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New Day

Tiger Woods Wins Masters in Historic Comeback; Dems Reissue Demand for Trump's Taxes; Presidential Candidate Sen. Cory Booker is Interviewed about His Campaign. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired April 15, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

TIGER WOODS, MASTERS WINNER: I knew it was in me. Did I know it was going to be this week? No.

SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think Congress are smart enough to look through President Trump's taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her argument is a side show to the main thing.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It seems destined to go to the Supreme Court.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 9-year-old girl that survived a hit-and-run crash outside her home last month is out of the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just heard three loud bangs. I seen a car in the house. I didn't see my sister at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a big hole in my house. My daughter is lucky to be here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. John Berman is off and Poppy Harlow joins me. Thanks so much for being here

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: No one I'd rather sit next to on a Monday morning.

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much.

HARLOW: Jim Sciutto, as well. But no other lady. No other lady.

CAMEROTA: Maybe he's not watching right now.

HARLOW: No other lady.

CAMEROTA: Fantastic. It is a comeback for the ages. Tiger Woods reclaiming the title of golf's biggest star after clenching his fifth Masters title, capturing his first green jacket in more than a decade.

Tiger is now just three majors behind all-time record of Jack Niklaus.

Tiger's stunning comeback follows crippling injuries and personal scandals that nearly ended his professional career.

HARLOW: All right. We are also keeping a very close eye on the severe weather. A tornado outbreak is blamed for killing at least eight people from Texas to Mississippi. That huge storm system is now moving across the northeast this morning.

Let's begin with Andy Scholes. He joins us in Augusta, Georgia, with Tiger's big win.

Andy, what a day. And then you got to sit down one on one with him.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: It certainly was an epic day, Poppy. And it was one of the best moments in sports history. You know, fans all around the world had waited so long for this moment.

Eleven years, multiple back surgeries, both professional and personal adversity. You know, Tiger Woods had been through it all. Many were just waiting for this moment to see Tiger get back on top of the golf world. And he did it, winning his elusive 15th major here in Augusta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (voice-over): It's the putt that caps off one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Eleven years, nearly 4,000 days since his last major victory, Tiger Woods is a Masters champion once again. The 43-year-old walking off the green to delirious cheers and putting on the green jacket for the fifth time

(on camera): Did you ever think this day would come? And how does it feel?

WOODS: Yes, I did think it would come. Just because of what I did last year. I knew it was in me. Now, did I know it was going to be this week? No. But I had a good feeling that the way I was hitting the golf ball that I was going to be in the mix.

SCHOLES (voice-over): Praise came pouring in from decorated athletes, avid golfers like President Trump and former President Obama and golf great Jack Niklaus, who still holds the record for green jackets with six.

The win completing an improbable return to the top after a series of personal scandals that could have been career ending --

WOODS: They did not do these things. I did.

SCHOLES: -- and debilitating injuries that took a toll on Woods.

WOODS: I could barely walk. I couldn't sit, couldn't lay down. I really couldn't do much of anything. SCHOLES: Woods underwent four back surgeries, including a career-

saving spinal fusion in 2017 that prevented him from swinging a golf club for months.

But the former No. 1 would not quit and is now celebrating another win, where he won his first major 22 years ago. Woods sharing an emotional moment with his 10-year-old son Charlie, mirroring the embrace he shared with his late father in 1997.

(on camera): You joked before that your kids think of you as the video game golfer, because they had never seen you win a major. And what was that moment like when your son, Charlie, jumped in your arms?

WOODS: Surreal. I did the same thing to my dad. And now I'm the dad with my son, doing the same thing. So it's amazing how life evolves. It changes.

It's hard to comprehend right now. I mean, honestly, I'm just a few hours out of winning the tournament. I'm still trying to enjoy it and trying to figure out that actually, I won it. I know I have the green jacket on. But it's just -- it's still -- I think it's going to take a little bit of time for it to sink in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES: Now, I followed Tiger for much of the weekend. And I can't even put into words of how much this means to people.

