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CNN Obtains Video of Near Collision Between U.S. & Russian Warships; Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) is Interviewed About the Near Collision Between U.S. & Russian Warships and Nadler-Pelosi Split Over Trump Impeachment Inquiry. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 07, 2019 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over three hours at her attorney's office. We do not know what transpired during that time, but investigators need a break in the case. They need answers, and they need it as soon as possible. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Jean, what a horrible story. We hope that investigators do get that break very soon. Thank you for all the reports.

Now to this, a dangerously close encounter at sea between the U.S. and Russia. Let's get right to our breaking news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: OK, good morning, again, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We are following breaking news for you this morning, because CNN has obtained this just declassified photo, it's on your screen now, it shows what the U.S. Navy says was a near collision in the Philippine Sea. This happened today between a U.S. cruiser and a Russian destroyer. The U.S. Navy and the Russians pointing fingers at each other over who was to blame for this dangerous incident, but the U.S. Navy believes this photo shows the Russians at fault.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. official has released the image to CNN to show the gravity of what is being called by some Russia's provocations, stressing that the ships came so close together the Navy had to throw its vessel into reverse and hit the gas to avoid a crash. CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. Barbara, you've been doing great reporting on this all morning. What's the very latest?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you. Let's leave that image up because from the U.S. point of view it tells the story about what happened earlier today in the East China Sea off of China in international waters. The ship on the right of your screen is the USS Chancellorsville, a U.S. Navy warship. On the left you see the Russian ship. You see a very steep turn. You see the wake of the Russian ship. Two U.S. Navy officials tell me that kind of wake, that kind of steep turn by the Russian ship on the left of your screen could only have been made at a high speed by the Russians.

And there is additional imagery and video not yet declassified that shows, we are told, by the U.S. the Russian ship coming close. The U.S. Navy estimates the Russians came within 50 to 100 feet of their warship and did it at a high speed. No reason for that kind of activity. The U.S. Navy was in a tough spot at this point because they are conducting helicopter operations. In fact, this image taken from one of those helicopters. And a ship has to maintain a steady course to be able to put that -- have that helicopter land back on the deck of a moving ship at sea. So the Navy had no real choice, it had to maintain course. But when this happened, as you say, they went full power back, in other words, putting the ship into reverse to avoid an absolute disaster at sea. John?

BERMAN: Keep in mind what Barbara is reporting there, what the U.S. Naval vessel was doing, it was recovering a helicopter, so that is why it had to maintain the course. Barbara Starr, thank you very much for your reporting on this. I'm sure we will talk to you again soon as you get more.

Joining me now is retired Navy Rear Admiral and CNN military analyst John Kirby. Admiral, let's throw this picture back up. I want you to tell people what you see here.

RET. ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Clearly you have got the Chancellorsville. That's the cruiser on the right of the picture. She's moving at a pretty deliberate speed, as Barbara reported, recovering helicopters. Not only do you have to maintain a course, you have to maintain a certain safe speed so that the helicopter can land safely on the deck, which you can't see from this picture, which is aft.

So clearly, she is on a set course and speed, very, very deliberate. And you can tell the Russian ship is moving at a high rate of speed into a turn. Not only can you see the aggressive wake behind that ship as it makes that turn, but you can see the bow wave in front of the Russian ship, conveying that she is definitely moving at a high rate of speed. And you can also look, if you look closely at the picture, John, you can see that the Russian ship is leaning over to the right. That's a starboard list we call in the Navy. So she is clearly in an aggressive -- in the middle of an aggressive turn. So no question about this from looking at this picture that the Russian ship is at fault here.

And when a ship like the cruiser in what we call restricted maneuvering, when you're recovering helicopters or maybe you're doing an underway replenishment, there's really not a lot of option. And so the fact that the commanding officer had to put the ship into full reverse, all back full, that's trying to top 10,000 tons of metal in the water on a dime, and that's a very, very difficult thing to do. These cruisers aren't going to stop that back fast. It was an aggressive move by the C.O. to try to avoid a collision.

