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New Day Sunday

White House Tries to Flip The Script on Russia Collusion; House GOP Must Introduce Tax Bill By Wednesday; Undocumented 10-Year-Old Held Without Parents. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 29, 2017 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the earliest, that Monday morning some of the charges will be revealed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be an indictment which will speak to the criminal activity that Mueller feels he can prove.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have not heard from the president about these indictments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has taken the advice to lay low on the subject.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will just consume everything Donald Trump tries to do in the coming months.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prosecutors like to start with smaller fish and move slowly up the food chain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

RENE MARSH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rene Marsh, in for Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good Sunday to you. Good to have you.

This is a critical week in Washington. The investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election could strike its first blow as early as tomorrow.

MARSH: That's when a judge is expected to unseal the first charges steaming from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.

BLACKWELL: Then, on Tuesday, reps from tech giants Facebook, Twitter, and Google will testify on Capitol Hill about how Russia infiltrated social media to influence the 2016 election.

MARSH: And as the Russia investigation intensifies, lawmakers have their hands full with tax reform. Wednesday is the deadline for House Republicans to introduce the bill that could be President Trump's first major legislative win. BLACKWELL: Then, Thursday, the House Iintel Committee interviews former Trump campaign policy adviser Carter Page on Russia's election meddling.

And then, Friday, President Trump starts his 12-day trip to Asia to meet with leaders in Japan, South Korea, and China about the trade and, of course, the North Korean nuclear threat.

MARSH: And while the White House says it has no comment on the Russia probe, it's launching an all-out assault on Hillary Clinton. President Trump and some Republicans on the Hill are trying to launch dueling investigations.

CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins joins me live now with more on that.

Kaitlan, at this hour, what is the White House saying now? Are they continuing to deflect from the Russian investigation?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, there's still no official comment from the White House, but this emerging narrative that we're seeing is they are putting the focus back on the Hillary Clinton campaign and what the White House says is their collusion with Russia. Still, no official White House comment, but we have seen some of the president's top aides, including Kellyanne Conway and the press secretary, Sarah Sanders, focus on Hillary Clinton in recent days.

Though the Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said twice on Friday that she thought the special counsel's investigation was coming to an end just hours before CNN reported that those charges had been filed, she was saying that. And then we heard had from her yesterday on this matter where she didn't comment at all on these charges that had been filed but, instead, focused on Hillary Clinton.

She tweeted: Clinton spokesman just said he is glad Clinton campaign colluded with Russia to spread disinformation about the president and influence the election. And then she added: the evidence Clinton campaign, the DNC and Russia colluded to influence the election is indisputable.

Now, we also heard from the president several times yesterday, Rene, but nothing on this. Though, he tweeted about former President Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore. He had nothing to say about this as he spent several hours at his golf course right outside of D.C. here in Sterling, Virginia.

But the president also is not commenting on it so far. But they've got this really big week for the White House to focus on. Not only are they desperate for a legislative achievement and Republicans on Capitol Hill are hoping that they will focus their efforts on tax reform. The president is also expected to name a Fed chairman and then he leaves on Friday for his 12-day trip to Asia.

But, for right now, they are putting Hillary Clinton back in the spotlight and laying low on the news that these charges have been filed, Rene. MARSH: All right. Kaitlan Collins live for us at the White House,

thank you.

And these first charges come just five months into Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election. He was appointed in May and weeks later, "The Washington Post" reported that Mueller was investigating President Trump for obstruction of justice.

Now, in July, we learned Mueller was also looking at the president's finances and his business transactions. Now, the FBI raided former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's home just days later. Mueller empanelled a grand jury at the beginning of August, indicating he found some kind of evidence of criminal activity.

And, Friday, a major turning point -- Mueller filed the first charges in the case.

BLACKWELL: All right. Joining me now, Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic", Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and political anchor for Spectrum News, and CNN correspondent Kara Scannell.

Good morning all of you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: I want to start with something that the president's attorney Ty Cobb said in a "New York Times" story.

