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Pilot Charged in Triple Murder After Airport Arrest; Trump Claims Tariffs Will Make U.S. Much Stronger; Richard Burr Draws GOP Scrutiny for Don Junior Subpoena. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired May 12, 2019 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:00:00] JEANNIE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurled a tomato at then candidate Trump, who waved and smiled. But it's hard to smile for a pie in the face.
Anita Bryant campaigned against gays then got pied by one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, at least it's a fruit pie.
MOOS: While right-wing commentator Ann Coulter got pied by two. When a protester hit Rupert Murdoch with a foam-filled pie, Murdoch's then wife Wendy in pink whacked the attacker. And when Ralph Nader was pied, he served it right back.
The shoe was on the other foot. This minor league manager took care not to throw his shoe at the ump. Instead he raised an armpit in protest. You stink.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Alex Marquardt in for Ana Cabrera this evening.
The trade war with China, the biggest risk to a red hot economy. At this moment Asian markets are opening. Our look at how the world is reacting to the president's tariffs that you, the American citizen, will be paying for. We will have a live report.
But first, it is a case full of twists and turns and immeasurable grief. A horrific triple homicide. A heart-broken son and a community left waiting for years without answers. Until this weekend's dramatic arrest at the Louisville, Kentucky, airport, where the man who you're looking at on your screen there was hauled away in front of passengers, and he was none other than the pilot.
In just moments, you will hear our exclusive interview with the son of the couple allegedly murdered by that pilot whose name is Christian Kit Martin. That was back in 2015.
But first, CNN's Natasha Chen gives us an update on that shocking arrest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An arrest has been made in a brutal triple homicide that is haunted a Kentucky community for years.
ANDY BESHEAR, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Today we can announce an indictment of Christian Richard Martin for three counts of murder.
CHEN: Martin is charged with the 2015 murders of Calvin Phillips, his wife Pamela and their neighbor, Edward Dansereau. Authorities say Calvin Phillips was found shot to death in his home and his wife and neighbor were found in Pamela Phillips' burned up car a few miles away in a cornfield. At the time Martin expressed little concern about being charged in the case.
CHRISTIAN "KIT" MARTIN, TRIPLE HOMICIDE SUSPECT: No. I have no worries about that.
CHEN: He was arrested at the Louisville airport Saturday. He has worked as a pilot for PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, since January 2018. American Airlines released this statement. "All of us at American Airlines and PSA Airlines are deeply saddened to have learned about these allegations from 2015. Our team was made aware of the indictment this morning after his arrest at Louisville International Airport. We have an unwavering commitment to the safety and security of our customers and team members, and we will provide any investigative assistance possible to law enforcement throughout their investigation."
The airline says Martin has been placed in administrative suspension pending the investigation. The attorney general credits Matt Phillips, the son of the victims, with keeping the case alive.
BESHEAR: He was worried that the case was stalled and was worried that justice would not come. We hope this is one example of when you never stop seeking justice, when you never give up on a case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN: One of our affiliates, WSMV in Nashville, did an investigation showing that one of the victims, Cal Philips, may have needed to testify in a case where Martin was court-martialed in 2015. But two weeks before that case began, these murders happened.
Now we talked to the former attorney for Martin who said Martin is the poster child for life is unfair. Back to you.
MARQUARDT: Matt Philips joins me from Louisville, Kentucky.
Matt, thanks so much for speaking with us this evening.
MATT PHILLIPS, SON OF COUPLE ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY PILOT: Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Alex.
MARQUARDT: Matt, I can only imagine how emotional this moment is for you after this arrest. I do want to ask you about that arrest of Kit Martin. But first, tell me about your parents, Calvin and Pamela Philips. Tell me what they're like.
PHILLIPS: I think for the majority of anyone, your parents are your biggest fan, right? My mother taught me to read, taught me to drive, told me I could be anything I wanted to be in my life. My dad loved me unconditionally. On top of that, they were great citizens. My father was a military veteran himself. My mother a VP at a bank and gave willingly of her time. They were good people and they answered a call when a neighbor said that they needed help. They protected kids who were being domestically abused and they died for that. So they're my heroes. And I think a lot of people could fall in that.
