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Can House COP Find Enough Votes to Pass Spending Bill; DA says 13 Siblings Only Allowed to Shower Once a Year; Diane von Furstenberg on Giving Women Confidence. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 18, 2018 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Guess who still gets their paychecks, yes. Congress. That is actually written into law. But national parks, zoos, museums closed. Mail still gets delivered, essential services like social security still gets funded and that includes the TSA and air traffic control. The nation's capital could get hit especially hard because the city's budget comes from Congress. So, services like garbage pickup may fall by the wayside if a shutdown drags out. Earlier, the president singled out his biggest concern among all these negatives here as he was visiting the Pentagon earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But if for any reason it shuts down, the worst thing is what's happens our military. We're rebuilding our military. We're bringing it to a level that it's never been at. And the worst thing is for our military. We don't want that to happen. I'm here to support our military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Moments ago, an official traveling with the president, said the White House does not expect a government shutdown and that the president is prepared to speak with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to see a clean CR. A CR, continuing resolution or short-term spending bill. Right now, there is officially just this one bill that could prevent this government shutdown.

The plan by House Republicans would, among other things, extend funding for C.H.I.P., this Children's Health Insurance Program for six years, which would be a huge draw for Democrats to potentially say yes. But minority leader Nancy Pelosi offered up some, shall we say, more colorful language regarding this bill. And we'll play that for you in just a moment. Let's go to Phil Mattingly first though on Capitol Hill. And Phil, just give me the state of play right now and do Republicans have the votes?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look you basically have to get it through two chambers, through the House and the Senate. And Brooke, when it comes to the House -- you've been talking about the stop-gap bill that they're considering right now. House Republican leaders are growing increasingly confident that they will have the votes to move it forward. Not quite there yet. But the ease with which Republican whip team, Brooke, essentially the individuals that are trying to buttonhole members and see where their votes are. You can watch them on the House floor actually do their work. They clearly feel like they're in a good place. Now you mentioned leader Nancy Pelosi and where Democrats are on this. Well, take a listen to what she thinks of the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MAJORITY LEADER, CALIFORNIA: As I said to you this is a -- this is like giving you a -- a bowl of doggy doo, put a cherry on top and call it a chocolate sundae. This is nothing. The C.H.I.P. -- this C.H.I.P. should have been done in September.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Yes, not really mincing words. The question wasn't necessarily Democrats in the House. We knew they would be unified. Obviously, leader Pelosi was whipping against the bill. Wanting to keep her caucus together. Brooke, the big question has been Democrats in the Senate. Obviously, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can't move any short-term funding bill without Democratic support. He controls 51 seats. They need 60 in the chamber to move anything forward.

The big question has been Democrats, just like in the House, they're very fired up about this issue, very fired up that there's been no DACA resolution. Don't like a short-term spending bill. Want a longer-term bill, a two-year deal. Whether or not they would take the threat of a shutdown and move it across the line to actually voting for a shutdown. I believe the answer as it currently stands right now, Brooke, Democrats had a closed-door lunch just a short while ago. I'm told inside that lunch the caucus was almost entirely unified that, yes, they want to keep Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from the votes on this short-term funding bill.

That would mean Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can't get 60 votes to actually move this forward. That would mean that if there's no other resolution any time in the near future the government at this moment is on the path for a shutdown. Now things are going to move quickly if the House passes this tonight. The Senate could start taking it up to kind of show everybody where the votes are. As soon as tonight that would leave them 24 hours to figure things out.

But in talking to Republicans and Democrats who are working on this issue in the Senate, in terms of what the clear pathway forward is, what kind of a deal that's hanging out there is right now? There isn't one. Nobody really knows what the pathway is. So, if Democrats follow through on where it sounds like they are in the Senate, Brooke, things are definitely headed toward a shutdown right now.

BALDWIN: Phil Mattingly, that is what it sounds like. Thank you so much.

Let's start there with my next guest, CNN political commentator, Mary Katharine Ham, Senior writer at the "Federalist." And CNN political analyst, Brian Karem, editor of the Sentinel newspapers. Brian, to you, just on Phil's last point about it comes down to the Senate and those Senate Democrats. You heard his reporting.

BRIAN KAREM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I did.

BALDWIN: We may very well have a government shutdown on our hands.

You may well have it, indeed. And I think it's prophetic that what you heard from the president's speech when he left was the Rolling Stones "You Can't Always Get What You Want." And speaking with members of the Senate today, both Democrats and Republicans, there is a real concern. They think it's about 50/50 right now, as to whether or not they're going to have a shutdown.

