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Trump Threatens to Close Southern Border Next Week; Trump Mocks Asylum-Seekers Saying It is a Big Fat Con Job; Trump Misleads Public by Saying He's Exonerated on Obstruction by Bill Barr; Trump Reverses Cuts After Devos Spent Three Days Defending the Cuts Trump Presented Her With; UK Further into Crisis as Brexit Deal Falls Again. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired March 29, 2019 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] ERIC SUSSMAN, FORMER FIRST ASSISTANT STATE'S ATTORNEY FOR KIM FOXX: In essence fishing for information and then getting people like Michael Avenatti who come in with questionable video tapes and a lot of other questionable issues.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Eric Sussman, thank you so much for lending us your expertise. That is it for me. "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi, there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN. Another day, another threat from President Trump and today he is threatening to shut down the southern border as early as next week. Speaking in Florida today, the President told reporters that he was ready to close the border completely, including to all trade with Mexico if the country does not immediately stop all immigration coming into the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have the strongest immigration laws anywhere in the world and we have the weakest, the most pathetic laws, number one, Congress has to act and number two, Mexico that makes so much money from the United States and so many other things, so many other assets, they have to grab it and they have to stop it and if they don't stop it, we're closing the border. We'll close it and we'll keep it closed for a long time. I'm not playing games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This follows comments by Trump's top border security officials saying that the border is at a quote/unquote, breaking point. Ed Lavendera is our go-to guy on this. You heard the President say he's not playing games. He's made these threats before, ed, but what's different this time?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's different is this is coming on the heels of what you're hearing repeatedly and the drumbeat you heard repeatedly hear from Department Of Homeland Security and Customs And Border Protection officials over the course of the last few weeks who say that there is essentially at a breaking point, that the system is completely overwhelmed with the numbers of people who are coming across. CPP commissioner says in March alone they're expecting as many as 100,000 illegal apprehensions along the U.S. southern border, which would be the highest number they've seen in about a decade or so, so that is what is different here. Although you will hear repeatedly from immigrant rights activists and critics of the Trump administration who insists that the federal government has plenty of resources and means in place to process the numbers that they're seeing and that is the struggle that you're seeing going on between these two sides.

BALDWIN: Uh-hum. Ed, thank you. Trump is also going after asylum seekers at a rally in Michigan. He mocked their asylum claims and acted out how they might try to, quote, con their way into the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You have people coming up -- you know, they're all met by the lawyers, the lawyers -- and they come out, they're all met by the lawyers and they say, say the following phrase, I am very afraid for my life. I am afraid for my life. OK. And then I look at the guy, he looks like he just got out of the ring, he's the heavyweight champion of the world. It's a big fat con job, folks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Angeline, thank you for being with me today. When you first saw the President say that, do that, what were you thinking?

ANGELINE CHEN, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY, COFOUNDER, VOLUNTEER GROUP, RISE TO UNITE: Well, you know, I'm a cofounder of a volunteer group called rise to unite. Volunteer for a nonprofit organization and this is preposterous that what we're doing, what other immigration attorney, mothers and lawyers are doing at the border and here in the U.S. that it's a big fat con job is absolutely ridiculous. I have personally seen thousands of refugees in Tijuana when the central American exodus arrived there with my own eyes. They were in a sports complex outside and they were stacked up like sardines on blankets, make shift tents, they were not, you know, individuals who looked like boxers or heavyweight champions of the world, they were malnourished, they looked like they had been traveling thousands of miles because they have been. I saw women and little babies I had held a 6-month-old in my arms who looked like he was two months old. This is what we're dealing with. People are fleeing poverty and gang violence and domestic violence. It's not a con job.

