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New Day

FBI Arrests Longtime Trump Associate Roger Stone On Charges Of Obstruction, Making False Statements, and Witness Tampering; Senators Discuss Solutions After Dueling Proposals Fail; Interview With Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY); 800,000 Federal Workers Prepare To Miss Second Paycheck. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 25, 2019 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] DAVID SHORTELL, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE PRODUCER: Alisyn, it's a reporter's instinct. The whole Russia team thought maybe something was happening.

There was some unusual grand jury activity in Washington, D.C. yesterday. The grand jury -- Robert Mueller's grand jury typically meets on Fridays. Yesterday, Thursday, there was grand jury activity. We also had some other signs that maybe something was going on this angle -- the Roger Stone angle.

So, we showed up at his house this morning -- we were the only ones there -- and lo and behold, the FBI agents did come and arrest him.

I'll make a note. When Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign director, was arrested, he surrendered at an FBI field office in Washington. He walked in the front door with his lawyers and that was in the morning around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. I was there, as well, for that surrender.

This is very different.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. No, this is remarkable. What we're watching on the other side of our screen there is remarkable to see how Roger Stone was taken into custody this morning after being indicted on these seven counts.

When the FBI yelled -- the audio that you caught on the microphones where they say, "FBI, open the door." And then the next thing they say -- well, I'll play it for you and then I want to ask you a question about it. Listen to this audio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FBI AGENTS: (Banging on door).

FBI, open the door.

(Banging on door)

FBI, a warrant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: The next thing -- that second thing they say is "FBI, warrant."

Do you have any sense on whether that was an arrest warrant or a search warrant, and whether or not they are now inside his home searching for things?

SHORTELL: Yes, Alisyn, you can actually see behind me that's the block where it all happened. There's a minimal police presence.

Now, when we were first here this morning there were maybe about a half-dozen police vehicles that were here for that. We believe it must have been an arrest warrant because he was taken into custody shortly after. And you heard that FBI agent say "warrant."

Now, it's unclear to us if they're still there. There are some indications that maybe the law enforcement is not at his house right now just by the fact that we're not seeing flashing lights.

But we're obviously now about 100 yards up the street. They moved us back, literally in the middle of that arrest so we're not able to see what's going in that house right now. But I can tell you that the law enforcement operation here has scaled down immensely.

We know Roger Stone is not here anymore. He was taken away maybe about a half an hour after that arrest. And now we know there is a court appearance later this morning where we'll be, at least.

CAMEROTA: David, that looks like an awfully nice neighborhood. I'm sure they are not used to FBI agents in flak jackets showing up just before 6:00 a.m. in the darkness and taking people away from that lovely residential area behind you.

SHORTELL: Yes, that's for sure.

There's a lot of bikers, joggers, walkers. Even as early as 5:00-6:00 a.m., people were out walking down -- there's an intercoastal waterway here. Some nice water, some nice boats. It's a -- it's a very nice neighborhood and Roger Stone had a beautiful house.

And this is something that the neighbors are not used to. That's what multiple neighbors have been telling me as we've been here on their sidewalk reporting this news all morning.

CAMEROTA: Well, David Shortell, your reporter's instincts were right on this morning. You were in the right place at the right time to bring us the exclusive video of Roger Stone being arrested on seven indictments from Robert Mueller's team.

Please -- we'll come back to you throughout the morning when you get any sort of information. Thank you very much for being right there.

SHORTELL: Thanks, Alisyn.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just such a remarkable sight -- those images. The FBI showing up just after 6:00 a.m. We can show them again.

Roger Stone in custody, as you said, arrested on seven counts -- wow.

Let's talk much more about this. Joining me is Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey of New York. She is the chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Madam Chairwoman, you are the first elected official we've had a chance to speak to. We've been looking at these remarkable pictures all morning of the president's one-time political adviser Roger Stone being taken into custody and now charged in the Mueller investigation with one count of obstruction, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering.

What's your reaction to what you're seeing here?

REP. NITA LOWEY (D-NY), CHAIRWOMAN, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS: Remarkable is the word. Another close confidant of President Trump being arrested.

This just points to me the importance of the Mueller investigation. It must continue and we must continue the investigations in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

Jerry Nadler, Congressman Cummings are all doing an essential job. And certainly, Adam Schiff has been right on top of all this information.

It is a sad day for the United States of America that the president's allies have -- shall we say being charged with interfering with the election and all the other counts.

[07:35:06] BERMAN: Well, he isn't being charged with that, which is interesting. He's being charged with obstruction of justice, he's being charged with obstructing the investigation. He's being charged with lying to investigators in the Senate about this, and he's been charged with witness tampering.

