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New Day Sunday

Police: Four Dead After Gunman Opens Fire at Kansas City Bar; President Trump Unloads Barrage of Tweets Attacking Mitt Romney; Witness in Guyger Murder Trial, and Victim's Neighbor, Shot Dead; Top Cases for High Court Include Abortion, Immigration; Vatican to Consider Allowing Some Married Men to Become Priests; Fox's Tucker Carlson Says Trump's Ukraine Call Was Inappropriate. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 06, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, on Twitter, saying the first whistleblower has been discredited, so a second whistleblower is being brought in. Keep them coming, he said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wrote on Twitter, Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He's a pompous ass who has been fighting me from the beginning.

IVANKA TRUMP, FIRST DAUGHTER: I think my father has definitely grown used to this. He is probably experienced more incoming than any person in the history of the world.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Based on what I know, it looks like there is probably be enough evidence to vote for impeachment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You worry too much, Mike. Presidents get impeached every 30 or 40 years. Now come on. Relax. Have another glass of milk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 5:00 somewhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Christi Paul.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHR: And I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Victor Blackwell.

Great to see you this morning, Christi.

PAUL: You too. Good to have you here.

SANCHEZ: We are following a ton of news. Breaking news before we get to some of the fast moving impeachment developments.

A gunman is on the run in Kansas City this morning after he walked into Tequila KC Bar and he opened fire on people there.

PAUL: Now, police say four people are dead. Five others were shot as well during this incident. The people who were wounded were transported to a local hospital. We understand that all are in stable condition right now but our affiliate KSHB spoke with police a short time ago. And here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER THOMAS TOMASIC, KANSAS CITY POLICE SPOKESMAN: We got the call about 1:27, I believe when the call came in of a shooting tenth and central area. Showed up. There are four people inside of the bar that are deceased and there were five others that were transported to area hospitals. Last I've heard, I believe they are all in stable condition.

But that is kind of what we are working with right now. Detectives are here. They are trying to look at any surveillance. We are waiting on the search warrant before we even go inside the bar. So I don't have IDs or anything yet on any of the victims.

Nobody in custody. We do not have a good enough description yet to put anything out for suspect or suspects. We don't know how many.

But this is definitely one of those that we are going to do everything very slowly and very methodically and correctly so this will take a little while.

REPORTER: It's very active scene here. As you can take a look, just over my right shoulder, police are still here' just got into the bar I found out is a private member only bar. It fits around 40 to 50 people inside. Police got a call around 1:30 this morning of a shooting and found the suspect and the four people -- I'm sorry. Found the victims. Four team dead, all four Hispanic males and five people sent to the hospital. They were sent to Truman Medical, as well as KU Med.

Now, like you said, the victims were found at Tequila KC. There were some people. They were taken to the hospital. As for the suspect, it's very unclear right now. Police are trying to get an accurate description if it's one shooter, if it was multiple shooters. But I just spoke to the PIO just about a minute ago and they said a handgun was used. They found handgun shells. And so, police, as you can see, that they are walking into the bar. They had to wait for a search warrant, and so, they have been in there for probably 15, 20 minutes so this will be an active scene for quite sometime and police are asking you to avoid this area.

We'll send it back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: We thank our affiliate there KSHB for the report. And as soon as we get more information from the scene, we'll certainly bring it to you. SANCHEZ: As promised, plenty to discuss when it comes to the

impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump and now, a tweet storm by the president this weekend. Over the past 24 hours, he's lashed out at Democrats for their impeachment inquiry and even a senator from his own party.

PAUL: In a series of tweets, the president took specific aim at Mitt Romney, he used vulgar language toward the senator, called him for -- called for him to be impeached. The tweets came after Romney rebuked the president for calling on Ukraine and China to investigate the Bidens. We should be very clear that a congressman can't be impeached.

SANCHEZ: Senator can't actually be impeached.

PAUL: They can be censured. They can be expelled, but they can't be impeached.

SANCHEZ: The president was also upset by "The New York Times" report of a possible second whistleblower. He slammed the unnamed person for having second-hand information and taunted Democrats to keep them coming.

