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tv   CNN Newsroom Live  CNN  May 28, 2021 1:00am-2:00am PDT

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♪ a crucial vote on the january 6th commission is now in limbo as republicans tie up the senate floor overnight. we will bring you the latest. plus, olympic determination. the organizers of the tokyo games say they will go ahead, despite a ground swell of critical voices. and remembering the victims, tributes to the nine people killed in the mass shooting in san jose. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world, i'm kim brunhuber.
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this is "cnn newsroom." ♪ a key u.s. senate vote that would establish a commission to investigate the january 6th capitol insurrection appears to be just hours away. the vote was expected to be held thursday night, but has been delayed until sometime later today. senate republicans are expected to block the measure underscoring the deep partisan divide that has emerged sips the riot. just a few months ago some republicans were adamant that a 9/11-style commission into the capitol security was needed, now they argue that it wouldn't bring any new information about the insurrection and could turn into a partisan dispute. the democrats say american people need to know the truth about what happened. five people were killed and about 140 police officers were
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injured during the attack. for many of the police officers who defended the capitol that day the memories and emotions are still very raw. now they're pushing for the january 6th commission, along with the mother of the late capitol officer brian sicknick who died the next day. cnn's brian todd reports from washington. >> reporter: for the officers who battled that day, for their families, the trauma of january 6th, they say, continues to reverberate. gladys sicknick, the mother of u.s. capitol police officer brian sicknick who died as a result of the capitol attack, spoke on capitol hill today. >> he just was doing his job and he got caught up in it and it's very sad. >> reporter: for many of the surviving officers, january 6th doesn't seem like it was nearly five months ago. more like a few hours ago. >> this experience like ptsd is very much like a roller coaster ride. some days, man, i'm just good to go and then other days -- or
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other times within the same day i'm just broken. >> reporter: d.c. metropolitan police officer michchchael fano was kicked and tasted. >> shortly thereafter i started to experience i guess some of the more psychological injuries. >> reporter: u.s. capitol police officer harry dunn often seen with his arm around brian sicknick's mother today is dealing with similar trauma. >> you have good days and bad days, but thinking about it takes you back to, like you said, that hell day. >> reporter: since january 6 dunn has spoken about how he fought battles with rioters who often called him an "n" word that day. dunn recently told cnn constant reminders of january 6th aren't helping. >> it's a new story every day.
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it's a new article, it's a new newsclip released, a new arrest made. it's not going away fast enough. >> reporter: one senior capitol hill police officer told cnn anonymously the department is hemorrhaging officers. a law enforcement source says more than 70 u.s. capitol police officers have quit since january 6. >> there's still 40 or 50 who were injured emotionally or physically that day that aren't to full speed. they are just tired of being tired. and maybe tired of being underappreciated. >> reporter: in a letter sent recently to members of congress expressing their frustration with the lack of enough support for a january 6th commission a group of anonymous u.s. capitol police officers wrote about their continuing mental anguish. quote, it is unconscionable to even think anyone could suggest we need to move forward and get over it.
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fanone told cnn he has to see a team of doctors. >> for time i was seeing a speech therapist for some of the cognitive issues i experienced as a result of the traumatic brain injury and other injuries that i sustained on the 6th. >> reporter: former u.s. capitol police chief terrence gainer told us he is worried about the officers still on the job who he says are still exhausted physically and emotionally. he said they are not going to be as sharp as they need to be when they need to make quick decisions to guard against attacks. brian todd, cnn, washington. the girlfriend of fallen capitol police officer brian sicknick is calling on senators to move forward with the commission. she joined sicknick's mother on capitol hill thursday to talk with lawmakers about her long-time boyfriend and push for republican support. >> it's been excruciating, you know, it was -- it was very hard to deal with the ambiguity of not knowing what happened to brian. you know, it was very touch and go there for a while and, you
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know, it was very painful. it was also very hard to know that his last moments on earth were, you know, dealing with what he had to deal with. it was very, very difficult and painful. and then, you know, too, here when his cause of death was released to hear the terrible things that were said by some people in the media and some people online, celebrating his cause was death was very sick. it was very disturbing and very painful for myself and brian's mother and the rest of his family. so it's been very, very upsetting. facts are facts. if they look at the footage that happened, it's very obvious that that was not a peaceful day. police officers were getting attacked, they were getting beaten, fire extinguishers were thrown at them, they were being attacked by flag poles.
