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Temporary Interruptions Ongoing After Atlanta's Water Main Breaks; Police: One Dead, 24 Injured After Mass Shooting In Akron, Ohio; Trump Joins TikTok After Previously Trying To Ban The App. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired June 03, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news this morning. Just announced, summer school and summer programs in Atlanta, Georgia are closed today all because of a water crisis that began on Friday.
Multiple water pipes bursting, starting Friday morning, leaving thousands of people without water and under boil water advisories all weekend. City officials say progress is being made but repairs -- with repairs, but the crisis clearly not yet over. And the city is facing criticism now for how it's handling all of this.
CNN's Rafael Romo is in Atlanta for us. What's the very latest?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning.
We're at the site of one of two major water main breaks that wreaked havoc here in Atlanta throughout the weekend, and we still have vast portions of the city without drinking water for the fourth straight day.
Residents tell us that this break here at Eleventh Street and West Peachtree in the Midtown neighborhood started Friday and it was finally shut off less than an hour ago.
It's hard to put into words, Kate, the impact that those two major water main breaks and several smaller ones had on one of America's largest cities. Thousands of people have been without water for four days now.
Some of the top tourist attractions in the south, including World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium, were forced to shut down. Two major concerts by a rap artist had to be cancelled, and at least one hospital was forced to transfer dialysis patients to a different location and bring in tens of thousands of gallons of water by tanker truck to be ablet to operate.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens apologized for the water crisis over the weekend, saying that city crews are doing everything possible to bring it to an end. He also said the city is getting help from the state of Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANDRE DICKENS, (D) ATLANTA: We have declared a state of emergency in the city of Atlanta to allow us to assess -- to access resources in an expedited fashion. We've been working with the Georgia Department of Emergency Management, and we appreciate the support from the state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And, Kate, we've also heard from Emory University Hospital Midtown, which announced it has moved back to normal operations because water pressure returned to the hospital after several water main breaks in the area were repaired. The hospital also said ambulances have resumed normal services, although they will continue to provide bottled water to patients, visitors, and staff because there is still a boil advisory in the city.
And finally, what you were mentioning at the beginning, the Atlanta Public Schools announced that summer school and summer programs will not be held today due to the water emergency.
Kate, back to you.
BOLDUAN: Clearly, a lot of work still to do as this crippled big parts of Atlanta.
Thank you, Rafael -- John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Very shortly, jury selection begins in the federal trial of Hunter Biden, making it the first time ever that a child of a sitting president has gone on trial. He is charged with lying on a federal firearms form and illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while using drugs.
With us now, Joey Jackson, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney.
Joey, this seems like a fairly clear case. As jury selection is about to begin, what is Hunter Biden's possible defense?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So, a couple of things.
First of all, it's a surprise we're here. Why? We know, John, last year there was that plea deal. And in instances like this where you have a gun, right, with respect to a purchase like this, there's a diversion program, right?
What does a diversion program mean? It means that you stay out of trouble for a couple of years -- nothing to see here -- and then it's done, particularly when the gun has not been involved in any other offense, right? Because what prosecutors try to do in their discretion is be equitable. But we know we are in bizarro times.
In terms of your question, I think there's a couple of ways to go. The first thing is with respect to moving forward to the actual forms.
Are they authentic? Did he fill out the forms himself? Did he have any other assistance in so doing?
With respect to his addiction, as part of that addiction, did he know he was addicted? We know certainly that the judge blocked an expert witness who was going to testify in that regard. However, right, your knowledge with respect to what you're doing and if you're doing it intentionally is very important.
Last point. I think there's a jury nullification argument to be made. What does jury nullification mean? It means that jurors are just not convinced that this is a case that should be brought under such sympathetic circumstances.
Like what? Like you have a gun that you possess for 11 days. Like the gun was thrown out in a dumpster. Like the fact of the matter is he's going through so much in terms of his addiction. Like the fact that he lost his son Beau in 2015. Like the fact that he lost his mother and daughter.
So many things that mitigate and make it sympathetic, so will a jury nullify? That's an open question.
BERMAN: President Biden lost his son and daughter --
JACKSON: Yes.
BERMAN: -- and first wife.
