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Trump: New Healthcare Plan Won't Come Until After Election; Cummings: White House Clearances 'A Million Times Worse' Than Clint Emails; Source: Biden Allegations Won't Dissuade Him from Running; Surveillance Video Captures Rapper's Murder in L.A.; Sen. Tim Kaine (D), Virginia, is Interviewed about His Healthcare Plan. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired April 02, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- viewers for watching. For you, "CNN TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, President Trump changes his tune on healthcare again. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:11] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to get rid of Obamacare.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump now punting on health care reform until after the 2020 election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have said repeal and replace for a decade. They have never had a plan.

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: This whistleblower identified 25 individual whose security clearances should not have been granted.

JARED KUSHNER, DONALD TRUMP'S SON-IN-LAW AND SENIOR ADVISOR: The president has done a phenomenal job, has had a great team in place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There can't be a system where the rules just get waived. We're going to learn as the Congress does its investigation.

CAMEROTA: The suspect wanted in the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle identified overnight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been, like, all distraught over somebody like this. He was more than just a rapper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People thought that our community was just about violence. And Nipsey put a change in it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. Breaking overnight, all that stuff about health care, never mind.

For the last week, President Trump has claimed the Republicans will be the party of health care. But overnight, he says not right now.

After moving to strike down all of Obamacare in court, after White House officials and congressional Republicans have been scrambling to say they absolutely have something to replace Obamacare, the president overnight proclaimed not yet. He wrote, in part, "Vote will be taken right after the election." He's talking about the 2020 election, about 19 months from now.

CAMEROTA: We also have breaking news in the murder of the rapper Nipsey Hussle. CNN has obtained security video that captures the deadly shooting. We want to warn you that this footage that we are about to air is graphic and horrible. It shows the rapper being gunned down in front of his store in a Los Angeles strip mall.

Police have identified the suspect here as 29-year-old named Eric Holder. He was last seen fleeing the area in a white Chevy Cruze. They're looking for him at this hour.

Overnight, a vigil has turned violent. Several people were injured here after a fight that caused this stampede. Hundreds of people ran from the storefront where the rapper was gunned down. We have much more on that in a moment.

But let's begin with our top story. We want to bring in M.J. Lee. She's our CNN political correspondent. Alex Burns, he's our CNN political analyst and "New York Times" national political correspondent. And David Chalian, CNN political director.

So let's start with what affects everybody in this country, and that is health care. So M.J., the president had said that they were going to have a plan within the year. Somebody got to him, basically.

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Somebody talked to him.

CAMEROTA: Somebody talked to him, I mean, because we saw that Mitch McConnell was very reluctant to take this up again. We heard other Republicans not knowing what he was talking about.

And so what he's now asking the public to do is "trust us until after the 2020 election. Vote for us and trust us. We'll have a plan, but we're not going to show it to you until after 2020."

LEE: I mean, this has to be the worst kind of deja vu for the Republican Party. The president going rogue on health care again, clearly not having consulted with Republican leadership or even felt out or understand how ranking members in the Republican Party, rank- and-file members feel about this issue.

I can tell you, this is probably one of the last issues that the Republican Party is interested in tackling right now. It was obviously used against them going into the 2018 midterms. It is not an issue that they want to tackle heading into the 2020 presidential. And I think it was telling, as you were noting. We saw Republicans talking about this when the president brought it up in the last couple days as, "OK, we'll consider Trump's plan, but we are not going to take this on ourselves." BERMAN: Look, this is a mess for the president. The president

started talking about health care unprompted, other than a golf game with Lindsey Graham; and he caught Republicans in Congress off-guard, and he caught his own White House off-guard.

Marc Short, who used to, you know, work with us here at CNN as a CNN analyst, is now the chief of staff for the vice president. This is what Marc Short was forced to say after the president said a health care plan is coming. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, VICE PRESIDENT'S CHIEF OF STAFF: The president will be putting forward plans this year that we hope to introduce into Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Or not.

BERMAN: Or not. David Chalian, or not. And this tweet overnight is remarkable, because he just -- in one, you know, 280-character statement or less pushes it past the next election.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I mean, I think he's acknowledging the political reality. As you said, somebody finally got through to him that this would not work.

You guys remember when he first got into office, and Republicans were in control of both chambers of Congress; and they were debating how to repeal and replace Obamacare.

John Boehner, the former Republican speaker, said one of the most true things about this issues and Republicans, which is that Republicans have never agreed as a party on how to do health care, on what to replace it with.

