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V.P. Harris Speaks as Biden Signs Anti-Asian Crime Bill into Law; Biden Speaks After Signing Anti-Asian Crime Bill. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired May 20, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Senator Richard Blumenthal.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: Senator Jerry Moran.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: Congresswoman Judy Chu.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: Congressman Don Bayer.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: And Congressman Fred Upton.
(APPLAUSE)
HARRIS: Because of you, history will remember this day and this moment when our nation took action to combat hate. Thank you all.
Around this time last year, when I was in the Senate, Senator Hirono and Senator Duckworth and I introduced a resolution in the United States Senate condemning the rise of anti-Asian sentiment in our country.
At that time, more than 1,100 anti-Asian hate incidents had been reported since the start of the pandemic. Today, that number is more than 6,600.
And I'm talking about incidents where businesses are being vandalized in our biggest cities and in our smallest towns.
I'm talking about a 61-year-old man getting kicked in the head. Two elderly women being stabbed while waiting for the bus. Eight people in Atlanta getting shot on a Tuesday night. This violence, it did not come from nowhere. And none of it is new.
In my life, my lived experience, I have seen how hate can pervade our communities.
I have served in the justice system, in the legislative branch and in the executive branch.
I have seen how hate can impede our progress.
And I have seen how people uniting against hate can strengthen our country.
Those here today are united. This bill brings us one step closer to stopping hate, not only for Asian-Americans, but for all Americans.
It will expedite the Justice Department's review of hate crimes, every type of hate crime.
It will designate an official at the department to oversee the effort.
And it will expand efforts to make the reporting of hate crimes more accessible at the local and state levels.
But after the president signs this bill today, our work will not be done.
Here's the truth. Racism exists in America. Xenophobia exists in America. Antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, it all exists.
And so the work to address injustice wherever it exists remains the work ahead.
My fellow Americans, it is my great honor to mention and to say to you what you already know. We have a president of the United States in one Joe Biden who is committed to this work.
He is determined to, I will quote from him, "give hate no safe harbor." And I'll tell you firsthand, I've seen what you know. His actions match his powerful words.
It is my great honor to introduce the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
(APPLAUSE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you. Please.
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BIDEN: Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Susan, progress is possible. We're moving.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I've said from the beginning of my campaign, Madam Speaker, that the campaign for president throughout -- and you would call me and tell me, keep it up -- was about bringing people together, about uniting the country.
We need to unite as one people, one nation, one America. And that was the thing I was most often criticized about, saying, how can you unite the country? We must unite the country.
I said it in my kickoff speech in Philadelphia. I said it again when I spoke at Gettysburg, and I emphasized it in my inaugural address.
[14:35:09]
A lot of people, press to elected officials, were somewhat skeptical that it could be done. It's just beginning but I'm confident we can do this and so much more.
And I believe with every fiber of my being that there are simple, core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans.
One of them is standing together against hate, against racism, the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation.
Today, I can say that because of all of you, many of you sitting right in front of me, you've taken that first step, this important step.
I'd like to thank the Congress and the members who are here today, Democrats and Republicans, who came together to get the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act on my desk, well, on a desk I'm about to sign on.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: But I want to thank the Majority Leader Schumer, and I want to thank Speaker Pelosi for your leadership.
I also want to thank the leader from the state of Kentucky for letting it go forward. It's important. It's important.
Most of all, Mazie, Senator -- I called you Mazie. I apologize, Senator.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: I call Chuck "Chuck" anyway, yes?
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: Senator Hirono, Senator Tammy Duckworth, who helped deliver this 94-1 vote.
When you get involved, Tammy, you don't screw around.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: You just -- 94-1.
State Representative Grace Meng and Judy Chu, who helped deliver a 364-62 vote in the House of Representatives. That's incredible.
I also want to thank, as I said, Republican members in Congress for their leadership, including Senator Moran and Senator Collins.
I also want to thank the -- as I said, and to all of the folks, all the people here today who are involved and those of you, whether you're in the Congress or not, supporting this effort. I say, thank you, thank you, thank you.
We got a lot more to do. But we simply haven't seen this kind of bipartisanship for much too long in Washington. You're showing our -- that our democracy can work and deliver for the American people.
