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New Poll: Nearly Half of Americans Say Healthcare Costs Have Risen in Past 2 Years, Struggling to Pay; Centrist Democrats Booed After Criticizing Socialism, Medicare For All; Sanders Takes Jab at Biden For Not Attending Progressive Event; Onlookers Flee as Cruise Ship Crashes Into Dock; FAA Warns Some Boeing 737s May Have Faulty Parts on Wings; Pompeo: Trump's Middle East Peace Plan May Be Seen an "Un-executable"; Rep. Duncan Hunter Says He Probably Killed "Hundreds" of Iraqi Civilians. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 03, 2019 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Patrick, what does this poll show us about the financial burden of health care costs?

PATRICK MURRAY, DIRECTOR, MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY POLLING INSTITUTE: This is something that we've been tracking all along because every time we ask a question or poll about what's the top issue that affects your family, that keeps you up at night, it's always health care at the top.

So we have 46 percent that say their health care costs have continued to go up over the past two years. That number is slightly lower than it was two years ago when we first asked it.

But that shows that there's just a march, that health care is not getting any better, that we have nearly half of the public who is saying -- and another question we ask -- that it continues to be very difficult for them to pay for their health care costs.

KEILAR: So there's health care costs in general. What does it is say about the difficulty of paying, more specifically, for health care premiums and deductibles?

MURRAY: Right. Premiums and deductibles -- the premiums are the one thing, the deductibles are another. We have 47 percent say it's basically easy, 40 percent say it's hard for them to do that. But part of have is because the economy has gotten better a little bit over the past couple of years, so that number has gone up over the past couple of years. And it's gone up for other things like for groceries and rent and mortgages as well, too.

It suggests there's still a huge number of people. So 47 percent say their premiums are bad and 45 percent say it's difficult to pay for their deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. So these are things that are really driving them, more so than almost any other type of household expense that they have.

KEILAR: It was really interesting that the -- that this found -- this poll found that health care is a factor on whether people decide that they might start a business or even if they are going to change a job. You had 49 percent say this is a major factor, 21 percent say it's a minor factor. Only 26 percent say it's not a factor. What's the economic impact of that?

MURRAY: You think about that. The whole idea behind a growing economy is there's supposed to be opportunities for people to go out there and look for jobs. And half of them are saying, one of the things I'm going to look at is the health care coverage.

In fact, we also asked, has this ever happened to you before, and 20 percent of Americans say that there has been a time where they did not seek out a job that they might have wanted or did not start business, in that entrepreneurial spirit, because they needed to stick with the health care that they already have through their current employer.

So they kind of felt stuck in their job. That's one in five Americans that feel stuck in their jobs because of health care coverage.

KEILAR: Twenty percent, wow.

Patrick Murray, thank you for walking us through that poll.

MURRAY: Sure. My pleasure.

KEILAR: Centrist Democrats in the presidential race come under fire from fellow Democrats at their California convention.

Just listen to the reaction that former Colorado governor and current presidential candidate, John Hickenlooper, got when he warned against Socialism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN HICKENLOOPER, (D), FORMER COLORADO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Socialism is not the answer.

(BOOING)

HICKENLOOPER: I was re-elected -

(BOOING)

HICKENLOOPER: I was re-elected in a purple state in 2014, one of the worst years for Democrats in a quarter century.

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And this is presidential hopeful, John Delaney, getting a similar response when he challenged the issue of Medicare-for-All.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DELANEY, (D), FORMER CONGRESSMAN & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Medicare-for-All may sound good, but it's actually not good policy, nor is it good politics.

(BOOING)

DELANEY: I'm telling you.

(BOOING)

DELANEY: I'm telling you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He can't tell them because he can't be heard, Karoun Demirjian, who is a congressional reporter for the "Washington Post," a CNN political analyst as well, with us.

What does this tell us about whether there's room for centrist Democrats in a Democratic primary?

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It tells you that the Democratic Party has definitely moved more to the left than I think Hickenlooper realized, both of them realized. And there's a lesson of knowing your audience.

Yes, they come from purple states but they are speaking in California right now. They are talking about, basically, a party position that much of the Democratic Party has embraced and spoken about very openly about wanting these health care systems that at least look like Medicare-for-All even if you're not going by that title.

And beware of what you call Socialism I guess because there's some party positions that are almost more party positions than they were a few years ago that the GOP is calling Socialism right now. You wouldn't expect a Democrat to do that as they did.

KEILAR: Then the question is, what does this mean for people like, know your audience, Joe Biden. What does it is do for his audience? Well, he did not attend, right.

DEMIRJIAN: No.

