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Poll Shows Americans Prefer Obamacare Over GOP Plan; Kabul Suicide Attack Kills At Least 80, Wounded 360; Kathy Griffin Apologizes for Trump Photo; Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 31, 2017 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Optimistic about the House version, the bill that was passed. 49 percent view Obamacare favorably compared to 31 percent who view the House bill favorably. Only 16 percent think the cost will be better under the GOP health care bill. In the House, and 36 percent feel it will be about the same.

Let's discuss with Andre Bauer, he's a CNN political commentator and former lieutenant governor of South Carolina. Also with us Governor Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan and CNN senior political commentator.

Thank you for joining us.

So, Andre, these numbers not good for the GOP bill. How much political capital is it worth Republicans in Congress risking on at least this House version?

ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, a couple of things. I actually go against my own party on what they've done on this bill. But I will say kudos to President Trump for continuing to go after what he promised and what he thought is right, you know. Every time we thought it was dead, he continued to push forward so I admire him for his tenacity and hard work to get a bill passed. Hopefully that will be a template which all parties come together and really try to work to improve a substantial part of our nation's economy and concerns of the American public.

But I want to see more in free market. I want people to be able to shop and see what it costs at each hospital before they have a surgery. I want people to have more access to primary care physicians instead of going into an ER that's driving the cost up. I want them to make sure that we have better prices on prescription drugs, tort reform, so many things that need to be discussed as Republicans to show the difference between the Republican thought process and the Democrat thought process to a huge bill.

I thought they missed the point in getting more involved with that and showing the difference to the American public and really the Democrats own this bill and it continues to go backward in providing what it said it would do. And so --

(CROSSTALK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Democrats --

BAUER: -- Democrats really should be pushing the Republicans to get a --

BERMAN: Democrats owned Obamacare. There's no question about that. They passed that without any Republican support. The Republicans have passed the AHCA without any Democratic support. This is their bill right now that's being discussed and according --

BAUER: Yes, and --

BERMAN: And according to the Kaiser poll, it's a bill where more people think it will make them worse off. That's the key here. More people think that the current plan will make them worse off than better off. 45 percent there.

But, Governor Granholm, on the other hand, these are similar numbers that you would see about Obamacare three or four years ago. Is this just a case of Americans do not like the health care options that they are being given?

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, certainly, the Trump administration is accelerating the -- and purposely so the demise or the difficulties that Obamacare is facing. The IRS is not pursuing the requirement that people sign up. They're not pursuing the penalties, there's no advertising.

We need to fix Obamacare, but here is what people are obviously responding to in that poll and at the town hall meetings that you're seeing across the country. Almost everybody has got some kind of pre- existing condition. The costs are going to go through the roof for them and you're going to see 23 million people lose their health care coverage overall.

The number that sticks out I think for most people is when they hear that if somebody is 64 years old and is making $26,000 a year. That's $14 an hour. So they're an elderly person or not yet eligible for Medicare and they're making $26,000 a year and their premium is going to be $13,000 to $16,000? Half of their salary? That is outrageous and that's what the CBO score demonstrated.

Bottom line is there is a lot of political capital being lost on this, and you know what, you guys? There's going to be a huge amount of political capital lost on this Paris deal, too.

HARLOW: Well, then, Governor Granholm, as a Democrat that's something I suppose you should be cheering, but let me get your beat on this because as John pointed out earlier in the show, Frank Bruni interviewed Michael Bloomberg, for the "New York Times" in this op-ed, and here's part of what he writes that really stood out to us.

"Democrats are still searching for the right issues and words. And too many have visions of 2020 dancing in their heads. They'll step on each other and re-elect Donald Trump." Bloomberg, an independent, former mayor of New York, went on to say, "There is a 55 percent chance that Trump gets re-elected. " What do you make of that, Governor?

GRANHOLM: I think he's pulling that out of the air, but I do think that Democrats have got to take Donald Trump seriously and when Donald Trump says he's speaking for the forgotten American we have to listen to that and make sure that he does not take that away from what is a Democratic issue and a Democratic value, but these policies that the Trump administration is putting out right now are exactly the kind of policies that hurt the average, everyday forgotten American, and it's Democrats who have to point that out to people. We are fighting for real people. He is hurting them.

