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Will Trump Announce Emergency Declaration as He Visits Border; Donald Trump Jr Comment Compares Immigrants to Zoo Animals; Coast Guard Criticized for Advice to Unpaid Employees; Protests, Rallies over Federal Employees Not Getting Paid; Mueller Team Questions Trump Pollster Tony Fabrizio; Fallout Continues from "Surviving R. Kelly" Series. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 10, 2019 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Mary Katharine, if they can't even agree on what the problem is, how are they supposed to find a solution?

MARY KATHARINE HAMM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's part of what's frustrating about this, is there's a lot of middle ground here actually and there's a lot of agreement on the idea of border security supported by a lot of the American people. The hang-up is this physical wall which many Democrats have supported in the past. It seems like it should be easy to come to a compromise but this is the Congress of the United States of America and therefore it is not which is why people are frustrated. When it comes to the national emergency thing, I do want to say, it is bad precedent even if it -- particularly because it's just saving their butts from a political problem to declare a national emergency on things where that should not be done. They should be able to come to an agreement. It was bad precedent when Obama did it on things like DACA. It's bad precedent now and will just lead to worse disagreements in the future.

BALDWIN: What if he doesn't declare this national emergency, if you look at the Democrats, Eliza, instead of stonewalling, wouldn't it be in their best interest to take advantage of some of the sweet things the Republicans are offering, DACA, pathway to citizenship, why wouldn't they do that?

ELIZA COLLINS, POLITICS REPORTER, USA TODAY: I just got out of a huddle with Vice President Mike Pence, he came over to Capitol Hill and talked to press over here and he actually shot down the idea of giving an offer for DACA in order to get border security. He said that the president believes that that needs to work its way through the courts and then after that comes through the courts, they believe it'll be ruled unconstitutional. At that point they're willing to make a deal but that takes something off the table so Democrats, that's a big issue for Democrats. They have not said they're willing to do that but they've kind of like shown an openness for it and Mike Pence just took that off the table this afternoon.

BALDWIN: As I was just talking to Gloria, if he goes the national emergency route, the Republicans can win. If it gets caught up in court then the Democrats can win because they can say we didn't give him money for the wall. Last question, speaking of the wall, M.K., Don Jr, he wrote on

Instagram after his father's Oval Office speech a couple days ago, quote, "You know why you can enjoy a day at the zoo? Because walls work."

Seriously? Is he comparing -- is he comparing folks on the other side of the border to zoo animals?

HAMM: It's as if they are congenitally required to talk about things in the worst possible way. It's just -- there are plenty of ways you can make an argument for physical barriers. I don't always agree with all of them. None of them have to include a discussion of zoo animals.

BALDWIN: None of them have to include a discussion of zoo animals.

Eliza, Mary Katharine, thank you so much very much.

Right now, as we've been mentioning, President Trump taking his fight for this wall to the U.S./Mexico border. We'll see how far he will go. Will he declare a national emergency?

And the Coast Guard is getting criticized for the tips it gave employees dealing with the shutdown, from odd jobs to garage sales. This advice did more harm than good. We'll take you live to the Coast Guard station in Miami, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:13] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brianna Keilar, live from Washington.

And come tomorrow, federal workers are about to miss their first paycheck over the shutdown. But the Coast Guard has a few tips for workers that need money, have a garage sale, sell unwanted items through newspaper or online, offer to watch children, walk pets or house sit, turn your hobby into income, tutor students, or give sports lessons, become a mystery shopper is one.

Rosa Flores joining me from U.S. Coast Guard station in Miami Beach.

That is a list that has since been taken down, Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brianna, there's so much fear and also frustration, especially because of that tip sheet because, think about it, when you think of the brave men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard, these men and women do dangerous, drug and migrant interdictions in the high seas, dramatic search and rescues. And then that tip sheet says have a garage sale or walk a dog. What are these men and women supposed to do on the high seas? Anchor the Coast Guard cutter and have a garage sale? Is makes no sense. There's a lot of families that are very frustrated because of that.

The U.S. Coast Guard is not making Coast Guard members available to speak to the media but some spouses are being outspoken. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SPOUSE OF COAST GUARD MEMBER: And even if the shutdown doesn't have a resolution inside any time soon, if they could please task something that would at least fund the Coast Guard. If one of the people in charge could at least recognize, hey, this is a part of our military that's not getting paid, and they depend on these checks, I would be very appreciative of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: A lot of families what they're having to do is calling their credit card companies, they're mortgage companies, they're creditors and letting them know of their situation. The U.S. Coast Guard even providing a letter that they can provide to their creditors explaining that this is out of their control and also thanking creditors for their compassion.

