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Trump Slams McCain and Inserts Politics into Military; Unlike the U.S., New Zealand Makes Sweeping Changes to Gun Laws after Mosque Attacks; After Voters Chose to Restore Voting Rights of Former Felons New Bill Intends to Derail It; Gravestones Vandalized in Massachusetts Jewish Cemetery with Anti-Semitic Messages, Images. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired March 21, 2019 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:31:05] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The president just won't stop. His grudge now into day five of the late Senator John McCain. And on top of insulting the name of a war hero, who died last summer, the president has now inserted politics where it just doesn't belong, to the U.S. military.
This is what he said to a crowd in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PERSIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: McCain didn't get the job done for our great vets and the V.A., and they knew it. That's why when I had my dispute with him, I had such incredible support from the vets and from the military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: This isn't the first time that the president has used the military in this political way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm like the most popular person with the vets.
I built the Vietnam Memorial in downtown Manhattan, OK, and the vets like me a lot.
We had a wonderful election, didn't we?
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUE)
TRUMP: And I saw those numbers. And you like me and I like you. That's the way it worked.
I see my generals -- my generals are going to keep us so safe. These are central casting. If I'm doing the movie, I pick you, General.
A number of generals were on television over the weekend, and just unrelated, but they all mentioned the fact that nobody's done, as a president, for the military in a long time what I've done.
We need our military. It's got to be perfecto.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Let's talk now to retired Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling, who served in the Army for more than 20 years.
Colonel, nice to have you on and welcome.
LT. COL. PAUL YINGLING, MILITARY VETERAN: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Let's just put politics aside here for a second. Trump saying yesterday that veterans are on his side as he disparaged the late Senator. This is just blatantly politicizing the military. What kind of position does this put our men and women in uniform?
YINGLING: So first, it's important to note that the U.S. military does not serve a person. We take an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States. We take an oath to obey the lawful orders of the president of the United States. I served in combat under Democrat and Republican administrations in the Gulf War on President H.W., George W. Bush, under Clinton and President Obama. And in every case, the soldiers I led and I served the country and the Constitution. So it puts soldiers in impossible position when they are cast in a partisan light, when the oath they took is nonpartisan defense of the Constitution.
BALDWIN: Puts them in an impossible position.
Just reiterating the president's words from yesterday, "McCain didn't get the job done for our great vets and the V.A." His other daughter, Bridget McCain, who never speaks publicly, tweeted, "I do ask you to be decent and respectful. We only said good-bye to him almost seven months ago."
Sir, my question to you is, where is the decency.
YINGLING: First, a note on Senator McCain. Senator McCain's legacy is one of courageous and honorable public service in both politics and war. In 50 years, when we teach leadership, we'll still be teaching the example of Senator John McCain. So that -- that legacy is incredibly important. Invoking politics and dragging Senator McCain's legacy into the mud when he's not here to defend himself sends a flawed moral signal to our military forces.
BALDWIN: And to your point a second ago about, you don't serve the man, right, you serve the country. And I know our military commanders are supposed to be apolitical, but when this whole story broke after the president spoke, I was talking to our Pentagon correspondent and she questions the silence of top U.S. military brass on this. And I'm just wondering, do you? Why do you think that they have been so quiet as Trump's attacks on McCain's war record and heroism go aren't responded to?
[14:35:20] YINGLING: Right. So similar to our soldiers, these partisan attacks and the politicization of our military puts senior military leaders in an impossible position. So, for example, when the president smears the legacy of a hero like Senator McCain, when he disparages prisoners of war, on the one hand, our senior military officers have an obligation to defend the institution, to remind the president that prisoners of war serve honorably and it's wrong to criticize their service. On the other hand, publicly feuding with a political leader violates the nonpartisan norms of the U.S. military --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: You're saying they can't?
YINGLING: Basically, they're choosing between two evils, allowing the president to lie, to disparage the service of honorable military members or to publicly correct a political leader and inject themselves into a political debate.
BALDWIN: OK.
YINGLING: The politicization of the military puts both senior officers and military members in an impossible position.
BALDWIN: Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling, thank you so much for your 27 years of service. Appreciate it.
YINGLING: Thank you, Brooke.
