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At This Hour
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) Is Interviewed About Delays In Raids; Trump Delays Ice Raids, Gives Congress 2 Weeks To Solve Crisis; Author Accuses Trump Of Sexually Assaulting Her In The 1990s; U.S. Women's Soccer Team Agrees To Mediation. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired June 24, 2019 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[11:33:25] REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): So when I spoke to the President, I said look, I'm a mom, I have five kids, seven -- nine grandchildren children and your children are scared. You're scaring the children of America. Not just in those families but their neighbors and their communities. You're scaring the children.
And I do think that some of the faith that screw ups did weighing in with the President. I hope so. And now we have to continue to keep that pressure on to remove all doubt that we, in our country, respect people for their dignitary and worth, their spark of divinity. Respect them for their right, being in the United States of America and recognizing that families belong together.
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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: That's House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirming some of the details of her conversation on Friday night with President Trump about those scheduled immigration raids that were supposed to begin this past weekend. Well, they're on hold for now.
President Trump called off the raids after hearing from Speaker Pelosi. He tweeted. I want to give the Democrats every last chance to quickly negotiate simple changes to Asylum and Loopholes. Well, Speaker Pelosi responded, Mr. President, delay is welcome. Time is needed for comprehensive immigration reform. Families belong together.
Now, this is happening as there are these shocking reports of unhealthy and unsanitary conditions in border detention facilities. Joining me to discuss Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois. Congressman, good morning to you.
REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Hey, good morning.
[11:34:57] BLACKWELL: So first let's talk about this delay that resulted from this conversation between the President and the speaker. She said, delay is welcome. Do you know what she expected would be accomplished in ten days, especially considering at the end of the week you go on recess for the 4th?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, I think, first of all, I think that making sure of these children are in safe and sanitary conditions is an absolute pre requisite to moving forward. That's non-negotiable. And I don't know anybody at least in our caucus who believes that these children are in safe and sanitary conditions now, especially when the guards are being handed masks to protect themselves.
The second thing that I think should be accomplished in the next two weeks is we have to have a serious conversation about the outlines for comprehensive immigration form fixed.
BLACKWELL: In the next two weeks, you're going to sit down and come up with the outlines for immigration reform?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think at this point, we're kind of in a crisis situation. And sometimes out of that hopefully produces some meaningful conversations. One, obviously, I think people would be willing to talk about border security. But, two, there has to be a way to deal with, for instance, H.R. 6, our Dream, Dreamer and Promise Act which helps to allow Dreamers to stay in this country.
And then also to deal with 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country who for the most part have not committed crimes, who stake meaningful roots here and so forth. I think we have to get them right by the law now.
BLACKWELL: Well, congressman, everybody knows the issues for each side. You can probably deal on many of the concerns of immigration. Democrats want DACA considerations.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Sure.
BLACKWELL: They want some confirmations. The President wants money for his wall. You brought up what I think a lot of people are just heartbroken by the conditions in these facilities with these children.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes. Yes, sir.
BLACKWELL: I want you to listen to the vice president this weekend with Jake as he was questioned about those. Watch.
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MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we were negotiating during the government shutdown.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, OK.
PENCE: And Democrats in Congress refused to expand the bed space and the capacity for us to detain people --
TAPPER: But this is going on right now.
PENCE: -- at our borders. It's one of the reasons why we continue to call on Congress to give DHS, Customs and Border Protection additional resources at the border.
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BLACKWELL: The vice president says, this is on you, that you're not approving the money that CBP says that you're leveraging their limited resources to provide the best care. Is this about money? Do they just not have enough money?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: No, it's not just about money. There are two issues that -- or three issues I want to point out.
First of all, when we've appropriated money to the Trump administration, they've tried to divert some of this money for purposes that we're not authorized. The President is stuck on his border wall, even though the vast majority of members of Congress don't want it.
And then secondly, there is a court order in place that mandates that these children be taken care of in safe and sanitary conditions. And the fact that these children don't often have toothbrushes or soap or other basic amenities was actually argued to be one that was safe and sanitary by the Trump administration's lawyers, all that being said, we are now proposing a $4.5 billion in an emergency supplemental appropriations bill to take care of additional humanitarian needs of these migrants.
BLACKWELL: Yes, there are definitely, there is the Democratic $4.5 billion bill that's also the Senate Republicans. Do you agree that HHS needs more money? Do you agree that Homeland Security needs more money?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes.
BLACKWELL: You don't -- Democrats don't want to give the additional money for the Pentagon.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Correct.
BLACKWELL: But how long do these children have to wait with their shirts encrusted with tears and snots and 7-year-olds taken care of the toddlers no toothbrushes. For you in Congress to figure this out, how long do these children have to wait?
KRISHNAMOORTHI: They shouldn't wait another day. They should get that today under the flora settlement that requires that they be taken care of in safe and sanitary conditions today.
On top of that, additional funds will be appropriated, but there is no reason to wait. This has to happen now. They need to be taken care of now.
BLACKWELL: Everyone says that. But we'll see how long the children really have to wait. Congressman Krishnamoorthi, always good to talk to you.
KRISHNAMOORTHI: Same here, sir. [11:39:25] BLACKWELL: Well, still to come, writer E. Jean Carroll comes forward with new shocking allegations against President Trump, speaking out about a sexual assault she says happened two decades ago. What she told CNN next.
