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Country Reopening; Gun Violence; New York Mayoral Race; President Obama Blasts Republicans Over Blocking Voting Reform. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 21, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If that COVID test comes back positive yet again, they then have to take dedicated transport to an isolation facility outside of this Olympic Village. And they then lose their chance to compete.

[15:00:07]

They're only allowing two-thirds of capacity here at the dining hall, normally a place for meeting and chatting. Instead, athletes are asked to dine alone, separated by plastic barriers, and to leave as soon as they finish eating after wiping down their seats.

And the athletes gym, where they have to keep their mask on at all times and will be separated by these barriers.

Athletes can only arrive five days before their competition and have to leave within two. Now, condoms will still be passed out, per tradition, but they're only given as athletes are leaving the village.

It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to build all this. After the Games, they will be turned into residential apartments. But before that, this is going to house athletes for an Olympics like no other.

Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Top of a brand-new hour. I'm Victor Blackwell.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Former President Obama is slamming Senate Republicans ahead of their expected move tomorrow to reject even discussing a sweeping voting reform bill. The For the People Act would strengthen the use of mail- in ballots and expand voter access nationwide. But it appears there's not enough Republican support to even allow debate on the proposed law.

BLACKWELL: Now, the former president spoke short time ago at a town hall. It was a teleconference. Listen. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the aftermath of an insurrection, with our democracy on the line, and many of these same Republican senators going along with the notion that somehow there were irregularities and problems with legitimacy in our most recent election, they're suddenly afraid to even talk about these issues and figure out solutions on the floor of the Senate.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: There's a new Monmouth University poll that shows an overwhelming majority there of Americans are in favor of both photo I.D. laws and rules that make early in-person voting easier.

There's an even split, we see, on whether to make mail-in voting easier.

CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju joins us now from Capitol Hill.

Manu, there's no expectation this passes tomorrow. So what is the expectation of what we will see?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We expect this to be blocked tomorrow. Republicans are strongly opposed to this measure.

They argue, in their view, it's a federal takeover of elections. And we don't expect any Republicans to break ranks. They would need 60 votes to break a Republican-led filibuster. There are 50 Democrats in the 50/50 Senate. So that 10 votes will not happen.

This is all really an exercise among Democrats to try to unite their own caucus. Right now, 49 Democrats support this, not 50. The one, Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat, does not support his party's signature effort here.

But he does propose some alternatives, including those measures that do have significant support among the American public, according to that one Monmouth poll, everything from having voter I.D. to making it easier to vote earlier, as well as making the federal Election Day a federal holiday.

So, that is a question for the party. Where do they go from here? The expectation, though, is, when this bill does fail tomorrow, it is probably doomed for this Congress, which means they will have to take this to the voters and convince the voters they were right, the Democrats will, and Republicans will make the same argument.

And then the outcome will be determined by the 2022 midterms -- guys.

CAMEROTA: Manu, I know that you just got an interview with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. So what did he tell you about any of this and/or infrastructure?

RAJU: Yes, it was all about the agenda, which faces a key moment here on Capitol Hill.

Democratic liberals are pushing to pull the plug on some of these bipartisan talks on infrastructure, saying the party should go in alone, be prepared to go big. But Democratic moderates, like Joe Manchin, are saying let's give these bipartisan talks some time. Schumer is trying to thread the needle, saying, let's do both. Let's go move forward with the big package, as well as try to go forward with these bipartisan talks and see where they go.

And I asked him about the frustration that he is hearing from some members on his left.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: These talks have gone on for some time about an infrastructure bill.

Some of the liberals in your caucus that I have talked to are concerned that you have let this go on too long. What do you say to them who say it's time just to pass the big bill and pull the plug here?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The bottom line is, I think we all know, in our caucus, we need big, bold change with the problems facing America. And we also know another thing. Our unity is our strength.

With 50 votes, we all have to be on board to produce that kind of change. We're working the two tracks. I think they're both working very well. I'm very hopeful that we can get a lot done.

RAJU: Have you gotten a commitment from Senators Manchin and Sinema that they would back a party-line vote via reconciliation?

