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Trump Disavows Special Olympic Cuts; Autopsy For Fifth Grader Who Died in School Fight; Independent Voters on Barr's Summary of the Mueller Report; Midwest Floods Threaten Drinking Water. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 29, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: The education secretary is now reversing course after the president publically disavowed the move and ordered the Special Olympics get the money. DeVos then said, quote, this is funding I have fought for behind the scenes over the last several years.

Joining me now is CNN editor at large and politics reporter Chris Cillizza.

Chris, this was kind of the political equivalent of an own goal here, but I imagine the president likes to portray himself as riding to the rescue now.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes. I mean, look, this is not the first time that we've seen this where a cabinet secretary comes out and says or does something unpopular, seemingly at the behest of the Trump administration, and then watches while the president of the United States sort of throws them or pushes them directly under the proverbial bus. Rex Tillerson famously, Donald Trump on Twitter saying, don't bother negotiating with North Korea. It's a waste of time, Rex. Even this week, earlier this week, we've got, Jim -- we know that Alex Azar, Health and Human Services secretary, as well as William Barr, the attorney general, were skeptical of this push to back the Texas ruling on Obamacare and push for full repeal, have it totally thrown out. Donald Trump did it.

There is an element of white knightedness here. I think he likes people to know he's the one really in charge. It's not his cabinet secretaries. And he likes to be seen as riding to the rescue.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Does it work for him?

CILLIZZA: Ah, I mean, I don't think this works for him because I think it doesn't -- there's a reason that 66 percent of his cabinet officials and top staff have turned over in two-plus years, which is a rate far higher than we've typically seen in the first term of a president. And that's because at some point it becomes untenable to work for him. And that point comes sooner rather than later for a lot of people. Some people he fires. Jeff Sessions. But he tried to get Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, to quit for a very long time by publicly berating him. You know, Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, John Kelly, Mattis, I mean there's

a huge group of people that he has run through because he has either undermined them publicly, privately or both. And I think that that's a very tough environment to work in. And when you run through that many people, it is hard to get people of equal or better value in terms of their knowledge, in terms of their familiarity, in terms of their ability to get things done, into all of those spots.

And let's remember, we're not talking about year six of the Trump presidency, Jim, we're in year three of the Trump presidency. And he's run through a lot of, I think, what people would say are good people in terms of -- may not agree with them, but they are knowledgeable, they are people who know their subject area, and they've run afoul of him or just gotten sick of the way in which he manages.

SCIUTTO: So, help me out here, looking forward.

CILLIZZA: Yes.

SCIUTTO: The president has, to his supporters, and he's certainly running with this narrative, been completely exonerated by the Mueller investigation --

CILLIZZA: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Despite the fact that he did not make a judgement on obstruction of justice, and despite the fact that we haven't seen the full report, which might have evidence that we haven't seen before. Regardless, he's claiming this.

What does his presidency look like for the next year and a half in that sense? Does he feel emboldened to do it just like he wants to do it?

CILLIZZA: No question.

SCIUTTO: Maybe the health care decision is in that vein.

CILLIZZA: Yes. Yes, no question. I mean I think the health -- let's say the Mueller decision -- the Mueller report, such as we know it, right, so the four-page summary that William Barr has put out there, came back and suggested there was obstruction, there was collusion. It's very hard for me to imagine that suddenly that we're talking about health care, maybe as a distraction, but I don't think so. I think this is the action of a president who says, I made these promises, I'm going to keep them.

That said, he's pretty emboldened prior, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CILLIZZA: Remember, this is somebody who declared a national emergency on the border against the wishes of many in his party so that he could get money to build his wall. And then issued his first veto because a Republican-led Senate passed a resolution of disapproval on doing just that. SCIUTTO: Yes.

CILLIZZA: So, I don't know that the Mueller report, such as we know it, changes much. This is someone who pushes boundaries, who pushes norms all in the service of making good on campaign promises he made to his base. I don't see that changing.

SCIUTTO: Chris Cillizza, thanks very much.

CILLIZZA: Thank you, my friend.

SCIUTTO: A South Carolina community grieving the death of a fifth grader. A little girl who died after a fight inside her elementary school. Now officials are searching for answers in the death of Raniya Wright.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:52] SCIUTTO: A South Carolina community is looking for answers in the shocking death of a 10-year-old girl. Authorities hope an autopsy scheduled for today will provide some answers. Raniya Wright was knocked unconscious during a fight inside her elementary school on Monday. She died in the hospital two days later.

CNN's Kaylee Hartung, she's been following this story in Walterboro, South Carolina.

So, Kaylee, authorities are not saying much now about the fight or specifically how Wright died. I suppose that's understandable. It's an ongoing investigation. But what are we learning, if anything, about the circumstances?

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No, they're not, Jim. And you make that point. Authorities and the school board say this is an ongoing investigation and it involves juveniles. So they're staying very tight-lipped.

We don't know what led to a fight between two fifth grade girls last Monday. And we don't know what happened during that fight. What we do know is that when emergency personnel showed up at that elementary school in this small town in South Carolina, Raniya Wright was unconscious and still was still breathing. She was taken to a local hospital, later air lifted to another hospital in Charleston about an hour away. And she died on Wednesday.

