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Seattle Plane Crash; Outnumbered by Anti-Hate Protesters; Tlaib Poised to Become First Muslim Woman in Congress; Trump Responds to Omarosa; North and South Korean Officials Announce Summit. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired August 13, 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] DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. We're beginning to get a clearer sense of what Russell was like as a colleague, as an employee, as a friend. I spoke with somebody who worked with him for eight solid months. His name is Jeremy Kaelin. They worked the p.m. shift together and he says what happened is completely at odds with the person he knew. He says that he was an extremely hard worker, that he was a good friend, that he had a terrific sense of humor. He also says that he's not surprised that he was able to fly that airplane despite having no experience. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: He seemed like, to a certain degree, he knew what he was doing as a pilot, or behind the controls.

JEREMY KAELIN, WORKED WITH RICHARD RUSSELL: Yes. Well, you can learn how to fly with flight simulators, if you buy them. You can literally just run them on your PC, Mac, whatever. It was also part of his job description on tow team was to operate some of the systems that were -- he was trained to do by Horizon Air, which is part of the tow team. And so, essentially, he just took that knowledge and then built off of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: Well, Kaelin, who himself is studying to be a pilot, says there are a lot of instructional videos, YouTube videos that will teach people how to start an airplane and perhaps that is how Russell figured out what to do. Ultimately he says it comes down to access and Russell had access and somehow got in the cockpit and flew that plane around, Poppy.

HARLOW: Dan Simon, thank you for being there for the reporting, for bringing us that interview as well.

So ahead for us, she very well may make history, becoming the first Muslim woman in Congress. But with a nation so divided, what is her bigger plan to really make change? She joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:58] HARLOW: So this weekend a message intended to spark hate was overwhelmingly drown out at the nation's capital. Anti-hate groups wildly outnumbered the nearly two dozen white nationalists who gathered near the White House for their Unite the Right rally yesterday. The day marked one year since those clashes in Charlottesville turned deadly, claiming the lives of two Virginia police officers and, of course, Heather Heyer.

Our Sara Sidner was at the rally yesterday and she joins me now.

Look, you saw the opposition come out in force yesterday to this.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's true, Poppy, and I think it says a lot about the state of our country, at least a lot of people are hoping that's what it says. And we're talking about hundreds upon hundreds of people that came out to stand up against white supremacist ideals, against the Unite the Right rally organizers.

Jason Kessler, the same person who organized the rally in Charlottesville, he got a permit in both places, he said that there would be from one to 400 people. There were about two dozen who showed up. They came, they spoke, they didn't get through their speeches, they spoke early.

I do want to mention, the police presence because it was large. A very big police presence. And there are some people saying why are so many police there with only, you know, 20 or so unite the right marchers. Because of what happened in Charlottesville. Because of what ended up happening with so much violence and then it ended in the death of Heather Heyer. And then you have those two officers who died as well as they were patrolling the skies.

So I think what happened in D.C. is exactly what people were hoping would happen, which is, there is never a clash, a physical clash, between these two groups.

We also had a conversation with Jason Kessler to ask him, why pick this day? Why pick the day when a lot of people see it as a slap in the face to the victims, mainly Heather Heyer, in Charlottesville? He did it on the anniversary of the Charlottesville march. And he said, look, we are just coming because we felt our rights were violated.

But then I asked him some questions about some of the things that were said by those people who were marching with the tiki torches, some of the anti-Semitic and racist ideals that they were spewing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Do you condemn what happened during the rally, where people were saying, Jews will not replace us. There were anti-Semitic remarks. There were racist remarks. Is that what you believe in?