SCHUMER: I'm not going to get into my individual talks with members. We all know we have got to come together or nothing gets done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, that last part very critical here, because a lot of these liberal Democrats say that, if they want to go along with this $1.2 trillion bipartisan plan, which is far short as what some people are talking about, as $6 trillion in a Democratic-only approach, they want to get some commitments from the moderate Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, saying you agree to the Democratic-only approach, we will agree to a bipartisan approach, let's get it all through.

[15:05:20]

But Manchin and Sinema have not done that, at least publicly. And Schumer there would not say what they are telling him privately, but he is trying to implore his colleagues, let's get on the same page. The only way we can get this done is if we all join hands and do this.

But, right now, his party's not there yet, as we head into a critical series of weeks where they got to cut a deal, they're going to sell it to their caucus, and they got to get the votes. Big question if they're able to do all that -- guys.

CAMEROTA: OK, Manu Raju, thanks for laying all that out for us.

So, in the fight for voters' rights, one battle is playing out today in a Georgia courtroom. This is a hearing about whether a lawsuit calling for another inspection of ballots in the swing state will stand.

You will recall that President Biden won Georgia by just 12,000 votes. Those ballots have been counted and recounted.

BLACKWELL: And counted again, actually. And, still, some are pushing for another review. They claim counterfeit ballots were counted in the 2020 election.

They're asking to use microscopes to examine close to 150,000 absentee ballots.

CNN political correspondent Sara Murray is with us now.

So, what happened in the hearing?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, for many hours, the judge listened to various arguments from Fulton County government entities, trying to get at least part of this lawsuit thrown out, dismissed.

Ultimately, after hours of hearings, the judge decided he wanted to ruminate on this a little more. He did not make a ruling on how he's going to move forward. So, look, there's a possibility that some or all of this case could still be tossed out.

But when I was talking to the various parties on both sides afterwards, they both said that they still think that some sort of ballot review is likely to move forward. Again, this is a limited number of ballots. It's less than 150,000 absentee ballots.

And we should note that it's not going to be the same kind of free- for-all that we have seen in the so-called Arizona audit. If this ballot inspection does move forward, the judge has made it clear that he wants the parties to submit protocols for how they're going to do this to him ahead of time. He may even require them to submit their findings to him before they're allowed to talk about it publicly.

All of this stems from the belief of some parties that there was still some kind of fraud in the 2020 election, even though, as you said, there have been pounds, there have been recounts, there have been audits by bipartisan government entities that have determined that there is no widespread fraud.

And yet the skepticism is still out here. We should also note, no matter what happens, even if some kind of ballot inspection does move forward, it's not going to change the results of the election here in Georgia. Joe Biden will still be the winner.

BLACKWELL: Sara Murray, thank you. So, here in New York, it is the final 24 hours of the Democratic

primary for mayor.

CAMEROTA: One of the top issues in the campaign is the increase in violent crime.

And CNN's Athena Jones joins us now.

So, Athena, think this has been a frothy race in New York. And is crime the main overarching issue for voters?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, it is, crime and public crime and public safety.

As the concerns about COVID in the pandemic have receded here, a lot of New Yorkers are vaccinated, a lot of the city has opened up because of the state reached that 70 percent of adults being vaccinated rate, that's why the focus has shifted very much to crime on the subways, on the streets, crime as it relates to hate crimes against Asian Americans or Jewish people, which we have seen rising here in the city, but also just random crime is a real concern.

And that's one of the reasons many observers believe that Eric Adams, who is a former NYPD police captain or former state senator, appears in the scant public polling we have seen to be leading the pack. But, of course, I say that scant public polling.

The reason for that is that it's a big field. We're talking about 13 candidates. There's I guess you could call it a top tier of eight and even higher within that tier of four. Eric Adams appears out in front, but also Andrew Yang, the businessman and former presidential candidate, Kathryn Garcia, who is the former sanitation commissioner, and Maya Wiley, who was a civil rights lawyer who was former counsel to the current mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Those are the four candidates that appear to be in the lead, but it's really difficult to pull because we're dealing with ranked choice voting for the first time. That is hard to do, because it means that each voter has a chance to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. It's a system that allows for an instant runoff.

So the lowest vote-getter is eliminated, and their -- voters second choice that is reallocated, so it can go through a series of rounds. We are not going to know on Tuesday night, tomorrow night who is the ultimate winner because of this new pretty exciting, though, ranked choice voting system.

The idea is you have an instant runoff. You avoid the sort of runoffs later in the year. They're expensive. And it allows each individual voter to have more of a say, depending on how many candidates they rank.

