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New Day
Backyard Discovery Could Crack Murdered Mom Mystery; New Profile Examines Ivanka Trump's Life In The White House; Beyond The Call Of Duty: Police Officer Ensures 9-Year-Old Has A Happy Birthday. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired April 12, 2019 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:32:43] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A Florida murder trial could end a decades-old mystery about how Bonnie Haim disappeared. At the time, there were very few clues except the words of her 3-year-old son. And now, decades later, that son is the state's star witness based on the evidence that he, himself, found.
CNN's Martin Savidge is live in Jacksonville with the story. This is a really kind of grisly mystery.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, it is, and it's one that could come to its peak today. The closing arguments are expected this morning, actually Alisyn, in the Michael Haim trial.
His wife went missing more than two decades ago and it was only by the discovery of something her son found that stunningly turned the whole case on its ear.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): By her family's own words, 23-year-old Bonnie Haim was a loving mother, daughter, and sister who in January 1993 suddenly vanished, leaving behind her 3-year-old son, Aaron.
Bonnie's husband, Michael Haim, has always maintained his wife walked out on him following an argument.
MICHAEL HAIM, HUSBAND OF BONNIE HAIM: Actually, she just wasn't happy and she wanted to leave and I couldn't stop her from leaving.
SAVIDGE: Bonnie Haim was never seen again.
Her disappearance profiled in a 1994 episode of "UNSOLVED MYSTERIES." The program focused on a startling revelation a very young Aaron made to Florida's Child Protective Services, saying, "Daddy hurt her."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From what Aaron told us that day, my only conclusion was that there had been a domestic fight and that Michael Haim had killed his wife and had removed her. And that their 3 1/2- year-old son, Aaron Haim, had witnessed this. SAVIDGE: But with limited evidence and no body, there was little police could do. Aaron was adopted and his mother's case went cold for decades.
Then, in 2014, police were called to the former Haim family home, finding the once-little boy of 21 years ago now grown up and going by his adopted name, Aaron Fraser.
Aaron had recently acquired the home and was renovating it, digging up the pool, when he discovered some plastic sheeting with what he thought was a coconut wrapped inside -- recalling the moment from the witness stand.
[07:35:08] AARON FRASER, SON OF BONNIE HAIM: I picked up the coconut object and it ended up being the top portion of her skull.
SAVIDGE: Tests would confirm Aaron had found the remains of his own mother.
Prosecutors say authorities also recovered a 22-caliber shell casing.
Now, 52-year-old Michael Haim is on trial for murder. His attorney still maintaining he had nothing to do with Bonnie's death.
JANICE WARREN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: In this case, the lack of evidence is just as important, if not more important, than the evidence you will hear.
SAVIDGE: Just before the trial began, Bonnie Haim's sister posted online what it means for her family. "It is going to rip off bandages and expose us to things we had long ago pushed to the back of our memories. But sometimes we have to rip off bandages to really begin to heal."
For Aaron Fraser, the trial is his chance to finish the story he first told when he was just three -- the remarkable truth of how he lost and eventually found his mother.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my goodness, Martin. What a tale played out over decades.
Did the father, Michael Haim, testify in his own defense?
SAVIDGE: He did. It came at the end of testimony yesterday.
The prosecution and the defense witnesses had all finished up and the judge turned to him and just said, "Would you like to take the witness stand?" And he said, "Yes." It not only shocked the prosecution but it appeared to shock his own defense team.
He was on the stand for two hours questioned by both, and it was the prosecution that went after him, of course, most aggressively. But he never seemed to lose his composure, he never raised his voice. And when he was directly asked did he hurt his wife, he said
absolutely not. He said that he loved his wife and he could not have ever hurt his wife. And, of course, that seems to fly in the face of those words from a 3-year-old that said, "Daddy hurt mommy."
It's possible this may go to the jury by this afternoon -- John and Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Martin. I mean, obviously, the son has always wanted closure, but not like this. I mean, not like that discovery, I should say.
SAVIDGE: No.
CAMEROTA: But we'll see what happens in this court case.
Thank you very much for bringing that to us.
BERMAN: What a story. And you have to feel bad for Aaron. You know, a lifetime of this.
All right. She is one of the president's close advisers.
CAMEROTA: Is she?
BERMAN: Isn't she? Want to do it together?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: But, Ivanka Trump -- is she really a moderating influence on her father? An extensive new profile -- some 50 people talking. The president on the record, Jared Kushner on the record, all about Ivanka.
What's the truth? That's next.
CAMEROTA: I could never have done it that well.
