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Ivanka Trump Used Personal E-Mail Account For Government Business; White House Floats New Rules For Press Conferences; Trump Considers Visiting Troops In Iraq or Afghanistan; Federal Air Marshals Accused Of More Than 200 Gun Mishaps. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired November 20, 2018 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:31:50] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A nonpartisan watchdog group reveals White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump used her personal e- mail account for government business. Remember when Hillary Clinton did that?
Joining us now, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. He is the author of the new book, "Trump: The Blue-Collar President."
Anthony, great to have you here in studio with us.
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, AUTHOR, "TRUMP: THE BLUE-COLLAR PRESIDENT": And, Alisyn read it cover-to-cover. I just want everybody to know.
CAMEROTA: I can speak it chapter and verse. I actually committed it all to memory. But only we're -- sadly, we're going to start with something else.
SCARAMUCCI: It's right up there with the Bible, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Very similar.
SCARAMUCCI: OK.
CAMEROTA: OK. Ivanka Trump used personal email --
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- for government business.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Oh my goodness.
SCARAMUCCI: So, I mean, look, when I read that, I mean, my first reaction was OK, so it's sort of a bipartisan issue, right? Both sides are using personal e-mail for different things.
And so you say to yourself why are they doing that? And so, I don't know the answer but I think that these watchdogs and people should figure out why there's a proclivity on both sides to do that.
CAMEROTA: Yes. That's an awfully --
SCARAMUCCI: And by the way, I heard -- I heard -- I heard what Mark said about it being --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: -- hypocritical and I think it will be a great campaign talking point for Democrats to bring up the fact that she did do it and I understand the whole thing.
CAMEROTA: Do you think it's hypocritical?
SCARAMUCCI: Well certainly, I think it's hypocritical.
I think even Ivanka, if she was interviewed about it, she'd have to say that it was a mistake. You can't -- you can't do that in that -- in that position.
But here's what I do know -- and I was only in that position for a very short period of time. There had to be a reason why she was doing that. The same -- the same thing I would say about Sec. Clinton.
CAMEROTA: That's awfully generous now, Anthony because you know that people chant "lock her up, lock her up" about Hillary Clinton.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes --
CAMEROTA: So now you are saying whoopsie daisy, it's just a mistake on both sides?
SCARAMUCCI: No -- no, no, no, no -- I'm not saying. I'm saying -- no, I think it's a serious matter. I'm not making light of it.
I'm just trying to say to you intellectually, Sec Clinton, a very smart person. Ivanka Trump Kushner, a very smart person. They both strategically did the same thing.
I don't think they did it without intention. I mean, did they just accidentally did it? So there has to be a reason for it.
We have to figure out -- we have to figure out why people are doing that and we have to figure out what the laws are around it --
CAMEROTA: You mean to tell me that after --
SCARAMUCCI: -- and to -- and to -- and to -- and to address it.
CAMEROTA: -- after 2016, Ivanka Trump shouldn't have known that was a problem?
SCARAMUCCI: She -- again, she probably knows that it's a problem but she decided to do it anyway -- and so, why?
CAMEROTA: OK. SCARAMUCCI: I think that's the -- that's the --
CAMEROTA: Well, here's what people said about the why when Hillary Clinton did it. The Clintons think they're above the law.
Do the Trumps think they're about the law?
SCARAMUCCI: No, I don't think -- well, I don't think Sec. Clinton thinks she's above the law and I don't think the Trumps think that they're above the law.
CAMEROTA: But you remember that was a battle cry.
SCARAMUCCI: I do, but you're trying to hold me accountable for something that I don't have to be held accountable for.
CAMEROTA: Of course not. Well, I'm not trying to hold you accountable, Anthony.
SCARAMUCCI: I think that these -- I think that these people are --
CAMEROTA: I'm trying to see why your hair is on fire with the irony of all of this.
SCARAMUCCI: Oh, no, no -- come on. My hair has been on fire for 10 years with all the irony.