KEILAR: He did not go to the California Democratic state convention. And Senator Bernie Sanders actually took a few swipes at him. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you all know, there's a debate among presidential candidates who have spoken to you here in this room and those who have chosen, for whatever reason, not to be in this room.

We cannot go back to the old ways. We have got to go forward with a new and progressive agenda!

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What do you make of this, especially in the context of Bernie Sanders has not been shy about taking on Joe Biden, with real punches? He's not pulling punches. These are real hits.

[13:35:03] DEMIRJIAN: He's throwing the punches. He's taking a victory lap on the fact more Democrats who are running for president have adopted platforms that he put up there that made him seem like a renegade in 2016.

He trying to pull Biden into this fight because Biden has had the privilege, I suppose, of being the face and name that everybody knows. He seems like the safer option when it comes to challenging President Trump. But he hasn't detailed his policy positions in a way that could alienate people.

And if the more progressive candidates force him to enter that debate, and before we actually get to the debates, enter that debate, they feel like they can take shots at him in a way they are clearly able to do so with the other centrists who dare enter this fray, like Hickenlooper and Delaney.

If Biden doesn't come up with something that can please both sides, he potentially risks not being this consensus candidate that everybody can agree and feel comfortable with.

And the people not Biden, trailing him by that much, numbers two, three, four, et cetera, in the poll, want to start that fight now because they think they might be able to win it and chip away at some of his lead.

KEILAR: That's going tonight interesting thing in the coming months.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

KEILAR: Karoun Demirjian, thank you so much.

DEMIRJIAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: The FAA is now issuing a new warning for Boeing's grounded 737s, this time, having to do with the wings.

Plus, what happened when an out-of-control cruise ship slammed into a busy dock and a tourist boat?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(HORN HONKING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:41:04] KEILAR: We're getting astonishing video out of Venice, Italy. A giant cruise ship out of control as it approaches the dock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(HORN HONKING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You'll actually -- people start running here. They realize the cruise ship is not slowing down. Italian officials say that there were several people who were hurt when this cruise ship grazed the dock. It plowed into that much smaller boat, this riverboat on the right. Four people were injured.

The cruise ship company says this was a technical issue and that it's working with investigators to figure out exactly what happened.

Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(HORN HONKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god!

(HORN HONKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone else just went in the water.

(HORN HOCKING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hang on, guys.

(HORN HONKING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The crisis at Boeing continuing to deepen. Already struggling to get its fleet of 737 MAX jets back in the air, Boeing is now telling airlines to inspect a part on the plane's wings that may be defective. It could crack during flight they say.

The problem is with its 737 planes, both the MAX planes that are grounded at this point in time, as well as another model that is still being used. It's still in the air.

And this manufacturing defect is unrelated to that flight control system on the 737 MAX that has been linked to two recent deadly crashes that led to all MAX planes being grounded worldwide.

We're going to discuss that in a moment. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:46] KEILAR: We're back now to discuss the new issue that's facing Boeing, and that includes problems on the wings of 737 jets.

I want to talk now with former FAA safety inspector, David Soucie.

And, David, this is a part that's called the leading edge slat on the wing. What does this do exactly?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN AVIATION SAFETY ANALYST: It's part of the secondary flight control system. It's not primary. So Boeing is saying it's not that big of a deal going on right now.

But what it does is reshapes the wing allowing it to fly at a lower altitude or a lower speed, like during takeoff or landing, so that the wing allows the pilot to have more control over the aircraft. That's really what this slat does on the front of the wing.

KEILAR: The "New York Times" did this expose recently of a -- of the Boeing plant in South Carolina that made the Dreamliner. A whistleblower exposed shoddy manufacturing processes there. When you're looking at Boeing now, this company, companywide, does it have an endemic problem with the way it's building airplanes and quality control?

SOUCIE: You know, I think it's too early to say that. I did inspections on aircraft manufacturing companies and airlines for 18 years with the FAA. It's not uncommon to find certain things, particularly when they are under the microscope right now, and there's things that are going to come up and be issues. To determine whether it's systemic or endemic that would take a lot more data and a lot more information.

But right now, there are issues of concern. And whether Boeing is responding appropriately, that's really what the next step to determine right now is.

KEILAR: What do you think, as you're watching? You have this issue with the slats, right? I think part of this it's not happening in a vacuum, right? You've got the MCAS system, which they are now saying that things are sort of -- they are correcting the issue there and that pilots are prepared, but they are not doing any flight simulator time for that.

What do you think about Boeing's response here? What do you think about liability issues for Boeing?

