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Biden Campaign Ad Slams Trump; NYPD Arrests Man with Slew of Weapons in Car; Dr. Elizabeth Comen is Interviewed about Cancer Cases Rising. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 13, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

MAX ROSE (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Thing in the background here, which is Trump wants Republican leadership to do everything they can, both now and in - as long as it takes into the future to remove his felony convictions. That is priority number one.

Now what's interesting as well is that you see the Republican leadership releasing an agenda for their first 100 days that they presume they will have Republican power over all of the federal government. And I - I've actually found it shocking what they have openly said that they want to do if they can actually be competent. And so -

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What's shocking you?

ROSE: Well, what's shocking is, is, one, the blatant hypocrisy and contradiction of it. They're saying that they want to reduce the federal deficit demonstrably while also executing a massive tax cut for the rich, doubling spending on our armed forces, as well as doing a whole myriad of other corporate giveaways. It's the return, the resurgence of trickle-down economics, and the American people don't want anything to do with that.

Secondly, they're talking about constantly law and order, law and order. At the same time they want to tie the hands of the attorney general and the Justice Department, the very signature arm of our law enforcement throughout the country.

So yet again it's these myriad of contradictions because they have to appease Donald Trump, first and foremost, because they're sycophants to him, while at the same time trying to appeal to an extremist MAGA base, as well as just, what is the permanent fixture of Republican politics, which is tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.

BOLDUAN: Contradictions though in politics, though, not shocking.

ROSE: You don't say. You don't say.

BOLDUAN: Hypocrisy in Washington, not shocking. I will say that.

The ad that the Biden campaign is putting out, since you are in the business of giving Democrats advice, Pete, you - marking that this is his first trip to Capitol Hill since January 6th and what they're putting out, smart move?

PETE SEAT, VICE PRESIDENT, BOSE PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUP: They're going to remind voters over and over again about January 6th. They're going to remind voters about all the outlandish things that Donald Trump has said over the years.

But we keep looking at polls. And what do polls show? The American people care about the economy. They care about inflation. They care about immigration. The Biden campaign is not talking about those issues because they're losing on those issues. So, they're going to campaign on what they feel they need to campaign on to try and distract from the fact that Biden's policies are not working.

BOLDUAN: I have - you - I have heard from Democrats that they - who've been on the show to say the Biden is - needs to stop talking about the big - the big, big, big, and start talking about what impacts blue- collar workers, what impacts everyone.

ROSE: Sure.

BOLDUAN: I mean, getting back to the basics, if you will.

I mean, look, but the - Donald Trump's threat to democracy, according to Joe Biden, it's how he launched his campaign in 2020, successfully. It's how he re-launched his re-election campaign in 2024. But to Pete's point, the - where the polls stand, does that show that it is not resonating or people don't care?

ROSE: No, absolutely not because if people didn't care, you wouldn't have seen really remarkable success amongst Democrats up and down the ballot over prior elections. Since Donald Trump, you know, came onto the scene, really it was only 2016 where the MAGA movement had a successful electoral outcomes.

Now the Democrats can chew gum and walk at the same time, and they have to, right? Yes, you've got to talk about bread and butter issues.

BOLDUAN: Right.

ROSE: People are pissed off about prices. You have to talk about that and point them to rising wage gains, unprecedented economic output and production, and much better days to come with the leadership of the Biden campaign.

But we can't just scoff at things like democracy and the threat of fascism and authoritarianism as if they're just little side issues that - that are meaningless. People care about that and they've demonstrated that at the ballot box over and over again.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you guys. Thanks for coming in. See you soon.

ROSE: Good to see you too.

BOLDUAN: John. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, body armor, axes, 100 rounds of ammunition, a weighted whip, a Guy Fawkes mask, just a few of the items the NYPD discovered in a man's vehicle. New information about what they say he was doing.

Eight protesters arrested after they rushed onto the field at the congressional baseball game. Quickly arrested.

