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Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D) of Texas Discusses Brewing Battle over Trump's Tax Returns; Trump Wants Herman Cain on Federal Reserve Board; Boeing Makes Admission after 2 Deadly Plane Crashes as New Software Problem Arises; UNC Coach & Staff Suspended over Racial Remarks & Pushing Injured Players to Continue Playing; Trump Tours Border Wall after Reversing Threat to Close Southern Border. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 05, 2019 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] REP. LLOYD DOGGETT, (D), TEXAS: We want to explore whether this audit has been done properly and whether there's a need for change in the audit standards. We really just want to hold President Trump to the Richard Nixon standard. He said he wanted to show the American people he wasn't a crook. The IRS praised him --

(CROSSTALK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Despite the fact he was under audit.

DOGGETT: He was under audit, but under audit the Internal Revenue Service praised him publicly. But when we got the returns and looked at them, it turned out he owed about half a million dollars in taxes and deserved no praise whatsoever. I don't know what it is that President Trump is hiding. But this narrow request will allow us, not to put it on the front pages of the "Times" or on your program, until there has been a thorough review by experts protecting the president's privacy and determining if there's any public reason for us to disclose them. So we know that --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Sure. And then, obviously -- if I may jump in --

DOGGETT: Sure.

BALDWIN: Obviously, the Trump administration would take issue with the word "hiding." And the president said, I'm not under audit and speak to his lawyers. Let me add this color. A Trump official saying, quote, "This is a hill and people would be willing to die on it." Not to mention Republicans are accusing your own party of weaponizing the IRS.

DOGGETT: There's no weaponization at all. They did, in fact, weaponize the IRS a few years back when they exposed the records -- the tax returns of a number of IRS employees. But this narrowly crafted request is designed to fulfill our legislative responsibilities, can be done privately to review it to determine if there's any basis for releasing it to Congress, a judgment we have not made yet. And it ought to be complied with. The Republicans, of course, blocked six times over two years my motions to try to get these returns. They've had one excuse after another. The Trump family may have gained as much as a billion dollars from the recent Trump tax law. So he has much reason to protect himself and we have much reason to explore whether we're assuring the confidence that American people must have in the tax system and how the tax system is designed and whether it has been influenced in improper ways by the Trump family trying to seek personal enrichment. Clearly, his businesses are very intermingled with the public trust. And he apparently believes that every government official is, first and foremost, a Trump employee rather than an employee of the American people, whose first responsibility is to the public trust and to our Constitution.

BALDWIN: Well, the nation will be watching, Congressman Doggett, if you could get your hands on the tax returns.

Congressman, appreciate your time. Thank you, sir, very much.

DOGGETT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Just ahead, President Trump recommending Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve. Why my next guest said that is a bad move, even calling some of Cain's views on issues quack-tastic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:06] BALDWIN: President Trump is making his next move to reshape the world's most powerful central bank, recommending Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve board. Cain is the former pizza executive who dropped his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination amid sexual harassment allegations. But still the president says he thinks Cain is the right guy for the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I recommended Herman Cain. He's a very terrific man. A terrific person. He's a friend of mine. I have recommended him highly for the Fed. And I find Herman to be an outstanding person, a truly outstanding individual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, "Washington Post" opinion columnist, Catherine Rampell. Her latest piece is, "Trump's Next Possible Fed Nominee Can't Understand Basic Policy Issues."

Last week, it was your takedown of Stephen Moore. Now it's Herman Cain. Let's dig right into it.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, OPINION COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Sure.

BALDWIN: You lay out the argument why he shouldn't be on the Fed and talk about what you describe as his baggage.

RAMPELL: So he has this personal baggage. Of course, the fact that he's been accused by four women of sexual harassment, which, if true, I think should disqualify anyone from a very senior government position. But even if it is not true, there's plenty of other reason to be very concerned about putting this guy on the Fed. Chiefly, that he does not understand pretty basic economic policy issues. And again, the Fed, the most important central bank in the world, these are among the most economic policy jobs in the world.

BALDWIN: Was he not on -- because his supporters would point to -- he was director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

RAMPELL: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- from 1992 but 1996, but you say --

RAMPELL: So those jobs are usually honorary advisory board positions for regional Fed. They usually go to local bankers or local business people.

BALDWIN: Honorary.

