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Trump Orders State Department to Cut Aid to Central American Countries; South Texas Facing Mass Release of Migrants; Trump Plans Trip to Border Town as He Threatens to Close Border; Biden Responds to Accusation of Unwanted Kiss; Candidates Weigh in on Biden Kissing Allegations; Zuckerberg: It's Time to Regulate the Internet. Trump Calls on Courts to End Obamacare; "Tricky Dick" Airs Tonight at 9P ET/PT. Aired 3-4pm ET

Aired March 31, 2019 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:00] HARLAN COHEN, AUTHOR, "GETTING NAKED: FIVE STEPS TO FINDING THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE": -- and takes having people in your corner to help you, so if you do get rejected, and let me just make this point. Rejection, our brain interprets as the same way we interpret physical pain.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, no. Come on, Harlan.

He was making some good points there. I know he had you on the edge of your seat. But you know what? We decided to mix things up a little bit. This is not what you expected today, but I bet you feel better for it.

Harlan Cohen, wherever you are, thank you very much.

All right, we got so much more straight ahead in the "Newsroom" and it all starts right now.

All right. Hello again, everyone, and thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredericka Whitfield.

We begin with President Trump directing the U.S. State Department to cut off aid to three Central American countries, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. Around $1.3 billion was allocated to the region. Mainly those three countries between last year and this year according to a recent study. President trump says those countries set up migrant caravans for entry into America, his words.

Meantime, President Trump is also threatening to shut down parts or all of the border as soon as this week and announcing he will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border in California this Friday.

Meanwhile, his Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, telling CNN who he says is to blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF: Look, there's a lot of good ways to help solve this problem. Congress could do it, but they are not going to. Mexico could help us do it. They need to do a little bit more. Honduras could do more. Nicaragua could do more. El Salvador could do more.

And if we're giving these countries hundreds of millions of dollars we would like them to do more. That, Jake, I would respectfully submit to you, is not an unreasonable position. We could prevent a lot of what's happening on the southern border by preventing people from moving into Mexico in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Border officials say they are at a breaking point. Hundreds of migrants are being released from processing centers in South Texas. Several border facilities are well past capacity, and resources are strained.

Let's go first to Brownsville, Texas where a border protection facility there is well over capacity according to officials. And so CNN's Martin Savidge is at a bus station there. So given us -- give us an idea of, you know, how this works and what you're seeing.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Fredericka, what's pretty clear right now what is that, what is the crisis for the federal government as far as handling migrants now is more and more becoming a real problem for border towns like Brownsville here along the whole Texas border. Because what is happening is that the federal authorities are now releasing the migrants, and they're bringing them to places like this, the bus station in Brownsville. Dropping them off in groups of maybe 40 to 50 and handing them over to the local authorities and essentially leaving it on the doorstep of the local governments to figure out what to do next.

So, they have forked it out fairly well so far here in Brownsville. When the buses arrive, the people come in and they are processed. They've got both Brownsville city officials here as well as Cameron county officials that are here.

And the goal is first to make sure that they have their proper documentation, in other words that they were processed by the federal government. Then the next step is to figure out how are they going to get from Brownsville to wherever they're going to go in the United States?

Many of these families need to communicate to loved ones that are here already, so to do that they give them cell phones. Then the next step of the process is who is going to pay for the bus ticket? Who's going to pay for the airline ticket once that is established and the money has been transferred here, wired or otherwise. Then they begin to move them off to the buses or they move them off to the airport?

But the thing is, Fredericka, it's working well for now, but I asked the mayor how long can they hold it up and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TONY MARTINEZ, BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS: So far we have been able to handle anything that's come our way and I think we can so long as we have, you know, adequate notice to know what's coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And that's the problem. They haven't had adequate notice. They're not sure in the days to come how heavy a number of people they're going to see. They claim they can handle at least 1,000 a day. If it goes beyond that it will be serious problems in Brownsville.

Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, keep us posted. Martin Savidge, thank you so much.

All right, I assume President Trump will head back to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after announcing another border trip and his decision to cut aid to three Central American countries.

