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New Day
Interview with Jessica Denson; Reality Check on North Carolina Race; Firefighter Saves Neighbors from Mudslides; Academy Awards With No Host. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired February 22, 2019 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00] JESSICA DENSON, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL: Camilo Sandoval, who is currently still at the Veterans Affairs Department. He could not stand that a woman who he had hired essentially to be a prop in his data department got a meaningful promotion and was demonstrating her value. And he launched an all-out assault on my character. He tried to steal my personal laptop. He tried to engage other staffers in this theft and hacking of my devices.
I went to the campaign thinking that they would support and protect me. And, instead, the chief information officer, Jeff DeWitt, and the human resources director, Lucia Castellano, completely retaliated against me, took away all the work I was doing, banned me from Trump Tower, told people to keep me away from Donald Trump and ultimately prevented me from being able to continue any kind of career or opportunity to serve in the administration.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And as if all of that is not bad enough, when you tried to file a lawsuit because all of that is illegal, then what happened?
DENSON: What happened was less than a month after I filed my lawsuit in November of 2017, before I even served papers on the campaign, on Christmas Eve they sent me an arbitration demand for $1.5 million claiming that by the mere act of asserting my statutory rights in state court I had violated their NDA and that I should submit to this arbitration in secret instead of pursuing my claims in court.
CAMEROTA: We've seen this before, obviously, in other high-profile cases. NDAs do not prevent people from reporting crimes. But somehow they are used to threaten people and to scare them from reporting crimes.
So explain, why did you sign an NDA? What did you have to sign it? What did they tell you about the justification for why, working for a campaign, you were going to have to sign it?
DENSON: They basically presented it to me immediately, Camilo Sandoval did, the day I was offered the job and said, please sign and return this NDA ASAP. I was of the mind at the time very ignorantly and blindly that Donald Trump was someone who was under attack by everyone and why shouldn't I, like all the other supporters, be eager and anxious to protect him from all of the attacks? And so I viewed it through that very mistaken and ignorant lens and I signed it thinking that he was going to be fighting for the things that I believed in, against corruption, making American great again.
CAMEROTA: And was everyone there forced to sign it?
DENSON: As far as I know, this was a fairly ubiquitous document that not only employees like myself, but also independent contractors, volunteers who were not even paid but just showed up to volunteer their time.
CAMEROTA: And did that -- was there some sort of pervasive culture of paranoia, did you feel, when you worked there?
DENSON: In retrospect, what I feel is that these NDAs created an environment where people like Camilo Sandoval, who wanted to commit abuses on other people, felt like they could act with immunity and engage in illegal conduct and it would never see the light of day. And I see that in retrospect.
CAMEROTA: So now what are you fighting for? Now what are you trying to do?
DENSON: Well, now what I'm doing -- I fought this on a -- for a year on my own, actually, as a pro-se (ph) litigant. And I -- I -- I got a very beautiful judgment from the state court judge saying that my claims could go forward in open court. Nonetheless, the campaign pursued this arbitration against me and recently obtained an award for $50,000 that I'm --
CAMEROTA: Your supposed to pay them $50,000.
DENSON: I'm supposed to pay them $50,000. And I haven't even had my day in court yet. I am challenging it on all fronts.
But, beyond that, these NDAs are extremely dangerous. I think that we are in a very dangerous time in our country. And I think we need all hands on deck to -- to confront the oppression and the lies that are coming out of who is supposed to be the leader of the free world on a daily basis. I think the supporters of this campaign should be among the most outraged that they have been taken for fools and used and their good will and good faith in this cause to -- for American greatness and freedom.
These -- these NDAs say that someone who signed them will have a lifetime of allegiance to everything related to Trump. That if they dare do anything but praise and be a sycophant for this president, that they -- their very livelihood will be threatened.
This is -- this is un-American. It's unconstitutional. I would say that the document is a ludicrous document. But my case is proof that they are being used in real ways to punish people with stories that the American people need to know now more than ever and before it's too late.
CAMEROTA: We reached out to the Trump campaign to see what their response to all of this was and they did not give us an official statement.
If you win this, everybody's NDAs could be lifted (INAUDIBLE).
DENSON: Absolutely. Absolutely.
CAMEROTA: Jessica Denson, thank you very much for coming on NEW DAY and telling us what you're fighting for. We really --
[08:35:00] DENSON: We have a Crowd Justice site set up. It's a very expensive fight. I'm one woman fighting this on my own right now and any support would be greatly appreciated.
