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New Day Saturday

Supreme Court Overturns Roe Vs. Wade Abortion Ruling; Two Dead, 14 Wounded In Shooting At Norway Nightclub; Overturning of Roe Versus Wade; Department of Justice Officials On Pressure From Donald Trump to Overturn 2020 Election; CNN Heroes; Ginny Gilder on Title IV in Colleges. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 25, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:39]

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We are so grateful to have you with us this morning on the Saturday June 25th. I'm Christi Paul, and who's here.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: So great to be with you in person.

PAUL: You do.

SANCHEZ: Great to be with you. I'm Boris Sanchez. We're thrilled that you started your weekend and your morning again.

PAUL: Yes. And listen while you were sleeping women across the country, we're rallying and waking up to a new reality this morning. There is no longer a constitutional right to abortion. Of course, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision.

SANCHEZ: For anti-abortion activists, it's a victory that's been decades in the making and for abortion rights supporters it's a devastating setback. At the White House, President Joe Biden says the decision to ultimately put women's health in jeopardy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a sad day for the court and for the country. Now with Roe gone, let's be very clear, the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk. It was three justices named by one, President Donald Trump, are the core of today's decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So on Capitol Hill, lawmakers on both sides of the abortion debate reacted to the Supreme Court decision. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): What this means to women is such an insult. It's a slap in the face to women about using their own judgment to make their own decisions about their reproductive freedom.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Americans celebrate this historic victory because we know it will save the lives of millions of children and it will give families hope. But as encouraging as today's decision is, our work is far from done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The Supreme Court ruling set off demonstrations with both sides taking to the streets and cities across the country. Abortion rights groups are planning additional demonstrations later today. In Arizona, Troopers use tear gas to disperse the crowd outside the state capitol in Phoenix. Officials there say that they deployed the gas after protesters repeatedly pounded on the glass doors of the State Senate building.

The Supreme Court vote was five to four in favor of overturning Roe with three dissenting justices in the case writing quote, with sorrow for this court, but more for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection. We dissent.

PAUL: Reaction from the White House to the Supreme Court ruling is what we need to see this morning. White House reporter Jasmine Wright with us. Jasmine, good to see you. Talk to us about what President Biden is saying.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the President said that he now believes women's health and by extension their lives is now at risk. Now, the President had been bracing for this moment for some weeks after that leaked that draft opinion leaked some weeks ago when official told me that essentially the speech was already written. But after the president learned to the ruling Vice Chief of Staff Ron Klain, he then tweeted a bit in week saw him come out say that basically it was a solemn moment for the country.

Now the President noted how justice is appointed by both Democrats and Republicans for essentially decades upon decades have upheld this ruling as precedent and we saw him just earlier in that clip really lay some of the blame at his predecessor former President Trump's feet really naming him something that he rarely does.

Now in terms of the way forward here, Boris and Christi, the President outlined really two steps. First, he said that it's going to be incumbent upon Americans to really use this to anchor them and get them to the ballot, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: This fall Roe is on the ballot. Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, Liberty equality, they're on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WRIGHT: So in addition to pitching it to the midterms in November here, the President also said that he would do everything in his power to at least protect some of the protections that women had been used to in this country for nearly 50 years. Boris, Christi.

SANCHEZ: Jasmine, the President clearly upset there. At one point he lost track of his words so impassioned about what he was saying but realistically speaking, there's not much the executive branch can do here, right?

WRIGHT: Yes, that's right. Look, the President was clear yesterday when he said that there was no executive order that he could frankly sign that would bring all the protections that women are used to back to them that now this ruling against Roe v. Wade has really overturned.

[06:05:12]

Now he said that his administration was doing a few things. And that includes expanding access to medical medic -- medication abortion pills, in addition to really energizing the DOJ essentially, to challenge states that go after women that tried to cross state lines to get an abortion when their state has now banned it, in addition to other things like a public health emergency.

But really, he took it back to the ballot again saying that that is where the power is going to come from, now that is easier said than done here as Democrats are expected to lose votes when it comes to the midterms. And also, of course, they don't have enough votes in the Senate right now to pass anything on abortion. Boris, Christi.

