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Calls for Sessions to be Fired, End of Mueller Probe; Silence from Ivanka Trump on Family Separations at Border; Beverly Hills Hotel May Have to Give Up Secrets on Trump; "Champions of Change" Focuses on "Operation Smile". Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired June 19, 2018 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:31:38] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're back here. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
A leading Republican voice is saying Attorney General Jeff Sessions should be fired. Let me show you a tweet from Brad Parscale, President Trump's campaign re-election campaign manager. He said, it's time to fire Sessions and end this Mueller investigation. "You can't obstruct something that was phony against you. The I.G. report gave @realdonaldtrump the truth to end it."
So with me, CNN political commentator, Mary Katharine Hamm, a senior writer for "The Federalist, and Anushay Hossain, a contributing writer for CNN and the "New York Times."
Ladies, good to see both of you in Washington. Good to see you both in person.
Just starting with the Parscale news, and also, apparently, he's irked that we're talking about this crisis on the border and not more about the findings of the I.G. report, you say what?
MARY KATHARINE HAMM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First, it's a lower- ranking GOP official than usual. It's usually Trump himself, so I'm not terribly surprised someone's saying that. They could be talking about the I.G. report. As usual, many of these wounds are self- inflicted and the zero-tolerance policy getting a lot of press is mostly due to them enacting a zero-tolerance policy and flooding a system that was already flooded and creating a humanitarian and logistical issue on themselves. And the president hasn't spoken about the I.G. report that much or that knowledgably. If he did, it would probably look more --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: He did that morning he was talking that 49 minutes at the White House, saying, see, I'm guilt free, whereas, the I.G. report was all about the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation and nothing about Mr. Mueller.
I want to move on to this whole crisis along the border and how we have heard from so many people in the administration, standing up for what they believe in and the zero-tolerance policy put into effect in May. You wrote an opinion piece, because everyone's also asking, where is Ivanka Trump? She's a mother, she has had a voice on many a women's issue, and you say, why is she so silent?
ANUSHAY HOSSAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTING WRITER: I say why is she so silent because she presented herself, let's not forget, we're not just randomly asking where is Ivanka? She got on stage at the RNC in 2016 and presented herself as the patron saint of all women's rights issues and feminism for then candidate Donald Trump. And when her father became president, she accepted an official role. So it's not like she's just a daughter. And championing the causes of mothers and children has kind of been her shtick and her portfolio so I think the number is 21 or it might be less of first ladies who have come out and spoken out against this policy, which is a policy of her father's administration, not from Obama, started by this administration. Why isn't she saying anything?
BALDWIN: Here's the thing. We give her credit for in the past in using her voice. It was a year ago last spring when everyone was captivated by those horrifying images of children in Syria who had been gassed, the chemical attack. And she, according to her brother, Eric, had spoken up to her father and said that this was wrong and, in the end, we know what happened in Syria. So she has used her voice. Her father has listened to her. So why doesn't she use it now?
HAMM: She does use it in private sometimes. She publicly takes a swing every now, subtly, and I wouldn't be surprised if she --
(CROSSTALK)
[14:35:04] HOSSAIN: Suddenly, or really bizarre.
HAMM: Yes.
HOSSAIN: She'll make like a "Me Too" tweet. And we're like, but.
HAMM: Sort of tweeting or Instagraming on the president's policies. I wouldn't be surprised if she did something like that. It usually comes late in the process.
HOSSAIN: Yes, it's like a delayed reaction.
HAMM: I wouldn't be surprised if things didn't happen behind the scenes.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: So don't count her out yet.
(CROSSTALK)
HOSSAIN: Don't count her out but don't count on her either because you know what's funny, Brooke, let's say she doesn't want to say anything and let's say she has no comment. Fine, Ivanka, you have no comment. What is up with your media posts? Why is he continually posting pictures of herself with her beautiful children? BALDWIN: Everyone vaguely right of center said they can't celebrate
Father's Day --
(CROSSTALK)
HAMM: Everyone basically right of center on the Internet this weekend has been told they can't celebrate Father's Day because --
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HOSSAIN: No, I don't think --
(CROSSTALK)
HAMM: I think that's going too far. It's emotionalism.
(CROSSTALK)
HOSSAIN: I agree with that. No.
HAMM: A lot of that is going at Ivanka. She's part of the administration but you're allowed to love your children in public.
