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Second Largest Teachers' Union Backs Fully Open Schools in the Fall; Any Moment: Biden to Address Colonial Pipeline Hack; Biden to Host Republicans at White House Next Hour to Talk Infrastructure; CNN: Some Republicans Still Question Biden's Election Victory; Cheney: "Sad and Dangerous" How McCarthy is Leading GOP. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 13, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash in for John King today. We will see President Joe Biden any minute at the White House. He plans to address the hack that took a major U.S. pipeline offline for days and sparked a mad dash to gas stations up and down the East Coast.

Last night, President Biden signed an executive order to harden U.S. cyber defenses. After cyber pirates made clear the country is very vulnerable. And today that the colonial pipeline is back up and running and the administration asks Americans running on empty, be patient.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: It's not like flipping a switch. Even though they resumed operations at five o'clock last evening, people will start to see normalcy in the next couple of days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Plus, there is big and positive pandemic news. The country's second largest teachers union says it supports fully opening schools this fall. COVID deaths are now at the lowest level since last July. And President Biden will host half a dozen GOP Senators at the White House today to talk through infrastructure.

Now on Wednesday, the top Republican in the House stood on the White House driveway and he was holding a gas light. Kevin McCarthy says no one in his party still questions the legitimacy of the presidential election. That's not true.

A lot are relentlessly spreading that lie including the former president himself. Well, today McCarthy joined a morning bike ride to support police officers, but he refused to condemn Republicans in his own caucus trying to rewrite the history of the January 6 interaction which raises this question.

How does the GOP claim to back the blue when its members repeatedly pretend that this body camera of a brave officer didn't happen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER FANONE: Come on MPD dig in, push them back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: More on that big political story ahead, but first to the White House where we expect to see and hear the president any minute when it gets straight to Phil Mattingly? So Phil, what do we anticipate to hear from the president?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think the president is going to focus on a couple things based on White House officials. I've spoken to Dana. Obviously, on the top line related to the impact of that hack on the colonial pipeline system and what the administration has done in response.

I think when you talk to administration officials, the level of focus on attempting to mitigate those supply issues that have popped up throughout the south over the course of the last several days has really been an all hands on deck type of an effort between communications with the company between communications with states regulatory waivers that they think can help the supply.

And obviously, now that the pipeline has come back online, trying to ensure that as that process kicks into gear and as you noted, it will take several days, that individuals that Americans themselves aren't still panic buying gas.

I think there's recognition from the White House side, that the supply is actually there if this were a normal time. But obviously, as the last several days have shown there is no normalcy to the way gasoline is being purchased in a number of these states.

So an effort to kind of induce some calm, perhaps based on the fact that they believe they have turned a corner and that everything should be back in its right place over the course of the next several days, but also to underscore the scale of the government response up to this point.

You mentioned another key element I think you're going to hear a lot about and that is that Cybersecurity executive order. Look, the country has been beset by a rash of cyber attacks over the course of the last several months, obviously some enormous and scale, the solar winds hack the administration is attributed to the Russian government, obviously, in a more micro level, but no less important level what we've seen with the colonial pipeline, not as a government actor, but hackers working from a criminal syndicate side of things.

This executive order the president signed yesterday would really impose very strict new guidelines on any software sold to the federal government. It's what the president can control unilaterally contracts with the federal government, putting these new guidelines in place, putting these new standards in place. Now, the rub here is that the federal government of the president

himself doesn't have the power to apply this to private companies that don't do work with the federal government. That's always been one of the biggest issues here.

It's an issue we've seen with the government's interactions with colonial just over the course of the last couple of days. But the hope is that this will start to serve as kind of guideposts that companies will start to move towards the direction that this executive order lays out even if they don't have government contracts as Congress tries to work through a legislative process to impose new standards.

I think there's a recognition here Dana that, obviously this is a significant problem. It's not a new problem. This is probably as far as any president has gone from an executive order perspective, according to some private company representatives I've been speaking to doesn't necessarily go far enough.

