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New Day

Trump Outraged about a Lot in Tweets, Ignores Muslims Massacre; 50 Dead, Dozens Injured in Massacre at New Zealand Mosques; 2 Dead in Historic Flooding Across Nebraska. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICK MULVANEY, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: The president is not a white supremacist. I'm not sure how many times we have to say that.

[05:59:12] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing that he can do is send out his surrogates while he stays home and tweets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He needs to do better. He needs to speak up and condemn this very loud and very clearly.

JACINTA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: We cannot be deterred. Our gun rules need to change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to bring division into our communities. They have failed woefully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every victim has a story. That could have been me. That could have been you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, March 18, 6 a.m. here in New York. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill joins me.

You picked a doozy.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: I like -- you know, I just like to start the week off with a lot of excitement. Wow.

BERMAN: All right. What are we talking about? The president spent the weekend fighting with a dead senator and a television comedy rerun.

The president's supporters love to brag he's a counterpuncher. Well, he's a counterpuncher showing real lightning-fast reflexes this time. His new targets included an episode of "Saturday Night Live" that first ran in December and Senator John McCain, who passed away last August. His weekend bile binge also included attacks on the Russia

investigation, auto unions, the FOX weekend lineup, the FOX afternoon lineup. And he retweeted a well-known conspiracy theorist, to boot.

Critics and analysts have several theories about what's going on, ranging from a game of distraction before the Mueller report releases to destroying social and political norms in an election season, to deteriorating mental condition to, "Oh, this is just the way he is."

"Oh, this is just the way he is" did not include any reference to the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant massacre in New Zealand over the weekend or rising trends of nationalism and white supremacy around the world.

This left his chief of staff to feel the need to pronounce the president is not a white supremacist.

HILL: All of that as much of the world did remained focused on New Zealand and on Friday's terror attack that claimed at least 50 lives. And there's breaking news this morning in that investigation.

Police now say a lone attacker carried out the massacre at two mosques in Christchurch. That 28-year-old suspect arrested, charged with murder. And New Zealand's prime minister is now vowing changes to the nation's gun laws. A sharp contrast to the reaction in this country in the wake of countless mass shootings.

Let's begin our coverage now with CNN's Joe Johns, who is live at the White House on our top story.

Joe, good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erica, the president's penchant for grievance politics really on full display this weekend. It was absolutely extraordinary. The president simply all over the place.

It wasn't just the number of tweets. It was also the range of topics, as you mentioned, from tweeting about GM to tweeting some bad language, basically about John McCain, the former senator. And also talking even about "Saturday Night Live," a Christmas rerun, if you will, that aired on NBC over the weekend.

It was also interesting for some of the topics the president did not touch. Most notably about New Zealand and the horrific attack there. The president tweeted warm sympathies on Friday, but after that, basically nothing.

And this came after the president had asserted that white nationalism is not a worldwide threat, which led his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to go out on TV and defend him over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULVANEY: You've seen the president stand up for religious liberties, individual liberties. The president is not a white supremacist. I'm not sure how many times we have to say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now, we are expecting to see the president at least one time today here at the White House. That's expected late in the day where he's going to attend a Greek celebration here at the White House.

Back to you.

BERMAN: All right. Joe Johns at the White House.

Joining us now, CNN senior political analyst, John Avlon.

John, I want to put up on the screen here so people get a real sense of what was going on in the president's head this weekend. Look at this. And I know you can't read every word here, but almost every word is filled with rage and bile, I would say, at a number of subjects, including John McCain, "Saturday Night Live," auto unions, you know, all kinds of FOX television lineups.

Much of that that we had up on the screen a moment ago, the president wrote after he went to church on Sunday.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: Which is awfully nice.

AVLON: Yes. It seems like he's doing it wrong. I mean, you know, church is about the forgiveness of sin. It's about -- it's clear the bile binge. The president seemed to have it dialed up.

This is not a man who seems at peace. This is a president who's talking to the television, in public, and screaming at it. And belittling the office by focusing on dead senators and comedy reruns, as you said in the lead.

This is not the portrait of a man who's in a particularly good place. Because compared to your own lives, folks, what did you do Sunday? Spent time with your family, your friends. You probably didn't tweet two dozen times unhinged hate speech, and retweeting folks who are really in the recesses of the Internet, and avoiding more statements of condolence, sympathy, and solidarity with the victims of the worst terror attack in one of our closest allies' history.

BERMAN: Yes, it's not happening in a vacuum. Right?