CAMEROTA: Where can people find your Crowd Justice?
DENSON: It's at crowdjustice.com/densonvtrump.
CAMEROTA: Got it.
Jessica, thank you very much.
DENSON: Thank you. God bless you.
CAMEROTA: We'll follow it.
DENSON: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Thank you. You too.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, really interesting discussion.
A new vote has now been ordered after claims of election fraud in North Carolina after evidence of election fraud in a North Carolina House race. Could this now lead to a new candidate? A CNN "Reality Check" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: So something extraordinary is happening in North Carolina. An entire election for a congressional district there will have to be repeated, a redo, after claims -- after evidence -- evidence of widespread election fraud. And that's not all. The Republicans might even get to pick a new candidate.
John Avlon with a "Reality Check."
Sir.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, guys.
So, the 2020 presidential campaign may just be beginning, but it turns out that the 2018 election isn't over yet. You heard me right, the congressional election for North Carolina's ninth district is getting a do-over. That's because a shady political consultant and convicted felon named Leslie McCrae Dowless was hired by the Republican candidate, a pastor named Mark Harris, and is suspected of committing widespread absentee ballot fraud. [08:40:11] It was so bad that the North Carolina Board of Elections
voted unanimously to throw out the results and to hold a new election.
Here's what the head of the board said, quote, improprieties occurred to such an extent that they tainted the results of the entire election.
It's a crazy story that we first told you about here in December, but a lot's happened since then. The core of it's this, after an election in which the president of the United States fear mongered about illegal voting to fire up his base, the only race that appears to have been impacted by election fraud was a Republican campaign to win in a district they've held since the civil rights movement. That Dowless, who was contracted by the Red Dome Group, was already suspected of scooping up absentee ballots in a previous election. But during the hearing, one of Dowless' own campaign workers admitted to doing just that and testified that Dowless told her to lie about it.
Now, Dowless has denied all allegations of wrongdoing, but here's the tell, 75 percent of the absentee ballots requested by African- Americans in Robeson County, and 40 percent in Bladen, weren't sent in. It seems they might have voted the wrong way.
Now, when the ballot weirdness was first discovered, the head of the North Carolina GOP said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is mathematically impossible for there to be enough mail-in ballots that can be in question in Bladen County to turn this race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: Now this, like a lot of the claims made by the candidate (ph), ended up being false.
And check this out for drama. The star witness ended up being Harris' 27-year-old son. An assistant U.S. attorney who testified that he warned his dad against hiring Dowless, e-mailing, quote, good test is if you're comfortable with the full process he uses being broadcast in the press. Apparently his dad didn't think that would happen. But here we are.
And now, after breaking down in tears during his son's testimony, Harris suddenly says he's OK with a new election after fighting it for months. Now, maybe he thinks he can win the presumably low turnout affair in a district that's been drawn to benefit Republicans. But here's the deal. The party's so nervous that Harris has been damaged by scandal that the state legislature passed a special bill requiring a new primary as well.
And all of this is just more evidence of the need for redistricting reform. GOP-led gerrymandering in North Carolina has been repeatedly found to intentionally disadvantage blacks and Democrats. And the Supreme Court will be hearing a significant case about redistricting in March. It's kind of a big deal for the future of our democracy. But this brazen case of alleged election fraud in North Carolina nine clearly shows how partisan operatives try to manipulate our democracy to hold on to power.
Final programing note. This weekend is the Oscars. And given North Carolina's fraught history with politics and race, I thought it would be worthwhile to point this out this fact. No African-American has ever won the Academy Award for best director. We'll see if Spike Lee can break the streak on Sunday night for "BlacKkKlansman."
And all of that is your "Reality Check."
BERMAN: The "Reality Check" with an Oscar twist.
CAMEROTA: Yes, an Oscar --
AVLON: With a twist.
BERMAN: With a twist at the end.
CAMEROTA: I didn't see that coming at the end.
AVLON: I just -- I -- you know, I thought I'd see -- keep your on your toes.
BERMAN: All right, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
CAMEROTA: Thanks so much, John.
A firefighter caught in an emergency thinking about others before herself.
CNN's Stephanie Elam tells us how she went "Beyond the Call of Duty."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Maeve Juarez always welcomed a good storm to end fire season.
MAEVE JUAREZ, MONTECITO FIRE DEPARTMENT: You hear the pitter patter on the roof and you think, oh, is it going to happen again?