But we should point out, he's misrepresenting what was actually in that "The New York Times" report that states that that whistleblower has firsthand knowledge of the conversation between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart.

PAUL: And now, another Republican senator is criticizing the president as well. Senator Susan Collins told the Maine newspaper that the president's request to China was, quote, completely inappropriate.

I want to go to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House now.

Kristen, what are you hearing from that at this point, this morning? Good morning to you.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi.

Well, let's keep in mind. President Trump thinks that he is his own best messenger. That's why when he hears news about him that he doesn't like, he calls it fake news, and takes to Twitter and sets his own narrative. And that's exactly what we saw all day yesterday, about eight hours of these attacking tweets.

And we start with that potential second whistleblower. It is no surprise that he took this on. He has been trying to discredit the first whistleblower for the last two weeks.

So, yesterday, in a tweet, he says: The first so-called second hand information whistleblower got my phone conversation almost completely wrong, so now word is that they are going to the bench and another whistleblower is coming in from the deep state, also with second hand info. Meet with Shifty. Keep them coming.

Of course shifty there is referring to Adam Schiff.

But this sets a completely different narrative. First of all, we do know that first whistleblower who seen the complaint, it actually does line up with that conversation that we have seen that the White House, itself, released. And again, Boris, as you said, this potential second-hand whistleblower we have already heard has firsthand information.

So, this is just another example of the president setting his own up to discredit him before he potentially comes forward even. But again, not just the whistleblower but senators from his own party, Mitt Romney.

Christi, I want to state again this is a vulgar tweet we are about to pull up here that he said. So, it says, Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He's a pompous ass who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run, I gave it to him, and when he begged me to be secretary of state. I didn't give it to him. He is so bad for R's.

Obviously, R's is Republicans.

And I just want to make something clear here. The president is sending a serious message to members of his own party. If you go against me, if you stand up to me, I will not only just attack you, I will try to humiliate you and discredit you.

SANCHEZ: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for that.

To discuss these tweets, impeachment, and the president's attack on members of his own party, we have a special panel of guests here, the CNN dream team of analysts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow!

PAUL: The CNN squad!

SANCHEZ: I guess that makes me Christian Laettner or something?

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, no, no!

SANCHEZ: So much talent!

RYE: Christian Laettner, like, no. I'm a fab five kind of one. Christian Laettner?

SANCHEZ: Chris Mullen, maybe?

We will move on.

We have White House correspondent and American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan. We've got CNN political commentators, former South Carolina State Representative Bakari Sellers, Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, Andrew Gillum. Thank you all so much for joining us.

We have to start with these tweets about Mitt Romney.

April, I'm going to fight the urge to ask you about the president put ass in quotation marks and instead focus on the message he is trying to send to other Republicans.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Over the last couple of days, we have watched this president spiral out of control. Ass in quotes or not in quotes, bottom line, it's vulgar, it's not presidential.

But he feels the heat. He is feeling this is something he can't walk away from any more. Like we said earlier, he has made statements that are on tape.

The bottom line, he knows that there are Republicans who are saying, sir, you made a mistake. Even the White House staff is trying to figure out how to handle this. This is worse than what we saw with Bill Clinton. It's worse than what we saw with Nixon.

I believe impeachment will happen but the question is, will the Republicans in the Senate break with this president?

Now, I'm going to tell you the equation I see, Boris. If the president's poll numbers keep declining, which they are, and impeachment numbers go up, you will see a break from this president. They will throw him under the bus as fast as they can if, again, those poll numbers start going down on his approval rating and the impeachment numbers go up. Not over 50 percent.

ANDREW GILLUM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think is probably true --

RYAN: It is true.

GILLUM: -- for a few U.S. senators and I can think four of them, Republicans, who find themselves in quite frankly, a pretty competitive race in 2010. The House, unfortunately, and this is a byproduct of the kind of gerrymandering that is happening at the state level, you've got so many of these Republican members of Congress who are, quite frankly, in Republican districts that it doesn't matter what the president does --

RYAN: That's true.

GILLUM: -- they are going to have his back.

And so, if you're one of those members of Congress, you're very loathe to go against this president because back in your home district, your members are actually standing with him.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Let me ask you this.

