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GOP Scrambles to Gain Support for Bill in Senate; Medicaid Faces Deep Cuts in Senate GOP Bill; Trump Admin Launches New Attacks on Obama Over Russia; Senators Might Vote On GOP Bill this week; Thousands March Through New York in Annual Celebration; Passengers "Terrified" on Jet that Shook for 2 Hours. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 25, 2017 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:01] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The president says he is confident that Republican senators will get the votes they need to pass the bill, eventually. We know at least five Republican senators publicly opposed the bill on its current form.

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is working to tweak the bill to earn their support. Some say they want a stronger repeal of Obamacare while others think the proposed cuts to Medicaid go too far. The president conceding today just how difficult it is to get everyone on the same page.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to see a bill with heart. Health care is a very complicated subject from the standpoint that you move it this way, and this group doesn't like it. You move it a little bit over here, you have a very narrow path.

And, honestly, nobody can be totally happy. Even without the votes. Forget about votes. This has nothing to do with votes. This has to do with picking the plan that everybody's going to like. I'd like to say love, but like.

But we have a very good plan. We have a few people that are, I think, you could say, modestly, they're not standing on the rooftops and screaming. They want to get some points. I think they'll get some points. And I don't think they're that far off. I don't think they're that far off.

You know, famous last words, right? But I think we're going to get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go to the CNN White House correspondent Athena Jones.

Athena, on the campaign trail, President Trump promised that he wouldn't cut Medicaid. This bill does that. Is the White House commenting on that part of the Senate's proposed bill? ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. Well, the White House is arguing that the proposed changes to the Medicaid program do not amount to cuts. Of course, you have several moderate Republican senators who believe that they do. One of them, Susan Collins of Maine. Take a listen to what Collins had to say this morning followed by what Kellyanne Conway said about this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE: It's certainly going to be very difficult. For my part, I'm very concerned about the cost of insurance for older people with serious chronic illnesses and the impact of the Medicaid cuts on our state governments, the most vulnerable people in our society, and health care providers such as our rural hospitals and nursing homes, most of whom are very dependent on the Medicaid program.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: These are not cuts to Medicaid, George. This slows the rate for the future and then allows governors more flexibility with Medicaid dollars, because they're closest to the people in need. Medicaid's imperative, its founding was meant to help the poor, the sick, the needy, the disabled, children, some elderly, women, particularly pregnant women. We are trying to get Medicaid back to its original moorings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So there you heard a bit of the argument the White House is making. Conway argues that stopping the expansion of Medicaid, which is part of Obamacare -- stopping the expansion of Medicaid and putting a cap on the amount of money states get in the future does not amount to a cut. But if you're someone who would have qualified under the current law and won't qualify a few years down the road you might see it differently.

And of course, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in scoring the House version of this bill, we have to wait for the new score. But during the House version of a similar bill also making similar changes to the Medicaid program that amounted to $800 billion, more that $800 billion in cuts. So there is clearly a discrepancy there. But it's important to mention it isn't just moderate Republicans who have a problem with this because of what it might do to Medicaid recipients in their states.

It's also conservative Republicans and other -- a group of conservative Republicans who say that this Senate effort doesn't go far enough to repeal Obamacare. That is too generous not generous enough as others are arguing. And so we already know that the GOP can only afford to lose two senators and get this bill through.

That's probably why we saw the president take to Twitter yesterday afternoon to say, "I cannot imagine that these very fine Republican senators would allow the American people to suffer a broken Obamacare any longer." So that is the president trying to nudge his fellow Republicans to get onboard, get this bill through and achieve the campaign promise they've been promising for years now. Boris? SANCHEZ: We will wait and see what that CBO report looks like. It is due potentially as early as tomorrow. Athena Jones, thank you so much reporting from the White House.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss, Nan Hayworth, is a former New York congresswoman and the former co-chair for Carly Fiorina's campaign. We've also got CNN political commentator and the former mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter with us.

