Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
President Trump: "A Very Scary Time For Young Men In America"; CNN Reality Check: How The Trump Administration Has Handled Gay Rights; Chicago Officer Take Stand Defending Shooting Of Black Teenager; Department of Homeland Security Not Fully Prepared For Zero Tolerance Policy Rollout; Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired October 03, 2018 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator King is not a bomb thrower. He was really upset about what the president said at that rally last night.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: As is Jeff Flake, as is Linda Chavez. I mean, how can -- if you believe Christine Blasey Ford was the victim of a sexual attack, how could you not be upset with the President of the United States mocking her?
BERMAN: I was just struck by his emotion on that.
Number two, the calls coming to his office. He was saying it's all older people who now support Kavanaugh and believe him. Older people vote. Older people vote.
CAMEROTA: Good point -- more than younger people.
BERMAN: And if those are all the people calling Susan Collins' office that will be interesting to see what the impact is.
President Trump says this is a scary time for men in America. So what message does that send to young people and around the world? We have a unique perspective on this, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:35:15] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What do you say to the young men in America?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I say that it's a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of. This is a very, very -- it is a very difficult time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: A very difficult time for men in America, says the president. The president reflecting on the allegations facing Brett Kavanaugh and the potential impact on all men.
Let's talk about this. Joining us now is Gen. Michael Hayden, CNN national security analyst. General, thanks so much for being with us.
GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN (RET.), CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, FORMER PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, FORMER DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: Sure, John.
BERMAN: Look, you spent your life in service to the country and also living under codes of honor. So when you see and hear the president saying this is a very difficult time for men in America, what message do you hear?
HAYDEN: John, when you step back from it and what I saw yesterday, both in the afternoon piece you saw and then in the evening piece at the rally in Mississippi, it was part of a larger piece.
As a candidate and now as president, Mr. Trump has appealed to fear, and grievance, and division -- almost a cult of victimization.
And on the international scene, it's America the ripped off, with regard to trade, and treaties, and alliances, and so on.
And domestically, he's appealing to groups who feel most aggrieved and frankly, the group for whom that message works most successfully are non-college-educated white males. And I think, frankly, the president was just in a raw appeal to his base yesterday afternoon and evening.
BERMAN: Men are the victims. What does that mean for our culture if that's the lesson that the President of the United States is sending about questions of alleged sexual abuse?
HAYDEN: Again, part of a larger piece, John. He does not appeal routinely, instinctively to the better angels of our nature. He appeals to the darker angels of our nature.
He does not call us towards unity. He pushes us in the direction of division, and he does it for tactical, transient, political or personal needs.
And again, it's not the best of us and we expect the president to be the one calling out the best of the American population.
BERMAN: And I want to be clear about one thing, is that you overlapped some with Brett Kavanaugh when you were part of the --
HAYDEN: Yes.
BERMAN: -- government during the Bush administration. And you say what I did know of him was all good.
HAYDEN: Yes. I didn't know him all that well.
But also, John, I need to say a lot of other folks whose judgment I really trust, from the Bush administration, have nothing but praise for the Brett Kavanaugh they worked with during the Bush administration.
So the events of the last couple of weeks have been very troubling for folks like me.
And, John, I'm very fearful that the only thing certain about the FBI investigation is we're going to be uncertain about the charges and Judge Kavanaugh's defense with regard to the charges when it's all done.
BERMAN: And you say that the ultimate outcome perhaps should go to questions of a greater good. What do you mean by that?
HAYDEN: Yes. So I've had experience leading large organizations that -- you know, you try to be fair and you move that balance very carefully in a calibrated sort of way to be the most fair you can be. But at some point, I've had experience John where I've just said you know, this is just getting too hard.
Maybe there's a reason that it's too hard to strike the balance of fairness. Maybe the best course of action, in this case, is to not follow this course of action.
And when you look at Judge Kavanaugh and how he's responded to the charges -- and John, I'm not talking about perjury or anything like that here. I'm just talking about we never saw a full-throated -- you know, I was really stupid in high school and I was probably really stupid in college, but I'm not stupid anymore. We've never seen that.
