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New Day
Pompeo Meets with Saudi Crown Prince; Puerto Rico Governor Blasts White House Plan; Bud Driver Saves Wandering Toddler; Quest for the Super Bowl. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 14, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:32:50] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just met with Saudi Arabia's crown prince. Did he confront him about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi?
CNN's Ben Wedeman is live in Cairo.
Do we know the answer to that, Ben?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, we know that he did raise the subject about Jamal Khashoggi's murder, but it's not altogether clear that was really a confrontation on the subject. We'd heard in the days leading up to his meeting that he would be discussing the topic with the Saudi leaders, particularly Mohammad bin Salman, who the CIA believes probably was aware of the murder. But it does appear that they didn't spend too much time on the topic.
This is what the secretary told reporters after the meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the Trump administration's made clear our expectations that all of those involved in the murder of Khashoggi will be held accountable. So we spent time talking about human rights issues, the Khashoggi case in particular.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: But so far what we've heard from the Trump administration is that they consider the paramount issue when it comes to relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States is Saudi arms purchased from the U.S., as well as Saudi's position as a key member of the coalition the U.S. is trying to cobble together against Iran. And, therefore, I think we can say that the position of American officials, senior American officials, on the Khashoggi murder is similar to that of President Trump when it comes to Russian meddling in the 2016 American elections. President Putin told Trump, I had nothing to do with it and the Saudis are telling American leaders regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi that they didn't have anything to do with it either.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ben Wedeman for us. Thanks very much. No confrontation there.
[06:34:52] The Trump administration is eyeing diverting money earmarked for disaster recovery to pay for his border wall. Up next, we're going to speak to the governor of Puerto Rico about the impact this would have on the island still recovering from Hurricane Maria.
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BERMAN: The Trump administration is considering diverting billions of dollars in unspent Defense Department disaster recovery funds for the construction of his border wall. These funds would be use if the president declares a national emergency. This is money meant to help hurricane victims in places including Puerto Rico, Texas, and Florida.
Joining us now is the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello.
Thank you so much for being with us, governor.
Governor, you reacted to this last week. You said no wall should be funded on the pain and suffering of U.S. citizens who have endured tragedy and loss through a natural disaster. This includes those citizens that live in California, Texas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other jurisdictions. Today it's us, tomorrow it could be you.
If you could, sir, just tell me your reaction when you first heard that the president was considering this.
GOV. RICARDO ROSSELLO, PUERTO RICO: Well, thank you for the opportunity, John, and good morning.
You know, I have to say that as I was seeing the battle over the border wall, you know, I have to anticipate all scenarios and perhaps a couple of weeks ago I started considering that this might be a possibility that was going to be thrown out. Certainly it's -- it's an awful possibility. Just consider what it means. It means using funding for U.S. citizens that are in a vulnerable state, and I'm not only talking about Puerto Ricans, I'm talking about people from California, Texas, and so forth, and using them to build a wall.
[06:40:32] This shouldn't be what we stand for. This -- this shouldn't be a decision. Money that's destined for recovery should, in fact, be going in that direction. So my view is very simple, we're at the cusp of two routes, you can either choose to obstruct, which is establishing a wall, or to construct and rebuild the lives of thousands, if not millions, of U.S. citizens.
BERMAN: What would the impact be if that money was taken away from you?
ROSSELLO: Well, it would be devastating. We're in the middle right now of finalizing our recovery phase. And right now we're -- we're starting to get excitement about our rebuilding phase. You know, the past couple of days in Puerto Rico there's been a lot of attention. "Hamilton" has been over here which has shed a spotlight on Puerto Rico. We've been on top of many of the lists that have been pointing out places to visits and we want to rebuild effectively and take some of the chronic ills that we've had in the past and make it an opportunity.
So our view for Puerto Rico is to have one that's open for business, that's an empowering state, that can be an island of innovation and the home of the human cloud, all the while connecting the Americas because we're part of the United States, but, at the same time, we have the Latin-American culture. So it would be devastating for us not to get that funding because it would mean that the dreams of rebuilding effectively would be lost.