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mike and officer dunn here -- i should say officer fanone they can basically tell you right now what they experienced and it wasn't a tourist day. it wasn't tourists just passively walking by. >> one democratic lawmaker says the insurrection is a warning sign about where the country could be headed. congressman jamie raskin says political violence could become the norm if the capitol riot isn't fully investigated. and about the republican lawmakers who opposed the january 6 commission, he says they're choosing politics over country. listen to this. >> well, they've elevated what they think is in their best political interests over what is clearly in the best interest of the country, which is to determine the truth of those events and the cause of those events, but they are too eager to protect donald trump and the evidence of his attempted political coup against the government and against the election and too eager to protect the proud boys and the three percenters and the oath
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keepers in their insurrection against america, and then they are too eager, i think, to protect the rioters themselves who were seduced by donald trump's invitation to come to washington from the truth pause those people will defect very quickly once we simply proclaim the truth, which is that the big lie is a lie. >> and strong words also came from a man who led a review of capitol security after the insurrection. retired u.s. army general russel honore looked into the security failures that made january 6th possible. in his words what really failed that day was the government itself. listen to this. >> the government didn't work that day. if government was working it's no way we wouldn't have had response forces there to help the capitol police and if it were not for the help of the metropolitan police from the district of columbia, god knows what would have happened at the capitol that day.
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our government failed. we need to figure out why did it fail. and we need to respect those officers, as you said, that were hurt and the ones killed with a proper investigation as to what happened so we can prevent this from happening again. look, when speaker -- when clearly mcconnell go home tonight he will get in the black suburban. he has ten capitol police protect him 24/7 if he wants it. if he wanted to go out to dinner tonight, he will go home, collect himself and go to a fine restaurant, they will take him to dinner if he wants. if he want to travel to -- out to his home back in kentucky, they will travel with him and they do. ten of them. now, how does he explain to them that nothing happened and the facts don't matter when they protect him 24/7? this is a travesty of our democracy happening right here. >> and stay with cnn for the latest on this crucial senate vote as i mentioned it's now
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expected to happen sometime today so we will bring you any updates from capitol hill as they happen. in the coming hours the white house is expected to propose a $6 trillion budget for the next fiscal year. congressional republicans are already sounding the alarm about its size and scope. now, this will be the first time joe biden lays out his spending plan which calls for an increase of more than $8 trillion over the next decade. it's basically an opening offer to congress that will kick off the negotiations. >> now we're facing the question what kind of economy are we going to build for tomorrow? what are we going to do? i believe this is our moment to rebuild an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not a trickle down economy from the very wealthy. >> the biden administration's american jobs and american families plans are aimed at helping the u.s. recover from
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the pandemic. olympic organizers in tokyo are planning some changes for the summer games to keep athletes and the public safe from covid-19. for one thing they will issue specific guidelines for each sporting event. meanwhile, the japanese government is expected to extend the state of emergency for areas struggling with a surge in covid cases. japan is averaging about 4,500 infections a day according to johns hopkins university. cnn's blake essig is in tokyo this hour. blake, we heard from the tokyo 2020 president who is holding a press conference. let's start with that. what did she say? >> reporter: kim, just this past hour the tokyo 2020 president said organizers hear the criticism regarding the current covid-19 countermeasures laid out in the playbook and they plan to take that feedback and make recisions for the third edition of the playbook set to be released next month. she also said that in order to
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deal with the variant from india border control measures will be strengthened for six countries. those countries include india, pakistan, nepal, bangladesh, mall december of and sri lanka, she said in order to ensure the safety of the japanese people each have promised all members participating in the games will be vaccinated and will conduct additional testing prior to their arrival in japan. we also heard from an expert panel earlier today hosted by tokyo 2020, they say in terms of covid-19 given the circulation of variants risk that the virus will enter japan is inevitable. while they say the impact of 100,000 visitors coming to japan will be limited, the panel believes it's the movement of those 100,000 people that could cause the spread of infection here in japan. how olympic organizers plan to address that concern is still being worked out. now, fueled by the uk variant covid-19 cases across japan remain high, the country continues to see a record number