SANCHEZ: Jasmine Wright reporting from the White House. Thank you so much. In some states abortion became illegal as soon as the Supreme Court issued this ruling. 13 states have trigger laws in place that will soon be activated after the Supreme Court decision.

PAUL: CNN national correspondent Nadia Romero is with us from Jackson, Mississippi. Nadia, we know Mississippi is one of the states with a trigger law was also really at the center of this case that the court ruled on where do things stand there right now?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Christi and Boris, this is the ground zero mark. This is the state that had their 15-week abortion ban make its way all the way up to the Supreme Court went into -- was supposed to go into effect in 2018. That's when the legislature passed the abortion ban. But it took up until now before the Supreme Court ruled in a being now the law of the land with the Roe vs. Wade being overturned because of the Mississippi law.

And so here we are outside of the very last standing abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi. And it has not been a good morning here. It has been confrontational. It has been very threatening. They want to be on TV, let's put them on TV.

So these are the folks here who have come out. They haven't told us what group they're a part of or what they're doing. They've been very confrontational with us and threatening. That's why you see the back here of a Jackson, Mississippi police officer. We have asked them to back up and give us some space, but they have decided to stand and hover over us. And that's why the police are out here.

There's another police incident that's happening because one of the men backed up his truck hitting one of the volunteers of the clinic here. So that's why the police initially came out. And it's already started to be very confrontational this morning. So here we are outside of the clinic.

This is a big window for state leaders, for religious leaders. We heard from Governor Reeves yesterday releasing a very long statement about his support of the Supreme Court's ruling and the governor is saying in part of that statement, we will wake to a new world, enthusiastically prepared to take on the challenges ahead and to take every step necessary to support mothers and children, that coming from Governor Reeves who was a big supporter of the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban, of course supporting the Roe v. Wade being overturned just yesterday.

But when you look at the actual statistics, Boris and Christi, here in the state of Mississippi, it's ranked 50th in the nation for child wellbeing which tracks four factors. So that's economic well-being, health, family, community and education. One-fourth about 26 percent of children here in the state of Mississippi lived in poverty.

So when you talk to the -- so when you talk to people in Mississippi, they say that they want to see the governor and they want to see state leaders actually put their money with those children that they want to say. Boris and Christi.

PAUL: Nadia Romero, thank you so much for letting us see what's happening there. Take good care of yourself there today. Shan Wu is a former federal prosecutor. Shan, we're so grateful to here have you here. You know, the thing that, and correct me if I'm wrong here, the Mississippi case was asking -- with the Supreme Court to look at this based on the ban after 15 weeks. It wasn't asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe versus Wade. Specifically. I mean, talk to us about your initial reaction and the intention here.

SHAN WU, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Sure. Yes, that's right, Christi. What they were doing was really unnecessarily reaching out. I mean, this conservative majority has been chomping at the bit to get a chance to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The legal reasoning in the lidos case is frankly quite weak. I mean, because nothing has changed since Roe had been come down as the court's decision and Casey the -- case afterwards, which reaffirmed Roe, nothing changed legally or factually except for the composition of the court.

And because of that, you see that Alito has to reach back literally into the 17 century for all out of his support in notorious jurist named Matthew Hale who supported women being executed for witchcraft, supported the idea that women could not possibly be raped if it was their husband, who was the rapist. [06:10:14]

That's the sort of historical precedent that Alito it'll reach back to for this. And what that means is it's obviously ignoring the fact that modern America in the 21st century is in the majority of supporting abortion rights. But Alito wants to lead us backwards in time towards that older, kind of misogynistic error. And that's what's happened in this opinion.

PAUL: So I want to ask you about some of the broader implications that also have some people concerned, particularly this concurrence from Justice Clarence Thomas, where he called on the Court to overturn other high court rulings such as protecting same sex marriage and the use of contraceptives.

He's talking about this underlying right to privacy, and the need to be reconsidered, as I understand it, saying its future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedent, including GridWorld, Lawrence, and over Obergefell. Sorry about that. I'm messing up that name. But is there a sense, Shan, the Justice Thomas was saying to people who oppose these issues just bring me a case.

WU: I think that's exactly what he's saying. He is encouraging them to bring these challenges. And a lot of legal analysts and scholars had speculated that overturning Roe would indeed endanger many other rights of privacy, because those started with Griswold. And Thomas has been quite blatant about it.

