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President Trump Leaves House GOP Unclear On Which Immigration Bill He Supports; U.S. Withdraws From U.N. Human Rights Council; General Electric Booted From The Dow; Shooting Victim Covered With Sheet While Still Alive. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 20, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He thinks we need to do something about it and doing something about it we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president wants an immigration deal done but a closed-door meeting left House Republicans asking which bill he would actually support.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And the U.S. pulls out of the U.N.'s Human Rights Council. Ambassador Nikki Haley says the body made a mockery of itself by protecting human rights violators.

ROMANS: And questions for first responders in Chicago. A teenager was shot on the street and covered with a sheet and presumed dead. He was still alive.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Five thirty eastern time, 4:30 in Minnesota. The president will be in Duluth tonight rallying his supporters, presumably owning this separation of children at the border issue.

The president wants an immigration reform bill on his desk fast. But after meeting for one hour with House Republicans, lawmakers emerged confused about their marching orders, unclear whether the president would endorse a compromised bill or a more conservative measure. Both are supposed to be voted on this week. Not clear if either has the votes.

One Republican in the room commenting, "It's always nice to see the president, but this didn't move the ball."

President Trump keeping it brief on the way out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are laws that have been broken for many years -- decades -- but we had a great meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Outrage building over images like these of terrified children in cages -- audio, too.

The president greeted angrily by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including California's Juan Vargas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JUAN VARGAS (D), CALIFORNIA: Stop separating our families. We won't go away. We won't go away. We won't go away.

Quit separating the kids. They're separating the children. Mr. President, don't you have kids?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: But one Republican in the meeting tells CNN's Dana Bash the president -- he only talked about separating children from their families in the context of how it looked -- the political optics, not the actual policy.

We get more from Kaitlin Collins at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLIN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, the president went to Capitol Hill. He met with House Republicans and he spoke at length for about an hour during a meeting that was supposed to be a pep rally for immigration.

But members seemed to walk away confused at which bill exactly it was that the president was putting forth support for if either of those House immigration bills that the president was there to talk about. The confusion was so great that the White House had to issue a statement after clarifying that the president did support both bills, as they have said in the last few days.

Of course, that meeting came after the president was getting more and more criticism, some from members of even his own party, over that family separation issue that is happening on the border as we've seen those images play out on cable news and on the front pages of newspapers throughout the country.

That is something that the president spoke about during that meeting with those Republican lawmakers but it wasn't the focus of the meeting, CNN is told by several sources.

But he did go back to the family separation issue, saying he had spoken with his daughter Ivanka Trump about it. She had shown him the pictures and she told him that was a practice that needed to end. The president agreed but said he believed it was a legislative solution that they were looking for. So the president walked out of that meeting not offering a lot of momentum for either of those bills, leaving House members a little confused as to what they're going to support and leaving a lot of questions about what's going to happen with immigration -- Christine and Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: All right, Kaitlin Collins, thank you.

The Associated Press reporting the Trump administration is sending babies separated from the parents to at least three facilities in south Texas known as tender age shelters. The A.P. says there are plans to open a fourth tender age shelter in a Houston warehouse previously used for displaced victims of Hurricane Harvey.

ROMANS: City leaders in Houston denouncing the move but the Department of Health and Human Services tell the A.P., "We have specialized facilities that are devoted to providing care to children with special needs and tender age children. They're staffed by people who know how to deal with the needs, particularly of the younger children."

Of course, parents know how to deal with the needs of their younger children.

BRIGGS: You could argue that. All right.

Let's talk about all of this with CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer, historian and professor at Princeton University. He's the author of "The Fierce Urgency of Now."

Good morning to you, sir.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW: LYNDON JOHNSON, CONGRESS, AND THE BATTLE FOR THE GREAT SOCIETY": Good morning.

BRIGGS: So, the president in Duluth, Minnesota tonight for a rally. They are already camped out for this rally.

How do you expect the president to play this issue of separation of children at the border?

ZELIZER: I think he will own what he did, I think he'll blame the media for presenting it in a skewed way, and I think he'll use the issue in his demand for hardline immigration policy as a way to rally everyone who's in that room to watch him.

ROMANS: I mean, the critics would say -- and critics in his own party have said he's using sort of children as this negotiating tool to get a bigger immigration deal done. But it's not clear after that meeting yesterday with House Republicans what he really supports.

ZELIZER: Right, it's not clear what he wants. They are correct. He's using this as leverage just as he ended DACA as a means of getting leverage.

