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New Poll shows Biden Leads, Sanders Slides and Warren Sees Bump; Financial Disclosure Shows Trump Made at Least $434 Million in 2018; Missouri Passes Abortion Bill, Sends to Governor's Desk; Chicago Police Say Newborn Cut from Murdered Pregnant Woman; "Twilight" Star Close to Deal to be Next Batman. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired May 17, 2019 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: -- and I know he's just jumped in a couple of weeks ago. And you're about to unveil all these policies. But, Kate, Senator Warren, take her for example. Like her whole line is, I have a plan for that. Right. And she's already rolled out policy plan after policy plan. And so can you just tell me which specific plans you guys will be rolling out and when?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, BIDEN DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: You will hear from the Vice President on a host of policy specifics. I think you've heard him as he started to lay out his case for being President. Talk about the need for an inclusive middle class, a middle class that works for everybody. He's talked about the need for people to have the peace of mind that comes with health insurance and he's talk about the existential crisis that we're facing with our climate. So you're going to hear from him all sorts of aggressive and progressive policy specifics as we --
BALDWIN: Like starting tomorrow.
BEDINGFIELD -- in the next phase of the campaign. You're going to hear from him. Tomorrow you're going to hear from him about the importance of uniting America and then start to hear policy specifics from him as you move into the next phase of the campaign.
BALDWIN: Alabama governor -- speaking of policy -- Alabama governor just signed into law this bill banning nearly all abortion in the state with no exceptions for rape or incest. Senator Warren is calling on Congress to pass several pieces of legislation. She wants to repeal the Hyde Amendment which bans federal funding for most abortions. And she wants to propose a reversal of the Trump administration domestic gag rule. This is all aimed at guaranteeing abortion and other reproductive rights around the country even if Roe V. Wade falls. So, Kate, does Joe Biden agree with Senator Warren's proposals here?
BEDINGFIELD: He believes that Roe is settling law and we should fight at any turn -- any effort to repeal Roe or a woman's right to choose under Roe V. Wade. He said as much today. He reaffirmed that today and he believes that is a critical right and that -- and it is one that we have to fight to protect.
BALDWIN: But specifically, what -- I mentioned the Hyde Amendment , for example, with Senator Warren. What concrete positions is Joe Biden willing to take on and how he would defend abortion access.
BEDINGFIELD: He has said unequivocally that he believes that Roe V. Wade is the law of the land that it needs to be protected. And that we have to fight to ensure that those fights aren't erode. And we're seeing Republicans trying to encroach and making end roads with some of these bills in the states. And he believes we have to be committed to protecting a woman's right to choose and making sure that decision remains between a woman and her doctor.
BALDWIN: Kate Bedingfield, we'll look for you in Philadelphia. Thank you very much.
BEDINGFIELD: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
Moments ago, Missouri became the ninth state in the country to pass a highly restrictive abortion bill and it sent one Democratic lawmaker to the floor to read an emotional letter to her 2-year-old. We will play that for you.
Plus CNN investigates how the President makes his money and loses it. What we learned about four failed projects under the Trump family name.
[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We learned this week that President Trump made at least $479 million in 2018. And the financial disclosure once again puts the focus on just how the President earns his money. CNN's Erin Burnett took a deep dive into several of the President's past projects for her upcoming documentary called "The Trump Family Business" including one called "Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico." Take a look.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, OUTFRONT (voice-over): The failure of Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico was among several Trump buildings that failed in the early 2000s. Two projects planned for Florida also failed. The Trump Soho Hotel went bankrupt. So did buildings in Panama and Toronto.
MARCO CHOWN OVED, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, TORONTO STAR: Most people in the city, when that tower went bankrupt, sort of just chalked it up to the global financial crisis. But a lot of people were building condos during the global financial crisis and none of them went bankrupt.
BURNETT: Marco Chown Oven and Robert Crib of the "Toronto Star" partnered with Columbia Journalism School to investigate what happened at the Trump building in Toronto.
ROBERT CRIB, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, TORONTO STAR: Everyone lost money except for Trump.
BURNETT: It's the bottom line again and again. He gained; others lost. Take panama.
(on camera): How much did he make?
HEATHER VOGELL, REPORTER, PROPUBLICA: He made probably between $30 million and $55 million. Even though it's just a project that went bankrupt, remember?
BURNETT (voice-over): Everybody else lost. And Trump earned $30 million to $50 million. How? A big part of the answer, licensing.
DAN ALEXANDER, WRITES ABOUT TRUMP FOR FORBES: The way it works is somebody else decides to build a building. So they say, all right, Trump will pay you a fee to put your name on it.
BURNETT: Those Trump buildings in Panama, Toronto, Soho and Baja Mexico all licensed properties.