[15:10:05]

BLACKWELL: And it has some candidates asking to be second choice.

JONES: Oh, absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

JONES: It's really interesting to see candidates actually highlighting the fact that someone didn't choose them first, but did choose them second, because in a race where you have 13 people and no one is expected to come out with 50 percent plus one on Tuesday night, if you're someone's second choice, or third choice, or maybe even fourth choice, it could make a difference.

I think it's pretty exciting.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you just want to make that run-off.

JONES: Yes.

BLACKWELL: All right, Athena Jones, thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: All right, ahead: Baton Rouge is one of 10 cities dealing with the aftermath of a mass shooting over the weekend, a 10-year-old and 15-year-old among those shot in Louisiana's capital city. The police chief is going to join us live as they search for suspects.

Plus, I will speak to a senior adviser to President Biden, as his domestic agenda faces some congressional roadblocks, how the president plans to get results on infrastructure in this divided Senate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:40]

CAMEROTA: For the second weekend in a row, cities across the country reported 10 mass shootings. Seven people were killed, 45 people injured.

Among the victims this weekend, at least two children, a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old in Dallas. We had said Baton Rouge before, but, no, it's Dallas. It's only June, of course. And according to GunViolenceArchive.com, this country has logged nearly 300 mass shootings so far in 2021, which they define as four people or more shot.

And police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, are looking for the suspects involved in a mass shooting in a parking lot that left at least two dead and four injured early Saturday morning.

With us now is the police chief of Baton Rouge, Chief Murphy Paul.

Chief, thanks so much for joining us. I really appreciate it.

I know that you're having a hard time in your city. I have heard you say enough is enough. But, of course, you're no stranger to violent crime. I mean, you're a police chief. What's been the tipping point for you? Why is it worse now?

MURPHY PAUL, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, POLICE CHIEF: Well one of the things that we're seeing, if you look at pre-COVID, we actually saw consistent reductions in crime two years in a row.

We have seen the data change. We have seen people's state of mind change ever since to COVID pandemic has presented so many challenges, from the economic hardship, the stress, the anxiety. And I could tell you, mental health is real right now.

And as we look at the data today, it's different, more relationship between victims and suspects, more daytime shootings, more shooting of females, increases in overdoses as well.

So, even though we saw decreases in other areas of crime, the areas that have been very concerning are homicide and shooting incidents and domestic violence incidents.

CAMEROTA: And so, Chief, just help me understand that. Are you saying that, because of the pandemic, because of the just nationwide stress and trauma, that that's why you think that there's been this uptick? I mean, is that the reason behind it?

PAUL: Well, I think the data are right now, it's too early. Obviously, that data requires a lot more exploration.

We're coming fresh off of 2020. What I'm saying is the data and the trends in some of the information that we're seeing is different. Some of the things that we were doing before, our hot spot deployment, focusing on micro areas where we see crime, focused deterrence efforts, all of those things were working two years in a row.

So now we have to look at this new data. It's challenging. And one of the areas of focus that we have really been focusing on with our focused deterrence efforts is that community piece, right, that community engagement piece, and really getting our communities to help us.

Here's one thing that we do know. We do know that, when we look at some of these homicides, some of the shooting incidents, as we investigate it and when we later make arrests, that we learn that someone in that person's inner circle, right, someone, a loved one, a family member, a friend, he or she had communicated his or her intentions prior to that act occurring.

Now, we do understand that everyone isn't comfortable with picking up the phone calling on law enforcement. So what we're saying here is, right, we have violence interventionists that we have trained here in Baton Rouge to help us de-escalate situations.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PAUL: And we're asking families to get involved and call someone when you know that someone has made a threat or someone has communicated his or her intent to hurt someone else.

CAMEROTA: According to local media, you have had a 43 percent uptick in homicides this year. Is that true?

And I know that one of them involved, I believe, a toddler who was shot by a stray bullet.

PAUL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Has the gunman in that case been arrested?

PAUL: Yes, ma'am. We have made arrests in that particular incident.

It was actually at a pool at an apartment complex. And the community stepped up. When we look at the information we received, the outpouring we received from the community, we were getting help. And it was the community who helped us make arrests in this particular incident.

