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New Day Sunday

Sources: Mulvaney on Shaky Ground After Whistleblower Fallout; Trump Attacks High Profile Dems as 'Savages" in Twitter Tirade; WaPo: State Department Questions 100+ Former Clinton Aides About Emails; Man Accused of Shooting, Killing Pioneering Texas Sheriff's Deputy; Student Paper Breaks News of Latest Trump Administration Departure; No. 1 Clemson Survives Upset Bid by Unranked UNC. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired September 29, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:22]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: News that President Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden's son. Boom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see that the White House is right now in chaos.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Look, I said to the president, and I'm saying to you, you've come into my wheelhouse now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Donald Trump on Saturday after a day of golf, going on a counteroffensive. In a series of tweets, the president insists that he should not be impeached.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Trump administration is ramping up its investigation into -- get this -- former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get me Rudy Giuliani on the phone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Mr. Trump. What is new?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you mean what is new, Rudy? I'm being impeached!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. We are glad to have you here.

We want to start this week with an impeachment investigation into the sitting president of the United States. And we're are learning this morning, the White House chief of staff may be in a little bit of trouble with President Trump. We are told that the president blames Mick Mulvaney for the swift backlash from the whistle-blower's report and is angry that there was no plan in place to deal for the fallout from his call with Ukraine's leader. The White House denying any there's any tension between the president and Mulvaney.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We are learning that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell encouraged the White House to release the rough transcript to the president's call with the president of Ukraine. Question, of course, is why. Well, he thought it would exonerate the president.

PAUL: And we could learn a lot from Kurt Volker when he appears before the three House committees this week. The former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine stepped down from his post late Friday.

Volker was mentioned several times in the whistle-blower's report.

BLACKWELL: Let's go now to Kristen Holmes at the White House.

Kristen, what was the degree of anticipation from the White House that there would be some backlash after the declassification of the rough transcript of the call with Zelensky?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's an interesting question here because they did not have a real response or real strategy despite the fact that there was a lot of anticipation from several White House staffers that there would be backlash for this.

Now, we're hearing that Nick Mulvaney, as you said, is going to take the blame, that he's on shaky ground here. Now, that just depends on who you ask. The White House has denied that, denied the fact that the president is upset that Mulvaney didn't have a response. However, sources say they are concerned about this strategy that he may be the fall guy for this.

I do want to note they know also say that it doesn't mean he's on his out. This White House is in turmoil. The president might not want to see any more turnover here. However, he again, is on shaky ground.

And this goes to a larger concern we are hearing here at the White House from sources who say there is a lot of tension, a lot of interest on what is going to be the strategy moving forward here. What is the administration going to do? What is the president going to do?

And we saw a little bit of insight into that yesterday. I'm going to fall this up for you. This is President Trump's tweet storm. Not surprisingly, of course. The president taking to Twitter, making his direct appeal.

And you see here, he is blaming Democrats. He is blaming the whistle- blower. At one point, he actually released a video saying that the whole thing was a scam. He paints himself as a victim, not something that is uncommon for President Trump.

You see a big one there: Presidential harassment. This, again, has been the president's strategy for a long time. Take his appeal directly to the people, use social media. Is that going to be enough during these impeachment inquiries, these proceedings?

There was some rumblings that there would be a war room set up in the administration. However, when President Trump heard that, sources say he got angry. Why would he need outside help to deal with this situation? Of course, the war room being something that we know Bill Clinton set up when he went through this impeachment period just to deal with rapid response.

But I want to pull up a statement here when we asked about that war room. This is from Trump's personal attorney. He said there is no war room being established. This is not a war. This is a skirmish. I am confident our existing legal team will be in a position to respond appropriately to any developments.

But, again, a lot of concern here, a lot of questioning on this strategy. This is something of a much larger magnitude that the White House has faced before.

PAUL: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

And a lot to get to. And we're going to take a minute here to kind of fact check some of the president's claims on Twitter yesterday, because they need to be checked.

[07:05:01]

The president tweeted this, for instance. How do impeach a president who has created the greatest economy in history of our country, entirely rebuilt out military into the most powerful it's ever been, cut record taxes and regulations, fixed the V.A. and gotten Choice for our vets after 45 years and so much more?

