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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

White House Paves Way To Mass Deportations; GOP Lawmakers Face Angry Town Halls; Mixed Response After Trump Condemns Anti-Semitism. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 22, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ana Cabrera. Great to have you with us. About half past the hour now and there's growing concern this morning among immigrants across the country over President Obama's -- excuse me, President Trump's plans to enforce immigration, and guidance just released by the Department of Homeland Security could pave the way for a huge expansion of undocumented immigrants detained and deported.

There's no doubt much of this is going to come up as DHS Sec. John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visit Mexico City today and tomorrow. They'll be meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto and his cabinet there to discuss border security and also trade.

CNN justice reporter Laura Jarrett has more on the broader impact of what's in these DHS memos -- Laura.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Good morning, Ana. So, one of the biggest takeaways from these guidance memos we're seeing from Homeland Security is that they really make clear that immigration officers are now going to have much broader discretion to decide who to round up in the first place. So, practically speaking here, if an agent goes on a raid to find a criminal undocumented immigrant, anyone else who happens to be with that person at the same time who's also here unlawfully, may not be deported, Ana.

CABRERA: Now, the DHS repeatedly stressed this is just enforcement of existing law. Why, then, are people so scared?

JARRETT: Well, so, I think a better way to think about this might be a difference in priorities between the two administrations we're seeing. So, under President Obama, he really focused on those who had been convicted of serious crimes, like felonies. Whereas, President Trump is now casting a much wider net to include anyone who's even been accused of a crime.

CABRERA: As for that new travel ban we're also awaiting to hear word of what that's going to look like. It could come as early as today, more likely, tomorrow, we're hearing. Any new details on that?

JARRETT: That's right. So we're thinking sometime this week and we're told that the White House is really trying to engage senior Republican leadership on Capitol Hill this time, whereas, last time, some of those on the right felt left out or cut out of the process. We're also hearing that the president's political adviser, Stephen Miller, has had less to do with the second executive order this time around and that Trump's lawyers in the White House Counsel's office are really taking the lead role on drafting, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Laura Jarrett, thanks for reporting. Good to see you this morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And we're also on standby to see what comes of that new executive order. But, joining us now to discuss the latest political action, we've got "CNN POLITICS" digital managing editor Zach Wolf. He's live for us in Washington.

Zach, I want to run through some of the biggest differences between these memos that we're seeing from DHS and what the guidance was from President Obama. First off, there's going to be an increase -- or, rather, President Trump. There's going to be an increase in the number of immigrants who face expedited removal. It's going to limit who can be released, pending a hearing. And there's going to be new resources -- a surge in immigration judges and facilities.

In your eyes, from what we're hearing early on, what's going to be the biggest difference? I mean, Obama was known as the "deporter-in- chief" with more than two million deportations. Are we going to really see even more?

ZACH WOLF, DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR, "CNN POLITICS": Well, they certainly are arguing they have that leeway. President Obama had chosen -- and his Justice Department had chosen to enforce the law in a certain way and, now, Donald Trump and his Justice Department and his Department of Homeland Security, it seems like, are going to enforce the law in a very different, much more strict fashion that could lead to roundups, I think, that could -- that could make, you know, that "deporter-in-chief" moniker, you know, pale in comparison if they were to not release people back into the U.S. while they were waiting for hearings.

If they were to detain more people, if they were to give immigration such more leeway, you could really feel and see change in the way we treat immigrants in this country.

CABRERA: I want to play some sound from Press Secretary Sean Spicer as he addressed those priorities under this new guideline. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Everybody who is here illegally is subject to removal at any time. That is consistent with every country, not just ours. If you're in this country in an illegal manner then, obviously, there's a provision that could ensure that you be removed. But the priorities that the president has laid forward and the priority that ICE is putting forward through DHS' guidance is to make sure that the people who have committed a crime or pose a threat to our public safety are the priority of their efforts.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: And yet, we've seen some of these stories in Arizona and Colorado with mothers who have children born here in the U.S. have faced deportation even if they've had a minimal crime on their record, so it does sound like all bets are off. We do know, however, Donald Trump came out and said those who are here and have DACA, they will still be protected. Now, that could be seen as an olive branch, right?