RYAN: This is not about patriotism. This is about a person, not the country that keeps talking about patriotism. What happens here is not patriotism. It is obstruction of justice. It's bribery, demeaning the oath of office and demeaning the office plus.

PAUL: But listen.

GILLUM: That's the argument we want to able to make to them. Unfortunately, it is not breaking through for too many members --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: In the last 24 hours, we did see some people coming out that we haven't seen before. Tucker Carlson is actually talking against the president but we've got bigger than that, listen.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: We have Senator Susan Collins. I know, I know. Senator Susan Collins, senator Susan Collins said --

RYE: She needs to!

PAUL: -- I thought the president made a big mistake by asking China to get involved in the investigation a political opponent. It's completely inappropriate.

(CROSSTALK)

He is the one person has not attacked. Why it is notable that the people he has attacked on twitter in the last 24 hours, she came out and said this. He has not gone after her. Why?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me say it's a very, very low bar of expectation. I give absolutely no credit to Tucker Carlson.

RYE: Thank you.

SELLERS: I give very little to no credit to Susan Collins.

RYE: None.

SELLERS: I find myself in this little category of thinking that Mitt Romney may have courage and I realize who Mitt Romney is. I think we are -- as people get dressed this morning and go to church, we have to say prayers that individuals who are serving this country have offices of public service actually get some testicular fortitude or get some backbone, get some courage, because it's going to take more than I'm troubled. It's going to take more than Mitt Romney just sending a tweet out.

We need somebody to take the well of the United States Senate and say that the president of the United States is trampling on everything that we stand for. And I don't believe there are any Republicans that do it because they're afraid of Donald Trump's personality. So, look -- I am more dated because I have a 14-year-old daughter who is more responsible on social media than Donald Trump is. OK? That says a lot to me.

RYE: And I think the bigger issue is that it's not just what Donald Trump is tweeting. I think it's also how he became the commander-in- chief. The fact that Mitch McConnell still won't consider election security bills, like, we could be on this impeachment inquiry issue but until we deal with the case at hand which is the attack on democracy overall, there is no fairness in this land and no democracy. We have to deal with all of the issues at the same time. I think that the country would say walk and chew gum.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: We have to ask this impeachment inquiry potentially making Democrats vulnerable, though, because a lot of Democrats in purpose areas and purple districts that are feeling the heat when they go back home and go to these town halls and get yelled at. We have a sound bite from Jahana Hayes from Connecticut.

Listen to what she talked about discussing some of the issues that she is hearing from constituents over impeachment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAHANA HAYES (D-CT): I know coming out for impeachment makes me incredibly fragile. . In my district 50.1 and I could lose the seat because of the decision I made but it's worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: At the end of the day, is it worth it?

GILLUM: Yes, it is worth it. By the way, I did not -- I think this is a Republican trope that they want out there to terrify the vulnerable Democrats by saying, hey, if you get out there and you do this, you go against the president, you're going to lose your seat.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: They get yelled at. They are saying --

(CROSSTALK)

GILLUM: But it's happened on both sides. Republican members, you've seen some of the senators as they have held town hall meetings in their respective districts being asked these questions.

I would prefer my elected official to be on the side of the Constitution. I would prefer my elected official to be on the side of we don't go and ask foreign governments to intrude in domestic United States elections. If you're a Republican out there and you have the nerve to stand up saying you're with the president who stands against the country? Then good luck with that message.

So, I don't think voters have to agree with you 100 percent every step of the way, but they do need to know you have some sense of a moral compass. SELLERS: I want to go to Florida and compare Congresswoman Hayes to

Marco Rubio and I did this for you, Andrew.

(LAUGHTER)

[07:15:02]

RYE: Just for you.

SELLERS: Because what we saw -- what we saw is if you strip away the D and the R from these two individuals, we saw someone who put country over party.

This isn't a question over budget constraints. This isn't a question over foreign policy or social programs. This is a question about what our country means and what you stand for. What she did was courageous.

Now, we saw Marco Rubio who is flailing in the wind who literally said that I believe it's a ploy or the president just wants attention when we are talking about whether or not Ukraine and China can delve into our -- listen. I know that Donald Trump has perverted the term patriotism. People confused prejudice from patriotism right now all the time.