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[09:38:59]

BERMAN: So, this morning, the NYPD is investigating after a man was arrested with just a slew of weapons in his car. Police say they recovered a nine millimeter Glock, eight loaded magazines with 100 rounds of ammunition, handcuffs, knives, a stun gun, a whip, some equipment apparently meant to be looking like NYPD uniforms, MTA uniforms. A lot going on here.

They're communicating with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, although they do say it's too early to know if this is terror-related.

CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller has been reporting on this story since the beginning.

What are you learning this morning?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, this morning they're conducting search warrants at a couple of locations they believe are associated with the subject. What they're looking for is the answers to all the questions you just raised.

When they had him, after the arrest, talking, asking about, well, what - were - what was the intent with an MTA vast, a bulletproof vest within an NYPD logo on it, the guns and the ammunition, they didn't get a clear answer.

[09:40:02]

And then they got a request for a lawyer, which, of course, stops the questioning.

So, what they're looking for today is, can we find a computer? Can we find additional phones? Can we get into his electronics and determine, who was he talking to? Who is he in a chat room with? Is there a plan or a plot in one of these devices?

On the other hand, there may not be any of that. You know, in their discussions with family members, I'm told by sources who are following this, we have a guy who's grown distant, who's been out of touch, who has been somewhat paranoid, who has been using different drugs. So, we don't really know what was going on in his head.

BERMAN: Well, it gets to the issue of connected to or inspired by. When a person like that carries out an attack, sometimes this is a distinction without a difference, at least for the potential victims. John, you've been on the other side of this. How often do you get these answers? Do the answers always come in an investigation like this?

MILLER: They always come. They don't always make sense. I think of two things when I look at this case. The first terrorist attack on my watch in the NYPD was an individual named Zale Thompson, who radicalized himself online because he was failing at every other aspect of his life and attacked three police officers, armed uniformed police officers on the street, with a hatchet, splitting one of their heads open, almost killing him. And he was gunned down in that incident.

But then I think of the last incident when I was with the NYPD, which was Frank James. You'll remember, 2022. He was riding on the subway. He let smoke grenades go and then opened fire, shooting ten people. And when you went through all of his computers and all of his chats and all of his postings and his YouTube, he had an agenda, but it wasn't connected to anything else and it didn't make sense. And as you point out, it won't always make sense.

The issue with this case today is, we don't know if he had a plot or a plan, but he had a car full of things to carry one out. And that's a concern.

BERMAN: Where does this fit in the overall threat environment now, John, because we keep hearing from people inside the intelligence community and people who had been in the community before, that there does seem to be a rising threat or at least rising concerns.

Well, there is. And that's extreme, by the way. If you follow the latest article in the journal "Foreign Affairs," you have Mike Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA, Graham Allison, a Harvard counterterrorism expert and weapons of mass destruction expert, both saying, all lights are blinking red. Quoting from the language that was used before 911.

And why are they saying that? They're saying that because counterterrorism resources have been shifted away since the end of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq to problems like China and Russia while the problem is expanding. Groups like ISIS Khorasan. And think about the nine individuals from Tajikistan who were arrested in the United States over the last few weeks after crossing the southern border. Sources are telling me that they believe those nine individuals were in touch with various ISIS-K facilitators and were being inspired to do something here on U.S. soil.

When I read that article, you know, the line that struck me was, "stated intentions of terrorist groups. The growing capabilities they have demonstrated in recent successful and failed attacks. The fact that several plots in the United States have been foiled point to an uncomfortable but simple conclusion. Put simply, the United States faces a serious threat of a terrorist attack in the months ahead."

What they're saying is, we've really got to double down and do the kinds of things we don't even think about, like working more closely with the Pakistanis on ISIS Khorasan, or even the Taliban, who ISIS Khorasan is fighting.

BERMAN: Yes, the alarm bells do seem to be ringing.

John Miller, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it.

MILLER: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Chaos broke out a National's Park yesterday. And climate activists are now facing federal charges after storming the field at last night's congressional baseball game in Washington. Capitol Police, they quickly jumped into action, as you see, arresting the protesters. The group Climate Defiance posted a video on social media as it was - of it all kind of playing out and happening, taking credit for the chaos as they are protesting the fossil fuel industry.