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[07:41:33] BERMAN: A brand new profile of first daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump features interviews with President Trump, Jared Kushner, and 50 sources close to Ivanka Trump, including one who said this.
"She is unwilling to concede that she ought to understand why someone might have interpreted her father's 'ACCESS HOLLYWOOD' comments as misogynistic or his remarks after Charlottesville as tone deaf, if not racist.
Ivanka knows Trump probably better than anyone," the source went on, "and she knows him to be good. In Ivanka's snow globe, evidence to the contrary simply does not exist."
Joining us now is CNN political analyst Elaina Plott. She wrote the piece for "The Atlantic." It is a fascinating and very deep profile. Thank you so much for being with us.
That idea that somehow Ivanka Trump has siloed or compartmentalized so many of these questions when there is evidence of her father's behavior -- talk to me about that.
ELAINA PLOTT, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE ATLANTIC: What's been interesting about reporting this piece is seeing how Ivanka's adeptness at compartmentalizing her life started at a really, really young age. You can see this through memoirs she wrote in her 20s.
But when her parents divorced in a very public tabloid-based manner when she was nine years old, it really, really jarred her in a way that it would any child. But, Ivanka's reaction in a way that it wasn't of her siblings -- so, Don chose not to talk to his father for a year.
Ivanka, on the other hand, decided that she was only going to see her father as good and do whatever it took to earn his affection, and it's been fascinating to see that progress throughout her life. And now, it's manifesting itself here in the White House.
She really, as my source said, retains a view that her father is good and only good. And if you interpret him to be a certain way -- 1) she can't acknowledge that the interpretation itself is valid, but 2) she just thinks what it's speaking to is wrong entirely.
BERMAN: And that gets to the other, perhaps, misconception about Ivanka Trump and maybe explains why it is a wrong conception, which is that she's a moderating force somehow inside the White House.
Let me just put up this "Us Weekly" cover that had Ivanka Trump on it, and the headline there was, "Why I disagree with my dad."
Now, inside the article you note that this was not a headline -- she never said. "Us Weekly" took some liberties there. But the notion -- the very notion that she was ever going to be a moderating force on her father, you say is flawed.
PLOTT: Right. You know, when you're doing nexus research and whatnot -- as I'm sure you know, when you're preparing a story or reporting thing out I remember thinking OK, we all see Ivanka and her husband, Jared, as quote-unquote "moderating influences" on this president.
And I was trying to dig up where the first time was that she might have said that she was pro-choice, for example, or that she was a huge activist when it came to climate change, and it just didn't exist, John. I mean, it's just nowhere.
BERMAN: Yes.
PLOTT: And so, it was -- I mean, it was quite a journey to kind of comb through moments in the campaign where you saw that she was able to kind of craft a narrative that she was this polite society kind of technocratic neoliberal, if you want to say that, just based on not having kind of the garishness of her father. So because she was surrounded by people like her father, and Corey Lewandowski, and Roger Stone, and all of these people who just seem like the opposite of polite society, the fact that she was able to use them as foils meant that a lot of people I think inadvertently projected what they wanted her political beliefs to be onto her.
[07:45:12] And yet, there was never actually evidence to support the fact that they were there.
BERMAN: You use the phrase "craft the narrative" -- a phrase that she has used to cultivate authenticity, which is why the process of reporting this to me was so interesting. She would not speak to you on the record, really, in-depth.
But you did talk to the president. And when you were in the Oval Office interviewing the president, Ivanka Trump just happens, coincidentally, to wander in with news about jobs. Explain that moment.
PLOTT: It's a Tuesday around 4:30. The president and I are wrapping up our interview. I think we're on maybe our second to last question and then all of the sudden he just -- he looks up and he's clearly really excited. And I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was but, of course, it was Ivanka.
And she just feigned such shock. She said I was just coming by. I forgot you guys were doing this.
But, you know, I just had to tell the president that Siemens just added 75,000 more jobs to our Workforce Development Program. So, of course, very conveniently timed.
But it spins out a kind of brand that she's worked meticulously at her whole life. When you're somebody who does run a lifestyle brand you're always trying to perfect the facade or the look of a carefree, easy life even when that's not actually the case.
BERMAN: Two more things I want to get into very quickly.
One is a statement from Matt Bevin, the governor of Kentucky, just to make the point here that Ivanka Trump seems to be criticized from either side, no matter what.
The "Kentucky governor, who has worked closely with her on workforce development, told me, 'Ivanka could literally save an elderly woman from getting hit by a train and the people would blame her for disrupting the travel time.'" So there are those who defend her.