When Tiger would make a big putt, I saw people hugging. I saw so many high fives. A guy standing next to literally me said, "I never thought I would cheer for another person like this."

I mean, Poppy, Tiger Woods just brings out so many emotions in people. And the emotion he brought out yesterday was just pure joy.

HARLOW: All right. America loves a comeback story. We know that. But this was quite the comeback story.

Before you go, Andy, obviously, he's been through a lot. Some self- inflicted, right. I'm interested in what you glean has been harder to overcome, right? His physical ailments or his self-inflicted personal troubles and scandals.

[07:05:05] SCHOLES: Well, Poppy, I'll tell you what. I've watched Tiger Woods growing up my entire life, you know, watching him play golf. I have never seen him smile as much as he was smiling this weekend.

Every time he walked off the 18th green, he was high-fiving fans. It seems like the personal struggles aren't behind him.

Now, the physical struggles, I don't think those are behind him. You know, just two years ago here at the champions dinner, he was telling people he thought his career was over.

And yesterday after I spoke with him, Tiger was pretty slow to get up and down the chair. So you can tell his back definitely still bothers him. He did joke that he won't be hitting a golf ball any time today. He's going to be in recovery mode for quite a while.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I suggest not even miniature golf today. Because you know, through the windmill can be very bad.

HARLOW: Through the windmill. Hashtag that. That's right, Aly.

CAMEROTA: Andy, thank you very much.

Turning now to politics. Democrats reissuing their demand to the IRS to hand over President Trump's tax returns. The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, made a surprising case for why she thinks Congress should be denied.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I don't think Congress, particularly not this group of Congressmen and women, are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump's taxes will be.

My guess is most of them don't do their own taxes. And I certainly don't trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's talk about this and so much more. We want to bring in David Gregory, CNN political analyst; Rachael Bade, congressional reporter for "The Washington Post" and CNN political analyst; and Jeffrey Toobin, CNN chief legal analyst.

David Gregory, if they're not smart enough to understand them, then why not turn them over, you know? No risk there.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Exactly, exactly. I think that's a bit of a dodge to put it politely. I think that Congress has the expertise when it comes to taxes and reading tax returns to get to the bottom of it.

The White House doesn't want this. Donald Trump has not wanted this in public life. And this is going to be something that's going to be fought about legally beyond Congress.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: I just wonder, like, how stupid do we -- I mean, like, when someone says something as stupid as Sarah Sanders just said, are we supposed to just take it seriously and analyze it like it's a real political comment?

CAMEROTA: I'm not sure. What is the right remedy for that?

TOOBIN: I don't know. I mean, I feel this way during the Trump administration occasionally. I mean, you know, Congress deals with nuclear weapons. They deal with the economy. And the idea that they can't understand a tax return is just so ridiculous. CAMEROTA: By the way, just to add to your case, there's ten of them

who are accountants. There they are. These are ten qualified, certified accountants who deal with tax issues.

TOOBIN: And they have staff who deal with these things. I mean, the idea that that is a serious argument is just very hard for me to take seriously. Perhaps I'm wrong. I often am.

HARLOW: So then, Rachael, why is the White House making this argument. That was a calculated answer by Sarah Sanders. You don't just think that one up, you know?

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I actually think it was pretty off-the-cuff there.

CAMEROTA: You do?

BADE: It is pretty clear that, you know, she didn't have a good answer. And maybe the way to sort of react to this is in terms of analyzing is to sort of call out, that it was sort of a ludicrous response. Right?

I mean, the White House right now, when it comes to Trump's tax returns, they are really struggling to come up with a reason why they shouldn't release these. I mean, every president for the past 40 years has released his tax returns.

I mean, there's a law that says whenever Congress asks for this information and the reason this was created is to show -- to make sure there were no conflicts of interest with people serving in government and you know, their private business, and their private life.

Whenever Congress asks, the law says the treasury secretary shall turn this information over. So legally, they're on, you know, shaky footing.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey.