ELAM: But a lot of rain now triggers a new fear, mudslides. And this winter has been particularly wet.
JUAREZ: We were constantly monitoring the creeks. The noise of the boulders coming down and the water rushing down just kind of brought me back.
ELAM: Brought the Montecito fire department supervisor back to the storm last season that devastated the town and put her in imminent danger.
JUAREZ: I came and parked on the bridge and shut the truck off.
ELAM: In the darkness, Juarez didn't know a massive mudslide had begun. After a relentless wildfire that destroyed ten homes in the town, Juarez was focused on the weather.
JUAREZ: I myself spent 29 days on the Thomas Fire. I was really looking forward to the rain.
ELAM: She shot this video before deciding to check on a resident.
JUAREZ: I would say less than 60 seconds later was when this gas line had exploded and destroyed the bridge.
ELAM: The bridge she was just on.
JUAREZ: It was like 2:00 in the afternoon it was so bright.
ELAM: Her truck was caught in a deluge of knee-high water.
JUAREZ: I knew I didn't have control of the vehicle and knew I just needed to pull into a driveway so that I could get back up to the fire.
ELAM: Juarez called for two nearby firefighters to search for people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here. Get out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here. Get out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
JUAREZ: They found two burn victims in the house that had jumped out of their house when it caught on fire.
ELAM: They were covered in mud.
JUAREZ: She was naked. So I took my clothes off and put them on her. I knew she was burned. I knew she was cold. I knew she was going into shock.
ELAM: But then --
JUAREZ: I went to turn to the west and the whole neighborhood was gone. There was nothing left. It was just a river.
[08:45:02] ELAM: The mudslide, thick with multi-ton boulders and debris, cascaded downhill across the 101 freeway and into the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We estimated four to five feet of mud and debris actually standing on the 101.
ELAM: A Coast Guard helicopter was the only way to get the couple out.
JUAREZ: I told them that she couldn't walk and that I was going to put her on my back and carry her to the helicopter to them.
ELAM: Immediately she headed to the next call.
JUAREZ: Another neighborhood had washed away. I just started hearing people yelling for help.
ELAM: Juarez directed firefighters to get residents on their roofs and called for helicopters to hoist out survivors.
JUAREZ: I wanted to be the last one out.
ELAM: She stayed on a rooftop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's an amazing hero. She's -- she was absolutely selfless.
ELAM: Juarez continued to work for some 36 hours, focused on saving lives despite almost losing hers.
Stephanie Elam, CNN, Montecito, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: What a story.
CAMEROTA: It's a great story.
BERMAN: All right, here is what to watch today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ON SCREEN TEXT: 2:30 p.m. ET, Pres. Trump meets China's vice premier.
4:45 p.m. ET, Speaker Pelosi talks border security.
8:00 p.m. ET, Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to NH Dems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You know, I'm not going to lie, that song is growing on me. I'm really enjoying it.
CAMEROTA: It is. It is like a club dance night here on Friday morning.
BERMAN: Yes. I'll have vinyl right outside the studio I change into after the show when I hear that music.
CAMEROTA: Disturbing.
BERMAN: Too much information.
CAMEROTA: A little bit.
So, are you excited about the Oscars?
BERMAN: I -- I really am.
CAMEROTA: Yes, you look like it. Usually before the Oscars, everyone is wondering who is going to win.
This year everyone wonders how the show will go without a host. That's next, John Berman, stay tuned.
BERMAN: All right, the meg (ph). Is the meg (ph) going to win?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:51:14] BERMAN: Hollywood's biggest night is almost here. The 91st Academy Awards on Sunday. So the big question is, who will come home with the Oscars and what will the show even look like without a host?
CAMEROTA: You're really selling it.
BERMAN: Join -- I'm -- I want to know. I want to know.
CAMEROTA: You're selling it now.
BERMAN: I think all the Avengers are going to be there, first of all.
Joining us now is Nischelle Turner, host at "Entertainment Tonight."
Nischelle, thank you very much for being with us.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi. Yes.
BERMAN: Before we talk about who's going to win and the actual awards that will be given, it's the how they will be given that's caused so much controversy over the last two months.
TURNER: Yes.
BERMAN: So what actually are we going to see?
TURNER: OK, well, let me set the scene for you real quick, OK? The year is 1989. That's the last time the Oscars didn't have a host. That show was opened by an 11-minute musical number headlined by Rob Lowe and Snow White. The next number was a "Stars of Tomorrow" number featuring Patrick Dempsey and Ricki Lake. The day after that show, Hollywood icons like Paul Newman and Julie Andrews signed an open letter saying that that telecast was an embarrassment to the Motion Picture Industry.
