Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Progressive Democrats Responding To The President's Attack; Exclusive Interview With Democratic Presidential Candidate And Businessman Andrew Yang; Barry Is Now A Tropical Depression; Trump Admin Agrees To Independent Investigation Of Health Conditions For Children At Border Facilities; Lawyer Describes Unsanitary Conditions At Border Facility; Trump Hurls Racist Tweets At Progressive Congresswomen; CNN Original Series "The Movies" Looks Into The 1990s Tonight. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 14, 2019 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: And the President's message is clear, if you aren't white, aren't welcome. More on that in a moment.

But I do want to began with CNN's Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles on these ICE raids.

Paul, to be clear, there aren't any confirm reports of ICE actually rounding up undocumented immigrants in Chicago, New York or Baltimore. What are you hearing there on the West Coast?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are outside a detention facility. So it's not only what we are hearing, we did not see any increased facility at an ICE detention facility. And in talking to activists, they say they have not heard or seen anything, any ramped- up activity.

And you may know we had the same discussion two weeks ago here in Los Angeles, they view the threatened raids with extreme cynicism and outright abject contempt. They think this is all a political ploy by the Trump administration. It's been said again and again by these activist to whip up his political base.

No, they went so far as to try to tamp this down not even holding a single rally or protest anywhere around here saying they did not want to draw attention to the threaten raids, saying they didn't expect what one activist called a poltergeist moment. And they just hope that they just hope that they get through the next two days, Monday and Tuesday without any of the raids.

By the way, ICE in southern California saying that raids are routine. They happen on Sundays. They work off a list, by the way, and they say that they have targeted people on their list and they don't go through any specific raids or sweeps that is right now.

So, quiet here on the Los Angeles front except if you listen to the activists, they are making a lot of loud racket and they think this is politically motivated scare tactics.

CABRERA: Paul Vercammen, please, keep us posted if anything changes there or if it doesn't change. We want to make sure we inform our viewers of the latest information. I appreciate that report.

I want to switch over to Boris Sanchez at the White House now on these racist tweets from the president.

Boris, you now have these congresswomen, these progressive Democrats responding to the president's attack this is morning. What are they saying?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana. All four of them were quick to respond.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was quick to show that the President was misinformed about her origin. She tweeted out. Quote "Mr. President, the country I come from and the country we all swear to is the United States. But given how you have destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefits to you and the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about corruption laid at your feet."

We should point out, Representative Ilhan Omar was born in Somalia, but she moved to the United States when she was 12. She was naturalized as a citizen when she was 17. That was some 20 years ago. So it's unclear what country the President wants her to go back to.

She tweeted out this. Quote "you are soaking white nationalism because you are angry people like us are serving in Congress and fighting against your hateful agenda."

She then goes on to quote Bobby Kennedy. She writes quote "America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity. The very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired."

Now some supporters of the President, specifically on the Trump campaign, have denied that he specifically meant that these women should go back to their countries, but his intent here is clear. He is using the language of white nationalists to try to court supporters who are uncomfortable with demographic change with immigration. And the President is trying to expose a rift in the Democratic Party.

The President has long made racist remarks and said racist things, and something he apparently feels comfortable with. We should point out last week "Washington Post"/ABC poll put his rating in the all-time high in the mid-40s -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Boris Sanchez at the White House, thank you.

Joining us now, Democratic presidential candidate and businessman, Andrew Yang.

Andrew, thank you for being here. As the son of immigrants from Taiwan yourself, what is your reaction to the president's tweet to tell these Democratic congresswomen to go back where they came from?

ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it is exactly what you are suggesting. As a son of immigrants myself, you know, I know when someone says to go home in my case I was born in upstate New York, it's the opposite of what we need from our president to try to call out these false distinctions between different types of people. We are all Americans. And certainly, these are members of Congress who were born in this country this is the opposite of what president should be saying.

CABRERA: What should he be saying?

YANG: Well, what he should be saying is that let's solve the problems of the American people on the ground, which right now there are so many Americans whoa re struggling paycheck to paycheck. We need to actually solve the problems of the 21st century and not get bogged down into these political distractions.

I agree that a lot of this is to try to gin up his base and distract from other types of issues.

CABRERA: Let's talk about the immigration raids that a senior Trump administration official says are under way in nine U.S. cities today. Although, we haven't seen actual evidence of that just yet. Here is what the acting ICE director had to say earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[18:05:15] MATTHEW ALBENCE, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: I will say that using the term raid does everybody a disservice. We are doing target enforcement actions against specific individuals who have had their day in immigration court and have been order to be removed by an immigration judge. We are merely executing those lawfully issued judge's orders.