MARQUARDT: I'm so sorry. But describe for me what you thought, what was going through your head, what you were feeling when you heard that the suspect in your parents' death was arrested on Saturday.
PHILLIPS: You know, finally. It's been 3 1/2 years.
[20:05:03] We've been terrified. Our community has been terrified. My parents were brutally murdered. And I think a lot of relief has come. But you know, honestly, we're just one step in the next journey of this, right. The next phase. So we've got a long way to go, but a lot of relief on our side and in the rest of the community.
MARQUARDT: Yes. I can only imagine. We just heard the Kentucky attorney general there giving you credit for your persistence. We've heard that over the past few years you were very involved in this case. You checked in with law enforcement, as well as the district attorney's office. Do you have any idea how law enforcement finally cracked this case and found Martin?
PHILLIPS: You know, I think it's up to law enforcement to convey that. But I'm very thankful that we're here. I can tell you it's rare sometimes for homicides to be solved, and I think that we're just thankful that we're where we are.
MARQUARDT: Your father, as we mentioned in the setup to this, was set to testify in the pilot's court martial case. Do you know what your father was planning to say?
PHILLIPS: You know, what my father was planning to convey was actually conveyed. He handed over pictures of a sub 16-year-old boy who had been beaten violently, choked multiple times. He had those pictures that he handed over. He also handed over discs that contained classified information that never should have left an army post. And, really, all of those things came out without their deaths.
I will say that Martin was dishonorably discharged. He's in my view not a military veteran. He was shamefully kicked out of the military. My father had a lot to do with that. And I think we should all be thankful for that, frankly.
MARQUARDT: Your father was a military veteran himself. Do you think that that played some role in his decision to come forward and speak with the authorities? PHILLIPS: Yes.
MARQUARDT: And comply?
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. My father viewed the status of an army officer as somebody who should be true always. And when you have someone who is violently offending children, he felt that that was completely unbecoming of an army officer. And he came forward with that. I'm proud of my parents for that. They stood strong. They stood as any citizen should and I think that they should be commended for that. And the fact that they ultimately were assassinated because of that stance is fairly repulsive. And unfortunately it's the reality that we have today.
MARQUARDT: If this pilot's issue was indeed with your father who as we mentioned was set to testify, why your mother and the neighbor as well?
PHILLIPS: You know, I think you're talking about a person who doesn't think logically. I don't think a normal human being thinks about murdering anyone, so that's a question that maybe someone can ask Kit Martin. What I would say is that he did what he did. And we have to go forward and have justice come out of it.
MARQUARDT: In your mind, what is justice?
PHILLIPS: I would like to see at least life, but, frankly, the death penalty for me would be on the table. We have a lot of emotions. You know, no family should ever have to go through what we've gone through. No family should have to come to their childhood home and have their parents never speak to them again. Nobody should ever have to clean blood of their parents at their house. So we have a lot of emotions. I have a lot of emotions. I think we're angry. We're outraged I think as anybody would be.
MARQUARDT: And in light of all those emotions, we thank you very much for coming on tonight. Matthew Philips, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Of course, Alex.
MARQUARDT: All right. Coming up, a Republican rift. A powerful GOP senator has issued a subpoena for the president's son and has been feeling the heat from his own party.
Plus, on this Mother's Day, a look at how some of the Democratic women running for president are making motherhood part of their pitch to voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I, therefore, have two children that are Cole and Ella who are here and they named me their Momala.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUARDT: And later, stranger than fiction. The cast of "Veep" reflects on some of the eerie similarities between their show and what's really going on in Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:12:51] MARQUARDT: It's already Monday in Asia and stock markets are opening right now and we are watching carefully to see how they react to this escalating trade war between the U.S. and China. They could be an early indicator of what to expect when the opening bell rings on Wall Street here tomorrow.