JACKSON: Yes.
BERMAN: Hunter Biden lost, this case, his mother --
JACKSON: His mother.
BERMAN: -- and brother and sister.
JACKSON: Exactly -- and his sister -- yes.
BERMAN: And it is worth noting it's Hunter Biden who is on trial here. There's no connection whatsoever.
JACKSON: One hundred percent. One hundred percent.
BERMAN: Now, you mentioned possible defenses. The judge actually dealt a serious blow to sort of two of the defenses that you just suggested. An expert will not be allowed to testify that Hunter Biden wasn't addicted perhaps or about his status as he was using drugs during those times. And evidence of the forms that were filled out after the fact because people in the store altered the forms years later.
[07:35:08]
JACKSON: Yes. BERMAN: That will not be allowed to be admitted either.
JACKSON: Yeah.
BERMAN: So that seems to be a serious problem for the defense.
JACKSON: So it is a blow, right, but anything -- any blow you attempt to overcome. Let's speak about that.
I think it certainly would be relevant to have an expert witness speak to the issues of what does addiction mean? What is an addictive person processing? What do they have knowledge of? What are they undergoing such that they can form the required mental state intended to do what's required? The judge said no.
And so, I think what you're going to do in jury selection is certainly be sensitive to whether you have jurors there who could be empathetic and sympathetic to that particular situation.
With regard to the form, John, no. The new -- the form that prosecutors wanted out is now out. The defense wanted it in. However, you could still question the authenticity of the form -- the veracity of the form. The assistance, if any, that he had with respect to filling out the form. That still is all fair game. The actual form itself is what the judge is saying is impermissible.
BERMAN: What's the likelihood of a plea deal even at this late hour? Would you want to roll the dice as Hunter Biden's defense attorney?
JACKSON: I would not. I mean, it's a pretty clearcut case, right? Prosecutors establishing the three different charges that we know. Lying to a federal -- you know, lying in terms of a federal license dealer. Lying with regard to the form you're filling out. Possessing the gun illegally, right -- the illegal purchase. It's pretty straight and clear.
So if prosecutors present the case and jurors believe it's an authentic form, they believe that Biden -- Hunter Biden, the son of the president, was the one who filled out the form, it's an easy case.
Again, the only open question is whether jurors believe from an equitable perspective should this be here? Plea deal unlikely. I think you should still shoot for it up until the last hour. You play through the whistles.
BERMAN: You think the prosecution says no to a plea deal?
JACKSON: I think they probably would. There's a lot of bad blood, John. I mean, this thing should have been done. Remember, it was tied into the tax charges -- the tax charges he's going on trial within California in September. It was all wrapped up. A misdemeanor to them. Taxes are paid. Diversion is to this. We all go away.
The judge blew up the deal June 20 of last year, so that brings us here. It doesn't mean they were speaking but it means certainly, they haven't come to a resolution that was acceptable.
BERMAN: The witness list is brutal for Hunter Biden. It includes his ex-wife. It includes the wife of the late Beau Biden with whom Hunter had a relationship after --
JACKSON: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- Beau's death. It includes, I believe, another woman that has an issue with Hunter Biden here.
I mean, that's tough stuff for Hunter here. Why would he want to go through that?
JACKSON: I don't think he would. And I think everything here that's going to be presented is very damaging, John.
You mention the witness list that's tough. I think we're going to hear some very tough text messages with regard to what he was saying about his addiction. About what he was saying to his then-relationship -- his brother's ex-wife.
BERMAN: Beau Biden's wife.
JACKSON: Exactly, with regard to what she did, and how could you do this, and what's going on? Very damning.
And then there's the laptop, of course, that had a lot of information. So a lot of bad things that are going to come out.
But if prosecutors want to move forward and there is no plea deal, what do you do as a defense? You move forward, you challenge the evidence, and you hope for the best result.
BERMAN: Joey Jackson, great to see you this morning. Thank you.
JACKSON: Thank you, John.
BERMAN: Kate.
BOLDUAN: Police in Ohio are asking the public for help this morning after a shooting this weekend in Akron that left one person dead and 24 other people injured.