But there are no charges here accusing him of colluding with the Russians. There is no accusation of breaking a law by contacting WikiLeaks.

Is that significant?

LOWEY: I certainly think it is. However, the investigations will continue. The Mueller investigation will continue. And the connection of Roger Stone with this president and his activities during the election, I'm certainly -- I look forward to hearing the results of the investigation.

BERMAN: And if we could put the picture up one more time of the arrest this morning -- and this is going to transition to the other issue that is, of course, the issue of the day. These FBI agents making this arrest of Roger Stone in Ft. Lauderdale this morning, like every other FBI agent, they're not being paid right now. Eight hundred thousand federal workers begin missing their second paycheck this week. It is the longest shutdown in U.S. history. The Senate failed to pass two measures yesterday to end this shutdown.

What is going to happen today? What should happen in terms of Democratic outreach?

LOWEY: It is 35 days that the government has been shut down. There is no excuse for the president to shut down the government. We must open the government and then, negotiations can continue.

But we cannot keep the government closed. This is irresponsible. In fact, it's -- I would even say it's outrageous.

We can negotiate. As an appropriator, I've been negotiating with Republicans for my whole career.

But we must open the government, we must pay the federal employees, and then we can continue actions to deal with how do we respond most effectively with border security.

BERMAN: We understand that House Democrats will unveil some kind of proposal today that will include more money -- much more money than previously offered for border security, but no funding for new barriers.

Is that correct?

LOWEY: There are several parts of the offer that we have been considering -- border security -- all kinds of border security.

Now, by the way, most of the drugs that are coming into the United States come through the port of entry and sensors, radars, all kinds of technical equipment are essential. So, we are going to unveil a proposal.

But we've been negotiating for a long time and there's no response from this administration other than closing the government. And we cannot have a serious discussion unless the government is open.

BERMAN: Representative Nita Lowey, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

LOWEY: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Michael Smerconish, host of CNN's "SMERCONISH" and CNN political commentator.

Michael, I assume you've had a chance to see the video -- the exclusive CNN video this morning of Roger Stone being arrested before sunrise this morning at his home in Florida. He was indicted by Robert Mueller's team on seven counts.

Your thoughts?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, HOST, "SMERCONISH": So, like everybody else, I've been pouring over and marking up the document. It's not good news for Roger Stone, obviously.

But, as you pointed out, we're talking about obstruction, false statements, and witness tampering. What we're not talking about is conspiracy or as I'm sure the president will be saying later today, it's not collusion.

But here's the important thing. Nothing prevents special counsel Robert Mueller from charging in succession. And by that, I mean this is not necessarily the total game against Roger Stone. This may only be the opening chapter.

The second observation that I have is that Roger Stone famously said, "I have actually communicated with Julian Assange." And I wondered in this document because Roger then backed off of those statements. I wondered if in this document there would be any direct link between Assange and Stone.

I'm not seeing one. I've read it twice. I don't think there's anything in here. It seems like it's all through intermediaries.

And the third observation is I asked Roger Stone on CNN on November third, "Do you anticipate being indicted?" And in giving me a longwinded explanation, what he said is, "I'm guilty of hyping, punking, posturing, promoting, and bluffing."

What he was saying is I'm a B.S. artist and what I was doing is taking information in the public domain and spinning it as if I were on the inside.

Now, when I read this document, what I also note is he was not a passive actor.

[07:40:03] BERMAN: Yes.

SMERCONISH: It was not him sitting back with a search engine and looking at Google. He was very actively working those two individuals identified in the indictment for anything they had, but he doesn't seem to have been in direct contact with WikiLeaks, himself.

BERMAN: You lay out, I think very astutely, what is not in here and what could still be to come. But there are some new things in here, including direct references to the Trump campaign. And let me just read you this paragraph that jumped out to us.

"After the July 22, 2016 release of the stolen DNC E-mails by Organization 1" -- that's Wikileaks -- "a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton campaign. Stone, thereafter, told the Trump campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1."

He was directed to contact Stone, a senior Trump campaign official. This is the first direct link between the Trump campaign and Roger Stone about Wikileaks. The Trump campaign wants WikiLeaks information. SMERCONISH: Well, you're absolutely right and that's why my first point was one of noting that nothing in this precludes Mueller from coming back with beyond process crimes, which we regard these as, with more substantive charges against Stone and whomever that may have been.

