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Ryan Vows to Defund Planned Parenthood; Trump Supporter Needs Obamacare; Day Three of Death Penalty Trial. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 06, 2017 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:49] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The House speaker, Paul Ryan, vowing to defund Planned Parenthood as part of a plan to repeal Obamacare. But trying the two together could be a problem for some centrist Republicans and put the Obamacare repeal in jeopardy. Another potential problem, another top Republican says the party has no comprehensive plan to replace Obamacare.

Let's bring in CNN's senior political reporter Manu Raju. He's live on Capitol Hill with more.

Good morning, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning.

Yes, I'm outside a House Republican conference meeting where they're actually discussing a number of issues going forward, Obamacare being one of them. Now, the problem for Republicans in tying the Planned Parenthood issue to the Obamacare repeal is in the numbers. In the Senate, there are 52 Republicans. They need to have - make sure they don't lose more than three Republicans in order to pass an Obamacare repeal some time this year. But two Republican moderate senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine are both objecting to tying the Planned Parenthood funding to an Obamacare repeal. And Rand Paul of Kentucky, he's objecting for another reason. He believes it raises the deficit and he won't vote for the bill because of that.

Now, you add this complication, some House conservatives are demanding that the Planned Parenthood funding be tied to an Obamacare repeal. One of them, Trent Franks of Arizona. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TRENT FRANKS (R), ARIZONA: And I believe that the sands of time ought to blow over this Capitol dome before we ever give Planned Parenthood one more dime of taxpayer dollars. So don't misunderstand my position there.

RAJU: And you - would you oppose the Obamacare repeal if it did not have the Planned Parenthood funding?

FRANKS: Well, I'm not going to link the two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, federal funding doesn't go to abortions because of the so- called Hyde (ph) amendment that restricts federal funding from going to abortions. But this has been an effort for a long time to try to kill this organization among conservatives.

And one other thing, Carol, you mentioned, John Cornyn of Texas, the number two Senate Republican, says that he believes that this Obamacare replace will happen step by step. That means no full-scale comprehensive plan to replace it that the Republicans plan to propose sometime this year.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live from Capitol Hill, thank you.

Not all Trump supporters think rolling back Obamacare is a good idea though. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, spoke with one Trump voter who not only supports Obamacare, but needs it desperately.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB RUSCOE, TRUMP VOTER, NEEDS OBAMACARE: They wouldn't sell it to me at any price. It was just not - but that was - I was overweight. So I was a risk.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Back in 2013, Bob Ruscoe, then 53-years-old, was a familiar story in America. Too familiar. He was more than 100 pounds overweight. At risk of heart disease and diabetes. He was also self-employed and no company wanted to offer him health care insurance. He was considered too big a risk.

GUPTA (on camera): Was that tough to go uninsured?

RUSCOE: Well, it doesn't make you warm and fuzzy, but I didn't like it, but it was the reality of the situation.

GUPTA: When did you first hear about the Affordable Care Act?

[09:35:00] RUSCOE: It was all over the news.

GUPTA: What did you think?

RUSCOE: I thought it was a good idea, even though I'm a conservative.

GUPTA: So when did you first sign up for Obamacare?

RUSCOE: When it was first available. It was October, I remember, and I wanted to be covered because it's important.

GUPTA (voice-over): And, as a result, starting in 2014, Bob was able to get insurance after subsidies. It was finally within reach, and a big relief.

RUSCOE: September was, I can't wait until October, just the feeling of coming out of the rain, if you will. You know, you're - you're out there to the breezes. You know, you can do all you can. You get healthy. You try to be safe. But there's a certain amount of fate that's just out there. So to have coverage, it was - whew.

GUPTA: Which makes what happened next all the more surprising.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Repeal and replace.

GUPTA (on camera): Look, OK, you voted for Donald Trump, who promised to repeal something that you're very much benefiting from. But, again, just how do you - how do you explain that to people?

RUSCOE: I did what I thought was correct for the overall good of the country. I think economic strength cures a lot of things. People working, making decent money, that certainly helps out. I'd rather not need the subsidies. I'd rather be working.

TRUMP: We are repealing and replacing Obamacare. We can reverse the stagnation and usher in a period of true opportunity and growth.

GUPTA (voice-over): That repealing Obamacare would be good for the economy, it's a common refrain. But the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests the opposite. They say fully repealing Obamacare would cost roughly $350 billion over ten years and would also increase the number of uninsured by 23 million.

GUPTA (on camera): If he does repeal Obamacare, as he's promised to do, what is that going to mean for you?

RUSCOE: No insurance.

GUPTA: No insurance. That was a big problem for you before.

RUSCOE: I wasn't happy about it.

GUPTA (voice-over): Truth is, some of the states that most benefited from Obamacare had a majority who voted for Trump, like Ruscoe's home state of Florida. In fact, Florida has the highest percentage of enrollees in the nation. One in ten Floridians under 65 signed on for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

Ruscoe credits Obamacare with profoundly changing his health. And because of that, this lifelong conservative wrestled for the first time with the idea of voting Democrat.