[15:20:06]

But just like this shooting incident and others, one thing we have learned, those persons who are involved in a shooting incident, it was not their first time coming in contact with law enforcement.

In fact, they are -- have been arrested before, were out on -- one person was out on multiple bonds from prior incidents. So that is another area that we're seeing we have to do a better job. We always have to remember, less than 6 percent of the population is responsible for the violent crime that you're seeing in all cities across America.

CAMEROTA: I'm interested in that 6 percent solution, that you think that there are these individuals who perpetrate more than their share of violent crime.

PAUL: Yes. Yes. Yes.

CAMEROTA: And if you can identify them and arrest them, it would help to bring it down.

But, beyond that, I mean, since, obviously, at the moment, you're still struggling with it, what is the solution here?

PAUL: The solution is to continue with those strategies, the ones I talked about,the hot deployment, the focused deterrence.

One of the things that we have been doing in Baton Rouge is, we have been focusing on place network investigations, right, those areas where we see a persistent crime occurring in our communities, and focusing on those hidden networks.

Look, the group of individuals that we have that are our best partners in identifying who those bad actors in our community are is the community. That's why, when you focus on the community, when you focus on breaking down those barriers in community-police relationships, look, those are the individuals who pick up the phone who call us.

Those are the individuals who say, look, we want to help you, just like they did in helping us identify those individuals who were responsible for killing a baby in the city. So it's really working with the community. We're not always the smartest ones in the room, right? Sometimes, when we sit at the table with our community, they help us.

And that's what we have been doing here. We have a real holistic approach that's being led on under our mayor. Crime is a socioeconomic issue. I do understand that law enforcement is often looked to.

But, look, until we start investing in education, until we start investing in communities, disinvested communities, where we're seeing high costs for services -- right now, we have to deal with the causes of crime and not just arresting our way out of this problem.

CAMEROTA: Chief Murphy Paul, we appreciate talking to you. Thanks for sharing all that with us.

PAUL: No, thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Up next: The White House says President Biden will invite lawmakers to the White House this week to try to break the logjam on infrastructure.

And, of course, you know voting rights and police reform are also at the top of the president's agenda. I will speak to one of his senior advisers, Cedric Richmond, about how they plan to get it done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:35]

CAMEROTA: Cities are slowly trying to return to normal.

New York's Madison Square Garden hosted the first full-capacity concert since the start of the pandemic for vaccinated only fans Sunday night, Foo Fighters, we should mention.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: It was packed.

BLACKWELL: Well, there was also this added treat, surprise there. Comedian Dave Chappelle joined Foo Fighters on stage to sing Radiohead's hit "Creep."

CAMEROTA: Somebody, turned that up to 11.

BLACKWELL: I mean, I got it.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: I mean, it's a great song, but it was loud.

BLACKWELL: Chappelle also headlined, we should say, his own show at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday to mark that venue's return to live shows.

CAMEROTA: OK, listen to how cruises are trying to get back to normal.

A Royal Caribbean Cruise ship set sail for a simulated voyage with vaccinated employee volunteers. So about 600 employees are on the ship. But they're not really sailing. And they're just testing COVID- 19 safety measures before they start welcoming in passengers. Isn't just called a restaurant?

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: I mean, isn't a simulated cruise just a restaurant? Sounds great either way.

All right, Dr. Leana Wen, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELILAH HERRERA, SENIOR EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT: I needed to get out. I'm vaccinated. I haven't -- I have been very healthy. I'm very healthy, thank God. And I just need to get out and see my friends and see my work family.

LISA CHEN, ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm feeling very excited overall, I mean, a little just apprehensive, not because of the cruise, just because I haven't packed for a trip in a long time.

So I kind of forgot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: We can relate.

Now let's bring in Dr. Leana Wen. She's our CNN medical analyst and a former Baltimore health commissioner,.

Doctor, great to see you.

So, I mean, it's this split-screen of these things that feel normal, these big, packed concerts, these comedy shows, and yet we keep hearing from experts like you that the Delta variant is still out there. It's still such a cause of concern, particularly in the states that do not have high vaccination rates.

So, where are we?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think there's a way to reconcile both of the split-screens, because the key here is vaccination.

The fact that these big events and cruises are able to come back, it's because of vaccination. I'm really glad that the Foo Fighters are having their concert and Dave Chappelle is showing up.

[15:30:00]