[05:35:02] We do know he wants pretty punitive policies on the border. He wants a restrictionist agenda implemented. The only question is will he compromise at all to get that?

BRIGGS: The House would like some leadership. The House would like some political cover because a lot of them are vulnerable in races. They're not going to get that from the president and it doesn't appear either of these bills in the House has the votes to clear.

They're going to blame Democrats but the House has enough Republicans to pass a bill. Stay tuned to that.

But over in the Senate, it appears some rare pushback from Republicans on this issue in particular. Orrin Hatch and a dozen Senate Republicans wrote a letter to Jeff Sessions saying to stop it now.

Here's Mitch McConnell yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I support, and all of the members of the Republican Conference support a plan that keeps families together while their immigration status is determined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Has the president finally found an issue on which Republicans will push back?

ZELIZER: Well, it's a little pushback. It's at least rhetorical. I mean, this is so extreme what is going on. If it takes this to get the Republicans to push back the party might have a problem.

But so far, it's rhetoric. Let's see if they send him a bill. They have power, they have control.

BRIGGS: Well, they wrote a letter to Sessions --

ZELIZER: Right.

BRIGGS: -- asking him to stop the policy now --

ZELIZER: Right.

BRIGGS: -- so it's a little beyond rhetoric.

ZELIZER: It's a request but they should make a demand. I think many people would agree with that.

BRIGGS: Well, yes, and Lindsey Graham has said Mr. President --

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: -- you can stop this with a phone call --

ZELIZER: Right.

BRIGGS: -- and he's said it repeatedly.

ROMANS: But what we're hearing from the White House and some of the people who are implementing this policy is this is the law, this is the law, this is the law. A policy that is -- you know, people come into the country illegally, that's a misdemeanor. They need to be arrested. And now, this policy of separating them from their children.

Tom Homan is the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was on with Wolf yesterday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Is this new zero tolerance policy that the president has supported, that the attorney general announced -- is it humane?

THOMAS HOMAN, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: I think -- I think it's the law. As a law enforcement -- it may be the law --

BLITZER: No. Look, it's the policy but is it humane?

HOMAN: I think it's the law and I'm in law enforcement and I must follow the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I think that those policies are really telling.

And also, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, making this case in "USA Today" today that these children are being cared for well.

"In fact, they get better care than a lot of American kids do. They are provided plenty of food, education in their language, health and dental care, and transported to their destination city, all at taxpayer expense. In total, HHS is spending more than $1 billion taxpayer dollars a year providing quality care."

Is the White House making the case -- the sound case here that this is right -- a right thing to do?

ZELIZER: Yes. I mean, he's almost making it sound like summer camp. And so not only are they defending it here but he's saying they're getting better treatment than a lot of other people. And I think this is just an effort to both justify what's going and in some ways to continue with the rhetoric that undocumented immigrants get a better deal than the rest of you.

ROMANS: And that plays to a -- that plays to a base who thinks that illegal immigration is unfair. People who think that the schools are not good because other country's citizens who are being educated and feel like they're not getting a good deal in America in the 21st century. ZELIZER: That's exactly right. The rhetoric is the same, it's consistent, and here we have it, even in this extreme moment of punitive policy.

BRIGGS: But the bottom line is the president thinks he has a midterm winner --

ZELIZER: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- and he will own it tonight in Duluth. We'll see about the language.

Could it match what he used in Alabama about the flag and Colin Kaepernick, and things? We shall see.

Julian, good to see you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Julian. Thank you.

BRIGGS: The U.S. pulling out of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The Trump administration claiming the group is biased against Israel and failed to hold human rights violators accountable.

U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley calling the council a "cesspool of political bias and a protector of abusers."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: This step is not a retreat from human rights commitments. On the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The U.S. withdrawal comes one day after the U.N. Human Rights office criticized the separation of children from their parents, calling the policy unconscionable.

ROMANS: FBI agent Peter Strzok escorted out of the Bureau Friday as part of an ongoing internal investigation of misconduct. He is still an FBI employee.

Strzok played a lead role in the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe. He later worked on the Russia investigation until his disparaging text messages about President Trump were discovered.

Strzok is under increased scrutiny following a critical report by the Justice Department's inspector general.

His attorney says Strzok "played by the rules and respected the process and yet, he continues to be the target of unfounded personal attacks." He claims "the disciplinary process is tainted by political influence."

