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New Day

Crisis of Central American Migrant Children Crossing U.S. Border Continues; Rocket Fire from Gaza into Israel Continues; Germany Routs Brazil in World Cup Game; Donald Sterling's Contentious Court Battle; Cleaning Up After the Storms; Pilot Buys Passengers Pizza

Aired July 09, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us with the very latest. What's going to come from this request, Jim, what do you think?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, Republicans are already balking. And as for the meeting between president Obama and Texas Governor Rick Perry, it promises to be a tense Texas showdown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: With the ink barely dry on the president's nearly $4 billion plan to halt the flood of undocumented immigrants flowing across the U.S. border, prominent Republicans in Congress are already saying no deal.

REP. BOB GOODLATTE, (R) VIRGINIA: They have asked the Congress for a blank check, an awful lot of money that comes to tens of thousands of dollars for each one of these children.

ACOSTA: Nearly half of the $3.7 billion White House proposal is devoted to caring for the unaccompanied minors from Central America. The rest goes to detention and removal costs, more border patrols and surveillance, and immigration legal teams to speed up deportation proceedings. Administration officials say GOP critics want to have it both ways.

CECILIA MUNOZ, DIRECTOR, DOMESTIC POLICY COUNCIL: They don't get to acknowledge that this is a serious humanitarian problem and then say offhand that they won't provide the support to make sure that we can deal with this problem.

ACOSTA: Part of the problem, existing U.S. laws that require border crossers to be returned quickly if they come from Mexico. Yet the undocumented from Central America receive special legal protections, a distinction former President Bush signed into law to fight human trafficking.

DORIS MEISSNER, MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE: It is the protection that is required under U.S. law, but it has now escalated to the point of creating a migration emergency. ACOSTA: Making the border crisis tougher to solve is the political

brawl between the president and Texas Governor Rick Perry. After an exchange of insults --

GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) TEXAS: I have to believe that when you do not respond in any way that you are either inept or you have some ulterior motive.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The truth is it's hard to take seriously Governor Perry's concerns.

ACOSTA: The two leaders will meet in dal yes, hundreds of miles from the border. Aides say the president won't be visiting.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, (R) TEXAS: I hope the president will reconsider. He really needs to go there and see for this for himself and not just rely on his advisers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, as for that face-to-face encounter between President Obama and Texas Governor Rick Perry, all aides will talk about in terms of a meeting between these two leaders is a roundtable discussion the president is having later on today with faith leaders and local elected officials in Dallas. Governor Perry will be there. As for a one-on-one separate meeting, aides on both sides are just not saying whether or not that will take place. Kate, they are being very, very tight-lipped, and, John, they are being very, very tight- lipped about how all of this is going to go down later today. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jim Acosta at the White House. That will be interesting to see. Let's talk more about this now. We'll bring in Congressman Joaquin Castro. He's a Democrat from Texas who serves on the house Foreign Relations Committee. Congressman thank you so much for being with us this morning.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO, (D) TEXAS: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Just heard Jim Acosta lay out $3.7 billion from the President Obama. Is this something you support?

CASTRO: I think it's something that we should thoughtfully consider and carefully consider. It's unfortunate that the president is having to make this request because for two years now Congress has not done anything on comprehensive immigration reform. A lot of the things he's asking for could have been dealt with in either the Senate version of immigration reform or House version. So it's unfortunate that it's come to this, but I do think that we need to look at it carefully.

BERMAN: You say you will consider it. That's not a definitive yes or no for the record.

CASTRO: Sure.

BERMAN: You've recently visited a border facility where you saw where many of the children are being housed right now?

CASTRO: Well, I visited the emergency shelter at Lackland Air Force Base in my district in San Antonio.

BERMAN: And what was that like?

CASTRO: Well, very Spartan conditions. It's a military base, so you have, you know, a few dozen kids per room and in single beds. But it was nothing like the pictures we saw coming out of the processing centers along the border which were just horrendous.