But I -- people don't understand and many Republicans are not even representing what it means to be American.

PAUL: OK, we want to get to this next segment so we have take a break here, but do stay with us. The panel is staying here as well -- the CNN squad.

Here is the thing. Who killed the key witness in the murder trial of former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger? We are talking about that trial and now we know this witness was shot dead yesterday.

SANCHEZ: Plus, Pope Francis may have a big decision that could end hundreds of years of tradition in the Catholic Church, where the church is considering allowing married men to become priests?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We have some new developments to tell you about in the murder trial of a former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger. Joshua Brown, you may recall, was a key witness in the trial.

[07:20:03]

He was a neighborhood of Botham Jean and Guyger. He was shot and killed on Friday in the parking lot of his apartment complex.

Witnesses told police they heard several gunshots and they saw a silver sedan speed out of the parking lot. They say he was ambushed.

PAUL: Now, during the trial, Brown said he lived directly across the hall from Jean and saw Guyger outside Jean's apartment the night he was killed.

Our panel is back here. And one of the -- one of the controversial moments in this trial was this hug, actually a couple of them. One between the judge and Guyger, one between Jean's brother and Guyger.

And what was your takeaway from that?

RYAN: And you also saw the bailiff playing with --

RYE: Fixing her hair.

RYAN: -- fixing her hair and it reminded me of the black doll test that we heard about many, many years ago.

SELLERS: Kenneth and Clark.

RYAN: Yes. And I thought about that. But on this Sunday morning, as we get ready to go to church, Tyler Perry, I believe in redemption. But when we still are talking about taking the knee, when we still talking about Black Lives Matter we saw Colin Kaepernick last night and he is still talking about taking the knee.

I looked at D.L. Hughley who was really putting a lot of stuff on Instagram. He had one poignant Instagram moment post and the young man who is now dead, his arms were out of the grave. I'm dead. You know, people are not remembering he is still dead.

At the end of the day, maybe the families are in shock and they wanted to look at God for love. But what do you do when a judge says? That was out of order for a judge to come down and say that here's my Bible praying and I'm hugging you. That was not in line with what government is supposed to do.

GILLUM: You know, I forgive -- first of all, I don't want to pass judgment on the brother who is in the midst of grieving and how it is that he grieves. I still, however, believe that there is a strong indictment on the system that has to be talked about -- in the case of the conduct in the courtroom, yes. In the case of the verdict in and of itself, yes.

But you also had the mother who had lost her child who gave powerful credence and words around the need to extricate the corruption that is in Dallas and blow this out around the country through the criminal justice system. I just regret those comments have not gotten graver play. They were powerful, they were poignant, they came from the worlds of a grieving mother who did not allow the loss of her son to muzzle her from talking about the impropriety that exists in the broader criminal justice system, and I think we've got to give them, you know, frankly greater credence to the word spoken by Botham's mother.

RYE: You know, I posted the hug and I just said, God isn't through with me yet. I just -- I cannot even imagine hugging the killer of any of my family members. Even if I forgive you, I will love you from a distance. So, I cannot imagine it. I think what adds insult to injury here is the amount of time she is

going to serve, right? Like she got off. She is going to see another day in a decade, right?

SELLERS: Half.

RYAN: She is actually getting five years.

SELLERS: Yes, yes, to the point!

RYE: To me, I'm just, at this point, how can you say Black Lives Matter? Because one is gone. And she gets to live a free life. She will be just fine and I'm sick of it. I want somebody to address it.

RYAN: And black people are always forgiving people.

SELLERS: Yes. April, that was a great segue.

My biggest issue with this entire episode is that we lost a young man who, you know, will not be able to walk down the aisle, will not be able to hug his relatives any more. He is gone.

But for black folk in this country, it's almost a must that we take a posture of forgiveness, that we show some level of grace and, for me, I'm sick and tired of it, because I want that to be reciprocal. I've always been taught through my Christian upbringing that with forgiveness, there must come some level of atonement. You just don't get forgiven without some confession.