[07:05:05] Do we have that? We can put up on the screen?

All right. Let's put this up.

The president has not concerns in terms of any impact as to what happens to them on his campaign or on the White House.

Errol, first to you, that does not seem to correspondent with the president's constant criticism of the special prosecutor, his criticisms of those attorneys who work for him and all of the investigations about Russia's involvement in the election and any possible collusion.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I interpret Ty Cobb's statement for "The New York Times" podcast as a good lawyer doing what he should do, which is to sort of try and tamp down a lot of the speculation and maybe kind of lower and lower the temperature a little bit. His client, however, as we know is likely to take to Twitter or make a side comment that sort of blows up that strategy. For now, right now, though, I think it's a very wise thing for the president to try and put some distance between himself and some of these top aides, including the campaign chairman, who could very well be in legal hot soup over what they did for him.

BLACKWELL: So, Ron, let me bring to you the question I took to our partisans about 30 minutes ago and now to you as a journalist. How do the federal criminal charges that are coming potentially on Monday, maybe a little later in the week, but we know they are coming, according to our reporting, impact the president's ability to get a big legislative win, to get tax reform, to get something done?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a really good question, because in some ways, as we talked about before, Victor, I think the president is existing almost in a separate sphere from the policy agenda, whether it's the executive branch kind of grinding away and repealing almost all, you know, many of the key regulations that President Obama pursued or the Congress trying to advance this congressional agenda. The president has been much more focused, really, throughout the entire presidency on this endless series of personal and cultural conflicts that he provokes. And in some ways, I think they view a desperation as better. You heard that for example from Bob Corker. I think speaking for many Republicans, you know, kind of leave this to the expert.

But, look, there's no question that an ongoing investigation is, if nothing else, just a tremendous diversion of time and energy, and it divides the time and the focus of the White House.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

BROWNSTEIN: By the way, the response from the White House I think, is revealing here, because, you know, when you see these kind of efforts to turn it back to Hillary Clinton. What I think that embodies is a larger communication strategy which goes to their problem on taxes, which is that -- that is not really an argument designed, I think, to appeal to swing voters who are not sure what to make of Russia. That really is about speaking to the people who are ready or part of their hard-core base and what they have been doing.

BLACKWELL: The president and the White House have been going back to the base repeatedly for the last nine months now.

Kara, let me come to you. Of course, the conversation we are talking about charges coming from the special prosecutor's investigation. But the House and Senate investigations, we have heard a lot from the White House, from even Republican members on the Hill who are talking about it's time to end these. They are very expensive. They've been going on too long. You've got to come to a close.

Are those in jeopardy?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think those investigations are in jeopardy at all. They are continuing on a separate track for the Mueller investigation.

In fact, the House is -- House Intelligence Committee is conducting more interviews this week. They are going to interview Carter Page who, at one point, had some association with the Trump campaign. That interview is going to take place behind closed doors but a transcript will be made public. That I think will be quite revealing to some extent to see what Carter Page's role was and in investigation is looking into potential collusion with Russia.

The Senate committee is also going on its full track. So I think we will still see those continue, regardless of what happens on Monday.

BLACKWELL: All right. Errol, let's now talk about tax reform. The big deadline coming for the introduction of some legislation on Wednesday -- obviously, just a few days away. They want to get something done by Thanksgiving. Senate has got 14 working days on the calendar. The House has even fewer than that. And there are still some major disagreements about this legislation that is being, again, put together behind closed doors.

LOUIS: That's right. I mean, they are doing, in some ways, a replay of what did not work for health care reform. A little curious as to why they think it's going to work this time. There is a strong political motivation, of course, on get this done before the election year began. So, yes, January 1st, 2018, nobody wants to talk about raising anybody's taxes for any reason.

So, they are going to move as quickly as they can but they have some serious divisions, Victor, between the budget deficit hawks, the folks who don't ever want to increase the national debt and those who recognize that you're not going to find $5 trillion worth of savings unless you start figuring out a way to run a huge deficit or raise taxes.