I mean, his concurrence is really an exercise in self-aggrandizement. I mean, he cites himself 17 times in a seven-page opinion, you can almost smell the glee that hidden a little habit finally being able to implement their own beliefs into law. So he is unquestionably to me signaling folks bring me the case. You're absolutely right.

PAUL: I think there are people at home wondering, is there an opening now to criminalize travel to other states to get an abortion for people? Is there an opening to criminalize medications that would be across state lines? And what does this mean for people who support abortion?

WU: I think that's a very dangerous situation. I mean, you see some of these states have just been waiting with these trigger laws to go into effect, and certainly much more expanded criminalization is a concern. I give kudos to the Justice Department yesterday. AG Garland spoke out that they would be protecting certain rights. And they of course, were on the lookout for violence. But there's no question that this opens the door to outright criminalization and expand the view but there are many conservative district attorneys in places like Wisconsin, which are just waiting to prosecute people.

PAUL: Real quickly. I have about 20 seconds here. But there's a Gallup poll that came out on Thursday that only 25 percent of people who were polled have confidence in the Supreme Court. So, how does this decision shape the views? Do you think of the public views of the Supreme Court? WU: I think it's devastating for the court. I mean, it undermines whatever remaining legitimacy they have. It's a slap in the face to Justice Roberts' efforts to kind of preserve. I mean he tried to go a narrower path without overruling Roe and that was just pushed aside. And really it raises this question of whether these -- some of these conservative justices lied in their hearings.

As a former prosecutor, I don't think you could prosecute them for that. But you can certainly look at it from an impeachment standpoint. I mean, if the court wants to be this political, let them face the justice of a political exercise, which is an impeachment inquiry.

PAUL: Shan Wu, always appreciate your expertise. Thank you so much, sir, for being here.

WU: Good to see you.

PAUL: You too.

SANCHEZ: We're following a breaking story overnight in Norway, where police have charged a man with murder, attempted murder and terrorism, in connection with a shooting at a gay nightclub in Oslo. The suspect is a Norwegian citizen originally from Iran. The attack apparently happened at the London pub, and it left two people dead sending eight others to the hospital. Police tell us that at least three remain in critical condition.

The Pride Parade in Oslo that was planned for later today has now been cancelled following the shooting. Norway's intelligence service is looking into whether more acts of violence were planned.

So, President Biden is set to sign the bipartisan gun bill into law this morning. We're going to walk you through what's in it and take you to the signing live.

Plus, Democrats in New York State are outraged after the Supreme Court strikes down restrictions on carrying concealed handguns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't emphasize enough how disastrous the Supreme Court decision is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:15:06]

SANCHEZ: Their plan to fight against the ruling and what New Yorkers are saying about it. New Day continues in a moment.

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PAUL: So good to have you with us this morning. You know, President Biden is expected to sign the first piece of federal legislation tackling gun control in nearly three decades this morning. SANCHEZ: And let's take a look at what is actually in this package. The bipartisan bill includes $750 million for crisis intervention programs. It expands background checks for young gun buyers. It closes the so called boyfriend loophole and it requires more gun sellers to register as federally licensed firearm dealers.

Let's take you to Capitol Hill now. And CNN's Daniella Diaz. Daniella, this is a remarkable moment because for many years, it was not obvious that lawmakers were ever going to pass any kind of gun safety legislation.

[06:20:03]

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: That's right, Boris. But it was truly a sign of bipartisanship in the Senate that led us to this moment for the House and the Senate to pass this legislation and send it to President Joe Biden's desk whose first piece of gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years.

Now, what's in this legislation and what's not in this legislation? Let me talk a little bit about that. It's just as you said, it's millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, crisis intervention programs. It also makes significant changes to the process when someone ages 18 to 21 goes to buy a firearm, it also closes the so called boyfriend loophole.

But some Democrats were arguing as well as an activist wanted to see an assault AR-15s a ban on assault rifles included in this legislation. Now, it did not go that far. But that was the thing. They needed Republicans to support this legislation. A lot of Republicans, of course, endorsing this bill. There are at least 15 Republicans that voted in the final vote in the passage for this legislation in the Senate.