CNN's Polo Sandoval has much more on this and he's joining us now. Polo, what are you learning about this?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we're hearing from officials there on the ground, including Akron's mayor who is calling the number of victims in this not just shocking but deeply concerning. Twenty-five people injured, one of them fatally, after this massive birthday party turned into a drive-by shooting, Kate.
Here is what police have been able to piece together based on the evidence. They say that some 200 people were gathering in a neighborhood southeast of downtown Akron celebrating a birthday when, at one point, a driver pulls up -- some -- at least one gunman aboard -- opens fire spraying the crowd with bullets.
When you see some pictures from the scene it really is just quite disturbing when you see all the evidence markers that are littering the street there. About a block's worth of evidence that police have had to go through over the weekend.
Now, evidence is suggesting, thus far, that somebody in the crowd may have been able to return fire. But here's the thing, Kate. No suspect, no motive, no vehicle description.
So I want you to hear directly from police chief Brian Harding as he said over the weekend that he's pleading with the public for any information, saying no detail is too small.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BRIAN HARDING, AKRON, OHIO POLICE: I want to be clear. We believe there are people in the community this evening who saw something or know something, and we are asking them to come forward. We believe there were dozens of people at the party at the time of the shooting and potentially, over 100 people who may have witnessed the incident. Every single person who may have seen something has an obligation to speak up in order to bring those responsible to justice. Even a small detail can help us crack this case and locate the suspect or suspects involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[07:40:00]
SANDOVAL: Chief Harding also sharing that there is a reward being shared for anybody that may be able to provide any information that could lead to arrests in this case, Kate.
And remember, this is really just the latest instance of what was supposed to be a joyous event being interrupted by bullets, Kate. We have followed other stories in the past -- just this year alone -- where shooting have interrupted family gatherings, religious celebrations, and then, of course, as you see here, a party as well.
The gun violence archives that tracks these sort of incidents now reporting at least 192 mass shootings this year alone. And that number, sadly, continues to rise, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Polo Sandoval. Thank you so much, Polo -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Simon Biles broke her own record. She won her ninth U.S. All-Around gymnastics title. Biles actually won gold I think in all four events she participated in.
CNN's Carolyn Manno is with us now. That's pretty good, right?
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It's very good. She's the GOAT. She's the greatest of all time and she just continues to prove it, John. I mean, this is more than a decade now after her first win at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships. That's incredible -- and she dominated. She won the All-Around title a recording-extending ninth time, four Olympic gold medals, and now turning in the top cumulative scores in the four events -- balance beam, floor, vault, and uneven bars -- as she points towards Paris. She finished almost six points ahead of silver medalist Skye Blakely.
And a lot of people have been watching her after she returned to competitive gymnastics last year. Her experience with the twisties at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 shining a bigger spotlight on athletes prioritizing their mental health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMONE BILES, MOST DECORATED GYMNAST IN HISTORY: Today, it's just getting out here and getting comfortable and confident in my gymnastics and hopefully, going to Olympic trials and making that next step towards Paris. So I couldn't be more proud of how I'm doing this time in the year and just gaining that confidence over and over and getting myself back in front of a crowd and just doing what I do in practice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: The U.S. Women's Olympics Gymnastics Team is going to be chosen later this month at the trials in Minneapolis. And she's looking to become the first American woman since Dominique Dawes, John, back in 2000, to make three Olympic teams in her career. She is well on her way to doing so. And now, the intensity is really ramping up.
BERMAN: It's just amazing to see her back out here doing this again and again and again. High hopes, I have to say, for Paris.
Carolyn, I also understand there was some drama surrounding a really well-known caddy this weekend.
MANNO: This is very fun, OK? So a good caddy does a lot more than carry the bag and just walk around -- we know that. They're an extra set of eyes and ears for the players. Sometimes they're a lot more than that.
And this is Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, who won his first PGA tour title after 45 starts on Sunday at the Canadian Open. He's 27 years old. He shot a two under par 68, finishing just one stroke over the runner-up. But after tapping in the winning putt, he hugged his fill- in caddy, Dougie, who also happened to be his dad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT MACINTYRE, WON CANADIAN OPEN: In my head, I wasn't listening to him. I was like I want to win this for my dad. Like, this has been -- this is the guy that's taught me the game of golf and I just can't believe I've done this with him on the bag.