I think administration officials would acknowledge that but it's as far as they believe they can go unilaterally. Obviously Congress will need to do more work. But it just underscores how important this issue is how sensitive this issue is and how much of a problem this issue is as the administration scrambles, like many administrations before them to figure out a fix.

BASH: Absolutely Phil. Thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it and here at the table to share their reporting and their insights CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson and Melanie Zanona of POLITICO, nice to see you both.

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BASH: Let's start where Phil just picked up and I'll put on the screen where we are when it comes to gas prices, the current average gas price is just over $3, $3.028, a week ago, the average was 2.941. So it's gone up slightly, but it could go up a whole lot more.

And it is such a reminder Nia, that any president has his own agenda. But things come at you that could derail you or could take over and its how you deal with these crises that define what you can and cannot do.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. And we of course saw that with Donald Trump's huge crisis with a pandemic and likely his handling of that or mishandling of that cost him his reelection.

And so now we see Biden faced with not only a pandemic, but these crises with gas prices that people feel every day when they go to the pump they can see of the gas prices going up.

And now of course, there is this panic buying of gas everywhere. And we will see later President Biden come out and try to calm people down because people are nervous about what this means. We have gone through this pandemic, we all remember running to target and piggly wiggly to get toilet paper and Clorox wipes. And so now this is sort of kicking in again, with people going to the

gas pipes. One thing that Biden is good at is calming people down. He has almost a sort of pastoral way of talking to people. Almost like you're next door neighbors are imagined. We'll see him do that today when he dresses the nation about what we're seeing.

BASH: And that's an important part of the job, by the way, the piggly wiggly as your South Carolina is coming --. That was awesome. They don't have that in New Jersey. But Melanie, you know, we're talking about the fact that he is going to come out we do expect to hear him soon to talk about these issues to try to calm people down.

You guys are way too young. One of my first memories was of sitting in a very long gas line in my parent's car, you know, waiting because you had even odd days and even days during the Carter administration, because of the gas problems. Now that was a completely different issue.

But it's a reminder again, of what can - can take a president off course. What he wants to be doing is the meeting that he is going to have later this afternoon with a group of half a dozen Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capitol, West Virginia, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

You walk the halls every day in Congress, Melanie, what are you hearing about the likelihood of you don't expect them to come out and say, you know, hooray, we have a deal, but at least this pushing forward on progress.

MELANIE ZANONA, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: I'm sure they'll come out and say it was a very productive meeting. Right - see things?

BASH: Exactly.

ZANONA: Look, I think the stance on Capitol Hill is Joe Biden genuinely wants to deal with Republicans; this is probably his last and best chance to tick off that box that he campaigned on of getting bipartisan deals and working with Republicans.

But it's going to be difficult, they still haven't even agreed on what the definition of infrastructure is, let alone greeting on a way to pay for it. And I was in transportation porter many years ago. And there's always been agreement on the need for money for roads and bridges.

But when you talk about how to pay for it, it gets a lot trickier. And that is something that has vexed Washington for many, many years. I think when you listen to what Republicans and Democrats are saying you start to see why a deal would be so difficult.

Republicans are drawing a red line, they do not want to raise taxes, they do not want to open up the 2017 tax law that they view as Trump's signature legislative achievement. But Democrats say making corporations pay their fair share is not only a great way to pay for this bill, but it's also good policy. And so until we start to see them move into the same even Venn

diagram, I think it's very difficult for them to reach a deal.

BASH: Yes, I mean, it's like the old saying, you know, the first negotiators have to agree on the size and the end the shape of the table before they can actually start agreeing and start discussing what's in there. I mean, right now, the definition of infrastructure is the size and the shape of the table.

HENDERSON: It's right and you had have Democrats adding a whole new category of what they think infrastructure is this idea of human infrastructure on not just roads and bridges. But you know, paying for childcare and things like that - in people.

And you have Republicans balking at that included - in balking at obviously, how they would pay for it, the people to look at here again. Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema and the old reconciliation, right.

I mean, I think if you're Biden and you're the Democrats in general you want to be caught trying to strike a bipartisan deal, but the likelihood is that it won't be a bipartisan deal. And Americans in the end don't care right? I mean, if it ends up helping Americans, they don't care if you got five Republicans to back it.

