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Lawmakers Reach Tentative Deal to Keep Government Open; Interview with Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY); Trump, O'Rourke Hold Competing Rallies in El Paso. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 12, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We were able to work together and come to an agreement.

[05:59:29] SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I would assume they would take the deal. It won't be enough. He has to go find the money in other ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very few conservative Republicans will be voting for this.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Walls save tremendous numbers of lives.

BETO O'ROURKE (D), FORMER TEXAS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: We know that walls do not save lives. Walls end lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beto's getting ready to announce his decision. There are a lot of signs that he's leaning toward it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, February 12, 6 a.m. here in New York.

Breaking overnight: there is a deal, a deal to prevent another government shutdown, a deal to fund new fencing on the border, a deal between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, which is notable these days in and of itself.

What's also notable is that, upon word of the deal, the president chose not to learn the details. Instead of asking an aide, "Hey, what's in it?" he president spoke at a rally, actually telling the crowd he was choosing politics over policy.

Here's what we know about the deal so far: $1.375 billion for fencing and other physical barriers along a 55-mile stretch of the Rio Grande Valley. That's not a wall but fencing. There's also funding for more than 41,000 detention beds, and there is

nearly $2 billion increase in spending for the Department of Homeland Security.

We do not know if the president will sign on. We do know that the co- president doesn't like it. Sean Hannity called it a "garbage compromise."

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So members of the Freedom Caucus are also slamming this deal. They're the group, of course, that helped push the president towards the shutdown in December.

The money in this tentative agreement for a border barrier is a fraction of the $5.7 billion that the president has demanded for a border wall.

The president, meanwhile, revived his hardline immigration talk at a rally Monday night in El Paso, Texas. He repeated false claims about El Paso's crime rate. And across town, potential 2020 Democratic contender Beto O'Rourke held a dueling rally, arguing that wall end lives.

CNN's Joe Johns has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: We reached an agreement in principle between us.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bipartisan congressional investigators announcing that they've reached a tentative deal to avoid another government shutdown, but it remains unclear whether President Trump will support the compromise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the White House support this agreement?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think so. We hope so.

JOHNS: A source tells CNN that White House aides are still digesting the details of the agreement. The president telling a crowd in El Paso last night that he had not yet been fully briefed.

TRUMP: Maybe progress has been made, maybe not. But I had a choice. I could have stayed out there and listened or could have come out to the people in El Paso or Texas. I chose you.

JOHNS: Sources tell CNN that the deal includes nearly $1.4 billion for 55 miles of new barrier in the Rio Grande Valley; funding for around 40,000 detention beds; and $1.7 billion increase in overall Department of Homeland Security spending.

The funding for the border barrier is significantly less than President Trump's $5.7 billion demand for a wall and only slightly above the current funding level of $1.3 billion. It's also less than the $1.6 billion the Senate offered last year, which President Trump rejected, leading to the government shutdown. Democrats appearing to drop their demand for a strict cap on

immigrants detained within the United States.

LEAHY: There's not a single one of us is going to get every single thing we want, but nobody does. But we're going to get what is best for the United States.

JOHNS: The details of the bill immediately coming under fire by conservatives.

REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC), CO-CHAIR, FREEDOM CAUCUS (via phone): Candidly, what's been outlined tonight is not a serious attempt at securing our borders.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: One point three billion? That's not -- and not even a wall, a barrier? Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain.

JOHNS: A White House official says the administration is floating another option: taking the deal but using the president's executive powers to divert other federal funds to build additional barriers, something the president and his supporters have alluded to in recent days.

MICK MULVANEY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: There's pots of money where presidents all -- presidents have access to without a national emergency.

TRUMP: Just so you know, we're building the wall anyway.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: A Democratic aide cautions that there is still a ton of work to do before the bill is ready for a floor vote. The president has nothing on his schedule today, but he is expected to meet with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe. Thank you very much for laying all that out for us.

I'm joined now by one of the four lead bipartisan negotiators, Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey. She's the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Congresswoman, thank you very much. I know you've had a late night. We really appreciate you being here, first, to explain to us what happened and what's in these negotiations.

So as Joe just laid out, let me put up for everybody one more time what we know is in what you all came up with: $1.375 billion for 55 miles in the Rio Grande Valley of new barrier. Funding for 40,000 ICE beds; and $1.7 billion increase for DHS spending. That's for the new technology, for the ports of entry, security, custom officers, humanitarian aid. What am I missing?

[06:05:03] REP. NITA LOWEY (D-NY), CHAIRWOMAN, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS: I must tell you, Alisyn, it is really interesting for me, because as we left the conference, we all agreed that we weren't going to release -- release the details. But it sounds to me as you have a good number of the details.