Let's check in with CNN White House Reporter, Sarah Westwood, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

So, Sarah, what can you tell us about, you know, his ideas this week?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, President Trump has clearly been fixated on the situation down on the border as he spent the weekend here in West Palm Beach. He's been tweeting about the situation repeatedly.

And President Trump started on Friday threatening to close down the southern border. It's not the first time that he's threatened to close all or part of the border but it is the first time that he's attached a deadline to it. He says he'll do that as soon as this week if he doesn't get more cooperation from Mexico to stem the flow of undocumented migrants coming into the U.S.

[15:05:09] White House officials, including White House Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney as you just heard, also pointing the finger at the Central American countries that will soon be loosing funding as a result of the State Department's decision to cut off aid to those countries because they are not doing enough to stop their citizens from coming up through Mexico and coming into the U.S. Mulvaney pushing back on evidence that suggests that aid actually limits the number of people coming into the U.S. by arguing the proof, it's ineffective, it's in the increased number of migrants coming into the U.S. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULVANEY: It's a humanitarian crisis. It's security crisis. I think, at least now, people are starting to realize that we were not exaggerating a couple of months ago and we had this nationwide debate about the wall. So I hear what you're saying that people say it's working but proof is in the numbers. It's not working well enough to help us solve our border crisis and that's what the President is focused on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now all of this comes as customs and border protection is saying they are reaching that breaking point, that their facilities just weren't designed to handle the increased number of families, of unaccompanied children that are coming across the southern border, many of them seeking asylum. The CBP says they are on track to apprehend more people at the border this month than any month since 2008. And what we're seeing from this administration, obviously, gearing towards what could be a more dramatic respond to what we're seeing, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sarah Westwood, thank you so much.

All right, with me is Raul Reyes, an immigration analyst, attorney and a CNN opinion writer. Raul, good to see you.

So let me begin, you know, by getting your reaction to the President cutting off aid, you know, to these three Central American countries.

RAUL REYES, IMMIGRATION ANALYST: Well, the President's threat to cut off aid to these three countries Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras is extremely problematic, both in legal and practical ways.

Legally it's problematic because these are funds that Congress has already appropriated for these nations. Now, going forward maybe the President can ask the Congress to withhold that money, but in terms of the money that's already allocated for this coming fiscal year, the President cannot unilaterally say that these countries will not receive those moneys.

Now, practically speaking, this policy if were -- if he were to withhold aid to these nations it would be a disaster, and the reason is because -- is in the type of programs that this money -- that these funds go to. They go to help strengthen the civil societies in these nations. They go to help root out police and government corruption. They go to fight trafficking. The money going to fight gang, the proliferation of gangs in these countries. And the money also goes to bolster the private sector in these countries.

Withdrawing all of that money will lead to further unrest, further threats of violence and pretty much every expert in terms of immigration analyst agrees that what it will lead to overall is an increase of people fleeing the country and subsequently an increase in unauthorized arrivals at our southern border.

WHITFIELD: So you see it having an opposite effect. It might encourage more people to want to flee because conditions will deteriorate as a result of, you know, --

REYES: Right. Right.

WHITFIELD: -- U.S. aid money being withheld.

REYES: Right. Absolutely.

And you know, Democrats and Republicans, depending on your political affiliation, people tend to have a different view of this crisis in Central America. Republicans and people on the right say that these are people who are just leaving for economic reasons and we can't let everybody in. Whereas Democrats tend to focus -- frame the issue as a humanitarian crisis focusing on the asylum seekers. Those are two different approaches.

But wherever are you in terms of your view of the situation in those nations, both sides, the one thing that will work to satisfy both sides is that we have to address the root causes of instability in the northern triangle countries. Withdrawing the funds will not do that.

And on top of that withdrawing those funds will be a gift to smugglers and traffickers because now it will be harder to make the trek so there will be more illegal crossings and we'll see more caravans. And not only that word is already out that the U.S. might crack down or clamp down at the border and that lets smugglers put the words out to many people who might be thinking of leaving that they should come now.