And my thing is that in this country for far too look, black folk have always gotten to the "I forgive you" way before, way before people like Amber Guyger give us the benefit of our humanity. I am frustrated to the point that it's maddening because here we are again.

[07:25:01]

I can understand the forgiveness that this was going to be the last case, but this isn't. We will be talking about someone else who lost their lives, shouldn't, did not get the benefit of their humanity in a couple of weeks and this other young man who was gunned down and ambushed as the facts come out. You know, our prayers go to he and his family. But we see this all the time that violence is just pervasive and it's taking away really good souls who deserve to be able to live a fruitful life.

SANCHEZ: A thoughtful note to end the conversation on this Sunday morning.

PAUL: We appreciate you all being here.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much.

Angela?

RYE: I'm Angela.

RYAN: I'm April.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: It's out of order on the prompter!

(CROSSTALK)

RYAN: We're going to church, we're on our way to church to --

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Could I join?

GILLUM: Yes.

RYE: Now you don't know our names, you might not be able to.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: This is what happens. Yes, this is what happens.

SELLERS: Let's go to breakfast.

RYE: You are so crazy.

PAUL: We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, the Supreme Court starts a new term next week. It looks as though it can be a big one. The high court is taking on cases of abortion, of LGBTQ rights, immigration and guns.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and the biggest decision are likely to be handed down just months before the 2020 election.

CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue joins us now.

Ariane, on Friday, the court announced it's taking up the first abortion rights case since Justice Kavanaugh took his seat. This one coming out of Louisiana. What do we know about it?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Yes, this is going to be a big term. There are these hot button issues. And then, Friday, the Supreme Court decides to add abortion to the docket.

That's the first time, as you said, President Trump's two nominees, you know, Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, are going to hear an abortion- related case.

[07:30:01]

And, of course, all eyes will be on Kavanaugh there because Kavanaugh took the seat of Justice Anthony Kennedy, that swing vote. And today is the one year anniversary of Kavanaugh's confirmation.

But that abortion case, it comes out of Louisiana. And it requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Critics say that it's not medically necessary. And that it's just meant to make it harder for women to get an abortion but the state says, look, it's a reasonable regulation. We want to look out for women in that case. What is interesting about it is these big cases, as you said, LGBT rights, immigration, they are all going to be decided in the coming months and they are going to be decided in the heat of the presidential election.

And there, Chief Justice John Roberts, he is now starting his 15th term on the bench. He has worked so hard to keep the court out of the political fray. But these kind of cases, these are just the kind of cases that do divide this court down its familiar ideological lines and as hard as he might say to say, look, we don't work in a political manner, there's another thing looming, of course, for him because if the impeachment proceedings continue, it will be Chief Justice John Roberts who is trying to keep the court out of the political fray who would be asked to preside over any impeachment trial that could occur.

So this is a big term. All eyes are on the chief and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Ariane De Vogue, thank you so much.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Pope Francis and other Catholic church leaders are at the Vatican considering a proposal to allow some married men to be ordained as priests.

PAUL: And the pope called the meeting to address issues facing Catholics in Amazon. But groups from around the world are taking issue with some of his proposals, including one that would allow some married men to become priests.

CNN Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher is with us now from Rome.

So, how is that received? How is that decision received, Delia?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen. This is shaping up to be a very contentious three-week meeting here. As you say, it was called to discuss environment issues and issues affecting the indigenous people in the Amazon, but also on the table is this proposal to allow some married men, respected elders in the communities, in the Amazon, to be ordained as Catholic priests, because there's a shortage of priests in the region.

And this, of course, would be a change to the long-standing tradition of un-married priests in the Catholic. So, it's causing quite an outcry particularly amongst conservative groups, and we've seen them here just in the week leading up to this meeting, having prayer vigils, praying and protesting for the outcome of this meeting. We've also seen interestingly, another type of protest coming from a different group and that is Catholic women's groups and nuns who are protesting the fact that women do not have a vote at this meeting.

There will be 185 men, priests and bishops, who will be voting. There are some 35 women, including nuns, who are participating but they don't have the right to vote. So, we have seen a lot of activity. The meeting has not gotten under way and starts tomorrow and it's behind closed doors so we will have to wait for the end of the three weeks to see just how they vote.