I mean, the -- there's irony, hypocrisy, and I think this is one of the main reasons why the American people are so fed up with Washington. In general, the American people have a very low approval rating of Washington because they don't feel that these people are in touch with them.
You know, I was in London -- I was in London last week.
[07:35:00] CAMEROTA: Right, but the Trumps were supposed to change that. I mean --
SCARAMUCCI: They call it --
CAMEROTA: -- just to be clear, the Trump -- the Trump -- Donald Trump was --
SCARAMUCCI: I know all about that.
CAMEROTA: -- going to drain the swamp and then they do exactly --
SCARAMUCCI: And so -- and so --
CAMEROTA: -- the same thing that they fought against --
SCARAMUCCI: No, no.
CAMEROTA: -- in the campaign.
SCARAMUCCI: No. I would say in the case of the e-mail thing it's very similar. But I would say more broadly, the Trumps had actually dented that. They've actually --
CAMEROTA: I'm talking about the e-mails.
SCARAMUCCI: They've actually created -- they've actually created some level of disruption in Washington where I think the establishment probably doesn't realize it yet but they've now opened the door for non-establishment people to enter into it.
CAMEROTA: Oh, I think the establishment realizes there's been some disruption --
SCARAMUCCI: There's -- I don't know.
CAMEROTA: -- in Washington.
But I want to stick on -- I want to stick on the e-mail.
SCARAMUCCI: I don't know. They still act like they're in denial of that. I think they shouldn't be in denial of that.
CAMEROTA: Listen, the news of the day is the e-mail.
SCARAMUCCI: Let's stay on the e-mails.
CAMEROTA: Well, only because, Anthony, we devoted so much time to it during the campaign and Donald Trump made it one of his signature battle cries of his campaign.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: What's he going to say now that his daughter has done the same thing?
SCARAMUCCI: We'll have to see what he says. I mean, I --
CAMEROTA: What do you think he should say?
SCARAMUCCI: Well, I think she probably should make a statement. She should probably say if she did it assuming that the watchdog is correct. She should probably make a statement.
And then we should really understand why both sides are doing it and we should figure out a way to either get both sides to stop doing it or to explain to the American people why both sides feel compelled to do it.
CAMEROTA: Probably laziness.
SCARAMUCCI: You think that's it?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes, I think it's in Sec. -- I think in Sec. --
CAMEROTA: I think it's hard to set up a whole new e-mail account. And by the way, SCARAMUCCI: No, I think in Sec. Clinton's case, I think she was
worried about certain -- what do they call that? The Freedom Information Act situation. She wanted certain things not to be uncoverable.
CAMEROTA: Maybe Ivanka did also.
SCARAMUCCI: Maybe -- maybe.
CAMEROTA: So what --
SCARAMUCCI: And so, I think that tells you --
CAMEROTA: But as the communications director --
SCARAMUCCI: I think that tells you -- I think that tells you that there's either a problem in the law --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: -- or they need to figure out a way to allow these people to have some kind of anonymity to their communication --
CAMEROTA: So --
SCARAMUCCI: -- for purposes of affecting policy.
CAMEROTA: -- when President Trump shows up at his next political rally and the crowd chants "lock her up, lock her up," what should he say to the crowd?
SCARAMUCCI: What do you want me to tell the president? You want me to tell the president not to say that? The president --
CAMEROTA: I want you to tell him that --
SCARAMUCCI: OK, let me tell -- let me tell you something, OK. You're not going to be able to tell the president what to say and/or do. I think we've established that over the last four or five years.
CAMEROTA: Should he shut down those calls now, now that his family has been exposed as having done the same thing?
SCARAMUCCI: I never -- I never liked that stuff, OK?
I think the president has some great policies and he's got some great ideas. When we move the conversation into that level of coarseness and we move that conversation into the personal ad hominem attacks, I think it's a very big turnoff for a lot of people.
Let me -- let me say something, OK? Suburban white women -- what was the vote count? Did you look at the exit polls?
CAMEROTA: I know that they didn't vote for President Trump.