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BLACKWELL: An author accusing who's accusing Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago says her attack mirrored what Donald Trump said in the "Access Hollywood" recording. Her name is E. Jean Carroll. She says that President Trump attacked her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman department store. This was in the mid 90s.
Now, while she does not use the word, she agrees that what happened to her was rape. Now, Carroll says up until the attack, she had been talking with and joking with Trump and that although she was caught off guard she fought back.
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E. JEAN CARROLL, AUTHOR ACCUSES DONALD TRUMP OF SEXUALLY ASSAULTING HER IN THE 90'S: It was a fight. It was a -- I want women to know that I did not stand there, I did not freeze, I was not paralyzed, which is a reaction that I could have had because it's so shocking. No, I fought. And it was over very quickly. It was against my will, 100 percent. And I ran away.
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[11:45:07] BLACKWELL: Well, President Trump has denied the accusation saying this. I've never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section. No pictures? No surveillance? No video? No reports? No sales attendants around? I would like to thank Bergdorf Goodman for confirming they have no video footage of any such incident because it never happened.
Now, Carroll is publishing these accusations along with stories of other encounters with what she calls horrible men in a new book, and it's adding to questions about why she didn't come forward before with her story.
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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Did you consider in 2016 when Donald Trump was running for president and other women were coming forward with stories accusations about sexual assault, did you consider speaking out then?
CARROLL: No, because they were doing the job. They were coming forward. They were, you know, an army of women. They were coming forward. So I sat back. And also I thought it was my fault. And when if I was going to come forward, I'd have to say, I was stupid, I was a nitwit. I allowed this. So my friend of mine was not the best.
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BLACKWELL: All right, with us now, CNN legal analyst and former assistant U.S. attorney, Ele Honig. Ele, so the question is what can she do now? And it gets straight to the question of the statute of limitations.
ELE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right.
BLACKWELL: Can the President be charged?
HONIG: No, there is no available criminal charge here because of the timing. So the alleged attack happened occurred in '95 or '96 according to Miss Carroll. At the time, the statute of limitation is under New York State Law, meaning the amount of time that a criminal charge has to be brought within was five years.
Now, it's different. Now, there is no statute of limitations for a first degree sexual assault or rape like the allegation here. But that law didn't change until 2006. So anything that happened 2006 or later can be charged at any time. But if it happened before '06, the time has run out.
BLACKWELL: And without any legal recourse, I think we see and hear. And we saw in this interview this morning, the sense of this exasperation from Miss Carroll because what can you do? Watch this.
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CARROLL: With all the 15 women who've -- or 16 who've come forward it's the same. He denies it. He turns it around. He attacks and he threatens. That is -- and then everybody forgets it. And then the next woman comes along and I am sick of it. I am -- Alisyn, I am sick of it. Think how many women have come forward, nothing happens. The only thing we can do is sit with you and tell our stories so that we empower other women to come forward and tell their stories, because we have to change this culture of sexual violence.
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BLACKWELL: And you've worked with sexual assault cases. This is a shared frustration.
HONIG: It is sexual assault is the most under reported crime that we have. And I think that was a good example of why. Because it is extraordinarily difficult for victims to come forward even in your normal circumstances, put aside that this involves the President of the United States.
A lot of times your victims are dealing with trauma after something happened. There is a lot of distrust. Fear that the victims will be blamed. A lot of the things that I think we're hearing from Miss Carroll articulated, really come into play whether the person is the President of the United States or whether its any of the tens of thousands of cases that happened routinely in this country.
BLACKWELL: All right, Ele Honig, thanks so much. HONIG: Thanks Vic.
[11:48:33] BLACKWELL: Still ahead, it is a huge day for the U.S. women's soccer team on and off the field, the new development in their fight for equal pay, next.
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BLACKWELL: It is a huge day for women' soccer. In just a few minutes U.S. national team takes on Spain in this highly anticipated match at the Women's World Cup. But ahead of today's game, the U.S. team is taking a major step forward in their months' long fight for equal pay.
CNN sports reporter Andy Scholes is following the story for us. Andy, first, what do we know about a tentative agreement here?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, you know, 28 members of the U.S. national team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit back in March. And they now agreed to tentative agreement with the U.S. Soccer Federation to go to mediation after the World Cup is over.
Other players are suing for wages and playing conditions more in line with the men's national team. A spokeswoman for the players responding to the mediation agreement said, we hope their pledge to submit a proposal to solve the ongoing gender disparity is genuine. The world is watching.
Now, the U.S. Soccer Federation told Washington Post that they welcome the opportunity to mediate after the World Cup and they were actually disappointed that this news was shared while the tournament was going on, as it could create a distraction.
The other players meanwhile say, there is no distraction. They can handle their business on and off the field just fine. As you said a moment ago, Victor, the women taken the field as we speak, should have no problem with Spain today. And if they win, it's a huge match up with France on Friday in the quarter finals, more like a World Cup final than a quarter finals. That'd be one to watch.
BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes, thanks so much.
SCHOLES: All right.
[11:54:58] BLACKWELL: Coming up, Bernie Sanders has a big new plan to cancel student debt. Also, the President signs new sanctions on Iran. We'll have details of that next.
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JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm John King. This big breaking news right now, the President just moments ago announcing new White House actions against Iran, President Trump announcing additional sanctions, that of course after the President made a last minute call on Friday to call off military strikes against Iran. [12:00:03] The President says these new sanctions instead will be economic retaliation for that shoot down of an American drone.