Thank you both for sharing your Sunday with us. Nan, first to you, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told CNN that this bill will bring down premiums for Americans. Senator Rand Paul, one of the holdouts on the bill said that was a lie. Listen to both exchanges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:01] SEN. TOM PRICE, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: The plan in its entirety will absolutely bring premiums down. Because you increase competition, you increase choices for individuals, you allow fork folks to be able to purchase the kind of coverage that they want, not just the government forces them to buy. Those are all of the secret keys to a market that actually works for health care and works for patients, that's the key.

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: They've promised too much. They say they're going to fix health care and premiums are going down. There's no way the Republican bill brings down premiums.

Look, I've been in medicine 20 years. I'm 54 years old, premiums have never gone down. They're not going to go down after the Republican bill and it's a false sort of over promising to say oh, yes, insurance premiums are going to go down but we're keeping 10 of the 12 mandates that cause the prices to go up. It's a foolish notion to promise something you can't provide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Nan, is Tom Price over promising?

NAN HAYWORTH, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM N.Y: No, Boris, he's not. But what Secretary Price is talking about when he says "the plan," what he means is the entire vision that what the American people voted for when they voted for President Trump and the administration that has come in with him. And, of course, in four special elections, we just put in four new Republican members of the House of Representatives.

What we want to do is bring down the cost of health care for Americans. We do need to bring down premiums. We need to bring down deductibles. And the way you do that is by increasing choice and competition.

The bill before the Senate now is a good bill. It's a good start. Could it be improved upon? Yes, it could be tweaked I'm sure and it will be. But here's the thing. If we had our Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate working with us, we could get the broader changes made that would do even more, to Senator Paul's point, to increase competition, increase choice, empower consumers because he's right. The mandates that Obamacare place on us, do create disproportionate burdens on people who can ill-afford them.

So, if we could get our Democratic colleagues to work with us then we could have a much broader bill. But because of the limitations post by Minority Leader Schumer in particularly in the Senate saying we will never go along with you basically on this bill. The Republicans trying to lead the fight for us and for the American people in the Senate are left with a reconciliation mechanism, a process thing that the American people don't care about and shouldn't and that's somewhat limits what they can do.

SANCHEZ: Michael, I actually want to ask about Chuck Schumer. He was on ABC's this week. He says he's 50/50 on whether or not this thing is going to pass. He says that if it does not and the Republicans decide to stop sabotaging Obamacare, his words, he would pick up the phone and call Mitch McConnell and try to work something out. But what are the chances that he and Mitch McConnell ultimately decide to hug this thing out and work together on a repeal and replacement of Obamacare?

MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I don't know about hugging it out. But I think the larger issue is, you know, with every respect to the Congresswoman, this isn't all-Republican thing. They have the votes to pass whatever they want to pass and they can't even get their own act together.

So, I think what Senator Schumer is really talking about is as long as the Republicans are talking about repeal and replace, you probably won't see much Democratic activity.

This is not a true collaborative process. This bill, and it's been reported numerous times by a variety of folks, this bill has been crafted in every possible back room, in the dark, in secret, and then suddenly revealed somewhere in the last few days. So that's not about collaboration.

This bill is not going to help people. It's actually going to hurt people, and you know -- and everyone knows it. Let's see what the CBO score is as well. I guess that comes out this week right before they try to pass it or ram it through.

SANCHEZ: Nan, before you jump in, I want to ask about something that Rand Paul said during his conversation on ABC. He believes that Obamacare is fundamentally flawed. Basically because regulations drive up the cost of insurance, meaning that not enough healthy people can buy it, which raises the price for everyone, makes it more expensive for those who actually need health care. He says that this bill ultimately doesn't fix that death spiral. It just throws more money at it. He does say that he would support a partial repeal. How does Mitch McConnell get him onboard? HAYWORTH: I think there is one of two ways that are the most obvious. And one is to broaden the scope of this bill, which is limited to certain types of provisions and. And again, you know, it's unfortunate the American people have to deal with that technicality while they're in the midst of trying to afford their health care. But basically in, you know, in the type of bill they have now, they're trying to get 51 votes to pass it because they have to use a reconciliation mechanism.