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of patients in critical condition and the medical system remains strained, despite the fact that tokyo and several other prefectures have been under a state of emergency since april and there is talk that prime minister suga will extend that state of emergency for an additional three weeks until june 20th, just about a month before the olympics are set to take place. >> blake essig in tokyo. appreciate it. the u.s. intelligence community has been tasked with finding the origin of covid-19 over the next 90 days. now "the new york times" reports that those same intelligence officials recently informed the white house that they are sitting on data that could help pinpoint the answer but needs more robust computer analysis. continues on covid's origin are currently split. some intelligence analysts think people might have caught the virus from handling infected animals, but other agencies suspect the novel coronavirus began in a lab and got out. china angrily rejects that view and insists the virus originated
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and spread organically. will ripley is following developments from taiwan. with all the focus on that lab leak theory chinese officials unsurprisingly reacted with anger and accusations of their own. >> reporter: and you're hearing these counterclaims that the trail of evidence might somehow lead to secretive bases and laboratories around the world, including in the u.s. that was one of the things mentioned in -- as i cover my face here -- this editorial in the china daily that was out today where they talked about the lab leak theory and the investigation by the u.s. being mud slinging, a smear campaign, a conspiracy theory. they say it's propelled by prejudice and police cal need. is it? or is it propelled by the fact that 3.5 million have died from this pandemic? and is it propelled by the fact that the world health organization despite sending a team of 17 to wuhan and the surrounding area in january and february didn't have direct access to a lot of the raw dat?
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is it propelled by the fact that there has been a lack of transparency from the start from china? and is it propelled by the fact that china really doesn't have a lot of motivation at this stage or indication that they're going to play ball on trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened because, a, embarrassing information would be a huge loss of face if it were true and there is no way of knowing whether it's true or not without the kind of investigation that may even be impossible despite this trove of data that investigators say they will be going through. despite the information from the world health organization annexed from the report, talking about samples from 69 animals, a widespread influenza outbreak in and around wuhan around the time that covid was also emerging and information about this possible patient zero who may not have even had any contact with the wildlife market that was believed to be the source of the outbreak, although more and more experts are now saying that the truth is much more complicated.
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kim, getting closer to the truth means global cooperation and when you have china talking about secretive u.s. labs and pointing the finger back at the u.s., even china calling it a political virus, you have a lot of questions about whether or not the truth will be actually found. and in a place like here in taiwan where they have just hit a new daily record for covid deaths, they had 12 deaths all of last year, they announced 19 new deaths today. it's real here. it's real in india, it's real all over the world. it's real for the families of the 3.5 million people who died. people want answers but whether they will be able to get them that is the big question that we don't have the answer to. >> well said. will ripley in taiwan. disturbing new details about the san jose shooter who killed nine people. his previous run-in with federal authorities and why police believed he was a disgruntled employee. plus growing concerns ahead of the 100th anniversary of the tulsa race massacre in the u.s.
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warnings the events could come under attack. stay with us. try our new scented oils for freshness that lasts. crafted to give you amazingly natural smelling fragrances, day after day... ...for up to 60 days. give us one plug for freshness that lasts.
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we're learning new details about the gunman who killed nine
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of his co-workers in san jose, california, on wednesday. federal investigators say the three handguns he used were all obtained legally. while a motive is still unclear, cnn's josh campbell has more on what authorities say they discovered when u.s. customs detained the gunman nearly five years ago. >> reporter: a city in mourning after wednesday's mass shooting in san jose, california. >> we would like to ask that we all take a moment of silence for our fallen workers. >> reporter: valley transportation authority's board chairman glen hendricks honoring the nine victims today with a moment of silence and promises of help. >> we are all grieving together and we want to do everything we possibly can to support each other. >> reporter: investigators are now uncovering more about the 57-year-old man who killed nine of his co-workers wednesday. the shooter identified by law enforcement as samuel james cassidy reported fired 39 rounds at the scene and may have targeted specific co-workers.