SCARAMUCCI: They didn't, and so my message to the president is one of the reasons why they're tuning out is the coarseness of the rhetoric. If you want to win those voters like you did in 2016, I would dial back the coarseness -- the rhetoric.
I would dial back sentences like "lock her up." I would dial back --
CAMEROTA: He should shut them down, in other words. (INAUDIBLE) he should shut that down.
SCARAMUCCI: I would dial -- I would dial -- yes. I would dial back the ad hominem attacks because I think what's happening is it's so aggressive and it's so hot.
And it may be fine for politicos and people that are inside Washington, but it's not fine for people in suburban Long Island. They tune the thing out. They're like OK, I don't like this anymore. They start to burn out, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: I hear you.
I want to ask you about something that you know well -- that you were, in fact, in charge of at the White House, and that is the press.
So, Jim Acosta, of CNN -- his press pass has been restored --
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- after it was revoked from the White House.
SCARAMUCCI: Right.
CAMEROTA: But a judge said that he didn't have due process --
SCARAMUCCI: Right.
CAMEROTA: -- and he restored it.
SCARAMUCCI: I could have told you that was going to happen.
CAMEROTA: So -- and you think that's the right decision, I assume?
SCARAMUCCI: A hundred percent.
CAMEROTA: OK.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes, of course.
CAMEROTA: The White House, though, decided to come out with new rules for the Press Corps. Here they are.
Reporters will get one question of the president or other official. In other words, no follow-up question.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: The president or the White House official can decide if a follow-up question is then allowed. A reporter must then yield the floor. If they are not allowed to ask a follow-up question --
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- they must surrender the microphone.
SCARAMUCCI: Right, right.
CAMEROTA: A press pass can be suspended or revoked for not following the rules.
Here's what's funny about this, Anthony. No one in the Press Corps has agreed to these new rules. These have been unilaterally imposed.
SCARAMUCCI: Right.
CAMEROTA: Do you think this is the right decision from the White House?
SCARAMUCCI: So, no, I don't -- I don't think it's the right decision from the White House, but I think there is something going on that needs to stop on both sides. And you're not going to agree with me on this.
But I think that there is a level of decorum, even if you don't like the president's bellicosity, you don't like his Twitter account, he is the President of the United States. You're inside his house, OK? If you're in the East Room of his home I think there has to be -- you know, as my grandmother would say and probably your grandmother, two wrongs do not make a right.
And so you have to handle yourself a certain way whether you like the president or dislike the president or you need to show your colleagues that you don't like that president. You've got to handle yourself in a certain way.
Let me just finish.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: As it relates to these rules, I think the White House is making a very big mistake because at the end of the day, the president had a masterful relationship with the press for 45 years.
[07:40:00] They should really look at the last 24 months and analyze why it's gone so badly and see if they can come up with a different strategy. The strategy of digging in and fighting and declaring war, I don't think it's a successful strategy. I think it's a five to seven percent headwind on the president's approval rating.
CAMEROTA: Is --
SCARAMUCCI: Now, he may disagree with me. He's president, I'm not.
But I'm just giving you my opinion based on what I know of the press, based on my observation of the political discourse in our society. And based on the fact that I know that the president's done a very good job on the economy, he's done a very good job on a lot of national security things, and why not focus the gun on that bird as opposed to this sort of stuff? I don't agree with it.
CAMEROTA: Is part of that that the president likes having a foil? The president likes having a fight with the press? The president likes being able to call us --
SCARAMUCCI: Maybe, maybe. I don't know.
CAMEROTA: -- nasty names?
SCARAMUCCI: Yes, I don't think so. I don't think so. You know why? I mean, I wasn't in the White House that long but I had a few conversations with the president about it where he was expressing some levels of frustration where --
I mean, I think there was a Harvard study out, Alisyn, and don't quote me because I don't know the numbers exactly but it was like 92 percent of the press is negative on the president or biased negatively. I don't remember the exact study. But it wasn't me, it was a Harvard study which looked pretty objective. I think that upsets the president.