BERMAN: The pictures that you describe are very dramatic. There are a lot of people, Republicans and Democrats, suggesting the president should go see those for himself when he heads to your state later today and tomorrow. Do you think he should?

CASTRO: Well, this is not going to be his last opportunity to make it to the border. Also I think that the president should make it out there if he feels that going down there would help his understanding of the situation, you know. This is something that the president is dealing with every day, that much of his administration is committed a lot of resources to finding out about, and so I think if he thinks it will help his understanding he should go down there.

BERMAN: You had time to spend with some of these children who are here, some of the tens of thousands at this point of children from Honduras, El Salvador, from Central America who are here in the United States right now, many of them on these longer stays because of a 2008 law that was signed by president George W. Bush that provides for different rules than for kids from Mexico, for instance, who cross over the border here. Do you think that that rule, that law now needs to be changed?

CASTRO: I think that we can look at it, but I don't think anything should be done in haste. And also no matter what we do, these kids should be given due process and should be allowed to make their case for asylum. And the United States over the last several years has not been great about giving people due process to make their case. These immigration hearings are just start and stop, very quick. So these kids should be given every due process.

BERMAN: Due process and make their case for asylum. Do you think, sir, some, many, most of them should be sent back?

CASTRO: I think that some of them will be sent back, but I also think that many of them would qualify for asylum and should be considered as refugees.

BERMAN: How would you tell those who will be sent back that they are going to be sent back? How would you tell a 10-year-old or a 12-year- old kid that you can't stay here in the United States?

CASTRO: Well, obviously that's a very difficult thing to do, and our immigration judges do it literally every day. But, you know, it's something that we've got to do as the United States. You know, we have to have immigration laws. People have to come here a certain way, but I do think that many of them, because they are fleeing very violent and dangerous situations where they would be killed if they go home, I think many of them would qualify for asylum.

BERMAN: Congressman Joaquin Castro, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate the discussion this morning.

CASTRO: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: Let's turn to the Middle East now. The situation there escalating overnight as hundreds of rockets and missiles were exchanged between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military now mobilizing troops for a possible ground invasion, an operation Israel says is aimed at stopping the heavy barrage of rocket attacks coming from the Palestinian territory. CNN's Diana Magnay is live from the Israel Gaza border with much more. Diana?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate. Well, it does appear as though the barrage of rocket fire that we had coming out of Gaza yesterday has subsided somewhat overnight. There have been eight, nine, 10 intercepts behind us. This is the Iron Dome missile defense system which has shielded Israel's main cities, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, from rocks that were aimed towards them yesterday. And we've seen intercepts ourselves in the sky.

But that does not necessarily mean that through its airstrikes the Israeli defense forces have neutralized the massive rocket firing capabilities. In fact, I don't think it's possible to read too much into it. Iron Dome, though, has intercepted 50 rockets so far. Air raid sirens continue to sound across Israel's main cities and, of course, in Gaza the airstrikes continue. The Israelis say that they have struck 160 targets overnight, most of them concealed rocket launchers, the homes of Hamas militants, caches where they are storing weapons. There have been casualties. The count is now 26, eight children in amongst them. And so the conflict continues with the possibility of using ground troops in Gaza, still hypothetical, but being talked about more and more. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Diana Magnay, thank you so much, Diana. You've been in the middle of it and will continue to follow it. Thank you very, very much for your reporting.

In a stunning upset Germany advanced to the World Cup final after defeating Brazil pause, pause, pause, 7-1. It was an agonizing loss. All you have to do is look at the faces of the fans that were in the stands, the worst loss by a home team in World Cup history. The defeat sent shock waves through the crowd. Fans were visibly distraught and in utter disbelief, their World Cup Finals dreams destroyed. CNN's Amanda Davies is live in Brazil with much more. Amanda, they're waking up with quite a hangover this morning, I'm sure.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, they are waking up hoping it was all a dream, and it is really probably worse than the nightmare that they experienced last night. It was one of the most incredible nights of football that I've ever been part of.