[15:10:06] If they chose to break the block on considering the legislation for vote and the Democrats in the Senate right now can block consideration of any broader bill for a vote, unfortunately, and they're politically, they are not working. They are politicizing this. The American people want a solution. The Democrats in the Senate are giving them politics.

So because they won't help, the bill has to be limited. If need be, we should say, OK, well, without your help, we're going to pass a broader bill, they'll break the filibuster. Senate Leader McConnell could break the filibuster in the Senate and say you're not going to be able to block a vote on a bill that has broader provisions that will do even more. This bill does go a long way towards putting Americans back to work and reducing the cost of their health care and making sure that we provide for the people who are most in need.

But, yes, could it do more? It could. But we have to break the filibuster that kind of stranglehold the Senate Democrats now have and are unwilling to break. So if we're looking at who's the block here, who's the opponent, you know --

NUTTER: Come on.

HAYWAY: -- who's being oppositional and obstructionist, it is the Senate Democrats. Mayor Nutter, with all due respect and I'm sure you -- if we you were there, would do it better.

SANCHEZ: Nan, I want to give the mayor a chance to respond very quickly. Sir, go ahead.

NUTTER: You have 52 members. You guys can run up pretty much whatever you want. You can't even get all of your Republican senators to support this, because they know it's bad. They know it's wrong.

You can keep trying to tweak it, make a change here or there and every time you do, either some conservative member or moderate member, who again, knows that they're own constituents are going to be hurt by this, you can't get it passed your own crew let alone notwithstanding your complaints about Democrats. So clean up your own House first before whining about what's going on with Democrats. We know this is a bad bill. It is, everyone knows it.

SANCHEZ: We are out of time for this part of the conversation but we will continue it. Nan Hayworth, Michael Nutter, thank you. Stay with us.

NUTTER: Thank you. SANCHEZ: Well ahead, President Trump is taking aim at his predecessor lashing out at President Obama over Russia's election meddling. Now, several Democrats are also speaking out against the former commander in chief. That's all ahead in the "CNN Newsroom". Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:37] SANCHEZ: The president is back on the offensive, attacking President Obama for his reaction to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: It's the Obama administration that was responsible for doing absolutely nothing from August to January with the knowledge that Russia was hacking into our election. They did absolutely nothing. They are responsible for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: It's not just President Trump or his administration or even the Republican Party criticizing the Obama administration, now members of Obama's own party are calling the former president's actions quote "a mistake."

Let's bring back our panel, former Republican Congresswoman Nan Hayworth and former Democratic mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter, also joining us, CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin.

Thank you so much for joining us. Michael Zeldin actually worked with special counsel Robert Mueller at the Justice Department.

We'll get to that in just a moment. But, Nan, let's start with you. And President Trump has a big week ahead. This health care vote is possibly in the cards this week. Does it make sense for him to be attacking dormer President Obama right now?

HAYWORTH: I think President Trump is focused on his mission for the American people. He is right to point out that there was apparently an opportunity for his predecessor to do far more about an issue that has obsessed members of his predecessor's party. But the president is absolutely right that there's no evidence whatsoever that he said anything to do with Russia.

And the fact that we were so vulnerable in certain respects on the U.S. government side has to be laid at the feet of the practices of the previous administration, and that should be the end of it, quite honestly. I mean that's, you know, now onward with his mission to protect the American people, including America's veterans, because he's signing a great, big V.A. accountability bill this week and that's important stuff.

SANCHEZ: Mayor Nutter, a Democrat Representative Adam Schiff, came out this morning also saying that President Obama failed to properly respond to Russian threats. Senior Obama official also told the "Washington Post" that the administration choked and it was hard to defend their actions at that time. This is just -- this is not just Republicans blaming President Obama. This is turning into something bigger, is it not?