Here in Miami, this sector, 106 civil employees are furloughed out of 230 and, Brianna, I'm told here by leadership that all of those essential missions that I mentioned, drug interdictions, migrant interdictions in the high seas, those are still happening, but they do say and they do tell me that the longer that this shutdown takes, the more difficult it's going to be for the U.S. Coast Guard to be mission ready -- Brianna?

KEILAR: And President Trump visited a Coast Guard station in Florida back on Thanksgiving Gay. Any of the family members there have a message for the commander-in-chief?

[14:40:00] FLORES: You know, a lot of these families are just so appreciative to the U.S. Coast Guard and to serve this country, most of them don't want to get into the politics, Brianna. Some of the families that I've talked to have said, you know what, we just like serving our country and they don't want to get into the politics. All they ask for is for Congress and the president to do their jobs and to fund the U.S. Coast Guard -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Thank you so much, Rosa Flores.

There are protests erupting around the nation because federal workers soon are not going to be paid.

I want to bring in CNN's Scott McLean.

You are in Utah, Scott. Tell us what's happening there.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna. We're a long way from Washington, D.C. But there are a lot of folks here in Ogden, Utah, that are talking about the politics of this shutdown. There's a rally here that just wrapped up with maybe 100 or so who are members of the union of IRS workers here. There are some 5,000-plus federal workers in this town alone. It's only about 90,000 people, so it makes up a pretty good chunk of the workforce. A lot of them work in this building right here. It's one of the big federal office buildings. Some of them are working without pay. Many others are furloughed. When I walked around talking to people in this crowd, they are

frustrated because they're worried the fact that they're not getting their next paycheck on Friday about how they're going to pay the bills, how they'll pay their mortgage and car payments. We were at the food bank earlier today, and they say there's about 50 people per day showing up who are furloughed federal workers who are showing up to get groceries because they simply can't afford to buy them themselves. These are people who typically donate to the food bank and now, all of a sudden, they're there themselves.

There's also a wider impact being felt in town. This is the main street here in Ogden. It's a historic area with a lot of bars, restaurants and businesses, things like that. A lot of those owners tell us that they are taking a cut because they're not having these thousands of federal workers in every day to have lunch or to shop or anything like that so they're feeling the consequences as well.

When you ask people here who they blame, at this rally in particular, there's been a lot of people saying this is on the president, they need to figure this out. Keep the wall separate from this shutdown. There are reasonable solutions to border security. They may include a wall, don't use us as pawns.

Even people who voted for President Trump, many of them say, look, I am all for the wall.. You should absolutely build it, just don't use me. What surprised me most is this is Utah. This is a heavily Republican area. And I've actually met people who live up to what President Trump said, that people are willing to sacrifice for his wall. Some people say, look, I'm going to be OK. Things will be tight. I think that the president should hold out for the wall.

I had another person, a waitress, who's indirectly affected, her tips are down by two-thirds. She said the same thing. I might be suffering, but, look, I want to see this thing get resolved.

And so the bottom line is, whatever your politics, everyone seems to be united in thinking that this needs to end soon one way or another.

KEILAR: Just depends maybe who they're blaming there.

Scott McLean, in Utah, thank you so much.

We do have more on breaking news. CNN is learning that Robert Mueller's team has questioned a Trump campaign pollster. What this means for the larger investigation?

And fallout continues from that docuseries, "Surviving R. Kelly." Millions of you watched it. And now celebrities are working to distance themselves. And R. Kelly himself, still defiant.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:02] KEILAR: Back to our breaking news now. CNN has exclusively learned that Robert Mueller's team has questioned this man here, trump campaign pollster, Tony Fabrizio. And CNN journalists observed Fabrizio leaving the special counsel's office in February of last year and have since confirmed he was, indeed, meeting with Mueller's team.

This is news that comes as we are learning that Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, shared internal campaign data with a suspected Russian operative intended for two Ukrainian oligarchs.

We have CNN's Shimon Prokupecz here with us now.

What do we know about this meeting with Mueller, Shimon?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE REPORTER: It's certainly interesting and intriguing in light of what we learned this week from the attorneys for Paul Manafort in releasing information that really wasn't supposed to be public about the fact that Paul Manafort was sharing internal polling data with this Russian, this Russian operative, this intelligence official. So obviously, this meeting between Tony Fabrizio, who was a pollster who worked on the campaign and also is a longtime associate of Paul Manafort, he did work for him in the Ukraine, what we do know for certain, what we're told by a source that Mueller -- the Mueller team did ask him questions about his work in Ukraine. We don't know what other questions were asked of him but it's certainly intriguing and interesting that given what we've learned this week that this guy, Tony Fabrizio, would go before the special counsel and then Mueller would ask him all sorts of questions.