BERMAN: One of the things Barbara told us, Admiral, was that the two vessels had been talking, though. It's hard to understand how they could be talking and that the Russians would still maintain that course.

KIRBY: I have no doubt that on the deck of the cruiser, our cruiser, that they were in radio communication, VHF video, bridge to bridge we call it, it's like a walkie-talkie, with the Russian ship, warning them to stay away because the cruiser was in restricted maneuvering.

[08:05:01] And they will be flying visual notifications of that, flags and that kind of thing, to note they are conducting helicopter operations. There's no question that the Russian knew that. And I'm sure that they were in bridge to bridge communications well before you get to the incident of that picture, that moment we are looking at right now. And clearly the Russian obviously chose to ignore those warnings by the U.S. ship. So not at all doubt that they were in communication.

BERMAN: Just very quickly, give us a sense of what's going on around the world right now as the U.S. interacts with Russian vessels in different places. Are the Russians behaving in a different or more of a heightened way?

KIRBY: They have been conducting more aggressive intercepts air and maritime over the last several years. as you know, John, we've covered that here at CNN. Just earlier last week, as a matter of fact, there was an aggressive air intercept over the Mediterranean Sea where a Russian aircraft intercepted a U.S. aircraft in a very dangerous, unprofessional, unsafe maneuver.

I think it is part of the Russian bellicosity on the world stage trying to advance their interesting and prove they are still a world power. Now you have President Xi visiting in Moscow right now with President Putin. I don't know that you can connect the two, but clearly the Russians and Chinese want to diminish U.S. influence in the Pacific region. And I think that this particular intercept is a little bit part of sending that message.

BERMAN: All right, retired Rear Admiral John Kirby, thank you so much for coming on and walking us through this photo, pointing out things that I think civilians don't normally see here. That was fascinating. I appreciate it.

KIRBY: You bet. Happy to help.

CAMEROTA: That was really helpful, and we will continue to follow all developments on that breaking news.

Meanwhile, to politics, an about-face by former Vice President Joe Biden. After intense criticism from his rivals, the Democratic frontrunner says he no longer supports the Hyde Amendment which bans the use of federal healthcare dollars to pay for abortions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right. If I believe healthcare is a right as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone's zip code.

(APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Here to discuss this and more we have Nia-Malika Henderson, CNN senior political reporter, Chris Cillizza, CNN politics reporter and editor at large, Kirsten Powers, CNN political analyst. Kirsten, I want to start with you. You call this about-face incredible. What part was so stunning to you?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think the fact that just a few days ago his campaign was saying that this was his position, this is who he is, it's sort of core to his beliefs, and he wasn't going to change his position. And then, boom, after barely 24 hours of being attacked by his rivals he changed his position.

So I think politically it was definitely the right thing to do, there is no question he needed to put this behind him. What the issue that it raises for me is why his campaign didn't foresee this. It's something that should have been a very obvious that was going to be a problem. This was something the Democratic Party changed their position on in the platform in 2016, Hillary Clinton made it one of her key positions of getting rid of Hyde. So instead his campaign put out this idea this was central to his Catholic faith, and then 48 hours later he's changing his position.

BERMAN: Nia, does this say more about, a, Joe Biden, b, the Democratic Party, or, c, all of the above?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: All of the above. I'm going with c. Certainly, it says something about Joe Biden, the people he surrounded himself with, too. I think to Powers' point there, it is this sense of why didn't they foresee this? Why didn't he foresee this? They I think were thinking that he could stake out this centrist position, maybe others would follow who are also trying to stake out a centrist position in this campaign, and no one did. He was all alone in terms of this position.

It certainly speaks to what Hillary Clinton did in 2016, a line in the sand, and it was also in the Democratic Party platform in 2016, a sea change from what we saw from Obama who in 2010 signed an executive order around the Hyde Amendment, basically saying it would be protected and that he backed it. So this is very much a sea change in terms of the Democratic Party.

