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Study Says E-Cigarette Maker Juul Triggers Nicotine "Arms Race"; Democrats Defy Trump And Step Up Investigations On Administration; Interview with Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA); Janet Yellen: Next Rate Action Could Be A Cut; Social Media Applauds Pelosi's "Clap Back" At President Trump. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 07, 2019 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:20] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new study out this morning says that Juul, a leading e-cigarette manufacturer, has triggered a nicotine arms race --

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

BERMAN: -- in the vaping industry. Researchers say they have new, young users hooked.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who's doing great work on this -- really interesting stuff. And this is the cutting edge and so important for parents and kids.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is. Look, I have a soon-to-be high schooler and middle schooler.

What we're talking about is something that didn't even exist four years ago, right? No one was talking about it because it wasn't out there -- the Juul.

Now, you talk about these numbers -- 80 percent increase among high schoolers using Juul; 50 percent among middle schoolers. Again, something that did not exist a few years ago.

The numbers are pretty remarkable but now, we're learning the amount of nicotine that they're getting, much higher than we realized as well.

BERMAN: And, nicotine is (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILIP FUHRMAN, TEEN ADVOCATE: The first time I Juuled was at the end of eighth grade. My friend handed it to me and I had no idea what it was.

GUPTA (voice-over): That's 15-year-old Phillip Furhman speaking at a New York City Council health meeting.

P. FUHRMAN: When I started hearing all the facts and everything bad about it, it was already too late. I was already hooked onto it.

GUPTA: Philip's story has become shockingly familiar. You've probably heard of Juul by now. It's been around since June of 2015 and millions of high school students have already Juuled or vaped using the device.

What you may not know, however, is how Juul's high five percent nicotine pods have caused a so-called nicotine arms race across the vaping industry.

DR. ROBERT JACKLER, STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: When Juul came on the market 3 1/2 years ago, the vapor market was mostly one and two percent nicotine. It's now six-seven percent nicotine. Now, this tiny Juul cartridge delivers to a person's body the same amount of nicotine as this entire box of Camels of 20 cigarettes.

GUPTA: Stanford professor Dr. Robert Jackler makes his case in a study. His research group has been tracking the industry for nearly a decade.

JACKLER: When Juul came out with very high nicotine electronic cigarettes it triggered a nicotine arms race amongst competitive companies seeking to emulate the success of Juul.

GUPTA: Juul is now winning the race. They now control about three- quarters of the vaping market in the United States.

While federal law prohibits selling these to products to minors, Jackler worries that vaping companies like Juul are using new technology to pack more nicotine into their products.

JACKLER: There's no regulation of the amount of nicotine in electronic cigarettes. Highly-concentrated nicotine solutions are potently addictive and nicotine addiction is a very difficult addiction to break.

FURHMAN: I'd be waking up in the middle of the night. I'd have like cold sweats or whatever. It was just not a great experience.

[07:35:06] DORIAN FUHRMAN, MOTHER OF PHILIP FUHRMAN, CO-FOUNDER, PARENTS AGAINST VAPING E-CIGARETTES: And then, I think that's when he really understood what nicotine addiction was.

GUPTA: Remember, many of these kids have never smoked before and are suddenly being exposed to the same nicotine levels as a full pack of cigarettes without any buildup of tolerance.

Juul says it's taken swift action against counterfeit and infringing products and is committed to preventing youth from accessing its products. Juul also says there were products on the market in the range of four to five percent nicotine before Juul's rise in popularity.

But, Jackler says the majority of products were much lower when Juul launched and it was, indeed, the popularity of Juul that sent nicotine levels soaring. D. FUHRMAN: We hear about sixth graders doing it, fourth graders doing it. You know, these kids are facing a lifetime of serious nicotine addiction.

P. FUHRMAN: I still sometimes crave a Juul. And it's really hard to say no because there are really Juuls everywhere, so it's really hard to fully stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: It is -- it's remarkable. We were just talking. I remember reporting on this four or five years ago --

GUPTA: Yes.

HARLOW: -- in Washington -- going to the FDA -- and people just weren't convinced that this was going to be problematic at all. They actually thought the opposite. But nicotine for children and teens so much more dangerous than for adults.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean -- and to your point, this was sort of marketed initially as a smoking cessation, guys --

HARLOW: Yes.

GUPTA: -- right? It was to help people quit smoking.

HARLOW: Yes.

