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Trump in Wisconsin After Calling Milwaukee "Horrible"; Trump Spreading More Lies; Boeing Victims' Family Demands Accountability; Boeing CEO Proud of Boeing's Safety Records; Baseball Legend Willie Mays Dies at Age 93. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 19, 2024 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:30:00]

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Days after reportedly calling Milwaukee a horrible city, Former President Donald Trump is doing some cleanup in Wisconsin ahead of the Republican National Convention there next month. CNN calculated that his Racine rally contained at least 30 obvious falsehoods, including one that he won in Wisconsin in 2020, when in fact he lost by more than 20,000 votes.

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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do you remember in 2016 we won, and then we did much better here in 2020, but they -- you know, lots of things happened. And then in the end we won. We never want what happened in 2020 to happen again. You have to vote, and watch your vote, watch your vote, because they tend to disappear. We have all the votes we need. We have to guard the vote. We have to stop this deal. If we stop this deal, we win. I don't have to campaign anymore, just stop this deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In the last election, those lies and that rhetoric led to the violence we saw on January 6th. Now, Trump is spreading disinformation about the select committee's investigation into what took place on January 6th.

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TRUMP: The unselect committee of political thugs. The evidence was so bad and so compelling against the Democrats and against the people that are supposed to be doing that job that they destroyed and deleted all of the info. Everything is deleted. We should have put Viveka in the committee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now is CNN's senior political commentator and former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, of course, was on the January 6th committee.

Adam, thanks so much for being with us once again. I mean, I mean, these are obvious lies. presumptive GOP nominee is saying because he is saying the January 6th Committee destroyed evidence.

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER MEMBER OF JAN. 6 SELECT COMMITTEE AND FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (R-IL): It is -- I don't know how many times we have to go through this where he says that. And unfortunately, his people just don't want to hear the truth. It's on the internet. All of the evidence is on the internet.

Donald Trump, by the way, now that he's in a defensive posture, legally has access to everything that -- he's had it before, even the American public had. And they could call in, they could call any of these witnesses in to testify. But literally, if you Google January 6th evidence, you see every bit of it out there in the government repository. It can be seen, but he continues to repeat this statement and it's just lies.

ACOSTA: Yes.

KINZINGER: But you know what? All he does, Jim, is lie.

ACOSTA: Yes, it's extraordinary. Our Daniel Dale was ticking through him last night. I think he counted some 30 lies just at the rally last night. And Trump is not backing down on these lies about the last election. He's already sowing doubt about the results of this election.

So, I mean, we saw that in 2016. We saw it again in 2020. He's doing it again in 2024. Could history repeat itself?

[10:35:00]

KINZINGER: Yes, it really could. And see -- so here's what happens in a self-governance in a democracy, the only thing we all have to agree on is that we can vote. The vote counts, right, and the results are counted. That's all. When you convince half of the country that the system is broken, which is what he's doing, violence is the outcome. And we had a whole revolution based on the fact that we felt like we weren't represented by the British.

And so, my concern is less about another January 6th at the U.S. Capitol. My concern is what happens at different state capitals when they're there certifying the election. Imagine Arizona, you know, with a Republican legislature and a Biden win, could you imagine that legislature being pressured to maybe switch and just announce that Trump won the state? And you think of the violence and the intimidation that could happen at the state level? That's where my concern is this year.

And I think local and state law enforcement officials, particularly in swing states, need to be ready for this potential of violence of happening -- to happen.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I do want to ask you, I mean, we're hearing about, so-called cheap fakes. It's playing out on right-wing media, Fox, "New York Post," and so on. And all of this is to try to make the case that Biden is slipping. He's confused and so on. Of course, Trump is no spring chicken. And every time Trump lately seems to be talking about Biden's mental acuity, Trump has a glitch or a slip up himself. Let's listen to this.

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TRUMP: And they say the videos of Crooked Joe shuffling around are clean fakes. Joe Biden's forming, granting, mass (INAUDIBLE). We will build a great Iron Dome over our country. Ronald Reagan wanted to do it many years ago, but unfortunately then, it sounded like "Star Wars." Nobody's ever seen a hundred -- and I don't have a guitar. Don't forget, Elvis had a guitar. I don't have a guitar. I have nothing. I stand up here by myself. Terrible. You don't have sharks. See, that's a big advantage. I'll take the one without the sharks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, Adam, one of the things there that he did yesterday, and it was a little bit in that clip, he was -- Trump was calling cheap fakes clean fakes. And so, he's just botching the language there. The other day he was referring to Dr. Ronny Jackson, but he said Dr. Ronny Johnson.