We won above and beyond in this circumstance and gave these individuals back in February an opportunity in February to turn themselves in to arrange for an orderly process to be removed from the country. At this point, we have to choice but to go out and execute those lawfully issued remove order from the immigration judge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: He says they went above and beyond and that they now have no choice but to round up these people. To that you say what?

YANG: Well, of course they have a choice. It's up to us how we are trying to enforce the policies of the United States. And most Americans agree that our resources should be focused on actual criminal and people who pose a threat and not people who, you know, are being involved in these ICE raids. So we have a 100 percent discretion and any statement to the opposite, you know, just isn't true.

CABRERA: Here is what you say about the roughly the 11 million undocumented immigrants on your Web site. Quote "while these individuals are generally law abiding people who work hard and contribute to their local communities, it's also true that they are not supposed to be here. Rounding up and deporting that many people is a nonstarter. So a pathway to citizenship must be provided. However this pathway must reflect that these individuals tried to circumvent our legal immigration system. So what is your plan?

YANG: Well, my plan is to confront the reality. As it said in that statement, we have over 11 million people who are here undocumented and pretending we can deport that many people without collapsing regional economies, separating families, it's a total nonstarter. So what we should do is we should try to integrate them into our formal economy and society by providing a path to citizenship that would allow them a real path forward, and particularly for those dreamers who have known no other life but here in the United States. We need to give them the benefits of citizenship to reflect the reality that they are living each day.

CABRERA: But when you say this pathway must reflect that these individuals tried to circumvent our legal immigration system, what do you mean by that?

YANG: Well, there are many people who have been involved in our immigration system and have been going through the process and in many cases a multiple month or even multi-year long waiting period. They have to go through like a vetting process about, you know, obviously not having broken any laws, about paying taxes, about passing tests. And so, whatever process we devise for people whoa re here undocumented should keep in mind and we have this existing process that many people that are going through it. And the process who are here undocumented should be, you know, a step up from that.

CABRERA: OK. And a step up from that would be what?

YANG: Well, it would be somewhat longer in timeframe. It would involve having paid your taxes, not having committed any felonies, you know, just making sure we know who you are, that we have a sense to the fact that you are going to be a vital and positive member of our society.

CABRERA: OK. Reporters were recently given access, you know, a rare glimpse inside the border patrol facility near McCallum, Texas. That houses adult male migrants, reporters say in this specific facility, the stench holding -- the facility holding the adult men was overpowering. Agents were wearing masks, in fact.

Men were crowded behind these caged fences which we can see in the video and they were yelling, according to the pool reporter, they were yelling that they hadn't been allowed to shower for days, in some cases weeks. The President disputed that characterization. He also tweeted quote "sorry, can't let them in our country. If too crowded, tell them not to come to the USA and tell the Dems to fix the loopholes. Problem solved."

Andrew, have Democrats done enough?

YANG: Well, you know, the conditions that people are being held in are inconsolable (ph). And the fact is we need to do more to enforce our policies at the border. We need to ramp up the investments in facilities, in case managers and certainly asylum judges and that's where the Democratic Party's attention is focused, I believe and should be focus, as actually try to make it so that our policy on the border reflect the experience that people have when they actually try to come into our country.

CABRERA: Let's say voters choose to send to you the White House next November and this crisis is still ongoing. Day one, what would you do with the migrants already in U.S. custody?

YANG: Well, what I would do is I would travel to these facilities. I would see for myself what the conditions are. And then I would make the necessary investments. Because right now, we have hundreds of unfilled positions at the border. And the deficiency here is one of will, resources and of us being able to actually put our policies into effect in a way that reflects our values. That's what I would do as president.

[18:10:15] CABRERA: Do you decriminalize border crossings?

YANG: Well, when I looked at the facts around criminalizing border crossings, the fact is it's gumming up criminal courts toward the border. And they are dealing with migrants as criminals and they don't have the resources to deal with other people who are actually committing crimes. So I think treating it as a civil offense is the right approach.

CABRERA: Civil offense. So you would decriminalize it and go through the civil courts?

YANG: Well, we need a different process but, yes. Like having them go through our criminal system it doesn't make any sense because our criminal system is not designed for this.

