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President Trump To Barnstorm 11 Cities In Six Days; Trump Proposes Ending Birthright Citizenship; President Trump Visits Site of Synagogue Massacre; Officials Detect Ping From Lion Air Black Boxes. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 31, 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] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: It is the president's third visit to Florida with one more rally scheduled in Pensacola over the weekend.
Expect to hear plenty tonight about immigration, the president's key focus as he drives Republican voters to the polls next Tuesday, or hopes to. He's certain to talk about the caravan and the more than 5,000 troops he's sending to the border to stop migrants who are still several weeks away.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president is also claiming he will sign an executive order to end automatic citizenship for all children of non-citizens born on U.S. soil. There are huge constitutional questions about ending birthright citizenship with the stroke of a pen.
But, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway argues some constitutional scholars believe such an order might be approved by the courts, and she denied the president's move was an effort to whip up his base ahead of the midterms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, because if only the base had voted for him he wouldn't be president. So I think -- I understand that that's like the Sesame Grover word of the day -- that, and fear, and some other stuff. But, no, it's not whipping the base.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Among those who disagree with the president's suggestion, House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told a radio show it would never pass constitutional muster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, you obviously cannot do that. You cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. We didn't like it when Obama tried changing immigration laws via executive action and obviously as conservatives, you know, we believe in the Constitution. You know, as a conservative, I'm a believer in following the plain text of the Constitution and I think, in this case, the 14th Amendment's pretty clear and that would involve a very, very lengthy constitutional process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Kellyanne Conway's own husband, George, also scoffed at the idea in an op-ed co-authored with President Obama's solicitor general Neal Katyal.
They write, "Sometimes the Constitution's text is plain as day. Such a move would be unconstitutional and would certainly be challenged. And the challengers would undoubtedly win."
All right, joining us this morning, "Washington Examiner" senior congressional correspondent David Drucker, a CNN political analyst.
Good morning, David. So nice to see you this morning.
BRIGGS: Good morning, sir.
ROMANS: It is 2018 in the United States of America and in the past week two people were murdered in Kentucky for the color of their skin, 11 people were murdered simply for being Jewish. And the President of the United States is embarking on closing arguments about a caravan, about revoking birthright citizen, and that the news is fake.
Your thoughts here?
DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, the president is always the same. Nothing ever steers him off course.
And so, whether or not we have the events that we've experienced over the past week like we have, and we can lump in the mail bomber that targeted prominent Democrats and members of the media, the president never deviates.
He sees deviation as weakness, he sees vulnerability and empathy as weakness, and it got him elected president. And politicians generally tend to think that whatever worked for them works and shouldn't change until they lose, and then they will possibly reassess.
But this president, in particular, is very focused on what he views as strength and not backing down, which he sees ultimately as a capitulation and unhelpful to his political cause, which is always the highest priority for him. So it's not at all surprising that this is how he would function in the midst of all of these different events.
BRIGGS: David, I'm old enough to remember days when Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called the presidential executive order on immigration "wrong, irresponsible. A tremendous presidential overreach that does great damage to our nation."
Of course, my 12-year-old is also old enough to remember that. It was four years ago.
Paul Ryan has to remind us that conservatives believe in the Constitution.
Thankfully, "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board said, "Mr. Trump has driven into his own constitutional ditch here."
Is there any constitutional argument on this or is it simply a closing argument?
DRUCKER: Well, let's separate some of these things out.
I mean, there are some legal scholars that take issue with the idea that the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship.
So on your question of is there a debate at all, yes. I mean, there is some debate that exists. I think that the lion's share of constitutional scholars believe that the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship.
I think the larger issue -- even if I'm wrong on that score, I think the larger issue is can the President of the United States, through the stroke of a pen, alter constitutional interpretation and not even go through the Congress for legislation? And I think that the president's going to hard time -- have a hard time making that case.
But I think what we're going to find is that Republicans who have been screaming about the Constitution during eight years of Obama are going to be much less interested in that sort of argument under President Trump.
And we've seen these sorts of arguments go back and forth where members of a political party seem to rely on arguments that work for them when they're out of power and have no problem with power grabs as long as they're the one doing the grabbing.
[05:35:11] So it's clearly, I think, something that the president is interested in pushing in the closing days of the campaign. Something that I don't think he needs because a) it's not going to help him win the Senate, which is already aloft for Republicans, and it's going to be unhelpful in Republicans' efforts to hold onto the House, which doesn't look so good.
