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NYT: Intel Officials Declassify Photo of Boat with Iranian Missile; Nation's Most Restrictive Abortion Ban is Now Law in Alabama; NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to Announce Presidential Run; White House Rejects House Judiciary Document Request; FAA Head: Boeing 737 Max Fleet to Stay Grounded Until Safe. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 16, 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: President Trump pursuing a back-door channel to negotiate with Iran's leaders.

[05:59:21] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They do anything, they will suffer greatly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to see this intelligence demonstration he keeps talking about. They need to share it with members of Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The nation's most restrictive abortion Bill, now the nation's most restrictive abortion law.

RICK SANTORUM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You're killing a human being. It's a fact. It's wrong.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is an all-out assault. State after state, they want to get something to the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday, May 16, 6 a.m. here in New York. We do have breaking news.

New details emerging overnight about why some corners of the Trump administration are singing the alarm bells on Iran. Officials are telling "The New York Times" there are photos of Iranian paramilitary forces loading missiles onto small boats in the Persian Gulf.

Now, CNN first broke the news of the missiles last week, but word of the photos is new.

Officials say this is what led the U.S. to beef up its military presence in the region and fear U.S. personnel and troops there could be at heightened risk. But there's another side to this also emerging overnight. "The

Washington Post" reports the president is frustrated with some of his top advisers, including national security adviser John Bolton, who he thinks could be rushing the United States into a confrontation.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. allies are calling for restraint, some even expressing concern that the intelligence may be thin.

Top Congressional leaders will get their first classified briefing today on what the U.S. has on Iran. And President Trump meets with the president of the Swiss Federation in hopes of getting a backdoor channel to Iran's leaders in order to defuse tensions.

So CNN's Barbara Starr broke the story about those missiles being moved onto ships. She's live at the Pentagon with more.

What do you have, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you.

Well, what we do know from our own reporting, of course, is that there has been imagery and intercepts, multiple sources of intelligence for many days now.

The key question is missiles on boats, intercepts, conversations that Iran is talking about attacking U.S. forces in the Middle East. What is their intent? What is their capability? That's the key question going forward.

So we know that they have the capability. We have known for some time they have missiles on boats. They are discussing the possibility, we know, the U.S. believes, of planning some kind of attack.

The question that many skeptics want to know is, OK, what is different? We know that Iran is a constant stream of threats against the U.S. in the Middle East. Does this intelligence show something outside their normal pattern of activity?

I've talked to sources who say it does. I've talked to people who believe it may not show something outside their normal pattern of activity. That may be one of the key questions in these congressional briefings going forward, in the briefings to allies.

We see that the Pentagon is responding not with a military escalation but with military deterrent. What the Pentagon hopes is sending the aircraft carrier, sending the B-52 bombers will be a deterrence against any elements in Iran that want to carry out an attack. And so far, it's important to note there has been no attack by Iran. The Pentagon hopes the deterrence is working -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you for your reporting on this. Again, you broke the news of the missiles last week.

Now the other side of this, "The Washington Post" is reporting that President Trump is frustrated about the escalating situation with Iran. Several U.S. officials tell "The Post" that President Trump worries his top advisers are pushing him towards another costly war in the Middle East.

Our Joe Johns is live at the White House with this simmering frustration, it seems, perhaps with John Bolton, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's the way it looks, at least. And the president is meeting this morning with the head of the Swiss federation. The Swiss are the natural backchannel on something like this, because there is no U.S. embassy in Tehran.

So the question is what's really going on here? It's pretty clear the president has taken steps in the past to show strength against Iran, but it's also true that the president has tried to decrease, as opposed to increase, U.S. military involvement in the Middle East.

And the question now is whether he and some of his top advisers are on the same page.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): Behind the scenes, the president advocating heavily for diplomatic efforts as his national security team weighs possible military options in the Gulf, a source says.

A source telling "The Washington Post" Trump is annoyed with some of his top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton. Several U.S. officials telling the paper the president is worried the United States could rush into another foreign conflict, breaking his pledge to withdraw military personnel from overseas.

TRUMP: I will never send our finest into battle unless necessary. And I mean absolutely necessary. And will only do so if we have a plan for victory with a capital "V." The world must know that we do not go abroad in search of enemies.