[05:35:10] WOLF: Sure, and that has been one of the -- one of the primary focuses for, I think, at the end of the Obama administration and heading in for, you know, people to support those DACA -- people who came out of the shadows -- the children of undocumented immigrants who, you know, were brought here as young people and have lived their entire -- most, if not their entire lives in the United States who essentially are Americans to not put them on the front of the list and send them back to a country that they don't know. So, that's something that immigration advocates can look to.

But we've already seen, you know, a few instances of people, you know, being forced out even when they have that DACA -- you know, even under DACA.

CABRERA: Status, right.

WOLF: Right.

SANCHEZ: Zach, we have to talk about these town halls that we've been seeing all over the country with Republican lawmakers getting quite a bit of anger from Democratic activists and constituents. We want to play you some sound now from an encounter that Marsha Blackburn, from Tennessee, had with a constituent. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have in the White House now a notorious white nationalist as a special adviser to the President of the United States. I'd like to know your thoughts on that.

REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE: I don't speak for the president. I think the president --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd like to know how you feel about it. You're our congressman -- congresswoman.

BLACKBURN: My interactions with him have all been fine. The things that have been policy-directed have been specific to certain policy and I am not aware that he has taken anybody's place on the NSC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You hear the reaction from the crowd there after she responded to a question about Steve Bannon's involvement in the White House. What I really wanted to point out was that these constituents, activists or not, were not really being shy at these town halls. They're challenging these Republican lawmakers. I want to show you what the president responded with in regards to the

outcry at these town halls. He tweeted out, "The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad." I guess the question here is how do you feel that the Republicans are responding to these constituents? Are they treating them fairly by simply dismissing them as, you know, activists of some kind?

WOLF: Well, I certainly think that that's one way to, you know, divert attention from the outrage that we're seeing in these town halls. I'm sure there is an element of planning by liberal groups to target the town halls. It's not every day, I think, that liberal groups think that they can see Republican lawmakers and have cameras in front of them so I'm sure there's an agenda there. But I don't think you can dismiss every single person who's there as a liberal activist who's sad (ph). That's certainly not true.

CABRERA: Well, we're seeing the video from Joni Ernst's event in Iowa, which was actually in a rural area where she typically finds friendly territory. And so, clearly, people feel passionate enough to, if they don't live in those areas, to go there, to meet their representatives. Do you feel that the representatives and senators who've gone home are prepared for the anger that they are facing?

WOLF: Not if you look at those pictures we're seeing right now. I mean, that's pretty remarkable. It's reminiscent of the town hall protests we saw in the lead-up to the passage of Obamacare. And I think a lot of the questions -- frustrated questions from people now are about the repeal of Obamacare. So, a little bit of it is getting the, you know, just rewards for Republicans having mobilized for so long against that particular policy objective of President Obama.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the pendulum swings back the other way, I guess. Zach Wolf, thank you so much for getting up early for us. We do appreciate it.

WOLF: Thank you.

CABRERA: Another story we've been talking about this week is the anti-Semitism that we're seeing around the country -- the many threats. The president now doing what a lot of people have been calling on him to do. He directly condemned anti-Semitism. This, following the recent threats against Jewish community centers, dozens of them nationwide. Also, there was the destruction at a Jewish cemetery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful, and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:40:08] CABRERA: Still, some say those comments are a little too little, too late. The Anne Frank Center calling the president's comments, "Aband aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism that has infected his own administration." Trump's condemnation came after this tweet from Hillary Clinton where she said, "JCC threats, cemetery desecration, and online attacks are so troubling and they need to be stopped. Everyone must speak out, starting with the president."

SANCHEZ: In the meantime, the Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to create a special task force to catch those who threaten to bomb dozens of Jewish centers. The seventieth such incident came early yesterday in San Diego and in St. Louis. Getting back to that cemetery desecration, a vigil was actually held there last night. More than 100 headstones were vandalized just yesterday.

CABRERA: Eight candidates, they want to lead the Democratic National Committee. They're set to hold a vote later this week. The first candidates are going to debate tonight. In fact, live here on CNN. It gets underway at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, moderated by Dana Bash and Chris Cuomo. It is a critical position, especially as the party tries to find its footing, tries to build for the future and figure out a way to get back in power. So be sure to tune in at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, again, tonight here on CNN.

SANCHEZ: Well, it might be the biggest magic trick of all. Can Lakers' legend Magic Johnson actually turn around this franchise? Hines Ward has more in this morning's Bleacher Report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:40] SANCHEZ: A legendary NBA franchise is getting back a legendary former player to try and help them set things back on course.