(CROSSTALK)
HOSSAIN: Totally. But it also demonstrates a tone deafness. It's not like me posting pictures of my kids over the weekend.
(CROSSTALK)
HOSSAIN: There's a national crisis happening. You are a part of this administration. Is your father's government anti-children? That's what we need to know. That's what the uproar is about, about mothers and children being forcibly separated at the U.S. border.
You don't have to be a mother to care. Yes, I happen to be a mother but you just have to be a human being to know this isn't natural. I have two fabulous young daughters, but if they don't see me more a couple of minutes, they're 6 and 1, they freak out. It's not good for their health.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: We're going to talk to a doctor just on the trauma, that is a whole other incredibly important conversation we will have.
Mary Katharine and Anushay, thank you so much.
Coming up on CNN, the famously discrete Beverly Hills Hotel being forced to reveal some of its secrets about President Trump's favorite residence, famously known as Bungalow 22. What the walls would say if they could talk. We'll be right back.
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[14:41:37] BALDWIN: The Beverly Hills Hotel loved by Hollywood, says on its Web sites, "If these walls could talk, and we would never reveal the scandals that have unfolded." The hotel may soon be forced to reveal confidential details about one of its most loyal guests, President Trump. This goes back to a defamation lawsuit against the president, by a former "Apprentice" contestant, Summer Zervos. She accused Trump or sexually assaulting here in 2007 at the Beverly Hills Hotels.
Here is a portion of her claim.
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SUMMER ZERVOS, FORMER APPRENTICE PARTICIPANT: He asked me to meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel and asked me where I would like to have dinner. When I arrived, his security guard greeted me at the hotel and took me to meet Mr. Trump. I assumed we were going to a restaurant in the hotel. Instead, I was taken to a bungalow. The security guard opened the door and I went in.
I was standing in the entryway. To my left was a bedroom. I saw Mr. Trump's clothes on the bed. I did not see him but he greeted me with hello in a sing-song voice. It sounded like "hello."
I stood up. He came to me and started kissing me open-mouthed as he pulled me towards him. I walked away and sat down on a chair. He was in a love seat across from me. I made an attempt at conversation. He asked me to come sit next to him. I complied. He then grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me again aggressively and placed his hand on my breast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: President Trump has repeatedly denied her story, called Zervos a liar. And Zervos' attorneys have now subpoenaed the Beverly Hills Hotel for records, receipts, room service bills to support her story.
Francis Stead Sellers wrote all about this today in the "Washington Post." She's with me now.
Francis, thank you for being here.
Before we get into exactly what the Zervos legal team paint the picture.
FRANCIS STEAD SELLERS, SENIOR WRITER, WASHINGTON POST: Right.
BALDWIN: Bungalow 22, this is President Trump preferred going instead of his mansions just down the road.
STEAD SELLERS: President Trump owned two mansions, and one mansion for a very long time just blocks away, but he chose to go to the Beverly Hills Hotel.
BALDWIN: Why?
STEAD SELLERS: Which was more than a hundred years old and offered him services. So Bungalow 22, tucked away from the main hotel building, offered both privacy and access to everything else the hotel had. He could walk from Bungalow 22 straight out to the polo lounge, which is where Hollywood deals were made. There's tropical flowers, a great meeting spot, and then back to these bungalow, which offer complete privacy and room service, and all you could want.
BALDWIN: What is it that the Zervos legal team wants from this hotel?
STEAD SELLERS: They've subpoenaed the record for a five-year period. They can ask for everything in a subpoena. They might not get anything. The hotel can push back. They can ask for everything from menus --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Was it a club sandwich?
STEAD SELLERS: Everything from billing records, there are cameras, security cameras looking down. They could ask for footage from the security cameras. That probably gets overwritten. But there are many, many records that a lawyer could go for to try to prove a person was there when they say they weren't.
[14:45:11] BALDWIN: Why do you think -- and so many people talking about the Stormy Daniels case, but why do you say it could be Zervos who may have more of a sweeping impact?
STEAD SELLERS: This is a very important case in that it tests some very basic assumptions about whether the president, a sitting president can be sued in state court. That wasn't an issue that was completely settled by the Clinton Paula jones case. It was when Clinton was deposed that he ran into problems by lying under oath. I think these lawyers are hoping to depose President Trump and may be able to do so by January.