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, TRUMP BIOGRAPHER: Donald Trump started licensing his name because it was easy money. Here was an opportunity to sign your name and get paid up front.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Erin Burnett is with me now. And so you mentioned a couple of properties there. One I'd never heard of, Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico. Why isn't that well-known?
BURNETT: Well you've never heard of it because it doesn't exist. It was literally was never built. It is still a hole in the ground. Hole in the ground but yet people are still recovering from it.
Sandra Staple is one of them. So she actually talks about her dream, picket fence and take her kids to have a second home. That is her dream.
[15:40:00] She and her husband saved up their money, $125,000 to buy a suite at the Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico. They lost every single dollar. Every single dollar. And what is amazing, Brooke, is they weren't really aware that this was just a licensed project and Trump didn't have any skin in the game.
They went to a marketing event, Ivanka Trump showed up and said, oh, maybe I'll have to borrow sugar from you down the hall and they had a brochure. It said Trump is developing. Here's a letter from the developer. You can see the signature at the bottom.
BALDWIN: Donald Trump.
BURNETT: Signed by Donald Trump. Turns out he wasn't the developer. It was just a licensed property. So Trump lost nothing and Sandra Staple and her family are still recovering and that is part of the story again and again and again that we explore.
BALDWIN: We'll tune in to your investigation. Thank you so much. Good to see you. Just a reminder to all of you, her investigation of CNN special report, the "TRUMP FAMILY BUSINESS" airs tonight at 9:00.
Missouri is about to join the growing list of states restricting abortion. And just moments ago the state house passed a Bill that prohibits abortions after eight weeks and now heads to the governor's desk who said he supports it. We heard an emotional debate though on the house floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA WALSH (R) MISSOURI STATE HOUSE: Every single right we have is only possible for each one of us if we have the right to life. For without the right to life, we could not enjoy any other right. We must and we shall protect human life at all ages and stages of development. I stand wholeheartedly in support of this bill and its courageous sponsors.
And a Democrat, Keri Ingle, decided to read the letter she wrote to her two and a half-year-old daughter, Hattie. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERI INGLE (D), MISSOURI STATE HOUSE: I came here to fight for your rights, Hattie. Rights your brother will never have threatened. Rights to make the most intimate, intricate decisions anyone could make and that no one should be making on your behalf.
I have sat with little girls not much older than you and I have listened to them talk about people they trusted hurting them, stealing their innocence and their trust in the world. I have held their hands as they cried and blamed themselves. I have worked with them to heal from pain that so many women are forced to endure. And I will teach you how to defend yourself physically. How to hold keys between your knuckles. How to spot someone following you. How to watch your drink. How to lock your door the second you enter your car and how to look for warnings signs in men you thought you can trust. Things I'll never have to teach your brother.
I dread teaching you the other part. How not to blame yourself. How to see value in yourself after your clothes and body have been ripped apart. How not to hate your body. How to see that your trauma is not you. How to not carry shame into every relationship you have, a shame that is not yours to hold.
But I know that the odds are stacked against you, that there are more women sitting in this chamber who have been assaulted than those that have not.
Hattie, I'll teach your brother other things. I'll teach him to listen when people say no. To respect that he doesn't have the right to anyone else's body ever. I will teach him that girls get to make their own decision. I will teach him to believe in women's inherent dignity and that girls know what's best for their lives and their bodies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That eight-week abortion ban bill is now headed to the governor's desk. It has been a week of west wing infighting. Threats and talk of
potential war with Iran. Well, the President just weighed in calling reports that he's angry with his aids, quote, unquote, bullshit.
[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Three suspects charged in the grisly murder of a pregnant Chicago woman, just made their first court appearance. A mother/daughter duo face first-degree murder and assault charges. The mother's boyfriend is accused of concealing a crime. All of them were denied bond. Police say the mother strangled 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa Lopez who was nine months pregnant with her second child. They also say the mother allegedly cut the infant out of the victim's womb.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEPUTY CHIEF BRENDAN DEENIHAN, CARGO POLICE: Clarissa calls 911. Is standing out on the street with a newborn baby stating that I just had a baby.
SUPERINTENDENT EDDIE JOHNSON, CHICAGO POLICE: They should be celebrating the birth of a young baby. Instead their mourning the loss of the mother and possibly that young child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: CNN's Jean Casarez is here to explain just how -- and I know that this started with some sort of Facebook request for a stroller and some baby clothes.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was so innocent on the part of the victim. It was April 23rd and that is the last time that Mrs. Lopez was ever seen alive. Her husband went to police after that saying my wife is gone and my wife is nine months pregnant. She's about ready to give birth. So from April 23rd on Chicago police say they tried everything that technology would allow to try to find her car, try to find her.