South Florida hammered for a third day of heavy rain. Now 8 million people are facing the dangerous risk of flash flooding. Five counties are under a state of emergency. Some areas were looking at a month's worth of rain coming down in just two days. A flood watch has now been extended through Friday and includes Miami and Fort Lauderdale. More than 100 flights are already canceled out of airports in both cities.

So, today's spacewalk at the International Space Station, it has been postponed because of what is being described as a space suit discomfort issue. NASA astronauts Tracy Dyson and Matthew Dominick, they removed their suits an hour before they were expected to exit the airlock.

[09:45:01]

The mission was to remove a faulty electronics box, but now not so much, clearly. NASA has not yet announced the rescheduled date for the walk, and it also has not elaborated on said discomfort issue with said space suits.

Sara.

SIDNER: I have discomfort issue with regular suits, so I - I totally get it. Like -

BOLDUAN: They are crazy when it's a discomfort space suit.

SIDNER: Makes sense to me.

Thank you, Kate.

All right, just ahead, what doctors are finding as the world tracks a disturbing uptick in young patients being diagnosed with cancer.

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SIDNER: A disturbing new trend. Cancer cases in younger people are on the rise.

[09:50:01]

Early onset cancer is defined as cancer cases diagnosed in people under 50 years old, increased globally by a staggering 79 percent. While cancer cases among people older than 50 has appeared to drop off a bit.

With me now is Dr. Elizabeth Comen. She is a medical oncologist with NYU Langone Health, and the author, most importantly, of "All In Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us about Women's Body and Why it Matters."

I have to say, it is my favorite medical book.

DR. ELIZABETH COMEN, ONCOLOGIST, NYU LANGONE HEALTH: Oh.

SIDNER: It really is. And my favorite book of the year, partly because, as you know, I have just returned from a double mastectomy. This is my first day back and I wanted you here to talk us through this because so many young people are also getting cancer, which completely shatters me to think of what they have to go through.

So, I want to talk to you about, do we know why younger people are - across the world are getting cancers now?

COMEN: No, this is an area of such tremendous interest in research and it's heartbreaking. We know that the rates of cancer, as you've said, among young patients are rising in certain diseases, particularly breast cancer and colon cancer. It's so important that people be connected to a physician, talk to their doctor if they have any new symptoms. In my field, such as breast cancer, over 14,000 women under the age of 40 are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Many of these women are finding their breast cancers themselves because they're doing self-breast exams.

SIDNER: That is exactly how I found mine.

COMEN: Right.

SIDNER: And have been taken care of by the best doctors I can imagine at MSK.

I do want to talk to you about that journey because the diagnosis, you know, is a - is a shocker to your system. But really what has shocked me, what has really surprised me is the amount of time that you have to deal with this. This isn't a, you know, OK, we're going to do the surgery. We're going to do chemo. And then you're good to go. It's ten years, for example, of having to take, for me, medications. Ten years. And checks. Constant checks.

Can you give people an idea of what this means when you get that cancer diagnosis, especially for someone who is young.

COMEN: Right. Right.

First of all, I'm so glad to see you back and healthy and well. I know everybody here is as well. And it's an honor to truly be here. So, talking about that marathon of a diagnosis, it's really different

depending on what a woman or man or anyone has really been diagnosed with. But it is a marathon. And it's a two-fold marathon. There's the marathon of the biology of, OK, are you doing chemotherapy? Are you doing radiation? Are you doing hormone therapy? What does that look like? And when someone is first diagnosed, sometimes hearing what that plan looks like gives you those landmarks, just like a marathon -

SIDNER: Right.

COMEN: Where are the hills? Where is the finish line?

But the other is the psychological marathon of, what does it feel like to be diagnosed? What does that trauma look like? And even when you reach the finish line and maybe you've finished your surgery, there is this psychological trauma that continues. And we need to make sure that when we care for patients, we're caring for them, their bodies, but also their soul when they're diagnosed, but in the years thereafter to really integrate what is a very traumatic experience for many, many people so that they can move forward with their lives and thrive.