And as we enter the summer -- as the weather gets warmer it gets more and more dangerous. That's one reason why we're seeing this seasonal increase because the spring is usually historically when there is more traffic north wards, legal and illegal, because of the weather conditions.

WHITFIELD: And a couple other immigration, you know, related matters, the President, you know, says that he will be making a decision about actually closing the border this week. And at the same time he plans to make a visit to, you know, a border city in California on Friday. If the border is closed, and we're talking about $1.6 billion in trade a day, you know, particularly between Mexico and the U.S., what would be the economic impact and why do you believe the President feels that it would be worth it?

[15:10:08] REYES: The economic impact on the United States alone would be catastrophic. You know, if he's -- I'm not sure exactly what he means when he says we're going somehow close the whole border. But if he's talking about closing all the legal ports of entry, that's where trucks come through, that's where commerce goes back and forth. That's where our legal immigrants and many tourists come through.

So for example, were he to close the border? One segment of the economy that would very quickly feel impact is the U.S. auto industry which, you know, has been lately a base of Trump support in the Rust Belt because the U.S. auto industry depends on many parts that are manufactured in Mexico and driven up to the midwest in trucks.

But the thing is, here again we see legal issues, because if the President announces that the border is closed or makes a declaration that our border with Mexico is closed, that still does not terminate the legal right of asylum that potential migrants have and that's under U.S. law, international law and treatise like the U.N. High Commission on Refugees. So, again, he cannot unilaterally take this action. It would hurt the United States.

And just to push back for a minute on what Mr. Mulvaney was saying earlier in terms of Mexico not doing enough to stem the flow of these migrants. Mexico deported more people back to Central America in the last five years than the United States did. Mexico is allowing the Trump administration's metering program to stay in place at the border. Mexico is also issuing visas to many of these migrants from Central America so they won't continue on to the U.S.

So Mexico has done a lot and the more that the President aggravates Mexico or the Mexican government he risks -- they're not cooperating with the U.S. government which will only make this humanitarian and potentially economic crisis even worse.

WHITFIELD: All right, Raul Reyes, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much for being with us.

REYES: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Former Vice President Joe Biden hasn't even officially entered the race, but he's already being forced to defend himself against allegations of inappropriate behavior with women.

Plus, why Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is calling for new internet rules. What that oversight might look like and the impact on free speech.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:23] WHITFIELD: Former Vice President, Joe Biden is on the defense against allegations that he touched and kissed a former Nevada state lawmaker. In an essay pub published Friday Lucy Flores says Biden approached her from behind in 2014. She says he put his hands on her shoulders, leaned in to smell her hair and planted a kiss on the top of her head. And this morning she told CNN's Jake Tapper this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCY FLORES, (D) FORMER EVADA LT. GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I felt powerless. I felt like I couldn't move. I just didn't even know how to process it. And my bigger point that I've been making is that in these power dynamic situations and women are subjected to this in the political setting but in work settings all the time that you just kind of process it and then you move on because you have a job to do.

The reason why we're having these conversations about Vice President Joe Biden is because he's considering running for president. And frankly the reason why I felt so compelled to finally say something was because over the years as this behavior was documented as it was frankly dismissed by the media and not taken seriously, that conversation was not coming up in the discussions about whether or not he would -- in a complete analysis of his history, of his record as we go through the vetting process for all of these candidates, that important aspect was being left out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So here is what Biden is saying today and I'm quoting now, "In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort and not once, never did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is so -- if it is suggested that I did so, I will listen respectfully, but it was never my intention."

With me now CNN Political Commentators Hilary Rosen and Scott Jennings and, Nomiki Konst, a 2016 delegate for Bernie Sanders. Good to see all of you.

So, Hillary you, first, how big of a problem potentially is this for Biden?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I know Lucy Flores well and I think she's credible and thoughtful and I think what she said is -- was both respectful and real. And this is an issue for many women and many men. That's why we've had this moment over these last two years.