JASON KESSLER, UNITE THE RIGHT RALLY ORGANIZER: No, I condemn neo- Nazis in the lead up to this rally. I've been somebody --

SIDNER: Then why were so many of them marching under your Unite the Right rally? KESSLER: Well, that's a very -- that's a very complicated issue. But I

would say these people were in the minority. But because their -- what they said was so offensive and so frightening to a lot of people, it became the focal point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Jason Kessler is clearly trying to sort of rebrand the alt right, if you will, but he has made such disturbing comments in the past that do not match what he said to me there. It's interesting to see what will go forward next. But a lot of the people that were there, we tried to talk to, wouldn't talk to us saying that they did not want to be harassed. They wouldn't show their faces on that side. On other side, hundreds of people saying, we don't want you here.

Poppy.

HARLOW: But they came out --

SIDNER: They did.

HARLOW: To exercise, you know, their constitutional right to have their faces shown, but then wouldn't speak to you.

SIDNER: Sure.

HARLOW: Sara, thank you for all the reporting.

So if she wins in November, Rashida Tlaib will become the first Muslim woman in Congress. Two years ago she was forcibly removed from a Trump speech in Detroit. There she is. She was accused of heckling.

Well, last week she won her primary for the U.S. House seat in Michigan's 13th congressional district. She is running unopposed in a deeply blue district in November and is set to potentially make history.

She joins me now.

Thank you for being here.

RASHIDA TLAIB (D), MICHIGAN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Thank you so much for having me.

HARLOW: It's nice to have you.

So it was three and a half years ago when he was a candidate for president, Donald Trump, at the time that he called for a complete ban on Muslims entering America. So this year, fast forward, we see a record number of Muslim Americans running for Congress, somewhere around 90 declaring their candidacy. You're one of them. If you win, you would be the first Muslim woman to serve in Congress. If President Trump had not become president, do you think you'd be running today?

[09:40:12] TLAIB: I think at some point I will probably continue my public service. I think a lot of people don't realize I was the first Muslim American woman in the Michigan legislature. And so I was always attracted to, you know, public service, but more community activism.

When you say heckling, I said, well, I was asked a question and they pulled me out for asking him if he ever read the U.S. Constitution. And it was, you know, the most American thing I could do is to push back on some of his rhetoric and, you know, this call for a ban.

Of course, a lot of my passion and what I brought to the campaign did come from the fact that Trump has made my children, my two boys, question whether or not they could tell people whether or not they're of Muslim faith. I know a lot of moms even across my district, I started a chapter called Moms Against Trump and we're really tired of our children kind of feeling this sense of -- that they don't belong or that they're less than because the president of the United States says so.

HARLOW: So, Rashida, let me ask you about this because you saw over the weekend on the one year mark from the Charlottesville deadly protest, that the president tweeted, quote, I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to all Americans.

Now, Senator Tim Scott, the only Republican African-American serving in the Senate, last year called out Trump and said he had a lack of moral authority when he used the both sides language. Well, now, Senator Tim Scott is defending the president and saying, look, he has taken, in the senator's words, a number of steps to move us in a better direction. He says this is a positive step in the right direction. Do you agree with Senator Scott?

TLAIB: I agree with actions. Senator Scott can say, you know, those things and about the president of the United States, but I can tell you -- I can tweet out whatever I want, but my actions are what's going to speak louder. And a lot of the things that he's done, not only towards, you know, Muslim Americans, but also towards my Latino neighbors, towards my African-American neighbors in my district, I can tell you that this president has felt -- we have felt the sense of -- that it's us versus them, this kind of feeling that maybe because of, you know, being a child of immigrants, or being somebody that is African-American in our country, that somehow we get all these other labels that come along with it that makes us so-called less American.

And that's how we've been feeling with this president. And so I can tell you it's been very much a very much a passion of mine to continue showing people, not only through my election, but also uplifting other women that are running for office.

HARLOW: So let me ask you about action you would take should you be elected in November, because you've said on CNN last week that you -- your words, probably not when you were asked if you would support Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House should Democrats retake the House. And you cited her support for big banks. You said that it is, quote, troubling that she didn't put the people first. What specifically are you talking about?