BERMAN: Andre, you can respond to that, but also respond to the fact that the president after, you know, we have been told that lawyers were going to vet his tweets and they were going to control the message coming from the White House. Overnight he once again called the Russia investigation a witch hunt. Is this the kind of control that he needs going forward?

[10:35:02] BAUER: Maybe he has somebody that he ought to run it by and can get a second thought but I don't think he ought to have lawyers looking at every tweet he does.

Look, Donald Trump got elected in a crowded field. We know the history of this. We know he got elected as president. Nobody gave him a chance. He got into what the American people are frustrated with and sometimes the Washington elite and the media still don't get it. We think we do, but the folks out there, I call them Johnny lunch bucket, folks like me, hardworking folks that just deal with normal people every day, they're frustrated and they don't believe everything we talk about on the air.

They want real results and they want competition in the medical field. They want to see prices come down, not a shift on who's going to pay for it. They want to actually see why has medical costs gotten so outrageous and that's where I think the Republicans actually missed the boat on selling this, showing real -- a free market competition and they should have done a better job of that.

BERMAN: All right. Johnny lunch bucket, Governor Granholm, thanks so much for being with us. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

GRANHOLM: Jennifer lunch bucket.

BERMAN: Jennifer lunch bucket.

HARLOW: There you go. There you go.

On a much more serious note, coming up for us, a delivery truck packed with explosives detonates in the middle of the rush hour in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 80 people are dead, 300 wounded. All of this as the president considers whether to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:40:40] HARLOW: Horror on the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan. We want to warn you before we play these images some of them are incredibly graphic. A car bomb went off in one of the most heavily protected parts of the city during one of the busiest times of day. At least 80 people are dead, more than 300 injured in this attack. Officials say the explosion struck the area right near the German embassy this morning during rush hour.

BERMAN: The U.S. embassy responded with a message saying, "We stand with the Afghan people." All of this is happening as President Trump is weighing whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

We want to bring in CNN's Ian Lee covering this for us.

Ian, what can you tell us about the incident?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Poppy. This is a large water truck, we are told, that was trying to gain entry into the green zone. It was denied entry according to NATO officials and that's when that bomb exploded killing over 80 people.

This was the height of rush-hour traffic. Those streets were packed when that bomb went off. That's why we have just so many casualties right now. 360 people were also injured in this attack in the surrounding area, embassies were damaged.

If you look at the video you can just see the carnage on the street, the people bloodied and cars burned out. We were told that there was also a 13-foot crater in the ground that remains of the vehicle that carried out this explosion. So far no one has claimed responsibility. The Taliban has come out and said it wasn't them.

BERMAN: All right. Ian Lee for us, thank you very, very much. Appreciate it, Ian.

HARLOW: All right. Comedian Kathy Griffin, she is pleading for forgiveness after she posted an incredibly disturbing photo of the president this morning. The president is responding saying how it has affected his children including his 11-year-old son.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:46:30] HARLOW: Comedian Kathy Griffin igniting a firestorm of controversy after she posted an image from a recent photo shoot showing her holding a bloodied severed head of President Trump. Here's her apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY GRIFFIN, COMEDIAN: I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I'm a comic. I crossed the line, I moved the line, then I crossed it. I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn't funny. I get it. I've made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I ask for your forgiveness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now the president is weighing in. He tweeted this morning that Griffin should be ashamed of herself.

So what do other comedians think about this? Comedian Chuck Nice and Dean Obeidallah here right now to talk about this.

You know, Chuck, any defense of Kathy Griffin?

CHUCK NICE, COMEDIAN: Absolutely not. As a matter, it's indefensible. OK. You cannot hold a severed, bloodied effigy of the president of the United States. I don't care what you think about him. You cannot do that and expect there to be some type of defense. I mean, that was so far over the line. There are guys in ISIS who look at that and went, that's harsh, like you were way, way out of line. Right? That's how bad that was.

HARLOW: So the president responds, he brings up the reaction of his children, including -- I mean, don't forget, he has an 11-year-old son Barron and he said, it's incredibly disturbing to my kids including my 11-year-old son Barron. Do you buy for a second that Kathy Griffin did this not knowing what the response was going to be?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think she could predict that response. It was -- I mean, Chelsea Clinton tweeted and said it's horrible. I think she --

HARLOW: The president of the United States decapitated.