KINZINGER: Yes. I mean, let's -- look, his brain is broken. The difference is he does it more energetically. And, you know, the -- what -- it's -- and I think it's completely an unfair comparison. But right now, you know, Joe Biden looks a lot more low energy than Donald Trump. And that's Donald Trump's advantage.

But these videos, I mean, they're blatant lies. And it used to be, Jim, back in the day, it would be kind of the dark corners of the internet that would put out these fake videos and then responsible people like members of Congress and the Senate or the RNC would say, no, we're not going to do that. They're the ones pushing this now.

This whole Joe Biden wandering at Normandy, all you had to do was pan out and see that he was talking -- he's doing exactly what I would have done as a military guy, which is go over and talk to them and not the other state leaders. You know him at the fundraiser, if you actually zoom in on his face, he's very mobile. He's motioning. He's smiling at people. He's not frozen. But we're going to see this for the next five months.

So, people just guard yourself when you see those videos, wait to make a judgment until you see the full video in context.

ACOSTA: The full context is very important. All right. Adam Kinzinger, thanks a lot for joining us. As always, we appreciate it.

KINZINGER: You bet.

ACOSTA: All right. And we're just eight days away from the first presidential debate of the year hosted by CNN. Don't miss President Joe Biden, Former President Donald Trump going head-to-head on June 27th at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Coming up, demanding accountability. Next, I'll speak with the daughter of a Boeing crash victim after a contentious hearing up on Capitol Hill with the company's CEO. That's next.

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[10:40:00]

ACOSTA: This morning, families of passengers killed in two Boeing plane crashes are demanding more accountability from the company's CEO. It comes a day after Dave Calhoun testified before Congress about Boeing's troubled safety record. A combined 346 people were killed in Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019. Listen to some of the heated back and forth from this Capitol Hill hearing.

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DAVE CALHOUN, CEO, BOEING: I would like to speak directly to those who lost loved ones. On Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

I apologize for the grief we have caused.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): How many of your employees have been fired for retaliating against whistleblowers?

CALHOUN: Senator, I don't have that number on the tip of my tongue, but I know it. I know it happens.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): You're strip-mining it. You're strip-mining Boeing. It was one of the greatest American companies ever. It has employed thousands of people in my state, and you are strip-mining it for profit, shareholder value, and you're being rewarded for it.

CALHOUN: I'm proud of having taken the job. I'm proud of our safety record.

SEN. HAWLEY: Proud of this record?

CALHOUN: And I am very proud of our Boeing people.

SEN. HAWLEY: You're proud of this safety record?

CALHOUN: I am proud of every action we have taken.

SEN. HAWLEY: Every action you've taken?

CALHOUN: Yes, sir. Wow. For the American people, they're in danger. For your workers, they're in peril. For your whistleblowers, they literally fear for their lives. But you're getting compensated like never before.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: On the topic of compensation, you should know that Calhoun made $32.8 million last year. That's a 45 percent increase from the year before. Zipporah Kuria was at Tuesday's hearing. Her father, Joseph Kuria, seen here, died in the Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crash in Ethiopia. And Zipporah joins us now. First of all, we're just so heartbroken over your loss. And thank you so much for coming in and talking to us. I know it can't be easy. What did you think of what the CEO of Boeing was saying in that testimony there?

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ZIPPORAH KURIA, DAUGHTER OF ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES CRASH VICTIM: I think that it's completely appalling. I think to first of -- like the fact that he wasn't able to acknowledge us to begin with, even before he even spoke, didn't -- couldn't shake our hands, and then to come out there brazing and bold enough to empty his mouth out of -- to empty his mouth out of complete nonsense, it's just like complete -- it's beyond me. It flawed me, to be honest.

ACOSTA: And, you know, I don't want to concentrate just on the money thing. There are other things to talk about, like the company's safety record, which he was saying he was proud of. But $32.8 million.

KURIA: My question is, what is it for? His level of incompetence doesn't match his level of compensation for service. I mean, that's what we do when we go to work. We're paid for our level of competency to do the job. Someone who couldn't even answer how much money they were fined, whether they paid it, he didn't know whether the insurers had paid the money or not. He couldn't tell us how many whistle -- you know, how many people have been fired for retaliating against whistleblowers. My question is, what is it for?

And then to equate that to the amount of lives lost, I don't understand the world in which we live where someone can be paid that amount of money after 346 people have died off the back end of decisions that were made while they were present. So, I think for me, it's reflective of Boeing and their culture.