BERMAN: You mentioned the "Hamilton" premier in Puerto Rico over the weekend. Some Democratic officials were actually at that event. I think we have some pictures of it, which we can show here.
Do you think that the Democrats should have been down there watching a play instead of working with the president to try to end the shutdown?
ROSSELLO: Well, they were here also listening for over four hours. They had a hearing. This is the largest congressional delegation in the history of Puerto Rico, and I thank them for coming over here. I had an opportunity to explain to them the root cause of the problems in Puerto Rico. We had a discussion about the recovery, how some of the recovery's being stalled because of bureaucratic processes that are imposed in Puerto Rico that are not imposed elsewhere. How we need to start the rebuilding phase not to be very effective and how can Puerto Rico become a model and how we're going to implement some of these core concepts that we value, such as tackling inequality and batting climate -- climate change.
But it is important that underneath all off that, it's the reality that Puerto Rico, we are treated as second-class U.S. citizens. Because we're not a state, we -- you know, we get a third of the federal funding for healthcare, for example. And it was important for me to state to the over 30 congressional leaders that were here that the main -- the root cause of the problem is that we are a colonial territory of the United States and I wanted to ask them to forcefully take this as a battle of their own, as they have with, for example, statehood for Washington, D.C.
BERMAN: Governor Rossello, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate your time this morning.
ROSSELLO: Thank you so much, John.
BERMAN: Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: All right, John, you'll remember this story, the bus driver who rescued a toddler wandering on a freeway overpass. That bus driver tells us her story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:47:50] CAMEROTA: All right, perhaps you've seen this video. A bus driver in Milwaukee has been hailed a hero after she spotted a toddler running barefoot on a freeway overpass in freezing temperatures. The driver pulled over, as you can see, and then grabbed the toddler, a 19 month old girl. A passenger on the bus then gave the baby her coat to keep warm until police arrived.
And joining us now is that driver, Irena Ivic.
Ms. Ivic, thank you so much for being here.
Tell us what was going through your head when you saw that baby running down the street.
IRENA IVIC, BUS DRIVER WHO RESCUED TODDLER: You're welcome.
CAMEROTA: So tell us what you were thinking when you saw what we're all seeing on our screen.
Ms. Ivic, can you hear me?
IVIC: Yes, I hear you.
CAMEROTA: Oh, good.
IVIC: Can you -- can you repeat question?
CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes. Tell us -- OK, so we're looking right now at video from a dash cam of you driving the bus. And then we see out the window the baby running. So tell us what was happening inside the bus. What were you thinking?
IVIC: I am not thinking about anything, I am only drive my bus. And I saw child across the street. And I am decided to make a pull over and to pick up a child because I'm human being and I will do this for everybody if I see there's something happened on the street.
CAMEROTA: Yes, of course. Of course. I mean you did absolutely the right thing. But what condition was the baby in in? When you picked her up, was she crying? Could -- does she have any words?
IVIC: Yes, baby was scared and cried and outside, you know, was so cold. And I was only scared to not run away of me. And I'm in the moment when I cross the street I tried and I did that to grab a child to not go on the highway. And after that, I come back, you saw that in my bus, and I was so upset. I don't know, you cannot see on the video, I cried. And I forgot to take my jacket, but one good woman, and I want to tell now her thank you, she gave her jacket. And after that, everything was OK.
[06:50:23] CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.
IVIC: The little boy -- girl, sorry, yes, slept in my hands and I call my dispatch and they did everything what they need. And after couple minutes, everybody was on to my bus. CAMEROTA: Yes, we see that. We see the emergency responders coming on
to your bus. And we see that other beautiful woman offering up her coat, though it was a freezing day, for the baby. And I understand the baby then fell asleep in your arms.
Do you -- did the police tell you where the parents were? Do you know the story of what was happening with her parents?
IVIC: I don't know so much about this story. I heard that mom has any illness -- mental illness and they are from Burma. And after 45 minutes, his -- or her father came from house and I didn't hear any contact with them.