Now the president believes that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand a temporary hit from all of this and he's counting on Beijing coming back to the negotiating table ready to make major concessions. But a major question was going to be whether everyday Americans are willing to ride this out.
A lot of what you buy, everything from food to juice to clothes to toilet paper is about to become a fair bit more expensive. It is expected to cost the average American family around $800 a year. That's a family of four. And it really could threaten some 2.5 million jobs. And that's according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
So to discuss all of this, with me is Jamie Metzl, he's a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council. He's also the former executive vice president of the Asia Society and prior to that worked with the Clinton administration.
Jamie, thanks so much for being with me this evening.
JAMIE METZL, SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Thank you, Alex.
MARQUARDT: So it seems like both sides, both China and the U.S. figured that they were negotiating from these positions of strength. It seems like they both have walked away and are waiting to see who blinks first. Who do you think has the upper hand here?
METZL: Well, right now the United States is in a strong position because people just assume that Donald Trump is going to do an unpredictable thing.
MARQUARDT: Right.
METZL: And he has got his back to the wall in a way, but the Chinese have to say we don't know what he's going to do. And that creates some strength. And China is certainly dependent on its exports to the United States. The China growth story is dependent on U.S. technology and China has in many ways taken advantage of the free trade system for a lot of years. And I'm not a fan of Donald Trump in a lot of areas but the U.S. has a moment of leverage, and if the United States can push, the hope is that we can get a fair trade system that works for everybody.
MARQUARDT: But the president is also saying that if companies want to avoid tariffs, these tariffs these he's just raised, that they should just start buying American. Is it that easy?
[20:15:02] METZL: Easier said than done.
MARQUARDT: Right.
METZL: We have a lot of Chinese components that go into everything from cars to aircraft to whatever.
MARQUARDT: Right.
METZL: And so if you're making something and you have a part and that part can only be manufactured in China, what are you going to do?
MARQUARDT: Right.
METZL: This is going to cause absolute chaos. So this is -- in a way, it's a form of chemotherapy that the United States is going to have to absorb a lot of harm. And then the question is, whose political system will allow for a sustained trade war. China certainly has a top down system that will allow them to take some hits. In the United States, when the pain of this trade war starts to hit home, we'll see what happens politically.
MARQUARDT: And politically, one of the ironies is that it's going to hit here in America and places that have been traditionally supportive of the president. So we'll see if that's maintained.
METZL: Well, yes. Well, China is focusing particularly on causing harm --
MARQUARDT: Right.
METZL: -- to those populations as a way of exerting political pressure on the United States.
MARQUARDT: Right. Let's turn to elsewhere. In Asia to North Korea. Now after these two historic summits, it does seem like these communications between the two sides have broken down. We just saw last week for the first time in two years short-range missile tests.
METZL: Right.
MARQUARDT: Let's take a quick listen to what the president had to say about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody is happy about it. But we're taking a good look and we'll see. We'll see. The relationship continues. But we'll see what happens. I know they want to negotiate. They're talking about negotiating. But I don't think they're ready to negotiate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Jamie, the president famously said that he and Kim Jong-un had fallen in love after that first summit. So how did we get from that to now where it seems, at best, we're at a standstill if not totally collapsed negotiations?
METZL: Yes. Well, Alex, he said that they were historic summits. They were in many ways weren't historic summits. These --
MARQUARDT: In that they took place.
METZL: In that they took place but it was a sham. The North Koreans never said they were going to give up their nuclear weapons. From the North Korean perspective, they were getting something for nothing. Donald Trump gave them everything in exchange for really no concessions.
MARQUARDT: Everything being a meeting with an American president.
METZL: Yes. A meeting with an American president. We suspended the military exercises and basically reduced the leverage of the sanctions. Now the sanctions are extremely leaky. And so North Korea has legitimacy and they were just assuming that Donald Trump was going to give them everything. And so now that North Korea is saying, hey, you better pay attention to us, but the question is, is North Korea going to give up its nuclear weapons and from every indication, including from all of the president's intelligence advisers, the answer to that is no.
MARQUARDT: But the White House would say that those sanctions are still very much in place. You're saying that they're leaky, they're not being as effective?