NUTTER: No, well I understand and let me first say, I have tremendous respect for Chairman Schiff or Congressman Schiff and his work. I think this is one of those cases of, you know, hindsight is always 20/20 vision. There's only one person who really knows at least what they knew at the time and what the options were. And that is certainly President Obama, who would certainly want to do all that he could.

At the same time, we need to recognize that virtually anything publicly being done at that time would have been seen as political, laying a thumb on the scale of any kind of justice. And so, you know, Donald Trump is the beneficiary of the Russian intervention in our election.

So it is laughable. It is silly for Mr. Trump to now try to turn around and criticize President Obama. He doesn't know, A, what he's talking about, B, he is the master of distraction. And this is nothing but distraction on his part. He is expert in that.

[15:20:00] He is not focused on the health care bill or pretty much anything else. He seems to have a lack of focus most of the time. And seemed to have some really attention -- attention problems overall.

SANCHEZ: Michael Zeldin, the president tweeted out on Friday night attacking Obama for not doing enough over Russian interference. This comes after just about two days before after calling it a Democratic hoax, and saying that the Democrats have made up this whole thing. Does that hinder him in any way legally this inconsistency, saying one thing and then saying another because he's under several investigations right now?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well I think principally, it reflects on his credibility. So if the cases move forward where his credibility will be a decisive element in the resolution of the issue before it, these inconsistencies in his tweets, the calling of it a hoax then blaming the other, and saying there's tapes, and then saying there's no tapes, all of that stuff impacts negatively his credibility. And not swearing contest, of course, your credibility is all important. So yes, I think it can be very helpful to others and hurtful to him.

SANCHEZ: And Michael Zeldin, staying with you. Just yesterday, rather, the day before, we heard from a representative -- Republican representative from Arizona saying that Mueller should recuse himself because of his close relationship with James Comey. Do you agree?

ZELDIN: Well, firstly, I don't think that it's correct to say that they have a close personal relationship. I think they have a good working professional relationship. And if professional relationships were basis for recusal, nobody could do their job in Washington.

Secondly, if the thought is that Mueller should recuse himself, one, because a couple of people, three out of 13 people on his staff, may have made contributions to Democratic candidates, I think that's a silly proposition. The other thing that's important to keep in mind is that obstruction is one small part of Mueller's mandate. Really, he's got a counterintelligence investigation. He's got a collusion investigation. He's got Manafort, Flynn, Jared Kushner, streams of investigations.

And so all of those things really eclipse this very small and narrow component of the mandate that he has. I know that there's a lot of fixation on the obstruction stuff because it most directly affects the president, potentially, but there's no basis for recusal in law as far as I'm concerned.

SANCHEZ: Nan, I want to take a quick step back and go back to Representative Adam Schiff. Here's a sound bite that he had on "State of the Union" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D) RANKING MEMBER, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: For Donald Trump, who openly egged on the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton's e-mails, and celebrated every release of these stolen documents to criticize Obama now is a bit like someone knowingly receiving stolen property, blaming the police for not stopping the theft. So Donald Trump is in no position to complain here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: What's your response, Nan? You think it's a fair comparison?

HAYWORTH: Boris, you know, the president, as we all know, campaigns vividly and quite honestly with a certain sense of humor as well when he was talking about, you know Senator Clinton's vulnerability that frankly she created for herself.

This is the problem, OK? The Russians, it's no surprise, you know. This is the line from Casablanca. You know "I'm shocked, shocked, that the Russians would try to hack the American government and our major political parties". No one is shocked by that. Only the DNC happened to fall into their trap. Somehow apparently the Republican National Committee did not.

So, you know, don't look at -- I mean its amazing display of displacement to try to somehow place the blame for this on President Trump. President Trump -- the American people has seen through it. He is doing his job for us, and I think that he can now proceed confident that, you know, he's got a very busy legislative schedule ahead. There is nothing that has implicated him and nothing on the horizon, multiple officials, including members of the past administration that has said, "Nope, we really haven't seen anything." It's time to move on.