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HENDERSON: It helps them in their day to day lives and improves on the roads and bridges in their neighborhood.

BASH: That's exact cut trying is such a good turn of phrase and they won't care. But the reality is we all know they won't get it done unless they get those Republicans on board just because of the numbers in the Senate.

Alright, everybody stand by, up next Republicans are putting blinders on about the big lie. And President Biden offers his take on the Republican House leadership fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Liz Cheney McCarthy thing is above my pay grade I mean; I have enough trouble figuring out my own party all the time, let alone Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BASH: Kevin McCarthy said something jaw dropping at the White House yesterday.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. We're sitting here with the president today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It was one of those moments that for those of us unlucky enough to have been sipping a drink at the time, it was hard not to spit it out in surprise and disbelief. He knows Donald Trump continues to question the 2020 election results and knows many members of his own caucus are eager Trump allies in that big lie.

New CNN reporting highlights the depth of the dishonesty in the house GOP ranks, I want to get straight to CNN's Manu Raju who has been doing that reporting. So Manu, tell us what you're hearing from Republican lawmakers.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're siding with Donald Trump versus Liz Cheney over whether or not the election was rigged or someone was stolen or just simply not backing down Donald Trump's election lies.

Even though she went behind closed doors and implored her colleagues to bat down these lies warning about the danger to democracy that is essentially being ignored by House Republicans all across the board, whether there are some swing districts in the house, whether the most conservative members, really there are very few who are saying that they should speak out against what Donald Trump is saying and some even embracing the notion that somehow the election was stolen.

A Congresswoman Claudia Kenny, she's actually one of the - one of the closest house races in the country from New York last fall. I asked her about all this and she told me yesterday. We don't know if it was stolen or not referring to the election.

She said Cheney doesn't know. I don't know, the president doesn't know. But what I know is we need to fix it. And Congressman Jody Hice he's running for the Georgia Secretary of State. She has the support of Donald Trump in that race.

I asked him if Donald Trump actually won reelection and 22 if you believe that - said I believe it was a fair election. Yes, I believe, absolutely. And even Elise Stefanik who is emerging data as the number three to take that spot from Liz Cheney.

She has also peddled some of these bogus claims and still stands by those claims as early as yesterday when she was asked by reporters. But nevertheless, Liz Cheney is warning about the dangers of Donald Trump and saying a party needs to do something about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does it say about former President Trump that he will not accept this loss?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): That he's unfit, you know that he never again can be anywhere close to the Oval Office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But just in talking to a number of the Republicans Dana, they're calling Joe Biden's win legitimate. Very few will even go as far as saying that one of them Darrell Issa. He's a Congressman from California.

I asked him to Joe Biden, when legitimately he said there are issues we need to look at that is the same line that a lot of Republicans continue to voice. So despite what Liz Cheney is saying here is very clear where the support lies in the conference. Dana.

BASH: Boy, I mean, Manu for just a couple of years ago that I was running around the hallways of Congress like you are and what a difference that you can't even have a conversation with people who were elected and who will admit that a fact is a fact.

The truth is the truth and a lie is a lie. Manu excellent reporting, as always, I appreciate it. Back with me Nia-Malika Henderson and Melanie's Zanona. I also just want to go to back to what Kevin McCarthy said yesterday about the fact that nobody thinks nobody's saying that the election wasn't legitimate.

Well, how about the former president himself? This is - this week, this is something that he put out on his website. The number of votes is massive and determinative. This will prove true in numerous other states, he was talking about Arizona, all Republicans must unify and not let this happen.

If a thief robs a jewelry store of all of its diamonds, the 2020 Presidential Election, the diamonds must be returned. He's saying that he should still be president. That is not true. And I feel like we're all blue in the face. But we have to continue to say it.

His own appointed and senate confirmed judges over and over again were presented, what the Republicans who worked for Donald Trump claimed was evidence and they almost to a judge laughed it out of court because it wasn't legitimate. The evidence rate didn't exist his appointed judges.

