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New Day

Donald Trump Jr. Subpoenaed by GOP-Led Senate Committee; House Panel Judiciary Committee Holds A.G. Barr in Contempt; South Korea: North Korea Launches 2 Short-Range Missiles; Parents Remember Son Hailed as Hero in Shooting. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 09, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: For you, "CNN TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, the president's son has been subpoenaed by a Republican- led Senate panel. You heard me right. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:14] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump to testify. The attorney general has been adjudicated in contempt of the Congress. This is deadly serious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democrats are angry the special counsel's report did not pave their path to impeaching the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually we'll hear from Mueller. We will subpoena him if we have to.

TUSCANY "NUI" GIASOLLI, STEM SCHOOL STUDENT: Kendrick lunged at him, giving all of us enough time to hide under our desks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it wasn't for him, I would not have my baby today.

JOHN CASTILLO, FATHER OF KENDRICK CASTILLO: It's no surprise that if danger was facing him, he would approach it. This wasn't your average kid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning. And welcome to your NEW DAY. The Russia investigation has now become a family matter, and I'm not talking about Urkel. Or am I?

Donald Trump Jr. has been handed a congressional subpoena. The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee wants him back to testify again, presumably about the Trump Tower meeting with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton and his role in the effort to build a skyscraper in Moscow.

What makes this so interesting is the Senate committee is Republican- led. A sign that some Republican lawmakers might not be on board with the president's desire to move on from all of the Russia investigations.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is calling the showdown between House Democrats and the White House a, quote, "constitutional crisis."

President Trump invoked blanket executive privilege over the full Mueller report yesterday, and the Judiciary Committee voted to hold the attorney general, William Barr, in contempt.

Also, we do have some breaking news at this hour. South Korea's military says North Korea has fired two short-range missiles, the second time it's happened in a week. What does this say about President Trump's relationship with Kim Jong-un?

So we begin with our top story. Joining us now to talk all of the politics and the constitutional crisis is David Gregory, CNN political analyst; Jeffrey Toobin, former federal prosecutor and CNN chief legal analyst; and Bianna Golodryga, CNN contributor.

Great to have you guys here. So much happened yesterday. And as John Avlon said, it would be written -- That's a day that will be written about in the history books for what happened.

But first, let's talk about what is happening in the Senate Intel Committee led by Republican Richard Burr. They have subpoenaed Don Jr., the president's son, though he already testified. And he apparently, Jeffrey, said that he was only going to testify once. Those were his stipulations, I guess, in 2017 when he testified. But there was some inconsistency. And they want to hear from him and tell us the significance.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, and the Mueller report very clearly says he did not agree to speak to Mueller's investigators. He did speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee back in 2017.

But the questions about the building -- the plan for Trump Tower Moscow and the June 9 meeting in Trump Tower and the aftermath. And the lies that were told about that meeting. Donald Trump Jr. was intimately involved in both of those.

And one of the questions that the Senate Intelligence Committee is dealing with that Mueller didn't is the counter-intelligence side of all this, which is what was the relationship between Trump and Russia. And the question --

CAMEROTA: That seems like an important one. And, you know, what, of course, is very striking about the subpoena is, unlike the fights going on in the House, this is a Republican-led effort. Richard Burr, Republican senator from North Carolina, chairman of the Intelligence Committee. He had to sign off on this subpoena, and he did. That's a big -- that's a big difference from the Democratic effort in the House. BERMAN: And instead of saying, "Yes, I'll come help out understand

what the Russians did in the 2016 election. Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump associates are making this a question of political fealty.

Let me read you this statement that was handed to CNN and every other news organization from someone close to Donald Trump Jr. That's how it's being sourced here. No lawyer would ever agree to allow their client to participate in what is an obvious P.R. stunt from a so- called Republican senator too cowardly to stand up to his boss, Mark Warner and the rest of the resistance Democrats on the committee."

Those are fighting words. They're just going right after Richard Burr for conducting an investigation.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Richard Burr was one of the first to endorse President Trump, as well, when he was running for office. So no one can deny that he is a supporter of this president.

And I have said that this is not necessarily to be viewed in a negative way. This is the Senate Intelligence Committee doing their job, putting politics aside and focusing on what they want to nail down to.

And that is whether or not there was inconsistency from Donald Trump Jr. in his testimony. Whether or not, as he initially said, that he only knew about the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations peripherally or whether he was closely involved.