[14:05:00] BALDWIN: I hear you. It's preposterous, but what Trump said last night, it is gaining steam, you know. We've talked to local law enforcement officials and now you have the President of the United States last night saying that there are people now starting to question what they consider sob stories, stories quite similar to others that some local law enforcement think that maybe they are following the script. Is it possible that certain people know what works, what to say to get in? As an attorney who's licensed by the state bar and who's been

practicing immigration for 15 years, I know many, many immigration attorneys. We do not teach them how to lie. We do not -- we're not allowed to. We can lose our license. We tell them what the legal process is and how to abide by the law, and when we're at the border, we specifically tell them, do not cross the border through the hills, don't climb over the fence. If you do, you will die or you will get raped or your kids will be taken away from you. We specifically tell them to go by the law which is to go to the port of entry, put your name on a wait list and wait possibly months to enter through the port of entry and seek asylum. We also ask them -- go ahead.

BALDWIN: How are there asylum claims verified?

CHEN: So, what we do at the border, we first ask them a lot of questions about why they're here, what happened to them. It's required to show that -- to qualify for asylum that you fear being persecuted based on race, nationality, religion, a particular social group or political opinion. So, we go through that with them because if it's not a strong case, we tell them. This is a very weak case. You will most likely lose. Don't even try to cross. You will get detained and you may get deported. Now, we're not the official bodies who determine this, obviously, but based on case law and from the experience that we have, you know, we can give them a better sense whether or not they qualify or not.

BALDWIN: I understand.

CHEN: So, we're helping the government.

BALDWIN: Sure, sure. Just to remind everyone watching, talking to ed down there reminding me earlier on the phone today, it's very difficult to win an asylum case, doesn't mean you request it doesn't mean you get it whatsoever. I would be remiss not to ask you about the reporting or the tweets from this President how he's threatening to shut down the U.S./Mexico border as early as next week. Can you just tell me what impact would closing parts of the border have?

CHEN: Well, you have thousands of people waiting already in Tijuana to -- waiting in line to enter through the port of entry. The border is technically pretty much closed already because only 25 to 40 individuals come in every day and there are thousands of people waiting in shelters that are, you know, run by volunteers and churches. It's not government entities. This is going to be a serious problem. Where are these people supposed to go especially for unaccompanied minors who are not even allowed to get on this wait list and they're trying to, you know, seek asylum at the port of entry and they need to come to us to the attorneys to help them cross the -- to go to the port of entry, hopefully they will enter. I went with a group of seven immigration attorney mothers and we accompanied an unaccompanied minor and they made us wait seven hours.

BALDWIN: We appreciate you and the work you do. Thank you.

CHEN: Thank you. BALDWIN: Exactly one week ago today, Robert Mueller, the special

counsel, wrapped up his nearly two-year investigation into Russian collusion, obstruction and handed over his findings to the Department of Justice in this lengthy report and just your daily reminder, we still do not know what is in that 300-page report. All we have is the four-page summary courtesy of the Attorney General, but despite that the President has been telling anyone who's willing to listen that he is completely in the clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead. Total exoneration, complete vindication. The Democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous [bleep]. Robert Mueller was a god to the Democrats and they don't like him so much right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:10:02] BALDWIN: Elie Honig is a former district attorney and let me remind everyone, good to have you on again, just reminding this, this is the summary of this report. He writes, quote, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. So how does the President there claim victory when the Mueller report has not been released?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's still way too early to stand under banners and declare victory. There's a couple things that are very important to understand. First of all, there is a big gap between beyond a reasonable doubt which you would need to prove a crime in criminal court and exoneration, which I take to mean it's not a technical legal term, prove this person was innocent. There's a lot of room in there. You can still have evidence of a crime, plenty of evidence that falls well short of beyond a reasonable doubt. So, I don't know that anyone was exonerated even of anything. The letter's clear there's not enough in Mueller's estimation to charge conspiracy with Russia, but he also does not affirmatively conclude nothing ever happened. That's one part of it and, of course, obstruction is a whole different story.

BALDWIN: That's the nebulous piece of the whole thing where Mueller didn't decide.

HONIG: Obstruction is where the story will be told and that's why people need to see that Mueller report so desperately. There's clearly evidence in there.