CABRERA: OK, presidential candidate Andrew Yang, thank you for sharing your ideas. We hope you will come back to let us know more about the vision you have for the future of the country. Thanks.

YANG: Thank you.

CABRERA: Coming up, what caused the blackout in the big apple? What we're hearing today from the investigators about the outage that plunged much of Manhattan into darkness.

Plus, caught in camera, a pulse-pounding moment to save children from a burning building in New Mexico.

Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:14:54] CABRERA: You have to see this dramatic new video. A heart-stopping rescue by some construction workers where they catch a baby and a toddler who were thrown from a burning building in (INAUDIBLE), New Mexico. The workers were putting a new roof on the building next door when a fire broke out. They jumped in when they saw a man hanging out the window with his baby. After saving the children, the workers got the parents out safely.

And now into that investigation of that five-hour blackout that crippled parts of Manhattan, could take months. The outage knocking out power in some of New York City's most popular tourist districts including Times Square and Broadway.

According to the city's utility company Con Edison around 72,000 customers were without power at one point. But in typical New York style, life went on. Everyday people directed the traffic at busy intersections. Performers and Broadway shows that had to cancel for the night took to the streets and they performed anyway.

(VIDEOCLIP PLAYING)

[18:15:58] CABRERA: Let's get right to CNN's Alexandra Field. What did you learn about what cause this outage?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Hi, there, Ana. Look, Con-Ed is apologizing for the major disruption. The power was out for some five hours. But they were saying it will be months before New Yorkers have answers as to what exactly went wrong.

We know there was a failure of a transmission substation in western midtown, and that affecting five other substations putting a total of six networks at a loss of power but Con-Ed says the specific failure will have to be investigated. That means looking at all the pieces of equipment in all the substations. Here is what Con-Ed has ruled out, though, at this the point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY CAWLEY, PRESIDENT, CON EDISON: We have no indication at all that this was involved in cyber in any way or a physical attack. In terms of loading or demand in the system, it was warm eating (ph) last night. But in terms if the peak demand that Manhattan exhibits on those hottest weekdays, the demand last night was very low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Again that outage affecting some 40 blocks in Manhattan, Ana. It was certainly an eerie sight to see the iconic light going out in Times Square, as being evacuated from Madison Square garden, you see traffic at a standstill with lights not working. But hundreds of additional police officers, firefighters and traffic officers were deployed to the affected neighborhoods along with 93 ambulances. We are learning today there were 400 elevator rescues and some 2800 people evacuated from stalled subway cars. All of that happening without any injury or any hospitalization -- Ana.

CABRERA: Wow! Good news all around. Alexandra Field, thank you.

Coming up, the slow moving storm Barry wreaking havoc as its spin for England. Flooding fears effecting millions tonight.

But first, CNN's Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans has your before the bell report. Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Wall Street's focus shifts to corporate earnings in week. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, IBM, Netflix and Microsoft are among the companies reporting results. Wall Street bracing for some disappointing numbers overall for

corporate America. Earnings for are expected to fall 2.6 percent in the second quarter. That's after profits already declined slightly in the first quarter. It would mark the first time in three years that earnings have fallen back-to-back.

So as an earnings recession is coming, why are stocks trading near record highs? You can thank the federal reserve in hopes for resolution to U.S./China trade talks. Last week, the fed chief Jerome Powell strongly hinted the central bank will cut interest rate this month.

Stocks rallied. The S&P 500 topped 3,000 and the Dow hit 27,000, both for the first time.

In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:22:39] CABRERA: The hurricane that blasted ashore this weekend on the gulf coast is now a tropical depression, downgraded about minutes ago. But people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas are not out of danger. Far from it, in fact. The destructive high winds are giving way now to potentially epic flooding. And that part of the disaster hasn't even started yet.

CNN's Natasha Chen is in Franklin, Louisiana in the Bayous west of New Orleans.

So Natasha, people there live around the water, the bays and the rivers, several days from now major rainfall are expected. Are they prepared?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, we are talking about Franklin here as well as Morgan City and Patterson within St. Mary's parish that are still, right now, under flash flood warning for at least another three hours. And what we're being told a few minutes ago from emergency officials here is that today they got seven inches of rainfall in this parish which is more than the entirety of the Barry storm event yesterday. So really, the problem has come after the storm.