TLAIB: You know, my district is probably the second or third poorest in the country, Poppy. What I see is that less than half of my families, you know, don't own their own home, primarily because of the discriminatory practices that continue on with banks and mortgages. What I can tell you, the high rates of car insurance because the car insurance industry has just been overwhelmingly discriminatory towards my families over --

HARLOW: And I do under -- I do understand that. I've actually been there and covered it, you know, a great deal --

TLAIB: Yes.

HARLOW: In and around Detroit, as you know, for the better part of a decade.

But specifically to Pelosi, I mean those are pretty strong allegations, right, saying that she doesn't care about these people. That she's, well, claims that --

TLAIB: Yes. I mean they're not allegations. This is -- but this is before I got elected. Before I got elected, I have been critical of both Republicans and Democrats that remove the transparency requirements through Dodd-Frank. I mean these are things that, to me, protect the working class families. These are things that I think are critical to insuring that we feel like we have a seat at the table.

And, look, this is a new generation, a new era. This is time for a new approach to public service that is so different than what we've had.

HARLOW: So -- so here's what -- here's what Nancy --

TLAIB: I -- but it's very important to know, I absolute respected the leadership of Nancy -- of Leader Nancy Pelosi. You should know that I have been so supportive of a number of things that she's done to not only elevate women, but also --

HARLOW: But you think it's time for a new voice? I mean you think it's time for a new voice, which -- which --

TLAIB: It is. It is. There is nothing wrong -- by saying there's a new voice doesn't mean that I don't support the work that she's done. What I'm telling you is --

HARLOW: Let me play some -- I hear that, but let me -- let me play what she said over the weekend defending herself because your calls for new leadership are similar to what some Republicans, including the president, are saying, you know, that it's helpful to them. They're saying, you know, keep Nancy Pelosi in power and, you know, in leadership because that hurts the Democrats which helps us. So here's how Pelosi defended herself over the weekend.

[09:45:04] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (R), MINORITY LEADER: I do not think our opponents should select the leaders of our party. The Republicans are spending millions, tens of millions of dollars, against me because they're afraid of me because I outraise them in the political arena, because I outsmart them at the negotiating table and because I'm a woman who is going to be a seat at that table. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Do you think she has a point in this warning to Democrats?

TLAIB: I don't know if it's a warning to Democrats as much as to the political culture that's in Washington, D.C.

Look, I come from a district that doesn't feel like they've been heard by Congress. It is overwhelmingly been ignored on a number of fronts. I have a city outside of Detroit, I have 12 different communities that doesn't even have a school district, Poppy. I have areas where literally the environmental issue is the core of the fact that they are not able to have a right to breathe clean air. I mean one of five children have asthma. I have another area in my district that you turn around the corner and you see more poverty. You see more decay.

And so what I'm telling you is that we don't feel like we have a seat at the table. And they are a priority to me. And I am going to go there. And I said probably not because I want to make sure that they have a voice in the leader that's going to run the United States Congress. And that is my right to be able to speak on their behalf and to say --

HARLOW: Do you believe that -- do you -- and you have spoken about people you call Democratic sell-outs, that you think, frankly, don't care about the people you've just elaborated on?

TLAIB: (INAUDIBLE) not so care as much as disconnected, Poppy.

HARLOW: Is Nancy Pelosi -- is Nancy Pelosi a Democratic sellout in your mind?

TLAIB: Disconnected. Disconnected.

HARLOW: Is she -- is she disconnected from those people?

TLAIB: I think so.

HARLOW: OK, finally, before you go, you have joined the movement to abolish ICE, as some of -- you know, many of you fellow Democrats in Congress have as well. But critics say, look, that energizes the Republican base. That energizes the president who can point at Democrats and say, see, you don't care about border security. What's your reaction to that?