CABRERA: Hines Ward, fill us in on the Lakers hiring Magic Johnson.

HINES WARD, CNN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, that's right, guys. Magic Johnson is taking over as president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, one of the NBA's most successful franchises currently had the third-worst record in the NBA and they've missed the playoffs three years in a row. Yesterday, Magic said that he has his sights set on the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGIC JOHNSON, PRESIDENT, LAKERS BASKETBALL OPERATIONS: It's not about the old, what I did when I played, what Kobe did when he played. It's about this new -- and I'm not going to come in telling them old stories about showtime and all that. It's not about that. It's about them -- the new Lakers. It's about having a clear direction and a clear strategy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: The Magic called his new role a dream job. Magic was the first overall pick by the Lakers in 1979. He won five NBA championships and he played his entire career for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, hopefully, he can get things turned around in La La Land.

Now, according to multiple reports, Major League Baseball is getting rid of the four-pitch intentional walk, starting this season. No longer will pitchers lobbed in four pitches into the catchers. Now, the manager will signal from the dugout to the umpire to purposely walk a batter. Major League Baseball is looking -- it's a different way to improve the pace of play. The new rule should save about a minute per intentional walk.

Now, here's your "want to get away" moment. Minor League hockey team Fort Wayne Komets were retire -- they were retiring Colin Chaulk's number of the weekend, but unveiling it --

CABRERA: Oh, no.

WARD: -- the banner was upside down. To make things worse they hoisted it up into the rafters, just like that, so how embarrassing. But good news, though. They later -- they fixed the banner later on during the week, but getting your jersey retired is great but not like that. You don't want to look at your banner upside down, guys.

SANCHEZ: No, that's embarrassing. Hines, there's no doubt that someday number 86 will be retired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The real question is do you expect to see your dancing shoes someday hanging above a "Dancing With the Stars" stage?

WARD: I don't know, we shall see.

SANCHEZ: It should be up there. It should be up there. Hines Ward --

CABRERA: There's a challenge.

SANCHEZ: -- thank you so much.

WARD: Thank you, guys.

SANCHEZ: Now let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." The Chris Cuomo joins us now. Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Boris, be careful with Hines. Have you ever seen him in person?

SANCHEZ: Yes. The good thing is that he's in Atlanta and we're over here, so --

CUOMO: I'll tell you, I've stood next to him in person. I was shocked at how big Hines Ward is.

SANCHEZ: He's a tough dude.

CABRERA: He's got this -- he's got this teddy smile, you know. He seems so soft and cuddly.

CUOMO: You're used to seeing him on the dance floor or on the field and how fast and slick he was, you know, compared to that competition. That's a big man right there.

SANCHEZ: Tough dude, tough dude.

CUOMO: All right. So I'm just looking out for you, Boris. You've got a bright future.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

CUOMO: Immigrant communities are on edge this morning. We're going to be talking about it. Why? The new directives came out from Homeland Security outlining what the enforcement priorities are and they're much broader than some had expected. And the fear is that this is going to be mass deportations because we'll show you the language this morning and you can decide for yourself exactly who it includes.

Also, we heard from the president, finally speaking out about anti- Semitism. He called it horrible and painful. But he is still being dogged by questions about whether he approaches this the way he does other things he doesn't like. Is that fair criticism? That's what we're taking on this morning.

CABRERA: All right, important issues. Chris, we'll be watching. Thanks.

The stock market is on an impressive streak but one stock helped lift the Dow to a fresh record high yesterday. It's probably part of your 401(k). We'll get an early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:55] SANCHEZ: This morning, Iraqi forces say they are making progress in a large-scale push to retake Western Mosul from ISIS. Officials say U.S.-backed forces have cleared terrorists from a key village overlooking that city's airport, but the battle ahead will not be an easy one. As the war has raged on, Iraqi forces have discovered tunnels dug by ISIS, along with bomb-making factories believed to be tied to the terrorist group.

CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is live in Erbil, Iraq with more. Ben, we know this is going to be a grinding fight. Do we know if there's a plan to help some of the civilians that are still in that city?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a plan in the sense that the Iraqi government has said it is going to set up what it calls safe passages out of the city. But the problem is that as we saw when they were battling for the eastern part of Mosul is that not both sides respect these passages. So when we were speaking with people who had taken advantage of those, they said that when they tried to leave Eastern Mosul they came under fire from ISIS snipers.

