Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
What Will Trump Presidency Bring in 2019?; Will Trump Be Able to Push His Agenda Forward?; Winners, Losers of the Year. Aired 6- 6:30a ET
Aired January 01, 2019 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robert Mueller has announced charges against 13 Russian individuals.
[06:05:18] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Robert Mueller is highly conflicted. We did nothing. There's no collusion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Cohen arrangement particularly important. We are building to the home stretch.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: He may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time.
TRUMP: I'm placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminum.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: You just don't do things like that off- the-cuff. Trade wars, it makes no sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not overly concerned about the market volatility.
TRUMP: The United States is paying far too much. Other countries are not paying enough.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It is a real threat to the Democratic liberal post-war world order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes it feels like we punch our friends in the nose and hold our hand out to people working strongly against us.
TRUMP: He's a very talented man. He loves his people. He loves his country.
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Any violation would be something that America would take very seriously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kim Jong-un is successfully playing President Trump.
JOHN BOLTON, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: The president thinks another summit is likely to be productive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That is the music of the new year. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is a special New Year's edition of NEW DAY. Happy new year.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy new year.
BERMAN: So good to share all of this year with you, which is all of six hours long.
CAMEROTA: I can't wait to hear about all of your resolutions. Would you like to share any?
BERMAN: Zero. I don't make resolutions. I don't believe in resolutions.
CAMEROTA: Wow.
BERMAN: Because I would break them immediately.
CAMEROTA: All right. Well, I'm just going to be a much, much better partner to you.
BERMAN: That's your resolution?
CAMEROTA: I'm going to get here on time. I'm not going to be eating during commercial breaks loudly. It bothers you. I'm just going to turn over a new leaf.
BERMAN: I don't mind the loudness. I mind when you're still eating when the segment starts.
CAMEROTA: I'm not going to do that, either.
BERMAN: That was a problem in 2018, not 2019.
I'm John Berman alongside Alisyn Camerota, who is not eating during the breaks anymore. So 2019 is already shaping up to be a great year and a busy and possibly contentious year in politics. For the first time, President Trump will face a divided Congress. How will he handle it, and will he be able to get his agenda passed?
CAMEROTA: With the new year comes, of course, resolutions. So if you're still trying to think of one, you might want to start with your savings account. Christine Romans will be here to help all of us get our finances in order.
BERMAN: And from "Saturday Night Live" to Stephen Colbert, comics did not hold back spoofing the Trump administration. We have the highlights. That and much more on this special edition of NEW DAY. But first, let's get a check of your headlines at the news desk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Good morning and happy new year. I'm Ryan Nobles.
A rain-soaked crowd helped ring in 2019 in Times Square.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: This year's celebration in New York was dedicated to freedom of the press, and CNN's Alisyn Camerota joined the honored journalists onstage.
Nashville's music note dropped at the stroke of midnight, setting off fireworks. Country star Keith Urban headlined the big show downtown. And Seattle celebrated the first moments of 2019 with a fireworks display launched from the newly-renovated Space Needle.
Elsewhere, nine people injured in Tokyo after a car-ramming attack. Eight victims were hit while celebrating the new year shortly after midnight local time. The driver then got out of the car and attacked the ninth victim. A teenage student is in critical condition. The suspect, a 21-year-old man, has been arrested. Police tell CNN he initially confessed to a terrorist attack but later claimed he did it to retaliate against executions.
Counterterrorism police are investigating a New Year's Eve stabbing at a train station in Manchester, England. A suspect is in custody. Authorities say he stabbed a man and a woman in their 50s and a British transport police officer at the Manchester Victoria rail station. None of the injuries are considered life-threatening.
Democrats have a strategy to reopen the federal government just hours after they assume control of the House on Thursday. They plan to vote on a package of six bipartisan Senate spending bills and a stopgap measure to reopen the Department of Homeland Security at its current funding levels, but it appears to be a nonstarter in the Republican- controlled House [SIC]. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he will not move forward on any legislation until President Trump is on board.
The president plans to give the Pentagon about four months to pull 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria. This according to "The New York Times." Mr. Trump offered that timeline to the head of U.S. forces in the region. The White House is not commenting on the report. National security adviser John Bolton will travel to Israel and Turkey this month to discuss the U.S. troop withdrawal plan.