And you can you see the effects of this. We are next to a parking lot of the Metal Shark Shipyard. They make aluminum boats. And this is supposed to be a parking lot. But you can see seagulls everywhere. They think it's the ocean. And we are looking at this barricade here. This has been here for years. So they have been prepared in the past for floods like this. But folks are brought in a lot of gravel within the past 24 hours in preparation for something much worse.

So they knew this was coming. They are prepared. But right now because of the serious amounts of rainfall after Barry, emergency officials tell us that some homes in Franklin are threatened by floodwaters. They are hoping that they go make it through tonight because if they do, then they think they are out of woods. We visited nearby Glenco, Louisiana, which also saw a lot of flooding

threats. In fact, about 60,000 people had to evacuate last night. We saw one house completely ripped apart by the winds and that is a separate problem from the water.

We spoke to Joseph Colbert who said that his sister was actually inside this house when these series winds came through. She came running out where he was sitting in the carport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH COLBERT, MOBILE HOME DESTROYED BY STORM: Sounded like a train to me. But some people say when you hear a train, they are thinking it's a tornado. But it did sound like a train coming through.

[18:25:01] CHEN: And you heard the glass breaking?

COLBERT: Yes, ma'am. All the windows started coming out. Kitchen window, bathroom windows, all of it started coming out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And Colbert is now staying with other family members. That's a home that they have had for 40 years. It really frightened them. And of course, after that happened that's when the whole neighborhood got evacuated because of the flash flood warning. Right now throughout the parish, we are being told that still about 70 percent of customers are without power.

So right now, Ana, what they are focused on is making sure that the flooding does not continue to threaten homes here and they are working very hard on restoring that power to everyone.

CABRERA: Definitely hoping for the best for all of them there in the region. Thank you, Natasha Chen, for your continued reporting on this.

Coming up, tears and passion on Capitol Hill as witnesses describe comforting children detained at the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I met a six-year-old boy, who I will never forget. He was tiny. And he hardly spoke. When I asked him if he was at Clint with anyone, he began to sob, nearly inconsolably for an hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:48] CABRERA: As part of a new lawsuit, the Trump administration has agreed to allow a Stanford pediatrician to conduct an independent investigation and to the health condition into the health conditions of migrant children at border facilities. Now this comes as Democratic lawmakers released these new pictures of detained men, women and children. In fact, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who took these pictures wrote

this caption, quote, the first sound we heard before we could see the children held at Ursula were haunting cries of babies and toddlers. I spoke to a dad of a sick six-month-old girl. She was flushed, listless. Her little fists clung tightly to his shirt. Flu, meningitis, typhus, lice, and more.

CNN Senior Medical Correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is covering the story for us. Elizabeth, tell us about this pediatrician now tapped to investigate.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, his name is Dr. Paul Wise, and he's a very well-respected pediatrician and health policy expert at Stanford. And he has personally visited a detention center before, so he is familiar with this. In fact, he talked about the photos that we have all seen of, quote, kids in cages. He uses the word "cages."

And let's look a little bit at some other things that Dr. Wise has said about his visit. He said that one major concern was that the infrastructure of health care for children and their families coming through the asylum process is woefully inadequate in the border communities.

Providers will come in -- and what he means is that providers, doctors will volunteer to work in some of these facilities. They will come in with good intentions, but their very short-term contributions are no substitute for a high-quality clinical infrastructure. A caring volunteer neurosurgeon may help fill in, but when is the last time that this doc saw a 5-year-old with diarrhea and PTSD?

He also described the conditions of where children were -- children were in, and he said that one of the areas of the processing center was referred to as, quote, the dog pound. I think, sadly, that phrase speaks for itself -- Ana.

CABRERA: So, Elizabeth, what are the health conditions that he's going to be investigating specifically?

COHEN: You know, we heard of some of them before. You were mentioning some of the diseases that are circulating there. There is mumps. There is tuberculosis. There's actually quite a large flu break -- outbreak even though this is not flu season.

Migrants and their advocates have said the conditions are unsanitary. They are deplorable. Children are in the same clothes for days and days, sometimes weeks and weeks. Speaking of which, the children are not supposed to be held there for any more than 72 hours. Seventy-two hours at the most, that's the rule. But, of course, that rule, as we know, gets broken. Sometimes children are held there for weeks -- Ana.

CABRERA: And what's the hope in terms of the outcome of this investigation? What's next after it?