Well, that was the tweet. Glenn Kessler, "The Washington Post" fact checker sums it up like this. Quote: Not the greatest economy, didn't rebuild military, not biggest tax cut, not record deregulation, did not create V.A. choice, bottomless Pinocchios galore.

In case you're not familiar with "The Washington Post" back checking gauge, they use Pinocchios to rate false statements.

BLACKWELL: So, president also attacked House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff with this tweet. The only people that don't like my conversation with the new Ukrainian president are those that heard Representative Adam Schiff read a made up and totally fraudulent statement to the House and public.

So, Schiff did not read the transcript word for word. Instead he started the hearing by reading what he called a parody of the president's phone call.

PAUL: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doubling down on the impeachment probe against President Trump. She is speaking at a "Texas Tribune" festival. She did so last night. And she said, Democrats will go ahead with regardless of any political consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: Look, I said to the president, and I'm saying to you, you've come into my wheelhouse now.

To tell you the truth, I've been prayerful about this, I'm heartbroken about it. I would just hope there would be something exculpatory, something that would say, oh, this is not what it seems to be. But that's not where we are right now.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): In the coming months ahead, Congress has a serious job ahead of us. We are in rare constitutional waters. But Donald Trump, make no mistakes about it. If the facts merit, as Alfonso David said, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are coming for you!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Speaker Pelosi also said she has a responsibility to protect the Constitution which is a system of checks and balances.

BLACKWELL: All right. We got a lot to talk about this morning. With us now, CNN political analyst April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks.

Welcome. Good to see you, April.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So, let's start with acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. The president likes Mulvaney. He's offered him three jobs across the administration. Is this the president just venting some steam because he doesn't like how the last few days went, or is there real trouble potentially, based on what you know about their relationship for Mulvaney?

RYAN: All of the above. He may like him when things are good. But, Victor, right now, this president is in a war, no matter what Rudy Giuliani or anyone may say that this is a skirmish. This is a war and this could indeed lead to impeachment.

And this president is all about the optics, and right now, the optics are not good, especially when you see these numbers, poll numbers when it comes to potential impeachment going up. So, the strategy is crazy because you have his personal attorneys doing one thing and then the White House looking at another. These two are not coming together.

Unlike what happened with Bill Clinton, the personal attorneys and the White House are kind of working in conjunction. You have two different factions and the fall guy is Mick Mulvaney.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about that because you covered the Clinton administration. The response there, were they walled off the response legally and message wise from the operations of the White House? You've got Stephanie Grisham, who is responding to questions about the

impeachment. She is the press secretary. But also the communications -- no briefing -- but she is the press secretary and the communications director, and still the press secretary for the first lady. That's a lot of work when you're doing the official work, the East Wing, West Wing, and impeachment.

RYAN: So, I remember those days. 20-some-odd years ago. There were briefings every day. Mike McCurry, the then-White House press secretary stood there for at least 45 minutes fielding questions, answering questions on the side of the White House and from the attorneys. I remember after McCurry left, you had Joe Lockhart.

And you saw people around the White House and you heard about the war room. Right now, it is very internal. We need answers now, instead of holding back and people are not getting answers and that's one of the reasons why these impeachment numbers are rising.

I talked to Reverend Jesse Jackson over the weekend. He said, you know, this president has pushed Nancy Pelosi to do what she did and now America seems to be understanding what is going on. This is not working in their favor and they need to come out and really address the American public about this.

[07:10:05]

BLACKWELL: April, what's interesting about the president being disappointed in the messaging or strategy after the release or declassification of these documents is that the president notoriously doesn't follow the messaging scheme set up by the White House any way. He goes straight to Twitter and that's what we have seen over the weekend. He is creating the messages.

RYAN: That is the problem. This president -- that is the problem. That is the question. Is it really about Mulvaney or is it about the president is doing?

That is the question. They are playing catch-up behind the president and trying to downplay everything but it's too late. He goes out there and says these things on Twitter or does these things and people are like, wait a minute, something is not right.

So the question is, is it really about the president causing a national security issue or is it about the strategy from Mick Mulvaney? The fingers are pointing to the president.

BLACKWELL: Week one in the books. We'll see what is in store for week two.

April, enjoy your Sunday.

RYAN: Thank you, Victor. You too.