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: He's not attacking John McCain just because it's Sunday. He's doing it in the aftermath of New Zealand, as well.

AVLON: That's right. And while defending Jeanine Pirro and attacking FOX News for taking her off the air, and one of her things was talking about conspiracy theories about Sharia law.

Look, the president has a real job. He has real-world responsibilities, and yet, he seems fixated on talking to the television. BERMAN: Can I say, let me just read one of the John McCain tweets.

This was the first one: "So it was indeed just proven in court papers 'last in class' (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election. He and the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!"

[06:05:03] First of all, there's several things that are lies --

AVLON: Yes, there's that.

BERMAN: -- in here. In John McCain's defense, he didn't finish last. He finished fifth from last in his Annapolis class.

The dossier was not the beginning of the Russia investigation. The George Papadopoulos thing was. John McCain did not turn over the dossier before the end of the election; it was after.

So there are lies in here, but also just going after John McCain. Why is the president afraid of John McCain?

AVLON: It's a fascinating question, because not only is he deceased, but he's a fellow Republican. Yes, they were at loggerheads. You've got to say somewhere that there's an imposter's complex at work, that this is a president who recognized that John McCain is a real American hero who served his country and sacrificed for his country in the Hanoi Hilton when Donald Trump was dodging the draft. Let's say it straight.

And -- and he knows that McCain has folks who really admire him in a way this president seems to not, despite the trappings of the office. That fixation with John McCain, the impulse to denigrate a dead American hero and dead senator of his own political party, is one of the many things we shouldn't normalize. He can't let it go, because this is who he is.

BERMAN: We'll talk much more about this in a little bit. John, you're sticking around.

Meghan McCain wrote over the weekend that John McCain is living rent- free in Donald Trump's brain.

AVLON: Yes.

BERMAN: She then took that tweet down, but it goes to show what's happening here.

All right. John, stick around. We'll talk to you in a little bit -- Erica.

HILL: There is breaking news out of New Zealand, where that country's government is taking swift action on guns in the wake of the massacre that left 50 people dead at two mosques. The prime minister says two gun laws could be in place in just a matter of days.

CNN's Ivan Watson is life in Christchurch with more for us at this hour -- Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

That's right. The New Zealand prime minister was quick to call this terrorist attack by a suspected white supremacist to denounce it, and also quick to call for new gun control laws. She spoke about it a few hours ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACINTA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: I want to acknowledge when Australia found itself tragically in a similar position to what we find ourselves now, they took 12 days to make the decision. We have taken 72 hours. There is, though, some detail that needs to be worked through. I want to do that, but still move as quickly as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: She says within ten days of the attack the new policies will be proposed. Because Australia, after an attack in 1996, a gun massacre, it dramatically tightened its gun laws.

The chief suspect is 28-year-old Australian Branton Tarrant charged with murder in court here in Christchurch on Saturday. The police here say that they believe he operated alone, attacking two mosques on Friday here in Christchurch.

He has declined having an attorney defending him in court in upcoming court appearances. We know Australian counterterrorism police, they were searching two residences in Australia, one of them reportedly belonging to his sister.

Now, the effort here on the ground, well, not far from where I'm standing, there are people quite literally fighting for their lives, victims, nine in intensive care right now.

To give you a sense of how overwhelmed the authorities here are, it's taken them several days now to start to release the bodies of the victims back to their anguished families.

Meanwhile, there's been an outpouring of support for this tiny Muslim minority in New Zealand. Just 1 percent of the population so savagely attacked on Friday. The outpouring of love all the way from the highest levels of government to here on the streets here, where people are still coming after 11 at night crying, laying flowers, lighting candles for what they say are their fellow neighbors and citizens -- John and Erica.

BERMAN: This is us. This was an attack on all of us. That was the message from the prime minister there. The outpouring of emotion important to see. Ivan Watson, thank you very much.

There are new signals that the special counsel's Russia investigation could be wrapping up soon, like very soon. CNN's Kara Scannell life in Washington with the latest signs -- Kara. KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. I mean, we are

on high alert for the Mueller report, but there have been signs in the last week or two that this is coming close to a conclusion.

Last week Paul Manafort, he was one of the first people indicted in the Mueller investigation. He was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. The former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. He was one of the first major players to plead guilty in the investigation.

Now the special counsel's office says that his cooperation is complete. Andrew Weissmann, he was the top Mueller investigator, he prosecuted these cases. He's very close to Robert Mueller. He is now leaving the office. They've announced that, that he is leaving.