[15:35:00] And part of the problem both of them say is because they haven't gotten clear direction out of the White House. And there have been directives from the White House that, at times, have contradicted each other. And they thought they had a deal and went to the president and turns out they don't have a deal. So that is part of the problem. The other part of the problem, of course, is that you've got Democrats who basically feel like this is their chance to make sure that the president doesn't hold DACA and other immigration reform hostage while they try to negotiate for money.

BALDWIN: Mary Katharine, I want to hear how you see it. How do you see it?

MARY KATHARINE HAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, they're likely going to hammer something out in the House. The interesting thing to me is once it gets to the Senate, the spotlight on the Democrats, who are asking for something and refusing the CR, becomes very hot, I think. Now, look, Republicans are in charge of the government. They likely get a lot of blame for this. I don't think this brinkmanship is in the near term. Good politics for anyone except for like making your base sort of riled up. So, I don't think it works real well.

I do wonder how that changes as the spotlight becomes hotter on Senate Democrats who are the ones, at that point if it got through the House, who are asking for other things. And as I mentioned, holding things hostage in order not to have DACA held hostage. By the way, I don't think the president is ideologically opposed to at all and you can get that done. I just don't know for going to get it done here.

BALDWIN: Hang on, hang on. Hang on. On the president -- hang on. You saw the tweet on C.H.I.P. this morning. And it almost seems like -- I can't crawl into his head to understand. Because does he understand -- we've got the tweet up there about the Child Health Insurance Program which would be of this extension. Yes, it would be part of this stopgap measure, but it would extend it for six years. And when you read the president's tweet it's almost like, does he understand the policy? What did you think when you saw that?

HAM: No, I don't think he has the full grasp of the policy at all. My point about him not being ideologically wed to anything, is that he is moveable. And the problem is that he tweets incomplete information while they're in this pressure cooker negotiation. That's how this goes down.

KAREM: The appearance is there.

HAM: He could be more sophisticated and say something like doggy doo, I suppose.

BALDWIN: With a cherry on top.

KAREM: With a cherry on top.

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Brian.

KAREM: The point is, I'm going to skip the cherry on top part. I already had lunch. But the appearance of movability is something that you have to look at because you thought he was moveable and then Kelly came out and said one thing. Then he came out and contradicted his own chief of staff. We're not quite sure. And those of us covering him just on one issue alone, the wall. You thought he was moveable on that. And then it turns out he's not. And then it turns out that he was. And then it turns out that he's not. That's the problem --

BALDWIN: Hang on. Let me jump in on that since you brought it up. Because people watching may be thinking I thought you guys were talking about C.H.I.P., DACA and why are we talking about the wall? President's chief of staff, John Kelly, he goes on Fox and says this. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KELLY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: As we talked about things, where this president is and how much he wants to deal with this DACA issue and take it off the -- take it away. I told him, you know, it's been an evolutionary process that this president has gone through as a campaign and I pointed out to all the members that were in the room that they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You said the wall. You don't need a wall when you have a mountain. You don't need a wall where you have -- everybody knows that. I've been saying that for three years. And everybody knows it. But a wall is not necessarily a wall where you have a mountain. So, everybody understands. I think General Kelly has done a really great job. He is a special guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: The what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you mind if he quoted for --

TRUMP: No, he didn't say that. Well, I don't think -- he didn't say it the way you would like him to say it. No, he didn't say that. He's doing a terrific job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, Brian, you know, you cover the White House. Our sources are saying that the president was actually fuming over General Kelly's comments. What are you hearing?

KAREM: That's the word I was hearing as well. In fact, we could hear some of the fuming. But the fact of the matter is, now he's turning around and blaming us, of course, for the reporting on it. But the fact of the matter is that that issue alone -- first it was 1900-mile wall. Then someone came out and said no, he's evolved. And then the president said, no, I haven't evolved. Which speaks volumes.

BALDWIN: By the way, which one was evolving? You know, has the president learned more? It's not necessarily a bad thing.

KAREM: Right. Exactly. And you can't -- look, you can't have a 1900-mile long wall between Del Rio and El Paso, Texas, there's a thing called the big ben, which is like the Grand Canyon and you can't build a wall there. And somebody finally noticed that on a map and even Kellyanne Conway said, hey, you know, there's rivers and things. And the president came out and said, ah, there's mountains.

[15:40:00] But now he's back saying he hadn't evolved and it's always been a wall and it's always going to be a wall. When you talk about that one issue and then you look at the budget, when you look at those two together, you begin to understand the problems they're having in Congress and dealing with 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. What exactly will we sign?

BALDWIN: I was talking to a House Freedom Caucus member last hour who I was asking do you know how -- he has no idea how the president feels on the wall which is kind of an issue if you're a member of Congress. In this is something that the president campaigned on.