PAUL: All right. And this might sound familiar, but the Trump administration is investigating Hillary Clinton's emails. "The Washington Post" says more than 100 current and former State Department staffers have been contacted, the charges investigators could bring here.

BLACKWELL: Plus, a man sprayed in the face for smoking a cigarette. Coming up, more on what led up to this.

PAUL: And "Saturday Night Live" had their own take of the impeachment inquiry, including President Trump getting some advice from North Korea's leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you handle a whistle-blower?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's easy. You have a big ocean in your country?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, send whistle-blower to the bottom of there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I wish my country was as cool as your country!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:33]

PAUL: So this morning, we are talking about Hillary Clinton's emails and here is why. According to "The Washington Post," as many as 130 current and former State Department officials have been contacted by State Department investigators now.

The Trump administration reportedly looking back at emails sent to Clinton's private server years ago.

April Ryan is here to talk to us about this.

So I want to ask you, first of all, is there any indication, April, that something happened to prompt the resurrection of this investigation, or it's under the radar and just been going on?

RYAN: There is something called deflection. You know, they left Hillary Clinton alone for a while and now, the president is in the midst of this embroiled and this latest controversy. They want to deflect. They want to go back to Hillary Clinton.

You know, we remember the chants "crooked Hillary" and remember the chants of "lock her up." They want to resurrect that. And the question is, is it too late now? Because this is clear. You can see what's going on. Why all of a sudden now?

And then, why is it through the State Department where its head and the president are very close, versus the Department of Justice where the DOJ is already in trouble for being involved in this latest controversy? You have people like Val Demings, Congresswoman Val Demings who sits on three committees that is dealing with this impeachment inquiry and she's calling for him to even recuse himself.

So, this is very curious that it's coming through State, not Justice, and it's coming through a department that is close to the president at a time such as this.

PAUL: Well, as I understand it, according to "The Post" article, I think this has been going on for about 18 months but maybe now it's ramping up? I'm curious --

RYAN: I hear you, Christi. It can go as long as it wants. They have been dealing this a while. The then FBI Director James Comey caused her to lose the election pretty much because that have. She suffered from this and no one has come up with any criminal charges.

But at the end of the day, why now? At the end of the day, why now?

PAUL: Well, not only that, but let's listen to this quickly. This is part of what was written. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations. I imagine being on the other end of that call and going something I wrote has now been classified so now I could be in trouble?

Are people lawyering up? Are they preparing for charges?

RYAN: I would say this -- dealing with what we have seen before with this administration, the best advice is for people to lawyer up. Once again, you have to ask, why now?

There could be some legitimate concerns, but at the end day, why now? Why not did through Justice and why through State? Why now?

Those are real questions. There could be some smoke. There could be fire. But there are big looming questions.

And if, indeed, this has some merit, why not -- why hasn't Congress been involved? Why is it not at a larger magnitude? Why has it just been set in the State Department? Why not in Justice? Why not the FBI?

Those are the questions that need to be asked and at this moment in time and for these last three years we should have employed critical thinking.

PAUL: OK.

RYAN: Because there is so many questions that loom around all of these issues.

PAUL: Right. April Ryan, always good to have you here. Thank you, ma'am.

RYAN: Thank you, Christi. Take care.

PAUL: You too. BLACKWELL: All right. From the investigation House to the formal

trial in the Senate. What is the impeachment inquiry, the impeachment process? We will break down all of the particulars, next.

Plus, a man sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher and why he says it happened and how this fight started.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:23:17]

PAUL: So it is 23 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you.

And we are, right now in the early stages of the impeachment process. This is a process that could move fairly quickly.

To break down the process of impeachment, Elie Honig is with us, CNN legal analyst, former assistant U.S. attorney and former federal and state prosecutor.

Good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Christi.

PAUL: So, unlike the Mueller investigation, this one is really focused very firmly on Ukraine and possible abuse of power. Help us understand the beginning steps to this.

HONIG: So, Christi, it all starts with the United States Constitution which give the House of Representatives the sole power of impeachment. Now, the Constitution requires the House of Representatives to vote by a simple majority which means 218 votes in the House. Right now, there are 235 Democrats in the House.

So if the Democrats stay together as a caucus, they can impeach. But that does not, in itself, mean the president is removed. It then proceeds over to the Senate which the Constitution gives the sole power to try all impeachments. That requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate which is 67 votes. Right now, there are 47 Democrat. So, it would require 20 Republicans to break ranks and jump over and join with the Republicans to convict and remove the president.

