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New Day
Officials Probe Mass Shooting Cause; Concern over Acting Attorney General; Steelers Dominate Panthers; Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired November 09, 2018 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00] JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Seventeen veterans a day take their own life. Now, in most instances, it doesn't involve gunning down 12 innocent people. But understand also, this guy spent time in Afghanistan at the bloodiest point in the war, in 2010, at the height of the surge, and worked in Helmand Province. So he saw some things. And he was also a machine gunner. So the ability to take a Glock 21, which is a handgun, and was able to murder that amount of people in that short amount of time, it is absolutely a mental health issue. You pointed out the gun control piece. California checks all the boxes. They have universal background checks. A ten-day waiting period. No state reciprocity with other states. Assault weapons ban. High-capacity mag ban. If there's not a national consensus on this, somebody can buy something in another state that's illegal in California and bring it there.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's not the case here. The case here is that they had a red flag law and they didn't use it.
GAGLIANO: Yes. Well, again, I go back to Phil's point there, it's discernment and judgement. We can't blame the mental health professionals that went there and the guy said all the right things. And then all of a sudden snapped a number of years later. He left the military in 2013. Five years later, something triggered him, something caused him to snap. I don't know if you can blame the people that are trying to make those assessments on the stop. Very difficult.
CAMEROTA: Look, I'm not blaming law enforcement. I think they do God's work. I'm not blaming them. I'm saying, why do we have a red flag law if we can't use it?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Phil, Phil Mudd, James Gagliano, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.
CAMEROTA: Thank you, guys.
So, there was a stabbing attack in Australia. Police are treating this as an act of terror. How they stopped the man who led to chaos on the streets of Melbourne, next.
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[06:35:48] CAMEROTA: A man wielding a knife stabbed three people, killing one of them, in Melbourne, Australia. People are treating this attack as an act of terrorism. When police encountered the suspect, he lunged at officers with the knife. He was shot and later died in the hospital. Officials say the suspect was known to police but they have not released his identity.
BERMAN: A federal judge ordering a halt to construction of the controversial Keystone Pipeline. This is a setback for the Trump administration. The judge says that a government analysis fell short on several points, including the accumulative effects of greenhouse gases emissions. The environmentalists are praising this ruling.
CAMEROTA: The FDA is preparing to strictly limit sales of flavor e- cigarettes over concerns about a surge in teenage vaping. The FDA plans to ban vaping products from convenience stores across the country, restricting them to tobacco and vape shops only. Age verifications requirements will also be imposed for online sales.
BERMAN: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hospitalized this morning after she fell and fractured three ribs. The 85-year-old justice was admitted Thursday. She fell in her office the day before. Ginsburg, a Bill Clinton appointee, and one of the four more liberal justices has says she hopes to stay on the high court past 2020.
CAMEROTA: We wish her a speedy recovery.
BERMAN: Absolutely.
CAMEROTA: CNN has learned that Robert Mueller's team has started to write its final report. With an outspoken opponent of the Mueller probe now heading up the Justice Department, are they racing against the clock? We look at that, next.
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[06:41:10] BERMAN: Sources tell CNN that Robert Mueller's team has started writing its final report in the Russia investigation. It comes after President Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions and appointed Matthew Whitaker as interim attorney general to oversee the special counsel's investigation, but could the acting attorney general be in trouble?
Joining us now is CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip and CNN legal analyst Carrie Cordero.
Carrie, I want to start with you because there's a legal argument being made by many people. But among them is former Justice Department employee Neal Katyal and the husband of Kellyanne Conway, George Conway, who is among the most frequent critics of the current Trump administration. And they write in an op-ed that the appointment of Matt Whitaker as the acting attorney general is unconstitutional. Let me read you just part of that. Mr. Trump's installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the U.S. after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional, it's illegal and it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does or tries to do in that position is invalid.
Their basic, legal point is that any principle serving in the government, that's a person who reports directly to the president, a cabinet officer, needs Senate confirmation. Whitaker doesn't have it. Does their legal argument hold water?
CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It does. It's a strong argument. I mean it's a constitutional argument. And what Katyal and Conway, both of whom come from different ends of the political spectrum. So they are teaming up because they really view the firing of the attorney general -- or the forced resignation and the appointment of Matt Whitaker as a threat on the rule of law and a disruption of constitutional order -- and in order of succession in the Justice Department.