But I have to say I really appreciated the way Joe Biden responded to it, not with the statement you just read but what he actually said on Friday which is that he didn't remember it but he absolutely applauded and respected her right to speak out. He didn't try and silence her. He didn't do what a lot of men have done over the last two years which is try and demean her and undermine her and trash her.

And I think that the challenge here for all of us is to look at people's real record and to see whether, you know, consciousness has been raised to see what intent is and make a judgment about it. And I think that's what people will do about Joe Biden.

WHITFIELD: So Nomiki, you also are good friends, you know, with Lucy Flores. And when you talk about, you know, intention, you know, what do you suppose besides sharing her story, you know, Flores -- what do you think she is asking for? Is this like, you know, just firing a warning shot and letting voters know this is what happened and this is how it made me feel? Or is it also demanding or asking, you know, Biden to, you know, admit to something, pledge that he'll never do it again? I mean, what's the objective here in your view?

[15:20:03] NOMIKI KONST, 2016 DELEGATE FOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, the only thing that I can say that I know that Lucy has come forward and said is that she thinks that he should apologize.

Now, his statement, you know, sure, he wrote it very thoughtfully and I'm sure he had advisers working him through it. But, this was not a new allegation. What Lucy was able to do was use her position of, frankly, power to step up and say because she knew it would get attention for others to feel that they were comfortable enough to step up and say that he has done this in the past.

There are hundreds of photographs and videos of former Vice President Joe Biden doing this to other women. This isn't a new thing. She just wrote it very thoughtfully using her voice, her platform to get this out before, you know -- so that the media would essentially ask these questions. I mean, at the end of the day I was a supporter of Joe Biden and I wanted him to run for president in 2016, but I think that we've all evolved on this, including myself as a former supporter in realizing that this is not acceptable. It's not acceptable to touch women without their approval, without asking. It's not acceptable to grab their waists and kiss their neck no matter what their age if you don't have a relationship or friendship with them or if you don't have their approval.

And I think what Lucy was able to do was to text -- to bring texture to the story and also use her platform to make sure that he's vetted, even though he is the former vice president, he is vetted just as every other candidate will be.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And Scott, you know, these are different allegations --

(CROSSTALK)

ROESE: Listen, I think it's a little dangerous to just -- Fred, to just let that comment --

WHITFIELD: OK.

ROSEN: -- go unchallenged, and I appreciate everything else Nomiki said. But to say that there are hundreds of instances like this I think is unfair. I think if there are other women who come forward with similar stories, that each one of those people will be listened to thoughtfully and Vice President Biden will take them seriously, but I don't think we should be walk it around sort of saying, oh this is something that, you know, --

KONST: There's documents --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So, perhaps, Nomiki, is what you're saying is there are -- there is video --

KONST: There's ton of video.

WHITFIELD: -- of the vice president, you know, being, you know, or he touches, or he leans in, you're talking about that, Nomiki, because --

KONST: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- there are images of that that I think most people are accustomed to seeing and it's out in the open that he does touch. That, you know, we're seeing some of the images right here, he may be leaning in, et cetera, but we haven't necessarily -- we don't have any pictures that correspond with the allegation that Miss Flores is making of, you know, kissing without somebody --

KONST: I mean, he's sniffing a woman's hair right there. That's what she said he did.

WHITFIELD: Let's see that image again. Can we see that image again?

Well, that -- OK -- no, was that it?

KONST: No, not that one, the other one.

WHITFIELD: OK.

KONST: But, I mean, --

WHITFIELD: All right. I don't know if he's kissing or whispering or touching, you know, or leaning in, but what you're trying to say, Nomiki, is --

ROSEN: You don't note context that have picture.

WHITFIELD: -- you know, he is in close quarters with a lot of people and that's on videotape and you're saying that that is equivalent to what Miss Flores' allegation is.

KONST: I mean, there have been -- there have been montages of the swearing-in ceremonies where he's talked to senator's wives or children or kissed their neck, so I do think it lines up with this. I mean, it's on those women to step up and tell their stories and say whether or not that was appropriate or not. And I understand, that Hilary.

WHITFIELD: Right. OK.