RUSCOE: If I would have voted for what I thought was strictly best for me, I would have voted for her because the health care plan gives us peace of mind, medical screening, to stop something before it gets worse.

Look at how many things have gotten better.

GUPTA: Ruscoe says he has no regrets about voting for President-elect Trump, but he would tell him this.

RUSCOE: Each day we face the possibility of losing our home and going into bankruptcy. One thing did (ph) come in, the health care act has taken that worry away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Well, Carol, I think you can hear just how agonizing a decision this was for Bob Ruscoe. It really came down to two things for him. One is, OK, yes, I've heard repeal over and over again, but I'm not quite sure it's going to happen. Many those many parts of the Affordable Care Act that will be still in place. The other thing was, Bob believed that he was voting for an economy president. And if the economy improved under Trump, perhaps he wouldn't need the subsidies from the Affordable Care Act. That's how he pieced it together. It wasn't easy, but it's a little bit of insight into one voter's mind.

COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, "I am not sorry." Chilling words from the diary of the Charleston church shooter as jurors decide his fate. A live report from outside his trial, next.

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[09:42:13] COSTELLO: Getting underway right now, day three of the sentencing phase of the Charleston church shooter's trial, Dylann Roof expressing no remorse for the massacre in a jailhouse diary that was read aloud to jurors on Thursday.

Martin Savidge has the latest. He's live outside of the courtroom.

Hi, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol.

You know every day so far in the penalty phase there has been suspense or there have been surprise. The end of day two certainly brought the element of surprise because we have listened to the heartbreak of families. And it is heartbreaking to hear their stories of loss.

But then the government introduced this jailhouse diary. We had heard it mentioned in the opening statement, but it was read in its entirety. I'm not going to read it because much of it is filled with racial hatred and it's just not worthy of even a mention. However, the reason it was introduced is it goes to the state of mind of Dylann Roof now. And this is what the government is trying to say, he is unrepentant. There is no remorse. Don't think that he's had a come to Jesus moment.

Let me read you just one section. He says, "sitting in my cell, I think about how nice it would be to watch a movie or eat some good food or drive my car somewhere, but then I remember how I felt when I knew I had done something, and then I realized it was worth it. I would rather live in prison knowing I took action for my race than to live with the torture of sitting idle." OK, that's Dylann Roof from his jailhouse journal.

There's another interesting part of this journal that he brings up at the end, which is, he sort of gets into what are called clarifications. And apparently he's miffed as a result of some of the ways that he has been depicted as a result of all of the media attention since he is a convicted mass murder. And he brings up such things and calls them ridiculous.

For instance, he says that it would be ridiculous for anybody to suggest that he planned to shoot up the college of Charleston. He said that's just absolutely crazy. He also denied that he did it because of a girl. He says that he never did have a close black friend and many of the people who have come forward and said that they knew him did not know him at all but are, you know, trying to glom on to the media spotlight.

He was very upset that the government has charged him with attempted murder for the 11-year-old that was in the room. He said I never intended to kill that child.

Weird on top of just sick. And that's another surprise coming out of this case so far.

Carol.

COSTELLO: I think that pretty much sums it up. Martin Savidge reporting live from Charleston this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Trump's debt dilemma. A new report exposing another potential conflict of interest for the president- elect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ana Cabrera with CNN and a Colorado native. Welcome to Breckenridge. This is your quintessential mountain town, complete with charming shops, epic powder and plenty of adventure.

[09:45:09] Stay on course.

Mountain biking isn't just a summer sport around here. Ever heard of fat biking? Big, soft tires floating on the snow.

This takes me back to my childhood.

This is the Alpine Coaster, part roller coaster, part bobsled, 10,000 feet high. The ultimate adrenaline rush.

So micro brewing is super popular here in Colorado. Broken Compass is the only microbrewery in Breckenridge, brewing up eight different batches of beer every month. Their specialty?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The coconut border.

CABRERA: Heading down the mountain, back toward Denver, it's well worth a stop at the Indian Hot Springs. It's natural mineral water of 95 to 100 degrees here in the big pool, it's like one giant hot tub. And there are geothermal cases too where the water is hotter and clothing is optional, just in case you're feeling extra adventurous on a trip to the Colorado Rockies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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COSTELLO: When President-elect Donald Trump takes office, he'll instantly be in charge of regulating the same banks he owes millions of dollars to. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting that right now more than 150 financial institutions are holding Mr. Trump's and his businesses' debt.

CNN's Cristina Alesci has more on this. She joins us.

Good morning.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Let's break down this headline, right? What happened here is that Wall Street took Donald Trump's debt, put it in a large soup of other similar debt and sold it off to a number of financial institutions. That's why you see on this chart so many different names, Wells Fargo, JPM, Vanguard.

[09:50:15] The problem is, what happens if, if, Donald Trump has any problems repaying this debt, making interest payments? Well, lawyers worry that this dynamic could influence the way that he thinks about how to deal with the banks. Remember, his Treasury Department will help regulate them. His Justice Department will decide whether to prosecute them when they're accused of wrongdoing. So all of this presents a very interesting ethical question.

