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White House Wants Budget Deal; Record for Dow; Children Rescued in California; Victims Confront Doctor. Aired 9:30-10a
Aired January 16, 2018 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00] AMBER PHILLIPS, POLITICAL REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST'S" "THE FIX" BLOG: Nothing there. They are still investigating a year and the FBI case is almost two years later. And so for the president to prematurely say these investigations are over, I'm out from under this cloud, is wishful thinking creating his own reality.
JOSHUA GREEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, and one other reason too, of course, is that this is going to be very much in the news today because Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist --
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Yep, he's up there.
GREEN: Is testifying right now before the House Intelligence Committee on comments he's made in Michael Wolff's book saying that meetings with Russians were treasonous, were unpatriotic. And so Trump has a tendency to kind of tweet preemptive damage control on days like these. I think that's also part of the rationale here.
HARLOW: You know, accuracy, as you bring up, Amber, seems to be an afterthought, if that --
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right.
HARLOW: In the crafting of these official messages from the White House --
BERMAN: Yes.
HARLOW: Which is what the tweets are.
And, by the way, he's wrong if we don't talk about the economy because guess who's sitting right next to us. Thank you all very much.
It is our chief business correspondent Christine Romans with another look at what's happening with the markets.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And 26,000, a record high for the Dow Jones Industrial average. It's only been a few trading sessions really since it hit 25,000. And this is pretty remarkable, these milestones.
Again, the market is so high now at these lofty levels that percentage wise each one of these round numbers is almost less important because we just keep hitting them. Look, it took about two years to get from 18,000 to 19,000 and then
there was the election. And, since then, look, one after another. There hasn't even been, on this chart, you guys, really a place to get into the stock market. There hasn't been a pullback to buy.
It's about fundamentals. The economy is strong. The global economy is in what we're calling a synchronized global growth mode. Around the world, stock markets are rising and economies are doing better.
But there's also a lot of momentum. There are two phrases, as you know, on Wall Street, the trend is your friend until the end and let your winners keep winning. And both of those things are happening right now. Sometimes it's at the end of a bull market. This is almost a nine-year-old bull market. In March it will be.
HARLOW: Right.
ROMANS: So this is an old bull, but it really has been paying off for investors. So a growing economy, a stock market that's doing very well here. Nine years really of expansion. And a stock market rallying 26,025 here.
I can tell you that since the election the Dow is up 40 percent. Since the election, the S&P 500 is up 30 percent. That is an incredible, incredible return.
HARLOW: It's stunning. It's remarkable. Thank you.
ROMANS: It really is. You're welcome.
BERMAN: We'll be right back.
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[09:36:48] BERMAN: All right, the president very busy during his executive time this morning, sending out all kinds of messages and missives. He writes, the Democrats want to shut down the government over amnesty for all and border security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding military in a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration and we need it now. No more dangerous lottery.
Accusing the Democrats of wanting to shut down the government. Let's talk to a Democrat.
Joining us is Congressman Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Michigan.
Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. Your response to the president?
REP. DAN KILDEE (D), MICHIGAN: Well, it's preposterous. I mean the Republicans control the House. They control the Senate. They control the White House. And the idea that the Democrats somehow are empowered to shut down the government is ridiculous. You know, the point is this. If what the president is saying is that it takes Democrats and Republicans to govern, which I'd be surprised if he actually has come to that conclusion, it's true. But if that's what he's saying, then govern with us. Don't expect Democrats to simply come to the rescue at the last minute when none of the priorities that are important to Democrats are included in the discussion.
And particularly in this case of DACA, where the president made some big show of saying he's going to be bipartisan. He assembled this group. He had a 55 minute televised meeting, asked for a bipartisan solution to DACA, said that he was there and sympathetic to DACA recipients, wanted to do something about it, and then a bipartisan plan is put in front of him and what does he do, he rejects it out of hand. He has essentially sealed his reputation as double dealing Donald again who we can't take his word. We can't rely on what he says.
