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Rep. Katherine Clark (D) Massachusetts is Interviewed about the Mueller Report; ISIS Fighters Captured; USC Students Linked to Admissions Scandal Can't Enroll; Latinos Who Support Trump. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 19, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:37] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has learned White House lawyers expect to get the version of the Mueller report that Attorney General William Barr will submit to Congress before lawmakers see that version. And there is an expectation that White House counsel will likely try to claim executive privilege, but over what? That, of course, is the great unknown.

Joining us now is the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Congresswoman Katherine Clark.

Good to have you with us this morning.

Not really a surprise that White House counsel does intend to look into executive privilege. We were told this even before when White House officials were being made available for interviews.

What's your reaction, though, to the fact that now we are hearing our own CNN reporting that they're really working hard on this to figure out the path?

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We are clear in House of Representatives what our responsibility is. And that is to defend the Constitution. And you only have to look at the vote we took on making the Mueller report public just last week that was passed 420-0 with broad bipartisan support. We are going to make sure that this report finds its way to the public. It is what is necessary to make sure that we are defending our democracy and living up to our oath of office to defend the Constitution.

HILL: There's a chance, of course, that a battle between these two branches could end up in the third branch of government, right, in the courts and that it could end up there for some time.

Does that concern you?

CLARK: It does concern me, but we will do what we need to do. I think it is no surprise that this White House is going to do everything it can do to try and bury this report, bury these findings and hide it from the American people. And it's our job through the legislative process, through the oversight process of our committees and through the courts, if necessary, to make sure that the American people understand what has taken place here and what the results of that investigation are.

HILL: Just give us a sense, how much planning is actually happening at this time, as everyone is waiting for this Mueller report. As you say, you're going to exhaust every opportunity and make sure the American public, in fact, see what the special counsel found. I mean just dive a little deeper on that for us. Are we talking subpoenas? What's the plan here?

CLARK: Well, I think that we are very clear on what our role is. Our first job is to make sure that we are building an economy, our for the people agenda, for the people of this country. So we are focused very much on passing HR-1, that we just did a few weeks ago, protecting the right to vote, getting dark money out of campaigns. We are moving on to an infrastructure bill. We are looking at reducing the cost of prescription drug medication. At the same time, we have our intelligence committee and judiciary committees moving forward with their responsibility to have accountability and oversight of this administration.

We are going to look. We've been waiting for the Mueller report. None of us know exactly when it's coming or what it is going to say. But we are ready, as evidenced by the resolution we've already passed, to make sure that this information gets to the American public so they can make a judgment for themselves on exactly what this president has done.

HILL: In terms of that resolution, which, as we know, passed in the House, obviously 420-0 --

CLARK: Yes.

HILL: The president's veto. What is the plan? Are there the votes to override that?

CLARK: The resolution has not passed the Senate yet. It is my understanding that Lindsey Graham is blocking this. I hope that Lindsey Graham decides to put principle over partisanship and move this forward. What we've seen from Republicans over and over is that they are complicit in supporting this presidency and not speaking out.

And so we hope that the Senate will take this up. If it gets to a vote in the Senate, I am confident we're going to see the same overwhelming result that we saw in the House.

HILL: You have taken to Twitter certainly in the -- in the aftermath of the terror attack in New Zealand, talking about white nationalism, about its rise globally. As you have heard, the president does not see that it is a global threat, that there is a rise there.

[08:35:09] The consistent word from the White House is that the president and the administration condemn all acts of evil. Do you think it would change anything if the president came out and was very specific and said, I condemn white nationalism, I condemn white supremacy, would that change things? CLARK: I think it would and I think that he absolutely should do that.

And I think it is shocking that we have a situation where this president refuses to do it. Silence is complicity with this. And we have seen it from the campaign where he wouldn't speak out against David Duke, to Charlottesville, and now to New Zealand, with this very lukewarm statement, unable to actually say the words that white supremacy is wrong, it is against our values and it is a threat of terrorism in our country and globally. If the president won't say that, it makes him complicit in it. And, you know, it's like my grandmother used to say, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. And this president shows us over and over who he is by failing to denounce white supremacy.

HILL: Congresswoman, appreciate your time today. Thank you.

CLARK: Thank you, Erica.

HILL: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, we will have a chance to find out if the president will speak out further against this. He will be speaking live, taking questions from reporters a little bit later today.

In the meantime, we're following the breaking news outs of Syria, where ISIS fighters linked to a deadly attack on U.S. soldiers, they have been captured. This is an important development. We have a live report from the front lines in Syria, next.

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[08:40:43] BERMAN: We are following breaking news.

U.S.-backed forces in Syria have captured ISIS fighters that they believe are linked to a suicide bombing in January that killed four Americans. This happened just weeks after President Trump announced he wanted to with draw U.S. troops from Syria. The attack killed Green Beret Jonathan Farmer, former Navy SEAL Scott Wirtz, and two language specialists, Navy cryptologist Shannon Kent and interpreter Ghadir Taher.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is live in northern Syria for us with the breaking details.

Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. John, what we know from both the U.S. government and the Syrian democratic forces is that several suspects were arrested in connection with the 16th of January bombing outside a restaurant in the town of Manbij in western Syria. That restaurant called the Palace of the Princess. That was -- the bombing was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest. It killed, in addition to those four Americans, two members of the Syrian democratic forces and eight civilians as well.

Now, this comes at a time when it appears that the battle to retake that final pocket held by ISIS along the Euphrates River is in its final phases. They've now been pushed out of that encampment and really occupy just a sliver -- and I mean a sliver of land right by the Euphrates. So some sort of announcement may be hours or perhaps days away bringing to a close at least the time when ISIS-controlled territory in this part of Syria.

Although it's important to note that the explosion, the bombing that killed those four Americans on the 16th of January was far away, many hours' drive to the west of here, underscoring the continuing danger posed by ISIS sleeper cells, not only in Iraq, but in Syria as well.

Erica.

HILL: Ben Wedeman with the latest for us. Ben, Thank you.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the two snipers who terrorized the D.C. area in 2002, can challenge his life sentence. A lower court ruled Malvo must be resentenced because he was 17 when the crimes were committed. Virginia, though, disagreed and sought an appeal. Malvo and John Allen Muhammad killed ten people in those sniper attacks. Muhammad was executed in 2009.

BERMAN: "The Wall Street Journal" reports that "The National Enquirer" paid $200,000 to Michael Sanchez, the brother of Jeff Bezos' lover, to get racy photos and text messages. The battle between Bezos and "The Enquirer" began after the magazine published an 11-page story in January that included some of his text messages. Bezos has accused AMI, the publisher of "The Enquirer," of extortion and blackmail.

HILL: Here's a look at what to watch today.

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ON SCREEN TEXT: 12:00 p.m. ET, President Trump hosts Brazil's president.

1:45 p.m. ET, Trump and Bolsonaro hold a news conference.

6:40 p.m. ET, NCAA men's basketball tournament begins.

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BERMAN: I'm glad you could share in what is my favorite music of the morning.

HILL: How could you not love that music?

BERMAN: It's the best.

All right, support for President Trump in a place you might not expect. Coming up, we're going to speak to Latinos for Trump who live right next to the border.

HILL: But, first, how tiny homes offering huge hope in this week's "Impact Your World."

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had really just given up. I thought I was just going to be a homeless drug addict the rest of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) as laser focused on lifting the chronically homeless men and women on our streets in Austin, Texas, into a place that they can call home. On the 27 acres that's completely built out, we have a hundred RVs and somewhere around 125 to 130 micro homes or tiny homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad you're here, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, me, too, man. It's great. It's great.

[08:45:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all about the relationship here. You're going to see people at the kitchen, in front of the community market spending time with each other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we go back a long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then you add into that all the awesome things to do here, like an outdoor Alamo draft house movie theater, the car care shop, an art house, a pottery operation, blacksmithing shop, full blown organic farming operation. It's just all of this stuff that's causing people to come out and interact with each other and build community through valuing each other as human beings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of different things I'm involved in. And that really helps me personally to kind of like build self- confidence and learn to like myself again.

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[08:50:03] HILL: USC blocking students from enrolling for classes if they may be linked to the nationwide college admissions scandal. University officials won't say how many students are impacted, only that they've been notified their status is under review.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us now with more.

You've been digging on this for more than a week.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HILL: And this story just gets more and more fascinating.

GINGRAS: Yes. If you want to be incredibly infuriated, read the entire affidavit.

HILL: Yes.

GINGRAS: Thank God cnn.com has cliff notes.

But, anyway, those USC students won't be able to register for classes and they're not going to be able to collect their transcripts until the school's investigation is totally complete. Now, USC says it's going to review each student case-by-case. Because, remember, it's possible some of these kids never even knew that their parents took advantage of this offer from William Singer.

Now, Singer is the mastermind behind this enormous college admissions scam that unfolded last week and he promised wealthy parents a guaranteed side door into elite schools. But, of course, it was all a con according to feds.

He pleaded guilty to four federal charges and he helped the FBI in its year-long case. Parents and college coaches are among those also charged.

Now, some of these schools were alerted to this last year as the investigation took twists and turns. Stanford, for example, says it's been working with the FBI since last November. It's now reviewing its admissions process. And Wake Forest welcomes students back from spring break this week with an e-mail explaining its steps -- the steps it's taking to improve their process.

And this morning we're learning a little bit more about Singer himself and the sham charity he started to funnel bribe money. One parent who considered buying Singer's services but didn't described him as braggadocios, a good salesman, energetic. He influenced a lot of people. His charity was a sham designed to funnel money for bribes, but painted itself as a charity that helped underprivileged kids, even worked to unite gangs in the LA area according to paperwork. Many schools who received money from Singer's charity are now redirecting those funds. And as for the more than two dozen parents charged in this case, most will be in court in Boston next week.