GUPTA: This -- what I think people think it is called an unintended consequence on kids. Maybe it was not as unintended -- we don't know -- but it's significant.

And look, nicotine -- you think about it as an adult, you think a short-term thing. You may get a little euphoria, heart rate may go up -- things like that.

Now you give that same level or even higher levels to the developing brain -- the long-term impact on attention, on cognitive skills. And they find that 30 percent of these kids who are using Juul then go on to smoke real cigarettes -- combustible cigarettes. So you're creating a new generation of smokers.

BERMAN: What do you watch for? I mean, how do you see signs that your children are using this?

GUPTA: It can be hard, John, and part of it is the devices are designed to be concealed. They look like USB devices, right?

HARLOW: They do, right.

GUPTA: That's designed to be concealed. I mean, I'm certainly not suggesting parents go start spying on their kids but there's a certain smell -- a sweet smell that often accompanies the vapor. It's a vapor, not the smoke.

BERMAN: Yes.

GUPTA: Looking for the device itself. And then, these symptoms. Distractibility, attention problems, cognitive problems. I mean, all kids -- you know, teenagers -- have some of these things but if something has changed, especially given how prevalent these are --

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: -- and millions of kids are using these, maybe it's worth asking.

HARLOW: And by the way, there's no warnings on them like there are on cigarette packets, right? None of the warnings about brain development -- that's not on the front of them.

GUPTA: I don't think so -- no. I'm going to take a closer look at the packet itself.

HARLOW: Wonder if they're going to --

GUPTA: But the FDA has been cracking down on this so some of that may change.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: All right, Sanjay. Thank you very much.

GUPTA: You got it.

BERMAN: Democrats defying the president's threat to end congressional investigations into his administration. A Democratic member who was a part of one of the key committees that just launched new investigations joins us next.

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[07:41:42] BERMAN: House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff announced a sweeping new probe looking into whether President Trump's financial interests are influencing his decisions. He made the announcement just hours after President Trump threatened Democrats to end what he called ridiculous partisan investigations.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Jackie Speier. She serves on the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees, so could be busy in the next couple of months based on what we're hearing from the committee chairs.

Representative, thank you so much for being us.

Why is this investigation, announced by Adam Schiff yesterday, necessary?

REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA), MEMBER, PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM: Well, it's necessary because it was never completed as part of the original investigation. It wasn't as if we didn't want to pursue whether or not there was Russian money coming into Trump properties. It was just that the Republicans were resistant to doing anything that would have investigated that particular relationship.

It's important because from an intelligence perspective, we need to make sure that the President of the United States is putting America first, not Russia or some other country.

BERMAN: Isn't the Mueller investigation, in theory, looking into whether Russian money flowed into Trump properties?

SPEIER: Well, that's a very good question. We don't know the answer to it. And irrespective of what the Mueller investigation is doing, I think it's incumbent on us to make sure the American people are in a position to know what's going on.

It's unclear, based on what the Attorney General appointee has said, whether or not we're ever going to see the Mueller report, something that is very important to being able to get to the bottom of the Russian intervention in our election.

BERMAN: Is this kind of a Mueller insurance policy then being taken out by the committee that in case Mueller doesn't look into something or in case he doesn't find something and make it public, the Democrats want to get this information out there?

SPEIER: I think more than anything it is doing the job that we were sworn to do, which is determine the extent to which Russia has intervened in our election and whether or not the Trump campaign was engaged with the Russians in pursuing a plan to overturn the election.

BERMAN: Have you seen evidence, in terms of the money, that money did flow into anything connected to the president in a way that was either illegal or proof that it influenced his decisions? Have you seen evidence of that yet?

SPEIER: I have thought for a very long time that the president, as a real estate developer, had violated what's called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is a requirement that anyone doing business with a foreign entity make sure that none of the money that comes into a project has been laundered.

And it's a concept that's hard for the average person to appreciate. What is money laundering? It's going to be our job to explain that to the American people and to determine whether or not in many of the projects.

I've focused in on three -- the Toronto project, the SoHo project, and the Panama project. All Trump hotels, all of which went belly-up at a time, particularly in the Toronto project, where not one other high- rise property was bankrupted, but the Trump property was.

[07:45:00] BERMAN: The president doesn't like this one bit. He's not happy with this investigation. He criticized Adam Schiff yesterday, publicly.

And just moments ago he wrote, "Presidential harassment! It should never be allowed to happen again!"

