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New Day

Echoes of the Past Senate Hearing; SEC Sues Tesla; Confirmation for Kavanaugh. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 28, 2018 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] CHERYL AMITAY, FRIEND OF CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD: Needed to know who this person was.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Cheryl Amitay, I'm sure she appreciates your support this morning.

AMITAY: She's a hero.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for sharing a bit about your friend with us.

AMITAY: My pleasure.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's interesting that her friend, Christine Blasey Ford, knew, she says, going in that it probably wouldn't make a difference and Judge Kavanaugh would still --

CAMEROTA: And that that wasn't her goal.

BERMAN: Also very interesting.

All right, Christine Blasey Ford's testimony, everyone glued to the television yesterday, just as they were during the Clarence Thomas hearings when Anita Hill testified three decades ago. We're going to speak to a pivotal player in that from all those years ago and ask her what she thinks this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Very shortly the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on whether to move on, on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination process. A group of undecided senators met last night after the emotional, raw testimony of Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. Ford accuses Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

The hearing had some echoes to the past. Twenty-seven years ago when Anita Hill outlined her accusations of sexual harassment against then Supreme Court Nominee Clarence Thomas.

[08:35:07] Former member of Congress from Colorado, Pat Schroeder, and her female colleagues played a key role in making sure that Anita Hill was heard. And Pat Schroeder joins us this morning.

Representative, thank you, as always, for being with us.

Just first, very quickly, your reaction to what you saw yesterday.

PATRICIA SCHROEDER (D), FORMER COLORADO CONGRESSWOMAN: Well, first after all, I thought he was doing a Clarence Thomas. Again, you had Anita presenting her case very judicially, very calmly, very factually and, of course, he just comes in and screams, it's about a lynching. I don't think he cried. But, other than that, it was very, very similar.

And then, of course, the other thing that's so similar is, we had three more women who were ready to testify, and they were never heard. And so, once again, you're seeing this committee say, no, we don't want to hear all the evidence. This is it. We have one. Bye.

So it was about drama, I guess, and the -- somehow if you yell the loudest.

The other thing that I thought is, part of her testimony was how he was drinking a lot and got very aggressive. And others have said the same thing. When you saw him sober and that aggressive, I'm going to say all of a sudden it became very believable if he was drinking, heaven only knows how aggressive he could become. So --

BERMAN: Of course his supports -- his supporters will say that he was aggressive, that he was angry because he's fighting for his reputation and fighting for his life.

You noted -- you noted the similarities between Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh. I just want to play something for you to illustrate to our viewers what you're talking about. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I'm here today to tell the truth. I've never sexually assaulted anyone. Not in high school. Not in college. Not ever.

CLARENCE THOMAS, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: Unequivocally, uncategorically, that I deny each and every single allegation against me today.

KAVANAUGH: This is a circus. This confirmation process has become a national disgrace.

THOMAS: This is a circus. It's a national disgrace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So that's exactly similar in those cases. You weren't kidding.

SCHROEDER: Yes, exactly. It really is. And when you think of how she was being tried by the Republicans, having brought in a prosecutor, the men at the prosecutor started to ask similar questions to him. Boy, they cut that off and went into the high drama of which -- I almost was laughing. I mean when they started in on the Democrats were plotting this and the Clintons and he was doing all of that, I mean, for heaven's sakes, Democrats can't organize a one car parade. And as I say, they carry butter knives to gunfights. So, you know, that is just all -- absolute poppycock.

This woman made a very clear case about how this has been going on and bothering her for all of these years. This is nothing that Democrats all put together at the last minute. And it's just ridiculous. And so --

BERMAN: So I have to ask you --

SCHROEDER: Yes.

BERMAN: I have to ask you at this point, we don't know for sure which way this will go. There's a vote in the Judiciary Committee coming up next hour. And then, procedurally speaking, it's going to go through. Tomorrow there could be another procedural vote and then the final vote on Monday or Tuesday. It's very possible, if not probable, that Judge Kavanaugh will sit on the Supreme Court.

So I want to ask you, as someone who went through this battle in 1991 and lost, Justice Thomas became a Supreme Court justice, what does it say to you that roughly speaking the same thing will happen, a woman will go before the country and tell her story, yet the Senate will choose not to believe her.

