Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. to Retaliate Against Iran With Sanctions; Trump Says He's Not Ready for a 2020 Election Loss; Pete Buttigieg Met with Heated Protests in South Bend, Indiana; Trump Claims He Doesn't Need Swing Voters to Win Re-election. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 23, 2019 - 20:00   ET

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


[20:00:18] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

President Trump says hitting Iran in the wallet is for now the appropriate answer to their shootdown of a U.S. military drone. More economic sanctions. We haven't heard the details of them yet only that they're scheduled to go into effect on Monday. Tomorrow. The president says he didn't like the idea of causing human casualties in response to the loss of an unmanned piece of military hardware even though people around him wanted it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": Do you feel like you were being pushed into military action against Iran by any of your advisers?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have two groups of people. I have doves and I have hawks.

TODD: Yes. You have some serious hawks.

TRUMP: I have some hawks -- yes, John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it's up to him he'd take on the whole world at one time. OK? But that doesn't matter because I want both sides. You know, some people say, why did you -- you know I was against going into Iraq. For years and years. And before it ever happened. I was against going into Iraq. And some people said, oh, I don't know, I was totally against. I was a private citizen. It never made sense to me. I was against going into the Middle East.

Chuck, we spend $7 trillion in the Middle East right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Let's get to our White House correspondent Boris Sanchez.

Boris, the president getting credit today from senior Iranian officials for not going through with any military retaliation. But they're also warning the U.S. against starting an armed conflict. What else are you hearing today?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana. Given everything that we've heard from President Trump and some of his key administration officials, the United States is effectively trying to put Iran into a corner where it feels forced to negotiate during that rare Sunday morning appearance on a political talk show by President Trump. You heard him bragging about how U.S. sanctions have crippled Iran's economy.

The president saying that he does not believe that Iran is trying to provoke the United States by shooting down this military drone but rather that they're desperate and that they want to negotiate. The president also says he is willing to sit down and talk with them saying that he does not want war.

We also heard from Vice President Mike Pence today. He made it clear the administration is going to keep ratcheting up the pressure on Iran until they renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal, essentially giving them a new nuclear deal.

Listen to what Pence told Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president's message to Iran is very clear, that we are not going to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. And we're not going to stand by while Iran continues to sow maligned influence across the nation. That's why tomorrow the president will announce additional sanctions against Iran.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tomorrow, yes.

PENCE: The president has made it clear that we are not going to tolerate any threats against American forces, American interests, America's allies in the region and we'll never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And we should be clear, the president has not ruled out military action at all. In fact, during that NBC interview, the president said that there are many targets in Iran that the United States could aim for. We also heard from his National Security adviser John Bolton today. He is in Israel. He was doing a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And he effectively said that the U.S. military is revitalized and ready to go.

As for the potential outcome of an armed conflict, President Trump told NBC News, quote, "It will be obliteration like you've never seen before" -- Ana.

CABRERA: Boris Sanchez, at the White House for us. Thank you.

In addition to Iran, the president was also asked about the 2020 race and he gave a very real seemingly honest answer when asked about the possibility of becoming a one-term president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: You prepared to lose?

TRUMP: No. Probably not. Probably not. I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It would be much better if I said, yes. It would be easier for me to say, well, yes. No, I'm probably not too prepared to lose. I don't like losing. I haven't lost very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: With us now is CNN senior political analyst David Gergen. He has advised four U.S. presidents.

David, the president doesn't always shoot it straight. But that seemed like a real moment there. What did you make out of it?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It did. Almost made me think about someone, you know, musing about their own mortality. And, you know, being straight about it but being a little downcast about the prospects.

I think, listen, the president has to know that he is vulnerable. He sees the polls. But he's also a fighter and he knows this is going to be an unpredictable race. And I think he feels he has a stronger team. And as president you have a lot of levers at your command that your -- that the challenger does not have. And that's -- so this is going to be a race we don't know who is going to win. Probably until pretty late in the game.

CABRERA: I want to play another moment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:05:03] TODD: You didn't like the fact that you lost the popular vote. That bothered you, didn't it?