But I think it's something that the president believes in. We know that as malleable as he is ideologically --
ROMANS: Yes.
DRUCKER: -- the two things he believes in are constricting immigration.
ROMANS: Yes.
DRUCKER: Constricting this idea of citizenship --
BRIGGS: Yes. DRUCKER: and, you know, fighting back on trade.
BRIGGS: But it's a good point about possibly harming him in those affluent, highly-educated districts in the House that are really key battleground districts for Republicans. It could hurt there.
ROMANS: You know, David, it's so interesting because the president really does set the agenda, doesn't he? I mean, he starts talking about birthright citizenship again and then you've got Republicans talking about how it's -- you know, we shouldn't go there. You've got --
Are the Democrats breaking through? I mean, the voice we heard yesterday on this, I guess most forcefully, was Joe Biden. So let's watch -- let's watch him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we're in the battle for the soul of America. Propping up immigrants and African-Americans is the source of all our problems? The reason you don't have a job or unions don't have as many members is because of those immigrants or those whatever?
Ripping -- literally, ripping children and infants from the arms of their mothers at the border and playing on the hopelessness and despair of a lot of people in the neighborhoods I come from and a lot of you come from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I wonder, does Trump's closing arguments -- anti-immigrant agenda -- does it energize his base? Well, what does it do for Democrats?
DRUCKER: Well, I don't think Democrats could be any more energized than they already are, so I think we have to look at how this sort of influences individual districts where you've got some swing voters and true Independents that are in play here.
And that's why I said that even if this is part of the president's closing message to try and lock up some tight races and energize his base, I think that when you look at the two different maps we're dealing with -- a very pro-Trump red map in the Senate, Kavanaugh did the trick. And I think, now, the Republicans are in a clear position to hold the Senate.
I don't think he needs this message to do that if we're going to look at this as a purely political exercise.
And I think it's unhelpful in the House where Republicans are trying as hard as they can to hang on in a lot of suburban district that voted for Hillary Clinton even though they typically vote Republican for Congress. And then a lot of the ex-urban and a couple of rural districts that are flirting with going Democrat. The Democratic playing field, at this point -- the map for Democrats in the House is so big and there are so many districts where it's unfavorable, it's not helpful. It's hard for Republicans to hold on given the politics of those districts that this sort of messaging reminds voters that may like some Trump -- some Trump policies but don't like him, why they don't like him.
And as we've seen some of the numbers on the House side of the ledger tilt back toward the Democrats over the past week to 10 days, it's coincided with the president becoming, yet again, the center of attention. His tweets going back to his typical Trumpy tweets.
When the Republicans were at their best in this midterm fight, Trump was in the background, Kavanaugh was at the forefront, and he tweeted very little.
BRIGGS: Sucking up a lot of oxygen here -- all right.
David Drucker, it should be interesting --
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
BRIGGS: -- six more days. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right.
President Trump stirring up anger and caused some controversy with his visit to the site of Saturday's synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh. The president and the first lady with a somber visit there, visiting the Tree of Life synagogue, lighting candles, and laying stones and white flowers in a memorial for the 11 people who were killed.
Outside the temple, protesters yelled "Go back. We don't want you here."
More now from CNN's Pamela Brown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Dave and Christine.
President Trump ignored calls to visit grief-stricken Pittsburgh in the wake of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, moving forward with that visit on Tuesday.
He visited the Tree of Life synagogue with the first lady Melania Trump. He was also joined by prominent Jewish members in his administration, including his daughter Ivanka Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin.
He went to light a candle in the synagogue and then he laid stones from the White House, as well as white roses outside of that synagogue. And then he went to the hospital to visit those who were wounded in the shooting, as well as some of the medical staff. And during all of this, there were protesters nearby -- protesters carrying signs asking the president to denounce white nationalism. Some of these protesters said they blame the president -- his rhetoric for the recent string of violence. They believe his rhetoric has only created an environment for those predisposed to violence to act out.
[05:40:01] The White House has pushed back on that notion, saying that basically, the media is to blame for that, and saying the president wanted to go to Pittsburgh to share in the grief with the rest of the nation in mourning following the shooting there.
There have been many questions about why he chose to go now when those on the ground there -- local officials, including the mayor, have asked him wait. Well, White House aides say a big reason is because of his campaigning schedule. Tuesday was the best day to do it and they were concerned about the optics if he went to Pittsburgh on the same day as one of his upcoming rallies.
Back to you, Dave and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Pamela. Thank you.
