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Castro on Cruelty as a Weapon; Church Arson Suspect in Custody; Source: Loughlin and Husband Not Ready to Enter Plea; Principal Takes on Parents who Bend Rules; Wood Starts Strong at the Masters. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 12, 2019 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00] HOWARD DEAN, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ocasio and Rashida Tlaib and so forth and so on. We won 40 seats. They came from Orange County, from Texas, from Oklahoma, from Kansas, central Pennsylvania. Yes, they're -- the young people are progressive, but they are very based on facts. They are not raving people who want to change everything for ideological reasons. What Trump is doing doesn't make any sense and they know it.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I will tell you --

DEAN: That makes a big difference. And Buttigieg is speaking to that and so is Beto.

BERMAN: We -- actually, Harry Enten is obsessed -- our numbers guy is obsessed with these numbers.

DEAN: Yes.

BERMAN: That there's actually a big trough of votes to be had in the middle of the party --

DEAN: Yes.

BERMAN: And among older voters.

DEAN: But it's not -- well, I don't know about older voters, but there certainly is in the middle.

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

I -- Julian Castro was in a CNN town hall last night. It -- right after the news broke that the Trump administration had considered using humans as -- as I guess what Nancy Pelosi calls pawns, in shipping illegal immigrants into sanctuary cities. And this is what the former HUD secretary said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN CASTRO (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The cruelty of this administration never seems to end. You know, a year ago, this administration told us that, as Americans, if we would just be cruel enough to separate little children from their parents, that that would deter more families from coming to our southern border. And, in fact, the opposite has happened.

These folks want us to choose cruelty as a weapon against these people and against political opponents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Laura, I'd like your quick take on this.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "POLITICO": Right. Well, this report from "The Washington Post" is just stunning. It again illustrates that President Trump wants to use immigration and wants to use the border as a political weapon, as opposed to talking with Democrats, as opposed to trying to find some way forward on comprehensive immigration reform. I mean the idea that he -- they would -- wanted to send undocumented immigrants that were detainees into sanctuary cities, that's just pure politics. And I think we're going to see him hammer this going into 2020. It's the latest after also hearing just weeks ago that he was floating the idea of trying to shut down the border completely.

I was just in Leesburg, Virginia, where Democrats -- House Democrats are having their retreat. And they -- this was before this news broke from "The Washington Post." But they definitely know that they want to come out soon with a very big message on immigration in response to Trump and in response to all of the things that we're seeing come out of the administration.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Bring that to us when you have it.

Laura, governor, Joe, thank you very much.

The college admissions scandal is not a shock to many educators, including one principal who went viral with this video calling out parents for bad behavior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERRY BROOKS, POSTED VIRAL VIDEO ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL: You know I know I'm not supposed to do that, but I really want my child to go to that really good school or that basketball team is better and my child needs to be on a good basketball team. Do you know who else did things like that? Aunt Becky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I didn't see that coming.

This principal is going to join us with all the bad behavior he sees from parents, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:03] CAMEROTA: We're learning more about the suspect accused of arson that burned down three black churches in Louisiana in a span of ten days. CNN's Josh Campbell is live in Louisiana with the latest on the

investigation.

What have you learned, Josh?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn.

The community breathing a sigh of relief here following the announcement of the arrest of the 21-year-old local resident. Authorities say he set all three fires in African-American churches here in Louisiana. Now, in the end, they tell us this came down to good old fashioned detective work. Remnants of a gas can found at one of the churches was tracked back to a store. Authorities determined that that was purchased the day before the first fire, along with a package of cloth and a lighter. The subject used his own debit card.

Now, there are many harrowing aspects of this entire scenario, one of which being the manner in which the arrest went down. We're told that the subject's father, who is a sheriff's deputy, was brought into the sheriff's department and was told that his son was a primary subject. And that father deciding to help investigators lead his son to a location where he could be safely arrested by authorities.

Now, the suspect faces three state charges of arson. Absent of that is any indication right now of a hate crime. Now, we talked to a member of the local NAACP, who is describing this as domestic terrorism. Obviously they look at the circumstances and believe that there are additional charges that are warranted.

I also spoke with the FBI's top agent here in Louisiana who indicated that they're still in the very early stages of this investigation. The subject was arrested 12 hours after he came on the radar of authorities. I'm told that although we're in the early stages, they're not ruling anything out. They continue to work in the command center here behind us to fully identify what happened, to fully dig into this person's past.

John and Alisyn.

BERMAN: All right, Josh, nice to have you down there as this story unfolds.

A central figure in the college admissions scandal in court today as the daughter of actress Lori Loughlin speaks out to friends saying that she is devastated. We have a live report, next.