SCHROEDER: Women are still not full citizens in this country. We really saw that yesterday. His waiving his pedigree. I went to Yale. I had high grades. I -- you know, I'm a wonderful boy. You know, somehow that just dismisses anything a woman said. He's not to be believed. And dismissing her -- people that she talked about when it was pointed out there were so many facts there that we don't know and it could be followed through.

You know, even the American Bar Association this time has stepped forward -- and hooray for them -- and said, really, come on. This is -- this is not how we should do things.

BERMAN: Could I ask you -- my partner, Alisyn Camerota and I, have been talking about this all morning, is, would there be a better way to handle an accusation like this given that Christine Blasey Ford decided to come forward publically and make this case? Would there be a better way to have it happen so that you wouldn't have this arguing, from the Republican side, that this is some kind of sham?

[08:40:06] SCHROEDER: Yes, of course. There is a -- there's an FBI that can go look at certain things like -- she talked about the Safeway, employment things from that period. Talk to these other witnesses to find out if this has been a pattern. Talk to other people around. There's lots of other people around that they could talk to, to find out and fill in.

What they tried to make it was a he said/she said. And this was not a he said/she said. There was a third person who's sitting out in the beach house somewhere reading comic books that sends in something from his lawyer saying, I don't think he knew anything about it. But he's not under oath. He's not testifying.

You know, really, take it out of the theater. Take it to the FBI. They do things in a much more nonpartisan theatrical way and then present that to the committee.

BERMAN: Representative --

SCHROEDER: And that makes much more sense.

BERMAN: Representative Pat Schroeder, again, always a pleasure to speak to you. Thanks so much for your insight and your historical perspective here.

SCHROEDER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for bringing that up. I think that that's -- I mean her answer is the FBI. That's a lot of people's answers.

BERMAN: I quote you frequently, both on television and, you know, even in private.

CAMEROTA: You do?

BERMAN: All the time.

CAMEROTA: That makes me so happy.

BERMAN: All the time. Usually it's slander, but that's OK.

CAMEROTA: No, I understand.

Tesla's Elon Musk could be forced to quit his own company. Huh? Details from "CNN Money," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:42] CAMEROTA: It's time for "CNN Money Now." Wall Street's top regulator accusing Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, of fraud, which could force him out.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is in our Money Center with more.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there.

The SEC coming after Tesla's CEO Elon Musk. This began in August. Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share. That boosted the stock price. But the SEC says that's not true, that he misled investors and that he chose that 420 value as a joke, a marijuana reference that his girlfriend would find funny. Right, this is a publically traded company.

The SEC wants to bar Musk from leading any public company. That would be a huge blow for Tesla. Not only is Musk the public face, but investors faith in Musk is why Tesla's market value is $50 billion. Now, Tesla shares fell 12 percent overnight. No surprise.

Now, he is speaking out. He calls the SEC action unjustified. He says integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way. The board also out saying it supports Musk.

But this going private fiasco is one of several actions lately causing some to question his leadership. Like there was this smoking marijuana during this live podcast. There was also, you know, a samurai sword and some other things. He's being sued by a British cave diver involved in the Thai soccer team rescue. He called that cave diver a pedophile.

Musk's demeanor drawing scrutiny at the same time the company has missed production deadlines and loses money on every car sold.

John.

BERMAN: Twitter can get you fired, it turns out, Christine Romans.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: And smoking a lot of weed.

BERMAN: And smoking a lot of week.

CAMEROTA: Maybe he's smoking too much weed.

BERMAN: Which -- on Twitter apparently.

All right, now to this week's CNN Hero. One woman now on a personal mission to give refuge to sex trafficking survivors. Meet Susan Munsey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN MUNSEY, CNN HERO: Nobody wakes up and just decides one day, I'm going to go sell my body and give the money away.

Traffickers or pimps know exactly what they're doing.

Much of it's on the Internet now. They're going on dating websites. And they're gaming. They're looking for young, vulnerable women anywhere where young women might hang out.

My vision was to have a home where women could come and find safety and find themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: For more of Susan's stories and those of other courageous survivors, go to cnnheroes.com.