And I think it's important to remember: we got together as appropriators. This is a compromise. No one got everything they wanted. But it does secure the border. It does represent our values. And I am cautiously optimistic that we can get support from Republicans and Democrats, people who really want to keep the government open, want to secure our borders and want to do the right thing for all the parties who are involved in this.

CAMEROTA: But Congresswoman Lowey, let's talk about your cautious optimism. Because I want to know what it's founded on.

Do you have any indication that the president might will this? This is quite different than what he had asked for. Fifty-five miles of barrier is quite different from where he started when he was campaigning in 2015 for a thousand miles of a wall that he then went to 800 miles of a wall and then 500. Fifty-five miles of a barrier. What makes you think the president is going to sign this?

LOWEY: This bill was negotiated by Republicans and Democrats, senators and members of Congress. And we tried to put together a bill, again, that represents our values, Democrats and Republicans, and does the job in securing our border.

I feel confident that there will be strong support, both sides of the aisle. No one wants to shut down the government. We all want to protect our borders. We understand how important it is to have homeland security working effectively, responsibly, doing the job they're supposed to be doing.

So I feel confident that we can get together and pass this. And I want to make it clear this is a bill that the speaker supports. We have discussed it. There is strong support from all parts of our caucus.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LOWEY: And I feel confident we can get this done.

CAMEROTA: But did you get some signal from the White House? Did you get some signal from the chief of staff of the White House, that yes, this is something that the president would sign?

LOWEY: Look, I don't listen to signals from above. I listen to the words of my colleagues who are working with me in negotiating this bill. And I think the senators and the member of Congress, Kay Granger, were strongly supportive of this compromise. And I am cautiously optimistic that we will get this through.

Look, what's very important here, we have to protect our border. We have to make sure we maintain our values. And we have to get bipartisan support to get this passed. So as of last night, where we were supposed to keep all the details

quiet until they were all worked out. Remember, in a bill like this, it is thick. There are a lot of details. And we were not going to release them. But I guess you all did a very good job. You got a lot of the main numbers.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. That's how reporting often works. And we appreciate you saying that we're on target with most of this.

Does it concern you that Sean Hannity, who the president listens to a lot, calls it a garbage deal, and that Jim Jordan of the Freedom Caucus said -- tweeted this: "While the president was giving a great speech in El Paso, Congress was putting together a bad deal on immigration. #DoWhatWeSaid"?

LOWEY: Well, that probably confirms for me that it's a good deal. I would hope Sean Hannity and all the other people you mentioned aren't running this government.

This was a bipartisan deal between Senate and House, Republican/Democrat, and I think we did an excellent job that all parts of our caucuses can accept. And as some people didn't want to compromise, they probably wanted to shut the government down. We cannot shut the government down.

I'm proud to be an appropriator. I'm proud to work with my colleagues. We, I think, constructed a very good deal, again, that would secure our border. And that's what this is all about.

CAMEROTA: The only reason that I bring up the Sean Hannity thing is that, you know, back in -- I can't remember anymore when it was, but you thought you had a deal, I guess December. And then Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge didn't like it, and the president backed off.

LOWEY: Look, when we sat around this table and negotiated this deal, we didn't call Sean Hannity; we didn't call Coulter; we didn't call all the other people you mentioned. This was a deal that was negotiated between Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate. And we think we came to a good compromise, again, that would secure our border, because that's the goal. We have to uphold our values, secure our border, get a deal that we can support, and I think we did a good job.

[06:10:03] CAMEROTA: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had said not a single dollar. Not a single dollar for a border wall. Now, you're offering $1.3 billion for a border barrier.

LOWEY: Well, you're describing it. I guess you got the word from the negotiation. This is not a wall. This is a barrier. These are fences. I think 1.375 is a good number. You got the number. I didn't give the number.

We were putting the bill together and getting all the details in place. But I guess someone got the details.

CAMEROTA: Congresswoman, what if the president uses executive powers to take money from a different pot, a different government pot, say, for disaster victims? What if he does that? Will you feel cheated in this deal; or is that OK and that's his prerogative?

LOWEY: Look, right now I want to make it clear. Senator Shelby, the chair of the Appropriations Committee in the Senate; Senator Leahy; Kay Granger, Republican; and I negotiated this deal. I didn't get everything I wanted. It's a deal that I think represents our values and will secure the border and do the job it's intended to do.

And by the way, along with this are coming the other bills that we have to pass that are very, very important for the environment and for healthcare, for all the issues that we have a responsibility to fund. So this is a good deal, and I'm hoping it will continue to have strong bipartisan support.