OBEIDALLAH: I think it's horrible. And when you look at it, it's not like a funny clown-esque type of picture, it's a bloody, gory thing. I think she expected attention. I think that's what she did. Did she do this for attention? Definitely. I don't think she expected this pushback. She lost an endorsement deal with Squatty Potty. I'm not kidding. When you lose Squatty Potty, you crossed a lot of lines. And that's a stool toilet. I think she really did.

BERMAN: But, you know, look --

NICE: When the toilet people think you've gone too far, you've gone too far.

BERMAN: But I'm sure you guys -- I'm sure you guys have written jokes that have bombed, right? You've written jokes that have fallen flat, but this is different than that. I simply don't buy the notion, Chuck, that Kathy Griffin was sitting there saying, hey, you know, this will be interesting.

NICE: No, see, what she was doing was she thought it was going to be controversy. She thought her name was going to be put out there but not in this regard where everyone was just, like, what is your problem? She thought she would find some sympathetic eyes to look at that and go, hey, this is free speech or whatever, but nobody did. Nobody. Like, everybody is in agreement that she was so far over the line. OBEIDALLAH: If she did a joke about this without this imagery maybe

it would be different, but this is violent imagery. Look, I'm a progressive. If a conservative comedian did that with President Obama during his term, we would have been outraged rightfully so. So that's part of it. We have to be fair and honest about this stuff.

HARLOW: Chuck, here's the point that this is actually the opposite of what Kathy Griffin stands for, and did she, in essence, humanize the president more by doing this?

NICE: Absolutely. You know, she's somebody who defends gay rights. She is supposedly a feminist and then you do something like this, like what Dean just said, if a conservative had done the same thing we'd be outraged. So she's really way against her type of someone who defends people who are supposedly not able to defend themselves in some respects. So, yes. I think she was way, way out of line.

BERMAN: I'm going to sell you guys out because during the commercial you were discussing whether or not she should have apologized here.

NICE: No. You're not selling me out. I'll say it.

[10:50:04] If you're going to do it, do it, all right? Don't back down. I'm sorry and -- no. Because guess who wouldn't have apologized if they had something like this? Trump.

(LAUGHTER)

NICE: He would have been like, no, I said it, I'm -- this is what I did. You know, so.

OBEIDALLAH: If it was a joke about Trump we would be defending her, I'll be honest with you. But this is violent imagery and that's why you have to apologize.

HARLOW: She shouldn't have apologized, what about the kids out there? I mean, the kids, young, impressionable people who are watching.

(CROSSTALK)

NICE: No, here's my thing --

HARLOW: Isn't it an obligation to apologize?

NICE: When I say you shouldn't apologize -- what I'm saying is you know why you did this, OK? The apology, was it really sincere? Let's be honest. Look at the apology again, no one rolls their eyes when they apologize. I mean, think about it. When you go like this, look, I'm sorry. OK? Look, I'm sorry. Is that really an apology?

OBEIDALLAH: I'm glad she apologized as opposed to say things like, oh, it was just locker room talk, to be quite honest with you, and not to make it serious. That's the reality. She went and apologized. It's something that we would like to see Trump on occasion when he demonizes groups so that's --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Again, this is my only thing, absolutely she needs to apology, it was also predictable that she would need to apologize. Look, a lot of people have been asking, you know, Kathy Griffin actually co-hosts or has co-hosted the New Year's Eve on CNN before, people are asking what is CNN going to do about it. We have a CNN statement which we can put up on the screen here so that everyone sees.

CNN says, "We found what she did disgusting and offensive, and we are pleased to see she has apologized and asked that the photos be taken down. We are evaluating our New Year's Eve coverage and have made no decisions at this point."

OBEIDALLAH: Chuck and I are available. Just to put it out there. Not to sell her out. But we can work with Anderson.

BERMAN: Career-wise, when does someone move past something like this?

OBEIDALLAH: This will take a while because there's an image of it. It's horrible. It's -- I was in a media firestorm a few years ago for a joke I told on MSNBC. I'm not famous like Kathy Griffin. It will take her long because she's famous. People will remember that much longer.