DOUGIE MACINTYRE, FATHER OF ROBERT MACINTYRE: Unbelievable.
REPORTER: Yeah.
D. MACINTYRE: I'm like --
R. MACINTYRE: You're a caddy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANNO: That's just so sweet. Speaking of caddies, really quick, John, C.T. Pan's caddy, Mike "Fluff" Cowan, slipping and falling on the third hole and had to step aside with a non-serious injury. So enter Paul Emerson, a self-described golf nut who just happened to be watching in the gallery. He ended up stepping in to carry Pan's bag for two holes before he was eventually replaced by a professional club caddy. That caddy ended up being replaced on the back nine, marking his fourth caddy of the day.
So all kinds of caddy news, but I really love it. And MacIntyre so emotional with his father. His dad taught him how to play the game of golf and to get that win together was just incredible.
BERMAN: Great to see.
All right, Carolyn Manno. Thank you so much -- appreciate it.
So if you cannot beat TikTok, join it. Donald Trump becomes the newest member of the social media app years after suggesting he might ban it over its ties to China.
And if you think your family is messed up, meet the Targaryens. We are on the precipice of the most anticipated television premiere of the season -- "HOUSE OF THE DRAGON." One of the stars will be here and maybe even a dragon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLIP FROM HBO "HOUSE OF THE DRAGON."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:48:56]
BERMAN: All right. This morning, a big move that could impact what you pay for gas. Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries have agreed to keep oil production cuts through the election and into next year.
CNN's Matt Egan is here with us this morning. That's going on here, Matt?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, OPEC+ -- they're not interested in doing any favors for American consumers or, frankly, for this administration. Now, this producer group, of course, is an extremely influential thread (PH) by Russia and Saudi Arabia, and it accounts for almost half the world's supply. Now, over the last two years, they've been holding back supply. It's like drill, baby, drill in reverse, right? They want to prop up prices.
Look at this. Six millon barrels per day, approximately. That's how much they've been holding back supply. Those are deep cuts and it amounts to six percent of global demand.
Now, if they did nothing at this week's meeting, a lot of these supply cuts would have actually unwound, meaning more production would have hit the market. They don't want that to happen because that would have lowered prices. So, OPEC+ agreed to extend most of these supply cuts until the end of next year. They're going to gradually add some supply back but only very slowly and only if conditions warrant it, and they're not going to do that until October.
[07:50:08]
So, in a nutshell, help is not on the way from OPEC+, at least not anytime soon.
This decision, though, not really shocking to markets, right? Analysts knew this was coming and that's why oil prices -- yes, they're up but they're only up slightly. Investors know that they don't want -- OPEC does not want prices to go down, right? They need to balance their budgets.
And Saudi Aramco, the big crown jewel of Saudi Arabia -- they're selling off a big chunk of that, so they don't want prices to go up.
BERMAN: Is this in response, a little bit, to the fact that you U.S. production is so high. And then it begs the question what will the impact be on actual prices at the pump?
EGAN: Yeah, John -- I mean, absolutely. The U.S. is producing more oil than any country ever has before. That's why we've actually seen gas prices come down recently. Three-fifty-three is the national average. Now, that's not cheap but that is a two-month low, and it is down by 14 cents over just the past month.
And if you look at the map, you can see across the country we've actually seen some states have even bigger drops. Twenty-five cents or more in Tennessee, Arizona, and Oregon. More than 30 cents -- this is over the last month -- for Nevada, California, and Utah.
Now, veteran analyst Andy Lipow -- he told me that he thinks the national average is going to keep going down but another five to 10 cents over the next few weeks.
Of course, if OPEC+ had cut supply -- had actually ramped up supply, then we would see prices go down even more.
Listen, John, we've got pay very close attention to what happens next because there's some big political implications, right?
BERMAN: Yeah. EGAN: I mean, $3.00 and $4.00 gas -- the difference there could swing some voters in some key battleground states.
BERMAN: Watch what happens over the summer. Watch hurricane season. All these things could have an impact.
Matt Egan, great to see you this morning.
EGAN: Thank you, John.
