Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Alabama Passes Nation's Most Restrictive Abortion Bill; Washington Post: Trump Believes China Tariffs Will Get Him Reelected; Don Jr. Agrees to Testify Before Senate Panel; U.S. Embassy Staff Ordered to Leave Iraq Amid Iran Tensions; Hundreds of TSA Officials, Air Marshalls to Deploy to Border; Newly-Released Audio Reveals Pilots Confronting Boeing Over 737 Max. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 15, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A near total ban on abortion now on the verge of becoming law in Alabama.

[05:59:28] REP. TERRI COLLINS (R), ALABAMA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: We'll never get a heartbeat bill until Roe v. Wade is reversed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a court that's ready to overturn the decision that was made more than 40 years ago.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're having a little squabble with China. We've been treated very unfairly.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Farmers in the Midwest have been hurt very hard. I'm not in agreement on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's willing to take these risks. Nobody wants tariffs. Sometimes it's a necessary resort.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, May 15, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And we begin with the nation's most restrictive abortion bill. It just passed in Alabama. The Alabama legislature just effectively banned abortion in that state, making nearly every abortion a felony, punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for the doctor.

Republican backers pushed the bill forward with one important goal: overturn the landmark Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortions nationwide in 1973 and gave women the constitutional right to end a pregnancy.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And that's really the most important takeaway here. This law is designed to force a ruling in the Supreme Court. And with the new makeup of the court, many analysts believe that Roe is in jeopardy. Of note: the Alabama bill even bans abortions in the case of rape or incest.

The governor now has six days to sign the bill into law. It is expected that she will.

Our Victor Blackwell has all the details of this pivotal case -- Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, it was a fiery four-hour debate on the Alabama Senate floor, with one Democrat saying that this bill was so extreme that maybe they should consider a castration bill next.

But in the end, this bill passed 26-5 overnight. The activists, pro- life activists say that they believe that this could be their legitimate chance to challenge Roe v. Wade and eventually outlaw abortion nationwide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOBBY SINGLETON (D), ALABAMA STATE SENATOR: I apologize to the women of Alabama for this archaic law that we passed.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Alabama lawmakers passed the nation's most restrictive abortion bill, one that could set up a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The Alabama bill bans nearly all abortions in the state, making it a felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for those providing the abortion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When people's rights are under attack, what do we do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up, fight back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand up, fight back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up, fight back.

BLACKWELL: Abortion rights activists surround the Alabama state House, and Democrats argue against the legislation's constitutionality on the Senate floor.

LINDA COLEMAN-MADISON (D), ALABAMA STATE SENATOR: Republicans, you all, you guys used to say, "We want the government out of our life. We want them out of our business. We want them out of our bedroom." Now you're in my womb. I want you out. You don't control this. You don't own this.

BLACKWELL: The law would allow very few exceptions: "to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child's mother, ectopic president and if the unborn child has a lethal anomaly."

Democrats tried to add an amendment that would allow abortions in cases of rape and incest, but it failed. CLYDE CHAMBLISS (R), ALABAMA STATE SENATOR: A life is a life. And even if it is -- its origins are in very difficult situations, that life is still precious. Life is a gift of our creator. And we must do everything that we can to protect life.

BLACKWELL: Republican lawmakers say the measure was intentionally drafted to be rigid with limited restrictions, in order to be challenged in lower courts and reach the Supreme Court.

COLLINS: I think everybody I know in the House and I believe, finally, we saw in the Senate, understood exactly what the purpose of this bill was.

We'll never get a heartbeat bill to be constitutional until Roe v. Wade is decided and reversed.

BLACKWELL: At least 16 states have recently passed or introduced bills restricting abortions after a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat in the womb, which is usually about six weeks.

ERIC JOHNSTON, ALABAMA PRO-LIFE COALITION: This is the first time in 46 years that the makeup on the Supreme Court has changed where there's possibly enough conservatives on there who believe Roe v. Wade is incorrectly decided.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now again, there is no exception for rape or incest. And when the -- when asked what a young girl who's the victim of incest should do when she finds out she's pregnant, the Republican senator who ushered this bill through the Senate said that he hopes young ladies would be educated by their parents and guardians that they need to get physical and mental help.

Now again, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has six days to sign this bill. It's expected that she will. But thus far, she has not commented publicly on it. And a representative of her office says that she will not comment on it until she reviews the bill thoroughly -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That's pretty idealistic hope, that the parents will give them all of the guidance and education they need in this situation.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Victor, thank you very much.