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detectives have located three 9 millimeter semi-automatic handguns at the scene. they also found bomb making material in cassidy's employee locker. >> we had our k-9s there and they did a search, some of our dogs alerted on what was his locker. inside were precursor things for explosives, ingredients for a device, actually, you know, detonation cords, things like that. >> reporter: a dhs official told cnn that customs and border protection officials detained cassidy in 2016 after a trip to the philippines and found notes about hatred towards his employer as well as books about terrorism, fear and manifest stows. cnn obtained surveillance footage from a neighbor's house that the neighbor says shows cassidy leaving his home with a duffle bag on wednesday morning. he said he saw his house go up
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in flames around the same time that the shooting took place. >> it's my opinion he had some kind of device in his house to go off simultaneously. >> reporter: officers did not exchange gunfire with cassidy and that he died of suicide. an employee at the railway witnessed the shooting. >> he had a significant agenda and was targeting certain people. he walked by other people, let other people live as he gunned down other people. >> reporter: those who knew the gunman, he was described as a man with anger issues and allegedly abusive. cassidy's ex-wife spoke to our affiliate and said he resented his work and co-ers and that he had two sides. when he was in a good mood he was a great guy, when he was mad, he was mad. the nine victims who tragically lost their lives ranged in age from 29 to 63, including 36-year-old taft taft deep singh
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who was killed while he helped others hide. >> he can go there, too, but he just showed her. >> reporter: the site of the mass shooting the investigation continues. on thursday investigators moved back the form time to timer of this crime scene as they try to reconstruct events. as forensic examiners condition their work law enforcement officers are pouring over everything they know about the shooter. their theory is workplace violence but their work is far from over. josh campbell, cnn, san jose, california. >> a source tells us the u.s. department of homeland security has a warning about possible racially motivated violence. events marking the 100th anniversary of the tulsa race massacre may be targeted by white supremacists. a year ago one district of tuls at that, oklahoma, this dozens of blocks of black-owned
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businesses but on may 31st, 1921 racial tensions led to a massacre killing hundreds of people in that district. the area known as black wall street was burned to the ground. here is some insight into this new warning from andrew mccabe, the former deputy director of the fbi. >> department of homeland security is now thinking about and treating threats from domestic extremists in the same way that we have thought about and handled threats from foreign terrorists, foreign extremists over the last decade or so and that is, i think, a very positive development. we know that the department of homeland security and the fbi both believe that the threat from domestic right wing white supremacist extremists is the most serious terrorist threat that we face in this country today. still ahead we're getting word of a new russian cyber attack. we will have the details of the alleged hack targeting systems
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used by a u.s. government agency. plus a heartbreaking story. two iranian americans detained for years now while other americans in iran have been freed. one family member sits down with us to talk about their ordeal. stay with us. choose stamps.com to mail and ship? no more trips to the post office no more paying full price for postage and great rates from usps and ups mail letters ship packages anytime anywhere for less a lot less get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale when it's hot outside your car is like a sauna go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again steaming up lingering odors. a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale febreze car vent clips stop hot car stench with up to 30 days of freshness. get relief with febreze. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a
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and welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber, you're watching "cnn newsroom." microsoft says russian hackers have carried out another cyber attack, this one targeting an email system used by the usaid agency. the perpetrators are apparently the same group that carried out the solar winds attack late last
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year. we will get to matthew chance live in moscow. more russian hacking. what can you tell us about this latest attack? >> reporter: we've had this posting by microsoft that say that this week they identified this new cyber attack against various aid agencies, non-government organizations in the united states, but also in about 24 other countries as well. that seems to have emanated from russia, they've said it's the same group of hackers that were behind the solar winds attack as you just mentioned. we know that the white house of course have specifically identified two intelligence work that it was the russian foreign intelligence service the svr that they believe was behind the solar winds attack which targeted various u.s. government organizations in an intelligence gathering effort. the u.s. is so sure of that that they of course instituted tough economic sanctions in april
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against russia for that is correct putting restrictions on the purchase of russian government debt, they also sanctioned individuals and companies that were linked with that solar winds attack and even expelled russian diplomats from the country in protest at this wide scale attack which, as i say, they believe cass ware yeed out by the russian security services. if this latest attack is indeed by the same group of hackers backed by the russian intelligence service you're going to expect to see some kind of reaction as well from the white house. it all of course adds to the fraught atmosphere that is generating ahead of the face-to-face talks, the summit that's been organized between presidents biden and putin, the russian leader in geneva in the middle of next month. there is also a list as long as your arm of things they have to discuss, issues they don't agree on, whether it's hacking or the detention of the opposition figure here, the military buildup near ukraine. this adds more tension and pressure than relationship.