[06:10:05] A Massachusetts judge says that Kevin Spacey must appear at his arraignment next Monday. Court documents obtained by CNN show the Oscar winner wanted to waive his right to be physically present and intends to plead not guilty to indecent assault and battery. Spacey is accused of groping a busboy at a Nantucket bar and restaurant in 2016.
I'm Ryan Nobles. We'll have more headlines coming up in just 30 minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: This past year, the headlines coming from the Trump administration could make your head spin; and chances are they did make your head spin. And this year we will see even more, perhaps, upheaval, from the Russia investigation to White House shakeups.
Let's look into our crystal ball. We're joined by Nia-Malika Henderson, David Gregory and John Avlon.
David, to you. Your crystal ball is dated, what, 1967 roughly?
DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes.
BERMAN: So -- so what does the 1967 version of David Gregory --
GREGORY: I think -- I think there could be a Tet Offensive this year.
Let me tell you -- there's two words for you in this new year. One -- they are haute couture. OK? Those are my two words.
You know, you go down a list. What's amazing is the -- a Democratic Congress this year, all the investigation of President Trump that is going to be public and in the open, because Congress is doing it, however the Mueller investigation winds up.
And then the big factor is also the economy, whether it's more muted in the United States, as it's been around the world. There is a downturn that's under way. People are feeling it in their investments, in their long-term investments in the markets, which at the end of last year were in such a bad way. I think there's going to be so much anxiety within the White House that bubbles up with those three factors alone.
CAMEROTA: Nia, what are you imagining for 2019?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: In terms of Trump, I think he's going to start laying the foundation for his reelection. He's going to ramp that up immediately, you would imagine, in this new year. He's going to consolidate the RNC with his own campaign, apparently. So it's going to be sort of a new structure for running for reelection.
And he's got to do that against all the headwinds that you're talking about. The House Democrats looking into everything about him and his family, as well. He's got to figure out a way to keep a grip on not only the grassroots folks, who probably will stay with him no matter what, but certainly Republican officials. We've seen them pretty much stay aligned with him. So I think that is going to be his plan going into 2019.
GREGORY: It's interesting. He's got the ability to both try to define what his reelection campaign looks like but also try to define his Democratic opposition.
HENDERSON: Yes, exactly.
GREGORY: Anybody who pokes their head up, he's going to --
HENDERSON: He's going to, like, lop it off.
GREGORY: -- take them off. Yes. Have a nickname for them and go after them.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, but I mean, look, yes. You know, investigations, oversight, the economy, but a lot of Trump's powers politically have stemmed from being buoyed by a good economy. It's the one area where he's been above water consistently.
It's -- you know, remember, lowest approval rating in his first two years of any president with the lowest unemployment, in aggregate, for the two years. So if that starts falling away, the laws of gravity are going to start to apply. And just because you come up with a clever nickname and play offense, yes, he may not lose his base; but a lot of his ability to corral and cow his critics is going to be diminished by that.
BERMAN: One of the things that I like to say during the holiday season at the Christmas parties was, "What is the thing that worries the president most about the Russia investigation?" The economy. Because -- because if the economy starts to turn, if it really starts to sink in, then he might lose that, you know, unwavering Republican support. The Republicans who haven't bothered to pay attention or get outraged yet, they might start.
AVLON: That's right.
GREGORY: Most of the rank-and-file Republicans who came home to him in 2016, much to the surprise of everyone who gave him such high approval ratings throughout all of his outlandish statements and behavior so far in the presidency, people have said, you know, -- this is anecdotal, but I talk to people who support Trump. And they'll say, "Yes, we don't pay attention to X, Y and Z, but how it your portfolio doing?" Well, at a certain point, the answer to that was, you know, loosening up regulations and freeing up business spending and so forth has not been enough, even if the economy is growing; that there's been so much on trade and other things that have hurt the economy overall.
CAMEROTA: The president, of course, had promised, when he was elected, to drain the swamp in Washington. 2018 was pretty swampy. There were lots of people who had to exit amid some humidity.
HENDERSON: Yes. That's -- that's right. We might see more of that. I mean, lots of turnover in 2018 with the chief of staff position, obviously Sessions on being ousted by this president. So we'll see. I mean, this is a president who likes to keep people guessing. He
likes to sort of have a continuous round of not only chaos, but "The Apprentice," as well, and people rise and fall continuously in this White House. So we'll see who is in and who is out going forward in 2018, but it's a constant theme with this White House.