I think the president wants a fair shake from the press. But going about it this way is not going to get him what he wants because at the end of the day, a war declaration means both sides are armed up and every little micro-aggression blows out of proportion, like the Jim Acosta situation.
CAMEROTA: I do want to ask you about the president visiting troops in war zones --
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- as well as what he has said about some of our war heroes.
You tweeted this out. "Retired Admiral Bill McRaven is not someone you pick a fight with. That goes for terrorists, cancer or politicians. Few in American public life are more competent or honorable."
SCARAMUCCI: Yes.
CAMEROTA: So why didn't --
SCARAMUCCI: He's a good -- he's a good man.
CAMEROTA: Why didn't President Trump --
SCARAMUCCI: He's a good man.
CAMEROTA: -- get that?
SCARAMUCCI: Well, because he's -- in President Trump's mind, he's now entered the political arena by being critical of his decision to remove John Brennan's security clearance. And so now, once you're coming into the political arena, you're like a duck coming across the shooting gallery for the president.
So he feels if you're shooting at him he's going to take a shot at you. And I understand that on one level, but I disagree with it on another level.
And I would say to the president, you love the military. You may not love every single person in the military but you love the military. So out of respect for all of the military and all of the veterans, let it go.
I would say the same thing to the president on the intelligence agencies. You may have an issue with Mr. Clapper or Mr. Comey or Mr. Brennan but let me tell you something. A lot of these intelligence agency people likely voted for you. You could have gotten a very high voter turnout from those people.
So in my mind, I would let those things go because you need those people. And those people really like you, Mr. President, and so I would let it go.
As it relates to Admiral McRaven, he's a great American. And, you know, I read his book. I gave his book to my children and I gave his book to my staff. And I would recommend that they show the president a YouTube clip of his valedictorian speech that he gave in Texas and invite the admiral for lunch and let's bury the hatchet.
CAMEROTA: Well --
SCARAMUCCI: That's what I would recommend.
CAMEROTA: -- why hasn't the president visited troops in combat zones?
SCARAMUCCI: OK, so that I don't know.
I have been to Afghanistan and Iraq. I was in Afghanistan in October 2015. In January 2011, I was in Iraq.
I know the logistics have to be a nightmare to get the president into that area and make sure that he's safe. And my guess is he will go. At some point, I think he'll go.
I think -- I think he would probably say, as he said to Chris Wallace, he's been overwhelmed -- not overwhelmed -- that's the wrong word. He's been very busy at times and his schedule has been filled up with a lot of things that he thinks he needs to do.
CAMEROTA: I understand. But look, Anthony, that one --
SCARAMUCCI: And I think -- I think he's got -- I think he's got --
CAMEROTA: -- is a little bit -- that one (INAUDIBLE) because --
SCARAMUCCI: I think he's --
CAMEROTA: -- because we know that he watches a lot of "FOX & FRIENDS." We know he has a lot of time --
SCARAMUCCI: I think he's --
CAMEROTA: - to tweet. There's a lot of executive time.
SCARAMUCCI: I think he's got a -- I think he's --
CAMEROTA: So why not carve out time for the troops?
SCARAMUCCI: I think -- I think he's got to go and I think he will go.
CAMEROTA: Should he have gone in the past two years?
SCARAMUCCI: Well listen, I mean, he said the other day that he missed the Veterans Day event and he should have been there. He probably may think that as well. I don't know.
I don't want to -- I don't want to speak on his behalf but I'm very confident that he will be in Afghanistan --
CAMEROTA: When?
SCARAMUCCI: -- visiting troops.
CAMEROTA: When?
SCARAMUCCI: I don't know, soon. That's my bet.
And let me -- let me tell you something.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: They love the guy. Now, maybe some of the generals don't love the guy, but the troops do love the guy.
CAMEROTA: I think that they --
SCARAMUCCI: I've spent a lot of time with these troops and these are very heroic people --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: -- and they love the president.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: And so when he gets there he'll get a hero's welcome from these guys.
CAMEROTA: And --
SCARAMUCCI: And he's done an amazing job of rebuilding the military.