[07:10:01] It's the basic map bedeviled this legislation for a generation.

BLACKWELL: Ron, are those deficit hawks afraid enough of this Lindsey Graham theory that if we don't get something done, we're going to be swept out of majority in at least one of these chambers in 2018 to compromise, in some way, on those fundamental principles of making sure that this is going to be paid for?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, Republicans, when there is a Republican president in the White House, they cut taxes during their first year. Reagan did it, George W. Bush did it. I will be shocked if they can't agree on some tax cut here.

But there's not going to be tax reform. It's not going to be definite (INAUDIBLE). But there's going to be a tax cut.

And if you go back to 2001, three Republican senators voted for force them to reduce the size of the tax cut and by about $300 billion or $400 billion. I would not be surprised to see something. We have the potential for something like that again because you have, in John McCain and Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, not to mention potentially Susan Collins, Republican senators who are estranged from the president and raised concerns about the deficit, and they may force them to shrink the tax cut but you will still end up, I think, with a very substantial tax cut that puts a lot of pressure on spending, domestic spending going forward once that revenue is removed from the equation.

BLACKWELL: All right. Kara, let me come to you at one other element. The House Intelligence has reached a deal with a firm that was hired by, on one side, both the conservative Website, and on the other side, the DNC and Clinton campaign to dig up dirt on then candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election. This is Fusion GPS we are talking about that initially fought the subpoena for financial records.

What is on the table? What can we learn here?

SCANNELL: So they have reached an agreement with the House Intel Committee to provide the records from the bank that the Intel committee had sought and the reason why the intelligence committee I think is seeking those bank records was, initially, they wanted to find out who was funding the investigation, which, of course, ultimately resulted in that dossier. But both sides have come out, both the GOP funded "Washington Free Beacon" and the DNC lawyer and supporter of the Hillary Clinton campaign confirmed that he had hired Fusion.

So, I think this agreement takes a little bit out of the, you know, the revelation from this. But we might learn more about how much money they spent on the investigation, which will only kind of stir up that political debate that has been encapsulating it this week.

BLACKWELL: All right. Kara Scannell, Errol Louis, Ron Brownstein, thank you all.

LOUIS: Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

SCANNELL: Thanks.

MARSH: Actress Ashley Judd says she wants to help women learn the signs of sexual harassment. Meantime, there are new allegations coming out against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The latest stars to share their claims of abuse, that's coming up.

BLACKWELL: Plus, a 10-year-old with cerebral palsy could be facing deportation. She's now being held without parents in a shelter. Coming up, we'll talk with that family's lawyer.

Coming up, we'll talk with that family's lawyer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:01] MARSH: Well, today marks the fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, and as if on cue, a massive wind and rainstorm is expected to strike the northeast later on today.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Ivan Cabrera is tracking this storm for us.

You know, the season is not over.

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The season is not over. This is now the 16th tropical system that we have been following here across the Caribbean, this new one that's impacting Florida.

By the way, if you're watching us from the Northeast, it is going to be gusty as far as the wind and a lot of rain but this is not going to be anything like Sandy. Remember, Sandy was a potent hurricane that basically slammed into the Northeast. This is nothing like that. This is Tropical Storm Felipe, but notice the center of circulation

across south Florida probably a little further east at this point here. But the thunderstorm activity well off to the Northeast. What that indicates is a very disorganized system and one that is already getting picked up by those strong westerly winds that are going to take this thing right into the mid-Atlantic.

This won't arrive as an intact tropical system. What will happen is the front that we have been talking about the last few days. This is the same one that has brought the cold air all the way to the southeast and the snow in Minnesota. Well, this front will pick up Felipe's moisture and everything is going to head up towards the north and this is going to be quite a rainmaker here.

It starts later on this afternoon. But the strongest of the winds won't start until later this evening, but this is going to be a mess for the morning commute. In fact, high wind warnings are already posted for from New York, all the way through New England and we are talking not just gusty winds. This is 40 to 60-mile-per-hour winds. There will be power outages, there's no question about that, perhaps widespread in some areas as the rain is going to be falling sideways here and will accumulate four to six inches.