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>> it will be interesting to see what the repercussions of this will be. matthew chance in moscow, thanks so much for that. the belarus government claims it had good reasons for diverting a ryanair flight that happened to have a dissident journalist on board who is now in state custody but the timing doesn't add up. belarusian authorities said they received an email about a bomb on board and that is why i forced the plane to land in minsk but cnn obtained a time stamp on the email showing it was over an half an hour. the email provider confirms the timing. the belarusian president is getting ready to meet with his key ally the russian president set for later today in the russian resort city of sochi. there's chaos and panic in the democratic republic of congo as tens of thousands of people are fleeing goma.
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a deadly volcano threatens to erupt a second time in less than a week. officials are worried about earthquakes, lava flows or an implosion from magma underground. joining me is larry ma dough woe. i understand oopts you are standing on the lava that flowed from the last eruption. what's the latest there? >> reporter: kim, we're standing on top of what is left of the lava which erupted on sunday. this was smoke billowing from that mountain. the lava lake is now clear but the damage is still very evident for people to see. what you see there is i go niece rock, a molten lava that wiped out this settlement, several homes, about 900 to 1,000 that were completely wiped out of here. 31 people died as a result of this and the government still telling people in ten neighborhoods around here in goma that it is not safe for
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them to stay. aid agencies tell cnn half a million people were on the move yesterday trying to get away to safety because there is still magma underground that might implode, tmethane gas and if thy combine there could be a catastrophic event. this is a major highway two provinces, that road was completely taken out and they are only trying to reestablish it back. it's not successful, a bit of traffic because they're driving on top of this molten lava, this i go niece rock. the earthquake could be a sign of another -- another eruption coming up or there could be other danger. the air is polluted, the water here is poisonous and power is not restored to most parts of this city. still a long way from recovery and the government can't tell people here when it will be safe for them to go back to their own homes. >> unbelievable scenes you're showing us there.
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stay s.e.a.l. thanks so much for that. a family member of two iranian-americans who are being detained by tehran is speaking out just as washington tries to revive the iran nuclear deal. he's pleading with the biden administration to not forget about his loved ones accused of working for the u.s. he sat down with cnn's kylie atwood. >> reporter: he is living in fear. >> indescribable nightmare. >> reporter: both his brother and father are detained in iran and while the biden administration is in talks to reenter the iran nuclear deal he is worried about them getting left behind again. his concerns are justified. american prisoners were released from iran in 2016 on the same day the u.s. officially entered the iran nuclear deal. then in 2019 as part of a prisoner swap and once again just last year, but every time his family members remained in
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iran. >> it's time i saw lights at the end of the tunnel. it's turned out to be a fast moving train, unfortunately. >> reporter: he fears for their lives every day. particularly if they are abandoned once again. >> i have no doubt that they will not survive. my brother has said so much himself. how much can any human being endure in these kind of conditions to be mistreated, tortured, six years that this has been going on and then also be betrayed by your own government in a sense. >> reporter: the family's nightmare started when his brother was taken into custody in 2015, accused of working with the u.s. government which the family denies. the following year when american prisoners were freed as the iran deal was implemented, he was told his brother would be released within weeks. but that never happened. >> that tried and failed catastrophically because not only -- he was not released, but within weeks my dad was taken, as well as other hostages.