BALDWIN: More on our breaking news now. Democrats are demanding to know everything about communications between the president and Vladimir Putin, including those mysterious chats involving translators. The White House just rejected all of that. We have new details.
And a disturbing scene out of Massachusetts. Dozens of graves have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery. We have that report ahead.
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[14:41:11] BALDWIN: Just six days, that is how long it took New Zealand to act after the terror attack on those two mosques that left 50 people murdered. The prime minister announcing today that her government will ban all military style semi-automatic weapons, assault style rifles and high-capacity magazines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: Every semi-automatic weapon used in the terrorist attack on Friday will be banned in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And that ban is effective immediately.
That stands in stark contrast to what has happened or what has not happened here in America. The four deadliest mass shootings in the U.S., Virginia Tech almost 12 years ago, the most recent shooting at that concert in Las Vegas, almost a year and a half ago, all of this with little significant action afterward. And even though, according to a recent poll, 67 percent of Americans support policies similar to those just passed in New Zealand.
Rick Noack is a "Washington Post" who examined why this type of ban was possible and so quickly in New Zealand, but faces so many hurdles here in the states.
Rick, nice to have you on here all the way from Berlin.
You tell me, why were they able to do this so quickly and we can't?
RICK NOACK, FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Thanks so much for having me on.
On the surface, New Zealand really did appear more similar to the United States when it comes to guns than for instance, to Europe until last Friday. But there are quite a few differences to the U.S. system, including a parliament that's very solution-focused and really has the means to drive quickly legislative change.
BALDWIN: One of the issues here in the U.S., obviously, is this very powerful gun lobby. I'm curious if New Zealand has that because I know, at least in New Zealand, I hear you want solution-focused but there's an opposition party there. So how do they get everyone on the same page so fast?
NOACK: Well, I think that is especially interesting because New Zealand does have a very strong gun lobby. And until Friday, it did have the ear of the government, it did dictate essentially gun laws in the country. What happened, though, was the parliament was able to unite quite quickly to announce those laws because it doesn't have to fear sort of the revenge of that gun lobby. It's organized in a very different way. It doesn't have voter backing to the same extent as the NRA does. And it also doesn't have those public campaign or public campaigns against politicians that oppose gun reforms.
BALDWIN: What do you think, from all your reporting
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Sure. Sure. What is the number-one lesson that the U.S. could learn from New Zealand on this?
NOACK: Well, I think the number-one lesson is that legislative change is possible. Frankly, in the U.S. system, it is really hard to drive those changes, when you look at gerrymandering, the power of certain rules states have, and of course, the Second Amendment. But it is possible. And when you look at how quickly the opposition party in New Zealand backed those changes, you really see how powerful such an event can be.
BALDWIN: Rick Noack, thank you on the change in six days there in New Zealand. Thank you very much. We are keeping a close eye on the White House in response to this new
accusation. Some senior White House officials are facing questions about their use of personal e-mail, and that includes, as you see here, members of the president's own families.
[14:44:48] Plus, voters in Florida chose overwhelmingly to restore the rights of former felons to vote and now a new bill is aimed at derailing that.
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BALDWIN: Florida's landmark amendment to restore voting rights to ex- felons just hit a road block. The critics are blasting as an unconstitutional poll tax. Republican House sub-committee members just advanced a bill that would require these ex-felons to pay court fees and restitution fines before they can vote.
Keep in mind, it was last November when Florida voters overwhelmingly approved what's known as Amendment Four. It restored voting rights for those who have served their time, including parole and probation, as long as their crime was not murder or sexual abuse.
Sean Morales-Doyle is a lawyer for the Brennan Center for Justice in New York.
You are not a fan of what they are trying to do to this.
SEAN MORALES-DOYLE, ATTORNEY, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: No.
BALDWIN: Tell me why.
[14:50:06] MORALES-DOYLE: We have to keep in mind, as you said, just a few months ago, Florida voters came out to 65 percent of them voted in favor of Amendment Four. This is a state where everything splits 50/50. We know this was a showing of overwhelming bipartisan support and voters said they don't want permanent disenfranchisement based on felony convictions --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Was this about politics?
MORALES-DOYLE: Now, it is. It wasn't in November. It was a bipartisan showing. And now it really looks like, you know, the vote yesterday was on party lines in the committee. And it shouldn't be that we make determinations about who can and cannot vote based on the politics and how we think they will vote.