The concern is, is that that is going to be fall a very short amount of time, so that could lead to flash flooding, which is why we have the watches and warnings up in anticipation of that.

Here are the forecast wind gusts as the storm continues to head up to the east. There you go, 35, 40-mile-an-hour winds as early as this evening and that really cranks up into New England by tomorrow, 50 to 55-mile-an-hour winds. That is going to be a mess. Logan Airport, all the New York metros, and you're going to have that cascading effect as far as delays up and down the 95 corridor.

Keep that in mind. It is going to be a bumpy Monday here for us with very heavy rainfall as this potent coastal low gets its act together and heads up north -- guys.

BLACKWELL: All right. We'll watch it. Ivan Cabrera, thank you so much.

Listen to this story. It's an undocumented 10-year-old girl with special needs. She is being held in federal custody without her parents, 10 years old. Next, we'll talk to her family's lawyer.

MARSH: And the Department of Homeland Security unveiled several prototypes for the president's proposed wall along the border with Mexico, but will they actually work?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:23:57] MARSH: Welcome back. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rene Marsh, in for Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you. This is a beginning of a major week in Washington that could have serious consequences for the White House.

MARSH: Tomorrow, the first person could be taken into custody in the Russia investigation after special counsel Robert Mueller filed charges on Friday. And on Tuesday, Facebook, Twitter, and Google head to Capitol Hill. They will be testifying on how Russia used social media to influence the 2016 election.

BLACKWELL: Let's keep it going. On Wednesday, the deadline for the introduction of a tax reform bill. Top Republicans say it's pass tax reform this year or lose control of at least one of the chambers.

On Thursday, former Trump campaign and foreign policy adviser Carter Page heads to the Hill with an interview with the House Intelligence Committee in their Russia investigation. And then President Trump leaves for his trip to Asia on Friday. He'll meet with leaders in Japan, South Korea, and China about trade and the North Korean nuclear threat.

MARSH: Well, this next story, a 10-year-old girl with special needs is now caught up in an immigration fight.

[07:25:04] Rosa Maria Hernandez is an undocumented child. She's been in the United States since she was 3 months old.

BLACKWELL: This week, a family member crossed south Texas interior border checkpoint to take the girl to get an emergency for kidney stones. They made it to the hospital for surgery with Border Patrol agents were waiting outside the door of her room while she recovered.

Now, Rosa Maria is now in a shelter without her parents. Her mother says she does not know when or if her daughter will be able to come home.

Here is CNN's Stephania Jimenez from CNN affiliate KGNS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FELIPA DE LA CRUZ, ROSA MARIA'S MOTHER (through translator): She ignores everything that's happening around her. When she realizes her family isn't with her, she is going to start to cry.

STEPHANIA JIMENEZ, KGNS REPORTER (voice-over): Felipa De La Cruz is in agony. Federal agents are taking her 10-year-old daughter Rosa Maria Hernandez to a detention center in San Antonio.

DE LA CRUZ (through translator): I don't know what they are going to come out with.

JIMENEZ: On top of that, Felipa is worried about Rosa Maria's feeling. She has cerebral palsy and doesn't understand what is happening. Felipa says her daughter has the mentality of a 6-year- old.

DE LA CRUZ (through translator): She is going to start to get uncomfortable and she may hurt her surgery scars. The situation escalated a few days ago. Rosa Maria's doctors in

Laredo sent her to Driscoll Children's Hospital for emergency gallbladder surgery. In order to come to Corpus Christi, she crossed a border checkpoint. That's where border protection stopped her. Border Patrol then followed her to the hospital for the surgery.

Rosa Maria left the hospital this morning. Her family's attorney told KRIS News that she may be at the San Antonio detention center for up to three weeks. From there, investigators will decide if the girl goes back with her family in Laredo or gets deported to Mexico.

DE LA CRUZ (through translator): I don't want them to deport her. Mexico isn't safe and she needs therapy, her doctors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, the immigration process could take years if the case ends up in court. The question now, how long will she have to stay in that shelter?