[07:05:14] And so when you have no agreement on the party, it not -- it not only is an issue that Democrats have an advantage on in the polls, but it's an issue that actually divides Republicans. That's not where you want to begin a reelection campaign.

And I -- you know, it doesn't even sound like the president is putting forth that he has some secret plan that he's holding off on until after the election. He just says, like, we're going to shelve this until after the election.

CAMEROTA: So we'll see, Alex, if the president's slogans work on voters. You know, he has said, "We're going to be the best. We are the best. Trust Republicans. We'll do this right," with no evidence. And we'll just see if those headlines and if those slogans convince people.

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And part of the reason why Republicans have had such a hard time rallying around a specific health care plan, as David was just saying, is that the president in that sloganeering mindset, has set an unbelievably high bar for what a Republican health care plan would have to do.

It would have to cover more people, have to cost less money, your health care would have to get better. You would have more independence in --

CAMEROTA: Pre-existing conditions, they'll cover.

BURNS: -- choosing your doctors and services. Pre-existing would be covered, right. It would have to be so much better than Obamacare and so much cheaper at the same time and so much better for private industry.

This plan doesn't exist, and it can't exist. Right? All of those -- all of those specifications can't be met.

What you do have instead is the administration's actual record on health care. Right? Not just the bills that they introduced in Congress, but the regulatory decisions and the litigation decisions that the Justice Department has made or that the White House has made and delivered to the Justice Department, about how they're going to interact with Obamacare.

So if the idea of the tweet last night was to take this issue off the table, there's just no way that's going to happen. The administration has a record on this. And frankly, the president is saying, "We will do something even bigger after the 2020 election," probably just ensures that it's even more of an issue in the campaign.

BERMAN: Look, in that record, we just need to say, it includes allowing states to grant waivers, which would mean people with preexisting conditions could have their rates go up. So that is the record at this point. And they have offered no solution for how they'd fix that.

If you will forgive me, when I read what the president wrote overnight, I thought about "When Harry Met Sally," which you know, one naturally does.

CAMEROTA: Of course.

BERMAN: When someone moves the bar here. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEG RYAN, ACTRESS: And I'm going to be 40!

BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR: When?

RYAN: Someday.

CRYSTAL: In eight years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "We're going to have a health plan."

"When?"

CAMEROTA: How could you summon that --

BERMAN: Someday.

CAMEROTA: Right.

BERMAN: Someday, we're going to have a health care plan. Someday.

"When?"

"After the election." M.J., and this just guarantees that Democrats were already going to run, they were already going to run on health care. Let's be clear about that. This is something that they can use even more now.

LEE: Absolutely. I think the president making this an issue now at a moment when Democrats really are eager to make this one of the pillars and one of the policies just that they talk about the most out on the trail.

And we've already seen that this year. This is one issue that probably comes up the most when voters are questioning the candidates who are already in. This is the issue that candidates themselves, unprompted, are probably the most excited to bring up, whether it's bringing up Medicare for all or some kind of, you know, steps to progressively get to Medicare for all.

This is going to be, I think, in the Democrats' minds, a helpful and, hopefully, a winning issue for them. Obviously, the policy details are being figured out and different Democrats feel differently about how they actually want to get to what they want to accomplish.

CAMEROTA: David, let's talk about another issue that has cropped up this morning. That's the security clearances being granted at the White House.

We've learned a lot more about the scope of this from a whistleblower, who has come forward, because she was so distressed by what she was seeing, which were denials of security issue -- clearances for legitimate reasons, a whole laundry list of legitimate reasons, and the president refusing to accept those denials of clearances and going around the clearance process and granting clearances for people like Jared and Ivanka.

Elijah Cummings has a way of putting this in context as compared to, say, Hillary Clinton's emails. So let me play for you what he says is worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD), CHAIRMAN, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: I think this is a million times worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? CUMMINGS: Because what you have here are people who literally have the top secrets of the world, and they have not been properly cleared. But even -- even more dangerous than that, they have been -- the recommendations have gone out to say they shouldn't have them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Now what, David?

CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, to me the big question for the president here is, if these career professionals, who look and adjudicate this matter, had certain concerns, why -- what is your reasoning for giving them security clearance? Why did you not share those concerns? Why, if some security professional is telling you there's a potential here for compromise, why Mr. President, does that not interest you at all and you override that? He obviously has the ability to do so. But to me, that's a question that the president should be answering.