[09:40:02] Now, her mother is saying that she believes her daughter was a victim of bullying. I spoke with Ashley Wright yesterday. She's not yet ready to answer questions and she's not yet ready to speak publicly, but her father, Raniya's grandfather, was comfortable sharing with us his sentiment. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERNIE WRIGHT, RANIYA WRIGHT'S GRANDFATHER: As far as violence or anything like that, she never would do that. I miss her. We love you. We can do everything we can do for justice for her. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARTUNG: This family tells me they are planning a celebration of Raniya's life for next week. But in the meantime, Jim, this community is really struggling with how to grapple with these emotions, this shocking headline that a fight between two fifth grade girls could end in death.

Yesterday, we saw parents waiting for two hours outside a closed school board meeting. As soon as that meeting let out, these parents were shouting questions, demanding answers, but they didn't get any.

And then later in the day we saw several hundred people in this small, tight-knit community holding hands, praying together for Raniya Wright, for her family and for healing in this community.

You mentioned an autopsy being performed today by the coroner. It's unclear when we will get the results of that autopsy. But, Jim, it does seem like it will be a while before we get answers to a lot of the questions that we have here, and there are so many. No parent sends their child to school in the morning thinking that they won't return home because a fight happened inside their classroom.

SCIUTTO: Wow. No, no child should die in their school.

Do we know if there were any witnesses to the fight because that's one of the questions here. I mean schools are crowded places. How did this happen?

HARTUNG: It's unclear. We've been told, this is in the police incident report, that the fight happened inside a classroom. But it is unclear. We have not been told if any adults, any teachers were present or if any other students were. So we don't know if there were any witnesses. We know that there have been requests for any surveillance video that may exist inside that school. But, again, this is in our long list of questions that we have not yet received answers to, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Kaylee Hartung, good to have you on the story. I know we're going to stay on top of it.

SCIUTTO: A clerical error could send a Connecticut man back to prison 13 years after he was released. Demetrious Anderson walked out of prison in 2006 after serving three years on charges involving counterfeit money. U.S. Marshals arrested Anderson last week because he still had a 16-month federal sentence to serve. Anderson thought his state sentence was concurrent with his federal one, meaning they're served at the same time. The state let him out early and no one took him into federal custody. Despite his recent troubles, Anderson says he remains hopeful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMETRIUS ANDERSON, MAY BE SENT BACK TO PRISON DUE TO CLERICAL ERROR: I'm optimistic that justice will prevail. I still have faith in the judicial system. So I'm just praying and, you know, leaning on my faith that this could be, you know, vindicated. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Anderson and his attorney are asking President Trump for a commutation of his sentence.

Independent voters will be critical to President Trump's re-election bid in 2020, but did the Barr summary change any minds?

And who is "Tricky Dick"? The four-part CNN original series explores President Richard Nixon's rise, fall, comeback and political destruction, featuring never before seen footage. The series continues Sunday at 9:00.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:47:57] SCIUTTO: We are still waiting to see the complete Mueller report. That's important. There's a lot of information in there we don't know yet. But the president seizing on the initial summary headlines, declaring victory last night during a speech in Michigan, of course a key 2020 swing state. The big question, how are independent voters taking in these Mueller headlines?

Our Randi Kaye traveled to another key swing state, Pennsylvania, to ask, and here's what she found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the wake of Attorney General Barr's letter to Congress and what we've learned about the Mueller investigation, is there anyone hear who feels more or less supportive of Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel more supportive. I think it was an exhaustive investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it was a sham from the beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mind hasn't changed one iota. I had a pretty firm opinion of him and I don't need their help.

KAYE: Yours, a negative opinion, and that hasn't changed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

KAYE (voice over): These eight independent voters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, are happy the Mueller investigation is complete. They're anxious to move on to issues that matter to them.

KAYE (on camera): Will the Mueller investigation and what we've learned about it so far through the attorney general, will that impact your vote for 2020?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

KAYE: No? Not at all?

KAYE (voice over): What does this group care about?

JAMES O'BRIEN, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: The economy will be one piece, but the things like health care and the environment are definitely other pieces.

KAYE (on camera): Just, raise your hand, how many of you give President Donald Trump credit for a strong economy? Raise your hand. Just three.

If the economy is doing great, do any of you care if the Trump administration or the campaign colluded with Russia or if he tried to obstruct justice? Do any of you care or does the economy outweigh that?

PATTY MENOW, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: No. The economy is way more important to me.

KAYE: Despite everything that the president has been criticized for -- his lies, now further investigations with the Southern District of New York, the government shutdown, I mean we could go on and on, despite all of that, could you -- could you still vote for him if the economy is strong?

[09:50:07] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAYE: You say --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.

KAYE: Why not?

SHAINA Harris, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: It's not specifically him. It's not specifically those investigations. It's not specifically that. It's just like every tiny little piece like of the open like I want to say racist or bigotry, the openness of that for me is, of course, like number one.