TLAIB: I don't look at this issue as strategic political strategy. Abolishing ICE protects my families from the militarization that is happening in our neighborhoods. I am from southwest Detroit where literally the border to Canada and all I see is border patrol field operators, all of this so-called militarization happening. I have parents dropping their kids off at school, Poppy, and getting arrested and detained in front of their child's school. So they're a priority to me and I will not -- will not, Poppy, make --

HARLOW: Do we need -- so we should and (INAUDIBLE) debate the practice of it, right, we should debate the practice, but do we need order -- TLAIB: Oh, practice of it? They didn't exist before.

HARLOW: Do we need -- do we need border security at all. Do we need a --

TLAIB: They didn't exist before. So I am not going to make a decision based on whether or not politically it is helpful for the Republicans or Democrats. Is it helpful for the families of the 13th congressional district to abolish ICE? Absolutely it is.

HARLOW: Do we -- do we need border security? Do we need some form of ICE?

TLAIB: We had it. We had it before ICE.

HARLOW: Thank you for being with us.

TLAIB: Thank you.

HARLOW: I have a lot more to get to, so I hope you come back and join me again. Thank you.

TLAIB: Thank you very much, Poppy, for having me.

HARLOW: All right, so we do have some breaking news. The president just responded to the former White House aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, who attacked him this morning on the "Today" show.

Let's go to our Boris Sanchez, who's in New Jersey.

The president's there on his working vacation. So he is lashing back at her. What is he saying?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy, just a few days after President Trump called her a low life in his first direct response to some of the allegations that Omarosa is making in her tell-all book "Unhinged," he's now responding via Twitter.

Here's the tweet the president sent out just a short time ago. He writes, quote, whacky Omarosa who got fired three times on "The Apprentice" now got fired for the last time. She never made it. Never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes. I said OK. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her, but heard.

And we are eagerly anticipating the follow-up tweet there, Poppy. If the last few days from the White House have been any indication, we will likely see more attacks on former aide's credibility.

Poppy.

HARLOW: This is in such stark contrast to the tape we heard that Omarosa played this morning of her conversation with the president who said he didn't love at all seeing her released from the White House.

SANCHEZ: That's right.

HARLOW: Interesting.

Boris, thanks.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:52] HARLOW: All right, today the leaders of North and South Korea have announced that they will meet again. This meeting is set to take place next month in Pyongyang. And it will be the third face to face between the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, and Kim Jong-un. This comes amid reports that North Korea has rejected all proposals from the U.S. since the Trump/Kim summit on denuclearization.

Will Ripley joins me now.

And, Will, that's important, right? I mean it's not just the fact that they are going to have this third face-to-face. It comes days after our reporting, you know, from our State Department correspondent Michelle Kosinski, that the Kim regime has rejected all of these offers by the U.S. to achieve denuclearization.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the really important context here, Poppy, you're absolutely right, because Moon Jae-in's role throughout all of this has been the intermediary. He's the one who goes and speaks with the North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, and then he speaks with President Trump. He's kind of the diplomatic negotiator in the middle who is listening to what the North Koreans are saying, listening to what the United States is saying and trying to keep the process moving along. And that's going to be his role perhaps when he travels to Pyongyang at some point in September.

It will be the first time in more than a decade that a South Korean president has traveled to the North Korean capital. That alone is significant.

[09:55:05] But perhaps more significant is what we've been reporting for a while now, that the North Koreans really feel that they are having a hard time negotiating with some of the members of the Trump administration. They are hoping for a second summit with President Trump. Could President Moon's talks with Kim and then likely a debrief with President Trump lead to that second Trump/Kim summit at some point later this year? That's what we're going to be watching, Poppy.

HARLOW: OK, Will, thank you very much.

And, of course, you've reported so much in North Korea, you understand the context of all of this. Again, that meeting set to happen between the South and the North in about a month.

Thank you, Will.

We have much more on our breaking news ahead. The president responding to former aide Omarosa's attacks on him and his administration. We will bring you the president's words, next.

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