METZL: Absolutely leaky. I mean, China and China is certainly trading more with North Korea but on top of that, the United States is now entering in this trade war with China just when the U.S. needs China to put pressure on North Korea. Certainly the U.S. is in a much weaker position than it was. And the question is, has that been traded for something positive and the answer to that is no.
MARQUARDT: All right. Jamie Metzl, thanks so much for joining me tonight. And we should note that you have just gotten back from your book tour. You have a book that just came out. It is called "Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity." Thanks very much.
METZL: Thanks.
MARQUARDT: All right. Also overseas, terrifying moments for people on board a commercial flight.
This happened earlier today in Myanmar. Everyone on board evacuating the plane on that emergency slide. That's after the front landing gear failed upon landing and the plane skidded to stop on its nose. Nobody was hurt, thankfully. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:22:18] MARQUARDT: President Trump was, quote, "very surprised" after the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed his son, Donald Trump Jr. That surprise might be in part due to the fact that the committee that issued the subpoena is led by a Republican. That's Senator Richard Burr. A substantial portion of the president's Twitter feed this weekend was focused on attacking his fellow Republican and as CNN's Manu Raju now explains, the president isn't the only one who's lashing out at the North Carolina senator.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump has, at times, lavished praise on Senator Richard Burr.
TRUMP: Richard just announced that they found no collusion between Donald Trump and Russia.
RAJU: But Burr has confounded Trump and his allies as well. The latest flap coming when Burr signed off on a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr., amid questions about whether the president's eldest son was truthful in previous congressional testimony about a 2016 meeting with Russians and the pursuit of a Trump Tower Moscow project.
TRUMP: Yes, I'm pretty surprised.
RAJU: It all speaks to the unusual spot that the North Carolina Republican is in as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is still investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I like Richard Burr. I just don't know. To me, Mueller is the last word for me. So I'm over. I'm done.
RAJU: The subpoena enraged Trump supporters and prompted warnings from Burr's usual allies on Capitol Hill.
REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC): The outcry for most of the people in North Carolina has been one of surprise and certainly not supportive.
RAJU (on camera): What do you think of the Republican backlash toward Richard Burr in the aftermath of this news?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): It's not surprising. Anyone who shows any measure of independence from the president gets attacked, you know, mercilessly by the president's allies.
RAJU (voice-over): It's not the first time Burr has broken with his party. When then-House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes was attacking the FBI, Burr consistently kept his distance.
REP. RICHARD BURR (R-NC): The unmasking thing was all created by Devin Nunes.
RAJU: Burr has tried to maintain the image of bipartisanship while running the investigation alongside Democrat Mark Warner. Yet that has recently been tested, especially when Burr asserted this in February. BURR: We have no factual evidence of collusion between the Trump
campaign and Russia.
RAJU: Warner responded saying, "Respectfully, I disagree." Moreover, the Mueller report said that the White House Counsel's Office appeared to have received information but the status of the FBI investigation from Burr. In March 2017, after then-FBI director, James Comey, had briefed congressional leaders.
[20:25:04] Democrats raised concerns about that revelation. Yet Burr told CNN he did not brief the White House about the FBI's probe into the Trump campaign.
Burr has said he won't run for re-election when his term is up in 2022, giving him more freedom amid the GOP attacks over his subpoena to Trump Jr., which Burr does not want to talk about.
RAJU (on camera): Will you hold someone in contempt for --
BURR: I'm not going to take any questions.
RAJU: No? Because they seem to think your subpoena is voluntary. Is that -- is your subpoenas voluntary?
(On camera): Now Richard Burr at the moment showing no signs that he is going to back down behind closed doors. He tried to explain to his colleagues why he is pursuing this approach, saying that there's a reason, if the witness does not listen, then a chairman needs to issue a subpoena to get this information to be turned over to Capitol Hill.