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>> reporter: his father flew to iran to get his son out and that's when he was arrested by iranian authorities. charged with the same alleged crime. and while in prison the 84-year-old had two heart surgeries and nearly died. his sentence was commuted last year, but he is still not allowed to leave iran. he said his brother has been tortured in prison. >> he was beaten up physically, tased, tied down, he had wires connected to him with threats of electrification. >> reporter: babak is in washington this week, he will meet with members of congress and see state department officials who he is in regular contact with. he has requested a meeting with the white house but that has not been granted. >> your heart has been broken multiple times before. what gives you any confidence that this time it won't happen again? >> i don't have a good answer. i guess faith in humanity. i still have that faith. >> reporter: the state department says securing the
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release is a top priority. >> we can't forget them and anything that happens on the nuclear side whether we succeed or fail our goal is going to be to get them back home. >> reporter: there are some signs that talks over the iran deal are happening in parallel to the discussions about the release of his father and brother, but he says the release may require bold action. >> i think the expectation i have from president biden along with i have had from all other presidents is to be prepared to make difficult decisions. to make courageous decisions. >> reporter: the weight on babak's shoulders is unimaginable. he says that thoughts about securing the release of his father and his brother engulf him every single day from the minute he wakes up until the time he goes to bed at night. one devastating thing is that his son recently graduated from college and it for him apart that both his father and his brother couldn't be there to watch. kylie atwood, cnn, the state department. marjorie taylor greene's
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short time in congress has been eventually to say the least and if a rally thursday night in georgia is any indication she's just getting warmed up. we will tell but it just ahead. plus the blue wave that didn't happen. republican red shines bright deep in the heart of texas. we will explain. you're watching "cnn newsroom." stay with us.
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controversial georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene one of donald trump's most vociferous supporters didn't mince words as she address add political rally in her home district. her brash and incendiary rhetoric about the holocaust might be appalling to some of her republican colleagues but that hasn't silenced her and just the opposite. listen to this. >> four years calling republicans nazis. yeah, remember that? how many times have you seen it?
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nazis. that's a mean, nasty, dirty word. you know, nazis were the national socialist party. just like the democrats are now a national socialist party. >> political analysts say it would be wrong to dismiss greene as an aberration. she's recently proven to be one of the republican party's top fundraisers, bringing in $3 million in the first quarter. former u.s. house speaker paul ryan is speaking out against donald trump and his hold on the republican party. ryan gave a speech in california thursday urging republicans to move away from the, quote, populist appeal of one personality and remember the core principles of conservatively. he didn't mention the former president by name, but the remarks add him to a growing list of establishment republicans who are speaking out against trump's grip on the gop. ryan retired from congress in 2018. in texas the republican-controlled state legislature is working towards a
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controversial bill that vit iks say directly targets voting rights. republicans have managed to hold on to power for years in the lone star state despite warnings of a blue wave for democrats. cnn's ed lavandera reports. >> reporter: as the clock struck midnight wednesday inside the texas capital, this group of democratic state representatives celebrated the end of a day long effort to kill a number of republican bills, but it was one of the few moments you will kind a democrat smiling in texas these days. >> we've really been just steam rolled. >> reporter: texas lawmakers are wrapping up a legislative session and democratic state representative donna howard says she's surprised even by texas standards by the red meat agenda pushed by texas republicans in the months since the november election. >> i think it has a lot to do with -- with what happened in the last election, there's some
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bitterness there and that they want to see some of the democrats squirm. >> reporter: remember all that talk about democrats turning texas blue in 2020? republicans crushed those dreams for now. >> cnn projects that president trump will win the state of texas. >> reporter: in 2012 mitt romney beat barack obama in texas by 16 points. in 2016 donald trump beat hillary clinton by nine points and in 2020 trump won by five. so you might think that as presidential elections here in texas get closer and closer that texas republicans would become more moderate, but that's just not what we've seen here in the texas capital. texas republicans have pass add heartbeat bill banning most abortions as early as six weeks. a permitless carry bill will allow texans to carry a handgun without a license or training. republicans are pushing an election overhaul with new voter
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restrictions. another bill aims to control how systemic racism is taught in schools. but bills aimed at fixing the state's power grid system that failed during february's deadly winter storm have not yet passed. brendan stein houser is a veteran republican strategist in texas. he said while predictions of the republican downfall in texas went up in smoke, republicans felt emboldened to push further to the right and toward donald trump. >> there is no real political incentive for those in the state house or nat state senate who are republicans to do anything but appeal to the base. >> reporter: he just helped run the campaign of michael wood, an anti-trump republican candidate in a special congressional election. wood didn't come close to winning. >> where is the republican party in texas right now? >> we find ourselves having been very successful in the last cycle, but also kind of worried about the long-term future of the party. >> reporter: signs are everywhere that donald trump's shadow looms larger than ever over texas republicans and now