Your response?

SPEIER: Well, my response is this is not presidential harassment, it's congressional harassment. He is basically saying, as he said in his State of the Union, we will not have peace, we will not have legislation if you investigate me.

Well, that's -- you're not going to intimidate the Congress of the United States, Mr. President. We are two equal branches of government. And he still hasn't learned his civics 101 class, I'm afraid.

BERMAN: In December, you said that one of the first witnesses you would like to see in front of your panel is Donald Trump, Jr. Do you have plans to issue a subpoena for the president's son?

SPEIER: We have not developed the list of who we're going to subpoena. We will certainly ask people to come forward volitionally.

I think the most important thing at this point is to get a document request proposed. We will need to subpoena documents from people like Donald Trump, Jr. because in the actual investigation that the Republicans did -- if you want to call it an investigation -- there was very little done in terms of subpoenaing documents. So there's no way to impeach the testimony of anyone because you had nothing to go on.

BERMAN: You said -- again, in December -- I think there's at least two occasions where he, Donald Trump, Jr., lied to the committee.

Lied about what?

SPEIER: Well, I'm not at this time going to speak to that because, again, we haven't been able to receive documents yet from Donald Trump, Jr.

But based on the things that we have heard and know about since, I think that that is probably the case. Certainly, I don't have evidence of that yet. It's just speculation.

BERMAN: OK, so just speculation. Again -- but you would ask your chair to put Donald Trump, Jr. on the list of people you'd like to see before your committee?

SPEIER: I'm sure he's on the list already.

BERMAN: All right.

I do want to ask you something interesting. If I read this correctly, you wrote a proposal or nominated Professor Christine Blasey Ford to receive the Profile in Courage award from the Kennedy Library in Massachusetts.

She, of course, came forward with an accusation against Brett Kavanaugh, who is now on the Supreme Court. She told her story in front of the American people.

Now there's a different professor -- Professor Vanessa Tyson -- who is telling her story in front of the American people, at least publicly to "The Washington Post," saying that she was assaulted by the lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax.

Do you feel that she deserves the same recognition for coming forward with her story?

SPEIER: I do.

I think that we have got to get to the point in this country where we appreciate that only a very small percentage of persons who are sexually assaulted come forward. And the reason they don't come forward is because they are trashed in the media. And it is incumbent on us to believe the women. Ninety-two to 97 percent of those who come forward are telling the truth.

BERMAN: So, based on what you have seen so far -- and I think you've probably seen what we all have from Vanessa Tyson -- you believe her?

SPEIER: You know, there's very little that I have seen, but from what she has said I have no reason to doubt her.

She tried to go to "The Washington Post". They did not go with the story because they had a problem being able to corroborate it.

But like Christine Blasey Ford -- I mean, she had documentation, she had physician's notes that corroborated what she was saying. She had friends who corroborated her story.

At some point, we've got to learn that women do not come forward unless they have truly been assaulted because coming forward is yet another assault emotionally on an individual.

BERMAN: Representative Jackie Speier of California. Thank you for being with us this morning. I do appreciate it.

SPEIER: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Poppy --

HARLOW: All right.

So, the federal -- the former, I should say, chair of the Federal Reserve with a surprising statement. What she said about the future of interest rates and what it could mean for you, ahead.

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[07:53:27] HARLOW: All right. It is time for "CNN Business Now." The guessing game over the Fed -- will it or won't it raise rates again this year? It just got a lot more interesting.

Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is with me now. It sounds wonky to people when you talk Fed rates, but it matters to every single American.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Oh, it really does and it says a lot about the economy, really.

The former Fed chief, Janet Yellen, injecting some drama, Poppy, into this guessing game over the Fed's next move with this. The next move from the Fed could be to cut rates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, FORMER CHAIR, FEDERAL RESERVE: If global growth really weakens and that spills over to the United States or financial conditions tighten more and we do see a weakening in the U.S. economy, it's certainly possible that the next move is a cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That's news.

Fed-guessing has shifted dramatically recently. The Fed has raised rates seven times in the Trump presidency with a strong U.S. economy. But last week, kept interest rates steady and suggested it might be done hiking rates this year. Just a few weeks ago, Fed policymakers suggested as many as two increases were on the way this year.

Now, Yellen expects a strong 2019 economy, Poppy, but mentioned several risks. Weak economic data from China and Europe, uncertainties about trade policy, Brexit.