BALDWIN: How convincing do you think this President, Republicans have been in essentially telling the American public the four-page Barr report and the 300-page Mueller report is one in the same, and if they are convincing, why is that dangerous?

HONIG: I think the messaging been fairly effective. A lot of people out there don't even recognize the difference between these four pages and the actual Mueller report, and we'll see how long that lasts, but I think when the Mueller report comes out so long as it's not sliced and diced to death by William Barr which he may be working on right now, but if and when it comes out, you think we'll see a pendulum swing back to, wow, look at the evidence Mueller lays out. We know there's evidence on obstruction and we know it was close enough to the line of being criminal that Mueller felt he couldn't make a charge. He went thumbs down on collusion. He said not enough there, but on obstruction he said it is close enough that I'm not going to make this decision. That tells me something.

BALDWIN: But isn't it possible of how effective the messaging has been that they're one in the same, when it does come out and let's say it's not sliced and diced, 40 percent of the American population are like --

HONIG: Absolutely possible. It's exactly why William Barr's letter last week which, by the way, is not called for or required by the regulations. I think he overstepped in even issuing a letter especially where he said no-go on obstruction. This letter is going to end up being a political favor for President Trump because the longer this letter is the best we have to go on, the longer that message of nothing to see here is going to be out there.

BALDWIN: "The Washington Post" also has new reporting on how Donald Trump inflated his net worth to both lenders and investors on multiple things using what Trump called a quote/unquote, a statement of financial condition. The statements which began in 2011 have examples like, claiming Trump Tower has 68 stories when it actually has 58. Saying an L.A. golf course has 55 home lots to sell there are only 31. There were documents provided to "The Post" that Trump did indeed inflate his assets. Congress and SDNY are investigating if it's fraud.

HONIG: This is standard grifter stuff. True what you do is you tell your investors I have a much better product, I have a can't miss opportunity, I have a 68-floor tower when, in fact, it's 58 or the opportunity is not nearly at golden as the offer makes it out to be. That is a fairly standard fraud case. If this is all proven out there could be problems. Of course, look, DOJ, which includes U.S. attorney's office will not be indicting the President while he's in office. There could be indictments for people around him who are involved and there could be indictments after the term of office ends.

BALDWIN: OK. Appreciate you.

HONIG: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Ahead here on CNN, an outpouring of anger when the administration announced funding cuts to the Special Olympics and now the President says he is overriding his Education Secretary blaming her, when, by the way, these cuts were in his budget all along.

Plus, an update into what may have gone wrong on that doomed Boeing 737 Max 8, what preliminary findings from the Ethiopian Airlines black box is now revealing. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

[14:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Well, here we go again. When a member of the President's own cabinet says x and the President says y, this time it is the secretary of education Betsy DeVos who testified in front of lawmakers defending a proposal that would defund the Special Olympics, but President Trump has now saying that will not happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Special Olympics will be funded. I just told my people, I want to fund the Special Olympics and I just authorized a funding of the Special Olympics. I heard about it this morning. I have overridden my people. We're funding the Special Olympics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So, after that rebuke from President Trump, here's how Secretary DeVos responded today when asked if she's glad to be secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY DEVOS, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: I am indeed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.

DEVOS: Yes, most days I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:00] BALDWIN: But this isn't the first time President Trump has countermanded his own members of the cabinet. Here's a quick look at some other examples. He said his administration will protect Americans with preexisting conditions even though his own Justice Department is arguing for eliminating those very protections right now in court. He also said his fed chair didn't know what he was doing when it came to interest rates saying he didn't have a quote/unquote, feel for the markets. He criticized then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for engaging with North Korea, calling it a waste of time before engaging with North Korea months later. He went against then Secretary of Defense Mattis when he unilaterally decided to pull troops from Syria saying ISIS was defeated.