Just days after the mass shooting in Atlanta area, the Vice President Harris and I, we went down to Atlanta to meet with Asian-Americans and the community across Georgia.
It was a raw and emotional visit we had. We heard about their pain, their fear, anger, and all that existed in the community and the feelings were -- about those feelings that they felt invisible, not seen.
We heard how too many Asian-Americans have been waking up each morning this past year, genuinely, genuinely fearing for their safety, just opening the door and walking down the street.
And safety for their loved ones. The moms and dads who, when they let their kids out the door to go to school were worried. Attacked, blamed, scapegoated, harassed during this pandemic.
Living in fear for their lives, as I said, just walking down the street.
Grandparents afraid to leave their homes, even to get vaccinated for fear of being attacked. Small business owners targeted and gunned down. Students worried about two things, COVID-19 and being bullied.
Documented incidents of hate against Asian-Americans have seen a shocking spike, as the vice president has outlined at the front of her comments. Let alone the ones that have never been reported.
Gut-wrenching attacks on some of the most vulnerable people in our nation, the elderly, low wage workers, women, brutally attacked simply by walking outside or waiting for a bus.
Asian-American women suffered twice as many incidents of harassment and violence as Asian-American men.
And the conversation we had in Atlanta is one we're hearing all across the country, that all of this hate hides in plain sight. It hides in plain sight. Too often, it is met with silence, silence by the media, silence by
our politics, and silence by our history.
For centuries, Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, diverse and vibrant communities, have helped build this nation only to be often stepped over, forgotten, or ignored.
[14:40:02]
You know, lived here for generations but still considered by some the other. The other. It's wrong. It's simply, to use the phrase, it's simply un-American.
My message to all of those who are hurting is, we see you. And the Congress has said, we see you. And we are committed to stop the hatred and the bias.
My first week in office, I signed a presidential memorandum directing federal agencies, all of them, to combat the resurgence of xenophobia, not just one, every agency.
Attorney General Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, associate Attorney General Gupta are all here today.
The Department of Justice is strengthening its partnership with the community to prevent these crimes in addition to its other work to take on violent extremism and domestic terrorism.
And with the new law, this new law, the Department of Justice and our entire administration is going to step up.
Right now, this is a critical problem, hate crimes being underreported.
It stems from two challenges. First, there's lack of resources and training for state and local law enforcement to accurately identify and report hate crimes to the FBI.
Secondly, for more people in communities of color, there are language and cultural barriers and how to communicate what's happening to them.
This law is going to make a difference. For example, the Department of Justice will issue clear guidance for state, city, and tribal law enforcement agency on how to establish online reporting of hate crimes.
It will work with the Department of Health and Human Services to raise public awareness of COVID-19 hate crimes that occurred during the pandemic.
It will also be a devoted official at the Department of Justice whose sole job is to expedite the review of hate crime reports.
And thanks to two families here today, the law will help state and local governments ensure hate crime information is more accessible to the public. The family of Heather Heyer, a civil rights activist, whose life was
taken standing up to Nazis marching from the shadows of vengeance in Charlottesville.
And the family of Khalid, a proud son of a family who immigrated from Lebanon in search of new beginnings, who was gunned down in front of their home. Here in America, in the United States of America. By a neighbor fueled by hate.
Khalid and Heather were murdered on the same day one year apart.
Instead of sharing the dreams they had for their children, both families share profound grief. And they've shown incredible courage to turn their pain into purpose.
I hope you'll not be offended but I would ask both families to please stand.
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BIDEN: I want to thank you. I want to thank you for being here. Because I know it's hard.
No matter how celebratory it is, a law is being changed. When you had to show up at something memorializing your family, it's like you got the news 10 seconds ago.
It's the hardest thing to do. I know from experience it takes enormous courage.
But I hope that every day that's passed, the memory of your son and daughter brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye.
Because I promise you, a lot of people understand, have gone through similar things. It's hard.
So, I really mean it when I say, thank you. Thank you for being here. It takes a lot of courage. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Because of you, the amendment named in honor of Khalid and Heather is now law, to make sure that hate crimes are more accurately counted and reported and hopefully leading to a continued focus on ending these crimes.
It will provide resources to create specialized hate crimes units.
It will also help states create hotlines for hate crimes at state and local levels that will be accessible for people with limited English proficiency.