JOHNS: President Trump denying claims of any conflict within the White House, tweeting, "There is no in-fighting whatsoever." Trump's fury reportedly emerging from war-like planning from Bolton and Pompeo.

The national security adviser updating U.S. military plans to send more than 100,000 troops to the Mideast if Iran attacks American forces or escalates its nuclear program. Trump saying reports of plans aren't true.

[06:05:15] TRUMP: I think it's fake news, OK? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that.

JOHNS: The frustration not only happening inside the White House, but on Capitol Hill, too.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I have no idea what the threat stream is beyond what I read in the paper. JOHNS: As lawmakers on both sides of the aisle demand answers from

the White House on any Iranian threats or future military strategy.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): There's an alarming lack of clarity here. There's a lack of strategy, and there's a lack of consultation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: And there has been a lot of concern on Capitol Hill that members of Congress have been kept in the dark on the current situation with Iran and the Middle East.

All of that we expect to change today as intelligence officials are expected to meet with the Gang of Eight, top members of Congress, to talk this thing through. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, has warned that any war is going to have to go through the Congress.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe, thank you very much.

So in just hours, President Trump is set to unveil a new immigration plan from the Rose Garden. The plan is spear-headed by his son [SIC], Jared Kushner, and it is designed to get Republican support and move the U.S. toward a merit-based system for immigrants.

The measure calls for increased security at ports of entry and more border barriers. It also calls for a points system which gives preference to skilled and educated immigrants and shifts away from those with family ties to the U.S. The measure does not address protections from DREAMers, something Democrats demanded as part of any immigration plan.

New this morning, "The Washington Post" reports a 2-year-old migrant boy died in U.S. custody on Tuesday. The Guatemalan toddler was hospitalized for several weeks after crossing into the U.S. with his mother. He would be the fourth Guatemalan child since December to die after being apprehended at the border.

The Department of Homeland Security in the Guatemalan consul in Del Rio, Texas, have not responded to CNN's request for comments.

Alabama's governor has signed the nation's most restrictive abortion ban into law, acknowledging that she wants the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is live in Alabama for us with more.

What's the latest from the ground there?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, that's the kind of not-so-secret objective of this entire law here. It was made to be the most restrictive in the entire country as a vehicle to attempt to get abortion back before the Supreme Court.

I want to read you a bit of a statement that Governor Kay Ivey issued when she signed this into law. She acknowledged that the sponsors of the Bill believe that it is time once again for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit this important matter. And they believe that this act may bring about the best opportunity for this to occur.

Now, look, when I call this the most restrictive law in the country, here's what it does. It effectively bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy and makes it a felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison for any doctor or person who performs that procedure.

Now, it does allow for some exceptions like the life of the mother, but there are no exceptions for rape or incest. And that part of the law actually caught the attention of some conservatives, including evangelis -- excuse me, evangelical preacher and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who said that this law may be too severe to even accomplish what these lawmakers in Alabama are trying to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: I think Alabama has gone too far. There's no exception for rape or incest. It's an extreme law. They want to challenge Roe v. Wade, but my humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court, because I think this one will lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, look, Alabama is not the only state, of course, doing something like this. Sixteen other states and including Missouri, which overnight, their state houses were still debating a similar-type law, Alisyn. Although they have acknowledged it would not go into effect, like any of these others, unless Roe v. Wade was overturned.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Really interesting to see what happens next, Dianne. Thank you very much for all that.

And coming up on NEW DAY, we will speak to an Alabama woman who had an abortion after being raped two years ago. What she told lawmakers last week and the message she wants to send to them today.

BERMAN: All right. It's 6:10 a.m., which means there's breaking news in the 2020 presidential race. A new Democrat about to jump in. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio set to make a formal announcement this morning.

CNN's Athena Jones joins us now with the very latest. He's getting in.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That's right. Mayor de Blasio makes 23. This comes after a pretty public and unofficial exploratory period where he made some trips to early states, drew some criticism from New Yorkers, many of whom don't want him to run.

[06:10:11] But he's going to be making it official. A source says via a video at an appearance on "Good morning, America." Then he'll be hitting the campaign trail right after to Iowa and South Carolina. Of course, he has a long list of challenges ahead of him. He has to

build a name for himself, make a name for himself in a -- in a field that already has a clear leader in Vice President Joe Biden who is well-known, well-liked and well ahead of the pack.