Some Republicans showing some deference, including Roy Blunt, a member of Republican leadership. But most Republicans siding with Donald Trump, Jr. as Donald Trump, Jr. urges Republicans to fight back. We'll see if Richard Burr decides to hold Donald Trump Jr. in contempt if he defies the subpoena.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: All right. Thanks to Manu Raju.
Now in Van Jones' new show, "THE REDEMPTION PROJECT," he brings together victims and their offenders for an opportunity to talk, heal and maybe even forgive. This week, Van introduces us to an activist and a comedian whose 16-year-old daughter was gunned down in a gang- related shooting. Now her father wants to confront the man who took his child's life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN JONES, CNN HOST, "THE REDEMPTION PROJECT": I was in Oakland, you know, when this happened. I mean, this was front page news for weeks and weeks. Donna Lacey is a household name in Oakland because of this murder. Is Christopher aware that this is a -- like one of the biggest cases in Oakland ever? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Uh-huh. Yes.
JONES: How does that hit him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It weighs on him. It weighs on him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a very good judge of character. I can sit in a room with someone in five minutes and know what they're about. I expect to know him from this meeting. That is one of my expectations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say that I'm not my crime. Everyone is entitled to their own perspective, but I'm not my crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: See what happens when a father and the offender incarcerated for the murder of his daughter meet face-to-face. That's in "THE REDEMPTION PROJECT" with Van Jones airing tonight at 9:00 Eastern Time.
Coming up, actress Felicity Huffman is headed back to court just as we learned that the college admissions scandal is set to get the TV treatment.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Tomorrow brings the next chapter of the scandal involving the Desperate Housewives star, Felicity Huffman. The actress is set to plead guilty, in Boston, to mail fraud and other charges in the college admission's cheating scandal.
Now, she's saying, "My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty." But Felicity Huffman isn't only anxious -- isn't the only anxious parent who's facing courtroom drama over this whole scandal.
CNN Entertainment Reporter, Chloe Melas, is here with me to break this all down. So, Chloe, she is going to face -- she's going to plead guilty. What kind of sentence can she expect?
CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: So, Felicity Huffman is expected, like you said, to plead guilty and face anywhere between 4 to 10 months behind bars.
MARQUARDT: Wow.
MELAS: She took this plea deal in an effort to get a lesser sentence.
MARQUARDT: Right.
MELAS: So, prosecutors agreed to give her less time, a year of supervised probation, you know. But again, it's up to the judge as to what is going to happen. She could also have to pay a $20,000-dollar fine, but she is one of those parents that took the plea deal, in an effort to walk away with less time, or perhaps, no time at all, behind bars. MARQUARDT: Meanwhile, the other bold-faced celebrity name in this, Lori Loughlin and her husband are -- have decided to plead not guilty. What's the strategy there?
MELAS: Yes. So, you know, I have been speaking to sources close to Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo, and they have said all along that they really never felt like they did anything illegal. That there are so many parents out there that have donated millions of dollars to schools and universities to get their kids in, by donating a building --
MARQUARDT: Right.
MELAS: -- endowments, but how do you explain designating your daughters as crew recruits, right, when they had never rowed before.
MARQUARDT: Right.
MELAS: So that will be -- it's an interesting legal strategy. We've also heard they are shopping for crisis management P.R. firm right now. Again, they each face up to 20 years for each count, so a much bigger legal battle ahead of them than Felicity Huffman.
MARQUARDT: But can they back up those claims? I mean, they can claim all they want but if you are on the jury of her peers, is that evidence compelling?
MELAS: It's going to be really tough and what we also have heard from sources close to the couple, is that they felt as though by saying not guilty, that they would eventually get a plea deal to help them not face time behind bars.
MARQUARDT: Right.
MELAS: But it looks like that strategy has completely backfired, not just legally, but in a court of public opinion, too.
MARQUARDT: It sure has. And now, I mean, it's such a wonderful -- I mean, it's such a dramatic saga that we've seen unfold and then it's almost made for T.V. and being made--
MELAS: I was just going to say.
MARQUARDT: -- into T.V.