Take a listen to what one Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said about how this legislation aligns with the Second Amendment and praised the fact that they were able to do this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): If you consider yourself a supporter of the Second Amendment, you absolutely want to do something about Uvalde, to do something about murders related to domestic violence, to do something about straw purchases, to do something about teen suicide by gun. You cannot be pro Second Amendment unless you care deeply about these issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAZ: Now remember, this, of course, came in the wake of that horrific shooting and Uvalde at that elementary school, that racially motivated shooting in Buffalo. Republicans in the Senate felt empowered to start negotiating with Democrats on this issue. And of course, even in the House, there were at least 14 House Republicans who joined all Democrats to pass this legislation. And now of course, it's going to President Joe Biden's desk, Boris, for signature at 8:30 a.m. Eastern today. So really remarkable that they were able to do this.

SANCHEZ: And we will of course, carry that signing live right here on CNN. Daniella Diaz live from Capitol Hill. Thank you so much.

So, it's interesting because this landmark gun safety legislation comes as the Supreme Court actually overturned a law in New York State that prohibited people from carrying concealed handguns outside of their homes.

PAUL: Yes, this is the decision that marks the widest expansion of U.S. gun rights and a decade that Democrats in New York say they're still working to keep some public spaces gun free. And CNN's Polo Sandoval has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ZELLNOR MYRIE, NEW YORK STATE SENATE: People are anxious. They are scared.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Zellnor Myrie among the New York State lawmakers scrambling to respond to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of gun owners wishing to carry concealed firearms in public. The Thursday decision from a conservative leaning court eliminated the central requirement for New York residents to prove that they have a self-defense need in order to be issued a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver.

It's a ruling that's been called both reckless and reprehensible by some leaders in a state that's still reeling with a mass shooting in Buffalo and another in April aboard a packed subway train and my (INAUDIBLE) Brooklyn district.

MYRIE: I can't emphasize enough how disastrous this Supreme Court decision is. We do still have some options, but people should be worried about the future of keeping guns off of our streets.

SANDOVAL: Myrie expects to join fellow lawmakers in a special session in the coming days to discuss those options. Some of them include expanding so called sensitive locations where the license carrying of firearms would be banned. Also when the agenda says Myrie outlining the training and vetting that will be required for residents taking fresh interest in arming themselves.

MYRIE: I don't think we should be making it incredibly onerous for individuals who are law abiding citizens to try to get a firearm. That has never been what our concealed carry firearm regime was about. It was really about keeping New Yorkers safe because New York and its geography and its density in our history dictates that we're different in many respects.

SANDOVAL: Myrie says the New Yorkers he's heard from recently had been largely opposed to loosening handgun licensing requirements. So there are some who welcome an opportunity to harm themselves.

NANCY NICHOLS, NEW YORK RESIDENT: Absolutely, especially because I am qualified to do that. And I am trained to do that. And I would feel much safer.

SANDOVAL: New Yorkers like Nancy Nichols who says she was licensed to carry a concealed firearm in Texas when that was required. But she gave up her pistol after moving to New York City eight years ago.

NICHOLS: Because some of us are not New Yorkers, and some of us are, I feel like there's going to be a middle split ground there. Yes.

SANDOVAL (on camera): What do you stand in that split ground?

NICHOLS: I'm for it, as long as there's proper regulations in place and stuff that. We can clearly define who gets to have one in where I feel like we can actually do that.

[06:25:10]

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Therein lies the next challenge in a post ruling era. Myrie says state lawmakers and New York City officials have to loosen restrictions for applicants, while also limiting where they may be able to carry. It will be a tough but unnecessary balancing act says Myrie.

MYRIE: I like to recognize that fear. I understand that fear, but the solution is not more firearms.

SANDOVAL: Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

PAUL: Senator Susan Collins is suggesting now that she was quote misled by two of the justices who voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade. We'll talk about that just ahead and stay close.

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PAUL: 29 minutes past the hour right now. You know, more than a dozen states were ready to ban abortion if and when the Supreme Court reversed Roe versus Wade in some of those states it's happened.