SOUCIE: Well, those are two separate questions. I answer the first one, which is that, is there a problem, is there something going on within Boeing and allowing these things to continue to happen. I believe there's. What I believe is going on is that if -- looking at their responses, I think they're miscalculating or misclassifying issues.

[13:50:03] Let's take this slat track issue. The slat track, they're saying, well, it can't bring down on aircraft. Even if it failed completely, it wouldn't bring down an aircraft.

Well, I was looking earlier, in 2007, a 737 was crashed. It was a China Airlines. And it landed safely but then broke into a fire because this slat track stop mechanism, which is at the end of the slat track, had broken lose and punctured a hole in the slat track can. So that can ruptured into a fuel cell. The fuel cell spilled out and caused a fire and destroyed that aircraft. Luckily, no one was killed on that accident.

However, what this tells me is, when they're addressing the impact, what could happen, they're preemptively saying, well, what could happen is this but don't worry about it.

The fact is there's a risk. There is a risk that if that slat track is not properly treated, it would crack, and that stop, the same stop on the China Airlines, would have come loose and got wedged in the can and caused a fuel leak. So they're not assessing the impact of what happens.

The likelihood is rare, I agree with that. But when you're comparing likelihood with impact of what could happen, if it happened, this still falls, in my estimation, as something that's safety critical. They're giving them 10 days to inspect it. That is not sufficient to me.

KEILAR: What is sufficient, really quickly, if you can add?

SOUCIE: Oh, I think all the aircraft that have these on need to be inspected immediately before the next flight.

KEILAR: David Soucie, thank you so much.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo knocking Jared Kushner's peace plan, calling a peace plan un-executable.

Also, a Republican Congressman admits he probably killed hundreds of civilians while in combat.

And moments from now, the president will attend a state banquet during his U.K. visit. We have new details on his encounter with Prince Harry after the president called Prince Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, his criticism, "nasty" -- her criticism of him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:38] KEILAR: Behind closed doors, Mike Pompeo is painting a grim picture of the administration's Middle East peace plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE (voice-over): I think any fair person would describe as a very detailed, one might argue un-executable because no one -- no one believes that this will be easy.

Can we find enough space where there's enough in there that everybody says that's something to begin to work on?

I get why people think this is going to be a deal that only the Israelis could love. I understand the perception of that. I hope everyone will just give the space to listen and let it settle in a little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A short time ago, the secretary of state disputed the account despite the audio recording of him.

We have CNN military analyst, retired Major General James "Spider" Marks, here with us.

What did you think when you're listening to -- it sounds like a very candid description he has. Now he's saying that's not the case. What did you think about that?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No, it's a very candid, behind closed doors. I'm sure the secretary was hopeful that by thinking out loud he'd be able to kind of be a little more honest with those that were in the room.

The big story to me is that, can you have private conversations like that anymore. Can you actually close the door and say look, this is where I'm really struggling with?

But what it goes to -- that aside, what it goes to is you really set vision, which is what this administration is trying to do, which all administrations have tried to do specifically with this challenge, of trying to recognize the Palestinians and, how does that work, vis a vis, Israel?

You try to establish that vision with a notion of poetry, if you will, kind of aspirational stretch goals. How does that really work? Then you have to execute it and you do that in prose.

So you've got the tension between that very broad, very grand ideas about what the best might look like. And then the practical solution is going to end up that might be, as Secretary Pompeo said, pieces of this thing might be un-executable.

KEILAR: Which is common -- I mean, that's common sense for a lot of people as they look at the plan.

MARKS: Sure. Sure.

KEILAR: I want to ask about California Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter. In an interview, he said, that as an artillery officer in Iraq, his unit, quote, "killed probably hundreds of civilians," end quote. You're a retired general officer. What is your reactions to hearing that?

MARKS: I would say never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut.

The congressman is trying to draw a comparison between his actions in combat -- and God bless him for serving the nation honorably both in uniform and now in Congress. So there's nothing but good about what he's trying to achieve.

But he is comparing his actions in combat that have not been confirmed. These are his recollections, a biased view. We all have our own filters from combat. What I would see, Brianna, and you and I were standing next to each other, we would see two different things in a very filthy, nasty, chaotic world called combat.

The congressman has come forward and said, look, should I be held accountable for these actions I took in combat relative--

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Because he's been talking about a SEAL --

(CROSSTALK)

MARKS: Absolutely. He's talking about a SEAL who has been accused and is going through a legal process of having conducted war crimes.

KEILAR: Of shooting -- shooting civilians purposefully.

[14:00:03] MARKS: Correct.

KEILAR: A young woman, an old man --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: -- someone in his custody.

MARKS: The legal process needs to play itself out.