Joining us now is CNN's M.J. Lee.

OK, M.J., let's talk about how this seems designed to be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court. Is this a guarantee that this restrictive bill in Alabama will make it to the Supreme Court?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's at least what it appears to be now. And I think it's important to talk about the political ramifications of this. We've already seen a number of the 2020 Democratic candidates weighing

in overnight on Twitter. And their message is "We are going to fight this."

And it's not just the women who are weighing in on this. For example, Senator Cory Booker saying on Twitter he will "fight in solidarity with women to make sure rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade will not be threatened by those who have no business making laws about their bodies."

Senator Elizabeth Warren was somebody else who also weighed in. She called this bill dangerous and exceptionally cruel. And she says that she actually remembers living in a world before Roe v. Wade.

[06:05:10] And she is referring to -- and we have heard her talk about this before -- growing up in Oklahoma, where she remembers being aware of illegal abortions. We're talking about things like women using coat hangers, drinking turpentine, getting these procedures done in back alleys. And she wrote that we are not going back to that world.

Just one more candidate I would point out. Senator Bernie Sanders saying the bill is blatantly unconstitutional, and he called on the governor to veto what he calls "a cruel bill that attacks women's rights."

The context, of course, Alisyn, that all of these candidates are aware of is that, in just 2019, more than a dozen states have at least enacted or at least taken some steps towards this six-week abortion ban. This is a trend that these candidates are aware of and have to be watching very closely, especially after this news overnight.

CAMEROTA: I mean, that's why Elizabeth Warren -- I think that it bears repeating her statement again. Because she says, "I've lived in that America, and let me tell you, we are not going back. Not now. Not ever. We will fight this, and we will win."

She sounds awfully confident for living in a country where the trend, as you say, has been towards these heartbeat bills. But if you live in Massachusetts or New Jersey or New York, you don't necessarily know that this is happening in Georgia, and Alabama, et cetera. I mean, this is really one of these bifurcated country issues.

LEE: Right.

CAMEROTA: And that's what the 2020 candidates are talking about. I mean, it's not just -- everybody, all of them come out and say something about the Alabama bill yesterday.

LEE: Well, the thing is, yes, they can come out strongly and say, "We are willing to fight this." But it's not really clear how exactly they can take action right now.

But there is one thing that I think is worth revisiting. You might remember that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand came out just this month and said that she is only going to uphold judges who will support and protect Roe v. Wade. Now, this was unusual, because Democratic candidates don't necessarily

make this issue their top issue when you listen to them out on the campaign trail. They're talking about healthcare; they're talking about the economy. So it really stood out when she came out and said this.

And she wrote in a "Medium" post that she understands that candidates usually don't draw the line in the sand on judicial appointments. However, she wrote, "That tradition ended when Mitch McConnell obstructed the nomination process and stole a Supreme Court seat, when Donald Trump nominated dozens of ideologically extreme judges, hand- picked by far-right think tanks."

So she essentially set up this litmus test. And I think a huge question is going to be, will that litmus test be asked to the other candidates who are in the race? Will they get asked about the judicial appointments question? Because that is the huge question, politically speaking.

CAMEROTA: Right. This has suddenly come to the fore of an issue right now in the race.

M.J. lee, thank you very much for all of that background -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, growing anxiety from some Republican lawmakers on the president's trade war with China. Key voting blocs, including farmers and some small business owners, are being pushed to the brink. A source close to the White House tells CNN the president has, quote, "no coherent strategy right now."

Still, "The Washington Post" reports he thinks his stance will help him win re-election.

CNN's Joe Johns is live at the White House. And Joe, the president thinks he's winning on this.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as far as what's going on here, this is an example of how, in these high-stakes international negotiations, there's often a huge gulf between what's going on and being said publicly, versus what's being -- going on and being said privately.

So privately, CNN has the reporting that suggests the two sides are struggling, that the talks are at a standstill, that they're throwing things against the wall to see what sticks.

And then you have the reporting from "The Washington Post" suggesting that, while there is a lot of pain out in the heartland with farmers suffering, the president believes this might be a winning issue for him in 2020.

Out in front of the cameras, however, the president of the United States continues to paint rosy scenarios, as he does on Twitter. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We're having a little squabble with China. I think it's going to turn out extremely well.