CAMEROTA: I mean, after 45 minutes --
IVIC: With mom and dad.
CAMEROTA: Yes, I understand. So you don't know much about the backstory, but you heard that perhaps there was a mental issue of some kind with the mom and it took a while for the father to come and retrieve the baby.
If you had not been there, if you had not been driving down the street that day, if you hadn't pulled over your bus, what do you think would have happened?
IVIC: Oh, what has happened? Who knows? It is highly there exit for a highway and a lot of cars came from there and who knows. Somebody can kidnap her or to be in an accident, who knows. That child will be alive now.
CAMEROTA: I mean, just seeing her on the corner there stopped, because you yelled for her, is -- it sends, you know, a shiver down your spine because if she had gone into the road and somebody might not have seen her, or the scenarios that you point out. I know that you're a mom of two adult children and your instincts just -- just kicked in.
So, Irena Ivic, thank you very much for being with us and sharing your story this morning.
IVIC: You're welcome. And have a good day.
CAMEROTA: You too.
John.
BERMAN: The four highest scoring teams in the regular season are four teams left standing in their quest for the Super Bowl. Coy Wire has more, this wonderful weekend of football in the "Bleacher Report."
Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: A good day for you and all Patriots fans, John, but we'll get to that in a second.
But the defending champion Eagles, they went into a tough venue, the loudest place I ever played in the NFL, and they're riding that imagine of Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, and they gave New Orleans their best shot. Remember, New Orleans is the top seed. But the Eagles jumped out to a 14 to nothing lead. And knowing they needed to shift the momentum, Saint's head coach Sean Payton calls a fake punt and it works. Taysom Hill keeps the drive alive and they go to get their first score of the game. And they rode that momentum to a 20-14 lead in the fourth. But with two minutes to go, the Eagles have a shot but it's intercepted. Marshon Lattimore gets his second pick of the game and it went right through the hands of Eagles receiver Alshon Jeffery. He's lying there on the turf heartbroken. This was a guy who was one of his heroes from last year's championship team. And he one had dropped two passes all season, but this one ended Philly's season. The Saints advance to face the Rams with a 20-14 win.
All right, John Berman, we're halfway there. Back to the Super Bowl. Jon Bon Jovi singing with Patriots owner Robert Kraft as their storm tore the Chargers apart, 41-28. One more win and their in. They're going to play their eighth straight AFC title game next weekend in Kansas City. And for the first time in nearly four full seasons, Tom Brady's going to be an underdog. In case you're wondering, the Pats did win that game, but Brady, nonetheless, he's embracing this underdog role.
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TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: You know, I know, you know, everyone thinks we suck and, you know, can't win any games. So, we'll see. It will be fun.
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WIRE: Kansas City, remember, the Patriots barely beat them 43-40 when they faced each other in the regular season. Now, the NFL, they announced the halftime Super Bowl performance. That's going to be Maroon 5 for you. But we want to -- one more quick shutout and congratulations to one of the officials in that Patriot game who made history. Sarah Thomas now the first woman to officiate a playoff game on the field. She became the NFL's first full-time official back in 2015. And she has big game experience. She's a former collegiate athlete, a scholarship player in basketball. She was also the first woman to officiate a college bowl game, remember, so big congratulations to her on making that news yesterday.
[06:55:18] BERMAN: Good moment there, Coy. Thank you very, very much.
WIRE: You're welcome.
BERMAN: You know, Tom Brady, he says, everyone says we suck and can't win a game. People always say that about the Patriots after five Super Bowls.
CAMEROTA: You don't think that he sucks.
BERMAN: He can't win a game.
CAMEROTA: You heart Tom Brady. BERMAN: I do.
CAMEROTA: I know.
All right, meanwhile, new questions about President Trump's ties to Russia following a weekend of bombshell reporting. CNN has new transcripts involving two FBI officials. We'll tell you what they reveal, next.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing a lead-up in some of the rational about why this investigation started and why so many Americans have been concerned for so long.
[07:00:06] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the most insulting thing I've ever been asked.