Now, current Fed chair Jerome Powell, criticized by the president for raising rates, recently signaled patience on rates and said his more dovish approach to rates is not caving to criticism from the president and the stock market -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Christine Romans. Thank you very much. We're watching that pretty closely.

HARLOW: Yes.

BERMAN: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's clap back at President Trump during the State of the Union has received a lot of play online.

[07:55:06] CNN's Jeanne Moos explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She was the show behind the show, nodding no when the president declared the state of the union is --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Strong.

MOOS: Muttering commentary to herself, smiling at colleagues, urging new female members of Congress to rise, rolling her eyes.

TRUMP: Ridiculous partisan investigations.

MOOS: But, Nancy Pelosi became the queen of condescending applause after President Trump proposed rejecting the politics of revenge and embracing the common good. She clapped madly, their eyes met.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": Pelosi was like you're never getting your wall.

MOOS: Comedian Patton Oswalt congratulated Speaker Pelosi for inventing the (bleep) you clap.

It launched a million GIFs. The Internet was rocked with memes as Photoshoppers added things like golden handcuffs. The clap back reminded one guy of "When I tell my wife I changed a diaper."

MOOS (on camera): And then there was the mystery. What was Nancy reading?

TRUMP: Not right.

MOOS (voice-over): Some called it rude and petty for Pelosi to bury her nose in papers. Was it the Mueller report or Trump's tax returns or a menu?

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL "THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH": I kept expecting a waitress to come over with an order of Buffalo wings.

MOOS: Nah, she was just reading along with the president's speech.

MOOS (on camera): Of course, Nancy wasn't the only headshaking eye- roller in the House.

MOOS (voice-over): Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris looked exasperated, as did Kirsten Gillibrand, who even used her eye roll as a fundraising appeal and took it down after critics said it violated House rules.

Speaker Pelosi's daughter Christine tweeted, "Oh, yes. That clap took me back to the teen years. She knows and she knows that you know."

All we know is that all that clapping was the speaker's seal of disapproval.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Jeanne for that.

Democrats with a new investigation into the Trump administration, crossing the red line, saying they want to look at this money -- looking at his tax returns. What is in there? We have a new response from the president.

"NEW DAY" continues right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The American people have a right to know that their president is acting on their behalf.

TRUMP: It's called presidential harassment and it's unfortunate.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We can't allow the administration to stonewall us. We came in and we mean business.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're having a moment of reckoning. This is going to be really painful to both parties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democratic Party has to be able to speak with moral clarity on all these issues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question is not whether these people can't move on from their past. The question is whether or not they should be in a position of public trust.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not a member of a tribe. I have apologized for not being more sensitive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't see how she's going to be able to continue this drip, drip, drip of this one issue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been preparing to run. All signs point to he's going to give this a go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: All right, good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, February seventh, 8:00 in the East.

Alisyn is off. Poppy Harlow here with me again.

And, House Democrats making a beeline right over the president's red line, launching sweeping new investigations into the president's finances and possible links to Russia. The House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff says they will look into whether any foreign actor has financial leverage over the president, his family, his business or his associates.

Now you'll remember, back in July of 2017, the president acknowledged to "The New York Times" that looking at his money -- look at his finances would be crossing a red line.

Now, this morning, he's on fire on Twitter. He doesn't like this one bit. He is hurling accusations of presidential harassment.

HARLOW: Still, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making it abundantly clear that Democrats will not be intimidated by the president's State of the Union threat to end investigations.

This, as the battle between the president and the Democrats comes to a head. In just hours, Democrats will hold hearings into the president's tax returns and tackle the administration's policy of separating families at the southern border.

Also, looking ahead, sources tell CNN that acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker is undergoing significant prep ahead of his scheduled testimony that is tomorrow morning.

BERMAN: All right. Joining us now, Toluse Olorunnipa, White House correspondent for "The Washington Post". Susan Glasser, staff writer for "The New Yorker" and a CNN global affairs analyst. And, Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's chief legal analyst. I say that with tremendous buildup right there.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Could you -- could you, like, say it again, though?

BERMAN: Chief --

TOOBIN: You say it so good.

BERMAN: -- legal --

TOOBIN: Excellent.

BERMAN: -- analyst.

TOOBIN: I love that.

BERMAN: Jeffrey, Adam Schiff isn't just crossing the red line. As they would say in Britain, he's trotting on it. I mean, he really is.

END