What we've seen is what a military-mind eye would call quibbling over notes in a yearbook or what did or did not happen at a party.
So this may be the case where the best course for America is just to reboot.
Now, the sadness is that's a great personal tragedy for Brett Kavanaugh and his family, but it also might be the best course of action for the greater good for the nation.
BERMAN: Well, what Brett Kavanaugh has said about drinking is that sometimes he drank too much. That was a statement he did make under oath --
[07:40:00] HAYDEN: Yes.
BERMAN: -- to the Senate.
I want to change gears if I can and talk about perceptions of the United States from abroad.
There is this new poll from Q. The question is global competence in President Trump. Do you have it? No confidence is at 70 percent; confidence at 20 percent.
This poll -- actually, the end date was in August.
What do you make of that?
HAYDEN: Anecdotally, my own personal surveys when I go abroad and talk to folks with backgrounds similar to mine is that poll is spot- on.
And, John, to put a bumper sticker on it, what I would hear during the Obama administration because of his broad retrenchment was "where are you guys?"
What I'm hearing during the Trump administration is a more fundamental question -- "Who are you guys?" And that is really a troubling question when asked by a friend.
BERMAN: I do want to put up one more graphic here. It's broken down by country. You can see which countries have the least confidence -- Spain at 93 percent.
But after all, this -- Russia, it's just 69 percent of the people in Russia have no confidence in President Trump. How do you explain that?
HAYDEN: Well, John, there's a kind of an iron law of physics out at CIA with regard to covert action. More tears shed over successful covert actions over the long term than unsuccessful ones.
And here you might have a case where the Russians did what they did in manipulating our electoral process and it certainly has not helped Russian-American relations.
BERMAN: General Michael Hayden, great to have you with us this morning. Thank you very much.
HAYDEN: Thank you.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, John.
President Trump promised to support gay rights but a surprise move yesterday has our John Avlon calling for a reality check.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:45:50] CAMEROTA: Well, from waving a pride flag at a campaign rally to specifically mentioning the LGBT struggle at the RNC, Donald Trump was supposed to be one of the most progressive Republican presidents when it came to gay rights. But it has not worked out that way and the latest example is in need of a reality check.
Senior political analyst John Avlon has one for us -- John.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I do, indeed, Ali.
So this week, the land of the free and the home of the brave announced that it will stop issuing visas to the same-sex partners of foreign diplomats. Now, this came completely out of the blue, reversing a policy that's been in place for almost a decade.
It's the Trump administration's latest departure from the campaign that promised to be different from past Republicans when it came to gay rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: Now, just hearing a Republican nominee say LGBTQ, however haltingly, was a sign of progress, even if Trump framed his outreach against the backdrop of the ISIS-inspired attack on the Pulse nightclub in Chicago (sic). But that promise faded fast.
For example, Trump abruptly moved to reinstate a ban on transgender people openly serving in the military against the advice of his own Pentagon.
He rolled back protections for trans kids in public schools, nominated federal judges that critics say are unfriendly to gay rights, and sided against LBGT groups in various court cases like employment and non-discrimination. And now, this latest move against the partners of gay diplomats.
As in so many other cases, the Trump administration's stated purpose seems innocuous. Gay marriage is allowed in the United States, so why allow same-sex partners when unmarried heterosexual partners are not allowed in the country? But that ignores what it would do to diplomats from the many countries that do not recognize gay marriage or, much worse, still criminalize being gay.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power called the move, quote, "needlessly cruel and bigoted," pointing out that only 12 percent of U.N. member states allow same-sex marriage. Our number has that at less than 10 percent.
But this move is just the latest restriction on foreigners coming into our country. Case in point, yesterday it was revealed that the United States admitted the lowest number of refugees to our country in 40 years, just 22,000. That's about one-quarter the number admitted in 2016.
And if that doesn't move you, try this. The number of special immigrant visas issued to Iraqi and Afghani citizens -- folks who risk their lives working with U.S. forces -- has been slashed under the Trump administration from 3,000 in 2017 to just 51, according to Reuters.