PAUL: So, this is where this may be become really public because if the House votes to impeachment, it sends the case to the Senate and that's where Chief Justice John Roberts comes in and presides over a televised trial in the Senate.

HONIG: Right. Yes, before we get there, Christi, the House in doing its investigation has to decide how it's going to proceed.

PAUL: Right.

HONIG: Speaker Pelosi gave us the outline for that last week. She said, there are six different House committees who are going to conduct investigations.

[07:25:02]

They're going to then funnel their recommendations into the House Judiciary Committee which will then recommend articles of impeachment, if any, to the full house to vote.

If the House does vote by the simple majority, we will see the spectacle that you mentioned. We will see an actual trial in the U.S. Senate and one of the strange wrinkles of our Constitution is the chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, will come down from the Supreme Court building and actually preside over that trial in the Senate chamber.

PAUL: OK. So, in that trial, I think a lot of people are wondering, would President Trump be compelled to testify?

HONIG: No. He could not be compelled to testify. No person in this country can be compelled to testify and he has a Fifth Amendment right, same as anybody else. It is actually fairly unusual to see a defendant in a criminal case. This is not a criminal proceeding but to see the subject come down and testify, Bill Clinton certainly did not testify in his Senate impeachment hearing back in 1999.

So, No, Donald Trump does not have to testify. He could choose but there's no chance he does that.

PAUL: OK. Elie Honig, appreciate it.

HONIG: Thank you, Christi.

BLACKWELL: So, then, what are the political elements behind impeachment. My next guest says that starting the process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals and he's said that for some time.

Joining me now, Yoni Appelbaum, politics editor and Washington bureau chief for "The Atlantic".

Yoni, good morning to you.

YONI APPELBAUM, POLITICS EDITOR AND WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTIC: Hey, nice to be with you.

BLACKWELL: So, let me read this from March. This is, obviously, before the Ukraine phone call revelations, before the release of the Mueller report.

You wrote this: By delaying the start of the process, in the hope that even clearer evidence will be produced by Mueller or some other source, lawmakers are delaying its eventual conclusion. Better to forge ahead, weighing what is already known and incorporating additional material as it becomes available.

Now Democratic leadership, they think they are in a stronger position, Yoni, because they waited for what they considered to be a clearer evidence, the Ukraine call, some of the evidence that supports the whistle-blower -blower complaint. Are they right? APPELBAUM: Well, they split the difference. They started to hold

hearings and to gather some evidence without formally adapting impeachment. They edge closer to it and as this evidence tumbled into view, they formalized the process.

But I think the whole they are not right. They have had a number of claims that have sat against this president during his time in office and impeachment is the mechanism, it's a process, not an outcome, for adjudicating those claims, and in the absence of any process to review the evidence and look at those claims for the last year, we have been sitting here debating whether or not the president has committed offenses that to merit his removal rather than having a good way of figuring that out.

BLACKWELL: What is the possibility that if the House draws up the articles of impeachment and, indeed, impeaches the president. They send it over to the Senate. Mitch McConnell, can he just choose to do nothing with it and let it sit?

APPELBAUM: Well, Senator McConnell had previously said that he would never do that. We've had a bunch of impeachments in the history of this country and most against federal judges actually, and the Senate has actually taken a bill of impeachment pass by the House as obligating the Senate to act and to hold a trial.

I would tend to imagine that here, too, the worst possible message for Senator McConnell to send would be that the impeachment is so toxic and so dangerous to this presidency that he can't give it a hearing.

BLACKWELL: Now, speaking of Senate Republicans specifically, there is this group Republicans for Rule of Law spending $1 million on versions of the ad we are about to show. It starts to run this weekend in specific states and some members of Congress in districts as well to persuade Republicans in Congress to speak out about what they call the president's abuse of power. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Senator Collins, the country is in crisis. The president of the United States has requested foreign interference in American elections to benefit himself politically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate his political faux Joe Biden.