TRUMP: Well, I think it was a -- I mean, I'll say something that again is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that I don't believe.

TODD: You won't accept the result? And you will accept whatever happens in 2020?

TRUMP: Sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The president says he will step down if he loses. I know some Democrats and even Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen have questioned whether he actually would. But he also again made this false claim that millions voted illegally. Why?

GERGEN: I can't understand why he keeps coming back to that because it is a -- the figure has been well proven to be wrong. And it doesn't help -- you know, he, himself, formed a commission to look at this very question. People mostly -- the president had a majority in this group, have some -- he appointed someone to run to figure out whether in fact there were a lot of illegal votes in the last presidential election. They came back and just said the evidence didn't support that.

So it's still not there. But that doesn't -- you know, in the long run, what happened in 2016 is not as relevant as what happens in the next few months. And that's what's really going to determine it. He's got a very strong, sturdy base. We know that. But that base alone is not enough to win the election. There are a lot of people who are just as strongly against him as are for him.

And what I think all of us -- we can't fully trust the polls given what happened back in 2016 and in 2018. And you never know what's going to happen in these closing days. I do think the president is behind now, maybe eight, 10 points nationally. But that gap is -- there's a good chance that gap is going to close some.

CABRERA: We have a long way to go before the general election still. You mentioned --

GERGEN: I'll -- yes.

CABRERA: You mentioned 2016, David.

GERGEN: Yes, go ahead, please.

CABRERA: And it does seem like the president can't stop thinking about that race. He actually gave Hillary Clinton credit. He said she was a tough candidate in 2016. Talking today, he said, he would rather run against Joe Biden than face Hillary Clinton again. Why do you think he sees Biden as easier to beat than Clinton?

GERGEN: Well, Hillary Clinton had a lot of obvious advantages going in. First woman running. A party apparatus who was firmly behind her. She had had a lot of experience. She looked like -- she looked almost a sure thing to win the nomination and then the presidency. And it slipped away from her for a whole obviously a lot of reasons. But given that right now, I think this president feels that Joe Biden is not as consistent a candidate as Hillary Clinton was.

That he -- you know, he has not had great success when he's done this in the past. What he has going for him is an overwhelming sense -- in large part of the country that people want change. They want a new president.

CABRERA: The president's club is a tiny one. Only 43 people besides Trump have ever had the job. Only four of them are still alive.

GERGEN: Right.

CABRERA: Here's who President Trump says he talks to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TODD: Do you speak to any of the former presidents?

TRUMP: Yes.

TODD: Who is the last one you did?

TRUMP: I speak to Bush. I speak to Jimmy Carter.

TODD: You do? What about President Obama?

TRUMP: I have not spoken to him --

TODD: But George W. Bush you do?

TRUMP: -- pretty much from the beginning.

TODD: And Jimmy Carter?

TRUMP: I have spoken to Bush. I have spoken to Jimmy Carter, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: It sounds like he only talks to Bush and Carter. Do you see their hands in any of the choices President Trump has made as president?

GERGEN: Zero. I think these have been courtesy calls for the most part. And, you know, I don't think they've swayed his decision- making. Listen, Tucker Carlson, the FOX anchor, had a lot more influence in the president's decision not to hit Iran than did any of the former presidents. He is just not turning to them as previous presidents have when using force or contemplating the use of form.

They have often called their predecessors. For a number of years, JFK was calling Dwight Eisenhower, for example, way back then. Bill Clinton, he south the best -- he told me the best advice he got on Russia came from of all people Richard Nixon. And Nixon often sent him, you know, letters, memo, and that sort of thing about the Soviets.

So it is a past practice. But this is a -- you know, Donald Trump is running a one-man show. He is doing it in the White House, domestically, and increasingly that's what he is trying to do in the world. He's trying to run the world through a one-man show. And it's hard to do. He does need a diversity of advisers. And I was glad to hear him say that he wanted to hear from a range of views, from hawks as well as doves.

CABRERA: David Gergen, thank you very much.

GERGEN: Thank you, Ana. Take care.

CABRERA: You too.