And let's not forget the very public shaming of his then Attorney General Jeff Sessions For his crucial in the whole Russia investigation where President Trump said he should never have appointed him in the first place. Daniel Dale is with me. Daniel, thank you for being with me on this Friday. When you look at all those examples, big picturing it, what's going on here? It's become a pattern.

DANIEL DALE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE TORONTO STAR: It is a pattern. A key part of the Trump brand is being the I alone can fix it guy. That was the famous line from his Republican convention acceptance speech and I think he's found that he can play the conquering hero swooping in to save the day and get --

BALDWIN: Good cop to the bad cop. DALE: Without a certain segment of the population knowing that he is

also the bad cop moments before or days before he was the good cop. We saw it again last night with the great lakes. He's proposed in three consecutive budgets to nearly eliminate funding for great lakes restoration and he said, breaking news, I'm fully protecting the great lakes. I'm getting it for you.

BALDWIN: There you go.

DALE: This works for a lot of people.

BALDWIN: There you go. You fact check the President all the time, Daniel. He's not the one who approves how money is spent, that's Congress, not to mention these two cuts talking about Secretary DeVos here, the two cuts were in two previous versions of his budget, so it just makes one question if he knows what's even in his own budget?

DALE: Rights. I think that actually paradox helps him in this kind of case because I think a lot of people say, well, maybe he didn't know. Maybe he didn't know that his administration was doing bad stuff. Maybe it is true that he just found out --

BALDWIN: But he should know.

DALE: Of course, he should. This is the President's proposal, the President's budget is his proposal. I think people's knowledge of his detachment from a lot of the specifics of policy helps him portray himself as the conquering hero sometimes.

BALDWIN: You've watched or read the transcript of every single one of the President's rallies and you remember all those rallies, the chants of lock her up, right, so now the chant has changed to this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD CHANTING: AOC sucks, AOC sucks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now we know this President needs an enemy but why do you think of all the people that his supporters think it's Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

DALE: I think part of it is that it's been a concerted effort in conservative media to make her the leading villain of the Democratic party. I was at the CPAC conference in early March and she was mentioned more than even any Democratic Presidential candidate, even though she's a freshman member of Congress. I think it's also that she leans in to it. She doesn't shy away. She's very outspoken and aggressive. I think, of course, there are -- there are things about her that make her very handy. She's a young woman. She's a young woman of color and she's very aggressive in fighting with her critics online and so I think for a bunch of reasons, she's a tantalizing target for many Republicans.

BALDWIN: Daniel dale, thank you. DALE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Just ahead, it is the big question that has grounded more than 300 planes worldwide. What caused two Boeing 737 Max 8 jets to crash right after takeoff. New information from one of those black boxes may provide new answers.

And protest right now erupting. Look at. This all these people in London after the Prime Minister there Theresa May's Brexit deal fails for a third time and the U.K. falls further into crisis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today was supposed to be the day the U.K. left the European Union, parties were planned, coins were minted to mark the occasion but that is not happening at least today. Those members of Parliament resoundingly defeated the Brexit plan and put three years of planning to leave the EU on hold and right now protesters are taking to the streets of London blocking areas outside of Parliament, so what is next. Bianca Nobilo is live for us just outside of Parliament and we know Theresa May's days are numbered and I'll ask you about that in a second but on the deal itself, so now what?

[14:30:00] BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Theresa May's days are inextricably linked to the deal itself and it's on its last legs.

This was the defeated for the third time today, less resoundingly than the first two. It was defeated by a historic margin breaking records 230 votes against it then 149 and today 58. So, she's making some progress, but time literally today has run out and that's because the House of Commons is as split as this country at large on the issue of Brexit. There are so many different opinions and politicians remain completely unwilling to compromise. They want to stay in their pure positions on Brexit, they either want a really clean break and look outward to the rest of the world for their trade and other opportunities or they want to stay very closely aligned to their nearest neighbor the EU and to prevent any kind of economic shock that could ensue from leaving the EU with no deal.