SANCHEZ: Mayor Nutter, I want to give you a chance to respond.

NUTTER: Yes, right. That's a lot of nonsense. Mr. Trump has demonstrated time and time again that he is a liar. He has trouble with the truth. We did not, as Democrats make up Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, or Jared Kushner and their various engagements with the Russians. And so this is now, as we might say back home, this is up in the White House. And he's got some serious problems. Someone is going to jail for a lot of the nonsense that this administration has been actively engaged in.

And so it is not true that somehow there is no evidence. There are multiple investigations going on. They are live. That's why we have a special counsel, and he, Mr. Mueller, will get to the bottom of it and a few people are going to actually be in trouble.

SANCHEZ: Mayor Michael Nutter, Michael Zeldin, and Nan Hayworth, we thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

We should tell you there is a possible ripple effect from the Russia investigation. The Justice Department is now expanding another probe, this one focused on possible political interference in the FBI.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has asked former Attorney General Loretta Lynch for details about any conversations she may have had with the Clinton campaign or the Democratic National Committee about the Clinton e-mail investigation. It stems from James Comey's recent bombshell testimony to Congress. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: If the Attorney General had directed me not to call it an investigation but instead to call it a "matter," which confused me and concerned me. But that was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude I have to step away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And calling it a "matter," instead of an investigation. Now, Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff spoke to CNN's Dana Bash this morning questioning Lynch's actions and her possible motivations. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHIFF: That does give me a queasy feeling as well. There may be a perfectly accurate explanation by Loretta Lynch about why she thought "matter" was the appropriate term rather than "investigation". So I wouldn't assume James Comey's characterization is the last word on it even though I'm sure it's accurate. But I'd like to hear what Loretta Lynch's explanation for that is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And this obviously not the only investigation that James Comey has brought about because of his testimony. This one could also expand to whether President Trump committed obstruction of justice in firing the former FBI Director.

Coming up, as the rift deepens among Senate Republicans over Medicaid funding, America's opioid epidemic is shoved into the spotlight. Up next, the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, weighs in on the crisis. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:16] SANCHEZ: We could see a vote on the Senate health care bill as early as this week but there's been some serious pushback from lawmakers on rushing the vote before at least having some debate over the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: There is no way in God's Earth that this bill should be passed this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said the bill would kill his state if it were passed. We're now joined by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Mayor, what are your thoughts on the Health Care Bill and how it might affect the people of your city?

MAYOR MARTY WALSH, BOSTON: Well, the Congressman is absolutely right to this bill. This bill is right now not thought out. There's a lot of aspects of the bill that are bad for our senior citizens, AARP, which is the largest senior organization in the country. It's definitely opposed this bill and what it will do to seniors. We have people with disabilities it affects, people with pre-existing conditions that it affects, people with mental illness and substance abuse disorders that it will affect.

It's just a bad bill I mean to rush it through so people can get high fives. At the end of day, isn't good because what will it do in Massachusetts, it will cripple our budget in the in the state, it will cripple our budget in the city and that's in every single city and town across America.

And I'm at the United States conference minutes right now and this is a big conversation here. Both Democrats and Republicans together are saying they need to think this bill through more.

I mean it just doesn't make any sense. And on top of that, the resident proposing an NIH funding cut that's going to prevents the future -- the future work on all the potential diseases in our country in solving them. It just doesn't make sense at this time.

SANCHEZ: Mayor Walsh, I want you to listen to Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. He's one of many Republicans that are in favor of this bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PAT TOOMEY, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: The Senate bill will codify and make permanent the Medicaid expansion and in fact will have the federal government pay the lion's share of the cost. Remember, Obamacare created a new category of eligibility, working-age, able- bodied adults with no dependents for the first time became eligible for Medicaid if their income is below 138 percent of the poverty level. We're going to continue that eligibility. No one loses coverage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: No one loses coverage. Mayor, what's your reaction to that?