BERMAN: Kate.
BOLDUAN: So a quick turnaround for Donald Trump. Over the weekend, he joined TikTok. He previously had tried to ban the app, you'll remember, when he was president. And here's the thing. His account is just a single post but has already gained more than three million followers and 60 million views. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is now on TikTok.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, TIKTOK: It's my honor.
(Video from Ultimate Fighting Championship match in New Jersey)
TRUMP: That was a good walk-on, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: A good walk, on, right?
CNN's Clare Duffy is here for more on this. President Biden's campaign has also been on TikTok after -- we know President Biden has actually signed a bill into law to potentially ban TikTok.
How important is the app for both men in this moment?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: The app is huge. This is a platform with 170 million American users and especially, young voters -- really engaged young users.
You'll remember that back when there was conversation about passing this bill to ban the app, young voters flooded the phone lines of their representatives on Capitol Hill. These are not users who are just passively consuming content. And both Biden and Trump want to reach those young voters.
And the timing is really interesting here, too. Trump's account appears just two days after his conviction and one day after the Biden-Harris account on TikTok is posting attacks on him over that conviction. It seems like Trump is going to want to be able to respond directly to those attacks.
And he clearly already has support on the platform. I mean, 3.5 million followers after just one post. That's compared to the Biden- Harris account which has just 343,000 followers on the platform. So really significant for both of them.
And the timing is interesting here, too, because Trump -- it was under Trump's administration that these conversations first began --
BOLDUAN: That's right.
DUFFY: -- about national security concerns surrounding TikTok. He tried and failed to ban the platform. But as the -- as Congress and the Biden White House moved closer in the past couple of months and eventually did vote -- pass a bill and Biden signed it into law that could ban this app, Trump has had an about-face. He says he no longer thinks TikTok should be banned. It could alienate young users, young voters, and it could benefit Facebook parent company, Meta.
But clearly, I think this is also -- at least, in part -- a political move by Trump. He wants to curry favor with these young voters who love this platform.
BOLDUAN: I'll go even further. It's 100 percent a political move for Donald Trump to join the platform.
It's great to see you, Clare. Thank you --
DUFFY: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: -- so much.
And joining us right now for more is veteran Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, and Bryan Lanza, who was deputy communications director for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
There is this news about TikTok, but I also want to start with this addition -- this morning's addition of who will accept the election results and who will not -- and who is willing to say that publicly and who is not.
Here is Kevin McCarthy, no longer in office, and Tom Cotton, still in office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jut to button it up, should Trump accept the results?
KEVIN MCCARTHY, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think every American should accept the results.
RAJU: He would be an American.
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): I don't think Congress has the constitutional authority to reject electors that have been certified by a state. I will accept the results of the election and certify them if it's a fair and a free election.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Bryan, McCarthy versus Cotton on this one. I'm creating the -- I'm creating this face-off as you can tell. Cotton with caveats; McCarthy not so much.
Is this war games? Is this a sign of a litmus test for anyone who might want to be Donald Trump's running mate, or is this something else this time around?
[07:55:06]
BRYAN LANZA, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: No. Listen, I think this is something else. I think this is Republicans -- first of all, thank you for having me. I think this is Republicans sort of getting in on the Democratic game of rejecting elections. You have Democrats rejecting the election in 2000, and 2004, and 2008, and 2012 and 2016. And so, Republicans are just jumping on the bandwagon because it's been an effective message.
BOLDUAN: (Laughing).
LANZA: So I'm not surprised to hear it, but we're just joining -- I guess we're just joining the general -- the general population of Democrats in denying election results these days.
BOLDUAN: Bryan, you make me giggle.
Simon, Republicans -- Bryan is a perfect example of what I have heard from Republicans and we have heard many times that Republicans -- I'm going to call it trying to muddy the waters on this topic by pointing out instances in the past that individual Democratic members have questioned some election results.
Does that land as a political argument?
SIMON ROSENBERG, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND CONSULTANT (via Webex by Cisco): I mean, lying might be a different way to describe what you just heard.
And no -- listen, I think it's absurd. And we know what happened in 2020. Donald Trump didn't just -- Republicans didn't just reject the election results in 2020, they've been rejecting it through the entire election today. I mean, we're still having this debate.