America is and has always been a nation of immigrants, as John F. Kennedy reminded us.
The welcoming symbol of the Statue of Liberty reaching out to the tired, poor, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. That's our calling card to the world. But that goodwill -- the essence of American exceptionalism -- is showing signs of eroding.
A troubling new Pew research survey shows that the global image of the United States has plummeted to historic lows since Trump took office and the world has less confidence in President Trump to do the right thing than autocrats, like China's President Xi and Russia's Vladimir Putin.
It's a reminder that to credibly be called leader of the free world you have to actually stand up for freedom.
And that's your "Reality Check."
BERMAN: And as you point out John, something that seems like an obscure rule for partners of same-sex diplomats -- this is a message that is sent around the world and every other country looks at that and processes that message as well. And that's just one of the reasons why it's important.
AVLON: That's exactly right.
CAMEROTA: Thank you very much --
AVLON: Thanks.
CAMEROTA: -- John Avlon.
BERMAN: A new report accuses the Department of Homeland Security of incompetence for the zero tolerance policy at the borders. How leaders are responding this morning -- that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:51:48] CAMEROTA: A white police officer in Chicago accused of shooting a black teenager took the stand in his own defense explaining what he says he saw the moment that he pulled the trigger. The prosecutors argue that dash cam video does not support the officer's story.
CNN's Ryan Young is live in Chicago with the latest -- Ryan.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Alisyn.
This was a rare move to see a police officer talk during his own murder defense trial. And, in fact, he talked about his own perspective when Laquan McDonald was walking toward him. Jason Van Dyke stressed that he saw the teen raise the knife toward him and other officers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON VAN DYKE, POLICE OFFICER, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER OF LAQUAN MCDONALD: I shot.
YOUNG (voice-over): In a dramatic moment Tuesday, Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer on trial for fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, took the witness stand in his own defense --
VAN DYKE: His face had no expression. His eyes were just bugging out of his head. He had just these huge, white eyes just staring right through me.
YOUNG: -- at times, becoming visibly emotional as he alleged the 17- year-old ignored repeated commands to drop his knife before the officer opened fire.
VAN DYKE: He waved the knife from his lower right side upwards across his body towards my left shoulder.
YOUNG: The shooting was captured on a grainy police dash cam video with no audio. Van Dyke told investigators he fired in self-defense after McDonald lunged at him with the knife.
The video shows Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times. None of the other officers at the scene fired their weapons.
It wasn't until 13 months after the incident that a judge ordered the city to release the video.
PROTESTERS: Sixteen shots and a cover-up!
YOUNG: The video ignited protests, a Justice Department civil rights investigation, criticism of the city's mayor, and eventually, the ouster of the police superintendent.
On Tuesday, prosecutors sparred with Van Dyke over discrepancies in his testimony that the teenager raised his knife toward officers, which could not be seen in the dash cam video.
JODY GLEASON, PROSECUTOR: Have you ever seen Laquan McDonald do that on one of those videos?
VAN DYKE: The video doesn't show my perspective.
YOUNG: Outside the courtroom, McDonald's family dismissed the officer's explanation.
MARTIN HUNTER, LAQUAN MCDONALD'S GREAT UNCLE: I was hoping for compassion. The reality is that I believe not one word that Jason Van Dyke said today. Not one word.
YOUNG: Van Dyke faces two counts of first-degree murder, 16 counts of aggravated battery, and one count of official misconduct. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YOUNG: Later this morning, the defense is expected to rest, John.
One thing to keep in mind here. The family of Laquan McDonald has called for peace. They want to make sure that no matter what happens in this trial that the city remains peaceful, and they're expecting everyone to hopefully obey their wishes -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Ryan Young for us in Chicago. Ryan, thank you so much for staying on this story for us. The Department of Homeland Security ripped in a new review of the Trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy as we have learned more about the conditions inside a tent city currently housing some 1,600 migrant children.