BERMAN: Also, look, based on our reporting, if he did, in fact, overrule them personally and push to have Jared Kushner's and Ivanka's security clearance, you know, have them go through over the objections of clear professionals, why did he then lie about it? Why did Ivanka Trump lie about it in public and interviews? It's just an odd, odd thing.

Alex, I do want to get your take, because you've done a lot of reporting on Joe Biden and his, we still think, imminent entry into the 2020 race. There was a second woman who had a fundraiser for Jim Himes, congressman from Connecticut, who says that, then vice president rubbed noses with her. Came in very close, invaded her personal space.

CAMEROTA: I was afraid you were going to ask for a demo right now.

BERMAN: I'm not.

CAMEROTA: Sometimes we do that, but I think it's inappropriate right now.

BERMAN: If you find a melon, I'll rub noses with a melon.

Alex Burns, so what does Joe Biden need to do here, or what is he doing, as far as you can tell, to work his way through these questions that are being raised?

BURNS: Well, I'll tell you that people who are generally supportive of Joe Biden, people who want him to get in the race, think he's not doing enough. That you have had this pretty slow, pretty passive communications strategy in terms of addressing all of this.

There are people who are sort of baffled that Biden himself has not gotten in front of a camera to talk about some of this stuff, because it -- you know, I think the view among people who are Biden allies is that a lot of Americans sort of recognize that he is this physical politician and might be willing to view this in a positive light. But because he's not coming out and addressing it personally, it takes

an issue where people might be inclined to be sympathetic to him and makes it seem kind of worse than these people believe that it is.

Look, Biden's staff, I think, is aware that there's footage, of you know, video footage and photos of him interacting very, very physically with people, probably sometimes in ways that don't look great or that the people might not necessarily have said in advance, "Yes, I'm comfortable with you putting your hands on my shoulders there."

But there is this sort of fierce sense that he didn't actually do anything wrong, and Democrats are willing to forgive him; and we're going to see if that's true.

CAMEROTA: You know, there's also been a suggestion on our air, at least, from Ana Navarro, which made a lot of sense, which is he should call the women who felt, you know, somehow uncomfortable and say, "I sure didn't mean that. I apologize." Is there any indication that that's happening behind the scenes?

BURNS: I've not heard that. And I do think that one thing to understand about former Vice President Biden and some of the people around him is that there is this sort of sense that there are people out to get him, and he shouldn't be dignifying a conspiracy by, you know, indicating that he needs to, like, scramble the jets and apologize left and right. I think that is, in a lot of ways, a very old-school way of viewing the moment that he's in right now, especially when we are, you know, I don't know, within days of him announcing for president, certainly not within days of him announcing for president. But if he's running, within weeks.

BERMAN: David Chalian, I want to give you the last word here. Any sense that the other campaigns are finding their ways of handling this?

CHALIAN: Well, you saw that -- over the weekend, John, a lot of his competitors, would-be competitors came out and said they believe Lucy Flores, the Nevada Democrat that came forward first with these allegations, and that Joe Biden needs to address it.

As Alex is saying, he may not be addressing it to his own supporters' satisfaction, never mind his competitors. And it is clear from the way -- if you read the Biden statement, there's a tricky road here. It may not be a no-brainer to put him in front of a camera, because just as his statement said, he believes that these women should be heard and that he will listen.

How to hit that note while also saying, like, this is just Biden being Biden, and hopeful that enough Democrats see it that way. That is a tricky proposition to try to hit both of those notes at the same time.

CAMEROTA: I guess. I mean, I don't actually think it's that -- I think he just needs to say, "I'm on notice. I hear you. My old way of doing business isn't working nowadays. I hear you all. I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable. I'm going to do better. I'm adaptable."

LEE: And also, that it's not just about his intentions. It's actually more important how the women perceived his actions.

CAMEROTA: The end.

OK. Thank you all very much.

We do have some breaking news overnight. Several people were injured after this massive stampede broke out at the vigil for the rapper Nipsey Hussle in California. Police now have identified the suspect that they are looking for, and CNN has obtained security camera video that captures the actual moment of the murder.

CNN's Nick Watt is live in Los Angeles with all of the breaking details. What have you learned this morning, Nick?

[07:15:03] NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, as you just mentioned, the morning turned to violence overnight; and the latest we've heard from the LAPD is they say that detectives have worked tirelessly and are now seeking the public's help in tracking down that suspect.