MELAS: So, Annapurna Productions, a well-known production company, they are shopping around this television show. It hasn't been picked up by a network yet, Alex, but I will tell you that it's actually based on a book written by two Wall Street Journal reporters called accepted.
So, they were already working on this book, so it just came at the perfect time, as the varsity blues scandal came out. So, you know, it will be interesting to see if somebody plays Felicity, somebody plays Lori Loughlin, but it sounds like a movie that they would have both starred in, on T.V. MARQUARDT: Well, to your point, like, you're talking about actresses -- hiring actresses to play actresses. They're -- I mean, have they gotten far enough along in the process, we're actually talking about casting --
MELAS: Very, very preliminary stages right now, but I can imagine that it's a role that a lot of big heavyweights in Hollywood would want to play, because it's something that I'm sure a lot of people would want to watch.
MARQUARDT: And just to recap for the audience, in terms of the number of parents and people who are ensnared in this, you know, we just have these two major names, but how broad was the reach? How many people were affected?
MELAS: Oh, I mean, first of all, we have 33 parents that are affected by this.
[20:35:04] And, you know, there are so many people who have done even more egregious things than what Felicity Huffman is facing, but you just don't hear about them because they're not big stars, big names.
And that's kind of what Lori Loughlin's team has said all along. Why is this news? Why are you guys covering Lori when you're not talking as much about the others? But, you know, look, they are public figures, and they are well-known actresses, and that is what kind of makes them the poster children for this scandal.
MARQUARDT: There's lots of money involved.
MELAS: A lot of money involved.
MARQUARDT: Chloe Melas, thank you so much.
MELAS: Thank you.
MARQUARDT: All right. Well, coming up, Democratic women running for president are opening up about being mothers, as part of their pitch to voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a mom, I've got little Henry with me. I'm going to fight for people's kids as hard as I would fight for my own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUARDT: On this Mother's Day, Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris, is opening up about her relationship with her stepchildren, who call her momala. Here's what she told CNN's Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Now, you are a mom, a stepmom.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I am.
TAPPER: What do they call you? Momala.
HARRIS: Momala.
[20:40:04] TAPPER: You wrote an essay about this --
HARRIS: Yes.
TAPPER: -- about your stepchildren?
HARRIS: Yes, I love those kids. Yes, we decided that it was a collective decision that the words, step mother, has been, you know, adapted by Disney and others.
HARRIS: Right. Not necessarily positive.
HARRIS: In a way, that's not necessarily a great word.
TAPPER: Yes.
HARRIS: And so, they call me momala. And we have -- and so we'll be together for Mother's Day, and they are so spectacular, and they are just, you know, they are now -- Cole is now working. He graduated college. Ella is still in college.
And, you know, during these moments of the campaign, it's just always wonderful to step out of the campaign and step back into real life. And the thing I enjoy to do the most of anything is cook Sunday family dinner and just have everybody around.
TAPPER: And you get along well with your husband's ex-wife?
HARRIS: I do. We have a very modern family. We joke that it's almost too functional. In fact, Kerstin, who was my husband's ex- wife, but my friend, we joke about, you know, it might be a little bit more comfortable if it were slightly dysfunctional, but it's actually highly functional.
In fact, for Thanksgiving dinner, she came to Thanksgiving dinner with her mother and my family, and there we were, one big old family in a very --
TAPPER: That's nice.
HARRIS: -- long table. And it was great.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: It's quite a modern family. CNN's Kyung Lah, who covers Senator Harris, now takes a closer look at how she and other candidates are redefining motherhood out on the campaign trail. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you all.
KYUNG LAH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: In the heart of West Virginia, Senator Elizabeth Warren joined, by her son.
WARREN: By the way, with the guy over in the blue shirt? That's my son, Alex.
LAH: Her experience as a mother, part of her pitch to voters.
WARREN: Child care never stopped being an issue. For me, like for so many working parents today, it was this weight I had to carry around every single day. And it never let up.
LAH: The motherhood identity, once viewed as an albatross, in 2020, is getting a makeover, with a record number of women running for president.
