different. But we always comply with the CDC. We have been successful in pivoting and shifting as Covid has continued to pivot and shift. It's a formidable opponent. I state this over and over again.

So we will follow the CDC guidelines. But, in some cases, because we have a transportation system, we're going to continue to do the things we believe is going to keep New Yorkers safe.

KEILAR: All right, Mayor, appreciate your time this morning.

Mayor Eric Adams, thanks for being with us.

ADAMS: Thank you.

KEILAR: We have some more on "The Washington Post" reporting, bombshell reporting, that the FBI was looking for nuclear documents at Mar-a-Lago. Our next guest believes the search may become a, quote, hinge point in U.S. history.

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[08:43:04]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The day of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, August 8th, quote, may become a new hinge point in U.S. history. That's from an op-ed from "The Atlantic's" Tim Alberta. Alberta, who has covered the Republican base extensively, writes, quote, this country is tracking toward a scale of political violence not seen since the Civil War.

Our friend, Tim Alberta, joins us now.

And, Tim, I want to make clear, you actually wrote this before what happened yesterday, before these events in Cincinnati where a man apparently tried to get into the field office of the FBI in Cincinnati.

What compelled you to write this? What have you seen?

TIM ALBERTA, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Well, John, I'm just - I'm concerned that a lot of us, particularly those of us in a position to reach the masses and inform Americans are sort of willfully ignorant to what's happening in the country around us. And I think we don't necessarily want to see the risk. We don't want to acknowledge that there is a radicalism on the ground that is real, and that is growing, and, you know, the events in Ohio yesterday are entirely predictable, and I think, you know, what I would try to get across in the piece is that, you know, January 6th was entirely predictable and, again, a lot of us probably chose not to see it coming because we didn't want to see it coming. But when you have this sort of volatile combination of rhetoric around, you know, the deep state and the authoritarian government coming for you and that the rule of law is broken, and we live in a banana republic and, you know, they came for him, but really they're coming for you next, well, what do you think people are going to do?

And we're beginning to see that. We've seen it before. And I fear that we're going to see a lot more of it.

KEILAR: You say this move towards violence is unavoidable if you spend time sort of, you know, entrenched in the American right.

[08:45:00]

You're write, go to a gun show, visit a right-wing church, check out a Trump rally.

So, take us there. I mean how pervasive has this rhetoric and this expectation of violence become in those venues?

ALBERTA: I mean, it's ubiquitous, Brianna. And I think what, again, what I write in the piece is, to be clear, specifically the hypotheticals that are discussed around mass civic violence tends to be rooted in the idea that the left, that Democrats will cause this by using the power of the state to come after their political opponents, to target conservatives, to try to take their guns away, to try and shut down their churches. This is why you - frankly, part of the Covid experience were so volatile and so dangerous.

I've written about that as well because there is a real feeling in certain pockets of the far right in this country that any day now the Democrats are going to weaponize the government to come after them. And that at that point, it's going to be time to fight.

And, listen, this is not -- this isn't just some tiny fringe faction that's discussing this holdup in a compound somewhere. I mean go to a major gun show anywhere in America, I was just at the Miami-Dade gun show a few weeks ago talking to people about this. I mean when you have -- when you're watching hundreds and hundreds of people buying body armor, walking out of there with Kevlar vests, there were - there were a couple of guys wo were trying to buy a flame thrower. You ask yourself, well, why do they need that stuff, right? I go to gun ranges all the time. I grew up around guns. I've never - I've never been around anybody who needed full body armor, the type of thing that you would need to execute some sort of a, you know, a SWAT team raid. Why would you need that?

I mean ask yourself that question. I mean it's not hard to figure out. And, again, I think by not acknowledging this and by not acknowledging the risks that are associated with an event like the search of August 8th at Mar-a-Lago, we're just - we're sort of fooling ourselves.

BERMAN: We've got about 30 seconds left, Tim. We had Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, on who was calling on Democrats, but mostly Republicans, to speak out against what we saw in Cincinnati yesterday, to speak out any potential - speak out against any potential violence. What are the chances that will happen?