And Congress is even readying for this, with the house unanimously passing last week a bill to make the Mueller report public. So we're seeing all these signals that it's wrapping up.

[06:10:04] There is a wrinkle with Rick Gates. He's the former Trump deputy campaign chairman. The special counsel's office said they're not ready for his sentencing, saying that he is still cooperating with several ongoing investigations.

But the Mueller investigation is not the only element of DOJ that's conducting investigations related to this. The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan is investigating the president's inaugural committee. It's quite likely that that is one of the investigations that's being referred to in that.

So John, until then, we're going to watch and wait and be ready for the Mueller report, which we're expecting to come any day now -- Erica.

HILL: All right, Kara. Thank you.

Joining us now, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor.

As Kara laid everything out there for us, we love to play the game of, OK, are these all the signs. You know, look at the crystal ball. Do you see them pointing to a report in the very near future?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I do. I think what we're getting ready to see if Mueller's final salvo and the transitioning of this case for the next phase, specifically to my old office, the Southern District of New York.

There are signs, as Kara said. There's also signs that Mueller's work still has some significant phases left. Look, Roger Stone's trial, it's going to be very interesting. We're going to learn about who in the campaign directed him to coordinate with WikiLeaks. That's six months away.

Rick Gates continues to cooperate, as Kara said, including on the inaugural, which I think will be transitioned over to the Southern District of New York. And then the report itself, which could go over to the attorney general any day; and then the attorney general has got some big decisions to make about whether and how to turn it over.

HILL: Which obviously was a big focus for Congress last week, as we know. It's also been a major focus for the president, who tweeted over the weekend that, "On the recent nonbinding vote, 420-0 as we know, in Congress, about releasing the Mueller report, I told leadership to let all Republicans vote for transparency. Makes us all look good. Play along with the game."

In the land of tweets that should be stunning, I mean, we're sort of past that point on a number of levels, but that is still saying something.

HONIG: Yes, I think it's like when you say in the old school yard, "I promise," but I went like this, like they didn't mean it. Right? He's trying to -- he's trying to make excuses here.

Look, 420 to zero. You don't get 420 to 0 on the state bird. I mean, this is a massive bipartisan statement that we expect to see this report in whole. And so if there's going to be any games played, expect the House to jump on it and try to get that report.

HILL: There's also some thinking are, and John pointed this out at the top of the hour, that with this ramp up in tweets from the president over the weekend, including about the Mueller report, including a lengthy one on Friday that talked about this should never happen to a president, calling it an illegal and conflicted investigation, that perhaps that is also a sign that he had some intel that the report is coming. Do you buy into that?

HONIG: That he has intel? It could well be. Yes, look, it could be that the attorney general has decided to give the president's team a chance to review that report.

The thinking could be they need to get a chance to object on, say, expectative privilege; and if they object, then perhaps we can work it out. Perhaps we go to the courts. So it's absolutely possible that the president's legal team knows in advance that this is coming.

Now, of course, the whole dossier thing, I think, is just a myth; and it's a catchphrase that keeps getting repeated completely lacks merit.

HILL: Elie, always appreciate it. Thank you.

HONIG: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: John.

BERMAN: A critical situation in the Midwest this morning where the floods are turning deadly. Dozens of records have been broken already in Nebraska alone. And officials say the worst is yet to come.

Our Stephanie Elam is live in Winslow, Nebraska, which has been completely cut off by the flooding -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning. This is as close as we could get to the town of Winslow, which is back

there behind those bushes there. As we're told, the water at some point was about four or five feet high within the town.

We do believe everyone's been evacuated, but this just gives you an idea of how dangerous things are here in Nebraska.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM (voice-over): A race against time for emergency crews across Nebraska after historic flooding left much of the state under water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen anything like this. It's a stunning amount of water.

ELAM: By air, the National Guard using helicopters to access those cut off by floodwaters. This infrared video showing Guardsman and Omaha police rescuing two people stranded on top of a pickup.

On land, first responders navigating through dangerous rising water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where these people are being rescued, it's probably six, eight foot high.

ELAM: Rescuing hundreds of trapped residents and evacuating others before it's too late.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we decided to stay, we would just be stuck there until the water went down.

ELAM: At least two people have been killed, including James Wilke, a farmer who died after a bridge went out on his way to help stranded rescuers.