Because remember, at the crux here, what we really want to know is was there an aiding and abetting of an illegal act? In this case, the hack of the DNC server by foreign interests -- the Russians. We still don't know the answer to that question.

CAMEROTA: Yes, he may not have made direct contact with Julian Assange or WikiLeaks, but he wanted to. I mean, throughout this you can see how interested Roger Stone is in working through intermediaries and in whatever information WikiLeaks has. He, as you point out, is quite active in terms of trying to make end roads.

And so, I hear what you're saying. This is not like OK, well, case closed. But as we often know, it's the coverup and not the crime and you still do time.

SMERCONISH: You know, you're right, Alisyn, and I think that there's a tendency on all of our part to want the final chapter. This is not the final chapter. This raises as many questions as it answers.

BERMAN: I will also say Michael, you said something interesting. All we want to know is if a law was broken here. But I'm not sure that that's the limit, right?

When Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, is calling WikiLeaks a non- state hostile intelligence service in contact and in the service of Russia, I do think there is a public interest in knowing how willing the Trump campaign was to work with this non-state hostile actor during the campaign.

Even if it's not directly against the law, even if there wasn't a statute violated, isn't it in the public interest?

SMERCONISH: Well, I think we know the answer to that question and that is that they were very eager to glean from WikiLeaks -- frankly, from whatever source that they could possibly obtain -- any and all information that was going to benefit the campaign.

Hey, one other observation if I may about Roger Stone because I've known him for years and I've interviewed him on many, many occasions.

The only thing worse for Roger than being indictment is not being indicted. Now, as odd as that sounds, he loves being in the eye of the storm. I'm sure it's not a pleasant experience to hear that knock on his door, but there's some kind of a perverse thrill that he gets about being the focus of all of our attention.

CAMEROTA: Yes, relevance at any cost, even if it means being on national T.V. in your pajamas, as he was this morning.

SMERCONISH: Correct. CAMEROTA: All right.

BERMAN: I've got to say, Michael, we love speaking to you. You have ice water in your veins. You so coolly and clearly look through this. No, I mean it. I mean --

SMERCONISH: That's not true. That is --

BERMAN: -- this broke an hour ago and we've been feverishly reading this. And I think -- I can see you calmly and with great calculation --

CAMEROTA: With your red marker.

BERMAN: You're reading line-by-line there. It's all marked up. We're so lucky to have you on this morning. Thank you very, very much.

SMERCONISH: Thank you. See you.

BERMAN: You can watch "SMERCONISH" Saturday at 9:00 eastern, 6:00 a.m. Pacific. So, you know, he's got 24 more hours to go through this tomorrow. You better watch to find out how Michael thinks things are going.

CAMEROTA: All right. They're feeling the impact of the government shutdown directly. They, today, will miss a second paycheck.

So, up next, we're going to check in with two federal workers who you will remember from being on NEW DAY and their dire stories then. How are they doing two weeks later?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Major breaking news this morning. Exclusive CNN footage here as the political adviser to President Trump, Roger Stone, is arrested by the FBI at his Ft. Lauderdale, Florida home.

He will be in court later this morning. He is going to be charged on seven counts. One count of obstruction, five counts of making false statements, and one count of witness tampering.

We are all over the dramatic developments in this story.

CAMEROTA: All right, John.

Meanwhile, of course, our other big story is the shutdown. Eight hundred thousand federal workers are not being paid. Today, they will miss their second paycheck.

This month, we have spoken to many Americans who are doing whatever it takes to make ends meet, including these.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC YOUNG, FEDERAL CORRECTIONS OFFICER WORKING WITHOUT PAY, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES UNION: Digging out of savings to basically try to cover expenses like registration fees for college tuition. You know, it's very concerning to know that hey, I'm not getting paid and any other expenses, and it's becoming a problem for us.

LISA HONAN, PROGRAM SUPPORT ASSISTANT, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, FURLOUGHED FEDERAL WORKER: I just hope that it doesn't drag on for much longer to where we will have to start selling our family's heirlooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, let's get an update from those two federal workers who you met on NEW DAY before there.

Eric Young, he's a corrections officer working without pay. He's the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees Union. And, Lisa Honan. She's an E.P. -- a program support assistant who -- sorry, she's at the EPA -- who is currently furloughed.

Ok, guys, we wanted to check back in with you now that you're missing your second paycheck. We wanted to hear what's happening in your lives now.

[07:50:00] So, Lisa, when we last met you we heard there -- you said that things were bad. You have a 1-year-old, you have a 5-year-old. You were having a hard time getting unemployment assistance and you were worried about selling your family's heirlooms. That got our attention.