Their argument is that the appointments clause requires that the individual acting in the capacity of the attorney general be someone who has been confirmed by the Senate, because that's what the appointment clause requires. And that's the normal way that a succession would work in the Justice Department. It is unheard of for a staff member, this person was the chief of staff to the attorney general, to assume the responsibilities of the attorney general. It should have been the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, or, at the very least, somebody like an assistant attorney general who has already been through the Senate confirmation process.
CAMEROTA: Abby, is it true that the White House was caught off guard by all of the hew (ph) and cry over putting a critic of the Robert Mueller probe in charge of the Robert Mueller probe? They didn't see all of these problems with appointing Matt Whitaker?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean we are hearing from some sources inside the White House that they are a little taken aback by the backlash in the media, which I would argue is a slightly different thing from being surprised by some of the arguments that are being made against this appointment. They are taken aback by the forcefulness of which some people are questioning the legality of this and also bringing up some of these past statements that Matt Whitaker has made about the special counsel investigation.
Now, the reason that shouldn't really come as a surprise is because this administration has not been known to do a lot of deep diving into people that they put into powerful positions. It's a common theme. It's been going on since day one. And so it's no surprise that they didn't really investigate Matt Whitaker's background so much. But, at the same time, the reason Matt Whitaker is in this position at the Justice Department is literally because he caught the attention of the president and people in the white House because of what he was saying about Mueller. So that shouldn't --
CAMEROTA: On TV.
PHILLIP: On television. So that shouldn't come as a surprise to folks at the White House.
But, of course, going from that point at which he gets a job at the Justice Department, to being the attacking attorney general, there was obviously a disconnect in whether or not people really thought through the legality of this and how it would work. And now they're facing real backlash. And it becomes very clear also that as they're thinking about a permanent replacement, Matt Whitaker certainly, certainly cannot be on the list and would be, I think, very difficult to be confirmed.
[06:45:06] BERMAN: Well, he can't legally be on the list with the justification they're using to put him in there.
PHILLIP: Yes.
BERMAN: I ask -- and not even facetiously -- do they have Google? There's an incredible investigative tool called Google where you can put someone's name in.
CAMEROTA: I'm sorry, slow down, what is it, how do you spell it?
BERMAN: It's g-o-o-g-l.
CAMEROTA: G-o-o-g --
BERMAN: You can put their name in. And Matt Whitaker --
CORDERO: John and Alisyn -- John and Alisyn, here's the thing, though, the attorney general -- it's really unbelievable if the White House is saying that they didn't preview that people would be outraged by the appointment of Matt Whitaker. Attorney General Sessions was removed from his position of doing his job. He allowed the special counsel's investigation to go through and he properly recused himself from overseeing that investigation. If he was removed from his position or forced to resign for any other reason besides the oversight of the Russia investigation, Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, would be the natural person who logically, according to Justice Department regulations and the succession act, would be put in place. The only reason to appoint somebody like Matt Whitaker to that position is to put a political hack in place in order to cabin the investigation.
BERMAN: And my point on Google is the only reason Matt Whitaker exists in a political sense, in a national sense, is because of his opposition to the Mueller investigation. It was like the top five things that he was known for, in addition to playing in the Rose Bowl apparently when he was younger. You know, if you do Google it --
CAMEROTA: You really have Googled this.
BERMAN: Because you can do it. It's really efficient. The White House should try it.
One last question, Abby, on the Mueller investigation because we have our reporting, CNN's reporting, is that Robert Mueller is drafting that final report there. Is the White House -- what's the level of White House engagement now that the election's over with the Mueller investigation?
PHILLIP: Well, they're re-engaged. President Trump launched this literally the day after the midterms. He sent out his first tweet about Mueller in some time right after the midterms happened because this -- it's on again and I think they know that.
But the -- part of the big question here is, how are they reorganizing around what's likely to come down the pike from Mueller, and there is -- there are still some gaps. They're still waiting on their White House counsel to come online. They haven't really staffed up at high levels to deal with what is likely to be an onslaught of media from Mueller and also from a House of Representatives controlled by the Democrats. So I think there's a long way to go and they're probably not as prepared as they ought to be.
BERMAN: Do you have any closing words on George Conway?
CAMEROTA: I have a lot, but we're wrapped. But we will -- luckily we have two and a half more hours of show to just talk about how George Conway is at it again and what that means. But not now. That's a tease.