NARRATOR: This is an abuse of power by the chief executive of our country. He won't stop unless Republicans like you stand up and say that it's wrong. Senator Collins, your voice is critical. Stand up for the country and stand up for the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So that interestingly stopped short of asking them to support the impeachment inquiry. A lot of Republican senators are still saying they haven't even read it and it's been out for days now. APPELBAUM: Well, if you haven't read something you don't have to ask

pesky reporters about what it all means. You know, there's three questions before Republicans here. One is, was what the president did OK? The second is, does it meet the threshold of high crime and misdemeanor? And the third, if it does, did it justify the president's removal?

They would rather not answer any of the three. But that really marks this as different than previous debates over presidents. In the past, often a president's defenders have gone with a third of those.

[07:30:04]

They've said, whatever the president has done, it doesn't merit his removal. It may have been unwise or unethical. It may even have met the threshold of high crime and misdemeanor.

In this case, we are seeing the president's defenders walk out and say essentially nothing to see here, totally fine to have a chief executive pressure a foreign country to cough up evidence on his political rivals domestically. That's really a spectacle and I think it's why we're seeing this kind of push-back from within the Republican Party from people who particularly have experience with law enforcement and national security who are particularly alarmed by that.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, those members are back in district for the next couple of weeks, except for the members of House Intelligence who may be called back. We'll see what the response is from their constituents.

Yoni Appelbaum, always good to have you on.

APPELBAUM: Nice to be with you.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: So, Democrats in the House say they hope they finish the probe this fall, which could mean a vote by the full House later this year or early in 2020. And with the Iowa caucuses coming up in February, impeachment is likely to take up a lot of the oxygen in the presidential race.

So, now, after months spent mostly avoiding the topic, the Democratic candidates on the campaign trail -- well, they are weighing in more forcefully.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a president who is confessing on national television to an abuse of power rather than leading the American people where we need to go. We're in trouble.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, (D-CA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen, this administration, in particular, Donald Trump, is going to do everything he possibly can to try and distract from the fact that he's been running a corrupt administration, that he is in the process of being impeached and that he has violated the trust of the American people and sold out our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And we'll talk more about that throughout the morning.

A Texas community, though, is honoring the legacy of a sheriff's deputy killed during a traffic stop. A look at the lasting legacy of Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal.

PAUL: And next as well, while that happened, a man gets sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:41]

PAUL: I don't know if you've heard about this Harris County sheriff's deputy in Texas. This is a man being remembered as a trailblazer.

BLACKWELL: Yes, his name was Sandeep Dhaliwal. He was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Friday. Almost five years ago, Dhaliwal became the first deputy in his department to wear a turban and a beard while in his police uniform. Last night, a vigil and prayer service were held for Dhaliwal.

CNN's Natasha Chen looks at how he is being remembered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how people remember Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal.

In this video, he is playing with a deaf child in the Harris County community. But now, the laughter is gone after Dhaliwal, the first Sikh deputy of the Harris County sheriff's office, was shot and killed during at a traffic stop Friday.

The sheriff says as Dhaliwal was returning to his patrol in this Harris County neighborhood --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A male suspect exited the vehicle, armed with a pistol, and in a cold-blooded manner, ambush style, shot Deputy Dhaliwal from behind.

CHEN: With no chance for the deputy to unholster his weapon. The suspect, 47-year-old Robert Solis, was denied bail after being charged with capital murder. Investigators say dashcam video shows no indication of a conflict during the traffic stop. They say the suspect fled the scene by car and but was found along with a female passenger at a nearby business.

Court documents say Solis was released on parole in 2014 after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping. The sheriff also says Solis had an active parole violation warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon from January 2017.

People at a vigil Friday night didn't focus how Dhaliwal died but how he lived.

UNIDENKTIFIED FEMALE: I remember he would always check with me and my friend and knock on my door when I wasn't outside and because I wasn't feeling well.

CHEN: Four years ago, when the sheriff's office changed their policy so Dhaliwal could wear his turban on the job, Dhaliwal said he did not expect to encounter racism or hate.

DEPUTY SANDEEP DHALIWAL: It will give me the chance to open up the conversation.

CHEN: A conversation now focused on how to honor his memory.

DHALIWAL: Give me a hug! So sweet!

CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Well, a man in Salt Lake City says because he put a cigarette in his mouth on a public street, a local restaurant owner sprayed him in the face with a fire extinguisher.

PAUL: Now, he says he's having health problems and he plans to file a lawsuit. This is from CNN affiliate KSTU.