And so, give us an update. What's happened since then?

HONAN: Well, I was finally able to get everything going with unemployment. I just got paid yesterday for one week. And, you know, my husband's unemployment has kicked in as well.

So, we've been able to hang in there. We're fortunate to have family and friends that were able to help out. So now, with the two of us getting unemployment and our help from family, everything is -- it's going OK for now.

But our biggest concern is the unemployment is only a temporary fix and anytime it sounds like there's something that's going to go well in Congress, it doesn't work out. So, our concern now is hopefully, this shutdown will end before our unemployment benefits end.

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course.

HONAN: Once that happens, then I'm not sure, you know.

CAMEROTA: I mean, no one wants to have to rely on unemployment. And both you and your husband are furloughed with your young kids.

Eric, when we talked to you, you had said that things were getting worse in prisons. That there was more agitation, people were getting depressed. You felt that even the prisoners were sensing that things were bad.

So, give us an update.

YOUNG: Well, as I indicated, the situation that I described at the last interview that we did have a hunger strike at our Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. The inmates were upset that staff were not reporting to work, which has become a trending problem for the Bureau of Prisons.

Some of our staff are actually even sleeping in their vehicles. That's been reported out at one of our facilities at the Dublin, California facility. And then also, we have some administration officials actually placing cots for the employees to sleep on at the property.

So, the situation is becoming very tenuous because a great majority of our people commute to and from work great distances. So, the agency has literally set up sleep stations so that they could stay at the property.

CAMEROTA: And, I mean, Eric, what is your current mood? I know that you were getting distressed when we last talked to you.

YOUNG: Well, I'm the national president so I hear from 105 locals often, at least about 15 to 20 stories a day.

So, when I hear the horror stories of some of the staff incapable of buying the basic necessities, to put food on the table, to buy medication -- all the deductibles have reset since January one -- to know that people can't buy insulin to make sure that they're safe to come to work, those things right there concerns me.

I hear a lot of -- seen a lot of stories about sick children and people are not able to take off from work because they're under the threat of being placed in "absent without leave" status and disciplined as a result of not showing for work. And with the recent opium (ph) guidance that came out, that threatened our staff that the agencies can actually discipline them as a result of not showing up for work.

It's been a very big concern for our people because they have legitimate reasons for not coming to work, not having the resources to pay for childcare, not having the resources to pay to and commuting costs --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

YOUNG: -- to and from work. So, it's a big deal.

CAMEROTA: Well, Lisa, the Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross had a suggestion for all of you furloughed workers. He wasn't quite sure what the problem was with being able to find food and why don't you all just take out interest-bearing loans?

Here are his thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Secretary, there are reports that there are some federal workers who are going to homeless shelters to get food.

WILBUR ROSS, U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Well I know they are and I don't really quite understand why because as I mentioned before, the obligations that they would undertake -- say, borrowing from a bank or a credit union -- are, in effect, federally guaranteed. So, the 30 days of pay that some people will be out, there's no real reason why they should be able to get a loan against it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Lisa, Sec. Ross thinks you should get a bank loan.

HONAN: What bank is going to give me money if you can't show any proof of income?

CAMEROTA: That's an excellent question that I'm not sure the Commerce secretary has exactly thought through.

Eric, what do you think about --

HONAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- his suggestion to all the people that you hear from -- they should just go get bank loans?

YOUNG: You know, I heard quite a few horror stories. As I indicated, one of our colleagues stated that he didn't have but $80 left on his credit card to basically possibly get him another week's commute to and from work. Couldn't even put food on his table.

[07:55:02] The only part of Wilbur Ross's statement that I agree with is that I don't understand. I don't understand how 33,000 law enforcement officers around this country at our 122 facilities are working full-time, putting their lives on the line to have to stand in bread lines and actually beg for help when they're working on behalf of the American people protecting this country.

So, to have people like that make those crass statements is just unconscionable and it shows exactly how out of touch this administration is.

CAMEROTA: Eric Young, Lisa Honan, we're thinking of you. We appreciate you coming back and giving us an update. Obviously, we will stay in touch with you as we see what happens today and beyond with the shutdown.

Thank you so much.

YOUNG: Thank you.

HONAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: NEW DAY will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: Good morning and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Friday, January 25th, 8:00 in the east.

And we have major breaking news this morning. Longtime associate of Donald Trump, Roger Stone -- his longtime friend and political adviser -- was just arrested. Arrested at dawn by FBI agents, brought up on charges by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Our cameras were there for the FBI raid. At 6:00 or so this morning, they knocked on the door. They went in, they took him into custody.