[06:30:00]

PAUL: Thirty-nine (sic) minutes past the hour right now. You know more than a dozen states were ready to ban abortion if and when the Supreme Court reversed Roe versus Wade, and some of those states it's happened.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Tom Foreman breaks down which states already have enacted their so-called trigger laws and which ones are poised to act.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thirteen states had so-called trigger laws in place for this day, meaning abortion bans that would go into effect very quickly according to the abortion rights group The Good Munker Institute (ph). In Kentucky and Louisiana and South Dakota for example, the law said it would happen immediately. So barring some issue, it's already illegal there. The next level were the states where abortion bans are to enforce 30 days from now in Idaho, Tennessee and Texas, although there's a push in Texas to bypass that delay and have it in place even sooner.

We should note all these maps are in flux because this is moving so quickly this weekend. Then we have a half dozen states where officials need to certify their legislation is legally valid before their bans kick in, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. And again, they are moving so fast to get this done, they may all be done by the time you hear this and we know that those that aren't, it could still just be a matter of hours and days until they are done. And so we have all these trigger laws in place, and then we add to that states that have old, unenforced abortion bans which now can be enforced and states that passed bans under Roe which were blocked by the courts which now would be unblocked.

Altogether, you get a whopping 26 states, certain or likely to ban abortion. We say likely because there are places like Montana where a state supreme court ruling is, for not, still in the way. We talk about a lot of laws in this country that may or may not be felt by people everywhere. These laws are really going to reverberate all across the country through the actions of these states.

SANCHEZ: Tom Foreman, thank you so much. Let's bring in CNN Political Commentator Errol Louis. He's a political anchor for Spectrum News and also host of the "You Decide" pod cast. Errol, always great seeing you bright and early, appreciate you getting up for us. The political implications of the decision to overturn Roe versus Wade. President Biden from the White House yesterday saying that Roe is on the ballot in November. How much do you think this issue is going to motivate voters?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning, Boris. If the future is like the past, the reality is that yes it-- it will motivate voters, but it will mostly motivate those who are opposed to abortion. They've had the momentum. They've had the energy. They've had the long-term creativity to try to stack the courts with conservatives. They've -- they've played the judicial politics and the politics in the state houses for decades at this point, and they got the victory that they worked for. Everything we know about polling suggests that Democrats on the other side are those who, or favor abortion rights are -- are motivated but not nearly as much as their opponents, and that's why we have the outcome that we have here.

One other thing Boris, when the president says, this issue is on the ballot in the fall, he also pointed out in that speech pointed out that there are many fights ahead. This is not over. This is more like the beginning than the end. When the president talked about making sure that contraceptives are available in drugstores. When he talked about making sure there's no interference with a woman's right to travel across state border to get abortion services. I think he's clearly signaling that he knows there's going to be a fight ahead, because these states that-- that got the ruling that they fought so hard to get, these states with the trigger laws. They've got more legislation planned. They've more attacks on women planned. Again, I think we're more -- we're closer to the beginning than to the end of a great big national fight.

SANCHEZ: Not to mention given Judge Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion, opening the door potentially for a lot of other Supreme Court decisions that were decided as precedent to be revisited. I -- I -- I want to ask you about President Biden calling on Congress to pass a law that would codify abortion rights. How likely is that given how divided lawmakers have been?

LOUIS: It seems like really quite a stretch. There are really basic laws that couldn't pass in part because of the filibuster rules on the Senate side. So that even with a very thin, the thinnest possible working majority in -- in Congress, they haven't been able to do really basic things. This is hard and I -- I can't imagine that they're going to get even all of the Democrats on board with something like that. You know, does anything think that Joe Manchin is going to vote to -- to codify Roe versus Wade? He's not. He won't even allow it to come up for a vote. So the president, I guess, aspirationally describe what ought to happen, but I don't know if they have the politics in place to really make it happen.

SANCHEZ: I want to play some sound for you from Senator Susan Collins. Let's listen to this.

[06:35:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you 100 percent certain, without a doubt that Bret Kavanaugh will not overturn Roe v. Wade?

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not believe that Bret Kavanaugh will overturn Roe v. Wade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) overturned all the time.

COLLINS: They aren't overturned all the time.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Neil Gorsuch for whom you voted. Don't you think he's probably going to vote to overturn Roe versus Wade if given the chance?

COLLINS: I actually don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Collins says that she feels misled by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. Errol, I wonder if this is going to change the way that Senators scrutinize nominees?