KAREM: Especially dealing with this budget.

BALDWIN: Right, especially when you're dealing with the public. Go ahead. Mary Katharine, close us out.

HAM: There is the issue where it doesn't have to be 1900 miles, but it could be the agreed-upon several hundred miles that Democrats were OK with in the gang of eight days during the Obama years. There is room for evolving or for negotiating here, probably the term that the president would prefer. And that's what's actively leading on.

KAREM: We know he's evolving I'm not using that, he used it.

HAM: The dysfunctional fact that we're doing that in this environment is a problem.

BALDWIN: Yes, we've got to go. Mary Katharine and Brian, thank you both so much on that. With a cherry on top.

Now to California. Let me count the ways it differs with the Trump administration on major issues, like immigration, taxes, of course, marijuana, just to name a few. CNN's Miguel Marquez looks at how that state has become the focal point of the so-called resistance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The California Republic versus President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The resistance is legion.

MARQUEZ: One year into his administration --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is a wake-up call.

MARQUEZ: The world's sixth largest economy fighting Trump administration policies on everything. From legal marijuana, to taxes, to the environment.

GOV JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA: California is not waiting for Trump. We're not waiting for all the deniers.

MARQUEZ: And escalating fight over immigration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to fight and we're going to win.

MARQUEZ: California now an immigrant sanctuary state. A new law limiting cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement, prank road signs welcomed drivers to seemingly another country, the land of illegals.

THOMAS HOMAN, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: If the politicians in California don't want to protect their communities, then I.C.E. will.

MARQUEZ: The acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Fox News said California politicians who made the law should be held personally accountable. Politicos here aren't worried.

(on camera): Have you ever seen the enmity between California and D.C. like it is today?

BROWN: I wouldn't call it enmity, yes. There are certain policies that are radical departures from the norm, and California will fight those.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): The immigrant community finding its voice in the era of Trump.

LYDIA AVILA, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER, CALIFORNIA CALLS: We're working harder, and galvanizing more people.

MARQUEZ: A daughter of Mexican immigrants, east L.A. activist, Lydia Avila, says the president, his rhetoric and policies have only emboldened her community.

AVILA: This is a movement that's not going to be stopped. The president cannot win. He may be there now but he's not going to be there forever. We're going to win. MARQUEZ: Equally galvanized the entertainment industry with its deep

pockets and powerful voice.

JEREMY ZIMMER, CEO, UNITED TALENT AGENCY: The power of an idea to change the way people think and change the way people feel is really what's important. That's really what we're fighting for.

MARQUEZ: Jeremy Zimmer, CEO of United Talent Agency, one of the world's largest, says Trump represents a threat to the idea of America.

ZIMMER: We all see that the freedoms and the life we assume we have, the incredible privileges we have to be raised in this country, to live in this country, we all see that, you know, how fragile it could be.

MARQUEZ: Cheryl Contee, an activist in the tech community, says it is a fight over principles.

CHERYL CONTEE, DIGITAL ACTIVIST: I think that you're going to find Californians be completely unapologetic about fighting for what we see as California values.

MARQUEZ: Working from home on her peddle desk, one-foot soldier among millions across the Golden State countering, resisting Trump. Miguel Marquez, CNN, in the California Republic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Miguel, thank you.

Just in, police revealing what they uncovered inside that so-called house of horrors where 13 children were allegedly chained up, denied showers and tortured without food.

[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are getting even more chilling details about what happened inside this house of horrors in Perry, California, where these 13 siblings, ages 2 to 29, were found held captive, malnourished, some of them actually chained to their beds. And according to the District Attorney, it was a life that didn't even include education, basic hygiene or even sunlight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:50:00] MIKE HESTRIN, RIVERSIDE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The parents would apparently buy food for themselves and not allow the children to eat it. They would buy food, including pies, apple pies, pumpkin pies, leave it on the counter, let the children look at it, but not eat the food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Stephanie Elam is there in the courthouse in Riverside, California. Did I read they were allowed one shower a year? STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One shower a year, Brooke. And if

they washed their washed their hands above the wrist, they were considered to play in the water and they were punished. And the way the children were punished is that they were tied up. At first tied up in ropes, one child reported being hog tied at one point, and one escaped. And so, then they move on to chains and padlocks, and this would go on for weeks or years, according to the District Attorney.

This is what they are alleging here and what we're learning today about these charges that they have filed against this couple, David and Louise Turpin. They also said that when they were tied up they wouldn't even release them to let them use the bathroom. Based on evidence that they saw inside the house.