The flooding, the result of last week's bomb cyclone which caused the Missouri River to rise to record levels, the rushing water causing levies to overflow. This video showing a bridge on Highway 12 split in half by the floodwaters and carried downstream. Destroyed asphalt, making that same highway impassable, the runway at Offutt Air Force Base also covered in floodwaters.

[06:15:02] Nebraska's governor touring the state evaluating the devastating damage.

GOV. PETE RICKETTS (R), NEBRASKA: This has probably been the -- you know, the most severe, widespread flooding we've had, most -- you know, as far as part of the state that's been impacted we've had in the last half century.

ELAM: Sandbags stacked high outside homes as a last-ditch effort for residents here. Some people already losing everything. Their belongings spotted floating in the murky overflow. For others already evacuated, the fear of returning home to nothing, unbearable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see it on the news for other people and you couldn't imagine it until it happens to you. And then it's like, yes, you know how they feel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And to give you an idea of how badly this state is being affect, John, it's really here on the eastern part of the state. But from what I've just learned here, is that all of the river systems in the state of Nebraska are experiencing some stage of flooding. And on top of that, more than half of the counties in Nebraska are in a state of emergency -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Stephanie Elam for us in Nebraska. Stephanie, please stay safe. The picture's stunning out of that state.

Coming up in the 8 a.m. hour of our show, Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts will join us to talk about the emergency there.

HILL: Up next, President Trump's state of mind. What his tweets after New Zealand terror attack and over the weekend, tell us about what the president may be thinking.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:02] BERMAN: All right. President Trump tweeted more than 20 times over the weekend and retweeted a whole lot more. And those retweets, in some cases, even beyond his own words.

He attacked Senator John McCain who, of course, passed away in August. He lashed out at a rerun of "Saturday Night Live." He defended a FOX News host who's suspended for -- for anti-Muslim comments, but nothing about the New Zealand terror attack over the weekend.

Joining us now is Rachael Bade, a CNN analyst and congressional reporter for "the Washington Post"; Laura Barron-Lopez, national political reporter for Politico; and John Avlon, a CNN senior political analyst.

And John, I want to pick up where we left off our conversation a short time ago. What's the risk of saying, "Oh, this is just the way he is? It's the wacky president spending executive time again."

AVLON: The risk is that he has real responsibilities to lead our nation, that the office of president is primarily one of moral leadership, as FDR said a long time ago.

And this is a president who seems fixated on lashing out, on nursing his own grievances. And there is a mantle of leadership that would involve focusing on follow-through on the New Zealand mass shooting, the terror attack against the Muslim community.

The president ignored it entirely in order to focus on his own small insecurities and grievances. That says terrible things about his mental state and the state of the presidency right now.

HILL: It's also -- when you talk about leadership, there were questions over the weekend that perhaps this would be a good time for the president to come out and make a speech about white supremacy, about racism, about xenophobia --

AVLON: Yes, it would be nice.

HILL: -- talking about all the things that are really not OK.

The argument against that, obviously, is that the president's own rhetoric makes that very tough for him to then come out and have that conversation. But what's fascinating, Laura, is the reaction that even part of that conversation got from his own acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who felt the need to tell us that the president is not a white supremacist.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Right. Well, Mulvaney is trying to say that the president is not a white supremacist.

But I think what really should be pointed out is that, in the hours after the attack, when the Trump -- when President Trump had a brief availability with reporters. He, in one moment, expressed condolences to the victims of the attack and then, immediately after that, just transitioned to talking about immigration and calling it an invasion.

And that is strikingly similar language to that used by the New Zealand attacker in his manifesto. And so what Mulvaney is doing is trying to parse and distract by saying that the president's words are not the same as his actions.

And, to me, you know, the president of the United States' words are -- carry just as much weight as his actions. And so it is striking that -- that Trump has not spoken out more forcefully against this rise in far-right extremism.

They say pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, even though the man behind the curtain said he wanted to ban Muslims in the United States. Even though the man behind the curtain was asked a direct question in the White House in the wake of an anti-Muslim attack, in spite of evidence of white supremacy rising around the world, and this is how the president responded. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see today white nationalism as a rising threat around the world?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't really. I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So that's what he said. Rachael, the ADL says that white supremacy is on the rise. The FBI and DHS statistics in the United States, talk about domestic terror being on the rise. White supremacy is fueling a lot of that.

But instead of directing his ire, as John Avlon points out, at that, the president is really pissed at John McCain.