[07:05:15] And as we know from Michael Cohen in his subsequent testimony, he said that he was, in fact, aware of these negotiations and the talks. Not to mention, obviously, the Trump Tower meeting, as well. And don't forget what the Mueller report stated. They said that they were considering whether or not to indict him. They just didn't know whether he knew well enough to know if what he was doing was wrong.

CAMEROTA: So David, it will be very interesting to see if Senator Richard Burr can hold his position, because -- and I don't mean, technically, his position as chairman. I mean his stance.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

CAMEROTA: Because the knives are sharpened. I mean, when you hear that these sources coming out of these -- these unnamed sources close to Don Jr., coming out of the White House, talking about him in this way, it's going to get lonely for Richard Burr at some point.

GREGORY: Yes, there's no question. And there's already pressure from his Republican colleagues, including House leadership, other Republican senators.

But as has been said, what's so critical about this is this goes beyond the partisan fight. This is a committee saying, "Let's take a look for the ages here" at this problem of interference. Whether it could happen again, how it happened in this particular circumstance. There's obviously overlap with what Mueller did as you examine the

relationship with Russia and whether there was any agreement to -- to enter into some kind of conspiracy to interfere with the 2016 election. But the mandate of this committee is to look more deeply at -- at the questions of counter-intelligence.

And it's just crucial that this is a bipartisan approach. I think that's a fundamental problem with what the House is doing here. While no Republican opposition would act differently, which is to say no minority party in Washington is ever going to accept a White House position which is "You can't question us. You can't look at anything. You can't have anything." The fact that that is just dominated by Democrats undercuts it some. Any of these investigations should be looked at in a bipartisan way.

BERMAN: Jeffrey, so what if Donald Trump Jr. says, "No, I'm not coming"?

CAMEROTA: Because he is saying that.

BERMAN: Well, he's saying -- basically --

CAMEROTA: I mean, at the moment. He's sending plants to say that.

BERMAN: So where does it go?

TOOBIN: Well, it depends on how he says no. If he says, "I'll take the Fifth," that's it. He has -- he certainly has the right to do that. And I don't think there's any chance the committee's going to give him immunity to force him to testify. If he takes the Fifth, that -- that's the end of the story.

If he simply doesn't show up, there's the possibility that the committee would hold him in contempt.

BERMAN: Do you think Richard Burr would do that?

TOOBIN: I -- I don't know. Although, you know, what we're learning in the other side, in the Democratic-controlled House, is that contempt is sort of a toothless remedy. You know, now the committee has held the attorney general, Barr, in contempt. What does that -- what does that really mean? He's not going to be arrested. He's not going to be --

CAMEROTA: Fined.

TOOBIN: -- tried. No. Nothing. I mean, it has to be pursued by the Justice Department if there is going to be any sort of remedy like a fine, like imprisonment.

Eric holder was held in contempt by the House of Representatives when he was attorney general under President Obama. I mean, nothing happened. It's just sort of political warfare.

The question I have is, when the debt ceiling comes up, when the budget comes up, are the Democrats going to use their leverage there to start getting what they want out of the White House? Because that's the only leverage they have. This contempt stuff is basically a show.

Are they going to say, "We're going to shut down the government unless we start getting cooperation"?

GREGORY: They like to see --

TOOBIN: They don't like shutdowns. I don't know if Nancy Pelosi will be on board for that.

GOLODRYGA: And what happens down the line? It's not only the attorney general. Are we going to see the treasury secretary be held in contempt, as well, for not turning over the president's taxes? I mean, this could be a ripple effect that we don't know what the end result will be.

GREGORY: Well, which is why the -- the process of delay is what helps the White House here. Because their -- if they can't negotiate, the courts -- you know, my understanding is the courts don't like to have to make a ruling on all this. They'd like to see accommodation between the two branches. But whatever the result would be if the courts take it up would take a lot of time.

And again, you know, this is so infused with politics, as it always is. But you can't ignore the fact that there was a role for Congress to play in overseeing this. Whether it's hearing from Robert Mueller, the special counsel, whether it's examining these questions about obstruction of justice that he very clearly lays out in his report should be something that Congress looks at.

So what the -- what the administration is doing is so overly broad with regard to executive privilege. And then the other area is just saying, "No, you'll get nothing. You'll hear nothing."

Again, what minority party is ever going to stand by and say, "Well, that's OK"? And that's why there have to be some broader principles here that are decided.