KONST: But at the end of the day, like, let's just be real here. There's a lot of documentation. And I think that, you know, giving a set of standards for a former vice president that every other person in this race would probably, you know, be disqualified for is not fair.

WHITFIELD: Well, OK. Well, wait a minute, that brings me to, Scott, President Trump, and, you know, the "Access Hollywood" tape and the accusations, in fact his own admission of inappropriately, you know, grabbing women, sexually assaulting women. That didn't stand in the way of his presidency. So, will this, you know, type of allegation and the images that we're talking about stand in the way of Joe Biden from even joining the race?

SCOTT JENNING, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISNTANT TO GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, I don't know because running in a Democratic primary in 2020 is a whole different ball game. I mean, I think as Nomiki pointed out, we've known about this -- about Joe Biden for years.

And while he was working for President Obama everybody just laughed it off. Now he's in his own primary trying to become president in his own right and it's a big deal. So, I don't know if this will prevent him from entering the race. What I do know that the dynamics in the Democratic Party have changed to the point where these kinds of issues are now going have to be litigated by voters, and that's ultimately who's going to have to make up their mind.

If you look at all the primary polling for the Democratic primary right now, you see that Joe Biden's chief supporters tend to skew older and that Bernie Sanders and some other candidates tend to skew younger. So what I'm interested to watch as an observer of this process and as supporter of the Republicans is whether Joe Biden's older supporters are going to find these sorts of attacks on him or these sorts of claims about him to be credible enough to peel off and go with someone else. Or if this concern about Biden tends to skew younger as the people who want new blood in the party are finding other voters.

[15:25:03] So I think there's a lot more to come on this. We've never litigated this. We've known about it but we've never litigate it had from an electoral perspective.

KONST: Right.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, other Democratic presidential candidates have been asked, you know about this latest accusation because, again, I think to underscore Hilary's point, too, this accusation is very different from the imagery or what other people have been talking about in terms of him being touchy-feely.

But this is what the other candidates have been saying on the campaign trail right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think that's a decision for the vice president to make. I'm not sure that one incident alone disqualifies anybody. But her point is absolutely right. This is an issue not just the Democrats or Republicans, the entire country has got to the take seriously. It Is not acceptable that when a woman goes to work or is any kind of environment that she feels anything less than comfortable and safe, and this is an issue the entire country has got to work on.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have no reason not to believe her, Jonathan, and I think we know from campaigns and from politics that people raise issues and they have to address them and that's what he will have to do with the voters if he gets into the race.

JOHN HICKENLOOPER, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, again, I don't know aside from this one issue I haven't, you know, and even this issue, I don't know all the details. But, I think that's why we have an election. That's that process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

HICKENLOOPER: But certainly, it's very disconcerting and I think, again, women have to be heard and we should really -- we should start by believing them.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe Lucy Flores, and Joe Biden needs to give an answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should he not run as a result? WARREN: That's for Joe Biden to decide.

JULIAN CASTRO, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe Lucy Flores. We need to live in a nation where people can hear her truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So, Hilary, you first, what does this do to Biden, will he or won't he run?

ROSEN: Well, I don't know. I think that there are other reasons why, you know, Joe Biden is probably been delaying his announcement. I think that across the board there's a lot of questions.

But I think he has an established record. Like I said, I think uniquely for a man his age he has been willing to kind of go back and look at himself and change and, you know, consider how mistakes in the past ought to be discussed now. I don't believe in this conversation about this -- what people call the what aboutism. I don't think it's OK for Democrats to say, "Well, we can have a candidate that does "x" because Donald Trump is so much worse." I'm proud of Democrats that we are having this conversation in the primary, that these things will matter.

WHITFIELD: OK.

ROSEN: But I also think that to go forward as country we need to find, you know, ways to have the conversation. And Joe Biden's just going to have to have that conversation whether --

WHITFIELD: All right.

ROSEN: -- he wants to or not if he's going to run.

WHITFIELD: Scott?

JENNINGS: Yes. Look, I think this isn't the only thing Biden is going to have to deal with. He's got a long voting record in the Senate. A lot of those votes in today's context don't look acceptable to the modern Democratic Party. He's made a lot of public statements, obviously the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing has been a source of consternation for Democrats.