And it provides resources for training for state and local law enforcement to identify, investigate, and report these heinous crimes.
[14:45:03]
But of all the good that the law can do, we have to change our hearts. We have to change the hearts of the American people.
Hate can't -- I mean this from the bottom of my heart -- hate can be given no safe harbor in America. I mean it. No safe harbor. It can't be dismissed like, well, that's just what happens.
My sister, Valerie, and I talk about it all the time. You've got to speak up. Speak up and speak out. It's on all of us. All of us together to make it stop.
My message is, to all of those who think this doesn't matter to them, or this is not a problem, look around. Look in the mirror. Look in the eyes of your children.
Every one of us are lessened -- every one of us are lessened and we're all hurt by this hate.
And it has a way of seeping sort of through the cracks into communities and children who, in fact, wouldn't have crossed their mind.
Words have consequences, as the Senator knows. He preaches it. He understands it.
Consequences. But silence is complicity. Silence is complicity. And we cannot be complicit. We have to speak out. We have to act.
That's what you've done. And I can't thank you enough.
I'm proud today. I'm proud today of the United States. I'm proud today of our political system, the United States Congress. I'm proud today that Democrats and Republicans have stood up together to say something.
Let me close with this. Grief, as we all know, is universal. But so is hope. So is love. Sounds corny, but it really is. It really is. And hope and love can be contagious.
We're the United States of America. We're good and decent people. We're unique among all nations. We are uniquely a product of a document. Not an ethnicity, not a religion, not a geography, of a document.
And think about this. I'm being literal. Uniquely a product of a document that says, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Every time we're silent, every time we let hate flourish, we make a lie of who we are as a nation. I mean it literally.
We cannot let the very foundation of this country continue to be eaten away like it has been in other moments in our history and happening again.
I looked at this law that you all passed as maybe the first break, the first significant break in a moment in our history that has to be turned around. Not Democrat, Republican. Has to be turned around.
As a consequence, we should do what is required by the obligations of this democracy, by our faith in God and our faith in each other.
To do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly, and as fellow human beings and fellow Americans, remember, we're unique in all of history as a nation.
This is the United States of America, for God's sake.
May God bless you all, particularly those who pushed this through, and continue to push it.
Now I'm going to sign this bill. This is a great honor.
(PHONE RINGING)
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: I don't know who's calling but tell them we're busy.
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: I was going to say unless it's my sister, but she's here.
(LAUGHTER)
[14:50:01]
BIDEN: So I would like to invite to the stage Senator Hirono, Senator Duckworth, Congresswoman Grace Meng, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congresswoman Don Beyer, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Senator Moran, but I don't think he could be here today.
Actually, I should be the table down the middle of all you and sign it down there.
But thank you, thank you, thank you.
All right. (INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER) (CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: Thank you. Congratulations to you all.
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: All right. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: Every time my grand pop would say, Joe, keep the faith, my grandmother would say to spread it.
(LAUGHTER)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: You have been watching President Biden sign the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law. He was surrounded by some of the sponsors of the bill as well as Asian-Americans represented in Congress.
And you see a bipartisan group. He's shaking Speaker Pelosi's hand there. But there were Republicans there.
And just optically, no masks, speaking very close, as you can see, hand shaking and hugging happened there today. We have not seen that for a very long time.
Victor, the president talked about why this was so important to him. He got very animated when he talked about how he basically saw this as the first break in some of the hate that has taken root in this country.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Yet, the president said, every time we are silent, every time we let hate flourish, we make a lie of who we are as a nation.
And the president obviously referring to specifically the shocking, as he called it, rise of hate crimes against Asian-Americans.
This bill, we know, will fund data collection on hate crimes against Asian-Americans, provide resources for local law enforcement to identify and respond to potential hate crimes, and then create a hotline, which he mentioned, for reporting of potential hate crimes.
Let's bring in Abby Phillip. She's with us now, senior political correspondent.
Abby, first, as Alisyn mentioned, the optics, we have not seen shoulder to shoulder, a group of Senators in a while.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's jarring to see this room full of people all Maskless. And you have to assume if they are maskless in that room they are vaccinated.
But that's the way it should be according to CDC guidelines. They should feel comfortable being able to do that. But, Victor, on the substance, as you just said, this is the Joe Biden
speech that I think he has been waiting to give for a long time.