[07:10:04] CAMEROTA: Bianna, do you think there's any risk to Don Jr. pleading the Fifth, any political risk, any down side?

GOLODRYGA: For him, probably not so much. I mean, I think he's going to follow his father's lead and just stonewall.

But I think you can't overstate that this is actually a significant thing that Burr is doing. And that he is subpoenaing him, given the fact that just 2017, in the summer of 2017, I remember an interview with Bill [SIC] Burr saying he thinks that this is going to end by the end of the year, meaning the end of 2017. He has no incentive to prolong this investigation.

So clearly, there is something that's concerned him deeply enough to want to subpoena the president's son. And this is the first subpoena that we've seen, I believe, of one of the president's children as well. So this is very significant.

BERMAN: You know, Jeffrey, Mick Mulvaney, the president's chief of staff, said, "To subpoena the president of the United States's son and not at least get a heads-up, I thought that's in bad form."

Is there some protocol?

TOOBIN: I mean, usually, the reason you issue a subpoena is because a polite request has been declined. So, you know, I don't know the back story here. But the usual practice, particularly for congressional committees, which is not like a grand jury, is you just have the staff reach out and say, "We'd like you to testify on such and such a date," and then that's worked out.

Presume -- the only thing I -- conclusion I can draw is that sort of --

BERMAN: Right.

TOOBIN: -- polite accommodation was rebuffed by Eric -- by Donald Jr.'s lawyers. So they moved to the next step.

GREGORY: And let's remember that he did speak to the committee before but with staff. This is to get the full committee. Jared Kushner did this. So there's already a model for this. So I think to Jeffrey's point, I think they were -- they were trying to do this a little bit more subtly before it came to this.

CAMEROTA: So now you hear the term "constitutional crisis" being spoken about. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of Judiciary, House, told us yesterday that that's what he calls it; that's what he considers it. In fact, he thinks that other things that have at times been called that didn't rise to the level that this is. I mean, he thinks that this is -- we're in real crisis mode. Because he said that the administration is acting lawlessly.

And he also said that he's not sure that Robert Mueller will be able to come and testify this month, as people had sort of been expecting to have happen. And so the fact that he's saying that, it's just hard to know. I mean, it's hard to know, because every day we report it. So it's hard to know when you say this is the moment that is the constitutional crisis.

GOLODRYGA: Well, he doesn't look comfortable when he says it. I will leave it at that. I mean, he said the president is acting tyrannically, and something has to be done in response.

That having been said, he's not ready to use the "impeachment" word. So saying something is a constitutional crisis, you have many Republicans saying, "Well, if we're in a constitutional crisis, we've got to be talking about impeachment. Why aren't you there yet? You can't throw around such big words."

But clearly, there is frustration among Democrats, because there's not -- it's not one issue that the White House is stonewalling on. It's everything. It's everything that they're asking for. And the reason why he's frustrated about, you know, let's wait to see Mueller, well, you can't talk to Mueller, in his view, if you don't have the fully, you know, redacted or unredacted report. And that's what you are trying to get out of the A.G., who's not budging.

BERMAN: Guys, if I can, I want to play some sound from the Trump rally last night in the Florida Panhandle. He was, what, in Panama City, Florida, last night?

And the reason this struck me, he was talking about immigration. And he was talking about what should happen to people crossing the border illegally. And you hear someone shout from the crowd. I just want you to watch the moment with the president in the audience there. And then I want you to watch, back-to-back, the moment from the HBO show "Veep." And just let it sink in. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't let them, and we can't let them use weapons. We can't. Other countries do. We can't. I would never do that. But how do you stop these people?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shoot them!

TRUMP: You can't. There's no --

(LAUGHTER) TRUMP: That's only in the Panhandle you can get away with that stuff.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other real killer is diseases. And how do these diseases get into America?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Immigrants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kill them!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Well, I mean, we don't have to kill all of them. I mean, there are some good immigrants -- Beyonce.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And David Gregory, it just -- it just struck me as I was watching the rally, and I'm not laughing at what happened at the rally last night with the president. But just -- you know, "Veep" was shot months ago. And there is almost no discernible difference between the events.

GREGORY: Right. Right. "Veep" is kind of a caricature to be become -- to be ridiculous.

CAMEROTA: It's supposed to be satire.

GREGORY: Right. And unfortunately, you know, those moments just show that this president doesn't have much regard for the institution, that you can't be in a moment like that and tamp down that kind of extremism and say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, let's not go there."