And just a warning. Some video in this report is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (voice-over): Los Angeles police now identifying a suspect in the killing of Nipsey Hussle. Twenty-nine-year-old Eric Holder is wanted in connection with the rapper's murder.

Security camera video just obtained by CNN shows the suspect walking up to Hussle and two other men as they stood outside the rapper's store, firing at them multiple times before running to a nearby alley and fleeing in a car driven by an unidentified female.

"The Los Angeles Times," citing law enforcement sources, reports the gunman and Nipsey Hussle got into a fight before the shooting. The medical examiner says that Hussle died within an hour from gunshot wounds to his head and torso.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been, like, all distraught over somebody like this, like a rapper. You know what I mean? And it was more. He was more than just a rapper.

WATT: The beloved rapper's community heartbroken in the wake of his death.

D. JOHNSON, FAN AND COMMUNITY MEMBER: He is someone who put our community on the map. People thought that our community was just about violence, and Nipsey put a change to that.

He was willing to partner to bring peace to this community that we are now going to lose.

WATT: A massive crowd of fans gathering throughout the day to honor Hussle. Then, chaos erupted Monday night. Hundreds of mourners scattering across the parking lot where Hussle was killed after police say a disturbance incited panic.

Aerial footage captures the crowd fleeing in all directions, shoes and smashed candles left behind. At least 19 injured in the stampede. One person was critically wounded after being hit by a car.

MEGHAN AGUILAR, LAPD SPOKESWOMAN: Absolutely chaotic. Mass panic.

WATT: Mourners carrying the injured as firefighters treated people at the scene. Police dressed in riot gear rushing in, trying to disperse the crowd and breaking up fights that broke out amid the confusion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Now no further detail from the LAPD on a possible motive here. But Nipsey Hussle's Facebook page suggests that he was a member of the Rollin 60s street gang, and just a half hour before he was shot, Nipsey Hussle tweeted this. He tweeted, "Having strong enemies is a blessing."

We will be getting more updates from the LAPD early this morning.

John and Alisyn, back to you.

BERMAN: All right. Nick Watt, thank you very much for that report.

So the president announced overnight that won't put a healthcare plan up for a vote until after the 2020 election. My next guest has a plan today. Senator Tim Kaine joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:56] BERMAN: President Trump now says that a vote on whatever the Republican replacement plan is for Obamacare, that vote won't take place until after the 2020 election. My next guest is putting forward a plan today. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia joins me now.

And you are proposing, along with Colorado Senator Michael Bennett, something you call Medicare X, which is essentially, as I understand it, a public option for people to buy into health care. Not unlike the public option that was discussed, you know, six or seven years ago.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: That's right, John. Medicare X is Medicare, a Medicare-produced policy that you can buy on the exchange. That's the "X."

So Medicare would develop a policy that would cover all of the Obamacare essential health benefits, put it on the exchange, beginning in communities in this country where there's only one offering on the exchange, to create instant competition. And within time, it would be on every exchange in the country and also on the small business shop exchange.

Because Medicare doesn't have to cover a profit, pay shareholders, pay fancy salaries to execs, advertise on the evening news, set up a distribution network, et cetera, pay state and local taxes, it would be a more affordable policy. And people could purchase it if they want; and they could use their Obamacare subsidy, if they qualify for one, to even bring the premium down further.

BERMAN: And this is not Medicare for all.

KAINE: That's right.

BERMAN: So how does it differ specifically?

KAINE: So the difference between this and Medicare for all is that the Medicare for all proposals are single-payer systems. The government would finance all of health care and insurance.

Instead, this is a government-issued nonprofit insurance policy put on the exchange that individuals could buy if they wanted to. But if you're happy with the plan you have now through your employer or you're happy with the individual market plan you buy from a private insurance company, you wouldn't need to buy this. It's just an offering to expand choices and lower costs.

BERMAN: So you would rather have this Medicare X, your plan, than Medicare for all. What are the risks? What's wrong with Medicare for all?

KAINE: Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. And I -- one thing I hope we do is actually have a debate about the ways to expand coverage, rather than the President Trump strategy of trying to take health insurance away from millions.

But here's the bottom-line issue. Way more than 100 million people -- it's probably 150 to 180 million people in this country -- get health insurance through their employer. Generally, they report that they're satisfied with their employer-provided health insurance.

A single-payer plan would basically look at those people and say, "You like what you have, but guess what? We're going to give you something different. Don't worry; you'll like it." I don't think they'll believe us.