And just to make things worse for the Brazilian fans this morning, you turn on the televisions here and all you can see on every channel is the reruns of that match and the postmortem, the analysis, pulling it apart bit by bit is well under way. You suspect that that is going to be going on for much, muff longer as well. And it really wasn't pretty to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIES: After suffering a devastating defeat Tuesday night, some Brazilian World Cup fans taking their anger to the streets. On the field, Germany humiliated the World Cup host country, scoring goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two-nil.

DAVIES: After goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's three.

DAVIES: After goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four to nil.

DAVIES: Five in the first 29 minutes of the game, ruthlessly scouring Brazil in their own backyard and ending their 39-year winning streak, making it Brazil's first loss at a home game since 1975, any hopes of winning the World Cup dashed before the end of the first half.

Germany's goalkeeper rejecting Brazil's shots one after another, and after 70 minutes Germany held a 6-0 lead. Just before the 90-minute mark Brazil finally scored their first and only goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He might score here, he does.

DAVIES: Fans in utter disbelief, grieving in the stands, devastated by the worst loss for a host team in World Cup history, Germany clobbering Brazil in a 7-1 victory, Brazilian players booed off by their own fans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's 7-1, it's unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a shame for Brazil.

DAVIES: The team's coach called it the worst day of his life, saying "I asked the Brazilian people please excuse us for this negative mistake."

Police in riot gear moved swiftly to clear the streets post-game, making some arrests. Brazil's president tweeting on behalf of a country in mourning writing "Like every Brazilian I am very, very sad about this defeat. I am immensely sorry for all of us, fans and our players."

(END VIDEOTAPE) BOLDUAN: I mean, Amanda, yes, everyone is sad. Every Brazil fan is absolutely sad and distraught this morning, but have they gotten to the reason why they think it was such a horrible loss? Was Germany better, or did Brazil just not show up?

DAVIES: Yes. That is where the fun really starts, Kate. There are so many different takes on this. There is no doubt Germany put in the performance of the last few years really for them. They were in control. They were clinical. They dominated the midfield. They only had 10 shots on goal, and seven of them became goals. That was how efficient they were. The German fans around us were saying it's the best German performance they have seen in a very, very long time. And they had a score to settle because Germany have been knocked out of the World Cup at the semifinal for the last two tournaments, so they definitely wanted to prove a point.

Brazil was without two of their key men in Neymar and captain and defender Thiago Silva. We knew that they were important, but it turns out they are the players who basically held this team together. And without them, I heard a great analogy, it was essentially like pulling a plug out of the bath. Without them it all went down the plug hole and fell to pieces.

The coach put his hands out saying it's his full and his responsibility, but I think the players really need to have a look at themselves and say, you know what, we got a bit carried away with the emotion of it. Standing captain meant to be the central defender, he was miles up the pitch, and they just seemed to get too carried away with what was at stake.

BOLDUAN: Amanda Davies, thanks so much.

BERMAN: It went down the plug hole.

BOLDUAN: That's the best way to put it. I know I was joking a little bit, but should there be the little league mercy rule?

BERMAN: Little League. My boys play U7 soccer. They play better defense. They play better defense than Brazil did yesterday. They gave up after the second goal. That is what was to me so disheartening. It's one thing to lose. It's another thing to look like you're not putting every ounce of effort into it.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Having lived in Brazil I know that in Brazil soccer is second only to oxygen in terms of vitality for life.

BERMAN: And then it's close.

PEREIRA: And it's very close. And so all I could think about is what is it going to be like today in Brazil? I want to show you something we found on social media and I think it kind of captures.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: Christ the Redeemer in Rio, even he doesn't even know what to make of it. BOLDUAN: I'm going to start a petition. There may be should be a

mercy rule.

BERMAN: Insult to injury, they have to play in the third place game on Saturday.

BOLDUAN: Doesn't the coach have to present the cup or something like that?

BERMAN: That's ugly, too.

PEREIRA: They literally looked shocked themselves, the players.

BERMAN: Germany, every time they scored a goal, we scored again? They let us score again.