So I think that this is the kind of candidacy that can generate a lot of early support because people know him. He's been around and he was the vice president under Obama, so that generated a lot of early support. But once you start peeling back decades of a record and trying to apply it to today's Democratic Party standards it's really haired think for Biden to see -- to see how it stands up frankly.

I've been -- I have always been suspect that the Democrats would nominate someone for president in 2020 who got a delegate at their national convention for president in 1984. It just doesn't seem like their party wants to go back and Biden would certainly --

WHITFIELD: OK. JENNINGS: -- be going way back into the time machine.

WHITFIELD: And Nomiki.

KONST: No, that's thoughtful. I agree with both Hilary and Scott. I think at the end of the day, you know, Vice President Biden, while he stood for issues like, you know, legalizing gay marriage and pushing P resident Obama to the left he still has not apologized to Anita Hill for his actions and his rhetoric.

He's still was the person who pushed for the crime bill. He is still somebody who is fairly conservative when it comes to economic issues and we're living in an era where you can't just speak like a populist, you actually have to vote like a populist and push for policies that are represent all people. I mean, income inequality is so stark right now. It is worst that its ever been in history.

And I think the presidential nominee that's going to speak to most people is the one who is rhetoric matches their record and the policies that they're pushing forward. And so, you know, I think it is going to be a vibrant presidential primary, it's something that we've needed as a party for a long time. And I just hope that it brings out the vibrancy in the voters as well.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nomiki. Nomiki Konst, I haven't said your name in a while. Thanks for coming back.

KONST: I know, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you again. Hilary Rosen, Scott Jenning, good to see you as well. Thank you so much.

[15:30:00] All right, the massacre in New Zealand live streamed on Facebook sparked new talk about regulating internet, and you may be surprised to see who just spoke up in favor of new rules. What Mark Zuckerberg thinks should happen now.

Plus, we'll talk to one of the people who helped craft the Affordable Care Act and met with President Trump to try to protect it. What's the next step in the fight to save Obamacare?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Mark Zuckerberg wants more rules and regulation for the internet.

[15:35:00] The billionaire CEO of Facebook who has been under scrutiny over the role his company plays in spreading misinformation wrote an op-ed this morning calling on regulators to step up and establish a rule book writing, and I'm quoting now, "I believe we need a more active role for government and regulators by updating the rules for the internet. We can preserve what's best about it, the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things while also protecting society from broader harms."

Donie O'Sullivan is a CNN Business Reporter and Donie is with us now. So, Donie, this is the most vocal and direct Zuckerberg has ever been on this issue, so what's with the change of heart?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Absolutely, Fred. I mean, every week, every day almost, you know, Facebook makes these massive decisions when it comes to speech and when it comes to political content on its platform, and there's very often, you know, a scandal and debate when somebody gets kicked off the platform or when a political figure is allowed on the platform, but some people are saying, you know, they are spreading hate or white nationalist rhetoric or things like that.

So I think Facebook has now gotten to the point of, you know, since -- particularly since the 2016 election, they have been under such intense scrutiny, intense criticism from the media, from lawmakers, from human rights groups, that they are saying, "Well, look, you know, if you don't like our rules, we've developed these set of rules, you guys need to start writing some rules for us." And that's where I think they're really putting the ball in lawmakers' court right now.

WHITFIELD: So what might this, you know, kind of regulation look like? Who would oversee it?

O'SULLIVAN: That's -- that's quite a lot for, you know, folks in Washington and in parts (ph) around the world to figure out. But Zuckerberg, yesterday, identified four key areas where he thinks there are needs for some form of regulatory framework.

That's around harmful content, so, for example, we saw in New Zealand Facebook failed to catch the live stream of the massacre there just two weeks ago, and election integrity, we all know about the various issues around the 2016 election when it came to Russian trolls on social media, and also around privacy and data, something that we've, you know, heard a lot about since the Cambridge Analytica scandal which broke last year.