CAMEROTA: Anthony Scaramucci --
SCARAMUCCI: Happy Thanksgiving. CAMEROTA: Happy Thanksgiving to you, as well.
SCARAMUCCI: OK, and thank you for reading every word of my book, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: I could tell that you've read it.
CAMEROTA: Verbatim, verbatim.
SCARAMUCCI: Yes, thank you.
CAMEROTA: But I just don't have time, I'm sorry, to be able to tell everybody more about it.
SCARAMUCCI: Could you leave it up on the screen for another 10 minutes, please?
CAMEROTA: There you go. "Trump: A Blue-Collar President," by Anthony Scaramucci. Thank you.
SCARAMUCCI: Good to be here.
CAMEROTA: Great to see you. Happy Thanksgiving -- John.
[07:45:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And, Anthony, I recommend you pick up a copy of "Amanda Wakes Up," by Alisyn Camerota, now available in paperback.
CAMEROTA: It's really a page-turner, Anthony.
BERMAN: All right, Happy Thanksgiving.
A newly-named Rhodes scholar making history. How he broke barriers to get the exclusive scholarship, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Three people are dead following a shooting at Chicago's Mercy Hospital. Authorities say the incident started outside the hospital when the gunman killed his former girlfriend, Dr. Tamara O'Neal.
Police say the gunman then shot at officers when they arrived, killing Officer Samuel Jimenez. Authorities say the shooter then ran into the hospital, killing pharmaceutical assistant Dayna Less as she walked out of an elevator.
The gunman also died but it's not clear if it was by police gunfire or a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
CAMEROTA: Japanese authorities have arrested one of the auto industry's most high-profile executives. An internal investigation has revealed Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn and board member Greg Kelly collaborated to underreport Ghosn's income by $44 million over a 5- year period. [07:50:09] The internal probe also found other acts of misconduct, including personal use of company assets.
Ghosn faces 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $89,000. Shouldn't it be more?
BERMAN: This year's class of American Rhodes scholars includes more women than ever and the program's first-ever DACA recipient.
Harvard University senior Jin Park applied last year but was deemed to be ineligible as an undocumented immigrant. Organizers say his persistence led to the rule change.
The Rhodes scholarship is a grant that allows a handful of accomplished post-graduate students to study at Oxford in England for a year.
CAMEROTA: Well, there you go. I mean, he personifies the whole DACA debate. Do we want to send that person, a Rhodes scholar recipient, back home because he's undocumented or all the time that this country has invested in his scholarship?
Do we want to be the recipients of that? I mean, that's what DACA is about. That's what Congress should be working on.
BERMAN: You know, it just goes to show what you can achieve, and good for him and congratulations to that young man.
CAMEROTA: All right. There's a disturbing new report involving some federal air marshals and guns. The CNN investigation that uncovered more than 200 mishaps with firearms. We'll tell you about that, next.
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CAMEROTA: TSA inspectors have documented more than 200 mishaps involving federal air marshals and their weapons between 2005 and 2017. The incidents cover everything from improper storage of guns to actions which allegedly jeopardize public safety.
CNN's Drew Griffin investigates.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These documents released to CNN through a Freedom of Information Act request reveal more than 200 cases of alleged misconduct by federal air marshals involving firearms. Men and women supposedly well-trained to use their weapons in one of the most dangerous environments misplacing, misfiring, even accidentally and not so accidentally shooting themselves.
Documents released to CNN include 19 accidental discharges, including an air marshal who caused a gunshot wound to his right foot. Another accidentally discharged his firearm in a hotel room, hitting a television in the adjoining room. More than 70 cases of air marshals losing weapons. Three times, air marshals have left their service weapons in an airplane's bathroom. They've left weapons in restrooms, bars, even a Bed Bath & Beyond in New Jersey.
In at least 13 cases, alcohol was involved.
[07:55:00] After releasing the documents, the Federal Air Marshal Service invited CNN to the air marshal training academy outside Atlantic City, New Jersey where new air marshals are taught how to handle their weapons.