And just very quickly, the last story. You were in her office speaking to her off-the-record and you noticed a book about Burning Man, right? Now I am told reliably by Alisyn Camerota, Burning Man is where you go to smoke pot --
CAMEROTA: Smoke pot.
BERMAN: -- and hallucinogens, acid, and listen to music, so Alisyn says.
CAMEROTA: According to me.
BERMAN: So what was the significance of that book in Ivanka Trump's office?
PLOTT: Well, I was sitting there in her office and I'm looking around trying to take in as many notes as I can, mentally, about what the space looks like, what she was on the different tables, and I see the spine of this coffee book -- this coffee table book called "Playa Fire."
So I just wrote it down really quickly. And then I looked it up later on Amazon and I thought, wait, Burning Man? Ivanka Trump at Burning Man? I mean, the link just did not square to me at all.
So that became just sort of a moment -- or a vehicle, rather, for trying to help the reader understand why it's so hard, in a way, to do a story on her because she is, in so many ways, a cipher. So if that link is a genuine one -- if that's a festival that she's actually longing to go to or she wants you to think she wants to go to that to seem edgy and interesting -- I mean, I just -- I don't know the answer.
BERMAN: Right. I'm not sure there is an answer. But it's the question that is the most interesting thing there.
Elaina Plott, thank you so much. People should go check out this article in "The Atlantic" because it really is fascinating. Appreciate you being with us.
PLOTT: Well, thank you so much.
BERMAN: Alisyn --
CAMEROTA: I've never been to Burning Man, but I've heard tell --
BERMAN: Look, you told me what it was all about. I'm just telling our viewers what you informed me.
CAMEROTA: All right. At least I don't remember ever going to Burning Man.
BERMAN: I said the same thing.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: Have you been to Burning Man? I don't remember.
CAMEROTA: I saw your lie (ph).
All right. The old expression is that there are only two things certain in life, death and taxes. Well, it turns out that maybe that's not true. How some people -- rich people -- are dodging taxes while other people are paying much, much more, particularly people who did not vote for President Trump. We'll tell you why in a reality check.
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[07:53:08] CAMEROTA: A 9-year-old was afraid no one would come to his birthday party and a Michigan officer went beyond the call of duty to make sure that would not happen.
CNN's Miguel Marquez has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OFFICER AUSTIN LYNEMA, GRAND RAPIDS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Happy birthday, OK?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Grand Rapids police officer Austin Lynema and 9-year-old Thomas Daniel, fast friends.
LYNEMA: I might be bringing you more gifts later but I'll see you Sunday for the other birthday party, OK?
MARQUEZ: Office Lynema, 22 years old and six months on the job, saw a 9-year-old in need, capturing it all on bodycam video.
LYNEMA: You live in this building?
I was going to a call on Kendall Street and saw Thomas running down the sidewalk trying to catch up to his bus, crying.
MARQUEZ (on camera): So you knew immediately that he was in distress.
LYNEMA: Yes.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Thomas, along with his mom and brother who immigrated from Tanzania, was devastated.
MARQUEZ (on camera): Why were you so worried about missing the bus?
THOMAS DANIEL, NINE YEARS OLD: Because I missed school and really, I want to go to school and do my work and have fun.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Thomas loves school, never missing a day.
LYNEMA: Mom wasn't able to take Thomas to school -- she doesn't have a car -- so I asked if it was OK if I brought Thomas to school, and she told me it was. And once we showed up at school all my lights were on and everything like that for them, so --
MARQUEZ (on camera): The whole works?
LYNEMA: Yes, everything -- yes. He was all grins.
You want to take a look at them?
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Lynema also learned this wasn't an ordinary day. It was Thomas' birthday. LYNEMA: Thomas confided in me that he didn't think that anybody else would show up to his birthday party because he was being bullied at school. He invited his entire class.
What time is your birthday party going to be?
MARQUEZ: Lynema and his partner decided on a surprise of their own.
LYNEMA: I ring the doorbell and he comes out of his balcony and sees me and my partner. He comes downstairs and gives me and my partner a hug.
And so we asked him, hey, where's everybody else at? Where's the birthday cake? Nobody showed up and there's no cake.
Go enjoy those donuts.
MARQUEZ: The next day, Lynema and fellow officers went the extra mile.
[07:55:00] LYNEMA: I was able to get permission to get Krispy Kreme donuts for him, personalized "Happy Birthday," a Grand Rapids police goody bag that had shirts, hats, stickers -- you know, all the works for him.
MARQUEZ (on camera): So you guys gave him a party?
LYNEMA: Absolutely, yes. We weren't going to let a 9-nine-year-old not have a party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This will make you smile, Annie and Janice.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The story made the news and now, cards --
LYNEMA: "Thomas, hope your ninth birthday is your best year yet."