Now, you know, this very much is I think Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook being proactive really saying to lawmakers, "Look, guys, you know, you can write laws for us and, you know, we can work within that framework." But it could also be that, you know, Facebook has realized that had a lot of this stuff is inevitable.

There are multiple investigations ongoing into Facebook both here in the U.S. and across the Atlantic and the U.K. and across Europe. So I think they may see the writing on the wall in some ways to say there's regulation coming and we want to be part of that and shape that discussion.

Also I think that, you know, Facebook out of all the companies in Silicon Valley faces the most, you know, scrutiny and attention. Unlike Google and Twitter, they don't get as much attention from us in the press and also from lawmakers. So, I think Facebook would like -- you know, if there was that regulatory framework, they would be all held to the same standard, and I think Facebook, even Zuckerberg hinted in his op-ed that he published this morning that Facebook are doing pretty well, according to them.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's fascinating. All right, Donie Sullivan -- O'Sullivan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right, President Trump's surprise announcement on Obamacare surprised just about everyone but with no replacement plan in place and no rush to get one. How close are the Republicans really becoming the party of healthcare? We talked to one of the original architects of the Affordable Care Act up next.

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[15:42:58] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. In a move that surprised many, even in his own party, President Trump is moving to end all of Obamacare. The White House is asking the courts to declare it is unconstitutional and dismantle the Affordable Care Act completely. What isn't clear is what the White House will offer as a replacement. Here is what the President had to say.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've made it better, but it's still horrible, no good, so we're coming up with plans. We have a lawsuit right now going where phase one of the lawsuit terminates Obamacare, essentially terminates Obamacare, you know that. That's the Texas lawsuit. We think it will be upheld and we think it will do very well in the Supreme Court. And if the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out, we will have a plan that's far better than Obamacare.

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WHITFIELD: So if Obamacare is struck down, it could leave very little time to work out a new healthcare proposal ahead of the 2020 election. In previous attacks on Obamacare galvanized Democrats ahead of midterm congressional victory last year.

So with me now is Zeke Emanuel, he was a healthcare policy adviser for President Obama and is one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act. Good to see you. So --

ZEKE EMANUEL, ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF OBAMACARE: Nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So I feel like this is like just -- press the rewind button because we've had this kind of conversation with you before, that previous attempts, you know, to dismantle the ACA failed, both in Congress and at the Supreme Court. So does this attempt, you know, the President's real, you know, mantra here, you know, concern you anymore than previous?

EMANUEL: No. It's laughable. It does suggest how disconnected he is from the reality. First of all, this court case is not going to go to repeal Obamacare wholeheartedly, though Texas district court who judge who said that, yes, without the mandate there's no tax and, therefore, the court -- the entire bill is unconstitutional really way overreached.

[15:45:02] Even conservative legal scholars think he is way out of line because there's a massive amount, three-quarters of the bill, has nothing to do with access, it has to do with cost control and quality and improving the number of primary care doctors and nurses. That is not affected by the mandate, so it's a sort of absurd ruling.

And then you get the Congress, the last thing the Republicans want to do is repeal the Affordable Care Act. Kevin McCarthy immediately, he is a minority leader in the House, the Republican leader in the House, immediately distance himself from this.

What the news report suggest is that Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff is the guy driving this approach, but he doesn't have any support among rank and file Republicans because they are the ones who have to run and they know that the public is more supportive of the Affordable Care Act, wants more guarantees and securities that healthcare coverage is going to be there.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

EMANUEL: And so this is like -- this is a total joke that the Republicans have no idea what they're doing.

WHITFIELD: So Mick Mulvaney promised that, you know, the President will send, you know, to Capitol Hill some, you know, points, things that he really wants to be in that plan and then he'll leave it up to Congress to work it out. You know, we've kind of been that road before.

You know, enrollment, you know, for ACA is down, you know, but this administration is not marketing it like, you know, an administration -- even the prior administration promise would happen.

You hear the President say that the plan is unaffordable, deductibles are just too high. So is the ACA working as intended? I mean, is the framework there to get to, you know, the goal that you were hoping for?