ACOSTA: And it's shocking to hear from these whistleblowers and what they're saying about what this company has been doing. I mean, you and I were talking during the break, so many people are flying these days. The planes are packed. Everybody assumes that these planes are in good working order and that corners aren't being cut. But from what the whistleblowers are saying, that's not what's happening.

KURIA: Yes, it seems as though there are more corners being cut than straight lines being followed. You know, and it's a shock that there's so many standards that are in place. And Boeing are saying, we're trying to be safety focused.

And the more I hear, more whistleblowers come out, and I hear Calhoun and the rest of Boeing saying that, you know, safety has been our priority, it just makes me think as part of the flying public, we ought to be terrified, mortified to be jumping on these planes.

And, you know, the aviation industry is so elusive. None of us really know what quite goes on in there. But we trust and hope that the people that say they're doing what they're doing are doing it. And then, people die and we find out, hang on, it's not just an incident or an accident, it's continual lapse, not in judgment -- we can't even call it lapse in judgment when it's intentional corner cutting.

Yes, it's gut-wrenching, in Calhoun's words. This is what is gut- wrenching, hearing these whistleblowers.

ACOSTA: Yes. And he's announced he's leaving at the end of the year. Is that enough for you?

KURIA: It's not enough for us. You know, I think it's reflective of his inability to even feign remorse or feign humanity from my perspective. If you were really kind of -- hard done by what has happened, you would resign immediately. You would say, hey, I'm, I've not been competent enough to deal with. I've tried to resolve it. The hot potato is too hot for me to handle. Find somebody else who can do it.

But unfortunately, he said, let me milk this cow for as long as I can and see how much money I can get out of this and wait till the end of the year. Which, again, is reflective of Boeing continuously, always put in profit before people. Yes.

ACOSTA: Are you confident that this will bring change?

KURIA: Confidence isn't the word. I would say tentatively hopeful. I think yesterday's hearing was a perfect display of -- or a character witness, not just of David Calhoun, but also, of the mindsets that are reflected at Boeing. And I hope that the exposure to that will, you know, cause the U.S. lawmakers to be more -- I don't want to say aggressive, but a little more assertive in their pursuit for justice, which they haven't been so far.

ACOSTA: And can you tell us a little bit about your father?

KURIA: My dad, oh, Joseph Kuria Waithaka. I don't know what to say, but he was like a complete, you know, selfless human being. His life was dedicated to helping people who had found themselves on the wrong side of the law. He was a probation officer, kind of, you know, work at making better decisions, which is quite ironic in the situation that he helped so many people turn around and the people that are supposed to be helping us turn the situation around are completely failing us at every corner and every turn.

But yes, he had a heart of gold, perfectly flawed. He did all the embarrassing things that, you know, dads would do. And yes, he completely loved us and was always there to try and make a change. And he was very legacy focused. I'm always trying to leave the world better for the next generation coming along.

[10:50:00]

And I hope that this and his death and the death of these 346 people continues to honor that in terms of they continue to make, you know, flying safer for us. ACOSTA: Yes.

KURIA: Yes.

ACOSTA: Yes, their lives and that loss should count for something, should mean something, should change something. Absolutely.

KURIA: Yes. I mean, I always say that death was needless, but that death doesn't have to be meaningless. And I just hope that we'd never find ourselves sitting here having a conversation with a different set of victims off the back of inaction, of lack of action or kind of the behaviors that we've seen continually being let off with a slap on the wrist, you know. If we don't learn from history, it's going to keep repeating itself.

ACOSTA: You're absolutely right. Zipporah, thank you very much. Thanks for sharing your story. We appreciate it.

KURIA: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Next hour, Wolf Blitzer will be talking to a Boeing whistleblower, Ed Pierson. Make sure to tune in. We'll be right back.

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ACOSTA: Baseball world is saying goodbye this morning to one of its all-time greats, Willie Mays, the Hall of Famer's legendary career span more than two decades, mostly with the New York and San Francisco Giants. He was known as the Say Hey Kid for the way he enthusiastically greeted people.

Mays' over the shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series, take a look at it right here, became one of the most iconic moments in all of sports. It's been known simply as the catch for almost 70 years now. Mays' death is being felt far beyond the baseball world.

In 2015, President Obama awarded him with the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. After Mays' death. Obama posted this picture of the two of them together and called him an inspiration to an entire generation. Willie Mays was 93 years old. A legend.

Thank you very much for joining us this morning. I'm Jim Acosta. Our next hour of "Newsroom with Wolf Blitzer" starts after a short break. Have a great day.

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