MARQUEZ: -- and gifts have turned up from across the country.
LYNEMA: What's in there? Walkie-talkies?
DANIEL: Walkie-talkies.
LYNEMA: Walkie-talkies? All right.
DANIEL: Cool.
LYNEMA: Now, you and your brother can talk like cops.
MARQUEZ: Officer Lynema and Thomas, friends today, possibly partners down the road.
MARQUEZ (on camera): What do you want to be when you grow up?
DANIEL: A Grand Rapids police.
MARQUEZ: Do you, really? DANIEL: Yes.
MARQUEZ: Are you just saying that because he's standing here?
DANIEL: No. I really want to be a policeman and a dad.
LYNEMA: You need help? All right.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Lynema, from a family of public servants, driven to go above and beyond, helping a young man and his family as they begin their American dream.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: And friendship is a wonderful thing and Thomas hit the friendship jackpot.
CAMEROTA: Completely. I mean, that was above and above the call of duty.
BERMAN: Above squared of the call of duty?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: At school in a car that has lights. What's better than that?
CAMEROTA: How cool is that?
BERMAN: So, as the old saying goes, only two things are certain in life, death and taxes. But you can add a third certainty to that list -- blue states that largely did not vote for President Trump -- people there feel like they're paying a whole lot more in taxes.
John Avlon with a reality check -- John.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, guys.
So, Monday is tax day -- a date that strikes fear in the heart of most Americans.
Now, George Washington said, "No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant." So he set the bar.
But we can expect the tax code to be fair. This year, not so much because whether you see your taxes go up or down will depend on whether you live in a red state or blue state, and that's by design.
First a little history. December 22, 2017 -- that's when President Trump's tax plan was signed into law. It's kind of a Christmas gift to corporations and red state residents passed entirely along party lines.
It cut taxes sharply for most Americans, raising the standard deduction. But in return, it eliminated all personal exemptions and cut itemized deductions.
And here's the really key part. It slashed the amount of state and local taxes you could deduct to $10,000. It limited the mortgage interest deduction, and that's where the representation of the tax code became evident.
Now, according to data obtained by CNN from H&R Block, among states where refunds went up this, the top 10 are all red states. Among states where tax refunds went down -- you guessed it. The top 10 are all blue states. Notice a pattern?
So let's dig a little deeper.
Alabama's average SALT deduction was around $6,000 in 2016, well below the $10K cap. Now, the average deduction in New York, nearly $22,000.
How about Mississippi? That's about $6,400. California, nearly $19,000.
And if you look at the entire map, the story's the same. Bright blue states are paying vastly more under Trump's tax plan than ruby red states.
Let's take a look at population density because it's no surprise that areas where most Americans live it costs more to buy a house and yes, it was more likely to need a mortgage. Again, red states deduct while blue states are stuck.
This has become known as the "Blue State Triple Whammy" because Trump's tax code has made it more expensive to buy a home, more expensive to own a home, and harder to sell your home.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is suing Trump, along with three other blue states. Put it this way.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: If your political goal is to help Republican states and hurt Democratic states, this is exactly the way they do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AVLON: But guess who does even better under Trump's tax code? Trump's own commercial real estate industry.
The same industry which Jared Kushner's company bought a white elephant of a building at a record price right before the market crashed, nearly defaulted on a billion-dollar loan, and is still worth around $300 million, and paid little or no federal income taxes for at least seven years.
The loopholes are wider and sheltering income easier than ever before. As for the rest of us, only 17 percent of taxpayers say they expect to see a tax cut this year.
Now, President Nixon said we can never make taxation popular, be we can make it fair. But the politically weaponized tax code that punishes blue states,
President Trump seems to have failed at both.
And that's your reality check.
CAMEROTA: Very helpful, John. Thank you for explaining that.
BERMAN: Harry Enten tells us the IRS is actually popular, though.
AVLON: No.
CAMEROTA: Yes. We need you to do a reality check on that one.
BERMAN: Do you believe -- yes, exactly.
AVLON: I'm not -- I'm not buying it. I think the cop who gave the birthday for the 9-year-old -- paid for by our taxes, by the way -- very popular. IRS, I'm not putting my money on.
BERMAN: Not so much. All right, John. Thank you very much.
The president is trying to retaliate against political opponents using undocumented migrants. How? We'll explain, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They lean on ICE to consider moving undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe we should be releasing anyone who crosses the border illegally. These are human beings. To treat them like a plague is grotesque.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What he said was true. There was spying.
END