BERMAN: All right, Carrie Cordero, Abby Phillip, thanks very much.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers did something that had never been done in an NFL game before last night. What -- I have no idea what it is.
CAMEROTA: I don't either.
BERMAN: What do you think it was?
CAMEROTA: That's really a good tease.
BERMAN: Wonbata (ph). What do you think it was?
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[06:52:14] CAMEROTA: OK, Ben Roethlisberger, nailed it, and the Pittsburgh Steelers put on a dominant performance (INAUDIBLE) --
BERMAN: Who put a nickel in you? Like, honest to God, what was in your coffee this morning?
CAMEROTA: It's not coffee. In Thursday night football.
LINDSAY CZARNIAK, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's the beauty of it, Berman.
CAMEROTA: Lindsay Czarniak has more in the "Bleacher Report."
Hi.
CZARNIAK: Hey, guys.
I love this matchup because, you know why, this was the match-up that folks couldn't wait to see because on paper Steelers/Panthers, really based on how these teams are playing, could be a Super Bowl match-up. But the Steelers, they took it to another level last night. There was something about the number five in this game. Alisyn, you'll appreciate this. Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns to five different receivers going for a fifth straight win. And they started right out of the gate here. Roethlisberger hitting Juju Smith-Schuster. That 75 yard touchdown on the team's very first play from scrimmage. The teams combined for 21 points in just 23 seconds. That's an NFL record. And that dominant Steelers defense did its part. Pittsburgh's Vince Williams returning a Cam Newton interception for a touchdown. Pittsburgh winning its fifth straight game 52-21. Can't get enough of it.
And you love it when that team does well. I love it because their fan base travels so well, but when they're home, it's incredible. It's amazing.
CAMEROTA: It's also beautiful for Pittsburgh to have a win right now.
BERMAN: Yes.
CZARNIAK: Amen. Yes.
CAMEROTA: Thank you.
BERMAN: All right, thanks, Lindsay. Thank you for putting up with Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CZARNIAK: You're welcome.
BERMAN: The comics having a field day with the interim attorney general and ailing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Here are your late night laughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": With Sessions gone, Trump has a new man overseeing Robert Mueller, acting attorney general and baby who grew up and is not happy about it.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": This is the current acting attorney general of the United States who is now in charge of our Justice Department and the investigation into the guy who just promoted him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a unique design that's going to help lots of people that have mobility issues get in and use their hot tub in a safe manner.
KIMMEL: Well, I hope that's a hot tub time machine to take us back to 2012. We've got a Jacuzzi salesman attorney general. He should jacuz himself from the Mueller probe.
SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is recovering in the hospital after she fell in her office and fractured three ribs. Wow, if you had told me a Supreme Court justice fell over and broke some ribs, I would have bet on the new guy.
JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT: I liked beer.
COLBERT: The 85-year-old justice fell in her office at the court and broke three ribs. What was she doing walking around an office? She's far too precious. Forget a black robe, she should be dressed in bubble wrap and carried down the hallway like a faberge egg.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Jacuz me.
CAMEROTA: He should jacuz himself. That is so good.
[06:55:02] BERMAN: I'm going to use that for the next two hours.
CAMEROTA: Please do.
BERMAN: If we make it that far.
CAMEROTA: Please do.
All right, deja vu of the 2000 election in Florida all over again. A recount battle looms over the sunshine state. We are not in a hot tub time machine. This is really happening.
BERMAN: Jacuz you.
CAMEROTA: The latest vote totals, next.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every Floridian should be concerned there may be a rampant frau.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor Scott is part of a larger Republican Party that has cried wolf so many times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trying to prevent votes from being counted. We can't let that happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're a voter in Florida, you're kind of scratching your head and saying why it keeps happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At any moment I could have been shot. It's just a miracle that I got out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The grieving process is hard and long. It just breaks my hard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember seeing a girl getting trampled. I could tell in her eyes that she wanted me to help her and I couldn't move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because of Ron, many lives were saved. He was all about making the ultimate sacrifice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to your NEW DAY.
[06:59:52] Here we go again, the state that brought us the hanging chad of the 2000 presidential election is raising the bar, or lowering it, when it comes to election chaos. Three big races in Florida appear headed to a recount this morning, including the Senate and the governor's contest.
