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New Day
Pulse Of The People: How Hillary Clinton Voters Feel About The 2020 Race; CNN Reality Check: Is Trump's Response To Natural Disasters Swayed By Politics?; Facebook Slammed For Phone Look-Up Feature; London Patient Might Be Second Cured Of HIV; House Democrats Target President Trump's Entire World. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired March 05, 2019 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:33:36] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Back by popular demand, another NEW DAY voter panel. This time, Democratic voters from Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, all of whom voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. You may remember some of them from previous panels during that election season.
Well, we brought them back to see how they're feeling today and who they want to take on President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Show of hands -- how many of you are feeling today very optimistic about a Democrat's chances in 2020?
Michael, why are you optimistic?
MICHAEL MILISITS, DEMOCRAT: I think, you know, Trump has created an energy on the left that we haven't seen in a long time. It was enough to get over the hump in 2016, apparently, but I think, you know -- I think that the Democrats are appearing to be better organized.
CAMEROTA: Tell me if you can limit it to one, who you are most excited about right now of the people who are in or even considering getting in. Can you narrow it down to one right now, Russell?
RUSSELL BANKS, DEMOCRAT: I really like what Kamala Harris is doing in terms of schooling and the green initiatives.
But also, I mean, to go with a kind of old safety -- you know, Bernie Sanders. I mean, he just had so much going for him.
CAMEROTA: Mary, who are you most excited about?
MARY REAMAN, DEMOCRAT: I would have to agree. I'm -- my eye is on Senator Harris right now. I think it's time to have a woman because a woman brings a different perspective and has a different experience of life.
[07:35:03] CAMEROTA: Michael? MILISITS: I was for Bernie in the 2016 primaries. I think that he brings a lot to the table from 2016 because he now has the name recognition. He's got a machine behind him that's not necessarily the same as the Democratic Party machine.
You know, it's not enough to just energize Democrats, you need to find a candidate who can actually energize some of those 100 million-plus people who just, for whatever reason, are not voting.
CHRISTIAN TAMTE, DEMOCRAT: I'm not excited for Bernie, though.
CAMEROTA: Why?
TAMTE: I think he was very divisive -- very divisive last time around and I think he's going to do the same thing. I'm looking for a candidate that's going to keep us alive and pull us together and I don't think that's Bernie.
I think that there is a section of the Republican Party that doesn't like Trump either and is looking for a more centrist candidate, and Bernie is way left.
OWEN EVANS, DEMOCRAT: If I had to pick someone right now, I really love Elizabeth Warren. I think she has everything that I'm looking for. She has really bold ideas. She's not backing down on making big promises and she knows how to get them done. She knows how to sell them.
And I think that's what we want in a president and I think that's what's going to beat Donald Trump.
CAROL EVANS, DEMOCRAT: I don't really think it's time to pick because we have four stellar women candidates and I'm just for all of them to move forward and see which one rises above the others.
CAMEROTA: Christian, who are you most excited about?
TAMTE: I really like Cory Booker. I think he is phenomenal. I think he's done a really great job.
I like -- I hope that Beto O'Rourke comes in. I think that he's just waiting and I'm really energized about him.
And, Kamala Harris is right up there, too.
CAMEROTA: How many people believe that the winning formula would be for a Democrat to be pragmatic and more centrist -- show of hands? Two of you feel that way.
How many of you feel that the time is right for a progressive and that's what would win?
CAMEROTA: Carol?
C. EVANS: We're ready for progressive candidates. They've won all over the country and I think we need bold, strong leadership and you'll find that in the progressives.
MILISITS: I think that we had the standard bearer for the kind of pragmatic centrist candidate in Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Donald Trump is now president. He is not your average political candidate.
So we really try to think outside the box because it seems like the dude's made of rubber. Like, anything you throw at him just bounces off. I mean, there's nothing that sticks.
CAMEROTA: How many of you would like to see Joe Biden get in -- show of hands? What's happening with you all?
(CROSS TALK)
C. EVANS: His time is done.
BANKS: I'll be honest, I used to think like, you know, because obviously he was riding like kind of the Obama wave. And I thought he was the -- I thought he was the person that would unite the party. But to be honest, you know, Senator Biden really comes from kind of the good old boy politics of the past.
O. EVANS: I don't think Joe Biden represents that new thing that we need. We just -- we need a new economy. We need a new --
BANKS: Yes.