But it also I think speaks to a larger political environment. If you think about what's going on in Alabama, for instance, you think about what's going on in Georgia and in Missouri and Republicans pushing these highly restrictive bills in their states, a fight that is going to continue, a fight that could likely end up before the Supreme Court. So I think if you are Joe Biden you just couldn't sustain this position. With the women in this party being so key to electoral chances and the energy of groups like Planned Parenthood, Emily's List, NARAL, it was just unsustainable. I guess I am surprised that it happened so quickly. They were all over the place.

[08:10:00] If you look really at the last four or six weeks, at first he seemed to suggest that he wouldn't back the Hyde Amendment, and then they changed their position, and then they changed their position again. I don't think changing is necessarily important to voters. I think where he has landed finally will be the most important thing to voters.

CAMEROTA: Chris, in this political season with President Trump's ever changing political positions, is there any political price to say for changing your position like this?

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Not really. I think Kirsten and Nia are right. He is in the place now where he needs to be to not have this be a very sore spot with the Democratic base. For the average voter outside of the Democratic base, I'm not sure they pay all that much attention to the Hyde Amendment, but it does matter to a segment of the Democratic base.

I think, to go back to something Kirsten said, I think it's less about this one thing than it is about, OK, well, what does this say about Joe Biden 2020 Democratic frontrunner? Because for the first month of the campaign he really had it on cruise control. He really didn't -- he didn't sort of engage in any way. He was getting lots of positive press, wow, he is so disciplined on message. This week you've seen him struggle on the crime bill, stuff with plagiarism as it relates to his climate change plan, and this.

And I think it's -- does it matter if you have something that on Wednesday is a deeply held principle that's central to your faith, and on Thursday you abandon that as it goes forward on other issues? He's going to run into things going forward that his past record and where the Democratic Party was is not where the Democratic Party is now. Is this an indicator of how he handles that? I think that's the really important part.

BERMAN: Yes, you bring up the way this was handled the last three days, it's very surprising to see how they went from one place to another to another to another so quickly.

Kirsten, the president comes back from Europe today. He had a five- day trip, met with the queen, did a lot of things, gave this speech in Normandy yesterday. And if you only watched the speech he delivered there in front of 65 veterans of the D-Day invasion, you thought for a second that President Trump was focused on things beside himself, focused on these people behind him, focused on the moment. What you may not have known was that moments before he walked on that stage, he was giving an interview to FOX TV with the cemetery, with the veterans of D-Day --

CAMEROTA: The gravestones, row after row right behind him.

BERMAN: The gravestones all there, hurling insults at his political opponents and Nancy Pelosi. Let's just play this, and just look at where he's sitting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think she's a disgrace. I actually don't think she is a talented person. I've tried to be nice to her because I would have liked to have gotten some deals done. She is incapable of doing deals. She is a nasty, vindictive, horrible person. The Mueller report came out, it was a disaster for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Just the tonal difference between the speech and that interview, Kirsten, is simply stunning.

POWERS: Well, which we see all the time, right. When he's reading from the teleprompter he is a completely different person, but people should go and watch the entire clip of that. It goes on and on and on. He can't stop with the attacking Nancy Pelosi in the most personal terms imaginable as he's sitting there with these graves behind him and this very somber environment.

And it's interesting because Nancy Pelosi was actually sitting in a similar setting and asked a question about impeachment and basically said I'm not going to talk about that here. So it's the lack of decency. The things that he said about Nancy Pelosi of course are ridiculous. He's not -- this idea that she's nasty, she's nervous Nancy. She's not nervous at all, and she's actually one of the only people that can deal with him, which I think is what's gotten under his skin. The idea that she said something in a private meeting about him and he's so offended by it, considering how he talks about people on a daily basis, is kind of incredible.

CILLIZZA: Also worth noting just very quickly, worth noting that same interview -- FOX released this clip yesterday -- he calls Bob Mueller a fool, again, with the grave markings behind him, commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day. Bob Mueller, decorated Vietnam veteran. He just -- he has no sense for the time or the place or appropriateness. And it shows itself again and again. And remember that Trump, that Laura Ingraham interview Trump, that Trump, Twitter Trump, that's Trump. Reading off a teleprompter isn't him. We've seen this over and over again. Twitter Trump and Trump in these interviews and Trump in campaign rallies, that's who he really is.