BLACKWELL: Joining us to talk about this live from Los Angeles is Rosa Maria's attorney, Alex Galvez.

Sir, good to have you this morning. The first question, how is Rosa Maria this morning?

ALEX GALVEZ, ATTORNEY FOR ROSA MARIA HERNANDEZ: Well, you can only imagine. She is 12-year-old that suffers from cerebral palsy. She's unaware that she is in immigration detention. She thinks she is still recovering from the surgery but we all know that the mother is suffering and she needs to be with her mother.

What we are facing here is a constitutional crisis. The Constitution says that the mother has a right to be with the daughter. She is not a flight risk and she is not a danger to society.

We are perplexed as immigration attorneys why this happened. There could have been other means that the government could have taken. They can put an ankle bracelet, but they decided to follow her to the hospital and detain her and put her in immigration proceedings. It's a travesty what we are seeing right now, but we are going to do everything possible to get her out.

MARSH: Has she been able to see any family since she's been in that shelter? And you mentioned, she has special needs. Her mom in the piece there said she needs her doctors. Do you know what kind of care she is even getting there?

GALVEZ: Well, the shelter does provide medical care. Yesterday morning, on Saturday, the father did go up to San Antonio and visit their daughter at the shelter for a couple of hours. But, right now, what's crucial is to have that daughter outside of a shelter.

She shouldn't be treated like a criminal, for crying out loud. She is a 12-year-old child. She needs to be with the mother, with her parents, and we are going to do everything possible. We are looking at maybe perhaps getting her released within 21 days.

Normally, the process takes about two months to three months. We've -- this case is on a track to b expedited and we are looking to release her within 21 days.

BLACKWELL: So, to have her released to her parents, I wonder, is the objective to get the mother, the parent to come out and surrender as well? When I say objective, I mean, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from the CBP? What are your communications with them about what they want to happen next?

GALVEZ: We are talking about CBP. We're talking immigration on a daily basis.

What we know for a fact is after she's released from this facility, she will be placed in removal proceedings and that could take up to three years. But it's simply sad that this mother did everything in her power to have her kid, her child receive medical care and, as a result, now that child is facing removal proceedings and the family is also exposed and has a risk of being detained and also placed in removal proceedings.

What are immigrants supposed to think when they send their kids to a hospital? She also should be worried that they are going to be facing deportation because they have to go to the hospital? And that is a tragedy of all this.

We have to have an immigration reform. We have to fix immigration system as we know it because parents can be afraid of sending their kids to the hospital.

[07:30:02] And that's a tragedy of all this. We have to have an immigration reform. We have to fix immigration system as we know it because parents can't be afraid of sending their kids to the hospital and also fearing that their kids are going to be detained and deported.

RENE MARSH, CNN ANCHOR: This sounds highly unusual. I mean, you have a child who's been living in the United States since she was 3 months old, she has a medical condition, and she's been detained. I mean, we've heard of children crossing the border alone being detained, but this is a different case. I mean, she's lived here and she has a medical condition.

How unusual is this?

GALVEZ: Very unusual. I've never seen it in all of my years in practice. Usually, these shelters, they are for people, kids that are apprehended at the border, not for children that are living here within the United States. Rosa Maria has been living here the last ten years and there's a special procedure for individuals caught within the border and also living here in the country.

She should have easily been just released. She could have been processed and then released right away and then be informed that she needed to go to a court to fight her case before an immigration judge. But for the government to take this unusual step of going to the hospital, arrest her, and then place her in detention, it's just unheard of. And it's perplexing. Maybe this is a new normal for this new administration.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Alex Galvez, thank you so much.

And I just want to read a couple of sentences here from Customs and Border Protection. They say that they are enforcing the nation's immigration law that they say that per the immigration laws of the United States one medically cleared she will be processed accordingly. The Mexican consulate has been advised of the situation by Laredo executive border patrol. So, that from the government.

Again, Alex, thank you so much.