He -- but he encourages it, and he kind -- and laughs about it and says, "Oh, well," you know, finally, in a sense, finally, a place where you can get away with saying something like that, in the Panhandle. So you know, another example of him poorly handling something like that. And because there's plenty of people who believe that. And you know, just not stopping it. It's not satire, but it is ridiculous.

GOLODRYGA: And juxtapose that with what you just asked about Mick Mulvaney's response that, you know, "That's not following protocol, that we didn't get a heads up."

CAMEROTA: It's not in good form.

GOLODRYGA: It's not in good form that we didn't get, you know, a heads up about subpoenaing the president's son. That's not in good form either, to sort of laugh off somebody suggesting that you shoot immigrants. So you can't have it both ways. You really can't. There's a job that you have as president, and that's to make sure situations like that don't take place; and that's not allowed.

BERMAN: Bianna, David, Jeffrey, thank you very much.

Breaking news: for the second time in a week, North Korea has launched missiles, this time two short-range missiles. That's according to South Korea.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in Seoul with the breaking details. We're learning more about these projectiles, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John.

Yes, the joint chiefs of staff here have confirmed that they suspect they are two short-range missiles. One was fired from the northwest of the country at the Sino-Ri missile base.

Now, this is a missile base that North Korea has not admitted to, but we know about it because there was plenty of satellite imagery. It's where they've fired short- and medium-range missiles from before.

And then a second missile. Just about maybe 25 miles away from Kusong City. Both of them in the northwest of the country. They fired in an easterly direction and altitude, of about 30 miles. And then they landed in the waters off the east coast of -- of North Korea.

Now, we know that South Korea has said that they are increasing their readiness, their surveillance on North Korea to see what else is happening. They're still analyzing, as well, with the United States.

But a very -- a fairly strong response already from the South Korean presidential office, the Blue House, saying that this -- they're very concerned about today's apparent short-range missile test. It does not improve inter-Korean relations at all. So once again, we're seeing is a fairly strong reaction from the South

Koreans, far stronger than we've seen in the past couple of years.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and we will wait to see what the reaction from the United States is.

Paula, thank you very much.

So the father of the young man who died trying to stop one of the Colorado school shooters is talking about his son's sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASTILLO: He's a hero, and he always will be. But there's another part of you that wishes he had just turned and ran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: More of this emotional interview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:44] CAMEROTA: Hundreds of people gathered at a vigil in Colorado to honor Kendrick Castillo. He's the 18-year-old who classmates are hailing as a hero for lunging at one of the shooters who opened fire at a school near Columbine.

Kendrick's parents lost their only son, who was about to graduate. CNN's Scott McLean sat down with Kendrick's mother and father to talk about their incredible son. Scott joins us now.

This is a really emotional and beautiful tribute that they give to their son, Scott.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn. Good morning.

It is hard to imagine what this family is going through. But you can bet that there are a lot of students and parents feeling pretty indebted to that 18-year-old, Kendrick Castillo.

Of course, Castillo is one of three students who helped tackle one of the gunmen to the ground and the only person who died on Tuesday. I spoke with his parents yesterday, who said they weren't surprised by what he did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN: I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child. I'm just hoping you can tell me about what your reaction was when you first heard what happened in that classroom and what your son had done.

J. CASTILLO: My immediate reaction was, you know, not knowing his condition, that he was maybe just injured, and he was going to be OK.

And then I received a text from his -- his friends saying that, you know, he had rushed the shooter, chased him. They broke the news to us in a small room that was adjacent to the

nurse's station that -- you know, after we identified him that he had passed and was still at the school, at the scene. And that's when we found out.

You know, I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe this was happening to my son.

MCLEAN: You had to watch all the other parents link up with their own kids.

J. CASTILLO: Oh, yes. They were there. Buses were coming. And they were on the phone, and they were making contact. And we didn't have that. You know?

And I don't know. That's when I found out. And, you know, not being able to hold him.

Marie and I asked if we could see him, at least see him. And they're like, you know, since it was an active scene and he was still in the school, that we wouldn't be allowed to.

And we sat and waited. And we had friends and students. They asked if, you know, we wanted the students there around us and stuff. And I said absolutely, you know, as I coached the robotics team, and I'm around those kids all the time.

MCLEAN: And they were able to tell you what he had actually done.