[15:50:02] They went to hospitals to see if she had gone to a hospital to give birth. Absolutely nothing. On May 7th, they were talking with a friend of hers that happened to mention, you know, she was a part of a chat group. And so that friend got enough information to detectives that they were able to get into that chat room and they found the conversation between the victim and Clarissa Figueroa, now defendant. Where the victim is saying, I'm going to school, I can't work, I don't have the money for baby clothes, but I'm just about to give birth. And Figueroa said, come on over to the house, we can give you clothes.
So she went over to the home on April 23rd and prosecutors and police are alleging it was on that day, after she got into the home that Figueroa, with the assistance of her daughter, suffocated her to death with a cord. And then after that, removed that baby from her womb. The family of Mrs. Lopez spoke right before the court proceeding today. Listen to their pain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE CONTRERRAS, LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS: Today is a sad day. Today is a day of anguish that this family is living through, a nightmare, a horror film. Today, there is only one message that the family has. And that is justice for Marlen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And baby -- that baby, Brooke, is on life support in a hospital.
BALDWIN: How awful. There are no words. No words. Jean Casarez, thank you.
Coming up next, the President questions why he wasn't warned about his former national security adviser Michael Flynn. But the problem is, he was. Many times. By many people. Including by the sitting President of the United States.
But first, we want to honor two CNN heroes who joined forces to help a young girl. Amanda Boxtel assists people with mobility impairments and Ricardo Pun-Chong provides support for sick children and their families while they receive medical treatment. And together they gift the gift of mobility to a child at Ricardo's shelter in Peru.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Amanda Boxtel: He sent me a little video of a little girl whose 8 years old name Valeska. She has cerebral palsy. She's been in a stroller for her whole life. It's time, don't you think, for her to have a wheelchair to call her own?
Look what we have for Valeska. We had to think of everything, because, you know, she's going to grow with this wheelchair.
RICARDO PUN-CHONG: This chair is fantastic. She is going to be so happy. She's going to have a better life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And to nominate your own CNN hero, go to CNNheros.com
[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The stars who have played Batman, "Goodwill hunting's" best bud, "Mr. Mom", a newsy, and Danny Ocean. And now the guy from "Twilight" may also be going Gotham. Actor Robert Pattinson is reported to be close to be inking a deal to take over the role in the legendary franchise. And if he gets it, he would join the a-list of leading men mentioned at the top. We should note, Warner Brother -- who is owned by CNN. Company, Warner media -- says there is no deal. My friend, Lisa France, is our CNN senior entertainment reporter who has the scoop. In Lisa, I loved your lead line in your report. Gotham is shook. Tell me why.
LISA FRANCE, CNN SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: So shook. Because people are still raw from Ben Affleck as Batman, which people hated. So a lot of people are saying, they do not want to see Robert Pattinson become Robert Battinson. But he also, he does have some fans. Some people were saying, wait and see. Because keep in mind, people were really upset about Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker and that turned out phenomenally well. I mean, he won a posthumous Academy Award for it. Don't assume he's going to sparkle just because he was in twilight. So some people are saying give Robert Pattinson a chance and don't assume that he's going to sparkle just because he was in "Twilight." We don't want to sparkly Batman.
BALDWIN: Why do you think the movie-going public is so concerned about who goes to Gotham?
FRANCE: Because the caped crusader, he's such a huge superhero. And it's so important. We're wedded to this character. We have been for many years. And people have arguments, ranking what was the best Batman versus what was the worst Batman. So you know, I say, if we can't have Christian Bale back, let's just have an open mind.
BALDWIN: Well I wanted to ask you, because I know you've been marinating on this a little bit today.
FRANCE: Just a bit.
BALDWIN: Of all of the Batmen, who could be Batman? Who is your dream Batman, Lisa France?
FRANCE: My dream Batman -- you know, my dream anything is always Idris Elba. Just put me down as Idris Elba. I want to see Idris Elba.
BALDWIN: But might he go Bond? Can he go Bond?
FRANCE: I want to be Bond, I want him to be Batman, I want him to be Superman. I want you all to keep Idris Elba working. Please, for me.
BALDWIN: Idris, if you're watching. Listen in, Lisa France. I actually think Jon Hamm may also be --
FRANCE: Oh, Jon Hamm I think would be perfect. I don't know. Is he dark though? Do we think he's dark enough?
BALDWIN: I've got nothing wrong with Idris Elba. I'm with you on that.
FRANCE: I think they should audition for you and I. Everyone, Jon Hamm, Idris, they should all come audition for us.
BALDWIN: I love it. Lisa France, thank you so much. A pleasure to see you. Happy Friday. And with that, we end the show. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.
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