CAMEROTA: Also ahead on NEW DAY, you don't want to miss this because we're going to speak with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his new CNN original series called "Chasing Life" and what he learned about longevity. And the producers have also just mentioned that Sanjay's going to stick needles in John and me live on the air. They call it acupuncture and we're -- we're going to be --

BERMAN: Or sweeps. One or the other.

CAMEROTA: Or a voodoo doll of us. Here's a preview of the series. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): My grandfather died very young of a heart attack. And my father had heart surgery when he was very young. So my father and my grandfather I think unwittingly really motivated me.

We know that there's remarkable things happening all over the world that can help us live longer, better, happier, more productive lives.

I mean I felt like the needle went almost to the bone.

I thought I was in pretty good shape. But this takes it to a whole different level.

Is this what helps you live long?

You could be arrested in the states for doing what I'm about to do.

Can I work here? I would work here.

[06:40:00] "Chasing Life" is an opportunity for us to travel the world looking for extraordinary health practices, experiencing them ourselves. That's my job. That's "Chasing Life," to find those things and bring them back.

ANNOUNCER: "Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta," tomorrow at 9:00 Eastern on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, a key player involved in the huge college admissions scandal will appear in court today. And CNN has learned more about why actress Lori Loughlin and her husband have yet to enter a plea deal for their alleged role.

CNN's Brynn Gingras, who has been all over this story, joins us now with the very latest.

Lori Loughlin and her husband --

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BERMAN: What are they doing?

GINGRAS: You know, a defense attorney earlier this week said that they shouldn't take a deal. So it sounds like they're getting that same advice.

Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are hoping to just let this play out in the justice system and are not ready to cut any deal, a source close to the couple tells CNN. This after federal attorneys slapped an extra charge against them earlier this week in the giant college admissions case. Their daughter, Olivia Jade, is said to be devastated over all of

this. The social media influencer did lose partnerships with major companies, like Sephora, after her parents were accused of paying half a million dollars in bribe money to get her and her sister into USC. A source tells CNN she's embarrassed and barely speaking to her parents right now.

[06:45:13] Meanwhile, we may learn more about the inner workings of this scheme when Mark Riddell pleads guilty today. According to the government, he's the test whiz who would either oversee students as they took the college admissions exams, helping them circle in the right answer, or he'd correct the student's answers after they were finished or even in at least one case he took the test for the student all together using a fake ID. Riddell, a Harvard graduate, was so good at this, that he was able to get a score high enough to greatly improve students' scores, but not too high that it would raise red flags. Riddell served as a key cooperating witness in the government's investigation and he played a major role in taking down many of these parents connected to the scam.

So, guys, certainly we hope to learn more in court today.

CAMEROTA: OK, please bring that to us. We have been fascinated by all of the developments.

Brynn, thank you.

All right, so the college admissions scandal may seem shocking to some of us. Apparently it's not surprising to many educators. Now one elementary school principal is sharing his take on the scandal in a viral video that has been seen by more than 6 million people on FaceBook. Here's a piece.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERRY BROOKS, POSTED VIRAL VIDEO ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL: Everybody's just so surprised about this. Do you know who's not surprised? Every educator in the whole world. Do you know? Because this kind of thing happens every day at schools. Do you know what this is? A parent not agreeing with a policy or a rule, sometimes even a law, so they're just going to do whatever they want because they think it's best for their child.

Ah, yes, I signed my child's reading log, but he didn't read, but we had a soccer game until 10:00 and I disagree with that policy they should have to read an hour a day anyway. Do you know who else disagrees with policies? Aunt Becky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That principal, Gerry Brooks, joins us now. He runs Liberty Elementary School in Lexington, Kentucky.

Principal, thank you for being here.

GERRY BROOKS, POSTED VIRAL VIDEO ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS SCANDAL: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it very much.

CAMEROTA: It's a very funny viral video.

But you say that you see this every day, bad behavior of some -- one sort or another from parents. Like what? Give us examples of the kinds of things you see.

BROOKS: Absolutely. You know, we have parents that do love their children very much and want what's best for them. And sometimes that means breaking the rule. We have parents that sneak in fast food for lunch when they know that that's not -- that's a school rule. We have parents that will bring their friends over to the family table when they come to eat with their own child and they know they're not allowed to bring any extra people over, but their child wants that.

We have people that send kids in scary costumes on character book day when we dress up as characters because their child loves that costume. And even though we're not allowed to have scary costumes, they do that.

And so what we have is parents who truly love their children and they really think that they're doing what's right. And sometimes they feel like that means breaking a rule, breaking a policy and, in this case, breaking a law.

CAMEROTA: You -- you give other examples that I think are really fascinating. As you said, sign the planner showing that the child read when the child did not read that allotted amount of time at night.

BROOKS: Right.