O. EVANS: -- politics.
BANKS: Absolutely.
O. EVANS: And we need someone different.
CAMEROTA: What will you be voting on in 2020? If the -- if the election were held today, Mary, what's your big issue that you feel you would vote on?
REAMAN: You know, my big issue, truly, is about climate change. I think because it touches everyone, and it touches jobs, and it touches our future. And we cannot have a conversation about politics without considering what we are doing to the planet.
MILISITS: I mean, you see people freaking out over the wall and these migrants coming up from Central and South America. I mean, that's going to be like nothing compared to the migration we'll see as climate change really starts to affect the sea level rise. I mean, the ice is melting fast.
C. EVANS: My big issue is the global world order. I mean, we have a president who has humiliated the United States on the global stage by cozying up to dictators. By having a -- falling in love with the leader of North Korea. By having a relationship with Russia that makes him giddy and excited.
TAMTE: I echo all the sentiments on climate change. I also am going to be looking for a candidate that's going to take on sensible gun regulation. That's the big one for me. That's maybe the biggest one for me.
O. EVANS: I think overall, like whoever I support, they have to be for Medicare for All. It's hurting so many people. It's something Democrats have worked on for -- since FDR, and we absolutely need to have that. It -- like, health care just needs to be a human right.
CAMEROTA: All of you ended up being Hillary voters. So, does Hillary have a role in 2020?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
TAMTE: No.
CAMEROTA: Should she campaign for --
REAMAN: No, stay away.
CAMEROTA: Why is that?
TAMTE: Look, I love you, Hillary -- I love you, I love you, but stay away. We are so divided right now that anything that has Hillary on it is automatically going to separate us again.
[07:40:00] REAMAN: I just think her time is done. I think it's been -- it's done. We do need something new.
CAMEROTA: Do you feel the same way about President Obama? Should he campaign for who --
TAMTE: Well --
CAMEROTA: -- for -- should he be out on the stump?
C. EVANS: Yes, he should campaign. He's a great --
TAMTE: Yes.
C. EVANS: -- campaigner. He's very beloved and he also has a tremendous connection to all the people that he -- that love him.
He has a base, still, and that base is very strong. And he has, I think, an authoritative voice against Trump that we're going to need in this campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow, there was a lot that's interesting there. You know, first of all, one of the things we hear from Iowa voters and New Hampshire voters -- Democratic voters -- is they're sampling. They're in the sampling season and clearly, that group of eight (sic) people is in the sampling season.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely, but there's a lot that they like so far. They all said they're cautiously optimistic because they really like the field. BERMAN: What was notable and perhaps frightening to some people is who they don't like. If I am Joe Biden sitting at home right now, I'm watching that being like hmm, I'm weighing whether I run or not. There are eight people now -- granted, I think those may have been eight people more active in Democratic politics -- not necessarily the casual observer.
And it might be that Biden sells better with the more casual Democratic voter and older Democratic voter, by the way. And that was not an older group of voters -- 65 and older -- and that's who Biden may do better with right there.
But that, I think, should sound a tone of caution, I think.
CAMEROTA: No, I was surprised. I was surprised that -- there are six of them, but I know math isn't our strong suit.
BERMAN: Yes.
CAMEROTA: But there's -- I was surprised that of the six, that nobody said that they were supporting Biden. They seem much more engaged with the newcomers on the block, but not just because of the novelty of it. I mean, these are people who have been active at times and who are certainly engaged, so they know the platform.
OK, so tomorrow, we have part two, and they talk about the investigations that are going on -- the oversight. What they want to see in terms of what happens with President Trump. And also, how strongly they feel -- you'll hear tomorrow -- about Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez and Nancy Pelosi.
BERMAN: It doesn't surprise me at all because another notable thing there was how progressive and how demanding I think they sound like they will be on progressive issues of the candidates.
CAMEROTA: Yes, indeed.
BERMAN: Fascinating.
All right, President Trump promises A-plus disaster relief after Alabama's deadly tornadoes. Next, an eye-opening CNN reality check of the president's performance after another -- after other major natural disasters.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:46:13] BERMAN: President Trump is promising great things for Alabama after tornadoes killed at least 23 people and injured dozens more. So how has the political makeup of an area hit by a natural disaster affected the federal government's response?