I've been in the Congress for a while. You can't get everyone to love what you do, but you negotiate. That's what appropriators do.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LOWEY: And I think this was a good negotiation, and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

CAMEROTA: But if the president uses executive powers to take more money, to get more money for his barrier or his wall, how will you feel?

LOWEY: I think that there will be bipartisan response from the Senate and the House that we acted; this is the bill. And there are going to be a lot of discussions, but I am cautiously optimistic that those who don't want to shut the government down will support this compromise. It's a good deal.

CAMEROTA: Congresswoman Nita Lowey, we really appreciate you being on with us this morning and telling us about your late-night negotiations.

LOWEY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We'll see what happens today. Thank you.

LOWEY: Thank you, Alisyn.

BERMAN: I also like the endorsement of all the reporting that not just we have done but also "The Times" --

CAMEROTA: Indeed.

BERMAN: -- and "Post," every news organization. The details are out there at this point largely, I think, because the conferees want them out there.

What we don't know is if the president will sign onto this bill. We do know that the co-president, Sean Hannity, doesn't like it. What will the impact there be?

Plus, did Beto O'Rourke more or less tell our reporter he is running for president? Listen for yourself. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:39] BERMAN: Overnight, while you might have been sleeping or perhaps anchoring "AC 360," a deal to prevent a shutdown broke, and it broke about a half an hour before the president took the stage in El Paso. Still, the president chose not to learn the details of the deal, telling the crowd he was choosing them instead of policy. That was remarkable.

Also remarkable, at the very same time, about a thousand yards away, a possible 2020 challenger was taking his biggest step toward the date. I'm talking about former Congressman Beto O'Rourke.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny was in the middle of it all in El Paso. He joins us now with the very latest -- Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning.

Not only were these rallies within view of each other. They were also within earshot of each other. As Beto O'Rourke was -- was taking the stage, he was urging people that he said the eyes of the world were on the U.S. right now.

At that very same time, you could hear strains of "God Bless America" playing as President Trump was entering the stage. It's what Democrats hope are two very competing views of what could happen in 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I love this state, and I love the people of this state. We've had a great romance together, you know that.

ZELENY (voice-over): President Trump choosing El Paso for his first campaign rally of the year. But not everyone in the border city was feeling that love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Donald Trump has got to go.

ZELENY: Just outside his rally, a march against Trump and his call to build a border wall. The president taking note of one person in particular, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, who's eyeing a presidential bid of his own.

TRUMP: They'll say they know O'Rourke. That's his last name, right, O'Rourke? They know O'Rourke had a wonderful rally, although about 15 people --

ZELENY: Actually, thousands, but who's counting?

ROURKE: This is where we make our stand. And there's no better place I'd rather be and no one else I'd rather do it with. I love you, El Paso. The country's counting on us. Let's do it. ZELENY: It was not exactly a duel at high noon, but it was a Texas-

sized showdown and a preview of the 2020 presidential campaign, with immigration front and center, regardless of which Democrat challenges Trump.

The president made his case once again to spend billions on a border wall.

TRUMP: Walls save lives. Walls save tremendous numbers of lives.

ZELENY: His rally so close you could see him on the jumbotron behind O'Rourke as he made the opposite case.

O'ROURKE: We know that walls do not save lives. Walls end lives.

ZELENY: O'Rourke has captivated some Democrats, searching for a candidate to believe in, despite narrowly losing his challenge to Texas Senator Ted Cruz last year, a point Trump was eager to raise.

TRUMP: A young man who's got very little going for himself except he's got a great first name. I would say that may be the end of his presidential bid.

ZELENY: Of course, long before O'Rourke could ever take on Trump, he would have to survive an increasingly crowded Democratic primary; and he's yet to decide whether to declare his candidacy.

(on camera): How close are you?

O'ROURKE: Before the end of this month, I'll make a decision and an announcement.

ZELENY: It sure looks like a yes.

O'ROURKE: We'll see. We'll see.

ZELENY (voice-over): Whether he jumps in is one of the questions hanging over the Democratic race. He says he's weighing the toll a run would take on his young family. But they were alongside him Monday night.

[06:20:09] O'ROURKE: I love you, buddy. Let's remember this moment. It's pretty wild.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: So he certainly looked like a potential presidential candidate there as he was marching with supporters, and the crowd's shouting, "Run, Beto run," echoing around him.

But John, friends of his say they are not yet convinced he is going to run. They say he has serious concerns about his family. When I asked him, he said he will do whatever is best to help the country. Again, though, certainly looked like a candidate.