Well, prototypes for the president's big beautiful wall, as he calls it, have been unveiled along the U.S./Mexico board.

MARSH: And one of the eight prototypes commissioned by the Trump administration could serve as a blueprint to carry out the president's vision for the new border.

CNN's Miguel Marquez explains it all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump said he wanted a big fat beautiful wall. These are his 30 by 30 foot options.

(on camera): One of these eight contestants could soon stretch 2,000 miles across the border.

CARLOS DIAZ, SPOKESMAN, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: There's a chance that one of them gets election, eight of them get selected for a mix of their characteristic selected for construction.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): They sit like giant tombstones just east of San Diego in the No Man's Land right on the U.S. Mexico Border. The President has consistently said a wall will be built along the entire border.

(on camera): He say 2,000 miles a border wall, you say? We'll put it up when we need to?

DIAZ: Well, there's a testimony already out there. There was a testimony by the former --

MARQUEZ: Right.

DIAZ: -- chief of Homeland Security, which was General Kelly, in which he in testimony said that you won't see a wall from sea to shiny sea. We will put the wall where it makes sense.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Customs and border patrol deferring to the same John Kelly who is now the President's Chief of Staff. The cost for just these test walls, $20 million, building any one of them can cost the entire 2,000 mile border could cost more than $20 billion.

(on camera): Beyond this, whether the $20 billion to build the entire wall comes that's for another day?

DIAZ: So, right now, our focus is to complete the process of construction of prototypes.

MARQUEZ: So the prototypes or the contestants for the president's big beautiful wall they're done. But it's going to take another month for the cement to dry and for the walls to settle before they can be tested. And then, they will go with them, seeing whether they can be scaled, climb, dug under or breach.

You will test these walls to their maximum?

DIAZ: Correct.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): On the Mexican side of the border building of the prototypes met with disbelief.

(on camera): So when you see these what do they represent to you?

VICTOR CLARK-ALFARO, PROFESSOR OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY: For our country we think it's an insult.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Victor Clark-Alfaro, a Mexican citizen who teaches border issues at San Diego State University, says, a 30-foot wall would deter migrates but not everything.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Will a 30-foot wall, 20,000 miles long stop drugs coming into the U.S.?

CLARK-ALFARO: Well, drugs enter through the U.S. in different ways, through port of entries, through sea, by land.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): And tunnels, lots of them.

(on camera): If we could take a picture of the land, of the ground underneath us, what would it look like?

CLARK-ALFARO: Well, there are a lot of tunnels, obviously. And probably in this moment, somebody's building a tunnel.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): At least some of those walls come with tunnel deterrence too -- big beautiful walls above and below ground.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico, Otay Mesa, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:35:01] MARSH: Well, she wrote the book on women who work. Now, Ivanka Trump is taking that message overseas to a global summit. Does she have the influence to help her father's administration? BLACKWELL: And the last time that Anthony Bourdain was in Sri Lankan,

there's a civil war going on. Now, this week, he's back to show us how the culture and the food have changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, PARTS UNKNOWN: It's been years since I've been to this beautiful country filled with lovely, incredible food, Sri Lanka.

Last time I was here, let's put it this way, we couldn't see too much of the place. We were here in the middle of the most vicious, restrained conflicts you could imagine.

Well, the war is over. What is Sri Lanka like now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Watch "PARTS UNKNOWN" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:53] MARSH: Well, actress Ashley Judd is talking about her experience with sexual harassment to "Teen Vogue". During the interview, she spoke about her encounters with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Judd also recorded a video demonstrating how young women can spot and respond to being harassed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY JUDD, ACTRESS: I'm walking down the street with a girlfriend and I get heckled and I go "inappropriate and unwelcomed!" and keep walking. This is another really great way, just a physical gesture of stop.