Yes, we're winning it. You know what? Do you want to know something? Do you want to know something? We always win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So what's really going on? Well, we do know that there are no new talks scheduled between both sides. However, the treasury secretary is expected to go to China sometime soon; and the president of the United States is expected to meet with the Chinese president at the G-20 next month.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe, thank you very much for all of that background from the White House.

So after days of speculation, Donald Trump Jr. strikes a deal to testify behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee, but he is placing limits on the time and scope of the questions.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill for us with the details.

Hi, Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

You know, there has been a fight between the White House, the Trump administration and Capitol Hill over getting information and getting interviews.

But yesterday, a win from the Senate Intelligence Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (voice-over): Donald Trump Jr. will be heading back to Capitol Hill after first suggesting he might deny requests to testify. Sources tell CNN that the president's eldest son reached a compromise with the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, agreeing to give testimony next month behind closed doors after being subpoenaed.

CNN has learned that Trump Jr.'s interview will be limited in time and scope, lasting up to four hours and covering a maximum of six topics. The 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians promising damaging information on Hillary Clinton and a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow are not off-limits.

Before a deal was reached for his testimony, the president called his son a victim of politics.

TRUMP: My son spent, I guess, over 20 hours testifying about something that Mueller said was 100 percent OK. And now they want him to testify again. I don't know why. I have no idea why. But it seems very unfair to me. FOX: Meantime, the House Intelligence Committee is investigating

whether attorneys representing President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization misled that panel or obstructed its Russia investigation.

The current probe, sparked by false statements made by Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in 2017. A senior committee official telling CNN, Chairman Adam Schiff is ready to subpoena if Trump's attorneys do not provide documents and testimony.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We need to deter other people from coming before our committee and lying.

FOX: Trump's lawyers arguing Schiff's request is, quote, "far afield" from any proper legislative purpose.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX: This all comes after we learned yesterday that Attorney General William Barr is working closely with the CIA, DNI, and the FBI into the origins of the Russia probe. President Donald Trump said yesterday that he did not direct William Barr to work closely with the intelligence community -- John.

BERMAN: No, but he did say he was proud that William Barr was doing this.

Lauren Fox, great to have you with us. Thanks very much.

Breaking news, we learned a short time ago that the State Department has ordered all nonemergency American workers to get out of Iraq. What's this new cause of concern? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:27] CAMEROTA: We do have some breaking news. The State Department ordering all nonemergency U.S. government employees to leave Iraq amid escalating tensions with neighboring Iran.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski is live at the State Department with the breaking details. What have you learned, Michelle?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

Yes, so -- so the State Department just put this out this morning, warning Americans not to travel to Iraq, because it's too dangerous and ordering out all of its nonessential employees from its embassy in Baghdad, from its consulate in Irbil.

The State Department doesn't like to talk about numbers of people there, but we're told by a source that there are a few hundred American diplomats in these -- in these stations. And then there's going to be a lot more additional security people.

So this is substantial, and this comes, of course, at the same time that the U.S. has sent additional military resources to the region. It's increased its troop posture there, putting them on high alert. The U.S. believes that Iran-backed militias and other Iran-backed groups could pose a threat and may be actively planning threats against U.S. assets in the region, as well as U.S. allies.

Now, the U.S. disputed what we heard just yesterday from the deputy commander of forces there, who is British, saying that in Iraq, they don't see any additional threats from Iran-backed groups. But the U.S. military insists that they do.

Also, it emerged this week that the U.S. considered that White House officials and military officials looked at the possibility of sending more than 100,000 troops to the region to deal with the threat from Iran. Here's what President Trump said yesterday

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully, we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Now, last year we saw the U.S. take away all of its people from the U.S. consulate in Basra, Iraq, because of threats. Many U.S. diplomats saw that as a mistake because of the U.S. is pulling away and not being a force there to counter the threat from Iran. But now, the U.S. is doing this in its additional facilities there in Iraq because of threats to U.S. people's safety.

Back to you guys.

BERMAN: All right, Michelle Kosinski. Thank you very much.

Breaking moments ago, a CNN exclusive. We've learned that hundreds of TSA officials, including federal air marshals, will be deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border to help with the migrant situation there. But that shifts them from their duties guaranteeing air safety right at the beginning of the busy summer travel season.

[06:20:07] CNN's Priscilla Alvarez live in Washington with these exclusive details. Priscilla, what have you learned?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So TSA is sending hundreds of officials to assist along the southern border as apprehensions continue to increase.

According to an internal email obtained by CNN, TSA workers, including federal air marshals, will be assisting with immigration duties. Now, this includes around 175 law enforcement officials, as well as as many as 400 people from security ops.