Senator Kamala Harris, married to Doug Emhoff, father of two children from a previous marriage, Ella and Cole.
HARRIS: And I, therefore, have two children that are Cole and Ella, who are here, and they named me their momala, and their mother -- yes, and their mother, Kerstin, is here, who is a dear friend of mine, and we have a real modern family.
LAH: The portrait of a modern candidate. In a personal essay, in honor of Mother's Day, Harris writes about the heartache of missing her stepdaughter's graduation for the 2017 James Comey testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
HARRIS: I am not perfect. Our kids are not perfect. My husband is not perfect. And I don't think that the American people want perfect.
LAH: Senator Amy Klobuchar, at a CNN Town Hall, explained how getting kicked out of the hospital, 24 hours after giving birth to her daughter, who was born with a condition that made her unable to swallow, made her fight back and become a lawmaker.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That was when I got hooked on public service, because I could see that you could make a difference.
LAH: To even joke about motherhood means backlash in 2020. Beto O'Rourke quipped about barely helping his wife with the kids, prompting this public apology.
REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not only will I not say that again, but I'll be much more thoughtful going forward.
AMY O'ROURKE, WIFE, REP. BETO O'ROURKE: Really looking forward to getting a chance to say hello.
LAH: Today, Amy O'Rourke is on the trail. She's doing the driving. GILLIBRAND: I've got little Henry with me.
LAH: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand brings her children on the trail, her mom status, a credential as a candidate.
GILLIBRAND: I'm going to fight for people's kids as hard as I would fight for my own, and I'm going to fight for their families and their communities.
LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: Thanks to Kyung Lah. Coming up, she didn't leave a tip, but she did accidentally leave $400,000 behind. How a woman's trip to a pizzeria almost cost her, a whole lot of dough.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUARDT: This is going to be one of those stories when you ask yourself, what would I have done in this situation? A woman in New York City nearly lost a fortune, almost half a million dollars, were it not for a good Samaritan, she accidentally left a cashier's check behind at this pizza place up in Harlem.
The waiter who served her found the check and made sure that she got it back, but that's not even close to the whole story. For -- so, for the full story, let's bring in Karen Vinacour, she's the lucky one who's reunited with that check because of that honest waiter. Karen, thanks so much for joining us tonight.
KAREN VINACOUR, ACCIDENTALLY LEFT $424K CHECK AT PIZZERIA: You're welcome.
MARQUARDT: So, you are obviously happy that you got your check and your money back, but that waiter could have had some hard feelings against you because of what happened with a tip. So, first of all, tell us what happened there.
[20:50:00] VINACOUR: OK. So, I had gone to that restaurant after visiting an apartment with -- that I would like to purchase, and I was with my daughter, a real estate broker, and my grandson, and we stopped at Patsy's for lunch, Patsy's is a very well-known restaurant in New York.
And when the waiter came over to serve us, my daughter commented that there were hardly any pictures of women posted on the wall. There were many, many pictures of men and not many of women, and the waiter said, well, women don't eat pizza.
And we started to laugh because there were many women in the restaurant that afternoon, and many of them were eating pizza.
MARQUARDT: Actually eating pizza. VINACOUR: Right. And then, you know, what happened was when the
check came, we decided that we didn't like the waiter's attitude about women and --
MARQUARDT: Right.
VINACOUR: And we decided that we weren't going to leave him a tip. But we also wrote him a note that said, basically, women eat pizza and -- but maybe you don't know that women have a reputation for not leaving tips.
MARQUARDT: And Karen, you left that -- you left that check behind, and it wasn't until the next day, I understand, that you had done so?
VINACOUR: It's a little bit more complex than that. It was, firstly, the check was in an envelope that was folded into quarters. And so, when it came out of my purse, it was, you know, looked like -- it looked it was crumpled. And when we left -- well, I --
Look, that day was like one of the worst days of my life because I had gone to the bank to take out the money because I had been -- I wasn't approved for a mortgage.
MARQUARDT: Right.