BOLDUAN: I was like, the ref is saying we haven't started the clock yet. Even though I know the clock never stops.

PEREIRA: Unbelievable.

BOLDUAN: Some freaky Friday on a Tuesday.

BERMAN: Down the plug hole.

BOLDUAN: Down the plug hole, that's the way to describe it.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, the Donald Sterling saga is heating up as he takes the stand during a contentious court battle, and it certainly was not without any drama. We're going to bring you the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Donald Sterling might be back on the witness stand today in the trial to stop his wife's sale of the L.A. Clippers. Sterling gave contentious testimony, going after the NBA, the doctors -- and the doctors who declared him mentally impaired.

Sara Sidner has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The drama started before court even began with the entrance of Shelly Sterling. Her husband Donald Sterling was ushered through a private entrance, but it was his testimony in court that created the biggest stir.

Donald Sterling was emotional. At first, he teared up when talking about his wife Shelly. "I trusted my wife. I relied on her. I love her," he said, and took a deep breath, trying not to cry. Then continued. "I authorized her to negotiate. Negotiate is not to consummate a sale."

For most of the testimony, though, he was combative and at times even ridiculed his estranged wife's attorney Bert Fields, who is one of L.A.'s most feared litigators. At one point, Donald Sterling objects to a question Fields asks, saying, "Be a man, for god's sake. Stand up and be a man."

For several questions involving dates and times, Donald said he didn't remember, even when Shelly's attorney read out what Donald said during this interview with CNN's own Anderson Cooper.

DONALD STERLING, L.A. CLIPPERS OWNER: I have 29 partners in a league that's a wonderful league. I respect them and I love every owner. Every owner knows me. I love the commissioner.

SIDNER: Sterling said he couldn't remember that exchange either, but he did remember exactly why he did not want to sell the team for $2 billion. He believes his wife was being taken advantage of by the NBA and the team was actually worth more, even double.

UNIENTIFIED MALE: The idea that this is $2 billion is an extravagance, it's wrong. He actually thinks it will be worth more than that because of the television contracts down the road.

SIDNER: As for his performance on the stand, both sides were equally enthusiastic.

BERT FIELDS, SHELLY STERLING'S ATTORNEY: Donald Sterling did nothing but prove that the doctors were absolutely correct in their conclusions. And, you know, you can't help but be -- feel a little sad, sympathy for the man, because clearly he's not working with all of his faculties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Donald did an excellent job on the stand. I want to say out of all the lawyers that were in that room, if I needed a lawyer, I'd hire him. I think the claim that he lacks competency is a sham. It's absurd.

SIDNER (on camera): It was clear to the packed courtroom that Donald Sterling was holding court in probate court.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks to Sara for that. That we'll continue and be interesting to see every last minute of.

BOLDUAN: Every turn.

BERMAN: Let's go to the northeast now, cleaning up after deadly storms killed at least five people. Tornadoes reported in Ohio, Pennsylvania. High winds destroyed several buildings in upstate New York, downed power lines, left hundreds of thousands without electricity. The question is are more storms in the forecast today? Only one person in this room knows the answer to that question, meteorologist Indra Petersons.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEROLOGIST: I don't know if anyone is my friend because it was such a rough night last night, and we really saw a lot of those storms really kicking through the region. And what we're still dealing with right now is the same jet stream obviously sticking a little bit farther down to the south. So as long as we see this kind of a weather pattern, we're still going to be talking about thunderstorms.

Speaking of last night, I mean, just take a look at what we saw. Five reports of tornado damage were out there. But look at all the reports of wind and even hail as that system really cruised from the Ohio Valley and slowly spread all the way even into the northeast. That's the squall line that's now kicked out of area, but you can see we still have a couple of scattered showers on the back side of this. And we'll continue to see that until about the middle of the week here or so, today right?