AVLON: Yes, but the president's desire to sort of stage manage his own reality show, which we all have to live with and constantly have cliff hangers and changing characters, the constant theme that's out of his control is the ethics investigations and tone coming from the top.
[06:15:08] And this is where, again, his ability to sort of distract and deflect gets limited not just by the economy, maybe all of a sudden creating conditions where people say, "Well, that's not the thing I can just look to and ignore everything that's happening inside the Oval Office," but that overall tone and tenor. Because even his strongest defenders at this point can't say that he's drained the swamp. He's simply restocked it.
So can he get anything done? And I ask that question -- and let me rewind to 2017, because the moment where I think President Trump looked the most comfortable in the atmosphere in Washington were the meetings with Chuck and Nancy. He was in the Oval Office talking about immigration, talking about the budget. He walks in, and he strikes a deal with the Democratic leaders. Looks natural doing it, sounds natural doing it, speaks the language that they spoke; and that lasted about eight and a half minutes.
HENDERSON: It did and we saw kind of part two of that in the Oval Office with -- it was sort of the Nancy Pelosi smackdown of Donald Trump, when they were talking about the government shutdown and immigration and the border and all of that.
So that seems to be where things are headed, with this emboldened Nancy Pelosi, who will likely be speaker. And the idea that there's going to be some kumbaya moment with all of those folks, it just seems unlikely.
BERMAN: I've always thought, though, there was a path. There was a path at one point for the president to work with Democrats, and that would be what would truly upend everything.
HENDERSON: Yes. But then he starts to hear from his base, right? That he wants to hold onto.
CAMEROTA: And they win. They trump everything, his base.
GREGORY: Well, they win, because I think they -- he's been persuaded, and his own gut is, that you -- you don't have to build a coalition that crosses barriers. You just have to solidify his base of support, and that's how he wins in 2020.
BERMAN: John Avlon, Nia-Malika Henderson. David Gregory, the answer is yes, we would like to see your etchings. Thanks so much -- thanks so much for being with us. CAMEROTA: Happy new year.
GREGORY: Yes. Clearly, I can take it.
CAMEROTA: Going into 2019, it helps to remember what even happened in 2018.
BERMAN: I don't remember.
CAMEROTA: I can barely remember it. OK, it's all a blur. But Chris Cillizza, it is not a blur. It is crystal-clear to Chris Cillizza. He has winners and losers of the year next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[06:21:01] CAMEROTA: 2018 brought us another year of unbelievable political headlines, so joining us now with the best and the worst of them, CNN Politics reporter and editor-at-large, Chris Cillizza.
Chris, you've been burning the midnight oil. I don't know how you could ever figure out what the best and worst headlines are -- were.
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Well, I always feel like it's -- 2018 for me was ten pounds of feathers in a two-and-a-half-pound bag.
CAMEROTA: Wow. You've really cleaned that up.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
BERMAN: That's why he's the best.
CAMEROTA: I know.
BERMAN: He's -- he's on my best list.
CILLIZZA: In 2019 there will be no use of expletives by me.
CAMEROTA: Is that right? By you.
BERMAN: Who is your No. 1 winner?
CILLIZZA: OK. I would say your No. 1 winner -- and this, I think, is pretty clear to most people -- is Nancy Pelosi. And I say that, because Pelosi was the person who -- and I've written her off many times, multiple times --
CAMEROTA: When will you learn?
CILLIZZA: So after this election, I -- there was some talk after the 2018 election, well, Pelosi, she might not be the speaker. And again, I just -- I have bet against Nancy Pelosi enough times. She emerges, remarkably, again, as almost certainly to be the speaker
of the House. A -- you know, more than a decade after she first won it, not as history making in that she's now the first female speaker again, but still, I think a really remarkable run.
CAMEROTA: OK. Your next winner is also from upside-down world, which is Beto O'Rourke.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
CAMEROTA: He lost, I'll just remind you.
CILLIZZA: Good -- great point.
CAMEROTA: But he's your winner.
CILLIZZA: Appreciate you. So here's what's interesting about politics. You can win by losing at times.