[05:40:02] BRIGGS: The president's longtime personal lawyer might be ready to flip. One of Michael Cohen's New York friends telling CNN, quote, "He knows a lot of things about the president and he's not averse to talking in the right situation."

Sources confirm Cohen is planning to hire attorney Guy Petrillo, the former chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan.

"The Wall Street Journal" reporting Cohen wants the president to pay his legal fees and is angry about this. We're told Cohen feels increasingly isolated from the president and is concerned about his family as he faces possible indictment.

ROMANS: All right. General Electric has been booted from the Dow 30 after more than a century. The latest indignity for a company once considered a bellwether of the American economy.

"CNN Money" is next.

BRIGGS: When Gitanjali Rao heard about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, she wanted to help. Now, at only 12 years old, she is the proud inventor of a portable device that detects lead in water and wants other kids to make a difference in their own communities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GITANJALI RAO, SCIENTIST: Science can make a big difference anywhere from just a simple reaction to a big experiment if you just find the right application. Science can save the world.

My name is Gitanjali Rao and I am 12 years old. I'm a scientist. I invented a device called Tethys that detects lead in water faster than any other current technique out there today.

I was appalled by the number of people affected by lead in water during the Flint water crisis. I wanted to do something to change this for the residents of Flint and places like this all over the world.

My device includes a core device and a disposable cartridge with a carbon nanotube dispenser (ph). You dip this disposable cartridge into the water you want to test. You pull out your phone, open up the Tethys application and connect over Bluetooth to get the results of safe, slightly contaminated or critical of lead levels in your water.

My advice to other kids who want to save the world is do not be afraid to try. I failed like four or five times but I got back into the lab, did it again, and then it was like the aha moment when everything kind of started coming together and the device was born.

I think that science allows me to look at different approaches to solve real-world problems. It's important to take other people's problems and make something to help them with it, mainly because we're all one big community and it's our duty to help other people. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:25] BRIGGS: Late-night hosts are not letting up on the president for the zero tolerance policy at the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": This is not a popular policy. Sixty-seven percent of Americans oppose it.

Even Melania released a statement saying she hates to see families separated, partly because it makes her jealous. Why can't I get separated from --

SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": But, Kirstjen Nielsen, yesterday, dismissed demands that President Trump unilaterally end the practice of separating families at the border and said, quote, "Congress can fix this tomorrow."

Really? Have you met Congress? They are still finalizing the Louisiana Purchase.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Huckasands didn't want to do the briefing amid questions on children separation policy. Sarah, you think you don't want to talk about child separation policy?

Try doing it on a comedy show. Oh, you must love the Trump administration, Stephen. The sadness just writes itself.

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL "THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH": We've given Ted Cruz a hard time on the show but let's give him props. He wants to solve this problem, yes. And I think we need to solve it before Ted Cruz decides to go to these detention centers himself because these kids have been through enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right, those are your laughs.

Here's your "CNN Money" this morning.

Wall Street falling as the U.S. and China move closer to a trade war. Look at yesterday, the Dow lost nearly 300 points. That means officially, it has erased all of the gains for the year.

President Trump threatening tariffs -- additional tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. The president says he'll impose those if China dares to retaliate against the original $50 billion in tariffs promised last week.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro defending the China tariffs on a call with reporters, arguing that the penalties are necessary to defend this country and the tariffs are punishment for China stealing U.S. tech and trade secrets.

But right now, global stocks are rebounding. U.S. futures are up a little bit so watch this space. You could have a rebound at the opening bell in about four hours.

General Electric has been booted from the Dow after more than a century. G.E. is an original member of the Dow 30. Its removal is just the latest indignity for G.E., once considered a bellwether of the U.S. economy.

Now it's dealing with a cash crisis after years of bad deals. Stock is down 25 percent this year alone. Last year it was the worst- performing stock in the Dow.

G.E. will be replaced by Walgreens on June 26th.

Starbucks is going to close about 150 U.S. stores next year to fight slowing sales -- three times as many stores as it typically shuts down in a year.

[05:50:01] Starbucks says sales this quarter will be lower than predicted and that's been the case for the past several quarters. Starbucks faces tough competition, both from upscale coffee houses and chains like McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

Starbucks also lost tens of millions in sales when it closed for an afternoon in May for anti-bias training prompted by the arrest of two black men at a store in Philadelphia. The stock fell about two percent after hours.

BRIGGS: OK, 40 percent of all slaves brought to the United States entered through Charleston, South Carolina. Now, the city is apologizing in a powerful rebuke of its past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:14] ROMANS: Chicago police and fire officials are investigating the paramedics who covered a shooting victim with a sheet while he was still alive.