Here is the moment right here. The local county prosecutor is still considering charges and the man who used that extinguisher has now apologized.

We'll keep you posted on what happens there.

Listen, a student scooped the professionals after a Trump administration departure was first reported not by "The New York Times" or "The Washington Post" but the Arizona state student newspaper.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:55]

PAUL: So, when news broke that President Trump's special envoy to Ukraine had resigned, you didn't see it in any of the mainline, mainstream newspapers, television networks, necessarily, because it was this tweet from the "State Press" which is the independent student newspaper of Arizona State University who broke it.

And in Phoenix now, Andrew Howard, the managing editor of the "State Press":.

First of all, Andrew, congratulations!

ANDREW HOWARD, MANAGING EDITOR, STATE PRESS: Thanks.

PAUL: How does it feel to get a shout-out from "The New York Times"? HOWARD: It's been -- it's been crazy. It feels pretty good. The

whole staff is really excited about all the mentions we've been getting in the press.

PAUL: I like that.

HOWARD: It's been -- yes, it's been great.

PAUL: I understand a story in your newspaper can -- a good one can garner a few thousand views. This one I think has gotten over a hundred thousand at this point.

HOWARD: Yes.

PAUL: Go ahead.

HOWARD: I was just going to say, yeah, it's gotten over a hundred thousand which is way more than we ever had before.

PAUL: So, how did you secure the story?

HOWARD: Well, you know, we wanted to localize a national story and we found out that Volker worked as the executive director of the McCain Institute. And so, we decided to start looking into it, and, you know, along the way, sort of just came across the scoop through the university. I think, you know, going through the university or trying to pick our local angle is what allowed us to find the story instead approaching it, you know, nationally like a lot of other places might have.

PAUL: And did you have any idea that it would be -- it would be what it is today?

HOWARD: Absolutely not. You know, I said to someone yesterday that we sort of thought we were competing against Arizona outlets for the story, which is our usual competition, but we were really competing against the world and everyone and beat them which was crazy, and sort of unbelievable still, honestly.

PAUL: Oh, I'm sure. You know, I read that you're an intern at "The Arizona Republic", the main paper there in Phoenix.

HOWARD: Yes.

PAUL: And that you write obituaries.

(CROSSTALK)

HOWARD: I was day after day (ph), yes.

PAUL: I did that for "The Cleveland Plain Dealer". I did that for "The Cleveland Plain Dealer", so we got that.

[07:45:00] I want to understand what that's like. Let's put it that way.

But I understand that you apologized to your editor there for working two jobs?

HOWARD: I -- it wasn't even necessarily for two jobs specifically as much as it was just like a generic apology to the newsroom. I sort of just looked up when the story broke and said, sorry, that was me, like my bad. And everyone was really nice about it. And pretty kind.

But it was a funny moment, that's for sure.

PAUL: I bet. So, what's next?

HOWARD: We are just going to keep doing what we do at the "State Press". We couldn't be more excited. Our adviser told us the work we do today and every day moving forward is how we can build off of this. You know, we may have had one great story break but we want to keep serving the community and, you know, keep doing what we are passionate about. We love it and keep doing it.

PAUL: You sound like quite the professional. Andrew Howard, I am cheering for you. I hope -- I hope it goes well and I hope to see you again soon.

HOWARD: Great. Thanks very much.

PAUL: Take good care.

HOWARD: You too.

BLACKWELL: Huge Saturday in college football. And you know Coy Wire is watching.

Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Where were you? I had your drink ready and you were supposed to meet me for the games, Victor.

What -- what in the world is going on with the defending champions yesterday? Unranked North Carolina taking Clemson to the wire. That and more coming up.

PAUL: All righty. Something old is new again. Coming up, I'm talking to a woman in Oregon who converted or is converting old school buses into new homes for people who don't have a home.

BLACKWELL: And CNN on "SNL." They call this the impeachment town hall. Watch.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last time I saw him was feel the burn? This time my slogan is let's burn this place to the ground.

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[07:50:39] PAUL: Do you know there were people and there are families who are working and, still, we are homeless?

Well, a woman in Oregon found a unique way to help them. Julie Akins is a founder of Vehicles for Change. Her group turns school busses into tiny homes for working homeless families. This all started with a life-changing road trip down the West Coast and I talked to her about her mission.