WALSH: Mr. Toomey is just wrong in this bill and he seems to be obsessed with President Obama and someone let him know that he's no longer the president. And if they want to really move forward, let's do a piece of legislation that helps people. He's own constituents will be hurt by this legislation. And he's not looking big picture. He's looking short term and I think its unfortunate that was still playing party politics.

I was in a room earlier today with some Republican mayors and we're all talking about how to make this bill better. We might not all agree on every aspect of the bill but we should understand the art of compromise and having conversations. And it sounds like Senator Toomey and his Republican colleagues have not talked to Democrats on the other side of the aisle.

And if they want a good bill, sit down and come up with a bipartisan piece of legislation that can move our country forward. Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act started out by having a replace, not a repeal. While the Congress, at the end of the day, look at that bill, 20 plus million Americans are going to be off health insurance. That shows seem like appeal to me.

And again, that's going to be detrimental to our country. If the senior citizens in our country, and those of the folks that vote, if their organization, AARP, is against this bill, and I think the senators around the country should pay attention to that. Because there will be problems when it comes to elections for them, these folks.

SANCHEZ: Now, another Republican governor, John Kasich of Ohio, says the Senate bill doesn't do enough for those suffering from drug addiction. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) OHIO: The total number of dollars that are going to be dedicated to Medicaid are not enough. I mean, there's not enough resources there.

[15:35:05] And I've been very concerned here in my state about treating the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the chronically ill, particularly under Medicaid expansion. If you look at the entire Medicaid pie, there is huge challenges to it because the resources are just not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: So being a passionate advocate specifically when it comes to health care funding for substance abuse disorders, political opponents make the case that drug abuse is a law enforcement issue, basically a personal problem, one of personal responsibility, not a public health one. How do you convince those lawmakers and taxpayers ultimately to spend money on caring for people that are abusing drugs?

WALSH: Go back and look at the crack epidemic in the '90s and see how that work out for us when we are arresting everyone when we should have been treating people. I think if you talk to mayors and governors in the United States of America, almost 100 percent of them will talk to you about how the importance of working through treatments.

I had a task force meeting today, right over 50 mayors from around the country in a room with me talking about treatment and prevention and how we're going to move forward. Treating law enforcement doesn't solve anything and they're dead wrong.

The, Attorney General, I think his office is looking at this. They're wrong with that. I mean it's a disorder and it's a problem. And it happens in -- happens in every single city and town across America. There are people watching the show today that are conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. And there's one area they can all agree on, is that if they have a child or a loved one that suffering from heroin addiction, the way to treat them is not by putting them in jail.

SANCHEZ: Mayor Marty Walsh, we appreciate you taking time out of your Sunday to talk to us. Thank you.

WALSH: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, cities from coast to coast are marching in solidarity with the LGBT community today. We're going to take you to New York's pride parade where the rhetoric is getting political.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:22] SANCHEZ: One of the largest pride parades in the world is happening right now. Thousands of marchers are making their way through the streets of New York City. The pride celebrations in several cities across the U.S. come on the heels of a big anniversary tomorrow, marking two years since the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage a nationwide right. CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us now live from that parade in New York City.

And, Polo, I understand there was a disruption there not long ago with some counter-protesters.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Boris. There was a slight delay that got cleared up just a few moments ago here on New York streets. There were a few from what appeared to be these anti-police protesters that ended up sitting in right in the middle of the street here, essentially, stopping the parade for, I would say, about 20 to 30 minutes. Police having to move in and then arrested, at least, detain those individuals, moved them out of the way.

And now, as you can see here, this seemingly endless flow of people here that have been making their way down the streets of New York. This is, of course, one of the largest parades now, going on about 48 years that this has been happening. Starting in midtown and ending here at the Stonewall Inn, of course, the birthplace of the American Gay Rights Movement, Boris.