Three more funerals for the city of Pittsburgh and the nation to watch today.
Longtime University of Pittsburgh researcher Joyce Fienberg will be laid to rest at 10:00 a.m.
At 11:30, services begin for Irving Younger, a former business owner and youth basketball coach.
And the funeral for 88-year-old Melvin Wax. He was leading the Shabbat services when the gunman opened fire. The service will be held this afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
BRIGGS: New this morning, the Department of Justice accusing pipe- bombing suspect Cesar Sayoc of conducting a quote "domestic terrorist attack that he'd been planning since July."
In a new letter asking the judge to deny bail, prosecutors say Sayoc's laptop held a list of addresses that matched labels on the explosive packages. And they say his Internet search history included CNN building, George Soros and family, and Hillary Clinton and family.
ROMANS: Republican Congressman Steve King, of Iowa, losing support from his own party and two big corporate donors. The Land O'Lakes company and pet food giant Purina announcing they will no longer provide financial support to King after their political donations to the 8-term congressman triggered an online backlash.
King's hardline views on race, ethnicity, and immigration, along with his recent retweet of a well-known neo-Nazi also drawing criticism from the chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee, Congressman Steve Stivers, saying this. "Congressman Steve King's recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior."
BRIGGS: A new face this morning on the legal team representing longtime Trump political advisor Roger Stone. First Amendment and constitutional law expert Bruce Rogow joins Stone's roster of attorneys just as special counsel Robert Mueller tightens his focus on Stone.
One of Rogow's first steps, encouraging Stone to take a polygraph on questions Mueller may ask. Stone tells CNN he's passed two polygraphs although we have no way to independently confirm that.
Mueller's team has subpoenaed nearly a dozen of Stone's associates for interviews or grand jury testimony. Among them, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was interviewed by Mueller's team last Friday for at least the third time.
"The Washington Post" reports Bannon was asked about comments Stone made privately in 2016 about WikiLeaks. That was just before WikiLeaks released e-mails prosecutors say were hacked by Russian operatives.
ROMANS: All right. It could be a big break for searchers trying to find a passenger jet that mysteriously crashed Monday. A live report Indonesia.
BRIGGS: And a notorious mobster meets his end in a West Virginia prison. What happened to Boston's Whitey Bulger?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:47:28] BRIGGS: Searchers have detected a ping from the black boxes belonging to that Indonesian flight that crashed into the Java Sea earlier this week just minutes after take-off. A major development could help recovery crews find the plane's missing fuselage.
Ivan Watson live for us at Jakarta's main port with the latest. Ivan, good morning. What are we learning?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave, that's right.
Authorities here -- the head of the National Transit Safety Board says he's 70 percent sure that the ping -- the sonar noise that they're hearing, broadcasting at 3.7 kilohertz, is from the data flight record of the downed Lion Air flight 610 that went down on Monday morning with 189 people on board shortly after take-off from here in Jakarta.
They also say they believe they've seen the main fuselage of the plane.
In the meanwhile, the salvage operation has been continuing and in the last hour we've seen, for the first time, authorities bringing relatives of some of the victims to this location here where some of the debris from the plane -- where some of the debris from the plane and some of the belongings of the victims and passengers is laid out on tarps behind me.
And there was a very dramatic and emotional scene moments ago when a 52-year-old man located -- identified a sneaker belonging to his 24- year-old son. And if you can just imagine the emotion of the moment, he immediately started weeping.
We spoke to him afterwards and he said that he is determined to find the body of his son, which he believes is still located somewhere amid the wreckage of the plane, the main body of which the authorities say they believe is at a depth of about 100 feet below the Java Sea. They've got divers, submersibles working on trying to locate that in connection with the ping from the underwater beacon with the data flight recorder.
In the meantime, authorities say that the technical director of the low-budget airline, Lion Air, has been fired and is now under investigation in connection with this crash.
And we've looked at some flight data that was published by Flightradar24 which monitors flights all around the world, which shows in the final moments before the plane disappeared from radar its altitude was wildly erratic, at one point plunging more than 700 feet in just 20 seconds, suggesting that something was terribly wrong before it crashed into the Java Sea.
[05:50:10] Dave --
BRIGGS: Hopefully, some answers ahead there.
Ivan Watson live for us in Indonesia this morning. Thank you.
A violent end to the life of one of America's most notorious criminals. Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger killed Tuesday at a West Virginia prison. The FBI investigating his killing which came one day after he was transferred to the facility.