Wanting for this moment where he believes there has been a break -- he calls it often the fever breaking in Washington of kind of hyper- partisanship and division.
And in his mind, he believes this is a sign of a way forward. But I think there are a lot of people that might disagree with that, and might say, yes, this is one step forward, but there are still a lot of signs that there's a deep-seeded problem in Washington.
[14:54:57]
This is a fairly uncontroversial bill. And a lot of Republicans still voted against it.
Joe Biden is the type of person that wants to really reach across the aisle and you heard it today. And he wants this moment to be here. And he was trying to usher it inasmuch as he could.
It's important -- whether he's right about that or not, I think it's important that he did it, to have a president say I want us to come together is an important thing.
And now it's up to both sides, frankly, to make that happen on more than just this front.
CAMEROTA: You know, he makes a habit of thanking Republicans when they are involved in some show of bipartisanship.
And he thanked Mitch McConnell and susan Collins, who is one of the co-sponsors, or helped to usher it through.
The 62 Republicans that voted against it, why? What was their rational of voting against hate?
PHILLIP: That's a good question, Alisyn. I wish I understood what was behind some of the opposition I think among many Republicans.
They sort of bristle at the idea that the government should start to collect this data.
And perhaps they don't even believe the phenomenon is as widespread as many say it is.
And perhaps they don't even believe in the concept of making sure that there's a focus on crimes or hate activity against specific groups, specific minority groups.
There could be any number of reasons, but that's a long list. That is a long list. And it tells you a lot about the politics of what is going a in this country.
But to your point, Alisyn, about Biden praising McConnell and Collins, these are individuals he has long relationships with, good relationships with.
It's one reason Republicans, when they are being honest, say they have a hard time digging up the dirt on Joe Biden, getting people to hate him.
Because of his representation in Washington and his represent outside of Washington is about decency fundamentally. And it's about those relationship that he has that predate this particular moment that he often brings up and tries to not ignore them.
It's important to him, despite everything going on, and despite the fact there's still resistance to his agenda to call out those people and say, I see what you did here and I appreciate it.
BLACKWELL: Chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, was in the room. Let's bring her in.
The optics of bipartisanship. We have Republicans and Democrats in the room at this moment when partisanship is so obvious in this debate over creating the 1/6 Commission.
Take us inside the room,.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you saw the moment, President Biden got up to speak, he looked directly at Senator susan Collins, who was right in front much of him, and said progress is possible and shook her head.
Some of the other lawmakers in the room kind of laughed at that, given, of course, the political climate that we're operating in.
And I think when they looked at the larger scope of this there were shout-outs for the lawmakers that introduced this. You saw him invite some of them on stage as he signed it. And giving away the pens.
And talking about an issue that has dominated several months of the beginning of his presidency.
He talked about what happened in Atlanta with the shootings there. Remember, that was the day they were supposed to go to Atlanta for a political rally, something they delayed because that completely changed the trajectory and purpose behind that trip.
I think you saw President Biden speaking there not just about the attacks and the rise we've seen and what the Justice Department efforts are going to look like.
A larger moment of what -- speaking about a larger moment of what could happen in Washington and what it looks like when there are Republicans and Democrats able to work together.
Of course, that's something that is really looming over a lot of conversations the White House is having right now about what his agenda is going to look like going forward.
I want to note, it was notable in the room because we have not had an event like this -- I can't remember how long where you see dozens of lawmakers invited.
And I think there were almost 70 of them seated there, lawmakers and guests on the floor. Nobody was wearing a mask except maybe one or two people.
And that's not something we have seen here at the White House since the beginning of the pandemic with a few exceptions when Trump was still in office.
It was really remarkable, for the first time since Biden took office, to see an event of that size.
And one more thing, given, of course, this has been dominating the news cycle, and we asked at the end if he was confident there is going to be a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. That was a question the president did not answer there at the end.
CAMEROTA: Kaitlan, Abby, thank you both very much for giving us all of the context and reporting of that event.
[14:59:55]
BLACKWELL: All right, breaking news now. It's on the investigation into Rudy Giuliani. We're learning more about what prosecutors took during the raid of Giuliani's home and his office last month.