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JULIE AKINS, FOUNDER, VEHICLES FOR CHANGE: I did visit with homeless people up and down the West Coast and what I saw there actually underscores what Greta Thunberg is saying, not enough people give a damn. Not enough people give a damn about climate change and not enough people give a damn about homeless children living on our streets in the United States of America, and that's what I saw and that's what I documented for my book, one paycheck away.

There are one in 30 children living homeless in the United States of America, arguably one of the wealthiest countries on earth, and what I saw there were people rising in the morning, taking showers with buckets behind towels and sheets and going to work full-time jobs and remaining homeless. And it just really angered me, because there's absolutely no reason why a person working, doing their best, why any child, for that matter, should be homeless in this country.

PAUL: How do you acquire the buss? Are they easy to come by? I mean, what's your goal throughout the year? How many of these can you provide?

AKINS: Well, they're fairly easy to acquire. We've been acquiring them as a gift and donation from school districts. And it's our hope to do five a year.

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PAUL: Thank you to Julie. Good human kindness going on there.

BLACKWELL: Excellent work there. All right. Defending national champion Clemson Tigers, one play away from their first loss of the season.

PAUL: Coy Wire has this morning's "Bleacher Report". Good morning.

WIRE: Yes, good morning, happy Sunday.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. College football probably not what Shakespeare was talking, but it works in this instance. Clemson 5-0, barely, ranked number one for now. The Tigers go to North Carolina, 28 point favorites.

But the unranked Tar Heels outplay them most of the day. This touchdown with 74 seconds to go cuts the deficit to one, and coach says, we're going for two, we're in it to win it. We don't want a tie. They already converted two fourth down conversions, but Clemson's defense rises to the occasion. You don't deserve my tears, they say.

I guess that's why they ain't there. I put that Beyonce lyric, (INAUDIBLE) Victor on that one.

Clemson hangs on to win a thriller 21-20.

Now, for number two Bama, they could leap into the top spot with the new polls come out. They put up 59 points on Ole Miss and most of them coming from these two. Tua Tagovailoa and DeVonta Smith, that 74-yard touchdown there barely a minute into the game set the tone.

Tua passing for a school record six touchdowns, he rushed for another. Five of those passes going to DeVonta Smith. Four come in the first half alone. That's another Alabama record. The Tide rolls 59-31.

Finally, meet America's first ever female world champion in the hammer throw. DeAnna Price, 26 years old from Missouri, but her journey took her to Doha, Qatar, and the track and field world championships. She started out playing softball and she only did track to stay in shape.

But when softball was dropped from the Olympics back in '08, she went all out in the hammer throw. And there she was wrapped in the American flag, overcome with emotions. DeAnna Price bringing home the gold.

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DEANNA PRICE, HAMMER THROW GOLD MEDALIST: Being able to bring that medal, to bring it home for my country is everything. I owe it so much. So, I'm sorry, I cry a lot.

But it's just being able to say -- like I would say it's never me, it's we. I didn't do this for myself. I did it because of my country. I did it because of my coach. I did it because of my family and my friends. And to me, I couldn't be more humbled, because it's not me, it's we.

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WIRE: How humble, right?

[07:55:00]

I mean, DeAnna said the first time she threw a hammer, it hit her in the head but she kept on, stuck with it. And there she is, but that humility, we never achieve anything in and of ourselves, right?

PAUL: No.

WIRE: And for her to have the humility and take it to the world stage.

PAUL: And, DeAnna, I cry a lot, too. It's OK.

We are so proud of her. Yes, you know, I do.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Coy.

PAUL: Coy, thank you.

All right. Hey, we hope you make some good memories on this Sunday, fun day.

BLACKWELL: And we leave you with "SNL's" take on the impeachment inquiry.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know I'm going to need somebody to take the blame for this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but where are you going to find a sacrificial patsy that will do anything you say? Not it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't worry. I've got the perfect stooge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big Mike, how is church going? Are you still waiting on what's his face to come back?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mean Jesus, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. Listen, I'm just calling you about this whole Ukraine whistleblower thing. It's looking pretty bad for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me? But you're the one who broke the law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, wait a minute, don't try to drag me into your mess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm like plastic straws, I've been around forever, I've always worked, but now you're mad at me. Drink up, America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last time my slogan was feel the burn. This time, it's let's burn this place to the ground.

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