RAMPELL: Their most important job is choosing a Fed president -- a regional Fed president, which is an important job, but he was not involved in that process because of the terms of his tenure. My real concerns are about his policy positions, including the fact he wants to bring back the gold standard, which basically every actual economic expert shoots down, pretty much unanimously. There's survey data of economists on that. Beyond that, his famous 999 plan relied on a whole lot of magic math and invisible taxes --

BALDWIN: 999 --

(CROSSTALK)

RAMPELL: And after he ran for president, he was spamming followers who signed up for his email list with one weird trick to get rich quick and to cure their erectile dysfunction naturally. So a fair amount of online scams. And one of the Fed's jobs is bank supervision, which includes protecting -- enforcing consumer protection laws. So there are a lot of reasons to be concerned about what he has said and done. And beyond that, he's flip-flopped in terms of the policy stances. When a Democrat was president, he was very concerned about inflation. He was in favor of raising interest rates. Things that would potentially slow down the economy when it was not doing so well and needed lower interest rates. Now that Trump is president, he was on the record a month ago when he was asked -- his name had been floated for this job and he was asked, do you still favor raising interest rates, are you still really worried about inflation, and he said, no, I'm worried about deflation, which is the same imaginary boogeyman that Stephen Moore, Trump's other pick for the Fed, has been claiming.

[14:40:29] BALDWIN: I was going to ask you that. Do you think having Herman Cain's name out there helps or hurts Stephen Moore's chances?

RAMPELL: It is hard to say. On the one hand, Stephen Moore has had personal baggage come out about his divorce and things like that, which doesn't help his case but it is not my main objection to having him on the Fed. And Moore has not been accused of sexual harassment. Maybe that is the bar these days so that makes him look good. On the other hand, maybe you have Republican Senators who says, wow, Trump wants to put two hacks on the Fed. And the fact that Cain, who has long been viewed as an unserious person, including by Republicans, the fact that he's mentioned in the same breath as Moore could potentially reduce whatever esteem they have for Moore. But again, my main concern is quite similar, they will politicize the Fed, which needs to be politically independent in order to function.

BALDWIN: Could I just say, I hope the bar is much higher than not having sexual harassment --

(CROSSTALK)

RAMPELL: I agree. Some knowledge of economics would be ideal for these jobs.

BALDWIN: Catherine Rampell, thank you very much.

RAMPELL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, airplane giant Boeing in trouble again, just a day after the CEO took responsibility for two recent deadly crashes. The new setback that could keep the 737 MAX 8 grounded for much longer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:19] BALDWIN: Boeing has just been hit with another setback. They're trying to get the 737 MAX back in service. The "Washington Post" reports the FAA has ordered Boeing to fix a second software problem that the manufacturer discovered with the aircraft's flight control system. Boeing officials tell CNN this is separate from the automated anti-stall software, known as the MCAS now under investigation, and this glitch is relatively minor.

But keeping in mind the context of all of this, this comes on the heels of the company CEO taking responsibility for both Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes in the last few months acknowledging the MCAS failure contributed to both of those accidents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS MUILENBURG, CEO, BOEING: We, at Boeing, are sorry for the lives lost in the recent 737 MAX accidents.

It's apparent that in both flights, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, known as MCAS, activated in response to erroneous angle-of-attack information.

It's our responsibility to eliminate this risk. We own it. And we know how to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Attorney Fred Tecce is a former commercial pilot, former federal prosecutor. He's with me now.

Fred, nice to see you again.

FRED TECCE, FORMER COMMERCIAL PILOT & FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Thanks, Brooke. Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: Boeing isn't giving details but "The Post" is reporting the second issue is with the flaps and other flight control hardware that is critical to flight safety. Can you just give us more on that and explain why that is significant?

TECCE: Sure. Absolutely. So anybody that has ever flown on a commercial airline, if you look over the wing, the flaps are these things that come down the back and front. And what they do is they allow the wing to make more lift when the airplane is flying at slower airspeed so it can stay in the air. So everything is done by computer and computers regulate when the flaps could go down and how fast the airplane is going. And so all of the things are kind of being checked by these computer systems that are on the very sophisticated airplanes now. And as a result of some of what I understand to be going back and kind of checking everything, they found another error. Which you don't like -- on some level of the flying public, you don't like to hear about it. But on other level, as a pilot with 35 years and thousands of hours, it is good they are finding the problems now.

BALDWIN: Boeing is a giant in the aviation industry. How significant of a ding is this to their reputation? How do they come back from this?

TECCE: It is a tough hit. But I got to give the president a lot of credit. I was sitting here thinking about it. I have to go back to the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol scare to remember a CEO who came out and said we own this and take responsibility for this. I teach my kids this. When it comes time, you can't nibble. And Boeing has a tremendous safety report. The 747, the 737 is the most ubiquitous airplane in the sky. And the fact of the matter is, for decades, their commitment to safety and commitment to engineering -- my first case, Brooke, in the late '80s, I reviewed the design developments documents for the 737 and Boeing's approach to engineering and fixing problems was just stellar. And this has been a tough hit for them. But long-term, they will recover from this.

BALDWIN: What about the FAA? How big of an issue could this be for the FAA and the regulation and how they oversee manufacturers?