RACHAEL BADE, CNN ANALYST: Yes, no, his own FBI, the Justice Department, the Homeland Security Department contradicts that assertion and says white nationalism is the single greatest internal threat when it comes to home-grown terrorism; and this completely contradicts the president.

Look, you had 50 Muslims killed specifically in New Zealand because of their faith. And the president going to Twitter and talking about defending a FOX News host that was in trouble, because she attacked a Muslim -- one of the first Muslims in Congress for wearing a hijab and suggesting she is not a true patriot because she wears a hijab.

I mean, these are clearly not the priorities that American people would want their president to be talking about after a massacre like this.

And regarding, you know, white nationalism, it just -- it just -- it perplexes the mind. What is so hard about calling out white nationalism and saying it is a problem?

I mean, I agree. Amy Klobuchar was asked about this over the weekend and, you know, does Trump -- did he contribute in any way? And she said you can't say the president is in any way responsible for any one of these attacks, but the rhetoric doesn't help.

[06:25:03] And that's exactly the point. I think that's exactly right. If you have a bunch of people who are of this ideology and what nationalists who are trying to kill people and cause terror; and they're citing the president, saying that, you know, he's a symbol of -- what was the quote -- symbol of renewed white identity, then there -- it shouldn't be that hard for the president to come out and say, "No, this is not OK. We do not support this. I do not support this."

HILL: John, even if he were to come out and say something, would it carry any weight based on his past comments?

AVLON: Yes, it would, because it would send a clear message to those people who think they're getting signals from the bully pulpit of the presidency.

And there's something significant, as well. If you look historically, you see a rise in white nationalists and militia movements under Democratic presidencies in the past, and they've receded under Republican presidencies.

Some of the animus is presumably taken away. That hasn't happened under this president? Why? I do think it's possible it's because he is sending signals. He's not sending a clear message of condemnation.

And this goes back to a refusal to denounce David Duke reflexively during his -- the 2016 campaign to his comments after Charlottesville and the praise he's getting from some of these figures.

So it's absolutely incumbent. He can't be ignoring this, however defensive his staff may be. So denounce it. Denounce it clearly and remove some of that oxygen from their conversation.

BERMAN: And of course, there is a question about the Republican Party. And the Republicans in Congress right now. And there's just one microcosm here is Lindsey Graham.

You know, the president, as we've been saying, went after Senator John McCain over the weekend. John McCain and Lindsey Graham were best friends. I mean, Lindsey Graham was devoted to John McCain.

And how did Lindsey Graham respond to his friend, his fallen dear friend, being attacked by the president months after his death? Well, Lindsey Graham put out a milquetoast tweet. Two. I should give him credit for two milquetoast tweets. It extended over.

He said, "As the Senator John McCain showed devotion to his country, he stepped forward to risk his life for his country and served honorably under difficult circumstances and was one of the most consequential senators in the history of the body. Nothing about his service will ever be changed or diminished."

You know, Laura, do you think, had Lindsey Graham been attacked by the president like that, that John McCain would have put out a tweet as mild as that?

BARRON-LOPEZ: No, I don't. I think McCain's tweet would have been much more forceful than that.

McCain, you know, well throughout the Trump -- President Trump's time in office was not afraid to criticize the president. And Graham himself during the campaign was a fierce critic of Trump but has since morphed into an ally of the president and really, I think, that what we can take from that is that it -- it's probably for political reasons.

Graham is facing re-election in South Carolina, and a number of Republicans are fearful that, if they show any distance between themselves and Trump, who has taken over the party, then that could cost them their election. And so that's likely why Graham decided to offer what is, as you described, a milquetoast response.

BERMAN: Rachael, want to give you a quick last word on whether or not we're going to see Republicans rise up in the next few days in comment to the president's statement.

BADE: Probably not. I agree with Laura there. I mean, if you looked at the last national -- national emergency vote that happened in the Senate, everybody except one Republican that is up in 2020 voted with the president, even some who came out strong, saying that this is unconstitutional, him using an emergency declaration to build his wall is not OK.

Those people folded, and the reason they did is because the president owns that party right now; and they are petrified to put any distance between themselves and him or criticize him.

BERMAN: Right. Rachael, Laura, John, thank you very much. A quick programming note. CNN is going to host a presidential town

hall tonight with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Jake Tapper hosts, live from Jackson, Mississippi. That's at 9 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

HILL: A new report says Boeing and the FAA are facing criminal and civil investigations after two 737 Max jets crashed five months apart. We'll take a closer look at what federal prosecutors may be searching for next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)