[05:55:00] So, really, the problem is that, you know, the city -- the west is under fire -- intense artillery fire, frequent airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition. So whether you stay or you go if you're a civilian in Western Mosul, you are putting yourself at risk. In addition to that, of course, there's a shortage of food, medicine, safe drinking water, electricity, and heating fuel as well, so it's a very difficult situation for the civilians themselves.

As far as the battle goes, you mentioned that village called Abu Saif, which is overlooking the airport. And there, in fact, we got a -- we've seen the kind of challenges that they're going to -- the Iraqi forces are going to meet when they go inside the city itself. There in that village, they uncovered a network of tunnels, a bomb-making factory. The uncovered a very -- they found a very large car bomb ready to go. And so, therefore, it's anticipated that that is really just a taste of things to come for when they actually enter the city.

In recent weeks we've seen an increase in the use by ISIS of armored drones, which is something that they hadn't used much in the past. And that's just one of the challenges that's going to be facing Iraqi forces as they actually get inside the city proper -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it took months to take the eastern part of that city. Now, another large challenge looming. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Iraq. Thank you.

CABRERA: Let's get an early start on your money just before 6:00 here in the East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is riding an impressive eight-day winning streak. It's sitting at another record high this morning. In just over a week the Dow's up 688 points or nearly 3.5 percent. That has helped to more than double the gains for the year. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also hit record highs yesterday. It could be a struggle for more gains today. We've been watching the futures -- they started higher and now they're flat, so we'll keep an eye there.

The biggest gainer on the Dow at Tuesday's close was Walmart. Shares climbing three percent after the company beat profit estimates. Walmart stores had their best quarter in nearly five years, but it was the company's online sales that really impressed investors. Check this out. Sales at walmart.com surged 29 percent in the fourth quarter. That's a faster pace than Amazon's growth. Amazon has a much higher sales total but the big gain shows Walmart is making up some ground.

Wells Fargo is holding senior managers responsible for that fake account scandal. Remember that? Now, a handful are out of a job this morning. The bank fired four employees who worked for the unit that was responsible for the illegal sales practices. Wells Fargo admitted, last fall, it created more than two million fake accounts in customer names. Now, the bank is still under investigation by the Department of Justice, congressional committees, and several state attorneys general, so that story's not going away anytime soon.

But we are going away.

SANCHEZ: Ah, yes.

CABRERA: If you're sick of us that's good news, right, but it has been fun --

SANCHEZ: It has, definitely.

CABRERA: -- sitting here with you and --

SANCHEZ: The Colorado connection.

CABRERA: You've been waking up early in the morning. There's going to be a new team in place tomorrow. EARLY START with Christine Romans and David Briggs. Welcome aboard, David. It premieres tomorrow at 4:00 a.m. so don't forget to tune in and join that.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez for Ana Cabrera. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: The number one priority is making sure that people who pose a threat are immediately dealt with.

TRUMP: We have some bad hombres here and we're going to get them out.

CABRERA: New DHS guidelines could target millions of undocumented immigrants.

TRUMP: We have to fight hatred in all of its very ugly forms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president can't condemn anti-Semitism and have the chief architect of the alt-right in his West Wing.

SPICER: No matter how many times he talks about this it's never good enough.

TOWN HALL PARTICIPANTS: Do your job!

SANCHEZ: Tensions run high at town halls across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can answer any of that I'll sit down and shut up like Elizabeth Warren.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CUOMO: We're getting a lot of heat.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

CUOMO: All right.

CAMEROTA: Things are getting hot out there.

CUOMO: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, February 22nd, 6:00 here in New York.

And up first, millions of people living illegally in the United States could be targeted for deportation. Now listen, crossing the border illegally automatically means you could be deported by the letter of the law, but enforcement had always been tailored to felons -- dangerous criminals, priorities. Now, the policies have changed. We're going to show them to you and you can judge the White House rejecting the charge that President Trump is pursuing mass deportations.

CAMEROTA: This, as the Muslim community awaits details of the president's new travel ban and the Jewish community reacts to President Trump's condemnation of anti-Semitism. It's day 34 of the Trump presidency. Let's begin our coverage with CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns, live at the White House -- Joe.