HARLOW: So to be clear, I mean the Republicans do need you guys. They need nine of your votes in the Senate to fund the government. So there does need to be bipartisanship here or government shuts down. Are you no DACA deal by Friday, no dice guy at this point?
KILDEE: Yes, that's where I stand right now. There's no excuse.
HARLOW: But -- but -- but you said --
KILDEE: There's no excuse, though.
HARLOW: OK, but this weekend, on this network, with our colleague, you said, we all have to compromise.
KILDEE: We do.
HARLOW: So -- OK, but then where are you willing to give?
KILDEE: Look, the budget itself is not representative of the priorities of Democrats or myself. The budget that will be on the floor potentially this week, hopefully, will not be a reflection of my priorities, but I would be willing to accept that if in fact some priority that's important to the people I represent is included.
It would be a compromise for us to say we're going to take care of Children's Health Insurance. We're going to get DACA codified. And we will accept a budget deal that is far, far from the priorities that Democrats can accept. But the idea that we should simply vote for the Republican budget that they put together in the darkness of night without our involvement and then walk away from DACA recipients, walk away from Children's Health Insurance, what -- that's no compromise. That's the Democrats being asked yet again to rescue the Republicans from their own failure to govern.
BERMAN: Well, let's drill down a little bit more here. What Republicans are going to be forced to offer, it seems almost inevitable, is some kind of a stop-gap. You know, extend government funding a little bit more. And there's some speculation they may do that with the Children's Health Insurance Program you're talking about right now.
HARLOW: Right. [09:40:13] BERMAN: Delay the DACA talks, even just for a week, two weeks, but pass a stop gap measure and fund CHIP. Could you support that?
KILDEE: Well, I certainly support continued funding for CHIP. But I don't think we can leave these DACA recipients behind. It's just --
BERMAN: So period. And --
HARLOW: That's a no.
BERMAN: No DACA, no temporary, no nothing?
KILDEE: No. At this point, why should -- why should we when it would be simple. It would take 15 minutes on the floor of the House of Representatives to pass DACA. And we would probably have 300 votes to do it. The Senate would certainly pass it.
There's no excuse. We have session today. We have session tomorrow. We have session on Thursday -- on Friday. We could do this. There's no excuse for not getting it done except that the president is basically speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He says he wants to support DACA recipients. But in any circumstance he's not been willing to accept a deal that actually does that.
HARLOW: Congressman, quickly, before you go, there has been a move by some in your party, about five lawmakers at this point, who say, look, we're going to boycott the State of the Union. We're not going to go. Are you on board with that? Are you among them?
KILDEE: You know, the position I've taken is, I'm elected to sit in that seat and I have to sit through a lot of unpleasant things sitting on the floor of the House of Representatives. I will be there and listen to the president.
HARLOW: OK.
KILDEE: I won't enjoy it, but I'll be there.
BERMAN: Well, congressman, thank you for being here with us this morning. We certainly enjoyed it. And come back again.
HARLOW: Thank you.
KILDEE: Thank you very much.
BERMAN: All right, next, how police found 12 siblings trapped in their own home. Some of them chained to their beds.
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[09:45:47] HARLOW: An incredibly disturbing story this morning. A California couple is in jail facing charges of torture and child endangerment and their 13 children, thank goodness, are safe. The kids were rescued from the home where they were being held captive by their parents. BERMAN: Yes. Some of them were malnourished, shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks. They were rescued when one managed to escape and call police. As we said, this is simply horrifying.
CNN correspondent Stephanie Elam is live for us in Perris, California.
Stephanie, what can you tell us.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy and John, it's disturbing and there's so many questions and many of them that we're hoping to learn when the press conference happens later this morning.
But what we can tell you is that police say it was early Sunday morning when a 17 year old was able to escape from the home with a cellular device, as the police are calling it, and call 911. She said she and her 12 siblings were being held captive by her parents. When police responded, that is what they found. They said the kids were filthy. They said that they were in darkness. They were very pale, as well as you said some of them chained and padlocked to beds.