KEILAR: Certainly is.

Shimon, thank you for that update. We appreciate it.

Coming up, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin facing lawmakers today over why the Trump administration eased sanctions on allies of Vladimir Putin.

And the "National Enquirer" is calling it the largest investigation in its history. This is a scoop on the end of Jeff Bezos's 25-year marriage. But why was "The Enquirer" looking in to the head of Amazon in the first place?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[14:50:01] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The '40s and '50s were definitely an America finding itself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Americans felt very second-rate when comparing ourselves to Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sportswear became the defining style of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bikini was the biggest thing since the atom bomb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since the '60s, '70s, our style and fashion represents freedom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look at hippy culture, it's really oppositional to the Vietnam War.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Disco was really important in terms of people being free to express themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the '80s, it was a lot of excess in every way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had our Calvin Kleins and our Ralph Laurens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Public advertising was scandals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His underwear ad stopped traffic in Times Square.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the '90s and 2000s, things have become less formal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Supermodels brought fashion into every household.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now what's embraced is being yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Style gives you a voice. It's freedom.

ANNOUNCER: "AMERICAN STYLE" premieres Sunday at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:24] KEILAR: Another big star is speaking out against singer, R. Kelly, amid explosive claims in which he's accused of being a sexual predator who abused multiple young women. Lady Gaga has apologized for working with the star and she's pulled all of her music that features R. Kelly from streaming platforms. Kelly and Gaga made a duet that was called, "Do What You Want with My Body." And they even performed it here on "Saturday Night Live" together. But in a statement, Lady Gaga posted on Twitter, she explains this, in part, "What I am hearing about the allegations against R. Kelly is absolutely horrifying and indefensible. As a victim of sexual assault myself, I made both the song and video in a dark time in my life. I intend to remove this song off of iTunes and other streaming platforms and will not be working with him again."

"Rolling Stone" reports that at least two Dallas radio stations have banned his music from their air waves.

Meanwhile, R. Kelly was spotted and videotaped last night inside a Chicago nightclub with a message for a crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING) R. KELLY, SINGER: There's something that I must confess you all (EXPLETIVE DELETED). This is my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) birthday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: While Kelly was in that club, there were several protesters rallying outside his Chicago studios chanting, "Mute R. Kelly."

Joining me to discuss, we have Lola Ogunnaike, the anchor for "People TV."

Lola, as you watch all of this, do you think this is the beginning of the end for R. Kelly?

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, ANCHOR, PEOPLE TV: Brianna, you and I were talking off-camera, I was here 17 years ago on CNN talking about a story that I'd written for the cover of "Vibe" magazine. It was a 6,000-word expose. I do finally feel like justice will prevail like this time of around. It's taken a number of years, well over a decade but justice will finally prevail.

KEILAR: So this is something -- it's been on your radar for the better part of two decades. You have artists saying, I am not going to be associated with this guy. There were things that were known. What has changed?

OGUNNAIKE: I think the world at large has changed. The "Me Too" movement has been very instrumental in helping people redefine the way they look at relationships between men and women, men and men, inappropriate relationships in general. I think people are willing to have a conversation that they weren't willing to have as early as a year ago. The "Me Too" movement has been extremely instrumental in helping us have a very important conversation that had been ignored and swept under the rug for the better part of two decades.

(CROSSTALK)

OGUNNAIKE: I want to talk about Lady Gaga. Interestingly enough, Lady Gaga's apology went a long way, but she had a glaring omission in that apology. There was a video that was supposed to accompany this song and it was a video that was shot by famed fashion photographer, Terry Richardson. She had also been accused for more than a decade of being a sexual predator. He was accused of preying upon young girls. "Vogue" banned him from shooting in his magazine. She worked with not one, but two sexual predators on this project. It was problematic then. She knew it. I find it interesting that now she's coming forward with her apology.

KEILAR: What did you think of R. Kelly on just how defiant he has been, that he shows up at this club and he is singing his heart out with some support there, obviously?

OGUNNAIKE: R. Kelly is doing what he's always done. R. Kelly in the past has always been able to get away with this behavior because he was always able to produce a hit and sing away his problems. He's at the tail end of his career. People had been muting R. Kelly for years. He's no longer at the height of his career and I do think people are now saying, I don't care what music he creates, I don't care if he's a musical genius, he has a serious problem with young women and it has to stop.

KEILAR: Lola, thank you so much. Lola Ogunnaike, we appreciate you being with us.

OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.

[15:00:01] KEILAR: I'm Brianna Keilar, live in Washington.

And tomorrow, 800,000 federal workers won't get paid. Many are protesting today.