VINACOUR: So I was really very stressed. And then when I went to look at the apartment, it was an open house, and there were a lot of people looking at the apartment. And we go to lunch, and I'm thinking, you know, A, no mortgage, B, I'm not going to get that apartment, C, am I going to get the mortgage. And I had closed on my apartment.
So, essentially, I was "homeless". I said that in quotations, because I have resources of friends and family, but I don't have my own place. So basically, it wasn't a good day, and I wasn't really focused.
MARQUARDT: Karen, can you --can you tell us what happened? Just fast forward a little bit, what happened? What went through your head when you realized you were going to get your check back?
VINACOUR: Oh, I was overwhelmed with happiness. And, I mean, it was an extremely emotional minute. But, you know, it didn't happen instantly. I didn't -- I didn't know that that check was found until Wednesday.
MARQUARDT: Right.
VINACOUR: And I was aware that it was gone on Sunday.
MARQUARDT: And did you thank -- did you thank Armando?
VINACOUR: Are you kidding? Did I thank him? I embraced him. And, look, he could have thrown that check in the garbage --
MARQUARDT: Right.
VINACOUR: Because we didn't treat him so friendly at the time, in the restaurant.
MARQUARDT: Right.
VINACOUR: I've seen him -- I have seen him twice. I've been back to the restaurant twice. I talked to him. I intend to help him with some of his school expenses going forward, you know, he wouldn't take it.
MARQUARDT: OK.
VINACOUR: And, you know --
MARQUARDT: Karen?
VINACOUR: Yes.
MARQUARDT: All is well that ends well. Thanks so much for coming on to tell your story.
VINACOUR: Right. Thank you. Bye.
MARQUARDT: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARQUARDT: If you've been noticing some similarities between the HBO show, "Veep", and the real world, you are not alone. Here's Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: It started as a farfetched political satire.
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS, VEEP: Oh, my God. That is so great for me.
ANNA CHLUMSKY, ACTRESS, VEEP: And the country?
DREYFUS: Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's what I meant.
TAPPER: But now that it's in its final season, HBO's "Veep" has started to feel a lot more like the most prescient show on television. Take this moment from last Sunday's episode.
TIMOTHY SIMONS, ACTOR, VEEP: And how do these diseases get into America? Immigrants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kill them.
SIMONS: Yes. Well, I mean, we don't have to kill all of them.
TAPPER: And then on Wednesday, President Trump almost seemed to be reading from Jonah Ryan's script at an event in Florida. DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But how do you stop these people? You can't. That's only in the Panhandle you can get away with that stuff.
TAPPER: As the cast and creators of "Veep" told me at the 92nd Street Y, in New York City, this week, this is a trend they find concerning.
SIMONS: Even Jonah Ryan has the good sense to be able to -- not all of them, like, somehow the dumbest dude on television is smarter than what's happening.
TAPPER: In May 2016, before Donald Trump was even the Republican nominee, Veep envisioned the President, turning the world upside down, with an errant and reckless tweet.
DAVID MANDEL, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, VEEP: We did a president tweets story, at which point you went running down the hall, like with your hair on fire.
MATT WALSH, ACTOR, VEEP: The President is tweeting.
GARY COLE, ACTOR, VEEP: She's tweeting.
MANDEL: And it was funny and shocking and unheard of.
TAPPER: These days, measles cases are hitting their highest levels in 25 years, while around the same time on the show, Jonah Ryan has an anti-Vaccs campaign platform and there is an outbreak of chickenpox.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There literally was a headline in CNN, yesterday, about a kid who was suing so he didn't have to get the chickenpox vaccine, catches the chickenpox.
SIMONS: We don't want these things to come true.
MANDEL: We sit in a room trying to think of what's the craziest, stupidest thing that could ever happen that we don't have to worry will ever happen.
SIMONS: Yes.
MANDEL: And they are coming true, hourly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: We should note that CNN does share the same parent company as HBO. That'll do it for me on this Sunday night. I'm Alex Marquardt. Up next, is "THE REDEMPTION PROJECT WITH VAN JONES". We hope you enjoy your evening, and have a happy Mother's Day.