These children are the ages of two to 29. Seven of them are actually adults. The 17 year old, in fact, police thought she was about 10 because she was so malnourished. We know that all of the children have been taken to local hospitals for treatment.
As far as the parents, David and Louise Turpin, they are 49 -- or I should 57 -- 57 and 49 years old respectively. They are now looking at $9 million bail each in this case. It is very bizarre because of the fact that we know that they weren't just sequestered here at home. They were going out in public. We know they've made several trips to Disneyland. They would go to Vegas where it looked like the couple renewed their wedding vows more than once. And one of at least the children participated in that as well.
CNN was able to talk to the mother of the father in this case. She's in West Virginia. She's telling CNN that they were very protective of the children. That she said something's wrong with the story. She talked to them just Saturday night. She says that they were very protective of the children. So much so that when they went out in public, she would dress -- they would dress all of the children exactly alike and mom would walk in front and then they would line up behind her from the youngest to the oldest and then dad would walk at the end.
But, still, they were going out in public. They were homeschooled here in this -- in this house. But it's still unclear why they were padlocked, why they were chained, how long they had been living like that. So many questions that we still have at this point.
HARLOW: Stephanie Elam, thank you for the reporting. Please let us know when you get more.
All right, so, ahead, Olympic gold medalist, gymnast, Simone Biles, now joining more than 100 other athletes in accusing the former team doctor, Larry Nassar, of sexual abuse. That story ahead.
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[09:52:54] BERMAN: New this morning, Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is now adding her name to the list of women who say they were sexually abused by Larry Nassar. That is the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, is back in court this morning.
HARLOW: That's right. He's being sentenced this week after he pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct. Before he is sentenced, though, he will sit there and listen to the impact statements of nearly 90 victims.
Our correspondent, Jean Casarez, joins us now live with more.
And this is someone who's already been found guilty and sentenced in federal court. This is -- this would add on to his sentence.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is state court for the first time.
HARLOW: Right.
CASAREZ: And the sentencing hearing is happening right now. I think we have live pictures of that. It's absolutely amazing.
They have put him in the witness stand so as young woman after young woman steps up and speaks her victim impact statement, they can speak directly to Dr. Larry Nassar. You see he's not looking up right there.
Well, countless young women are going to be testifying in this victim impact statement. It will last all week. We're hearing 88. We're hearing upwards of 100.
But yesterday, someone came forward for the very first time, and this was the Olympic team doctor for over two decades.
HARLOW: Yes.
CASAREZ: Simone Biles came forward yesterday and she released a statement, a letter on Twitter. Never before had she come forward. She said this has been so traumatic, but she believed she had a duty to come forward. We want to show you some of that statement.
She said, quote, after hearing the brave stories of my friends and other survivors, I know that this horrific experience does not define me. I am much more than this. I am unique, smart, talented, motivated and passionate. I have promised myself that my story will be much greater than this. And I promise all of you that I will never give up.
And the sentencing, as I said, will take (INAUDIBLE) with this victim impact statements. Kyle Stephens was the first young woman to give her statement. I've never, in my life, heard anything like this. Her parents were medical professionals. Dr. Larry Nassar and his wife were their friends. When she was five years old, the families would get together in the basement. He would sexually abuse her. She told her parents. They didn't believe her. And all through her growing up years, they said she was a liar. And she kept going forward and reported it to authorities. She was the first one to go to child protective services --
HARLOW: Look at that.
CASAREZ: And said, look into this man. He was not her doctor. He was a family friend.
HARLOW: Even her own parents.
BERMAN: A horrifying, horrifying pattern of abuse here.
HARLOW: Thank you, Jean.
BERMAN: Jean Casarez, thanks so much.
All right, moments from now, the homeland security secretary faces senators on Capitol Hill. She was inside the Oval Office meeting where the president dropped the s-bomb. Two of the senators were in that meeting. This questioning could get awfully contentious. Stick around.