And top instructor Daniel Kowal admitted the reports are embarrassing.
DANIEL KOWAL, SUPERVISORY AIR MARSHAL: We looked at what was the underlying cause. What happened, where -- if and when training failed, how and why did it fail? How do we plug that gap? How do we fix that?
Our goal as a training department is to strive for zero percent error.
GRIFFIN: It's hard to compare if air marshals are more or less dangerous with weapons than other law enforcement agencies because the number of air marshals is classified. But former air marshals tell CNN any mishap is unacceptable because their agents operate at 34,000 feet.
HENRY PRESTON, FORMER AIR MARSHAL TRAINING INSTRUCTOR: There's no back-up. You have got to take care of business and you've got to do it very quickly and efficiently.
GRIFFIN: Henry Preston, who spent 10 years in the service, says he observed a decline in weapons training and practice year-by-year. Inconsistencies, he said, that could contribute to mistakes.
PRESTON: They need additional training. There's no doubt -- no doubt about it.
GRIFFIN: Oddly, three of the apparent mishaps occurred during firearms training. In one case, an instructor allegedly threw training bullets, called simunitions, into an open flame. They exploded and one staff member was struck in the face by flying debris.
Problems are nothing new to the controversial Air Marshal Service. As CNN has previously reported, agents have continually complained about low morale, low staffing, grueling hours.
A 2012 sleep study obtained by CNN shows 75 percent of domestic air marshals were flying while sleep deficient. That study found that lack of sleep puts them at greater incidence of serious errors.
Critics question if air marshals are even necessary. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general slammed the Air Marshal Service and said its "contribution to aviation transportation security is questionable." Ohio State professor John Mueller, who studies the efficiencies of security measures, says the nearly $1 billion agency is almost worthless.
JOHN MUELLER, POLITICAL SCIENTIST, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, OHIO: Federal air marshals simply don't pass muster in terms of cost- benefit analysis. They deliver about five cents or maybe 10 cents of benefit for every dollar that's spent on them.
GRIFFIN: And now the revelation that at least 200 cases where agents made dangerous mistakes is yet another strike against the Federal Air Marshal program.
GRIFFIN (on camera): The TSA tells us air marshals are trained to the highest standards. The problem is many air marshals we've been talking with disagree with that.
And even the government's own Accountability Office reported that in 2016 the TSA was not doing enough recordkeeping to even tell that its air marshals were being trained properly. The TSA insists that's all fixed now.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Our thanks to Drew for that. Just what you want to hear when you're getting ready for Thanksgiving travel.
In the meantime, a federal judge has blocked a presidential executive order on asylum. What the ruling means for the president's immigration plans, that's now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: A federal judge temporarily barring the Trump administration from preventing some migrants from requesting asylum.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have to pass new immigration laws. We're not letting them in but they're trying to flood our country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's very little respect for the rule of law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all about the president throwing red meat out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She used her personal e-mail to e-mail White House aides, cabinet officials, others in the government about government business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The thing that's stunning is that there is incredible hypocrisy. She knew that this was a huge issue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton not only used a private e-mail, she used her own private e-mail server. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had an entire campaign about this and you're to tell me that Ivanka Trump had no idea that this was against the rules?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, November 20th, 8:00 in the east.
Overnight, a federal judge blocks the White House from denying asylum claims to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally. A U.S. district judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order and tells the Trump administration to again accept asylum claims from migrants no matter where or how they enter the country.
The judge writes, quote, "Whatever the scope of the president's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden."
This is another legal setback for the president's executive orders as he tries to reshape America's immigration system.
BERMAN: Also, isn't it ironic --
CAMEROTA: Do you think?
BERMAN: -- thank you, Alanis Morissette -- thank you, Ivanka Trump. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, used her personal e-mail to conduct some government business all the way until September of 2017.
And "The Washington Post" reports that her excuse was that she was not aware of some of the details of the rules which does beg the question, how could someone who was alive in 2016 and someone who likely --