[07:55:00] CNN's Dianne Gallagher -- she's been all over this story for us. She's in El Paso Texas with the very latest -- Dianne.
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, John, this is an internal report and in reading it, it is scathing and much of the claims in this report match those of activists and attorneys that they were making all summer long.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER (voice-over): The chaos, the crying, the court cases -- images now associated with the Trump administration's controversial zero tolerance policy.
TRUMP: We believe in strong borders and no crime. It's very simple.
GALLAGHER: Now, an internal report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general says that DHS was, quote, "not fully prepared to implement the administration's zero tolerance policy or to deal with some of its after-effects."
Democrats, already critical, seized on the findings.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: Secretary Nielsen needs to accept responsibility and resign. This is a sorry chapter in American history and she was one of the engineers.
GALLAGHER: The review describes a rollout marred by poor communication and bad information.
DURBIN: This was not only a shameful, disgraceful policy, it was a clear case of incompetence.
GALLAGHER: During the summer, officials attempted to downplay images of children in cage-like enclosures at Customs and Border Protection processing centers, saying the law only allowed them to be there for 72 hours.
But the report found at least 860 kids in Texas were held beyond the legal limit, including one child detained for 25 days, more than eight times what the law allows.
MARK WEBER, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS FOR HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: We know where they are, we know their age, we know their sex. Again, I want to emphasize we know where their parents are.
GALLAGHER: On June 23rd, DHS announced it had a central database that contained information on separated children and parents. But according to the report, the OIG found no evidence that such a database exists. In a statement, a DHS spokesperson pushed back against the report's conclusions, saying, in part, "The findings of the OIG report illustrate the difficulties in enforcing immigration laws that are broken and poorly written."
Immigration advocates like Linda Rivas point out that it's not just zero tolerance that's creating problems in places like El Paso.
LINDA RIVAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND MANAGING ATTORNEY, LAS AMERICAS: It's in our own back yard. It's just a glaring reminder of the failures of this administration.
GALLAGHER: From above, you can see the expansion of the tent city shelter which is supposed to be temporary, compared to the videos seen and shot there three months ago. The population of unaccompanied teens has quadrupled to roughly 1,600.
LEE GELERNT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS PROJECT, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: So we may just be at the beginning of trying to figure out how did this happen in the United States?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER: And it wasn't just this report. The OAG's office actually released several. They reviewed nine different CBP facilities here at El Paso and other cities in Texas and found most of them to be in compliance in the way that they kept those unaccompanied minors.
There was one report that dealt with an ICE processing center in California, Alisyn. They found nooses in the hold area and subpar medical conditions. But, ICE said that it agreed with the recommendations from the inspector general's office and would work to remedy that.
CAMEROTA: Dianne, again, we are so happy that you are staying on this story for all of us. We cannot forget about the incompetence and worse that happened there at the border. Thank you very much.
All right, we are following a lot of developing stories this morning, so let's get to it.
BERMAN: All right. Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October third, 8:00 in the east.
The president is mocking an alleged victim of sexual assault. A woman, who just days ago, he called compelling and credible.
Christine Blasey Ford says that Brett Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, tried to take her clothes off, and that Ford -- that Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth some 36 years ago.
Overnight, the president told an adoring crowd, at a rally, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I had one beer. Well, you think it was -- nope, it was one beer. Oh, good.
How did you get home? I don't remember. How'd you get there? I don't remember.
Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know, I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Remember when President Trump called Ford credible after her testimony? Remember when Kellyanne Conway said that Ford should not be insulted? What's happened?
And we are also learning that the FBI could deliver its report on Kavanaugh as early as today, but the FBI is interviewing more people so it's unclear what impact that will have on the timing.
BERMAN: Joining us now is Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut who is opposed to the Kavanaugh nomination. He is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator, if we can get your reaction from what the president said overnight at this political rally, mocking Christine Blasey Ford.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT), MEMBER, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: This vile mocking attack on a credible, immensely powerfully, eloquent survivor of sexual assault is a mark of disrespect and disregard not only for Dr. Blasey Ford but for the entire survivor community. It shows dramatically why --