CAMEROTA: Lying about why their child is late to school. Driving around the cones in the -- you know, while you're waiting for the school bus so that you can get out faster than everybody else.

BROOKS: Right.

CAMEROTA: Letting your -- their kids bring peanut butter to school, though obviously it could endanger other kids.

BROOKS: Right.

CAMEROTA: I mean that seems like actually one in a different category. That seems like a dangerous one.

BROOKS: Right.

CAMEROTA: Letting them sneak sodas, letting them skip doing their homework.

BROOKS: Right.

CAMEROTA: What do you think is causing all of that kind of bending of the rules or I guess just generally bad behavior?

BROOKS: Right. Well, I think it's a misunderstanding of what's best for your child. Every one of these parents, and that was one of the reasons I did the video, these parents truly love their children and think that they know what's best. And rather than following rules and setting the example they need to set, they choose to do what they think is best, which is break a rule. And so I think it -- the bottom line is, it comes back to them loving their child and thinking that what's best for their child is what their child wants or what they want, rather than setting the example that needs set and saying we -- we're not allowed to bring peanut butter. I know that's your favorite, I know that's the only thing you seem to want to eat, but you've got a child that has allergies in your classroom. We can't do it no matter what. It's a rule. Rather than trying to sneak it in every once in a while or throwing a big fit about it because that's a big, huge issue.

But they really love their child and they think that's what they like. I want to give into them. Or that's the only thing they're going to eat. And so we're giving into children based on the fact that we love them and we think we know what's best for them.

CAMEROTA: And what do you say to those parents when you confront them and what's the solution to stopping this behavior?

BROOKS: Right. Well, we discuss -- we have rules for a reason. And I think a lot of times they -- they think the rule is silly or they don't understand it. And so when we say to a parent, you know, you're not allowed to walk your child to class and this is why, they want to do that to talk to the teacher, to make the child feel safe. But when we actually explain the rule, you know, my experience, 99.5 percent of the parents will go, oh, I didn't understand that, I just didn't think it was that big of a deal and parents don't think it's that big of a deal.

[06:50:11] And if -- if it's a parent, you know, I tell them, if you have a problem with a rule, come to the school, discuss what's going on, try to understand why it is and there may be a possibility that you could change a rule. There may be an exception to say, I really and truly have to get to the -- to work early. Is there any way I could do this? The schools will work with you. But don't just break a rule because what you're doing is you're saying to your child, I know this is a rule, but it doesn't apply to us. And while that might benefit you in the short-term, in the long-term it's going to be a difficult time for your child.

CAMEROTA: Principal Gerry Brooks, thank you very much for this lesson in rule following to all of us. Great to talk to you

BROOKS: Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate you.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: What a great principal. I want him.

All right, a woman goes missing. Decades later, her son makes a disturbing discovery in his own backyard. We have a live report on a murder mystery ahead on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:55:20] BERMAN: So in the grand tradition of talking about Tiger Woods, even when he's not leading, he's in the hunt at the Masters headed into today's second round.

Andy Scholes live at Augusta National with the "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.

Well, Tiger, you know, he's never finished outside the top ten after shooting under par in round one at the Masters, so that's good news for him as he looks to win his first major since the 2008 U.S. Open. I actually followed around Tiger all day yesterday. Per usual, he had the largest gallery. Tiger finishing two under for the day. And that's actually the same score he had when he won his first three green jackets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: The whole idea is to try and peak for, you know, four times a year. And so I feel my body's good and my game's good and sharp. So I've just got to go out there and execute. And I've got to do the proper things. And if I do miss, I miss in a proper spot. I've shot this number and won, you know, four coats. So, you know, hopefully I can do it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now your co-leaders heading into round two are Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau at six under. Koepka, still on a roll. He's won two of the last three majors. DeChambeau, meanwhile, with his funky swing, looking to win his first. The 25-year-old with a physics degree from SMU, known as the mad scientist because of the way he analyzes everything. Fun fact, DeChambeau's clubs all the same length.

Now, Phil Mickelson, right behind those two. He's at five under. Phil, 48 years old, trying to become the oldest ever to win a major. And this leaderboard, very important. The last 13 Masters winners have been in the top ten after round one. So good chance, guys, that one of these guys on the leader board right now will end up with that green jacket on Sunday

BERMAN: All right, Phil Mickelson won it the last time I covered the Masters and was threatened by the people at Augusta National.

Andy Scholes, great to have you down there for us. Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: I feel like there's a story there.

BERMAN: I'm just going to keep teasing that. I'm happy to tell the story when we're not out of time.

CAMEROTA: OK. I'm going to hold you to that. The politics of retaliation. New details on a Trump administration plan to target the president's foes by releasing detained migrants onto the streets of sanctuary cities. We'll explain all of that and more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END