KAYE: You look at what's important, the pocket book issues, you know, the stock market is booming, unemployment is at historic lows, the economy is strong they say. That still wouldn't change your mind?

BETH CLARK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: It's a trend that has been going on before Trump came into office and he has continued it. So I think it's continuing to do well somewhat in spite of Donald Trump.

HOLLY KAESER-FOGG, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I have voted for a Republican for years, 40 plus years. And I could not vote for him. You know, if Donald Trump isn't president two years from now, I don't think that the economy is going to fall apart at the seams.

JIM LUNDBERG, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: If the economy happens to be good when he ends his term, I'll be really happy about it, but I'm not going to give Donald Trump all the credit.

KAYE (voice over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Boy, you really get a sense of the divide now in interviews like that. Thanks very much to Randi.

Record flooding in the Midwest now threatening to contaminate the drinking water in more than a million private wells there. We're going to take you live to Nebraska for the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:53] SCIUTTO: So this is always pretty cool. These are live pictures happening right now dozens of miles above our head outside the International Space Station. What was supposed to be the first ever all female spacewalk, astronauts Kristina Koch and Ann McClain were assigned to fix the station's solar array today, but both women needed a medium sized space suit. Only one was available. That seems kind of silly. Astronaut Nick Hague replaced McClain on the space walk. We hope she gets a chance soon.

As the Midwest tries to recover from record flooding, a new concern coming to light. It is estimated more than a million private wells that supply drinking water could be contaminated now.

CNN's Scott McLean joins me now from Bellevue, Nebraska. That's near Omaha.

So, Scott, what can you tell us because a lot of families depend on these private wells. But if they can't use the wells, where do they get their water?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Jim. It is still a pretty ugly picture for people here on the ground in Nebraska. The peak of this flooding came about two weeks ago. But, look, this is lake flooding and so there's really nowhere for this water to go. They're actually having to pump it out in order to get the water level to recede.

Now, people are starting to come back to clean up or at least salvage what they can. But it is going to be a long process. And as if they needed one more thing to worry about, well, public health officials here in Nebraska and really across the Midwest are warning flood victims about the potential for contamination of their well water.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONNA KUDIRKA, HOME DAMAGED BY FLOOD WATERS: It's real muddy, so please -- oh, please be careful.

MCLEAN (voice over): For thousands of Nebraskans, it doesn't get much worse than this.

MCLEAN (on camera): That's not your shed?

KUDIRKA: No, that's not our shed.

MCLEAN: You don't have a shed?

KUDIRKA: No. That came --

MCLEAN: (INAUDIBLE) now?

KUDIRKA: That came clear from over there.

MCLEAN (voice over): Donna Kudirka not only got an unwanted backyard makeover, she got almost eight feet of water in the basement of her lakefront home south of Omaha.

KUDIRKA: It's that spot up -- that white spot up on the pipe.

MCLEAN: And has spent the last week cleaning up. She is still without power and one of thousands of Nebraska homeowners with a private well at risk of contamination.

MCLEAN (on camera): You wouldn't even try to drink out of it until you got it tested?

KUDIRKA: No. No. We can't, because the water's contaminated. I wouldn't take a chance.

MCLEAN (voice over): According to one estimate, there may be more than 1 million wells in 300 counties across ten states that are threatened by contamination, largely thanks to record flooding that soaked large swaths of the Midwest this year, from Minnesota to Kentucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the water gets above this, then the water can get into the well, and that can contaminate it.

MCLEAN: Frank Markston (ph) drills and maintains wells, and lately he's been busy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll put you on the list, but you're not going to be too high on the list right now.

MCLEAN: Flushing wells with chlorine on properties where clean water is not the most obvious concern.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never seen it like this before. I mean there's thousands -- thousands of wells that have been affected by it, their house, their basements and it's just -- it will be years before they know how much damage is done.

MCLEAN: The contamination is caused by a nasty mixture of pollutants carried by the flood water, fertilizers and manure from farmland, gasoline, chemicals and even human waste from broken septic systems. Drinking from a contaminated well is a recipe for --

SUE DEMPSEY, ADMINISTRATOR, DHHS DRINKING WATER PROGRAM: Diarrhea if you're exposed to bacteria, because there could be coliform, E. Coli bacteria in there.

MCLEAN: Sue Dempsey is responsible for drinking water quality in Nebraska, where the state is offering to help people get their well water tested. An uncommon public service in a state where abundant, clean ground water is taken for granted.

DEMPSEY: Our first round of sampling we had 277 people come in and get test kits and about 30 percent of those were positive for bacteria.

MCLEAN (on camera): The bottom line is, you don't want to drink that water?

DEMPSEY: Definitely not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN: So you can see on this property the well had almost definitely would have been submerged in this really filthy flood water and likely is contaminated. But the message for flood victims is that even if your well head wasn't submerged, you should still get your water tested before you drink it just to be sure.

[09:59:59] In Nebraska and Missouri, they're actually offering to do that testing for free. But remember that private wells, unlike municipal water systems, they are not regulated.

END