But listen, I think my view, Kate, is that I think the problem for Trump isn't going to be about this. It's not even going to really necessarily be the fact that we now know he's a serial criminal, but that his agenda that we're going to be debating in the next few months -- I think it's going to be very difficult for him to bring to the American people.
His economic agenda is going to spike inflation and slow growth. He wants to strip the rights and freedoms away of more than half the population in the United States. He wants to undo the Western alliance that's kept us safe. These are the things I think that we're going to be debating in the coming months, and I don't think it's going to go well for Donald Trump. BOLDUAN: Let's talk about -- let's jump ahead then and talk about agenda. I was going to go somewhere else but we'll circle back, potentially -- maybe -- maybe not.
ROSENBERG: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: Simon, President Biden is rolling out -- as we have our reporters talking --
ROSENBERG: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- about this executive action this week, according to sources, to tighten border security -- to tighten border security at the border. The reality is that any action taken by an individual president through executive action, it is limited.
ROSENBERG: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: We know this, and he knows that.
ROSENBERG: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: So what does this then do?
ROSENBERG: Well, I think it's important as a piece of -- given that we had a bipartisan deal to address border security that Donald Trump and the Republicans then blocked, the president is doing what he can with his limited powers. The right way to have done this would have been to pass this bipartisan bill that we saw come out of the Senate a few months ago.
But we've already seen border flows this year drop significantly because the president's been working with our neighbors in Latin America to slow the flow coming into Mexico, which has then slowed the flow significantly into the United States. This last month we had the third -- one of the best months in terms of flow into the border -- low flow into the border in the Biden presidency.
And so, I think he's going to be taking incremental steps within the powers that he has to address a national -- a national challenge that is being made worse by Donald Trump and the Republicans.
BOLDUAN: Bryan, things that we know. One, border security is still a top priority of voters and has been, basically, second behind the economy in lots of polls. And two, normally, this is what Republicans have run on successfully in the past.
Three, Republicans if not have completely blown their leverage on this, have hurt their leverage on this by that back-and-forth early this year where they wouldn't go along with a bipartisan bill.
And then there were Republicans for months and months and months ago, over and over again saying that Biden should go this alone. That it is in his power.
Elise Stefanik -- just to name a hitlist, Elise Stefanik in February. "Biden has the power to end the border crisis without Congress. He just doesn't want to."
Troy Nehls of Texas said, "Congress doesn't have to do anything to secure our southern border and fix it.
Carlos Gimenez, of Florida, said in February, "President Biden has -- can control the border today if he wanted to. He doesn't need any legislation from Congress to do so."
So now you say what?
LANZA: Listen, I say he broke the border. I mean, he reversed a lot of President Trump's executive actions at the start of his administration that has -- that has resulted in this mass illegal immigration coming across our borders. I mean, the rules that he passed allowed benefits for illegal aliens crossing the borders. He's allowed the refugee -- the refugee number to extend at a dramatic rate.
I mean, you really can't trust an arsonist to put out the fire. And I think that's the problem that Republicans have is trusting Joe Biden and the Democrats to do anything on the border. They started this fire and they have no desire to put it out. What you saw earlier in the year was a -- was a partisan ploy to try to get funding to Ukraine by tying border security.
I think the most important thing to look at is recently, Chuck Schumer tried to pass the old border --
BOLDUAN: That was started by Republicans. Republicans said that -- but Republicans --
LANZA: Sure.
BOLDUAN: Let's not forget Republicans --
LANZA: Sure.
BOLDUAN: -- said they wouldn't go along --
LANZA: Sure.
BOLDUAN: -- with Ukraine unless there was border funding.
LANZA: Of course.
BOLDUAN: And you had a --
LANZA: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- staunch conservative negotiate this who pushed this in the Senate.
LANZA: Yes.
BOLDUAN: I do not want to relitigate it because we've litigated so many times. LANZA: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: But that's it -- go.
LANZA: But they -- yeah, sure, but they did backtrack on it. Republicans did backtrack on it, and that's their issue. But I think it boils down to the root cause is voters trust President Trump on the border more than they trust Democrats.