LOUIS: Well, for -- for sure, you know, what happens is if you look at the -- the confirmation hearings of Gorsuch, of Kavanaugh, of Amy Coney-Barrett to a lesser extent. What they've said is well, Roe is settled law and I don't believe we -- we need to talk too much about that. You know, that's not the same as saying that they won't overturn it and in fact, they did their intentions and then at the very first opportunity, which is what this is. The very first opportunity, they moved aggressively to do exactly that and there's more on tap just as you mentioned from Clarence Thomas. So -- so now, future confirmations are going to be far more

contentious. There'll be a lot more suspicion. There will be a lot less likelihood of believing these-- this kind of euphemistic or -- or ambiguous statements from nominees. People will be asked to say, flat out, do you have an agenda? The last person, the last three people that said that they didn't in fact did. I don't think future Congresses are going to be able to hold their tongues. I think they're going to have to really press nominees the minute they get there.

SANCHEZ: A legal can of worms opened up by the Supreme Court with this decision. Errol Louis, always appreciate your perspective. Thanks.

LOUIS: Thank you.

PAUL: There is so much more ahead on New Day. First, want to let you know not to mess the new CNN film "Citizen Ashe" tomorrow night at 9pm. Stay close.

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[06:40:09]

PAUL: We heard remarkable new testimony this week from former Justice Department officials detailing how Donald Trump pressured the DOJ to help him overturn the 2020 election results.

SANCHEZ: Yes. CNN's Sara Murray has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Stunning testimony from top Justice Department officials detailing the repeated attempts by then President Donald Trump to pressure the Department of Justice to subvert the 2020 election.

JEFFREY ROSEN, FORMER ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR DONALD TRUMP: So between December 23rd and January 3rd, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day with one or two exceptions like Christmas Day. The common element of all of this was the president, expressing his dissatisfaction that the Justice Department, in his view, had not done enough to investigate election fraud.

MURRAY: During multiple meetings and phone calls in the weeks after the election, Trump instructed the officials to endorse his unfounded claims of voter fraud.

ROSEN (PH): I'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congress.

MURRAY: In a conversation on December 27th with then Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, Trump tried to pressure them to say the election was corrupt according to handwritten contemporaneous notes taken by Donoghue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where any of the allegations he brought up found credible? Did you find any of them credible? RICHARD DONOGHUE, ACTING DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR DONALD TRUMP: No.

Throughout all of these meetings and telephone conversations was adamant that he had won, and that we were not doing our job. But, it did escalate over time.

MURRAY: The department did investigate numerous claims of voter fraud.

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR DONALD TRUMP: The fact that I put myself in the position that I could say that we had looked at this and didn't think there was fraud was really important to moving things forward. And I sort of shudder to think what this situation have been if -- if the position of the department was we're not even looking at this until after Biden's in office. I'm not sure we would have had a transition at all.

MURRAY: During a contentious meeting with DOJ officials and White House lawyers on January 3rd, Trump suggested appointing DOJ Environmental Lawyer Jeffrey Clark as Attorney General.

DONAGHUE: I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as the attorney general. He's never been a criminal attorney. He's never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. He's never been (inaudible) jury much less a trial jury, and he kind of retorted by saying, well I've done a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation and things like that. And I said that's right, you're an environmental lawyer how about you go back to your office, and we'll call you when there's an oil spill.

MURRAY: Clark was in attendance in that Oval Office meeting and the White House visitor logs even listed him as acting attorney general. The environmental attorney had written a letter for the Department of Justice to send to officials in Georgia, falsely claiming prosecutors had quote, "identified significant concerns with the vote there and asking them to reconsider their slate of electors."

ERIC HERSCHMANN, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: When he finished discussing what he planned on doing, I said good (inaudible) a-hole. Congratulations you just admitted a first step or act you take as an attorney general would be committing a felony and violating rule (inaudible). You're clearly the right candidate for this job.

[06:45:10]

MURRAY: The DOJ officials in the room threatened to resign in protest and said there would be mass resignations at the department if Clark was instated.

DONAGHUE: Suppose I replace him, Jeff Rosen with him, Jeff Clark, what would you do? I said, Mr. President, within 24, 48, 72 hours you could have hundreds and hundreds of resignations and the leadership of your entire Justice Department because of your actions. What's that going to say about you?