And what we've seen is a mix of pride and politics which is nothing new here. Of course, there are many of these groups, many of these pro-LGBT groups that have been sponsoring some of these individuals that have been taking part in the parade, trying to get their message across. But there's also been a steady balance of politics and of course, plenty of music. And that doesn't, of course, go without a more powerful moment when some of those individuals that were representing the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting just over a year ago, were walking down these streets.

So again, things are back to normal after what was a slight delay, about 10 total arrests that we've saw take place here on the streets of New York, but things continue as planned, Boris.

SANCHEZ: All right, Polo Sandoval, reporting from the pride parade in New York City. Thank you so much, Polo.

Please stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:01] SANCHEZ: President Trump says he can create jobs and save the coal industry, but that does come with its challenges. W. Kamau Bell visited one of the poorest areas of Kentucky coal country in this week's "United Shades of America".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA" HOST: One thing I felt is that people are suspicious of me and this camera crew rolling through here. You know, because I know there's been a lot of news people rolled through here and just take out the image of Beattyville, the poorest white town in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well --

BELL: You know, were not trying to put that out there, but people are suspicious like you talk about that. What are your thoughts on that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's home. It's no matter what we have or what we don't have, it's always going to be home. But in all honesty, in a small community like us just being going downhill for 40 years, a lot of people, they draw money from the government, no jobs leads to no money, which leads to depression, which leads to drugs or alcohol.

BELL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we just have 35 percent of our high school kids' graduate.

BELL: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So young people leave to find something to do.

BELL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want young people to stay. I want to find jobs and I want to be with their families just like I want my children to be with me. I ran for mayor back in 2010.

BELL: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And got beat by just a handful of votes.

BELL: Well, I that's all you got here is a handful of votes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. Listen, I'm proud of who I am. I'm proud of my mother. She has a sixth grade education. She's cooked these home-cooked meals.

BELL: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has taken care of me for 33 years.

BELL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she is still taking care of me.

BELL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm proud to be from Beattyville. And I want to help the community. That's what a small town is about, helping everybody.

BELL: Do you feel like if you're running for mayor that maybe there's a target on you now, that people trying to run your name down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't care how big a target is on my back. I'm guns loaded. I'm ready to come out.

BELL: And I hear when you say guns loaded, you actually mean there's probably some guns you could load?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know how it is.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: W. Kamau Bell joins us now.

Kamau, you've been to a lot of places with the show. What stood out most to you about coal country in Kentucky?

BELL: I mean we've put this all on them wanting their coal jobs back, but when you get behind that, you know, it's about them wanting jobs.

[15:50:00] SANCHEZ: Right.

BELL: It's just that Beattyville the last good job they had there were coal jobs. Really, we get too focused on the fact that they want coal jobs and then that becomes about the debate about coal. But really, just like on the south and west side of Chicago, this is about economic development and people wanting improvements in their lives.

SANCHEZ: Now, the former mayor, Mayor (inaudible), I should say, says that he wants people to stay in that small town and find jobs there. But is that feasible with a depressed economy there and with people generally, young people especially, wanting to move to big cities?

BELL: I mean it is feasible. Let's not forget, not that long ago Silicon Valley was just the desert part between San Francisco and L.A.

So it is possible that ideas can come in. They can raise parts of the country up. They did nothing to be raised up.

So I think it's just about like -- and there are a lot of people there working on those things. There are people there who are working to coal, there's people who are opening new businesses, as we show on the show tonight.

But yes, it is possible. But if we keep going a coal is being replaced, then I don't know if that's possible.

SANCHEZ: And, Kamau, one of the things that you talk about, specifically, in this episode is opioid abuse. I was on with Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston just a few minutes ago and I asked him how someone, in his perspective, that thinks that opioid abuse is a societal issue that should be handled as a health issue would talk to someone like Attorney General Jeff Sessions who sees it as a law enforcement issue.