TOOBIN: And Rachael is exactly right. Law is full of ambiguity.

HARLOW: Well, I was just going to say, will this be another fight over the word "shall"?

TOOBIN: But there's no thing to fight about "shall." "Shall" is simple. I mean, you know, law has lots of ambiguities. And what does freedom of the press mean in the First Amendment? You know, we can fight all day about that.

HARLOW: Yes, but the Supreme Court has thought about the definition of words as clear and simple as "shall."

TOOBIN: Not this one. I mean, this is just so simple. I mean --

GREGORY: But the point is, this is a political tradition. I mean, the law is going to be tested here. It is a political tradition to release tax returns. And there's a good reason for it. If you have a businessman who's made maybe a billion dollars or maybe far less. We ought to know, you know. And how he's gone about it, what his foreign ties are with his business, where could he be potentially compromised. Where does he have conflicts of interest?

Natural questions, which is what has fueled the political tradition of candidates doing it. But core to this presidency by Donald Trump is to not do things that are -- that are as established as political traditions which is why this is one where there's ambiguity, as Jeffrey says, that the court is going to have to come down and make a ruling on it.

[07:15:12] CAMEROTA: Very quickly, Jeffrey, you know, it is now April 15, officially mid-April, the day that William Barr, well, the time period William Barr said that his version of the Mueller report would be available. So we are on Mueller report watch.

TOOBIN: High alert.

CAMEROTA: High alert starting now. So you are tasked with analyzing it the minute it's hot off the presses. What is your plan for the hours after it comes out?

GREGORY: I want to know this.

TOOBIN: I think the first. The first thing I think I'm going to do is just see how much is redacted and what reasons are given.

And another thing that I think is going to be interesting is how much cover Barr will obtain from Mueller in terms of what's redacted from the report.

Will Barr indicate in some way that Mueller insisted on some of the redactions. Now, that's not going to satisfy Democrats, but I think if Mueller is somehow brought into this process by Barr and -- and used as a validator for the redactions, that will put Barr on a lot firmer ground. I don't know if that's going to happen. But that's something I think we'll be able to tell pretty quickly.

GREGORY: Can I just see, I think this question of whether there's a jump ball on the question of obstruction is what people are going to zero in on.

Because it's going to be very hard to escape the conclusion that there was no political conspiracy to interfere in the election. But with regard to how the president handled this investigation, whether he interfered, that's where it is potentially very damaging to the president.

And it's not clear what strategy they have in the White House to deal with those facts other than no collusion here. I was totally vindicated, which is what we've heard now for a couple of weeks.

BADE: And just a reminder, when Barr sent that letter to Congress a few weeks ago, he said that most actions that could potentially be construed as construction, or allegations that might fall into the obstruction category specifically had already been out there in the press.

But that most doesn't mean all, obviously, which means that there are going to be potentially some bombshells when it comes to obstruction of justice and things that we might not have known about for now.

And the interesting thing is you see Republicans on Capitol Hill getting ready, as well, by sort of gearing up this whole investigation of the investigator. Sort of taking words that Barr spoke last week, saying that the origins of the campaign, law enforcement was, quote, "spying on the Trump campaign to say there's a 'there' there."

And so they're already getting their response ready. And I think that tells you right there that there could be something damaging in this report, and they're just getting ready in this case.

TOOBIN: One of the great advantages that the president has is that FOX News will come out and say this is a big nothing burger. There's no news here. The real scandal is the investigation. I mean, to have a built-in chorus that will operate, regardless of the facts is a tremendous advantage.

HARLOW: David Gregory, switching gears here, a sitting member of Congress, freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar, is now facing death threats, numerous death threats.

And she says, quote, many directly referencing or replying to the president's video. Of course, this is what he tweeted on Friday with images of 9/11 and the Twin Towers being struck and words from a speech she gave to AIPAC about a month ago, using words to describe those terrorists as some people, taking them, certainly, out of context and out of the broader context of what she was saying.