He's going to be running in the progressive lane, alongside senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. So that's a lane that already has two people in it.

He's -- he also has to answer the question of what he brings to the race that the other nearly two dozen candidates don't. And in making his case, he's likely to tout some of the policies he's made possible here in New York.

Progressive policies important to Democrats like free universal prekindergarten; paid leave; New York City care, which is a health program that guarantees health care to all New Yorkers; and New York City's Green New Deal, which he used to take -- to slam President Trump directly at a rally at Trump Tower earlier this week where he called Trump's buildings among the biggest polluters in the city.

In interviews in recent months, the mayor has been pushing Democrats to go bigger, to go bolder. And he sees New York as an example of what's possible. So he's likely to argue that he's able to make these things happen, not just talk about it.

Of course, in all of this, he has to convince voters that -- that he -- the relatively unpopular mayor at 42 percent approval of a deep blue city is the best person to take on Trump -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Very interesting. All of the different motivations. Athena, thank you so much.

All right. So Boeing is facing a new hurdle to get its 737 Max jets back in the air. We'll tell you that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:27] BERMAN: This morning no compliance, no documents, no nothing. The White House counsel has sent a letter to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, rejecting all requests from the congressional investigation; and the attorney general seems to be literally laughing in the face of Congress.

CNN's Lauren Fox live on Capitol Hill. These conversations don't seem to be going very well, Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, John. You know, Jerry Nadler said yesterday that that letter was as close as he's seen the White House to basically claiming that the president is a king.

He also said that he may weigh the option of holding multiple administration officials in contempt of Congress if they do not comply with the subpoenas that he has issued.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (voice-over): The White House flatly rejecting House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler's request for documents in its sweeping investigations into possible obstruction of justice by the Trump administration.

In a 12-page letter to Nadler, White House counsel Pat Cipollone claiming the request was, quote, "outside the constitutional authority of the legislative branch," adding that congressional investigations are not intended to, quote, "harass political opponents or to pursue an unauthorized 'do-over' of exhaustive law enforcement investigations conducted by the Justice Department."

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): This is the White House claiming that the -- that the president is a king. No president, no person in the United States is above the law. This is preposterous.

FOX: A senior White House official saying the administration is willing to work with the committee on oversight requests, but adding Chairman Nadler overstepped by subpoenaing documents protected by executive privilege. The official telling CNN that the president is not above the law but also not beneath it. The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Doug Collins, agreeing.

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): This committee is one of the most important bodies in Congress and has become a parody. The majority turned a reasonable discussion of the Mueller report into an opening of cannon fire for the circus that they have created.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Secretary?

FOX: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin signaling he will follow suit and defy a House Ways and Means Committee subpoena for the president's tax returns.

STEVE MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I think we have a few more days. We'll comply with the timing of it, and I think you can pretty much guess how we're going to. I haven't made a decision.

FOX: Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr finding dry humor in the stand-off, jokingly asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she brought handcuffs to a Capitol Hill event. A reference to last week when the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress.

One source said Pelosi, quote, "not missing a beat, smiled and indicated the House sergeant-at-arms was present at the ceremony, should an arrest be necessary to which Barr chuckled and walked away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX: And House Democrats are still looking to talk to Bob Mueller a few minutes ago. Bill Barr told "The Wall Street Journal" in his story that he is not going to block Mueller from testifying before Congress. Quote, "That's Bob's call whether he wants to testify" -- Alisyn. CAMEROTA: OK. That's an important development, Lauren. Thank you

very much.

Now this. The head of the FAA promising to keep Boeing's 737 Max fleet grounded until their review proves the jets involving those two deadly crashes are safe to fly again.

CNN's Drew Griffin joins us now with more. Well, that makes sense, Drew.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly does. If you're looking for news out of this, there wasn't a whole lot in this hearing in terms of when this plane is going to get back up, Alisyn.

[06:20:07] But the acting administrator, Daniel Elwell, said he expects the software plan, the update along with the training modifications, to be delivered to the FAA sometime in the next week. We've heard that before. But that's only the beginning of the process of getting this plane approved.

As for the crashes themselves, the acting administrator kind of siding with Boeing in this hearing, putting the blame on pilots or pointing to pilots' actions in these two international crashes. That, I'm telling you, is not sitting well with the international aviation community.