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the state's republican party is led by alan west who is pushing the party to not be afraid of embracing trump. we caught up with him at a neighborhood fundraising with conservative activists. >> do you worry that sessions like this end up driving away maybe middle of the road voters. >> do you know what my dad taught me, i grew up in georgia, he said the only thing in the middle of the road is road kill and i don't want to be road kill. >> reporter: and the political battles in texas will only continue to intensify later this year state lawmakers will have to come back to austin and battle out the new redistricting plans here in this state to set congressional district boundaries lines. this state is set to gain two more seats so you can imagine how intense those fights will be in the fall. ed lavandera, cnn, dallas. prince harry is opening up again to oprah winfrey. we will bring you what he says are the two most pressing issues we are all facing today. we will bring you that next. stay with us. finding care was d
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golf legend tiger woods speaks out for the first time about his recovering from his serious car crash and the nba playoffs are in full swing with
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some bad behavior from fans. here is patrick snell with a minute in sports. >> reporter: well, tiger woods giving his first interview since a car crash left him needing emergency surgery earlier this year. woods telling golf digest his number one goal to walk on his own and that his rehab is more painful than anything he has ever experienced. three nba teams banning fans after players suffered unruly and disrespectful behavior. the knicks confirming a fan spit on trae young during a wednesday playoff game. on thursday a third straight victory for milwaukee over miami while lebron james and the lakers seeding the win to give them a 2-1 advantage over the suns. ahead of the french open naomi osaka who said she won't be doing press conferences in paris citing players' mental health issues learning she could meet the canadian bianca andescu
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in the quarters. the countdown is down, the teemts chelsea, and he is chester city will meet in the champions.league final. back to you, kim. prince harry and oprah winfrey are continuing their conversation about mental health on apple tv plus. their documentary series kicked off last week and follow-up town hall discussion started streaming today. cnn's bianca nobilo joins me live. so what are we hearing from the prince? >> reporter: yes, kim, this was another program in the series called the me you can't see, a path forward. documenting prince harry's struggles with mental health and the changes that he wants to see. something he was keen to reiterate throughout the conversation with oprah winfrey is the fact that he thinks the two biggest challenges facing society and the planet are
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climate change and mental health. but he actually sees an inextricable link theen twoes two things. let's take a listen to what he had to say. >> but all this time later i believe even more that climate change and mental health are two of the most pressing issues that we're facing and in many ways they are linked. the connecting line is about our collective well-being and when our collective well-being erodes that effects our ability to be caretakers of ourselves, our communities and our planet. >> reporter: and as part of prince harry's mission to try to normalize discussions around mental health and improve people's mental health he says it's paramount the vulnerability becomes normal, it becomes healthy and it's encouraged. that was something he stressed throughout as well. he also touched on the very serious topic that he and his wife have been campaigning about and seeking on and, of course, that's suicide. he said that even though it can be extremely difficult to be the
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person on the receiving end of a conversation with someone who might be having suicidal thoughts, that the most important thing someone can ever do is simply to be there and to listen. and that is the key first step. and as part of that discussion he spoke to zach williams the son of robin williams who died of suicide in 2014 and they shared their experience about how difficult it can be to lose a loved one when they're famous, when they are so well-known and many people in the public are also grieving for that loss. here is what prince harry had to say. i think we have a lot of shared experience when you talk about that is correct when you see so many people around the world grieving for something they felt as though they knew better than you did in a weird way because you're unable to grieve yourself. he said how are you grieving more for someone who is my parent and i'm unable to grieve myself? so once again, kim, remarkably open discussions that a member of the british royal family is having in an effort he says to try to normalize discussions
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around mental health and help people who might be struggling with some of these issues. >> very important. bianca nobilo, thanks so much. the one where they reunited. 17 years later. the famous cast of "friends" met once more for an almost two-hour special on hbo max, the sister company to cnn. six celebrities strolled around their old sets while reminiscing on their ten-year run of the show. ♪ smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you ♪ >> celebrity cameos and james corden, creators and other former guest stars and of course clips of the iconic show. that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom," i'm kim brunhuber. "early start" is next.
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