Where does this go from here? I mean, the president hasn't taken it down.

GREGORY: Yes. It's an extraordinary situation that she is facing this kind of danger because of something the president has directly done, which is completely wrong.

Look, Congresswoman Omar deserves to be called out as a public official for things that she says, whether it's antisemitic comments that she's made or, I think, ill-advised comments about 9/11. I think that even in the fuller context, her comments about 9/11 were not very reverential of the loss that the country suffered.

That said, this is beyond the pale and that she should be targeted with death threats because of something the president said is completely wrong.

And it fits in. You know, the president is using her as a foil as he tries to use some of the other high-profile newer representatives who are Democrats in Congress to somehow tar the entire Democratic Party. That is completely out of context. And just beyond the pale in terms of political attack.

TOOBIN: And what do all the people that he's vilifying have in common? They're all people of color. You know, it is AOC, Omar. I mean, this is, you know, whether it's the basketball players or the football players. I mean, it's -- he's always after people of color. And that is not a coincidence.

[07:15:03] HARLOW: Thank you all very much. We'll have you back. A lot of ground to cover. We appreciate it.

Ahead for us, the Democratic field continues to expand. So how can a candidate stand out? Up next, joining us, Senator Cory Booker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: All right. Welcome back to NEW DAY. Democratic senator and presidential hopeful Cory Booker is taking his message of Justice for All directly to voters across the country. So how can he stand out and look at that crowded field of Democratic contenders? It has hit almost 20 so far. With me now, I'm delighted to have Democratic candidate, Senator Cory Booker.

So nice to have you.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's great to be with you this morning.

HARLOW: Thank you. And I've spent a good amount of time in Newark and seen what is happening there from the school systems on down. So thank you for being here with us. I want to spend some time really digging into your vision.

BOOKER: Sure.

HARLOW: You're launching Justice for All. What does that actually mean in your eyes? Because it's a broad statement. But what's the most important part of it?

BOOKER: I think a lot of Americans feel like this country is not working for them. Whether it's economic justice, a broken criminal justice system.

[07:20:04] We have millions of kids right now that are not experiencing environmental justice: lead in the water, PFACs, degasses (ph). So there's a lot of folks that are saying there's a basic lack of fairness going on in our country, and we need to get back to having opportunity for all. Basic justice for all.

And I think that we have a lot of feeds that we'll be talking about over the coming years.

HARLOW: Can we talk about what some specifics on that, right? Because you asked a Warren Buffett, for example, about economic opportunity for more, and he says, "Look, it's easy in terms of what Congress could do in terms of the earned income tax credit," right, and making that available to more people.

What is the No. 1 thing that you think, Senator, would bring more economic justice to more Americans? Is it an across-the-board $15 minimum wage, or is it something else?

BOOKER: Well, first of all, there's not one flip. We've got a way of looking for easy answers.

HARLOW: Right.

BOOKER: Economic justice does include a living wage for everyone. There's a tax on the right to organize unions for this country. It's about having pathways to success. And that includes college, but it also has to include apprenticeship programs for our kids.

HARLOW: What is a living wage in your mind?

BOOKER: A living wage is --

HARLOW: What's the number?

BOOKER: The number, well, $15 minimum wage would be a start for that.

HARLOW: OK.

BOOKER: But again, if you have a family of four, you need to make sure that your job is not seeing the things I see in my neighborhood, where people work full-time jobs, have part-time jobs, catch extra shifts and still have to use public housing or subsidized housing.

It's about having jobs with dignity, where you can retire with security. You can have access to health care. And you can have a living wage.

HARLOW: Part of -- one of your now opponents within the party. Competitors Senator Elizabeth Warren, her plan to address it, in part, is to tax corporations more. She just put out a plan at the end of last week to tax the most profitable corporations: Amazon, Apple, you name it, more to try to narrow the income gap. Are you supportive of an additional tax on U.S. corporations?