[20:10:02] Coming up, Pete Buttigieg leaves the campaign trail and heads home to heated protests. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me come --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me give you the mic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone has the mic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, hold on. Let --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If everyone can just -- we're going to allow him to speak if everyone --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Was Pete Buttigieg prepared for what happened today at his town hall in South Bend, Indiana? Citizens were hot. They were emotional. They weren't taking any pat political answers after another fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to say I love this city so much and I want to support you all. But I refuse to lay down my respect for these people out here that's hurt. To say something that's photo-op and say something that sound meaningful but it ain't. The same process that you all have been telling us to trust, you told us in 2016 when we were protesting in there the first time.

That same process you're asking us to trust, so how can we trust this process? How can we ask another black man to go join the police department to try to be part of the change when you all got sexual harassment -- sexual harassment charges inside the South Bend Police Department? You promote the bad officers and demote the good ones. You got racism inside your police department? How are we supposed to trust this? How are we supposed to trust this?

Mayor, when that young man got killed, ran over at the stoplight at, what did you say? What did you say, Mayor? You dare near blamed him. How can we supposed to trust you? How can -- and you partner with a lot of the stuff that we did with my organization.

[20:15:07] I understand that. But when you mess up, we got to also call that out, too. When the city messes up, we got to call that out, too. And our people is hurt. Dr. King said, everybody out here want to be Martin Luther King scholars, right? Dr. King said a right is the voice of the unheard. I'm not encouraging a riot but these people is unheard.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Let's go live to CNN's Jason Carroll who is there in South Bend, Indiana.

Jason, you were at the town hall. Tell us what that atmosphere was like.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what you heard from and what you heard just there are people in this community who are suffering. The mayor acknowledges that the people here are suffering. He acknowledges that members of the community are in pain here. But they're also frustrated and quite frankly, Ana, they're just -- they're just out of patience. And part of the reason for that is because many of the people that we spoke to here, they voiced their concerns during that town hall, feel as though they did this very same thing four years ago, three years ago.

You know, last year, they've been voicing their concerns about this police department which they say has officers who used racially insensitive language. They say that this a department that has used excessive force. And so what you heard from today, what the mayor heard from today was a community that was just fed up and really looking for ways to vent and voice their anger.

Now the mayor has acknowledged that more needs to be done in a number of areas. And following the town hall, we had an opportunity to speak with him. He said it was painful what happened today. But he felt it was necessary. And he got emotional. And I want you to listen to what happened here when he sort of talked about solutions and trying to move forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know if it's smart or not. I don't know if it's strategic or not. But it's my city. And I have a relationship with everybody in this city. Who looks to the city to keep them safe. And when somebody loses their life because of a civilian or because of an officer -- and it's happening all over the country, but it's happening here. Then I feel like it's my job to face it.

I'm sick of these things being talked about in political terms, in theoretical terms. Like it's a show. It's people's lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: A couple of things, Ana, the mayor did acknowledge that he needs help. He says we need help in terms of diversifying the police department here in South Bend. He said the body cameras clearly have not been enough. They need to do more. And he says he is here to make progress.

One of the things that he has done, he says that he is going to send a letter to the Justice Department asking for an independent investigation. But I can't stress enough that the feelings here run very, very deep. And this is not something the mayor knows is going to be solved overnight. CABRERA: Jason Carroll, thank you.

Coming up, President Trump says all he needs is his most ardent supporters to win re-election. Is he right? A reality check next. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:22:00] CABRERA: President Trump insists he doesn't need any swing state voters to give him a second term in the White House, except the numbers might get in the way.

CNN's John Avlon brings us a reality check.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Donald Trump doesn't need no stinking swing voters to get re-elected. At least that's what he told "TIME" magazine, saying, I think my base is so strong, I'm not sure I have to do that.

This is play to the base on steroids. But it fits the way he's governed. Trump is massively popular within the Republican Party. But he's the only president in the history of Gallup polling never to have been above 50 percent approval among all Americans in his presidency. And no president has been re-elected with a net negative poll rating.

And no matter what Trump believes, he can't safely ignore swing voters and expect to be re-elected. That's because the base just isn't big enough to win on its own. Only 30 percent of Americans identify as Republican, according to the most recent Gallup tracking poll. Toward Democrats, 31 percent while independents are a plurality of American voters at 38 percent.