Seventeen-year-old Erin Carey was shot in the head early Monday on the city's West Side. Police say paramedics thought he was dead only to be told by witnesses the teenager was still moving under that sheet.

Carey was eventually taken to a hospital in critical condition and died nearly a day later.

One other person was killed in the shooting. At least 56 people -- 56 people were shot last weekend in Chicago making it the most violent weekend of the year so far.

BRIGGS: Man.

ICE agents rounding up more than 140 workers during raids on meat plants in Ohio. The workers hail primarily from Guatemala and are suspected of using stolen or fraudulent I.D.s to gain employment. The unannounced visits to four plants operated by Fresh Mark are being called the largest worksite raid the federal government has conducted in more than a decade.

ROMANS: The arrested workers could face federal identity theft charges among other offenses.

In a statement, Fresh Mark says it participates in a federal program to ensure its employees have proper documentation.

BRIGGS: Charleston, South Carolina apologizing for its role in the slave trade. The City Council approving a resolution Tuesday also known as Juneteenth, a day that celebrates the abolition of slavery. The two-page resolution goes well beyond a mere apology.

ROMANS: It says, "The institution of slavery did not just involve physical confinement and mistreatment. It also sought to suppress if not destroy the cultural, religious, and social values of Africans by stripping Africans of their ancestral names and customs, humiliating and brutalizing them."

According to the International African-American Museum, some 80 percent of African-Americans today can trace their roots back to the city of Charleston.

BRIGGS: Southeast Texas slammed by heavy rain and flash flooding. The downpours forcing roads and schools to close in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas due to high water. The streets flooded in the Port Arthur area, which was devastated also by Hurricane Harvey.

And that flood threat along the Texas coast is not yet over.

Here's meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Christine, Dave, good morning.

We're still covering the flooding in Texas. This thing is really -- well, I've seen tropical systems weaker than this, right, that had gotten a name. This doesn't have a name. We've been talking about the potential for development at this point.

That's not the issue. It's the fact that this low, very similar to a tropical storm, is pumping all sorts of moisture into Texas here and particularly, along the coast where we've already accumulated several inches.

And guess what? So long as that spin stays there -- and it will, at least for the next few days -- look at the rain concentrated from Houston all the way down into Brownsville. Another six to perhaps 10 inches of rainfall in the next 24 to about 48 hours and then things begin to wind down.

Still looking at heavy rain across the Midwest. That stretches along a boundary that extends out towards to the mid-Atlantic. And north of that boundary, look at the temperatures again. We've been seeing this cool-down here with highs now only in the 70s and lower 80s.

This is the heat index. When you factor in the humidity it's not going to be in the 100s in the southeast but it is sure going to feel like it around Charleston. Temperatures with that humidity feeling about 105 degrees. We'll hope for some pop-up showers there in the forecast as well -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Wow, that is a lot of orange --

BRIGGS: Wow.

ROMANS: -- on that map. All right.

CVS has a new prescription for those long pharmacy lines. The chain is rolling out home delivery, allowing customers to place their orders on an app or by calling the store. For a $5.00 fee, you can have your order brought to your door the next day. CVS partnering with the U.S. Postal Service to make its deliveries.

Competitors like Amazon are also exploiting entering the health care sector.

Really great for senior citizens who can't get to the store and people with a lot of different prescriptions.

BRIGGS: Or even us. I'd take a $5.00 delivery. You don't have to be a senior citizen to appreciate that.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's simple. It's an assault on human dignity.

TRUMP: When you prosecute the parents you have to take the children away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is basically holding these kids hostage for his political stunt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get this thing done. The overall bill the House is considering would be preferable.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Mr. President, I'll lend you my pen. You can fix it yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY, Wednesday, June 20th, 6:00 here in New York.

The Pope -- the Pope now weighing in against the president.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Quite a statement --

BERMAN: Pressure.

CAMEROTA: -- that we'll read.

BERMAN: Pressure from around the world now on the President of the United States.

This is the "Starting Line."

There's a new term in the immigration debate igniting all kinds of emotion -- tender age shelters -- tender age. Babies, infants separated from their parents by the U.S. government now being held at three separate facilities in Texas.

Officials tell the Associated Press they just don't know how many people there are younger than five, younger than two -- too young even to talk. They don't know.

What we do know is that the president could end this with a phone call this minute, but he won't.