COHEN: So, Ana, what the hope is, is that there will be some improvement. And I want us to listen to a lawyer for Columbia University who testified in Congress on Friday, and she talked about some of the conditions that she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELORA MUKHERJEE, DIRECTOR OF THE IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS CLINIC, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL: Many have not brushed their teeth for days. They were wearing the same clothes they had on when they crossed the border, clothes that were covered in nasal mucus, vomit, breast milk, urine. Multiple children had a strong stench emanating from them because they had not showered in days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So the hope is, is that Dr. Wise could -- Dr. Wise can go in there and can say, hey, here are the problems, and here are some ways that we can solve this. Right now, the count of children that are in these facilities has gone down dramatically, but there's no telling when that number could go up again.

And, Ana, he's supposed to make a report of his observations and his recommendations to the judge by August 15th.

CABRERA: OK. Elizabeth Cohen for us, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

CABRERA: And that attorney who you just heard from in that sound Elizabeth shared with us is Elora Mukherjee. She has seen what's going on inside these facilities firsthand. She's also a professor at Colombia Law School, and she is here with me in New York to talk more.

Elora, first, your reaction to this pediatrician now going on in to investigate. Do you think it will make a difference?

MUKHERJEE: It has to make a difference. The outcry from the American people, the pressure from the media, it has to make a difference. We need pediatricians and public health experts in all of these facilities, especially where children and families are being held, to assess medical needs, to triage medical emergencies.

Last month, when my colleagues were at the Ursula facility in McAllen, Texas, they identified five babies who were so sick that they needed to be immediately hospitalized. And they were all admitted to the -- the NICU, the neonative (ph) intensive care unit. So we need urgent medical reforms now.

CABRERA: Wow, that is so eye-opening. The more you share, the more I just can't believe. You had some powerful testimony. We played a part of it from Friday. I want to play some more. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUKHERJEE: I met a six-year-old boy who I will never forget. He was tiny, and he hardly spoke. When I asked him if he was at Clint with anyone, he began to sob nearly inconsolably for an hour. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That hurts to hear. Do you feel like you were heard?

[18:35:01] MUKHERJEE: Yes. Yes. My heart was broken at Clint by all the children who I couldn't help. We -- my colleagues and I met with about 70 kids -- nearly 70 children. We were able to get information for their family members in the United States.

For many of those children, we enabled them to make their first phone calls. We let many of the kids use our own cell phones, so they could call their parents and other loved ones. Many of them had been held incommunicado for days and weeks. They didn't know where their family members were. They didn't know if their family members were still alive, and their family members didn't know where they were.

And we did what we could in the limited time we had, but then we felt like we had to tell the American people what was happening in our country, in our name, and with our taxpayer dollars. This should not be happening in America.

Most of the children, the overwhelming number of children in these facilities, have family members in the United States who are eager and desperate to have their children back. Families belong together, and children deserve to be free and with their loved ones.

CABRERA: Elora, do you feel like the hearing and being able to share all of this with members of Congress, do you feel like it moves the needle, that this will spur action?

MUKHERJEE: We need immediate congressional oversight over the CBP facilities and over the prolonged detention of children in CBP facilities and in federal custody overall. Children should not be detained in these facilities for any longer than 72 hours. We found children who were detained there for nearly a month, and Congress must exercise its oversight powers to ensure that we never see a situation like this again.

CABRERA: Today, we understand there are these ICE raids happening in nine U.S. cities according to the Trump administration. We're still working and trying to find the evidence of that, but, you know, the Trump administration says they are focused on those who have committed crimes.

Although when Pamela Brown, our White House correspondent, asked the Vice President if, you know, this would impact families and separate families, here is how he responded to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What happens if a child is at daycare or at summer camp, the parent is arrested? Is that child going to go home to an empty house? What's going to happen?

MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pamela, I am very confident that the American people recognize that the way forward to deal with this crisis of illegal immigration is to enforce our laws. And enforcing court-ordered deportation orders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: He really didn't answer the question. What do you think, is a raid like this going to ultimately lead to family separations? Is it unavoidable?

MUKHERJEE: Absolutely. This raid policy is cruel. It will lead to additional family separations, including U.S.-born children who will be left without their parents, who will be left without their caretakers.

This raid policy is not necessary. The data shows that 99 percent of families who are seeking asylum in the United States and who have an attorney show up for their immigration court proceedings. The data shows that 99 percent of families who are assigned a social worker and participate in the ICE case family management program show up for their immigration proceedings.