But Congress really wants to focus on the oversight that the FAA has or did not have over Boeing's new plane. Really honing in on the fact that Boeing had a new plane with a new flight system that wasn't really overseen by FAA approvers. And then when a flaw developed in that system, Boeing didn't tell anybody about it for a year. This is what the acting administrator had to say about why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL ELWELL, ACTING FAA ADMINISTRATOR: If it had been a critical safety of flight item, it would have been immediately reported and would have been required to be immediately reported. It took too long. We don't need the I.G. investigation, or the special committee to tell us that 13 months was too long for us to find out that there was a software anomaly.

REP. PETER DEFAZIO (D-OR): The point is a year elapsed before Boeing told the FAA. What actions did the FAA take at that point in time? Did you consider that inappropriate behavior by Boeing?

ELWELL: Sir, I'm concerned that it took a year. And we're looking into that, and we're going to fix that. Once we learned that the light was not operable, then we made the decision that it is not a safety critical display.

GRIFFIN: Not only a year, but two crashes later. This is not sitting well with Congress. They want much more oversight to happen between the FAA and Boeing. They think Boeing has just gotten away with too much here certifying on its own. As for the ungrounding of this plane, John, this is months away in the

U.S. and look for a possible situation where you have the ungrounding of the 737 Max in the U.S., but these international aviation communities taking a much more skeptical route. And we may have a two-tiered system where you have the plane approved in the U.S., but not in the rest of the world.

BERMAN: That would be extremely complicated.

All right. Drew Griffin, thanks so much for your reporting.

This morning, the NTSB is investigating the cause of a helicopter crash in New York's Hudson River. Look at that.

You can see the chopper spinning into the water. Fire officials say the 34-year-old pilot was moving the helicopter from a fueling station when something clearly went wrong.

The pilot was able to deploy a flotation device and escape. He was picked up by a ferry. He had only minor hand injuries.

CAMEROTA: That's remarkable. Often those things don't end as well as that. But helicopters just don't make much aerodynamic sense, if I may.

BERMAN: If you look out over the Hudson River or the East River, there are so many of them in the air over these rivers at all times. It's crazy.

CAMEROTA: It's nerve wracking. OK. The U.S. says the threat from Iran is escalating, but Iranian leaders are telling a different story. So we have a live report for you from Tehran next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:35] CAMEROTA: OK. Now to what is happening with Iran. CNN first reported that U.S. intelligence has photos showing Iran loading missiles onto small boats in the Persian Gulf. "The New York Times" reports that intel officials have declassified one of those images to help make their case about the threat.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins us live from Tehran. What is the situation there, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Alisyn. Because the Iranians are saying, in the form of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iran categorically does not want a war with the United States by the Trump White House against Iran.

The Iranians are saying that is coercion, and they're not willing to negotiate under those circumstances. One of the interesting things that they said is that, look, President Trump keeps talking about the fact that he left his phone number with the Swiss, if the Iranians want to call.

The Iranians say they have all the phone numbers they need, if they want to reach the White House. They simply aren't going to do so at this time.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, he came out and he said right now, Iran is at the height of their confrontation with the United States. They believe the U.S. is trying to bring Iran to its knees. And they also say that it's the biggest test for the Islamic Revolution since the revolution happened in 1979.

And guys, I actually managed to speak to a former Revolutionary Guard senior commander. And he said one of the things America really needs to watch out for is the fact that the Iranians not only have their ballistic missile program, but he also said next to almost every American military base in the Middle East, there is an Iranian Shiite militia or pro-Iranian Shiite militia, and those would be mobilized as well, John.

BERMAN: All right. Frederik Pleitgen for us in So what's rhetoric and what's fact here? The line is so important.

Joining me now is Jane Harman. She's the former Democratic ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and now the director, president and CEO of the Wilson Center.

Thank you so much for being with us, Jane.

You are an expert consumer of intelligence. You spent so many years looking at this type of thing. Now, I know you haven't seen the classified information that's out there now. None of us have. But we have word that there are photos of missiles being loaded onto small Iranian vessels.

There's word of intercepts of conversations with the Iranians making specific threats or talking about specific threats against U.S. targets in the Middle East. Again, as an expert consumer of this type of intelligence, what does that tell you?

[06:30:00]