Looking at the cold front kind of sagging down to the southeast. Still talking about those showers in here today, but notice as we go through the second half of our work week, high pressure builds in for the northeast. So really pretty as we go through the weekend. However, of course, one cold front only means another one is right behind it. So, Chicago, gorgeous day. Talking about 70s, beautiful sunny skies, but a cold front kind of starts right towards your weekend, means some rain for you by Friday or so.

So where we have the cold front kind of sagging today in the southeast, that's where we have the heaviest rain. About 2 to 4 inches in that region. Otherwise, everyone else looking for plenty of sunshine. Most importantly, as we go towards the weekend, it clears out and it is beautiful, which means I'm a happy camper and I'm guessing all of you guys are too.

BERMAN: Yes, yes.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Happy campers. Thanks, Indra.

BERMAN: Next up for us on NEW DAY, a heated battle in Idaho. A gay veteran denied burial next to her late wife. Now she's suing. She will join us to talk about this fight.

BOLDUAN: And the bear was loose in Colorado last night, folks. President Obama spent the night in Denver and he played some pool, he drank some beers, and then things got a little weird.

BERMAN: It's Denver.

BOLDUAN: We'll explain on INSIDE POLITICS next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Good you have to back with us on NEW DAY. Let's take a look at your headlines.

The conflict in the Middle East getting more intense by the day as more fire is exchanged overnight near the Gaza Strip. Israel now warning of a possible ground invasion as it launched 160 air strikes against militants. Hamas firing more than 130 rockets towards Israel in the last day, some of them being fired at civilians as far as away Tel Aviv, but they were intercepted by Israel's missile defense system. Israel says so far there have been 56 successful intercepts by Iron Dome missiles.

Japan's main island bracing for this season's most powerful storm. Typhoon Neoguri caused severe flooding, left two people dead on the island of Okinawa on Tuesday. Meteorologists say the storm has weakened slightly, but it still is dangerous. Neoguri is expected to reach the island of Kyushu today. About 90,000 people there are being evacuated to shelters.

House lawmakers praising whistleblowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs for coming forward despite a culture of retaliation. At a hearing Tuesday, four of them discussed solutions and described what they endured -- transfers, harassment, even breaks between paychecks. Investigators are looking into 67 claims of supervisor retaliation after a CNN investigation exposed long patient wait times and falsified records.

The skies really were friendly for passengers on a plane forced to land in bad weather. A Frontier Airlines flight from D.C. to Denver turned into a seven-hour nightmare, was forced to land in Cheyenne, Wyoming. After waiting for about an hour on the tarmac, the pilot did something cool. He ordered Dominos pizza for everyone on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PILOT: I was getting hungry and we're kind of a big family here at Frontier. We take care of each other. And I think it's time to take care of my passengers here, and I called Dominos and ordered some pizza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Atta boy. The flight eventually made it to Denver about five hours late but with bellies full. The only thing -- and I'm not trying to be cynical -- the only thing that I can think is a problem here is all those other pilots are going to take this guy's name in vain. Like really? You make us all look bad. No, because they're going to say now everybody is going to expect pizza.

BOLDUAN: Every flight I'm on, I'm going to be --

PEREIRA: Right. Where's my pizza?

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Exactly. I'm going to bring it up every time. So you know we had pizza on the last leg. What you got, burgers?

What do you have for us, John King? Did you send us pizza today? INSIDE POLITICS.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDIE POLITICS": Cinnamon rolls, the fruit tray didn't get there?

BOLDUAN: Cinnamon rolls, now you're speaking my language. KING: Check the control room. I think they stole the snacks.

BOLDUAN: They always do.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Good morning, everybody. We're going to go INSIDE POLITICS with no food here at moment. Anyway, with me on this busy morning to share their reporting and their insights, Molly Ball of "The Atlantic", Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times".

Let's start with the president trying to deal with the border crisis. The administration first floated he would ask for about $2 billion. The request actually went up yesterday and he asked for $3.7 billion. The president says that is needed to deal with the humanitarian crisis, to have a surge of border people, more judges to handle this, some other resources to deal with this.

But listen here, Bob Goodlatte is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. They would have to consider this legislation. He says I don't think so.