But, let me play devil's advocate for a second. The fact that the debt has been repackaged and passed through so many hands actually creates less of a bright line between Donald Trump and his lenders and more people are involved. So you could argue, in a way, that this actually reduces his conflicts because it's not the banks that would be in the middle of these negotiations, it would be the servicers of the debt, which is a little bit technical. I know. I know. Hey, at least I didn't use other jargon, OK, Carol? Cut me some - cut me some slack here.

COSTELLO: That's true.

ALESCI: But the reality is, it does present a conflict. He's going to have to address it. And we're going to hear more about it probably on January 11th when he does his first press conference in a while.

COSTELLO: Right, in a while. So do you think that he'll actually address specifics like that?

ALESCI: I don't know that he'll address the debt part of his problem. This complex issue, shall we say. But he has so many other conflicts that are much more glaring and much more problematic and perhaps have him running a file of some - of a constitutional section - of a section of the Constitution that perhaps he will be more sensitive to those matters and address those up front. But whether or not his children are involved in the business is going to be the biggest question. And whether or not that resolves any kind of conflicts is a big question because they could be seen as a conduit to currying favor with the president.

COSTELLO: Sure. It will be an interesting speech. (INAUDIBLE) -

ALESCI: Yes, indeed, and I'll be there to listen it to all.

COSTELLO: OK. We'll talk to you then. Cristina Alesci, thanks so much.

ALESCI: Of course.

COSTELLO: Still to come - oh, checking some other top stories for you at 52 minutes past.

The man who plowed into - that truck into a crowded Berlin Christmas market was illegally registered under at least 14 different identities. German's joint terror protection center said they had dealt with him at least seven times because he was a known troublemaker. He was closely monitored in Berlin and was being considered for deportation at the time of the attack.

Starting today, Russia says it's cutting back its military presence in Syria. Russia's only aircraft carrier and some smaller accompanying warships are the first to leave. It's not clear if the warplanes will leave with them, however. The Russian military helped Syria regain control of Aleppo, which was recaptured from rebel forces last month.

President Obama transfers four more detainees out of Guantanamo Bay. The detainees, originally from Yemen, were transferred to Saudi Arabia. That drops the prison's population to just 55 with more transfers likely before Obama leaves office. Trump took to Twitter slamming the move, saying, quote, "there should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not b allowed back on to the battlefield."

The U.S. State Department is placing one of Osama bin Laden's youngest sons on a terror watch list. Hamza bin Laden was named especially designated global terrorist after he reportedly threatened attacks against the United States. Analysts describe Hamza as the crown prince of al Qaeda and potentially the new face of the terror group.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, It's the Democrats' last ditch effort, stopping the certification of Trump's Electoral College win. One of the top Democrats in the House, he backs the right. I'll talk to Congressman Steny Hoyer in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

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[09:57:38] COSTELLO: The two frontrunners for the NBA MVP going head to head last night in Houston. Andy Scholes has more from the Consumer Electronics Show in Los Vegas. How did you get that (INAUDIBLE), Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I drew the lucky straw, Carol.

Let's talk some NBA action, first, though. The Rockets, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook from the Thunder really having incredible seasons, both of them. If they took a vote for MVP right now, it would be a toss-up between the two. And they were going head to head last night in Houston.

I'll tell you what, Harden, he had the Rockets firing on all cylinders early in this one. Rockets up by 18 points in the third quarter. But Westbrook would not go quietly. He led the Thunder on a comeback. He had eight threes in this game, on his way to 49 points.

Now, this game was tied in the closing seconds when Harden would find (INAUDIBLE). He gets fouled. He would knock down both free throws. Rockets sweep by the Thunder 118-116.

All right, I've been walking around here in Las Vegas checking out all the cool new products here at the Consumer Electronics Show. And one of the coolest things this year is all the new innovations in virtual reality. Now Next VR, it's an amazing new way where you can watch sporting event. It really just puts you right there in the action, like you're sitting court side watching games. Now, right now, they've broadcast one NBA game a week in virtual reality. And I sat down with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver yesterday and he's excited about the future of this technology.

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ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: It's the closest thing to being live in an arena. And, of course, when you have a global game like ours, only a tiny fraction of our fans will probably ever be in the United States, let alone be in an NBA arena. And, therefore, if we can replicate that experience, especially that court side experience, talk to fans on your left, talk to fans on your right, hear what the players are saying out on the floor, move around the arena, I think those are the kinds of things we're very focused on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, the Next VR, virtual reality technology, has also worked with the NFL as well. It's bring highlights. They're looking to do some more work with the league next year.

And, of course, Carol, we can't forget the NFL playoffs. They begin tomorrow. Your Lions taking on the Seahawks. And in the no one has a quarterback bowl, the Texans are taking on the Raiders.

And, you know, Carol, I've seen so much cool stuff out here at the Consumer Electronics Show, I really want to show you one I just ran into. This thing right here, it's called the hover camera. It has facial recognition technology. And so all you do is turn it on. It's going to hover. It's going to find my face, Carol, and I can move around, and it will basically follow me around. It's basically the unending selfie. If you need a lot of selfies, this is a great product for you, because you can just walk around and you constantly have a camera on you at all times. It also shoots 4K video. It's just incredible.