MURRAY: The select committee investigating January 6th, also named six Republican members who allegedly asked about pardons after the January 6th Capitol attack. Most have denied asking for one or not publicly admitted it. Congress and Mo Brooks told CNN he spoke of pardons with Trump on more than one occasion. He said he was advocating for Republicans who voted against certifying the election in Arizona and Pennsylvania to receive pardons, claiming he was fearful Democrats would prosecute and jail them after President Joe Biden assumed office. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson says the committee has proof.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: You know, for more than 15 years, CNN Heroes has been honoring everyday people changing the world. Well tonight, we're taking a look at some famous names who are working to make a difference as well. In fact, here's actor Glenn Close.

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GLENN CLOSE, ACTOR: I've always said mental health is a family affair. When my sister Jess came to me and said I need help because I can't stop thinking of killing myself. It was like a bolt out of nowhere. We have, over the last 10 years, learned a tremendous amount about stigma, about how toxic it is. We have found that the best way to start ending stigma is to talk about it. "Bring Change To Mind" is a non-profit organization that fights against the stigma that surrounds mental illness. It's a chronic illness. It's not who you are. It's something because we have this amazing, wondrous, fragile brain. It's part of being a human being, especially now because our collective mental health is under such stress. It should be something that really connects us, this need to take care of our brains. It makes us human.

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MURRAY: That alone tells you, you do not want to miss CNN Heroes. It's tonight at 10pm.

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[06:50:09]

SANCHEZ: The Supreme Court's ruling to reverse Roe versus Wade came 50 years and one day after the passage of Title IX. It's a law that prohibits discrimination or exclusion from the benefits of any education program or activity that receive Federal funds.

PAUL: Yes. Change was slow on college campuses though, particularly for athletes at Yale and it led to one of the most famous protests of the Title IX era. Here's Carolyn Manno. Hi, Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN BROADCASTER: Well good morning. Hey good morning to you both. You know that protest is going to resonate with many today, of course. It's about four years after Title IX, that the locker room for the Yale Women's Crew Team was still located in the basement. I mean the team had to wait outside, often in the cold while the men's team showered and changed. That they could have access to the showers after their practices, but on March 3rd of that year, Freshman Ginny Gilder and her teammates marched into the women's athletic office. They shed all of their clothes, covered only by the words Title IX.

That they had written all over their bodies. And it was a move that really changed things for many who followed in the footsteps of those women. Gilder won a national title at the university. She won an Olympic Silver Medal. She's now co-owner of the Seattle Storm as she continues to fight for change.

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GINNY GILDER, CO-OWNER OF THE SEATTLE STORM: A lot of what I learned started to crystallize my freshman year when I really discovered for the first time what discrimination looked and felt like. I mean, that experience of being at the Yale gym and also being at the boathouse and seeing how we were spoken to my men, how we were viewed by men really opened my eyes and made me look at the world in a different way. Obviously not just for myself, but I could -- it's not hard to extrapolate. It this is how I was being treated, how were other people being treated who had far less than I did and who the world looked at even less kindly. So it radicalized me. I was radicalized at -- at college because of Title IX and because of the women around me who educated me and were willing to stand up for what they believed was right.

Change doesn't happen without young people, because young people really don't care that much about the status quo and why it has to be this way, or why it came this way. They play an incredibly important role implementing change. So I love that my league has been really in the vanguard of demanding equity, and I love that I get to participate in that my role as an owner which is very different of that of a player.

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But that's one of the reasons I'm involved because the WNBA is about promoting social change. We have a huge commitment to social change to be part of our community, to be advocates for diversity, equity inclusion, and we want our platform to be their platform. And rise them up and make sure there's an amplification if you will of their voices, that's very important. We don't want just our voices heard. We want the players, they're really the heart and soul of the league.

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MANNO: You know the way that Ginny and her teammates stood up for themselves that day in 1976, was a single powerful gesture that certainly had an impact. It continues to influence the lives of athletes around the country. (inaudible) and really inspire those in the fight for women's rights collectively. The connective tissue is certainly there with the topic of the day.

SANCHEZ: An inspiring start to the morning. Carolyn Manno, thank you so much. So across the country, people are reacting to the Supreme Court overturning Roe versus Wade. We have much more on a historic ruling after a quick break.

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