BOOKER: I'm supportive of getting rid of these -- rolling back these toxic Trump tax cuts, which includes, I mean, even the --

HARLOW: But specifically her -- but specifically her proposal. Do you support that, because --?

BOOKER: I do not support her proposal.

HARLOW: OK.

BOOKER: But again, we need to bring our tax levels back to something that's reasonable. Even chambers of commerce were not asking for down to 21 percent.

And what that's done is it's stolen money from our common treasury. It's given trillions of dollars of tax cuts to the wealthiest people in this country and taken away money the we desperately need for education, for infrastructure, apprenticeship programs, the kind of things that helped to build this country's middle class out in the past but now we're shirking right now.

We've spent about $7 trillion on wars in the Middle East we shouldn't have been in, tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans, and now we don't have the resources to make college affordable. We don't have the resources to repair our roads and bridges. Not to mention broad band, water quality, infrastructure and more.

HARLOW: And so on the college point: free college for all? Four-year college?

BOOKER: Again, we should not have -- we should have affordable college. Kids should not be graduating with debt. That's why I support debt-free college, but more than that --

HARLOW: But not free? You know I ask you because some of the other contenders in your party for 2020 do believe that the government should pay for college. Do you think that's an unaffordable proposition?

BOOKER: I support debt-free college, but the other thing is, college, college, college. Thirty-five percent of American kids go to college.

HARLOW: Yes.

BOOKER: I'm going to get that number up. We need to make sure there's pathways to career success for everyone. That's why I'm talking about having the world's best programs for apprenticeships in our country so kids can learn and earn at the same time, and for people to do mid-career switches.

If you lose your job at the factory, you should not be going onto unemployment. You should be able to go right into an apprenticeship program, which will train you for new jobs and continue your salary.

HARLOW: To your point, I just sat down a few weeks ago with Jamie Dimon --

BOOKER: Yes.

HARLOW: -- who, of course, runs JPMorgan. And he told me, "Look, we made a mistake in the past by having too many of our positions that don't really need a college degree mandate that you have a college degree." They're changing that. He said we should hire more felons. I was struck when I heard -- more ex-felons. I was struck when I heard him say that.

Do you believe there's an appetite across corporate America from many more CEOs to do things like that?

BOOKER: Well, I hope so. Because this idea that you need a four-year college for the jobs of the 21st Century is just wrong.

The training programs that I've seen, including some that take people who are returning offenders to our communities, who are looked down on. Often, the majority of them, overwhelmingly, are nonviolent drug offenders who got arrested for doing things that two of the last three presidents admitted to doing.

And if you don't think that's right, remember, in 2017, more marijuana arrests, possession arrests than violent crime arrests combined. So we have a system that's patently unfair. That criminal justice system targets the poor, targets minorities, often targets people with addictions or mental health.

So we need people to start saying, "Wait a minute." What are the skills that we need for the 21st Century? And how do we do that in a way --

HARLOW: Yes.

BOOKER: -- that shows esteem to people, no matter what pathway that they're choosing?

HARLOW: Let's talk about how you stand out. The polling, I know it's early. But you're not there on the top. Fundraising, some numbers have been impressive from some of your competitors. Are you concerned at all about it? What's your plan to stand out?

BOOKER: Not concerned at all. And standing out is -- we have a -- I have a very unique pathway to the presidential candidacies that nobody else has.

HARLOW: Tell me it.

[07:25:03] BOOKER: I was -- I was a chief executive of a major city, of our state's biggest city. Showed the biggest turnaround. It's one of the biggest comeback cities we've had. And I was actually also a United States senator. So I have both. And you've got --

HARLOW: How do you get that to translate into the numbers? Or are you just one who believes those numbers are early; they don't tell us anything?

BOOKER: We are about a year out from the action. You and I both know that the people who were leading in the past during this time, it's often because of name recognition.

I've got a track record of getting things done in environments that folks usually couldn't get things done, including the United States Senate. The only major big piece of bipartisan legislation is legislation that I led, criminal justice reform.