Now Donald Trump won the independent voter for Hillary Clinton, 46 percent to 42 percent. In part, that may be because Trump was seen as less conservative than past GOP nominees. But here's the big warning sign for Trump's re-election. Democrats won independent voters big time in the 2018 midterms by a 12-point margin. That's three times what Trump won them by just two years before. And that trend is not Trump's friend.

Let's take a quick look at the 2020 map. The good news for Republicans is that according to Gallup there are 19 states where voters identify as highly conservative, while another six lean conservative. That's compared to just six states where there were more liberals than conservatives, while another nine lean liberal. But the gray states, those are the key battlegrounds there. The swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Virginia, Nevada. And according to the latest Gallup state polling, Donald Trump is under water in terms of his popularity in all of them.

So dismissing swing voters would seem to be a form of electoral suicide, except Donald Trump has already have managed to upend all expectations once. And if he's not going to court swing voters, he still has one path open to him. Go nuclear when it comes to negative partisanship. That means a scorched earth campaign where he tries to convince swing voters that Democrats are too extreme, while motivating his base at the same time. And that explains why he's been saying things like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our radical Democrat opponents are driven by hatred, prejudice and rage. They want to destroy you and they want to destroy our country as we know it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Now Democrats could take some comfort from the fact that Trump has failed to build support beyond his base. An intensity definitely seems to be on their side. About 51 percent of voters say they will definitely vote against Trump's re-election. But presidential elections are ultimately a compared-to-what proposition. And if they nominate a candidate who can be credibly characterized as radical or fail to connect to independent or swing voters, Trump could pull out another against-all-odds victory. Bottom line, no matter what President Trump's gut tells him, swing voters in swing states will determine the winner of the next presidential election.

[20:25:03] And that's your reality check.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Thank you, John.

Coming up, Warren's wall. How letters, cards and even Post-In notes from voters helped inspire Elizabeth Warren's dozen-plus policy proposals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got a plan for that. The good news is, I got a plan for that. In fact I got a lot of plans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[LAUGHTER]

CABRERA: Are all of her plans playing off? New polls show Senator Elizabeth Warren surging nationally. In fact one this week has her edging out Bernie Sanders for second place in the Democratic race for president.

Now since the beginning, Warren has relied on an idea heavy approach inspired by what she's heard from voters in letters, cards and notes that now as you can see hang on a wall in her campaign office in Boston. These letters offering a glimpse of which of her ideas are resonating. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: Oh, I am writing to share my student loan story with you. There's so much I'd like to say. But since I just got paid and sent off my $806 payment for my student loan, I will focus on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So let's look at some of those plans in a new segment to help you sort through a crowded Democratic field to answer a central question. What's the big idea? A look at the boldest, most novel, most transformative ideas for 2020 and the candidates who are behind them.

Here to kick us off with a look at some of Elizabeth Warren's big ideas is CNN Politics senior writer Zach Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACH WOLF, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER: One of the reasons voters are becoming more interested in Elizabeth Warren, is that she has a plan for everything. She wants the government to do a lot more for people, especially people who have less.

The Federal Reserve said in 2018 that the top 1 percent of Americans had 31 percent of all the wealth in the country, while the bottom 50 percent of Americans had just 1 percent of the wealth. And the way Warren wants to combat this kind of inequality and how she wants to pay for a lot of these programs is a tax on wealth.

Today, taxes are based on income. But under Warren's plan, households with $50 million or more would pay an additional two percent annual tax on all the wealth they have over that $50 million. And households with a billion dollars or more would pay 3 percent.

Warren thinks this would affect very few people, just 75,000 households in a nation of more than 300 million people. Warren thinks she could raise $2.75 trillion with her wealth tax over 10 years. She could do a lot of what she wants to do with that money, cancel student loan debt, for instance.

Warren says 95 percent of people with student loan debt would see some sort of benefit under her plan. If you make less than $100,000, the government would pay $50,000 of your debt off. That would phase out for people with larger incomes up to $250,000. The one-time cost of that benefit is $640 billion.