J. CASTILLO: One of the kids told me that, like a flash, he jumped up. She said, you know, "He's a hero; he saved me." She said, "He jumped up, and he ran." Said, "You couldn't even see how fast he was running, you know, out the door and after this person."

MCLEAN: Were you surprised by that?

J. CASTILLO: No.

MARIE CASTILLO, KENDRICK CASTILLO'S MOTHER: No.

J. CASTILLO: No. Not at all. You know, because he raised that way. We raised him to be good.

And you know, I kind of -- until you're a parent and you have something like this happens to you, you struggle with it. You know, I know that, because of what he did, others are alive. And I thank God for that. I love him. And he's a hero, and he always will be.

But there's another part of you that wishes he would have just turned and ran, retreated, hid. You know, did something to put himself out of harm's way, if that was possible.

MCLEAN: One of the things that one of the mothers, who had a son in that classroom, told one of my colleagues is that "If it hadn't been for Kendrick, I wouldn't have my baby today. And I can't imagine." How does it make you feel to hear that? J. CASTILLO: It makes me happy that she has her son. And, you know,

but it makes me sad that mine's not here. You know?

M. CASTILLO: Yes.

J. CASTILLO: But in hindsight, I wouldn't have it any other way. I knew that Kendrick would have -- there's no way that he would have traded any of that. He's that kind of hero, you know. And I'm glad. You know, those kids, when I looked around that room last night at the hospital, they were shaken to the core. But they weren't harmed.

MCLEAN: I'm curious about something that you told me earlier about your son being a patriot and about his grandfather being a Marine. So many people are going to just really idolize your son's bravery. Do you think maybe he got some of that from your family?

J. CASTILLO: Absolutely, yes. Absolutely. You know, Dad taught him, you know. Dad taught him everything. When my father passed away, you know, Kendrick was proud of him. Proud of the Marine insignia on the funeral car. Proud of the salute. Proud of everything about it. That his grandfather was a hero.

And, you know, there's a part of me that knows, you know, Kendrick wanted to live that legacy.

He loved the patriotism. You know, we're Hispanic by nature, but you know, we're Americans to the core. And he loves that. He loves -- he loves everything about it.

MCLEAN: One of the things that you told me earlier is, you know, for other parents out there, you know, you should really teach your kid to be selfless. How did you teach your son to be selfless?

J. CASTILLO: We taught him how to be selfless in every way, shape and form. As we were raising him, you know, we're not wealthy folks. But we would sacrifice and buy things, but to horde something valuable or keep it to yourself is worth nothing. So we taught him to share, you know. And that's -- that's how we raised him. And to serve.

You know, we serve people every day. And you can't fake it. I mean, you have to love people. Often not all people are going to be nice to you, but the one after that will be. You know, and you just deal with that.

MCLEAN: Is there anything else that I didn't ask you that you wanted the world to know about your son?

J. CASTILLO: Yes, I want the world to know that he was a gift. And, you know, if I have one thing to say to people, it's if you have children, you know, nothing is more important than your kids.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN: Kendrick was an only child. And so his parents now say they only have his legacy to carry forward. Now, there was a vigil held last night for Kendrick that turned

awfully political. At one point, a group of students actually walked out after a pair of Democratic lawmakers spoke. At another point, they were chanting "mental health" in opposition to the political message on guns.

Now, when I spoke to Kendrick's dad, he didn't pretend to have all of the answers to America's school shooting plague, but he did emphasize that nothing beats simply being kind to one another -- Alisyn, John.

BERMAN: Hey, Scott, can I just say, thank you for doing such a wonderful job with that conversation? That was so deeply moving to hear from those parents and to give voice to the life of their son. And I know it's not easy. So thank you. It's just a really remarkable conversation.

CAMEROTA: We can all learn something from those parents. It was so heartbreaking to hear them. But they are so inspirational in how they've raised their -- I didn't know it was their only child. I thought it was their only son. Their only -- they have just lost their only child. And they're talking about how they imbued him with the sacrifice, with the value of sacrifice.

BERMAN: And I can't imagine what the parents are going through. But for them, they are clearly getting something by talking about him. And filling out the contours of his life, for us to see them and the way they spoke about him. The love they have for him really showed through. I mean, it's heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. All they wanted to do was see his face, even after the shooting, and they couldn't get in.

CAMEROTA: Of course. Of course. We understand, obviously, all of that impulse, since we want to put up this picture again. This American hero, Kendrick Castillo.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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