Now, we should note that this does not include TSA screeners, who most people are familiar with at airports. But the email does acknowledge that his comes at a very busy time, and it accepts, quote, "some risk" in having these deployments down to the border. And the deployments are supposed to last somewhere between 45 to 60

days, but there's an acknowledgement that it could last longer than that, as well.

Initial law enforcement teams will be drawn from six cities, and all of this to help a challenging -- or what is a challenging moment for the Department of Homeland Security right now.

A few months ago, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who has since left that post, did ask for volunteers to come down to the border to help with medical assistance, transportation needs, meal distribution. And that may be some of what TSA is going down to help with now.

CNN has also reported that Border Patrol stations are overwhelmed by the number of migrants that are illegally crossing the border. And that has led to some families and children having to sleep outside.

So all of this seemingly to help a challenging department -- or a challenging moment for the department as it deals with apprehensions.

CAMEROTA: OK, Priscilla, thank you very much for that report.

Now to this. New audio obtained by CBS News reveals that several American Airlines pilots confronted Boeing about the safety features on the 737 Max. That, of course, the airline [SIC] -- airplane that's involved in two recent deadly crashes.

CNN's Tom Foreman is live for us in Washington with more. What have you learned, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This meeting happened after the crash last fall near Indonesia, the fatal crash there. This was a meeting between airline union members and officials from Boeing.

And they were discussing this automatic system called MCAS. Remember, MCAS is the system suspected in both of these accidents of tilting the tail of the plane to make the nose go down and, ultimately, forcing a crash. A system which many pilots were not aware was even on the plane before the first crash occurred.

This is the meeting with the Boeing officials, and listen to the pilots and their frustration about not knowing about this system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We flat-out deserve to know what is on our airplanes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't disagree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys didn't even know the damn system was on the airplane, nor did anybody else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that understanding this system would have changed the outcome on this. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: And right there is the crux of the whole problem. Remember, this happened after the first crash. Boeing was working on a fix. Then the second crash, the Air Ethiopia crash, came afterward. And all along the movement by Boeing has been to say, "Look, we're working on this. We're trying to make it better. This is not critical. The pilots should have known how to handle it."

And some pilots have been pushing back saying, "Yes, but we didn't know how to handle it, because you didn't tell us about it and what was wrong with it" -- John.

BERMAN: Gosh, an important new data point there. Tom Foreman, thank you very much.

This morning, the right to end a pregnancy being put to the test as never before. A new law that bans abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. A law designed to get to the Supreme Court. Will this new court overturn Roe v. Wade? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:07] BERMAN: All right. Breaking news. The Alabama state senate passed the nation's most restrictive abortion ban, even in the case of rape and incest, setting up a potential Supreme Court showdown over Roe v. Wade.

Want to bring in John Avlon, CNN senior political analyst; Catherine Rampell, "Washington Post" opinion columnist and CNN political commentator; also, Phil Mudd, former CIA counterterrorism official and a CNN counterterror analyst.

I want to point out, in addition to this Alabama decision, there was a Supreme Court case decided on Monday which shed some light on whether the Supreme Court will be willing to overturn settled law. It had to do with an issue of sovereign immunity in state courts, but the court decided that you can overturn settled law.

CAMEROTA: That does seem relevant.

BERMAN: And in the dissent, Stephen Breyer wrote, "Today's decision can only cause one to wonder which case the Court will overrule next." He was talking about Roe, Catherine, which makes this Alabama law all that much more important.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, this law was clearly designed with an eye towards moving it up through higher courts, getting the Supreme Court to ultimately have to rule on both the constitutionality of what's in this particular law, as well as access to abortion more generally.

And even if the -- the Alabama law itself doesn't get upheld in its entirety, you could imagine that a number of the justices who are amenable, who have exposed themselves as being amenable to both overturning precedent and rolling back abortion protections, would use it, potentially, as a -- as a vehicle to roll back some of those protections.

CAMEROTA: Phil, in this Alabama law that is the most restrictive in the country, anyone performing an abortion -- doctors, in other words -- could face -- will face 99 years to life in prison. As a law enforcement officer with experience, can you imagine rounding up doctors for a life sentence in Alabama?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: No, I can't. But I don't see that as a legal move. I see that as we're discussing is a political move. This is -- this is an effort to get this to move through the courts.

I can't imagine sitting here in five years, in two years.

END