She'd also give out free childcare. Warren tells a story of being a struggling mom and making decisions about her career based on how she'd take care of her kids. And her plan is aimed at hoping women have both careers and children at the same time.

She'd give a family of 4, making $51,500 or less. Their childcare would be free. That it would then kick in on a sliding scale so that no family would pay more than 7 percent of their income, the cost of this, $70 billion a year. There's a lot more that Warren wants government to do. These are just some of the specifics about what she would do and who it would help. And importantly, the big, bold idea for how she would pay for it, by taxing wealth. Ana?

CABRERA: All right, Zach Wolf, thank you for that. Coming up, close encounters, senators receiving a classified briefing about possible UFO sightings. So, what did they learn?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: An unbelievable story of survival now. A cat in Minnesota is recovering after somehow surviving a full wash, rinse and spin cycle in a washing machine. This is Felix, just 1-year-old. His owner turned her back and didn't see him jump into the washing machine before she started it.

Forty five minutes later, she noticed that Felix was still in the washer. He wasn't in the greatest shape and probably spent a few of his nine lives. Veterinarians say it will take a while but Felix will eventually be fine, and hopefully a little wiser.

E.T. from Capitol Hill, a group of senators just got a classified briefing about a series of reported encounters between the Navy and UFOs. CNN's Tom Foreman has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's rotating.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The grainy images captured by U.S. military pilots don't look like much. But their release by the Pentagon was more than enough to prompt a classified briefing for lawmakers, including Senator Mark Warner, vice-chairman of the intelligence committee.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): One of the key takeaways I'd have is that the military and others are taking this issue seriously, which I think in previous generations may not have been the case.

FOREMAN: The President told ABC, he's been briefed too.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are saying they are seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.

FOREMAN: Also ramping up interest, some pilots are talking, describing strangely shaped aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound, dramatically changing direction and nearly colliding with a military jet.

RYAN GRAVES, FORMER NAVY FIGHTER PILOT: These objects would be out there all day. I think the speeds that they are exhibiting as well as the flight characteristics, there's no platform or really energy source that I'm aware of that could allow something to stay in the air as long as these objects were.

FOREMAN: Reports about a now defunct $20-dollar program to track such sightings started by Senator Harry Reid, emerged a couple of years back, triggering similar interest.

LUIS ELIZONDO, GLOBAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, TO THE STARS ACADEMY: This aircraft -- we'll call them aircraft, are displaying characteristics that are not currently within the U.S. inventory nor in any foreign inventory that we are aware of.

FOREMAN: Late night's Jimmy Kimmel has questioned former presidents about such encounters time and again.

GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not telling you nothing.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't reveal anything.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: Oh, really?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we were visited someday, I wouldn't be surprised. I just hope that it's not like Independence Day.

KIMMEL: Yes, right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're looking at black structure in the next 36 hours.

FOREMAN: Still, if it's not that, the question remains up in the air. What is it? The military is clearly skeptical of any claim that this has anything to do with space aliens.

But amid a lot of noise from conspiracy theories that maybe this is some sort of advanced technology being operated by a foreign power, they have set up a new system for pilots to report what they have seen in these close encounters. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Friends of the late CNN host, Anthony Bourdain, will celebrate his legacy on his birthday, this week, with Bourdain Day. Bourdain would've turned 62 years old on Tuesday. Now, two of his closest buddies, award-winning chefs, Eric Ripert and Jose Andres, are announcing a new way to honor and pay tribute to Bourdain, the man who showed us the world. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ERIC RIPERT, AWARD-WINNING CHEF: June is a very important month.

[20:45:00] We are going to celebrate the birthday of our fellow friend, Anthony Bourdain on June 25th. In his honor, the Culinary Institute of America has announced the Anthony Bourdain Legacy Scholarship.

JOSE ANDRES, CLOSE FRIEND OF THE LATE ANTHONY BOURDAIN: For students pursuing semester abroad and students participating in the global cuisine and cultural experiences. All the information is right there. Swipe up or click the link in bio for more info.

RIPERT: Yes.

ANDRES: Happy birthday, Tony.