BALDWIN: Frances, thank you very much.
STEAD SELLERS: Thank you for having me.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
A family feud erupts. Why Donald Trump Jr just cancelled on a member of the Bush family.
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[14:49:42] BALDWIN: All this week CNN is sharing people and organizations that are changing lives for the better for a special series called "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE."
CNN's Alisyn Camerota takes us on a medical mission to Bogota, Colombia, where she spotlights the amazing volunteers of Operation Smile, who are giving children and their parents every reason to smile.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (SINGING)
ALISYN CAMERAOTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You don't think about it when you can smile but there's something about smiling that makes you approachable to other people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CAMEROTA (on camera): I'm Alisyn.
A smile is actually really, really important.
Can I hold you? Hi! I'm going to see you again at the medical center tomorrow.
DR. MAURICIO HERRERA, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, OPERATION SMILE & PLASTIC SURGEON: My name is Mauricio Herrera. I'm medical director of Operation Smile in Colombia. I'm also a plastic surgeon volunteer for Operation Smile.
When you have a cleft palate, you cannot speak well, you cannot eat well. All the food is going through the nose. It is really a nightmare. And we are right there and we fix it. That's why we exist.
CAMEROTA: How are you doing? How are you feeling today?
I got involved with Operation Smile probably eight years ago and I learned about it through my friend, Lisa Laurie (ph). She had three sons born with facial abnormalities.
Even before I knew that CNN was going to do the "CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE," I was going to be taking my twin daughters on this medical mission to Colombia because I wanted them to see how life-changing this surgery is.
We're headed about two hours outside of Bogota now. You can see it's much more rural where we're going.
We're going to go meet Juan. He's 8 years old. Several years ago, he already had the surgery, but he still needs services. He needs speech therapy and things like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ola!
CAMEROTA: Hi, guys.
JUAN DAVID LINARES, MEDICAL PATIENT (through translation): My life has changed a lot because of the foundation. When we go, I feel better and I'm really thankful because it's been so great. I love all the doctors that helped me. I can speak now.
(LAUGHTER)
WILSON LINARES, FATHER OF JUAN DAVID LINARES (through translation): The truth is, if he hadn't gone to a foundation like this, I can't even imagine how his life would be because we wouldn't have had the means or the money for the surgeries.
CAMEROTA: Once upon a time, there were three little brothers.
On a personal note, my daughters were born very prematurely. So I can relate to the idea of having a baby that suddenly needs more medical care than you ever expected.
Why wasn't the status quo in Colombia good enough?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The reality is that in the past the children were hidden and no one knew the seriousness of the situation. Since we came in, they've come to know us and have lost that same.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CAMEROTA: And you're a volunteer?
HERRERA: Yes, of course.
CAMEROTA: Meaning the volunteers here don't get paid.
HERRERA: We don't get paid. But we get paid, more than money. And that is more important.
CAMEROTA: Your life is going to be different in one hour from now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're ready.
CAMEROTA: Watching a little 7-month-old baby have his face operated on and seeing the tubes in him and scalpels, it was a lot.
It's OK, sweetie. It's OK, Sanuel (ph).
CAMEROTA: And then watching Sanuel (ph) come out of anesthesia and open his eyes and become alert, and carrying him to his mom, it was really intense.
Oh, my gosh, what an angel! Look at this little angelic face.
You did it. Great job, Doc.
You want to go see mommy? Let's go see mommy.
He did so well. He did perfectly.
It's just really amazing to see how in the space of one hour these little children's lives can be changed and their families and their mothers and everything can be so happy. It's just really, really inspiring.
Yummy.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Obviously, our "CHAMPION FOR CHANGE," he's done this for 20 years. He has no plans to stop because he doesn't want one child left behind with a cleft palate.
HERRERA: I don't feel like I am the champion of anything. I feel that all these kids changed my life, not the opposite.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:55:06] CAMEROTA: Brooke, it was such a life-changing experience for my daughters and me to see how in just less than an hour and for just $240, this surgery is performed. And it changes a child's life forever. So I was just happy to be able to highlight the important work they're doing at Operation Smile.
BALDWIN: Reason 632 of why I love you, Alisyn Camerota. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Meantime, coming up here, President Trump has some comments defending his policy of separating families at the border. We'll play for you what he just said and why the meeting he's about to attend could change everything.
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[15:00:13] BALDWIN: Hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