John Avlon has our reality check -- John.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It was just what you want to hear from a president after a devastating natural disaster. Quote, "FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A-plus treatment to the great state of Alabama." Finally, we see President Trump embrace the role of comforter in chief.
FEMA shouldn't have to be directed to give people the A-plus treatment. It's a welcomed message for people who are suffering after a tornado ripped through 24 miles of Lee County, killing at least 23 people.
But it does seem in sharp contrast to the tone President Trump took after the worst wildfires in California history, just five months ago, when 85 people were killed in the Northern California Camp Fire alone.
Quote, "There's no reason for these massive, deadly, and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Remedy now or no more fed payments."
Comforter in chief? Not so much when it comes to California. Instead, he seems perilously close to blaming the victim.
And he continued in that vein, denying that climate change had any role to play in the escalating wildfires, and suggesting that the solution lay in the raking of forests -- seriously.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got to take care of the floors -- you know, the floors of the forest. It's very important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: The floors of the forest.
If Trump's callousness to California sounded something like his head- smacking responses to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, quoting a conservative T.V. host, saying that the American island was facing a fiscal crisis of its own making and warning that FEMA couldn't stay there forever -- keep in mind that we now know that an estimated 3,000 of our fellow Americans were killed in that hurricane, most in its aftermath. But, Trump praised the government's disaster response as quote, "One of the best."
He also compared Maria to Hurricane Katrina, calling that storm in which more than 1,800 died, a real catastrophe.
The president even managed to get into Hurricane Maria death toll denial, attacked the mayor of San Juan, and blamed the Democrats for it all, while accusing local elected officials, without evidence, of scamming the federal government and trying to use relief funds to pay off their debt.
So, what might make a president take such a different instinctive tact towards Puerto Rico, California, and the families in Lee County, Alabama? Sad to say, but it just might be politics.
Back in November, "The Washington Post" noted the stark differences in an article headlined, quote, "For Trump, even disaster response is colored in red and blue."
Now, Trump won Alabama by nearly a two-to-one margin over Hillary Clinton but lost California by almost the same margin.
Look, bottom line, partisan politics shouldn't even cross a president's mind in the face of suffering by U.S. citizens.
George W. Bush didn't exactly carry Manhattan but he rallied around the city of New York after the attacks of 9/11. It's what presidents do. That's why it's called acting presidential.
And everyone should feel that the federal government has got their back when disaster strikes because it's moments like that when we should realize that no matter who you vote for, what divides us is small in the face of what unites us as Americans.
And that's your reality check.
BERMAN: I've got to -- if there's one thing that could afford to be apolitical it's disaster relief, I think.
CAMEROTA: Yes, you'd think.
BERMAN: All right.
New privacy concerns for Facebook users. What happens when you give the company your phone number, next.
CAMEROTA: Plus, a possible medical breakthrough. A second person could be cured of HIV.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:54:02] BERMAN: It's time for "CNN Business Now."
Security experts are criticizing a Facebook feature meant to keep you safe from hackers, but they say it could be yet a new privacy concern.
Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now -- more with that.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, ANCHOR, "EARLY START": What, privacy concerns and Casablanca? I can't believe it, right?
Look, this is about using your phone number for two-factor authentication or 2FA on Facebook. The users thought their phone numbers would only be used for security purposes. It turns out, though, it can be used to find you on the site.
Under the privacy settings, users can specify who they want to share their phone number with or their e-mail address, but there's no way to opt out entirely.
Over the weekend, social media outrage spread. Now, a spokesperson for Facebook said the feature is supposed to make it easier to find people you know that aren't yet friends with you on Facebook. "We appreciate the feedback we've received about these settings and will take it into account."
Now, critics say you shouldn't have to give up your privacy in exchange for protecting yourself against hackers by using 2FA. If people choose to use two-factor authentication with a phone number, they must add the number to their Facebook profile.
[07:55:06] It's just another security and privacy concern overlap for Facebook. Last year, it removed the ability to enter someone's phone number and e-mail address into the Facebook search bar amid similar privacy concerns. But, Facebook did confirm phone numbers may be used to inform ads personalization -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, Christine. Thank you very much for that report.
Listen to this. A patient in London may be the second person to be cured of HIV. The case comes more than a decade after a patient in Berlin was also cured using stem cell transplants from donors with a rare genetic mutation.
CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to tell us more about this. So, it looks very promising.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, it is very promising but really, this doesn't mean anything for people who currently have HIV. However, it is exciting for the future, and let me explain.
So, two patients -- the Berlin patient, 12 years ago, and now, the London patient -- they both -- in addition to having HIV, they had cancer. One had leukemia and one had lymphoma.
So, doctors did a stem cell transplant to treat the cancer. But, since they did have HIV, they said you know what? Let's give them a stem cell transplant from someone who has this rare genetic mutation that basically makes them immune to HIV.
And it worked for these two gentlemen. They are no longer taking antiretroviral drugs -- the anti-HIV drugs -- and they do not have HIV. People use words like "apparently" -- you know, "apparently cured" is the term that a lot of doctors are using.
So, it's important to note, though, this same treatment -- this same stem cell treatment was also used for other people with HIV and it did not work. So, it worked for two of them; it didn't work for several others.
CAMEROTA: But, Elizabeth, why not try it for all HIV patients?
COHEN: You know what, that's a great question because if it worked for two, why not try it for all of them? The problem, Alisyn, is that stem cell treatments can kill you. They are very, very risky.
You have to do them for many patients with cancer because that's the only treatment available. It's worth the risk. But you know what? Anti-HIV drugs that came out in the 90s, they do a
terrific job. They're very effective. Why would you put someone through the risk of a stem cell transplant when you can give them these very safe drugs?
CAMEROTA: That's interesting.
So is there a way to make the treatment more safe and effective for more than just these two people?
COHEN: You know what? That's exactly what they're trying to do, Alisyn.
They're trying to come up with a way to do the stem cell transplant without the risks, basically, of a stem cell transplant. So it could be used on a wider basis but we are years and years away from that.
CAMEROTA: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much for all of this --
COHEN: OK.
CAMEROTA: -- breaking medical news.
BERMAN: All right.
This morning, new response from the White House after House Democrats launched an investigation into just about everything --
CAMEROTA: Pretty much.
BERMAN: -- surrounding Donald Trump.
NEW DAY continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Our goal is to hold the administration accountable. Our goal is to vindicate the rule of law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've given all this information to the special counsel. It's really harassment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each one will be able to offer us facts and evidence to put the puzzle together.
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I have never asked for nor would I accept a pardon from President Trump.
CAMEROTA: A new report says Cohen's lawyer discussed a possible pardon with President Trump's lawyers.
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: My advice for the President of the United States is no pardons. After the investigation is over, then it has to be considered as a governmental matter.
GOV. KAY IVEY (R), ALABAMA: Tornadoes ravaged parts of our great state. We lost children, mothers, fathers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son was on top of me. He said, "Mom, I don't want to die."
JESSICA CHANDLER, OPELIKA, ALABAMA RESIDENT: But he just held onto the couch for dear life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
BERMAN: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, March fifth, 8:00 in the East.
And new this morning, this is what congressional oversight looks like and the White House is not enjoying the view. The Trump administration and the Trump campaign is lashing out at House Democrats after those Democrats launched a sweeping investigation into the president's orbit -- wide orbit.
Lawmakers are tackling allegations of corruption, obstruction of justice, abuse of power. They sent requests for documents to 81 individuals and entities with ties to the president, including two of his sons.
The White House calls the move disgraceful and abusive.
CAMEROTA: Also new this morning, "The Wall Street Journal" reports that a lawyer for Michael Cohen approached President Trump's attorneys and raised the possibility of a pardon after Cohen was raided by the FBI last year.
What's unclear, at this point, is whether Michael Cohen knew about that because, of course, he denied that in front of Congress. So we will talk to the report behind that story.
As all of this plays out, former White House lawyer Ty Cobb is defending the Mueller probe. Here's a piece.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TY COBB, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: You can criticize the strategy. It wouldn't have been my strategy.
You know, I don't feel the same way about Mueller. I don't feel the investigation is a witch hunt. I wish it -- I wish it had happened on a quicker timetable, but it didn't."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right.
Joining us now are Rachael Bade. She's a congressional reporter at "The Washington Post." We also have Jeffrey Toobin, CNN's chief legal analyst. And, David Gregory, a CNN political analyst. Jeffrey, I'll just start with you with what we just heard from Ty Cobb. Is that significant that he's speaking publicly about this not being a witch hunt.
END