HILL: It's going to be a very busy week at the courts in Boston.

GINGRAS: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Lots of people going there.

HILL: The details, as you said, too, are just phenomenal.

GINGRAS: And disheartening.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: Yes.

GINGRAS: I mean there was one parent who was coached by Singer to teach his -- to tell his daughter that she couldn't take the ACT again after cheating the first time because he -- she didn't want to be alarmed that she would get a higher score, because they were going to cheat, get a high score. He had to tell him how to not let her take it again. I mean the parents lying to their kids. Like -- it's just like, ah!

HILL: Right. Imagine if you're one of those kids who didn't know and now you're finding out.

GINGRAS: Right. HILL: You're maybe hearing from the school, like, well, you can't register for classes because you cheated.

BERMAN: And the other thing is, as a parent, and maybe as a student, you're looking around going, look, is this the only one that ever happened, the only scam that ever happened, or the only one where they got caught?

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: It really raises so many questions.

GINGRAS: It does.

BERMAN: All right, Brynn, thank you. That was great.

HILL: Brynn, thank you.

GINGRAS: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: All right, after President Trump's emergency declaration for a border wall, new polling suggests that a majority of Latino voters disapprove of the job he's doing, but the margin of error is shockingly wide.

CNN's Miguel Marquez spoke to Latinos on the southern border who say they support the president.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The U.S./Mexico border in south Texas dividing countries and Latino voters.

MARQUEZ (on camera): You were born and raised in McAllen, Texas, yes?

ROLANDO RODRIGUEZ, LATINOS FOR TRUMP: Uh-huh.

MARQUEZ: And you live a mile from where we're standing, the wall.

RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Uh-huh.

MARQUEZ: And you want to see this not only taller but longer?

RODRIGUEZ: Longer and taller, yes.

MARQUEZ: How much taller?

RODRIGUEZ: Twice. Twice as much at least.

MARQUEZ: And you want the whole border, 2,600 miles?

RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

MARQUEZ: You --

RODRIGUEZ: Twenty-six hundred miles, yes, sir. MARQUEZ (voice over): President Trump, for years --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Hispanics that are in the country legally, they love me.

They love me. They love me.

MARQUEZ: Has touted how much Latinos love him. Rolando Rodriguez is one of those who appreciates the president's business acumen, religious alignments and border politics, particularly the wall.

RODRIGUEZ: I don't think the wall is going to be a barrier really for -- for the good people. It will be a barrier for the bad people.

We are demanding an investigation.

MARQUEZ: While a (INAUDIBLE) majority of Latinos disapprove of the president's job performance, many angered by the family separation policy, focus on the wall and rhetoric about immigrants. The president still has some Latino support. About a third, which is on par with other past Republican presidents.

MARQUEZ (on camera): You're working on your citizenship?

MAYRA GUTIERREZ, LATINO FOR TRUMP: I am working on my citizenship. I am a legal --

MARQUEZ: So you can't vote for Trump?

GUTIERREZ: Not yet.

MARQUEZ (voice over): Mayra Gutierrez came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was three. She is working toward getting her citizenship and hopes to vote for the president come 2020. Her top three issues -- abortion, the economy, and immigration.

GUTIERREZ: We do have a lot of problems here with immigration. And I do support his stance for the wall.

MARQUEZ: Trump supporting Latinos here say the president has more support than many are willing to admit.

[08:55:04] Joacim Hernandez is president of the Hidalgo County Young Republicans. He says membership has more than doubled in the last year.

MARQUEZ (on camera): How difficult a sell is it to young Republicans, to young people, to Latinos in this area to -- to support the Republican Party and the president?

JOACIM HERNANDEZ, PRESIDENT, HIDALGO COUNTY YOUNG REPUBLICANS: I'm actually quite shocked because the last time the president visited or the last time he came to the valley, you know, there was a lot of people that were out there supporting him.

MARQUEZ (voice over): Hernandez and other Latinos we spoke to have little doubt that with their help, Trump will win a second term in office and make good on his promise to fix an immigration system they view as broken.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Now, here in this area, south Texas, this is what the barrier looks like between the U.S. and Mexico in large part. Metal, about five feet high. But, to be fair, on the other side there's about a 20-foot drop that you can't see right now. But most Latinos across the country say they do not agree with the president on his immigration policies and his idea of building a wall. But those that we spoke to in this area say that there is a national emergency and they'd like to see this thing doubled or tripled in size.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Hidalgo County, Texas.

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BERMAN: Our thanks to Miguel for that report.

HILL: There is breaking news at this hour.

The redacted search warrants which led to the FBI raid on Michael Cohen last year have just been released. We are poring through them. We're going to bring you the headlines after this quick break.

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