RIPERT: Happy birthday, Tony.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Happy birthday, Tony. Anthony Bourdain who hosted CNN's "PARTS UNKNOWN," took his own life a year ago this month. And joining us now is Chef Jose Andres, joining us from Singapore. Chef, it's so beautiful how you are paying tribute to your dear friend. Tony must have been really, really special to you.

ANDRES: Well, Tony was so special for so many people. Remember that properly I did the last show that Tony ever -- the last one he ever did. And I took him to my hometown, Asturias. I believe that Tony was -- Tony, really, what he was doing was living life, bringing people together.

He also believed that we were not so different, one from each other, that we were all one. I believe that one (INAUDIBLE) one plate of food at a time.

CABRERA: What was it about Tony that had such a profound impact on you?

ANDRES: Tony was always there caring for the voiceless. If we follow his life on T.V., but more important, if you follow his life outside T.V., Tony was always that voice that will talk on behalf of those undocumented immigrants in America, or anyone else around the world.

Tony was always trying to be the voice to those people that didn't have the voice. That's why Tony was so special. He was never about me, me. He was about the, we, the people. That's what Tony, for me, is one very genuine person.

CABRERA: And you reflect that in so many ways yourself. I know you are asking people to share their memories for Bourdain Day. What's your favorite memory of Anthony Bourdain?

ANDRES: Well, Eric Ripert and I, we talked about, yes, let's celebrate the day where everybody can be part of this huge celebration doing videos on their favorite place, cocktail bar, restaurant, food truck, whatever they want to do to celebrate Tony. And we are asking people to put a video with the hash tag Bourdain Day.

I have so many moments with Tony but probably, in Asturias, the last show I did with him, where we are filming with these beautiful mountains in north part of the Spain. And the mountains are in our back. We are looking at the back (INAUDIBLE) tells me, you know, Jose, this is no way to be enjoying life.

And he turned away from the cameras and he began looking at the beautiful blue sky, beautiful lake, and saying, this is the way it should be. You see, simple things like this, is what make Tony an amazing person. He will always understand what was the right thing to do, not only for himself, but for others to enjoy the moment.

CABRERA: Yes, and appreciate those simple pleasures. What do you think Tony would want his legacy to be?

ANDRES: I think -- I think Tony legacy will be that anybody out there in the food business, yes to take care of our own (INAUDIBLE) if we do, but also to try to become the voice of those that are voiceless, to try to feed the many.

I think Tony, in many ways, always looked like, you know, that guy that with grace, with this beautiful (INAUDIBLE) his poetry when he spoke, he can convince all of us that anything was possible. So, I think he only wants everybody to go out there and to say, look, if I made it happen, this guy that was working in a little meat place in Manhattan, and I became what I became, you can make it happen too.

He is telling everybody, yes, you can do it, you should do it, believe in yourself, because I'm there, believing in you. And his legacy why we are doing this is (INAUDIBLE) on top of everything to make sure that people that have the talent, money will not be the issue that keeps them away from that future of being in the food industry, writing, doing T.V., opening a restaurant.

So, we believe in what Tony believed that the future is in the young people. And that's why we are doing this scholarship, to make sure that many people like him will have the opportunity to a better life.

CABRERA: That's so cool. That's so, so beautiful that you are paying it forward, your honoring him, his legacy.

[20:50:02] And again, everybody is encouraged to share their memories and their own thoughts for Bourdain Day on Tuesday, Jose Andres, thank you, and huge congrats to you, Chef Andres, for winning the Icon Award from the best -- the 50 best restaurants group.

I don't know if our viewers at home know. But that's one of the highest honors in the culinary world and you're so deserving, thank for being here with us.

ANDRES: Thank you very much.

CABRERA: Congrats. Coming up, you know the iconic images, but a new CNN film brings you never-before-seen footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE MCCANDLESS II, NASA ASTRONAUT: Neil and Buzz, the president of the United States is in his office now and would like to say a few words to you, over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It has been nearly 50 years since astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins took a giant leap for mankind on the moon. CNN's newest original film, "APOLLO 11," takes you inside that amazing mission with never-before-seen footage and pristine audio recordings. Here's a preview.