HARLOW: Is this what she'll be remembered for?

NICE: No. I mean, the way our news cycle works right now, come on, seriously, the person who's happiest about this right now is Tiger Woods, OK? Let's be honest.

HARLOW: Gentlemen, thank you.

OBEIDALLAH: Thank you.

HARLOW: Nice to have you both here.

BERMAN: Appreciate it. You have some material here. Thanks, guys,

HARLOW: Speaking of, thank you for the transition. Speaking of a golfing legend coming to the aid of Tiger Woods, this as we learned new details about Woods on that night that he was arrested. The "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:56:33] BERMAN: All right. Tiger Woods' peers. They say they're surprised and concerned after his arrest on suspicion of DUI.

HARLOW: Andy Scholes has more on the "Bleacher Report."

Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.

You know, two-time Master champ Bubba Watson said many golfers just want Tiger to know they support him and Watson said, quote, "Whatever the cause of what happened to him, we just want him to be better." And legendary Jack Nicklaus, well, he went as far as saying Tiger needs help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK NICKLAUS, GOLF LEGEND: I actually feel bad for Tiger. Tiger is a friend. He's been great for the game of golf, and I think he needs all our help, and we wish him well.

JIM FURYK, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: More than anything else is just concern. Hopefully he's OK, and kind of want to find out more about the story and hope all is well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Police in Jupiter, Florida, say Tiger's 2015 Mercedes had two flat tires and rim damage on the driver's side when they arrested him early Monday morning. There was also damage to the rear bumper. Now according to the police report Woods was found on the side of the road asleep with the engine running. He had to be awakened by officers and his speech was slurred. No alcohol was found in his system. Tiger has a July 5th court date to face DUI charges.

Now Major League Baseball handing out suspensions for Monday's brawl between Bryce Harper and Hunter Strickland. Harper getting four games while Strickland was handed six for instigating the fight. Now Strickland apparently had been holding a grudge after Harper homered off him twice three years ago. Now both are appealing their suspension.

A French tennis player had been banned from the French Open after he kissed and aggressively put his arm around a female reporter during a live interview. Now the French Tennis Federation called Maxime Hamou's actions inappropriate behavior and described it as reprehensible. Hamou took responsibility for what he did on Instagram, posting, "I want to offer my deepest apologies to Mally Thomas if she felt hurt or shocked by my attitude during our interview." Thomas said if they had not been live on air, she would have punched him.

And finally a Predators' fan is facing up to six years in prison for throwing a fish during game one of the Stanley Cup Finals. Jacob Waddell smuggled in a cat fish in his underwear into the arena in Pittsburgh. He then threw it on the ice which is a tradition in Nashville, but Waddell is being charged in Pittsburgh with disorderly conduct, disrupting a meeting and possessing instrument of crime. An instrument of crime is, of course, the cat fish, guys.

And Carrie Underwood, a big Predators fan, she called Waddell a hero because they were down 3-0 in the game, they scored three and ended up tying a game before losing, and meanwhile lawyers in Tennessee, they're offering to help Waddell with those charges there that he's facing in Pittsburgh.

BERMAN: Now I did not go to law school nor did I apply. A cat fish is the instrument of the crime?

SCHOLES: It's the instrument of the crime.

BERMAN: And by the way, and it also buried the lead there, smuggled it into the game in his underwear.

SCHOLES: Oh, John, he not only did that. He ran it over with his truck to flatten it and he also sprayed it down with old spice so that it would not smell as bad as a cat fish normally would.

HARLOW: Oh my lord. Old Spice covers everything and he needed to make sure that the guts came out there.

What are you going to bring to the set tomorrow?

BERMAN: Smuggle cat fish in -- unsightly bulges all I can say with cat fish in your trousers right there. Andy Scholes --

HARLOW: He said that.

BERMAN: All right. Don't go anywhere.

HARLOW: On that note, thank you all for joining us. I'm Poppy Harlow.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. "AT THIS HOUR" with Kate Bolduan starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, John. Thank you, Poppy. Hello, everyone. I am Kate Bolduan. The president is facing a moment of truth on the global stage. Will he stay or will he go?