CAMEROTA: It's been -- the point has been made that leaders generally for decades have avoided insulting each other on foreign soil, but never mind what people consider sacred ground. Thank you all very much. We appreciate all of that. We do have to get to some breaking news right now, because, as you know, we've been following this near collision in the Philippine Sea.

[08:15:00]

BERMAN: Yes, CNN just obtained video of all this, the collision between a U.S. and naval Russian warship. We're going to show you that video next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CAMEROTA: All right. We do have breaking news because CNN has just obtained declassified video of that near collision that we've been reporting on this morning, this is between U.S. and Russian warships in the Pacific.

This is an extraordinary encounter. You are looking at the video of it. Look at how close these two ships came. Obviously this is taken from the U.S. warship and you can see that it appears to be within feet, yards. They appear to be from each other, this was not supposed to happen.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with the breaking details.

Tell us about this video, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It is pretty darn chilling to look. Look how close that Russian warship is coming, you know, to the deck of this U.S. ship.

[08:20:05] U.S. sailors on deck taking photos, documenting this incident as they stand on their deck. Look at that, you can see that Russian wake at high speed right behind the Russian warship as it comes alongside.

What the U.S. navy is telling us is when this happened earlier today in the East China Sea and international waters, the Russians made this unsafe approach and they came within 50 to 100 feet at one point of the U.S. Navy warship. The Russians are saying that is not what happened, that they had the right of way.

But you do see a very steep wake, you can see that behind the Russian ship, at one point you see a wake alongside the Russian ship. A minute ago there, you just saw that navy camera being held by a U.S. sailor as they were pointing at the Russian ship to document the incident.

As you continue to see the wake one of the reasons this was so dangerous for the U.S. navy ship and its crew is they were trying to land helicopters back on their deck at the time and when you're landing the helicopter on your deck, you have to maintain a steady course because it's a very significant operation at sea. Remember, these are two ships, nobody is standing still. Ships move in the water, right, so this becomes a very dangerous activity.

Look at that, you see a U.S. Navy sailor, he could almost reach out and touch the Russian warship. This is not the way U.S. maritime international maritime safe operations are conducted at sea. Regardless of the debate between Moscow and Washington over right of way, what is very clear is you see the Russian wake, you see the Russian ship approaching the U.S. navy warship in open waters, mystifying why the Russians had to come so close, why they had to make that approach, why they had to challenge the U.S. Navy warship. There is plenty of open water for them to maneuver in.

And, look, this is not the first encounter, unsafe encounter with the Russian military. Just yesterday Russian aircraft challenge intercepted in an unsafe manner with a U.S. military aircraft over the Mediterranean. The U.S. regularly intercepts Russian aircraft off the coast of Alaska, but this video is something well worth looking at. This is just not the way safe international maritime operations are supposed to be conducted by anybody -- John, Alisyn.

BERMAN: Right. Barbara Starr, thank you so much for your reporting on this. We will let you get back to work. You've given us updates about every ten minutes all morning long and each new one more astounding than the last. Appreciate it.

Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell from Florida.

Thank you so much for being with us.

I just would like your reaction because you're seeing this footage for the first time just like we are. How does it strike you?

REP. DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL (D-FL): Look, Russia has been probing the United States now for quite some time, starting with interfering with our elections, sending nuclear air bombers to Venezuela, now we're seeing this. There are certain international regulations that are rules of the road if you want to see it that way and they are violating those and the question is what is this administration going to do to hold Russia accountable?

Safe seas are essential for international trade and there are certain international rules that we need to follow and, again, the question is what is this administration going to do? What are we going to hear from this president?

He refuses to stand up to Vladimir Putin. We've seen that time and time again. And Russia continues to probe the United States.

BERMAN: Again, I will tell you that so far this morning, there has been outrage from the Pentagon, but we will wait to hear what we hear from the rest of the administration as the day continues.

