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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is Interviewed on Oversight; Attempted Coup Underway in Venezuela; Democrats Meet with Trump on Infrastructure; Trump Introduces Asylum Changes. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 30, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Look, we are trying to vindicate the central role of Congress in dealing with the executive branch, which is to conduct oversight into what's happening. The Oversight Committee has a whistleblower who came to us, Tricia Newbold, who tells us that 25 people whose applications for high security clearance was rejected got security clearance because of the political intervention of the White House. And now the White House and the executive branch are refusing to turn over any documents about any of these cases and they're refusing to produce any witnesses to us.

You know, we want to have Don McGahn come and testify in the Judiciary Committee about the fact that President Trump told him to go and fire the special counsel, which is a cardinal act of obstruction of justice, and yet the White House is now pulling the plug on that, attempting to interfere. They're going to court to try to stop Deutsche Bank from producing documents that have been requested by the Intelligence Committee and they're trying to stop the House Ways and Means Committee from getting the president's tax returns, which we are legally entitled to.

So what's happening here is that the obstructionism that we've read about in the Mueller report, within the Department of Justice by the president, is now coming galloping off the pages and it is confronting Congress at every turn, the Ways and Means Committee, the Finance Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee. The president is simply refusing to participate and to do his lawful duty. And we are going to follow this until we are able to do our jobs.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Galloping obstruction of justice, I'm going to let you trademark that, congressman. That's --

RASKIN: All right.

SCIUTTO: You can -- we'll stick with that.

RASKIN: You can spread it out there.

SCIUTTO: All right.

RASKIN: This is our reality.

SCIUTTO: Thank you for your time, as always.

RASKIN: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: It's obviously going to be a continuing conversation.

The Trump administration announcing new, sweeping plans on how asylum seekers are treated at the U.S./Mexico border. We're going to have the details on that next.

And the opening bell just ringing on Wall Street moments ago. All eyes on the Federal Reserve as it begins two days of meetings today on interest rates.

Stay with us.

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[09:36:342] SCIUTTO: Listen to that sound there, the sounds of automatic gunfire on the streets of Venezuela. Breaking just in the last few moments there, an attempted coup underway against the government of the sitting president, Nicolas Maduro. That coup announced by Juan Guaido, the opposition leader. He says he has the support of at least some of the Venezuelan military and the U.S. is now expressing support for this action on the ground.

You have the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying the U.S. government fully supports the Venezuelan people and their quest for freedom and democracy. Also John Bolton pipping in, saying the U.S. stands with the people of Venezuela.

With me now on the telephone is Stefano Pozzebon. He has been in the middle of this violence here.

Stefano, as you have heard and witnessed this gunfire, do you know, can you tell who is shooting at who?

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST (via telephone): Yes, exactly. What we have seen is there is chaos here on the streets of Caracas. There's live ammunition being shot on both sides, both the armed guards and the military who are still supporting and backing President Nicolas Maduro and the key members of the armed forces who have defected and joined sides with Juan Guaido, with the opposition here led by Juan Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez.

The (INAUDIBLE) military men on the side of Juan Guaido is significant and new. This is the most significant developments happening right now in Caracas because so far the (INAUDIBLE), the urge from Juan Guaido to the military to defect against Maduro has been (INAUDIBLE) unheard, but now seeing these members in uniform, these soldiers joining sides with the opposition means that those calls have been answered and that some parts of the opposition is with Juan Guaido.

SCIUTTO: And to be clear, and, again, I know it's difficult to see in the midst of the violence and it's -- and I want you to be safe as you're observing this primarily, can you tell if members of the Venezuelan military are shooting back at other members of the military? In other words, is there open gunfire within the Venezuelan military now, some siding with Maduro, some siding with Guaido? POZZEBON: That's correct. Exactly. We have seen shots being fired on

both directions. Federal members of the military have joined the side with Juan Guaido. They were standing next to (INAUDIBLE) these first pronouncements in the very early hours of today. And we can see the presence of military men on both sides. And these (INAUDIBLE) significant developments here in Caracas.

SCIUTTO: No question.

And can I ask you -- and, again, I know -- I know it's difficult to judge in the midst of it, have you seen anybody injured, anybody hit by gunfire from where you've been watching this?

POZZEBON: We haven't seen anyone injured so far, but ambulances have been standing around, milling around the scene for several minutes now. So we haven't -- I personally haven't seen anyone injured, but we have seen a lot of people affected, especially by the tear gas and rubber bullets.

[09:40:14] SCIUTTO: Listen, Stefano, stay safe. As you know, I'm sure, as well me, these situations can get out of hand quickly. Please stay safe on the ground. That's the priority.

And just for our viewers who may be just tuning in, Juan Guaido, the opposition leader in Venezuela, has called openly for a coup against the government of Nicolas Maduro. He says that he has members of the Venezuelan military on his side, and our reporters on the ground are witnessing automatic gunfire exchanged between different elements it appears of the Venezuelan security forces.

We're going to stay on top of this important story.

I should also note that the U.S. is expressing open support, public support, for members of the opposition apparently in the midst of a coup attempt.

We're going to stay on top of this breaking news throughout this hour and the next hour.

Here in the U.S., a high stakes meeting at the white House has just begun. Some of the same top Democrats digging into Trump's money and administration are now looking to work with him, or at least try to, fix America's failing roads and bridges. But how is that going to work? We're going to stay on top of that story.

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[09:45:42] SCIUTTO: Trump, Chuck and Nancy together again. In less than an hour, the president will sit down with top congressional Democrats. The hope is that they will make progress on a plan to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure. I know you've heard that before. But it comes as tensions run high over Democratic-led investigations into the president, his finance and his administration.