ALBERTA: I'm not holding my breath, John. I mean look -- if you look at the rhetoric from Republicans, from the minute the news broke about what was happening down at Mar-a-Lago, this is incredibly dangerous. And it was incredibly dangerous again, I'm drawing the parallel to January 6th, we should have seen this coming, right? And here we are again, in a very similar situation, where Republicans are playing with fire. What's it going to take for them to scale back the rhetoric is my question.

BERMAN: Tim Alberta, it's a really thoughtful piece. We know how seriously you take this. Everyone should go read what you wrote. Do it now.

Thanks so much for being with us.

ALBERTA: Thanks, guys.

KEILAR: The House January 6th committee meeting with more Trump cabinet officials who discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office after the Capitol insurrection.

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[08:51:49]

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

Former President Trump's legal team has until 3:00 p.m. to respond to the Justice Department's motion to unseal the search warrant and property receipt from the Mar-a-Lago search. Trump says that he does not oppose those documents' immediate release, but we are waiting to see what his lawyers will do.

BERMAN: The January 6th committee met with former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and is in talks with Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Both resigned after the Capitol attack and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment. Former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien will appear virtually before the committee today.

KEILAR: And the CDC is ending some of its Covid recommends, including keeping six feet apart from others, as well as the guidance to quarantine people exposed to the virus. It also eliminated the need for a test to stay in school after potential exposure.

BERMAN: The Ukrainian operator of the Zaporizhzhia power plant says nearby strikes from Russia are threatening their operations and may violate radiation standards because of the damage. This after the U.N. called for an inspection and demilitarized zone around the plant. KEILAR: Anne Heche's family says they do not expect her to survive the injuries from last week's car crash. In a statement they say Heche has a severe brain injury and is being kept on life support to determine if her organs can be donated.

BERMAN: These are the "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. Go to cnn.com/5things. You can also find it wherever you get your podcasts.

KEILAR: There are some new details this morning about a gunman who was killed by police after trying to storm an FBI field office in Ohio. What he's suspected of posting online about killing agents there.

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[08:58:34]

KEILAR: This week's CNN Hero, Marine veteran Richard Casper, struggled after serving in Iraq. It wasn't until he discovered visual art that he found an outlet for his pain and realized other veterans could benefit from the arts too. Today his organization, Creative Vets, helps wounded combat veterans creatively process their trauma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CASPER, CNN HERO: Art is so emotional and vulnerable. It's what allows you to understand that it's OK to not be OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My art work is the presentation of some of the guys that we lost when we were deployed. I built a complete mock-up of a casket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Josh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Dave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Josh (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up, Josh.

CASPER: Most of the veterans have never really told their story to anybody before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will shoulder the burden, as they already have done.

CASPER: And I try to explain to them in the beginning it's going to be easier to tell your story once you create your art piece because you're not going to be talking about you, you're going to be talking about your art piece, and focus on it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): There's something breaking out of me, I know there is a life (ph). Chorus. Pow.

CASPER: I want them to know that art's an option for healing. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I've seen some things a man just can't

unsee. I'm dealing with demons. I'm dealing with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You see that one gentleman tearing up there as he listened to that song.

And if you want to see Richard's full story, just go to cnnheroes.com.

BERMAN: That is wonderful.

Also wonderful, Brianna Keilar anchoring "State of the Union."

[09:00:02]

Your guests are Brad Pitt, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jordan.

KEILAR: That's right. Of course. Obviously. Who else - who else would you throw in there?

BERMAN: And that's just the appetizer. That's not even the big bookings that you had last Sunday.

KEILAR: Wait, what's that big football star you really like?

BERMAN: And Tom Brady will be there, as well, I'm sure, in person.

All right, everyone, have -

KEILAR: Not really. Fact check, untrue.

BERMAN: Have a great weekend, everyone.

KEILAR: CNN's coverage continues right now.