EMANUEL: Yes. Let me just make three quick points. First of all, we've been waiting nine years for a Republican replacement. We have not gotten a Republican replacement. The idea we're going to get it in two months, three months, or even six months ahead of the 2020 elections completely unrealistic, not going to happen.

Second, unenrollment, it is the case that the uninsured rate has gone up. That's all attributable to the President and his behaviors. As you mentioned, not advertising, reducing navigators, increasing the premiums because of the what he's done with the cost-sharing subsidies, decreasing the open enrollment period by half.

All of the increase in the uninsured rate can be trace back to the President adding work requirements to Medicaid which throws people off the Medicaid rolls. Nothing he has done has increased access.

The last thing is there is an affordability problem. There is a problem of high deductibles, and we do have to address that, and Nancy Pelosi's plan has gone partway to addressing that and I think there's more to be done to keep costs down which will affect the deductibles and the premiums. WHITFIELD: Maybe the White House will give you a call, and can you give them some suggestions.

EMANUEL: Yes, right.

WHITFIELD: OK.

EMANUEL: We'll be waiting for that telephone call a long time.

WHITFIELD: All right, Zeke Emanuel, thank you so much.

EMANUEL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

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[15:52:30] WHITFIELD: This week, the CNN Original Series, "Tricky Dick," focuses on the major political losses that nearly ended Nixon's career and his surprise come back when he sought and won the presidency during the 1968 race for the White House.

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RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People fails. You know the come down having run for president almost made it, the run for governor, the answer is I'm proud to have run for governor. I would like to have won. I believe Governor Brown has a heart, even though he believe I does not. I believe he is a good American, even though he feels I am not. I wish him well.

And for once, gentlemen, I would appreciate it if you would write what I have said. For 16 years, you've had a lot of but, you've had an opportunity to attack me, and I think I've given as well as I've taken. But as I leave you, just think how much you're going to be missed. You don't have Nixon to kick around any more, because gentlemen, this is my last press conference. Thank you, gentlemen, and good day.

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WHITFIELD: Oh, but it wasn't. Joining us now, CNN Presidential Historian ,Tim Naftali. He's also the former director of the Nixon Presidential Library and was a consultant on this series, "Tricky Dick." Good to see you.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Nice seeing you, too, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So more on that, you know, kind of moment, you know, in this episode, we see, you know, Nixon suffered two devastating election losses over the span of two years, the presidential election to JFK in'60and the California governor's race in '62. So what kind of impact, you know, did that kind of defeat, you know, have on him? He looks pretty dejected at that moment.

NAFTALI: He refused to give up and what you'll see tonight through interviews with him, through footage from the time, through LBJ tapes is how he caught his way back, and how in 1968 he achieved what he couldn't in 1960. And you will see fully documented and dramatized the collusion that made that in part possible.

This episode lays out the story of Richard Nixon's campaign collusion with the South Vietnamese government, which played a role in the outcome of the '68 campaign. We'll leave it to future generations to determine whether it turned the campaign or not.

WHITFIELD: Right. So he said that would be his last press conference but it wouldn't be the last it would see him, because like you said, he'd run again in '68 and actually win.

[15:55:02] You know, he too had a very interesting relationship with the media, right? He didn't like him. You know, he wanted to ban, you know, "The Washington Post," you know, from being in the pressroom. What compelled him to have this kind of disdain for the media?

NAFTALI: Well, he -- look, he carried on his shoulder. He had a chip on his shoulder that he was not accepted by the American elite. And in that era, the American elite included journalists. Journalists went out to dinner, went drinking with politicians. There wasn't quite the adversary relationship that actually he helped create through the Watergate scandal

So he said, you know, "I'm not respected by those people in Georgetown. They don't want to have drinks with me and they'll never be honest with me. They won't point out JFK's flaws, but they'll always point out mine." So there was a resentment that filled part of his dislike of the media and that he showed on tape and later in public.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tim Naftali, thank you so much. Very fascinating.

NAFTALI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Be sure to tune in to "Tricky Dick" airing tonight 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

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