SIDNER: Yes, it really feels exhausting when you - when you try to game it out, because I like to get things done fast.

COMEN: Right.

SIDNER: This is not that. And so it's really sort of, OK, I've got to go through this and I need to try to have a healthy mental state while I am doing this because it just makes things worse when you feel terrible about what's going on.

COMEN: Right.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you what compelled you to write "All In Her Head," because you have so many stories, really deeply personal stories, from women. And what it is that sort of stood out to you that women say to you as they're going through a really, really difficult time.

COMEN: Sure. Well, my book "All In Her Head," as you know, is in part about women with cancer, but for the most part about women's health. It's an understanding that we are not small men, that head to toe we are different. We present with different diseases. We have different symptoms. And for so long much of women's healthcare has been dismissed, understudied, undervalued, and misdiagnosed. And many women have been told it's all in their head.

For example, 80 percent of autoimmune diseases are found in women. And it can take up to five years for many of these women to be diagnosed. So what compelled me to write this book was, yes, I take care of women in many instances in the hardest moments of their life. But it was the sacred, heartbreaking stories of women feeling invalidated for things potentially even unrelated to their cancer diagnosis, shame about their bodies, where does this come from? How do we unpack that legacy and help women get the care they really need moving forward? SIDNER: You really have things in there that help advocate for yourself as a patient, which is hard to do when you're standing in front of someone who's gone through, I don't know, a dozen years of schooling to be in the position they are. There's a power differential there.

COMEN: (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: And there's one story that really sticks out, and I'm going to tell you which one it is. It's in the beginning of the book where a woman who was literally dying from cancer, she - she wasn't going to make it, says, I'm sorry for sweating to you as she's on her sort of last breath.

[09:55:09]

It just struck me. This book is so important.

Thank you, Elizabeth Comen, for coming in and talking about this with me. I adore you. I think you are just a wonderful asset to the world. Thank you.

COMEN: Thank you so much.

SIDNER: Really appreciate it.

COMEN: Thank you for being here and for your advocacy.

SIDNER: My pleasure.

All right, everybody come out here. Come on, Manako (ph). Come on Manzo (ph). Come on, John, Kate. John and Kate always come here. This is where you live.

BOLDUAN: You can't get rid of us.

SIDNER: Come on, fellas, let's go. Come on. Come on from behind here. I see you. Come on, Brian. Where are you, Brian. Girls up there, you - you're never going to make it down. Come on. Come on. See, OK, so our crew its shy, not when they're telling us what to do. Come on. Come on, Manzo, don't - Manako. You - you don't have to shoot this. You can just leave it on one shot. Nobody cares. Come on. Come on, fellas. Come on out here.

BOLDUAN: Someone (INAUDIBLE) behind the camera though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: We need one camera op.

SIDNER: Come on, Frankie (ph), let's go.

BOLDUAN: Lulu (ph) needs to stay. Actually, just lock it down.

SIDNER: Just lock it down. I mean he's hiding because I'm pretty sure he's wanted by the FBI. I just want - I just want to say thank you to all of you. Without your kindness, sending me notes, jokes, memes, all of the things, flowers, just stuff for my head, not drugs, just like things to like lie on, pillows and things.

BOLDUAN: You've had enough of those. (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: He's concerned. He's like, wait, I sent you some - anyway.

BOLDUAN: No.

SIDNER: But this crew I would put up against anybody, anywhere. Yes, you. Anybody, anywhere. They are the best people in this world to work with. And I am, for one, so grateful for all - all - of even you, Philly (ph), all of you. All of you.

BOLDUAN: Sometimes it's questionable, but.

SIDNER: And to the crew in Atlanta, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you have done. I had flowers. I walked in this morning, my - my room smelled really good. It doesn't always because there's a lot of shoes in their, apologies. But this has been the hardest time in my life. And you have made it so much better. So, thank you. Thank you to you all.

BOLDUAN: I'm so proud of you, Sara.

BERMAN: You're easy to like.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

We're so proud of you.

SIDNER: Thank you for joining us.

BERMAN: All right, thanks so much for being with us.

Stay with us.

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