O'Rourke loses to Ted Cruz by two points. It's the best showing for a Democrat in Texas in a very long time. But if politics is judged by winning and losing, he lost.
But look at 2020 polling in Iowa -- excuse, in New Hampshire, nationally. Beto O'Rourke is in the top three. He's right up there with Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, which is remarkable, given that two years ago, if we were doing this at the start of 2017, let's say, Beto O'Rourke is just some guy who's a member of Congress from Texas. No one had ever heard of him.
So he now has a chance to make a yes-or-no decision on president that will have a real impact. My guess is he probably runs, because the timing works for him.
CAMEROTA: How could you not when you have that amount of money and that momentum and that buzz?
CILLIZZA: The timing, that and, Alisyn, the other really important point to that is momentum matters hugely in politics. And there is not another obvious race for him to run.
BERMAN: Your last winner is an entity which is often beaten up by the likes of Alisyn Camerota.
CILLIZZA: Well --
BERMAN: Polling.
CILLIZZA: Look, I am a pretty big defender of polling, generally speaking, the broad swath of it. I think you can often take a poll and say, "Wow, this really missed the mark," and they do at times.
But I would say in 2016, polling took a giant hit, I would say a somewhat undeserved hit in that most polling had Hillary Clinton winning. She did win --
BERMAN: The popular vote.
CILLIZZA: -- the popular vote. Now, she lost the Electoral College. I'm not disputing any of that.
But I thought polling in the 2018 election was right on. I actually think pollsters are getting better at polling sort of Trump's America. I don't think we're there yet, and obviously, 2020 is a much bigger test.
CAMEROTA: OK. So we have to do lightning round for losers.
CILLIZZA: Lightning-round losers.
CAMEROTA: Lightning round. You say No. 1, President Trump?
CILLIZZA: Yes. He divided government now. I don't even think he realizes yet how bad that's going to be for him. But that -- that meeting he had in the Oval Office with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer at the end of 2018, welcome to his next two years.
BERMAN: The second loser is one, actually, the president will take great joy in. You say Elizabeth Warren.
CILLIZZA: Yes, I just think Elizabeth Warren -- and I'll throw Biden in there, too, I think both of them had not great 2018s. Biden solely because I don't know that the Democratic Party wants to elect an older white man who's been in office for 50 years as its standard bearer.
Warren because she tried in October to put this whole Native American ancestry thing behind her. She made it much, much worse and, I think, lost a ton of momentum. Doesn't mean she can get it back, obviously, but not a great year.
CAMEROTA: Here is something that we are fans of, and I'm sorry to see it in your losers category. Facts.
[06:25:04] CILLIZZA: Yes. This is a depressing one. You know, your producers asked me losers, and "facts" came right up.
And unfortunately, I looked at -- the president of the United States in the six -- his first 649 days in office, said 6,500 things that aren't true. He's averaging 9.9 mistruths, distortions and lies a day. That's according to "The Washington Post" fact checker.
One day in September on the campaign trail, he said 125 false or misleading things.
He -- does he pay a long-term price for this? We'll find out in the 2020 election.
In the near term, though, I am stunned at the amount of people who just kind of roll their eyes and say, "Well, that's Trump being Trump." The devaluing of facts and capital "T" truth, I think, is a huge problem and got worse in 2018.
I always tell people, facts are not a partisan position. I feel like we should just repeat that over and over and over again.
CAMEROTA: Chris Cillizza, thank you.
CILLIZZA: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: You're our winner.
CILLIZZA: Hey. I'm going to add that to my list.
CAMEROTA: Do that.
CILLIZZA: Thank you.
BERMAN: Who's our loser?
CAMEROTA: I'm going to save --
CILLIZZA: Also me.
CAMEROTA: -- that for the next block.
BERMAN: Also our loser. All right.
So when Democrats take control of the House this year, President Trump will face a divided Congress for the first time. Will Washington be able to get anything done?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Welcome back to this special New Year's Day edition of NEW DAY. We have a lot to get to in this half hour, including what President Trump is up against in 2019. For the first time, he will face a divided Congress. So will that lead to more Washington gridlock?
BERMAN: Also want to get your savings account in check? We have tips on how you can save big.
CAMEROTA: Also, comics making hay of some of the biggest political headlines of 2018. So we have all of those highlights straight ahead for you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