So, Congressman, you're in the House Judiciary Committee. CNN has reported overnight that the Judiciary chair, Jerry Nadler, has been pushing the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi again to open an official impeachment inquiry. And a couple reasons he gives is because it would allow consolidation of some of the investigations, also allow you do speak for freely on the House floor.

You have been on team Pelosi on this to this point which is to say hold off on an impeachment inquiry. Are you moving closer or have you been convinced by your chair that now is the time to open one?

MUCARSEL-POWELL: To tell you the truth I have been thinking more and more about when it would be appropriate to start the inquiry. An inquiry does not necessarily mean that we will bring that vote to the floor. I am actually anxious to -- we have a hearing on Monday and we're going to be asking questions from the former White House counsel under President Nixon and I have certain questions for him.

[08:25:02] I've read the Mueller report. There is clear evidence that this president has obstructed justice and I think that there have to be serious consequences. Having said, the courts have ruled in our favor with the Mazars opinion and it is important that we bring the American public along with us.

I think it's incredibly important that we educate, which is why we will probably be having that vote next week on the House floor to hold Barr and McGahn in contempt. They refused to give us the information that we've requested and they refused to come in front of us and testify.

BERMAN: I do want to ask you about immigration. Just yes or no quickly, if you had to say yes or no to an impeachment inquiry today, where would you be?

MUCARSEL-POWELL: I'm holding off on that.

BERMAN: OK. Immigration, there's a lot going on right now including negotiations with Mexico over their tariffs which could go into effect on Monday, but we have also learned that the Trump administration is going to remove funding for several services that have been given to children that have been held in some of these shelters, including English language, some recreational services for these unaccompanied minors.

This could affect your district very much because in Homestead, there is a shelter that's been housing children for some time now. You recently visited it. You said the conditions there are prison-like.

How would the cuts affect these children?

MUCARSEL-POWELL: Look, I have seen now the Homestead detention facility which is the largest detention facility that we have in this country, it's holding close to 3,000 children between the ages of 13 and 17.

The first time I visited the shelter was back in February and I left extremely disturbed with a lot of questions. They are living in prison-like -- in a prison-like shelter, high security, very regimented schedule. They are sleeping in these areas with 144 bunk beds with numbers next to the bunk bed.

And if this administration is now going to cut essential activities like exercise and provide them with immigration support, then we are literally robbing them of their humanity. I think it is completely unacceptable that we have this shelter with, again, close to 3,000 kids, we're entering hurricane season here in south Florida and there's no evacuation plan.

We have seen neglect, we saw the court filings in California which are now recounting stories of kids that have been mistreated, and I think it is incredibly negligent right now for the Department of Health and Human Services to have thousands of kids under their custody and mistreat them in that way, which is why I am calling for Secretary Azar to resign.

BERMAN: You're calling on the HHS secretary to resign. HHS says it's a matter of cash. What are you doing in Congress to get HHS cash? MUCARSEL-POWELL: We --

BERMAN: Go ahead.

MUCARSEL-POWELL: We passed in the past appropriations bill billions of dollars for border security. And we have requested a report on where those funds have been spent. We are not receiving any answers on that.

And it is also very interesting that they're saying they were short on cash when they provided a contract to this for-profit company managing the center, they are right now making about $775 per kid that is being held in Homestead, which is close to $2 million a day.

I also requested for more information on this, if you recall the former Chief of Staff John Kelly is on the board of this for profit company that is managing the Homestead detention facility. I have not received answers. I think that when you have incompetence, combined with arrogance, you have very, very dangerous consequences.

Again, I stand very firm at this point with everything that I've seen, I -- we cannot trust Secretary Azar to have the custody of thousands of kids under his purview, so I am calling and I'm firm on this stance that he should resign. He should not be managing the Department of Health and Human Services.

BERMAN: All right. Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, thanks for being with us this morning.

MUCARSEL-POWELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, John.

Actress Marcia Cross is speaking out about her cancer diagnosis and trying to spread awareness about the dangers of HPV. All that is next.

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