TECCE: Well, I mean, I think the FAA has suffering a black eye. The FAA has done a great job in our country. We haven't had any major loss-of-life accidents in this country for almost a decade. But now, everybody is questioning the thing, what are called designated examiners. And for years, FAA allows people, including employees of Boeing, to look and sign things off. That system works great up until something goes wrong. And now that something has gone wrong and there's a problem. People, I think, are justifiably saying let's look at this and make sure this is being done right and things are being followed. Again, for a decade, it was never an issue. Now it is. And so it has got to be looked at and taken care of.

[14:50:29] Fred Tecce, thank you.

TECCE: Hey, thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Just ahead, days after the University of North Carolina put its Hall of Fame women's basketball coach and her entire staff on leave, we have details in the investigation and the racially offensive remarks players said she said.

And the president is wheels down in southern California ahead of a visit to the border. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:22] BALDWIN: Breaking news, President Trump -- here he is -- just arriving in California, landing at this naval air facility in El Centro, California, ahead of the tour of the border. We will take you there and talk to you about what it is he's doing in just a moment.

But first, let's get to this controversy surrounding the University of North Carolina women's basketball team. So we are now starting to get hints as to why this week the Tar Heels put the entire women's basketball coaching staff on leave. According to the "Washington Post," players were accusing Sylvia Hatchell, the school's Hall of Fame women's basketball coach, of making what they call racially offensive remarks and pressuring some players to continue playing even though they were seriously injured.

So let me bring in "USA Today" sports columnist and CNN sports columnist, Christine Brennan.

And, Christine, you know UNC is my alma mater. And I read this in "The Post" and they write that the racially offensive remark includes, quote, one suggesting her players would get "hanged from trees with nooses," at an upcoming game if their performance didn't improve. Now I read the coach's lawyer said those comments are incorrect and misconstrued, saying, that she said, "They will take a rope and string us up and hang us out to dry." Tell me how much you know about how much you know about this coach?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Brooke, I have covered Sylvia Hatchell. She's been around as the North Carolina head coach since 1986, won the national championship in 1994. One of the players on that teams none other than Marion Jones, the Olympic gold medalist disgraced for steroid abuse. And she's well-known and respected and 67 years old so her entire career over 40 years of coaching women's basketball and been in the limelight and watched.

This really surprised me. I did not -- as a journalist covering her over the years, certainly would have no idea what is being said in team meeting and practices, et cetera. I think the bottom line is, if the investigation from North Carolina finds she, in fact, said words like noose, rope, hung by a tree or whatever, I think she would have to be gone. I can't imagine an educator and coach in 2019 surviving something like that.

BALDWIN: Yes. As we also mentioned, she is accused of pressuring players to continue despite injuries. Quote, "One later learned she needed corrective shoulder surgery. Another learned she had a torn tendon in her knee. A third said Hatchell had cast doubt on whether she had suffered a concussion."

And in this reporting this morning I read, Christine, that several players have applied to transfer schools. So, what do you think needs to happen?

BRENNAN: Well, again, she has an attorney and there's an investigation, as you know, from UNC. So they will get to the bottom of this. The numbers, the strength in numbers of the team certainly speak volumes when you are hearing it from more than one disgruntled player. But if players are not happy, and we know from the past, men and women's basketball, and sometimes they are angry if they are not playing and angry with the coach or whatever, so you have to throw that in the mix. But the numbers and the amount and intensity of the comments, they are something that obviously have to be looked at. And as I said, if they are true, I think she's gone.

And the issue of concussions and the issue of injuries and playing through injuries, the playing tough thing from the '50s and '60s, those days also are long gone. There's the question of the team doctor. Potentially, is it the doctor's fault as opposed to the coach's fault? There's more investigation to be done here.

But on the same day, the women's final four is being played in Tampa, great team, Notre Dame, Connecticut, Oregon and Baylor playing. The greatest day in women's basketball each year is today and, unfortunately, journalistically, we have to do this, Brooke. But unfortunately, this is topic of conversation and that is too bad for the sport of women's basketball.

BALDWIN: May the best team win.

Christine Brennan, thank you.

BRENNAN: Brooke, thank you.

BALDWIN: We continue on. You're watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being here.

We begin this hour with President Trump touching down just moments ago there in California as he prepares to tour the border and meet with immigration officials. He's there touting the completion of what he said is the first segment of his border wall. We will fact-check that in just a moment.

But it also comes on the heels of his threat and then reversal to shut down the U.S./Mexico border. And he added this today before leaving the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I never changed my mind at all. I may shut it down at some point. But I'd rather do tariffs. Mexico, I have to say, has been very, very good, you know that, over the past four days since talking about shutting down the border.