When police responded because of that 17-year-old daughter who for two years, Brooke, two years had planned an escape. And she got out, according to the district attorney's office, through that window with one of her younger sibling. The younger sibling got scared and ran back in the house. But that 17-year-old stuck to her plan and actually called the police officers, and they went to the door. And when they got to the door, the defendants in the case, according to the district attorney's office, had time to unlock two of the children, but not the third child, who was still locked up when police just finally went ahead and entered the home to find out what the conditions were.

They are saying that several of the children all suffering from cognitive impairment and nerve damage from extreme and prolonged abuse. That includes beatings and strangulations. It's been four years since they've seen a doctor. They've never seen a dentist. But they said that the children are relieved at this point. And just to give you an idea of what else they found inside the house other than the fact they kept food away from them, not letting them eat every not house besides the fact that they would keep the food away from them and not let them eat and feed them on a schedule.

The children -- everyone in the house, stayed up all night and slept during the day. And they do think that that was part of the way that they were hiding the abuse that was going on in the house. The police officers also are recovering hundreds of journals. That was one thing the kids were allowed to do. They weren't allowed to play with toys. There were toys in the house, but they were still tied up. Still closed up. They're saying that both these both these journals and they think that will be key when they take this case to trial.

BALDWIN: Law enforcement had a right when they said torture. Stephanie Elam, thank you.

Coming up next, White House officials say they do not expect a government shutdown, but CNN has learned Senate Democrats are united against the spending bill that does not deal with DREAMERs. We are live on Capitol Hill as that clock is ticking.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now my series, "AMERICAN WOMAN," it's a series -- I had this idea after covering the 2016 presidential election, and listening to so many women who showed up and wanted to be involved. I had a hunch something significant was about to happen as women were speaking out and showing up in record numbers. And then standing on stage covering the women's march one year ago this weekend, like so many of you, I witnessed a collective strength of those who traveled great distances to be seen and heard.

And, personally, it was crystal clear, the next chapter of my career would focus on women. Here are a couple of really special women. Ava DuVernay, Sheryl Crow, Ashley Graham, Tracy Reese, but Pat Benatar, Issa Rae and Betty White. These are women who have all shattered glass ceilings whether in music, fashion, and or film. These are trail blazing women who shared with me very personal stories of success and failure. Who were not afraid to talk politics, frustration, and hope and they all want to help other women realize their dreams as well. Here is "AMERICAN WOMAN," Diane von Furstenberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG, FASHION DESIGNER: I am Diane von Furstenberg and I'm an American woman because I decided to be. I came here.

BALDWIN: What's the biggest compliment someone can give you still today at age 70?

VON FURSTENBERG: When a woman goes in front of the mirror, I always love to say, OK, I'm going to give her that. And then all of a sudden, ah, something magic happened, and it's called confidence. I was giving women my sense of confidence through a wrapping a dress, and they felt confidence, and the more they felt confident, the more they bought the dress, and more I was confident. So, it was a wonderful dialogue.

BALDWIN: But you had no idea at the time when you put this whole wrap dress together that it would be this step on feminism in America.

VON FURSTENBERG: No, no, no, I had no idea.

BALDWIN: How do you feel knowing that the wrap dress played a role in the evolution of feminism?

VON FURSTENBERG: You know, it took me 40 years to realize that.

BALDWIN (voice-over): At first glance, you see a woman oozing with sex appeal and smarts, but it hasn't not always been easy.

(on camera): What was a rainy moment for you?

VON FURSTENBERG: Oh, I mean, I had cancer, I almost lost my company, and many things happened. Sometimes you had the very top and world acclaims you, and you're not still feeling good because you know that things aren't so good. And just at the same time, sometimes people think you are a has been and are over and you're done, and yet, you know you are climbing again.

BALDWIN: Why do you think light now it's so important for women to have a voice?

VON FURSTENBERG: Actually, I think it's always important to have a voice. It's just that right now, women feel it. And after the election, the women's condition, I never felt sexism, ever. From my mother, it's a privilege to be a woman. That's the way I was raised. So now, I want to be able to use my voice for people who have no voice. The woman that I honor at the DVF award, these are women that when I listen to their stories and I see what they do, I feel so small and unaccomplished. Because there are women who had the strength to fight, the courage to survive, and the leadership to inspire. And so, I think it's a very good time now for young girls to think about the woman they want to be, but not compromise your rights. I do believe enormously in the strength of women, and I do think it is women who will save the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DVF, thank you. And, please, all of these videos are online. Binge watch them. Just go to CNN.com/AmericanWoman, and one more ask of you, go to my Instagram, I'm @BrookeBCNN. I'd love to hear from you. Tell me what defines you as an American woman? Upload it, use the #AmericanWoman. I'll repost you. Thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.