So instead, why not put the Medicare X plan on the exchange and let people buy it if they want? I have a feeling that they'll find that they really like it, that it's really attractive. But we wouldn't take the insurance away from people who currently have private insurance that they like.

BERMAN: Do you have a price tag on Medicare X?

KAINE: The good news about it is that it would not add to the deficit. It would not require an increase in taxes.

[07:25:07] Why? Because CMS, when they devise the policy, they will have to collect in premiums the cost of providing coverage. So they'd have to set premiums to provide coverage to people. But the good news is, again, Medicare -- CMS, the agency that

administers it, does not have to -- they don't have to collect a profit, pay fancy salaries, pay state and local taxes.

So when the analysis of the public option was done back in 2010-2011, everybody acknowledged that it was going to be significantly cheaper than private insurance plans.

BERMAN: What do you make of the president's statements on health care and actions over the last two weeks?

No. 1, the administration signed on to court action, asking a court to basically strike down Obamacare immediately. The president then said he wants the Republicans to be the party of health care.

And then overnight, he said that a vote on whatever that Republican plan will be won't take place until after 2020, the election.

KAINE: John, you asked the question right. What do I think of the president's words and actions? The president will say anything, but his actions tell you what's up.

From the very first day in office, his main goal has been to get rid of Obamacare, primarily because of his insecurity about President Obama. He just wants to get rid of it. They'll get rid of it with no plan in place. They still don't have a plan after so many years. They still don't have a plan. But the action that they're taking in court would strip health insurance away from millions.

I actually think the president's motivation is additionally fueled now because, as you can see, he likes to kick John McCain around all the time. It was McCain's vote here, one of the most electrifying moments in my career in politics, that saved health insurance for millions of Americans. And obviously, that still really bugs President Trump, because he talks about it at rallies all the time.

He wants to get rid of health insurance for millions. We want to expand health insurance to millions more.

BERMAN: Well, it is interesting. Because the Republicans say they have had plans that they have put up. Graham-Cassidy is the plan that John McCain basically voted against in that moment you were talking about there.

KAINE: Right.

BERMAN: I don't know if that's the type of plan the president will get behind this time or not.

I want to ask you about security clearances.

KAINE: Yes.

BERMAN: There's this whistleblower who will be -- who already has answered questions on the House side. Chairman Cummings on the House Oversight Committee said that the questions he has about the White House overruling career staffers for 25 people to grant security clearances, he says that's a more serious issue in his mind, a million times more serious than Hillary Clinton's emails.

As someone who ran on a ticket with her, how do you assess the math there?

KAINE: Well, look, I think the security clearance issue is very, very serious. And you worry about these White House employees who are doing what they're doing to serve their country; and they're telling their superiors, "Hey, these individuals should not be given security clearances. There's significant enough challenges in their background that they shouldn't be given security clearances."

When these whistleblowers are then -- felt like they're pushed around or sidelined into other positions and, obviously, their warnings are overruled, we've got to take that seriously.

BERMAN: The president, though, and you're a much better lawyer than I am, he has the power to do this, right? He has the ultimate power and the right as the commander in chief to do this, yes?

KAINE: I think that that is probably the case. But whether he should do it or not is a -- is a perfect thing for Congress to get into and exercise oversight over.

BERMAN: Very quickly, Senator, there was a headline in "The Washingtonian" which said, "Why No One Seems To Be Talking About Tim Kaine Anymore." And I actually think the headline was misleading, because the article talks about how you're focused on policy and not national -- you know, running for national office.

But it did make me wonder if you have any regrets about not jumping into the presidential race?

KAINE: You know, John, when I came back after the election in 2016, I said, within three or four days, "I'm running for reelection to the Senate. I'm going to look Virginians in the eye and tell them, 'I mean to serve the term, and I won't be running for president in 2020.'"

I operate by feel and intuition. And my gut just told me it's really important to be in the Senate right now. On policy but also the Article I branch was built to be a check against abuses of power by the executive. And in that, I think there is a lot of work to do every day.

BERMAN: Senator Tim Kaine, thank you very much for being with us. We are talking about you, even if "The Washingtonian" takes issue with that. Thanks so much for being with us.

KAINE: All right. Thank you.

BERMAN: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, John, there's this very juicy new tell-all. And it reveals explosive details about what goes on behind the scenes at "The View." We're going to talk to the author of "Ladies Who Punch," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)