HENDERSON: In Republican Governors in states like Arizona and in Georgia presided over elections that were fair and free. The most important part of this is the lie but also what the lie allows the lot.

The lie allows Republicans to pass restrictive voting laws in states all over the country and that's certainly what we're seeing in Florida, Georgia, Texas as well we see this recount this daffy recount going on or audit in Arizona.

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HENDERSON: So that's why they have to continue the lie, because they want to make it very restrictive in 2022 and 2024 for folks to vote because we know what happened in 2020. It was easier for everybody to vote.

And we saw what happened in these unlikely states like Georgia and also Arizona, which were won by Biden. So that's what's going on. And listen, Republicans have been lying about voter fraud for decades, in those lies did allow them to make changes in different states that made voting much more difficult. And that's what they're doing again.

BASH: And I just want to say that "that I read from the former president", I thought was from Arizona, it's from Michigan, it's hard to keep it straight because he's still going after the votes that happened, you know, all those months ago, so that's sort of one of the lies, but one that is kind of a part of that.

And a surprising and shocking, even more than the lie about the election is what happened to these members themselves on January 6? I want you guys to listen to some of the Republican lawmakers basically denying what actually happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL GOSAR (R-AZ): Zero firearms from suspects charged with breaching the Capitol.

REP. JODY HICE (R-GA): In fact, it was Trump supporters who lost their lives that day, not Trump supporters who were taking the lives of others.

REP. ANDREW CLYDE (R-GA): I can tell you, the house floor was never breached. And it was not an insurrection. You know, if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the six, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I honestly, I'm out of words, it wasn't breached. I mean, it's like they're trying to tell people that the moon landing didn't happen or that the world is still flat. I mean, that is where we are. These are members of Congress who were there.

ZANONA: It was infuriating to hear those comments, I was in the Capitol. I was huddled ducking for cover with a gas mask, wondering if I was going to die or if I was going to see someone die. It was not a tourist event. It was not normal to hit the capitol by any means.

But what we're seeing is this was part of a pattern, not only yesterday with those comments and Kevin McCarthy's comments but pushing out Liz Cheney, because she keeps speaking the truth about January six or even Republicans not wanting to get behind this commission to investigate January 6, if it only focuses on that day.

And what they're doing is playing rigid revisionist history or trying to erase it altogether because it's really inconvenient for them. They don't want to be talking about this. They want to focus on Biden, that's why they pushed out Cheney, they're sick of it. They know it's a bad, bad story for them and they just would rather not talk about that. BASH: And I want to stay on this because you did some reporting on this, just like Manu did. And I want to read part of your story. Today, a dozen GOP lawmakers and aides say McCarthy will likely suffer few internal consequences for evicting the party's highest ranking woman.

But the next 18 months will test the value of the points he just earned with his right flank with Democrats eager to yoke Congressional Republicans to Trump.

So that's kind of the big picture on the two, the two things we just talked about, which are obviously very much connected the lie about the election and now the emerging revisionist history about what happened on January 6. And he is - McCarthy is putting himself in a very precarious position.

And it's, it's for one reason, and one reason only, and that is because he said it on the White House driver yesterday. He wants to be speaker.

ZANONA: That he's not even trying to hide it. I mean, it's all about to 18 that number that he needs to get the speaker's gavel if they went back the majority, of course.

And what we learned in our reporting was that was one of the reasons why Kevin McCarthy did make this change. He was under increasing pressure from Trump and the right flank to push Cheney out, is becoming a problem for him.

And he was calculating that pushing her out would help score points with the right flank that it would get him the speakership. But what I think he might be missing is that he's trading in essentially one headache for another because now you have Liz Cheney out there with an even bigger megaphone.

She's not going to - she's not going to be quiet. And I think a lot of members while they wouldn't say publicly; we're kind of upset with how this whole thing went down.

BASH: So let's listen to a little bit more of Liz Cheney, who was on NBC this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHENEY: I think that he is not leading with principle right now. And I think that it is --it's sad and I think it's dangerous. Leader McCarthy's visit to the former president at Mar-a-Lago was really stunning.