BALDWIN: You see the Democrats who will side with you who say this is like making these ex-felons pay a poll tax, the notion they would be, back in the day, black Americans being disenfranchised before they could even vote.
I want to read a quote from a Republican, Representative James Grant, counters that. Sponsored the bill, disputed that characterization saying, quote, "It diminishes the atrocity of what a poll tax actually was."
MORALES-DOYLE: I think poll taxes were atrocious, so was Florida's long history of having disenfranchisement permanently. That comes out of the same history. This was written in Florida's constitution originally as a way to evade the 15th Amendment's requirement that all people and black people would be able to vote along with right people. That same history lies behind disenfranchisement in Florida and elsewhere. And this -- this bill would take what was a bad policy, the voters tried to fix it, and make it very much about. If people can't afford it, you can't afford to pay your fines, you can't vote. While it may not be exactly the same as the poll taxes of yesteryear, it's a similar notion.
BALDWIN: On the notion, what you can and can't afford, I want to get your comments. This is from last night. This is by former Tallahassee mayor and former Florida gubernatorial candidate, Andrew Gillum. He kicked off this voter registration drive, calling it Bring It Home, to register a million people to vote for the 2020 election. And this is the message he had for legislators in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW GILLUM, (D), FORMER TALLAHASSEE MAYOR: Because we turned out and we voted like our lives depended on it, 1.4 million people now have the ability to register to vote here in the state of Florida.
(CHEERING)
GILLUM: That's a big deal. That is a big deal.
And since we're on that topic, I want us to be able to send an unapologetic message to the legislators to get their hands off of Amendment Four.
(CHEERING)
GILLUM: It is the law of the land.
We believe that people should not be judged forever by their worse day. We decided that. And we decided it overwhelmingly. The only thing the Florida legislator needs do is to get out of the way and let Amendment Four take shape and let us get to the process of registering voters. That is our job. That is our work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So just what happens now?
MORALES-DOYLE: Hopefully, the legislator puts an end to this and doesn't pass the bill. It's not there yet. I think we all need to keep in mind that it's better for all of us when we welcome returning citizens into the conversation and give them a real stake, welcome them to participate fully. Voting rights is good for -- giving voting rights for people coming back to their communities is good for everybody. So let's hope the Florida legislatures stops this before it gets any further. BALDWIN: We'll be watching in Florida.
Sean Morales-Doyle, thank you for coming by.
MORALES-DOYLE: Thanks for having me.
BALDWIN: As Congress says it will investigate the rising threat of white nationalism, dozens of graves have been vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts. We'll show you that story.
And more on our breaking news today. The president making a major move involving Israel, saying the U.S. will recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
You're watching CNN. We'll be right back.
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[14:58:24] BALDWIN: The very same week Congress announced that they will investigate the rise of white nationalism hate crimes in this country, a disturbing discovery in Massachusetts.
I just need to warn you, some of the images and language are offensive.
Police in Fall River say dozens of grave stones at a Jewish cemetery were defaced with anti-Semitic language and imagery, swastikas, quote, "Hitler was right," written on the grave sites of peoples' loved ones there.
CNN's Polo Sandoval is following this story.
And what do police say?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dozens of them, Brooke, 59 grave stones at this Jewish cemetery, a historic location vandalized. A groundskeeper discovered it this weekend and quickly called police. Graves defaced with anti-Semitic scribbles using black marker. Multiple Hitler references and also swastikas. At least two were actually even knocked over. And we showed, a little while ago, some of those vile messages. But others, we should mention, are even more offensive. Video from our affiliate shows some of these heartbroken families basically going through the cemetery and seeing the damage first hand.
Police are investigating this, Brooke, with the help of the FBI as well. They are treating this as a hate crime. At this point, authorities saying that there are no confirmed suspects, no leads, but they are on the case. They're not ruling anything out.
The Anti-Defamation League of New England is even offering a reward to try to track down those people who are responsible.
And when you hear from the head of the congregation in the case, the president of Temple Bethel Synagogue, says, he writes earlier that "the ugly head of anti-Semitism has raised its head again." He promises that the Jewish community here in western Massachusetts
will persevere. And, yes, they will restore those monuments.