These raids are based on cruelty, are based on fear, and are based on exciting and meeting the needs of the Trump base. And they're not necessary to enforce the law. The data shows that immigrant families need lawyers and social workers, and they will comply with the law.

The other thing that's important to note is that the notices to appear that are given to immigrants when they are -- that are supposed to include the date, the time, and the location of the court hearings, they do not include this information.

The Supreme Court found last year that in the last several years, the date, time, and information was absent from nearly all of the notices to appear that immigrants are receiving. So they don't know how and when and where to appear.

CABRERA: So there's major dysfunction, it sounds like, in the system, and we know there's a case backlog of some 800,000 cases, too, for the immigration courts. Elora, thank you for shedding some light.

And by the way, the program that she referenced in which 99 percent of asylum seekers who were given court hearings and were provided some help through the process showed up to court, that was a program established in the Obama administration and which the Trump administration has since ended. So that's important to just, you know, throw out there as far as the information in all of this.

Thank you, again, for being here.

MUKHERJEE: Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: Appreciate it. Coming up, the President tweets on the conditions at the border saying, if it's too crowded, quote, tell them not to come. But will his rhetoric equal votes?

[18:40:01] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CABRERA: Tonight, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaking out

against the President after he posted a series of racist tweets targeting progressive Democratic congresswomen, falsely implying that they weren't natural-born American citizens and telling them to go back to their countries.

Pelosi writing on Twitter -- when Real Donald Trump tells four American congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to make America great again has always been about making America White again. Our diversity is our strength, and our unity is our power.

And this just in from Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Listen to his.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is absolutely racist and un-American. And it is an old trope, go back where you came from that, you know, you might hear it on the street, but you should never hear it that from the President of the United States.

This guy doesn't understand his -- he doesn't understand his responsibilities. I don't think he understands what the American people want from their president, which is somebody who's going to elevate public discourse and speak with a level of dignity with a goal of unity. This president doesn't understand that, and that's why I'm running against him and that's why he needs to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:45:03] CABRERA: Joining us now, CNN Political Commentator and Republican Strategist, Ana Navarro.

Ana, we've heard Democrats lining up en masse to Trump, but what is the responsibility of Republicans tonight?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, Republicans have neglected their responsibility when it comes to Donald Trump for three years now, and I don't think that's going to change because of this horrible tweet. But frankly, Republicans should be speaking out against this. Republicans should be calling this what it is, call a spade a spade, call a racist a racist.

The problem is that they've enabled this racist for far too long. They've justified this racist for far too long. They've kissed his ring for far too long. They are afraid of this racist, and so they just look the other way and play dumb. But it really is a very bad look for the entire Republican Party.

Kamala Harris is right. I can tell you, I get it all the time, go back to your country. Well, I've got news for Donald Trump and all of his supporters who feel the same way. This is our country! It is our country as much as it is the Trump's country.

And if we're going to start sending people back, I don't know. You know, listen, Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Marco Rubio's parents were born in Cuba. Melania Trump was born where? Slovenia! How about her parents who are here through family migration?

I am sick of this guy's hypocrisy and his ways of dividing this country, pitting people against each other. And I think it is no coincidence -- it is no coincidence that the congresspeople he is, you know, picking on are all women of color. Are all women of color!

CABRERA: And as a woman of color yourself, do you believe Donald Trump wants you in this country?

NAVARRO: I really couldn't care less what Donald Trump wants. I don't care if he wants me in this country or not because this is my country. He doesn't get to decide that. I am a naturalized citizen. I love America.

And let me just tell you, if you go to the Vietnam Memorial, you will see a bunch of Hispanic names, a bunch of names of people who came from other countries and were willing to do what Donald Trump was too much of a coward to do, sacrifice and serve for this country and wear this country's uniform, risking their lives for it.

So, you know, look, Donald Trump is a nightmare -- a national embarrassment and a national nightmare that's going to pass someday. He's caused great damage to our reputation, to the presidency, certainly to the Republican Party. But at some point, we are going to get past this, and we're going to remember the American values.

What I implore people to do is not to get numbed to this, not to get used to this, to call it out every time they see it, even if we're doing it every single damn day. People cannot get tired of what the outrageous things this president does and says are. They cannot get tired of condemning racism. They cannot get tired of condemning division and hostility and racial tropes. It's just disgusting, and we have to call it out every single time.

CABRERA: Ana, when I read these tweets, one of the things that I thought of was former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon when he famously said that after the Mueller probe, the President would go, quote, full animal. And here is what he told Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Now that he sees himself as no longer being under the cloud of the Mueller investigation, what does going full animal look like?