The 89-year-old Bulger eluded federal authorities for more than 16 years until his arrest in 2011. He was serving two life sentences for a host of crimes that included 11 murders.
ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this Halloween morning.
Global stocks mostly higher in the final day of a rough month.
In Asia, the Nikkei up two percent. Shanghai and Hang Seng also up more than one percent each.
In Europe, markets also opened higher. The Dax, the FTSE, and the CAC all with decent rebounds here.
U.S. futures looking higher pre-opening, as well. Wall Street rebounded yesterday. The Dow closed up -- look at that -- 400 points and wild swings rocked this market. The Dow -- the average had been down five of the prior six days.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.6 percent. So did the Nasdaq. Still, though, on track for the worst month since November 2008.
General Electric plunged nine percent, its worst day since March 2009. That sell-off came after G.E. slashed it storied dividend to just one penny a share.
The director of Alphabet's experimental research and development department Google X has resigned. Richard DeVaul resigned following last week's "New York Times" report claiming he had sexually harassed a job application.
According to "The New York Times" report, DeVaul propositioned a woman who was applying to the work at the company. Google did not offer her the job and she reported the incident to its H.R. department two years later.
CNN was not immediately able to reach DeVaul for comment late on Tuesday.
Facebook's quarterly earnings disappointed investors amid what has been a challenging year for the social networking site. Total revenue jumped by a third to $13.73 billion. That's for the three months ending in September. A big number that was slightly short of analysts' expectations.
Overall, it's been a challenging one -- year for Facebook. Last month, the site was hit with the biggest security breach in its history. Nearly 30 million users' phone numbers and e-mail addresses accessed by hackers last week.
Facebook said it took down 82 pages -- groups and accounts that were run from Iran targeting people in the U.S. and the U.K. ahead of the midterm elections.
Facebook's having to spend money on its business model so that people trust, trust, trust the stuff that's on there.
BRIGGS: An enormous task ahead.
Up next, Jimmy Fallon scares up some laughs as "Count Trumpula." You don't want to miss that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:57:13] ROMANS: Kanye West is over politics.
Just weeks after his bizarre visit with the president in the White House, the rapper and designer says he feels exploited, tweeting, "My eyes are now wide open and now realize I've been used to spread messages I don't believe in. I am distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative." This week West was linked to a campaign to encourage black voters to exit the Democratic Party for the GOP, something called "Blexit." But, West tweeted he never wanted any association with the so-called Blexit campaign.
He also wrote he supports common-sense gun laws and people seeking asylum to escape violence and war.
BRIGGS: All right.
Boston is gearing up for a victory parade this morning. The parade for the World Series champion Red Sox starts at 11:00 a.m. eastern time outside Fenway Park. Officials expect hundreds of thousands of fans to turn out, with mostly sunny weather in the forecast.
ROMANS: All right.
Jimmy Fallon honoring the holiday with a Halloween-themed bite at President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, NBC HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": My vampire -- my vampire costume has been a huge success. All day long people have been yelling at me, "you suck."
(APPLAUSE)
FALLON: Thank you.
Let's face it, folks, Dracula's a terrific person. He's a great guy.
I love his style. He wears a cape, which is basically a giant tie for your back. Plus, Transylvania is one of our greatest allies.
And I was able to save the taxpayers money by reusing the cape from my costume last year when I was the count from "SESAME STREET." There were one million, two million, three million people at my inauguration -- ah, ah, ah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Ah, ah, ah. I like that. He gave out Big Macs -- if you were wondering -- instead of candy, to the kids at the door.
All right, thanks for joining us, everybody. Happy Halloween. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a complete stunt. The 14th Amendment is clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to acknowledge there is a problem at our southern border.
BIDEN: It's our leaders who need to dial down the temperature. America is so much better than this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were no Republican leaders who wanted to come with this toxic president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's there to express the condolences of the nation and the focus should be on the lives they lived and the indelible marks that they left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October 31st, 6:00 here in New York.
Happy Halloween, everyone. I'm Dana Bash.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jake Tapper.
CAMEROTA: I love your costume.
BERMAN: Yes, your costume's great.
CAMEROTA: It's uncanny.
BERMAN: How'd we do? Here we are.
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. You look so much like Jake Tapper.
BERMAN: Yes.
CAMEROTA: I mean, how did you impersonate him so well?
BERMAN: Well, I thought it would have an ironic look as much as I can. If I feel like everything is filled with irony and also --