So I'm really confident that we're getting incredible reactions in the early primary states. Big crowds coming out. And even at the end of those crowds, we have record -- large numbers of people signing up to join our team.

HARLOW: We did hear the president talk about a criminal justice reform legislation sort of part two a few weeks ago when there were members who had worked on that, as well. Does the president deserve credit for criminal justice reform, signing it?

BOOKER: This was -- this was a bipartisan piece of legislation. HARLOW: Yes.

BOOKER: Everyone involved should say this is how government should work, from the White House to my Republicans across the aisle. I was proud to, again, show that we can bring people together to get things done. That's the story of my --

HARLOW: It can be done. It can be done when there is the will.

A few more topics. Congresswoman from my home state of Minnesota, Representative Ilhan Omar, has had an increase in death threats. Some of them, she just said over the weekend, directly because of the video that the president posted on Twitter on Friday, showing the 9/11 attacks, splicing that with some words she -- words she used describing the terrorists as "some people" in her speech to CAIR about a month ago.

What is your response to -- to what has happened to the Congresswoman and her words overall? Because of course, there's been controversy in the words she's chosen and the statements she's chosen to make about Israel.

BOOKER: Let's put this in context. Nothing she said is deserving of what's happening to her and what the president is doing to her. This is a reprehensible attack on her. It's trying to incite anti-Islamic feelings. It's trying to divide Americans.

And we all should rally to a fellow American congresswoman's defense against a president that seems to have this -- this disgusting, in my opinion, desire to continue to attack especially African-Americans, whether they're football players or this congressperson.

To me, this is what -- exactly what presidents shouldn't be doing at a time we need to unite Americans; we need to inspire people to come together. This is just another example of the kind of leadership that weakens our country. Americans -- American presidents shouldn't demean people. They should elevate people. And they should inspire people and bring our country together at a time where we have worsening divisions

HARLOW: Just quickly, before we move on to reparations. I'd like you to weigh in on that. But do you take issues with the word choice she has used repeatedly about Israel?

BOOKER: I've spoken very strongly against comments in the past that I find unacceptable. I'm happy that she's come out and apologized for those comments.

Let's just talk about exactly what's happening right now. She gave a speech where the president has pounced on words in a way that is outrageously unacceptable. That's not only inspiring death threats against her but is deepening the sort of worst types of just -- the worst strains in our country of hatred and bigotry. And this is unacceptable what he's doing.

Especially for those of us -- you live in Brooklyn.

HARLOW: Yes.

BOOKER: I live in New Jersey. We know people that were in those towers.

HARLOW: Yes, we do.

BOOKER: It was one of the more -- one of the more painful, horrific experiences of my lifetime, of our lifetime as -- in the last 50 years in our country. It was an attack on our soil. To use this in such an awful, political way. That was one of the more uniting moments, those months after that, when this country came together to defend our country.

This is him using that to divide people. It's unacceptable.

HARLOW: I'll never forget the feeling. I had moved to New York just five days before. I was a freshman in college. And the feeling of this great city coming together for months after.

BOOKER: Months after.

HARLOW: You're right, Senator.

BOOKER: And applauding firefighters. I mean, that spirit is what he should be tapping into, as opposed to using this in such a godawful way, to divide this nation. It's disgusting.

HARLOW: Before we go, I know you have to go on to Iowa. Right?

BOOKER: Yes.

HARLOW: You have a busy day ahead. The issue of reparations. I mean, this is legislation that has been put forth now for decades. As I understand it, you have legislation to have a discussion about what reparations might look for -- look like in this country.

Talk to me about what you think, if this were to get passed, the most effective implementation would be. Is it money? Is it admission to universities, tuition-free? What is it?

BOOKER: I sincerely don't know. We have savage inequalities in this country that have their deep legacies going back to slavery and then centuries of bigoted legislation, all the way up to 1970s, where redlining and mortgage discrimination was going on.

Just let's study the issue. Let's -- that's what I'm proposing. Let's bring people together to study the issue.

[07:30:00]