CAMEROTA: All right, the first vote on Brett Kavanaugh in less than an hour from now. We get "The Bottom Line," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:36] BERMAN: Next half hour is huge. A live look inside the hearing room where the Senate Judiciary Committee very shortly will hold a vote on whether or not they support the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. Which way are they headed? What was the impact of the testimony and the impact of developments overnight.

Let's get "The Bottom Line" with CNN's senior political analyst John Avalon.

John, the American Bar Association came out overnight. And, by the way, they gave Brett Kavanaugh the gold star rating which Lindsey Graham bought up in his somewhat impassioned statement yesterday. The gold star from the American Bar Association. Well, overnight they said, hold on, wait, pause.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: Do you think that will have an impact this morning?

AVLON: It should. It should because the ABA is the standard that's traditionally been used. And now they're basically saying, hold on. And they give senators in the Senate particularly an off ramp on this. You don't want to -- you have this vote seems like it's just going to polarize the country further. We don't have all the information. Lots of folks talked about the need for a greater FBI investigation. Those folks, the senator could say, I'm not voting against him, but we should do that investigation and let's follow the ABA's recommendation. It's not that I'm listening to Democrats.

CAMEROTA: What's wrong with more information? How can you vote against having more information? I don't understand how you can say, no, I've heard enough. It was as confusing yesterday as possible in terms of both of them making credible cases, both of them seeming authentic. So how can you not vote for more information? Here's my question to you, for people --

BERMAN: You sound like a senator, by the way.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I know.

BERMAN: Using your (INAUDIBLE) to ask a question (INAUDIBLE) a question.

CAMEROTA: Ignore everything -- ignore everything I just said. For the senators who say that they believed Christine Blasey Ford, they found her credible, how do they vote today?

AVLON: I think you're going to see a lot of folks unable to square that circle. They're going to say they felt enormous empathy with her. She's clearly telling her truth. But they're going to vote for Kavanaugh anyway. And that's why there should be room for a greater investigation. As many folks pointed out, this is a case where there is a third party in the room over this alleged incident. And, yes, he has said under sworn testimony that this didn't occur, he doesn't have a recollection --

CAMEROTA: He doesn't recall. He says he doesn't recall.

AVLON: He doesn't recall. Legal language there.

CAMEROTA: I think that's a big different, though.

AVLON: But that's more reason why.

You say, why the sudden rush to judgment? Why are Democrats, you know, arguing that delay is good and Republicans not? It's situational ethics. This is obviously -- if we delayed a year with Merrick Garland's seat, and that's part of the bad blood that's fueling this whole process. And it's going to get worse almost no matter what happens, with the committee vote today and the full Senate vote next week because the gender divides in politics are getting worse, the politics of personal destruction is being felt on both sides. How this rift gets healed with the court that's supposed to be above politics, it's tough to see your way out of it.

[08:55:10] BERMAN: And how it gets sealed (ph) after a woman tells what she believes to be her truth --

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: In front of the Senate and the American people --

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: With no impact, that's also interesting.

Again, as we go forward, one of the things -- we've played it a few times. We don't have time to play it again. But when Judge Kavanaugh was pressed by Dick Durbin on the FBI investigation, he sat silent. This is one of the most esteemed lawyers and judges in America who did not answer a question about, will you call for an FBI investigation. Why?

AVLON: I think there was so much about his statement that was yolo. It was going in and saying, I'm going to go down guns blazing and maybe people will find me -- he wasn't trying to win over senators there. He wasn't trying to play nice. And he didn't -- he felt like trapped by that request. And I think that's why he didn't respond. But it doesn't --

CAMEROTA: Why isn't that a hard question? Why do you feel trapped? Why isn't --

AVLON: There -- there is --

CAMEROTA: Why -- how -- why isn't the answer, yes, of course I would like an FBI investigation, more information?

AVLON: Because he actually doesn't feel that way. He wants to force this through. And it's just an indication the rank partisanship and personal anger and political fury, that's got to make an impact on some of those votes in the Senate.

BERMAN: All right, John Avlon, thanks very much. I got to say, the next few minutes are hugely important. The Senate

Judiciary Committee votes very, very shortly. Stand by. We'll give you the latest news and new developments coming up next.

CAMEROTA: CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto will pick up after this quick break. Have a great weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:11] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good morning to you on this momentous day.