I also asked him if he's tough enough to take on President Trump. That is one of the questions Democrats have. He says, "I'm optimistic." That's the kind of message he would give. But it sure was a strong contrast between his message and the president's -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, Jeff Zeleny, I don't know if you know this, but I'm a body language expert. And so when you said, "Are you running?" he said, "We'll see," and he nodded. Like this. He didn't shake his head like, "Well, we'll see." He said, "We'll see." (NODDING HEAD)

So you know, take that for what it's worth.

ZELENY (NODDING): So we'll see. We'll see.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: Zeleny, stick around. We've got a lot more to discuss with you.

CAMEROTA: All right. Lawmakers have reached a tentative deal on border security. They just did it last night. There's the video of them, very tired, coming out to make the announcement.

BERMAN: You can see how excited they are in this picture.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Somebody get a defibrillator.

But will President Trump support this deal that they cobbled together last night?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:44] BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight a deal, a tentative deal in principle to prevent another government shutdown. A bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed on a plan that would include $1.375 billion for 55 miles of new fencing. Not a wall but fencing. Will the president sign on? That is the giant unknown this morning.

Joining us now, CNN White House correspondents Jeff Zeleny and Abby Phillip; and David Gregory, a CNN political analyst.

Abby, I want to go to you. You are in Washington, we are waiting for any sign -- white smoke, black smoke emitting from the White House -- telling us if this is a deal the president will sign onto. Any sense?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Notice what Republican lawmakers were saying when they came out of their conference meeting last night. They hope the president will sign this, but honestly, they don't know.

The big problem with this committee from the very beginning has been that it was never clear that President Trump would sign onto what they came up with.

And all the indications he's been given -- giving in the last several weeks and days have been that he does not believe that the committee will give him something that's sufficient to satisfy his base on his wall's demands.

But the way out for President Trump could be signing something like this, which is a partial cobbling together of money for border security and for fencing, and then also going and trying to pull money from other parts of the federal government, to essentially say, "You see, I'm going to take what they gave me, build the wall that way, reopen the government; but also build the wall the way that I feel like it needs to be built." That might be the way out here.

But it's really, really not clear. I have to emphasize the fact that I think people really don't know where this is going to go when the president really digests the feedback from his base and takes in the details of this deal.

CAMEROTA: David, we just had Congresswoman Nita Lowey on with us. And she was feeling, she said, cautiously optimistic, having worked late into the night. She was one of the negotiators. And she said that there was just a good-faith effort, a bipartisan, good-faith effort in that room, between the Republicans there; and she felt that they were going to avoid a government shutdown. And she was sort of feeling upbeat.

But when I pointed out to here that they've been there before, and then Ann Coulter got involved, and Matt Drudge got involved, you know, she sort of dismissed that and said they weren't in the room. But that's where we are this morning.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. As I've talked to some of those involved in the negotiations, there's a certain level of resignation. You know, they did what they were encouraged to do, what they were encouraged to do, but they also realize the president can sort of take this deal and add to it. Right?

And as Abby said, we just don't know. The president has got to be in a position where he can argue to his base, "Look, this is good. We're getting our wall. We've got this down payment. Let's build on that."

But if he looks like he's selling out, it's not going to be good enough.

And when you hear the Sean Hannitys, you hear some of the chirping on the right, the president has got to be able to answer that, and in pretty short order, which is why he has in his words, set the table, whether it's national emergency or whether it's Mulvaney's plan to move some extra money around, to bridge that gap. That may be the direction he's heading. Who knows? Right?

I mean, let's just remember that it was Mitch McConnell, who said to him, along with Paul Ryan, then speaker of the House, "Don't shut down the government."

The president said, "OK, I won't do that," and then he did. So, you know, predicting what he's going to do is impossible.

BERMAN: It's less mileage for a border barrier than he could have received last spring from the Senate Appropriations Committee. GREGORY: Yes.

BERMAN: It's less money than the Senate was willing to give him in December. But the president does have an option, which is to stand up to Sean Hannity. That is always available to him.

GREGORY: Yes.

BERMAN: He doesn't have to do what Sean Hannity says here. He could say, "We're getting this barrier. It's better for the 800,000 federal workers if they get paid."

CAMEROTA: Stop your crazy talk.

BERMAN: I know. I know it's crazy talk.

Jeff Zeleny, to you. I do think it's very interesting to watch this going forward. We are literally glued to our computers this morning, waiting to see if the president tweets.

I was shocked the president told the crowd last night where you are in El Paso, walking out onto the stage. You know, "I could have learned about this deal. I could have learned about this issue, which is so important that we shut down the government for 35 days. But I chose not to, because I had to give a political speech."

ZELENY: It was extraordinary but not surprising in any way. The fact was, the first campaign rally of this cycle was here in El Paso for a reason. That was very important to the president and his base.

But just hours before, or days before a potential shutdown, if he was interested in the details.

END