CAMEROTA: Wow.
TURNER: And so that's how things went the last time that there wasn't a host.
CAMEROTA: Right.
TURNER: Now, let's fast forward to Sunday and what we're going to get is hopefully an entirely different scenario than what happened in 1989.
You mentioned, John, that there is a big rumor that all the Avengers will unite on the stage. That rumor is still out there. No one will confirm or deny. But what I do know is that Brie Larson, who is the newest member of the Marvel Universe since Captain Marvel, and Sam Jackson, who is the perennial Nick Fury, who's the man, they will be there. They will present together. I have confirmed that. So I know at least those two are going to be there. The rest of the guys, not quite sure what's going to happen with them.
But the Academy's trying to liven things up a bit. What they're doing this year, they're going to have two deejays on the red carpet. Never happened before. The Oscars is known as like the stuffy time, but they're going to be pumping up the jam on the red carpet --
BERMAN: They're trying.
TURNER: Trying to create like a party atmosphere to get people in the mood to be light and have a good time.
It's going to be interesting because they really have been lobbying hard for a-listers to come to this show to be presenters, to be a part of the show to make up for having no host. But I have to tell you, the opening is going to have to knock our socks off because that's when we usually have the monologue which sets the tone for the show.
So I don't know if Rob Lowe is on the bill. I don't know if Snow White's coming back. But all I know is it's got to be good.
CAMEROTA: But, I mean, how's it going to work? There's just going to be a voice of God moving the show along? How are they going to pace it?
TURNER: You know, that's a good question. I think what they're going to try to do is have just a bunch of presenters coming out one after the other to keep the show going. You will have an announcer voice that is going to announce who's going to come in, who's coming out next to present. But I think that's what they're going to do.
If you think back, though, and you think about a host, usually you do see the host for, you know, the beginning for their monologue, but then they come in and out. Maybe two minutes, minute and a half, 30- second little break. So I think they're just going to try to fill that with other things. They may have taped pieces, things like that.
They're being very secretive because they've have such problems with what's going to happen this year. There was so much bad publicity surrounding the Kevin Hart issue.
BERMAN: Let's talk about the trophies. Let's talk about the trophies here.
Best picture. What are the storylines --
TURNER: I don't know if you want to talk about this.
BERMAN: No, I'm --
TURNER: Close your ears.
BERMAN: What -- what are the storylines surrounding best picture?
TURNER: OK, the story line on Monday will be if "Bohemian Rhapsody" wins, John Berman will be calling in sick.
BERMAN: It's just not a good movie. But let's not talk about that.
CAMEROTA: I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.
TURNER: Well, John, it could -- it could -- you know, it's already picked up -- Rami Malek will -- you know, is leading the pack now for best actor, but it's already picked up the Golden Globe for best picture. It is one of the frontrunners, along with "Roma," which would be the first time Netflix ever won a best picture. That could -- that could happen because Alfonso Cuaron is in the lead for best director to win. So "Green Book" has had a lot of momentum this awards season. But then "Black Panther" won the SAG Award. So this race, I believe, is pretty wide open. And it wouldn't surprise me. The only thing that would surprise me is if "A Star is Born" won because it's kind of limped into the Oscars.
[08:55:33] CAMEROTA: OK.
BERMAN: So now you're upset. Now you're upset.
CAMEROTA: Let's -- now I'm interested. Let's talk about this. Because Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are going to sing their duet of "Shallow" live.
TURNER: They are.
CAMEROTA: And, Nischelle, is it time for them just to get married? I mean --
TURNER: I don't know if Irina Shayk would like that one. But their chemistry, I would say, Alisyn, bananas. It's completely bananas. This will probably win for best song. I can't imagine that their performance will be anything other than electric. That will be something to tune in to the Academy Awards for on its face.
BERMAN: All right, Nischelle, we'll have you back. We're going to talk about this after it all happens and "Bohemian Rhapsody" does not when.
TURNER: I'll see you Monday morning with lots of spackle on under these eyes.
BERMAN: All right. Fantastic. We'll be -- we'll be bedazzled ourselves.
Thanks, Nischelle.
All right, actor Jussie Smollett, he called an on-set meeting with the "Empire" cast and crew last night. We have new details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:06] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: A very good Friday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto in
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