MCCANDLESS: Neil and Buzz, the president of the United States is in his office now and would like to say a few words to you, over.

NEIL ARMSTRONG, ASTRONAUT: That would be an honor.

MCCANDLESS: Go ahead, Mr. President. This is Houston, out.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House. This certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made from the White House.

[20:55:08] I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you have done, for every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives, and for people all over the world. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Joining us now, the director of "APOLLO 11," Todd Miller, and Todd, good to have you with us. This looks fascinating. One of the thing that makes it so spectacular is all the footage that you were able to uncover. How did you find it?

TODD MILLER, CNN DIRECTOR, APOLLO 11: Well, initially, we just started with a simple research project. So, we were engaged with NASA and the National Archives, which is (INAUDIBLE) for a lot of government records, film in this case, video, audio, stills, everything. It all ends up there.

And several months into that research project, they discovered this cache of large format film reels that had been basically kept in cold storage for the better half of 50 years.

So, it's just a testament to archive preservation, that it worked, waiting for, you know, someone like our team to come along and utilize it.

CABRERA: And when you found it, were you like, this is gold, this is money? MILLER: Yes. It was, you know -- some of the reels had Apollo 11 on them. Some of them, if you are lucky, had the date and around the launch. And if you're really lucky, it had some shot lists on it. But it wasn't until we actually got them here to New York and tested them in the first reel.

I'll never forget it. The quality was just stunning, and we all just sat there and stunned silence, not really believing what we were seeing.

CABRERA: The iconic images and moments that we see in the film from the Saturn V rocket, mission control, the eagle landing, those first steps on the moon, obviously, those are really important. But then there's also the audio, 11,000 hours of audio from these moments. They really do offer new perspectives on what the crew and mission control were experiencing in real time. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUZZ ALDRIN, ASTRONAUT: How far are my feet from the edge?

ARMSTRONG: OK. You are at the edge of the porch.

ALDRIN: OK. Now I want to back up and partially close the hatch, making sure not to lock it on my way out.

ARMSTRONG: That's a really good thought.

ALDRIN: That's our home for the next couple hours. We want to take good care of it.

ARMSTRONG: You've got three more steps and then a long one.

ALDRIN: Beautiful view.

ARMSTRONG: Isn't that something? Magnificent sight out here.

ALDRIN: Magnificent desolation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Tom, what did you learn about this mission you didn't already know?

MILLER: A ton of stuff. You know, I -- everyone on the team, we did our own research. So, just hearing interviews, reading, you know, the astronauts' autobiographies, books, on the subject, there was a lot of things that either fiction or non-fiction films hadn't told.

So, some of it was technical, orientation of the spacecraft, exactly what they were doing. We worked very closely with NASA's chief historian, Bill Barry, and his department, to try to get all that stuff right. And then there was just the kind of human moments, because we had so much footage and so much audio that no one had ever heard. Our project really became part of contributing to the historical record. So, working with historians and researchers and the astronauts themselves and families, to try to get it as accurate as possible, was paramount, you know, from the get-go.

CABRERA: Is there one piece of footage or one moment that you may have come across in which you just said, wow?

MILLER: Yes. The most stunning footage for me -- and I go to every single screening we have, I'll be watching it, you know, tonight. It's the suiting up shots of the three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins being suited up the day of the launch.

And I really didn't -- it's stunning to see but juxtapose that with a few days later. We had some imagery from a test run that they did. And they're kind of joking around in the room. They do the exact same thing they did the day of the launch. They get suited up. They drive out to the astro van to the pad, they go up the elevator, they sat on top of the rocket, but then they just went home.

On the day of the launch, completely different mood shift. You could just see that they were -- they had kind of this meditative state they were going in. You see it reflected in the film. And it just gets me every time I see it.

CABRERA: Well, Todd, we look forward to seeing it here on CNN. Thank you so much for your time, for all of your hard work. Be sure to tune in, the award-winning CNN film "APOLLO 11" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

That does it for me. Thank you for joining us this weekend. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Have a great night. "APOLLO 11" is next.