You know, given what the former president did, he's not just former president, you know, he provoked an attack on the Capitol, an attack on our democracy. And so I can't understand why you would want to go rehabilitate him.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HENDERSON: No, I mean, it's an excellent point. But you know if your leader McCarthy, five seats is all he needs to get the gavel back. They control the Republicans control many more Congressional districts in terms of redistricting, then Democrats do so they can draw or redraw those districts in Trump's own image, which is I think, is part of the plan.

[12:25:00]

HENDERSON: And then you add some of the voting restrictions on top of that. It's a kind of perfect storm for Kevin McCarthy to regain that gavel in 2022. I actually don't think it was a gamble at all. I think it was a clean and easy decision for him to make.

And the right decision in terms of where the energy of the party is, it is with Trump. It is with this big lie it is with conspiracy theories. It is with Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene and all of the other colorful people that make up the caucus that, that Kevin McCarthy obviously wants to continue leading.

BASH: Yes, I should say that we just got word that we're going to hear from President Biden momentarily on the cyber attack on the colonial pipeline. So we're going to bring you that in moments.

But as we wait, Melanie, talk a little bit more about what you're hearing from Republicans and I'm sorry, I might have to interrupt you. What are you hearing from those who are very, very, very, as part of the very, very small slice of the Liz Cheney wing about how disgusted they are? Because I know I'm hearing it.

ZANONA: It is a very small vocal wing. If you think of Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, and there's a there's others. Not a lot of them are coming out publicly. But I think they really see this as a turning point for their party.

You also remember a few months ago when Cheney was saved and held on to her job, they also were dealing with the Marjorie Taylor Greene drama, as you mentioned and they were worried about being tagged as sort of the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Now you have Marjorie Taylor Greene out there with Matt Gates, who's under indictment are being investigated for might be indicted. And they're the face of the Republican Party.

BASH: And by the way, she Speaker Pelosi said that she said that it might be appropriate for an ethics investigation because apparently she's going after Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in the hallway, that's according to AOC.

ZANONA: Right.

BASH: Have you've seen some of that behavior?

ZANONA: I've seen that firsthand with Marjorie Taylor Greene, she's very aggressive in the hallways with reporters. But at the same time, then she'll turn around and be sweetest pie to someone else. I think with her, she is desperate for the attention; she'll probably fundraise off this whole thing.

She really wants to be the AOC of the right. She's even tweeted before, follow me on Twitter. So I can have a social media following that rivals with a squad. So I think with her, she definitely wants to be, you know, attention seeking.

Its performance art, but I think it's denigrating the institution. That's something you've heard Cheney say as well. It's not about substance anymore. It's not about policy. It's about fealty one to one man, Donald Trump; it's about the personality and not the policies, which they think can actually--

BASH: I mean, maybe I'm maybe I'm old school. I know I'm old school. But we've talked about denigrating the institution. I cannot believe I feel like you know, going, dealing with my child, my elementary school child, I have more sophisticated conversations up. Here's the President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I want to update everyone on the ransomware cyber attack that impacted on the colonial pipeline over this past week. As of yesterday evening, colonial has begun restarting the flow of refined products in their pipeline.

This morning, colonial reported that fuel is beginning to flow to majority the markets that they service and they should be reaching full operational capacity as we speak, as I speak to you right now. That is good news. But I want to be clear; we'll not feel the effects at the pump immediately.

This is not like flicking on a light switch. This pipeline is 5500 miles long. It had never been fully shut down its entire history. And so, so fully and we have to now they have to safely and fully return to normal operations. And it's going to take some time.

And there may be some hiccups like I just had along the way here. Still, we expect to see a region by region return to normalcy beginning this weekend and continuing in the next week.

In the meantime, I want to update you on what our administration is doing to accelerate this process to mitigate shortages and to protect you from price gouging affect the American people from price gouging all those along the line.

First, we relaxed rules for pipeline operators to provide flexibility for emergency personnel to help manually get portions of the pipeline up and running earlier this week.

Secondly, over the weekend, we reviewed and work with a company to get a portion of the pipeline system from North Carolina to Maryland to operate under manual control and deliver it - delivers to existing inventory.

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