That doesn't mean that we stop telling. What is taken from us when we experience micro aggression and sexual harassment and sexual assault is our sense of safety, our bargaining strategies and the things that we do in these moments are healthy reactions to abnormal situations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, Judd was the first actor to go public within accusation against Weinstein. I spoke with "Teen Vogue" writer Lauren Duca who said it's imperative to educate young people, both women and men, about the dangers of sexual harassment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN DUCA, WRITER, TEEN VOGUE: We need to be talking about the little things that are not OK, the ways that we are not -- we are not given the opportunities, we are not asked to have the internship at the law firm in the same way. We are called honey. We're called sweetie. You know, we are just things that delay our mission and hold us back, those little stories. I hope that that will be shared to by younger women who as we come to understand, that we have to be speaking up and that story telling is a legitimate weapon in fighting against the patriarchy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, Weinstein was fired by his company and is now suing the production house. And two more actresses, Daryl Hannah and Annabelle Sciorra, they are now speaking out against Weinstein in an interview with "The New Yorker" magazine. They share their own personal stories of alleged sexual harassment and abuse by the movie producer. Weinstein has denied the allegations in a statement to "The New Yorker."

BLACKWELL: The president has a lot on his agenda as he starts this 12-day trip to Asia. We are talking trade, security, nuclear weapons, of course, all on the agenda. The president will meet with leaders from Japan, South Korea, China and attend two separate summit while abroad.

Ivanka Trump arrives in Japan first where she is scheduled to give a speech on women in the workplace on Friday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe invited Ivanka Trump to attend a world assembly focus on women's rights.

MARSH: So, what role does Ivanka Trump play in this administration and what can she accomplish on her own trip abroad?

Well, here to discuss all of this is Kate Andersen Brower. She's a CNN contributor and she's also the author of "First Women: The Grace and Power of American's Modern First Ladies."

So, Kate Andersen Brower, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

I guess the first question for you, Ivanka, she's traveling to Japan. Again, this is at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She'll be giving a speech on entrepreneurship. She'll be talking to women.

Does this surprise you at all that, you know, the administration is still having her out there as a pretty critical part of the president's West Wing staff?

KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, I'm not surprised at all. I think Melania Trump is somebody who doesn't particularly like to wade into politics in any way, so having Ivanka do this makes sense.

And I do think that, you know, the idea that a lot of Democrats had that Ivanka would be kind of whispering in her father's ear and talking about climate change and sort of encouraging him in a way that they would favor has proved not to be true. You know, you've got Scott Pruitt at the EPA and Paris accord. Of course, he is trying to get the U.S. out of. So, I don't know her influence coming into this administration. I think a lot of people hoped would be greater than it actually has been.

I don't think this trip is anything more than in keeping with what she talks about, which is women's empowerment and entrepreneurship, but we don't see a lot of actual, concrete examples where she's been influential.

[07:45:01] MARSH: Yes, and let's talk about that. I mean, that has been a criticism for Ivanka Trump, that, you know, she was seen as this person who may be able to pull her father a bit to the left. One of those examples, the climate Paris agreement. However, we see that it didn't go in the way that people on the left would have liked. And so, the question has been raised, what exactly is her role?

And then you see her being invited to do speeches like this one overseas. How do we square both of those things?

BROWER: I think it's very interesting that she has a West Wing office. She has a chief of staff. I think she came into the White House thinking she could be more powerful than she has been. If you look at other first ladies like Hillary Clinton who had a West Wing office and people did not like that. That got her in some trouble.

And I think Ivanka Trump, you know, she talks about the viciousness of D.C. and being surprised by it. And I think she is starting to see that there is most Americans, I don't think, like to see a family member kind of insert themselves in policy. And she is coming up against that.

She is educated. She went to the Wharton School. She's a very intelligent person, but nobody elected her. And I think that, again and again, we'll see her coming up against that criticism.

MARSH: All right. And, you know, of course, some people are wondering, is this another example of people trying to curry favor with the president. Of course, she got the invitation from the Japanese prime minister. But I do want to turn to the president who is also traveling to Asia this week. What does the president need to do on this trip? And as things get more intense in that region, what does he need to make sure he does not do?