Phil Mattingly is on Capitol Hill. Phil, we've been talking about infrastructure for a long time. It's

always one of those issues that comes up after any election. They're like, well, Democrats and Republicans can work together on this, and yet never happens. I mean is there any common ground on this issue right now?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there is and I think when you talk to Democratic lawmakers, Democratic staffers who have been working on the issues on the key committees, they think, and they somewhat -- to some degree recognize that President Trump is actually more in line with Democrats on this issue than he is with Republicans. Keep in mind, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, actually called the president privately in early April and said infrastructure is what I want to talk about, let's set up a meeting. This is that meeting. They've talked about it in the past as well. And President Trump has made clear that despite what his administration has actually put on paper in their budgets in terms of scale and scope of infrastructure proposals, he wants to go big. Guess what? So do Democrats.

The problem, as you know, Jim, is that it's not just Democrats that are running everything. Republicans control the Senate. There are a lot of Republicans inside the president's administration that are very wary of the spending issues. And I think that's why you see Democrats heading into this meeting with full knowledge that it might not be entirely about infrastructure, have kind of laid out a series of priorities that they want to address.

And one of the biggest ones is, they want the president to commit to at least a trillion dollars in spending for some type of infrastructure package. That would be a major departure from where the rest of the administration is at this point, but they believe that's the key to unlocking anything.

But to the point you made, Jim, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says infrastructure is always great in the abstract, actually putting it together when it comes to getting things on paper and moving it through legislatively. Obviously it's been a little bit more difficult here.

SCIUTTO: Yes, a trillion here, a trillion there. Sooner or later you're going to talk about some real money, right?

MATTINGLY: Yes.

SCIUTTO: What is the message from Democratic leaders behind closed doors? I mean do they want to push hard for this because, I mean, there are political risks for them, are there not, for working with the president. On the other hand, they've got to have something to show other than investigations.

MATTINGLY: Yes. That's a great point. There's obviously a tension here. And I remember when -- when Speaker Pelosi announced last week that she was going to have this meeting, there was some pushback from the base, we shouldn't be meeting with him on anything given what's going on, on the investigative front, given what's going on in the wake of the Mueller report.

But the reality is, Democrats took control of the House in November saying that they would get things done. Infrastructure was what a lot of the front line Democrats who flipped Trump districts said that they were going to work on. So there is an enthusiasm to get something done.

But one of the interesting things behind the scenes is, they're also keenly aware that this might not entirely be about infrastructure, this meeting, even though there's about a dozen Democrats that are going to be there, all the key committee leaders and leadership, and it's something that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in reference to that meeting before the shutdown, which obviously went off the rails live on television, said to -- I'm told in a leadership meeting last night, quote, I hope he learned his lesson and the fact that the president won't try and put this on TV again.

That said, Democrats are ready for just about anything when they head to the White House. And, Jim, as you know as well as anybody, when it comes to meetings with the president, regardless of party, regardless of issue, being ready for just about anything is probably the best strategy you can have.

SCIUTTO: Yes, remember the last time those three were together in the Oval Office.

Phil Mattingly, thanks very much.

The White House is proposing big changes for migrants coming into the United States or attempting to. Now the president wants them to pay fees simply to apply for asylum.

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[09:53:32] SCIUTTO: The acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan is now testifying at a House budget hearing. His appearance happening as President Trump orders sweeping new changes to how the U.S. treats asylum seekers at the U.S./Mexico border. He wants to add a fee to file applications for asylum and for work permits and many of those who cross the border legally from getting a work permit.

For more now let's bring in CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider.

I mean these are quite sweeping changes. The president does have the power to do this via executive order.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, but there could be a lot of court challenges and obviously going to be a lot of Democratic pushback, Jim. But really these proposed changes would make seeking asylum a lot more difficult for these migrants. So the president submitted that memo to the attorney general and the acting Homeland Security secretary last night.

Here's a rundown of what it proposes. First of all, adjudicating asylum applications within 180 days. That in itself is a tall order given the fact that currently applications can languish for months if not years. And then you couple that with the fact that there are limited immigration judges to hear asylum claims. That is going to be tough to deliver on.

Also, the president wants to institute a fee for asylum applications and work permit applications. Currently, there is no fee to apply for asylum.

And, finally, this order would bar migrants, who have already entered, who have attempted to enter the U.S. illegally, it would bar them from receiving work authorization before any relief or protection is granted.

[09:55:02] So this would really be a crackdown on asylum coming from the White House.

All of this as the number of migrants flooding the border has hit record numbers. We just heard from Kevin McAleenan, he's testifying before Congress. The numbers right now for the month of March stand at 103,000 migrants coming into the border. That was the most in nearly a decade.

And, Jim, what we're also hearing from the acting DHS secretary is that DHS will run out of funding by the end of this fiscal year. So McAleenan, in his talks before Congress in that hearing that's going on right now, he's saying that he's going to submit a supplemental budget request to Congress this week, going to be asking for a lot more funding to address some key things here, migrant processing facilities, surge personnel expenses for all of those additional personnel at the border, as well as increased detention capacity and an upgrade to information technology. He says that this is a huge crisis at the border, and he put it this way, Jim, he said, we are full and we are having difficulty even handling this flood of migrant coming in. As you heard last month, record numbers.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Right, that echoing the president's rhetoric about the country being full.

Jessica Schneider, thanks very much.

This is a story we continue to follow on the ground. And don't miss this, folks. There is automatic gunfire heard and witnessed on the streets of Caracas, Venezuela. What appears to be an open conflict between elements of the military there who support the sitting president and the opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has now called for a coup against Nicolas Maduro.

We're going to stay on top of this story. We'll be right back.

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