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: President Trump is a fighter. I don't need to tell you, Anderson, you know him very well. He's a fighter, and I think he looks at this as a fight and I think he's going to be very aggressive.

I think he's going to start giving interviews, and I think he's going to really try to push this. I do think this year is going to be very vitriolic, and I think we're just going to have to work through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Ana, is today proof he was right?

NAVARRO: He's been doing this all along, Ana. Remember the -- how he got his start in politics, unfortunately and shamefully for the Republican Party, was with the birther theory against Obama, by questioning the first Black president's legitimacy and citizenship. Something that we saw his, you know, mini-me little son do again when it came to Kamala Harris last week when he retweeted that -- and then deleted that tweet.

So this is not new. This is not new. The -- whether it's the Central Park Five, whether it's the discrimination, the housing discrimination in New York against African-Americans, whether it's calling Black athletes sons of bitches, whether it's dividing Hispanic families at the border and putting children in cages, whether it's telling these congresswomen -- three of whom were born in this country --

CABRERA: Right.

NAVARRO: -- Ohio, Michigan, and New York --

CABRERA: Yes.

NAVARRO: -- to go back home. Well, you know what, if people who are descendants of immigrants are going to get sent back home, let's start with Donald Trump.

CABRERA: Ana Navarro, good to have your thoughts on all of this. Thank you for joining us. We'll be right back.

[18:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A tennis match for the ages at Wimbledon today. Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer in a five-set marathon to capture his fifth title at the All England Club. The final set took 24 games plus a tiebreaker to decide the winner in this one. The epic showdown lasted four hours and 57 minutes, making it the longest men's final in Wimbledon history. Djokovic fought off two match points against him before going on to win his 16th grand slam title.

From "Goodfellas" to "Jurassic Park," "Titanic," and "The Shawshank Redemption," some of the most influential films from the '90s were shaped by a country looking for an escape from the doldrums of office life. CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look back at that decade in film.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM ROTH, ACTOR: Everybody, be cool. This is a robbery.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the most iconic crime and punishment films of modern times came from the 1990s.

RAY LIOTTA, ACTOR: As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Movies in which the bad guys got good lines.

SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS, ACTOR: I ate his liver with some fava beans.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And good guys got bad breaks.

TIM ROBBINS, ACTOR: I had to come to prison to be a crook.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: "Shawshank Redemption" is about seeking justice in an imperfect world. And when the convicts win, you have a sense of relief and that somehow justice has been done.

FOREMAN (voice-over): In real life, the headlines held plenty of drama, but the economy was steaming along. Heroic moments seemed plentiful. And for many Americans, the biggest challenge was just getting through the workday.

GARY COLE, ACTOR: Hello, Peter. What's happening?

[18:54:57] FOREMAN (voice-over): To the rescue, a comedy boom the likes of which has rarely been seen. Over the top.

JIM CARREY, ACTOR: Smoking!

FOREMAN (voice-over): Relentless.

STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY, ACTOR: Phil Connors.

BILL MURRAY, ACTOR: Ned?

FOREMAN (voice-over): Outrageous.

(SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just laugh my ass off.

FOREMAN (voice-over): And the comedy craze had heart.

JULIA ROBERTS, ACTRESS: Oh!

(LAUGHTER)

CHRIS CONNELLY, ESPN CONTRIBUTOR: And you had a number of people who are especially adept at the form of the romantic comedy. You have Sandra Bullock. You have Hugh Grant. You have Meg Ryan. And you have Tom Hanks.

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: My name is Forrest. Forrest Gump.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Beyond the laughs, however, the '90s saw serious new movements in film, too.

ICE CUBE, ACTOR: We got a problem here?

TODD BOYD, PROFESSOR OF CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS: You really had, for the first time, a large collection of Black filmmakers documenting what was going on in the culture.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Animation came roaring back to the box office in a huge way. The Coen brothers expanded their rapidly growing influence.

JEFF BRIDGES, ACTOR: You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the dude.

FOREMAN (voice-over): It was, simply put, an immense decade for the movies. Hollywood with the help of newly developed computer imagery winding down one millennium --

(DINOSAUR ROARING)

FOREMAN (voice-over): -- and looking to the next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Be sure to tune in. The all-new CNN Original Series, "THE MOVIES," airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:05] CABRERA: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for being here.