BROWER: You know, I mean, obviously, there's a lot of tension with North Korea right now and a lot of the things that the president says, I think especially with his tweets, talking about the North Korean leader, he has to be very careful in how he uses certain language. This is very complicated.

And so, I think that it's going to be a challenging trip, interesting to watch. But I know in some of my reporting that, you know, people around him think that sometimes he says things that are very presidential and the next day, it kind of backfires because he sort of self-sabotages and I think that we'll have to wait and see how this trip goes.

MARSH: All right. Kate Andersen Brower, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

BROWER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, the Astros, you know, may have lost game four, but don't blame it all on the ceremonial toss. Hear why this little girl's perfect pitch thrilled so many fans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:04] MARSH: Well, two of Houston's first responders who worked around the clock during Hurricane Harvey got a chance to watch the World Series, thanks to a very generous Astros fan.

BLACKWELL: This is a good story. Take a moment and watch this. Jessica Willey from our affiliate KTRK in Houston has it for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to win, win, win!

JESSICA WILLEY, KTRK REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here. We're at the World Series.

WILLEY: Gratitude for the sacrifice.

UNIDENTIIFIED MALE: We've got a little bit in there. But it was a good week. We were gone a total of 15 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Saturday when the storm hit to the following Sunday, I worked about 130 hours.

WILLEY: Houston firefighters Michael Bingham (ph) and Brad Hawthorne (ph) wouldn't be here at game three if it weren't for Brett Mayer (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought what better way to thank than to bring them to this game.

WILLEY: On Facebook, the criminal defense attorney asked family and friends to submit their first responders' stories. He got dozens and chose two to host to the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish I could have brought more. I would have gotten the whole section if I could.

WILLEY: Hawthorne and Bingham among the thousands who went above and beyond during those trying days.

Eyewitness News was there when Bingham was on the south loop, helping evacuates get to safety. The work during the storm was something he'd never experienced before.

MICHAEL BINGHAM, HOUSTON FIREFIGHTER: When I did get relieved, it was my son's birthday, Monday the 28th, so I was happy just to go home.

WILLEY: He still tears up when thinking about the separation, which makes this even sweeter -- a thank you by way of World Series seats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guys at the station a little bit jealous, but, yes, we had -- yes, this is an honor.

WILLEY: A once in a lifetime experience.

BINGHAM: We get thanked all the time, but it's a little bit different when a complete stranger does something like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: See? Told you that was a good one.

MARSH: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Thanks to Jessica Willey for that story.

Last night's ceremonial pitch during game four of the World Series came from a very special 7-year-old girl. Her name is Hailey Dawson. Watch.

MARSH: Well, Hailey threw the ball with her 3-D printed hand. She was born missing three fingers. Before the game, she was all smiles after she met a couple of the Astros players there. You see her there.

BLACKWELL: Congratulations.

MARSH: Yes.

BLACKWELL: All right. "Tech-ing Care of Your Health" now looks at an audio device that helps doctors assess the health of your knees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounds like Rice Krispie Cereal, just crackle, crackle, crackle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That cringe-worthy grinding was recorded by a knee band. Still in its research phase, the wearable works like a stethoscope that lets you listen to the healing process of your knee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's microphones that sense the vibrations and sounds coming out of the knee during movement. The biggest difference between a healthy and injured knee is the variability in the sounds.

[07:55:03] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An algorithm can present that variability on a graph. Along with other less-subjective data, doctors can determine how well a patient is healing and figure out when or if they can get back in the game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we would like to deliver to the doctor is a joint health score. Maybe green is they can get back to basic activity and maybe yellow is that they can move up to more challenging rehab activities. And maybe red is that they need to back off and wait until their knees are a little bit better before they get back to whatever they really want to do. It might be something more of a thumbs up or thumbs down for a particular type of therapy that's being used. What we would like to do is give people better information about their own knee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: All right. Well, that's going to do it for us. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

BLACKWELL: Good to have you this weekend.

MARSH: Good to be here.

BLACKWELL: All right. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JOHN KING" is up after a short break.