In other words, someone that sees that this is not necessarily something that should be handled through health care, but rather something that is a personal choice, an issue of personal responsibility, how do you bridge that gap? How do you see that debate shake out?

BELL: I mean we've talked to people there. Everybody who's had that kind of issue touched, their family understands it's a health issue and not an issue of just people wanting to be criminals.

And I think that the more -- if Jeff Sessions actually sat down with, like, the woman I talked to in the show tonight or sat down with other politicians who have this (inaudible) directly, he would understand that this is about sympathy and empathy with people. And then you say this addiction and health issue. It's not about people wanting to be criminals.

It's the same thing that Jeff Sessions needs to do with every problem that he would address. It's not crime, it's people.

SANCHEZ: All right, W. Kamau Bell, we look forward to the show tonight. Be sure to watch "United Shades of America" tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN. Thanks so much for joining us, Kamau.

BELL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We have much more ahead in the Newsroom. But first, if you're looking to create the future of technology, Apple's senior vice president says you have to learn to code. Here's CNN's Laurie Segall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: How do you guys at Apple try to get people invested in developing apps, developing this kind of technology at an early age?

PHILIP W. SCHILLER, APPLE SENIOR VP WORLDWIDE MARKETING: The growth of the app developer economy is, I think, a potential driving force for our whole economy in America and in other countries around the world.

One of the cool things that I'm really proud that we're working on is an education program. We call it Everyone Can Code. That actually is a little play off of the Anyone Can Cook from Ratatouille, that movie.

And it's kind of the same thing. You know, anyone can cook, not everyone will be a chef. Anybody can learn to code, not everybody will be the world's greatest app developer.

We all grew up where you have to learn a foreign language. I think increasingly, it's really important that people learn to code because as kids growing up, maybe they have the propensity to be a great developer. But by the time you get older and you haven't tried, then you might not be willing to start.

And even if you don't become a developer later in life, chances are, you're job is going to interact with a software programmer. And you then want to be able to have a dialogue at an intelligent level because you understand where they're coming from.

So one of the programs we've been launching is K-12 in United States, Everyone Can Code, Swift Playgrounds to help kids learn and control robots and make drones fly. And I think that can have a huge change in our economy and just in the education of students around the world. That people approach it as just like a foreign language, everyone needs to code.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: For more on Everyone Can Code, check out our website cnn.com/text. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:58:21] SANCHEZ: It was a terrifying experience for more than 350 passengers aboard an AirAsia X flight heading to Kuala Lumpur. Watch this. You can see the jet shaking violently. It happened about an hour after taking off from Perth, Australia and it wasn't ordinary turbulence that comes and goes.

Passengers described the plane shaking like a washing machine for almost two hours. You can see some passengers that were smiling and laughing about it, trying to stay calm as they were documenting the ordeal.

With some of this, the pilot actually urged passengers to pray as the plane turned around to fly back to Australia where it landed safely. Airline officials are blaming it on a technical issue with the engine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

The next hour of "CNN Newsroom" starts right now.

The battle over health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRICE: The plan, in its entirety, will absolutely bring premiums down. They've promised too much. They say they're going to fix health care and premiums are going to go down. There's no way the Republican bill brings down premiums.

KASICH: I don't think the bill's adequate now. And unless it gets fixed, I'm against it.

SANDERS: There is no way in God's Earth that this bill should be passed.

CONWAY: The Democrats themselves, many of them have admitted that Obamacare is a failure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you stop doing this repeal, which is Trumpcare, we'll sit down with you and make it better.

TOOMEY: But I see this bill as a first step, a first important step in the direction of repealing those portions of Obamacare that we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The Senate health care bill is on the table. But will it get the votes to pass? That's ahead in the "CNN Newsroom".

[16:00:02] Hey there, it is 4:00 p.m. on the East Coast. I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Fredricka Whitfield. Thank you so much for joining us this Sunday on the "CNN Newsroom".