And even when they vote, Christi and Boris, they are only making recommendations to the pope. It's Pope Francis that has to decide in the end what, if any, changes he is going to make -- Christi and Boris.

SANCHEZ: Delia Gallagher, thank you so much.

PAUL: So, FOX News host Tucker Carlson calls out the president's phone call with Ukraine's president saying, quote, there is no way to spin this as a good idea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:37:18]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you know, this impeachment farce is growing worse by the day and a second whistleblower is coming forward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all happening during mile busy season, Halloween!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where is the president, Mike?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has more important things to deal with. He is meeting with an alligator breeder about filling the moat at the border.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should have told me. I know a couple of gators when I lived in the Central Park zoo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get ahead of this story before it spirals out of control. Did you see those text messages they uncovered?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They totally exonerate us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really? What do they say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, this one says I think we should stop texting about the crimes and maybe tell the crimes over the phone so that the crimes don't leave little crime footprints. See? It's all taken care of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't believe I have to deal with this. I'm supposed to be seeing the new Judy Garland movie with mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You worried so much, Mike. Presidents get impeached every 30 or 40 years. Now, come on. Relax. Have another glass of milk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 5:00 somewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That was "Saturday Night Live" turning the spotlight to Vice President Mike Pence and impeachment last night.

CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter is here to discuss.

Brian, it is 5:00 somewhere, right?

(LAUGHTER)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You know, Beck Bennett, who plays Vice President Pence, this was his shining moment. He had a line that wasn't meant to be a joke. We have to get out ahead of this before it gets out of control.

And as that sketch shows, the situation is firmly out of control at this point, you know, between the text messages and transcripts and everything else that we've seen. It is notable that "SNL", with Baldwin having the weekend off playing Donald Trump, just leaned into the Vice President Pence character may be thinking a little bit ahead in that liberal fantasy of Trump leaving the White House.

PAUL: Let's talk about Tucker Carlson, we know he is a supporter of the president. There seems to be a bit of a turn. How big of a turn is this? What do you make of it, Brian?

STELTER: I think we see Carlson and some other conservative thought leaders trying to turn to a new defense of President Trump, saying that what he has done with Ukraine is bad but not impeachable. Let's put on the screen part of Carlson and his cofounder Neil Patel's op-ed for "The Daily Caller" this weekend, here's what they say. They say Donald Trump should not have been on the phone with a foreign head of state encouraging other country to investigate his political opponent, Joe Biden. Some Republicans are trying to defend it, but there's no way to spin this as a good idea.

Now, they went on to say, like a lot of things that Trump doe, it was pretty over the top. Our leaders' official actions should not be about politics.

[07:40:02]

Those two things need to remain separate. Once those in control of our government use it to advance their political goals, we become just another of the world's many corrupt countries. America is better than that.

So, Carlson and Patel are saying there is no way to spin Trump's conduct in these cases as a good thing. Now that is notable because many others on Fox have been trying to spin it as a good thing. Second, they then shift the goalposts and say, this is not impeachable.

I think that is perhaps the introduction of a new argument that we will be hearing from Republicans from conservative commentators that what happened over the summer is wrong, even perhaps more recently, Trump's calls for the Chinese to investigate Biden, that's wrong. But it's not impeachable. Let's wait and get to the election in a little more than a year.

I think we may hear that argument over and over again including on the Sunday shows today.

SANCHEZ: Yes, notably, Tucker says the Department of Justice didn't find any wrongdoing on the call. He doesn't mention the attorney general was mentioned in that call by President Trump.

Brian, we understand you have a special guest on "RELIABLE SOURCES" today?

STELTER: Well, you know, the president has been angrier than ever. I think this week, he took to 11 volume-wise. So, we asked Barbara Res to come on. She was a long time Trump Organization executive who worked with Trump for many years.

So I want to ask her about what she's seen today, how it lines up to the colleague that she worked. So, that's on "RELIABLE SOURCES" this morning.

PAUL: All righty. Looking forward to it. Brian Stelter, thank you.

STELTER: Thank you.

PAUL: Make sure to tune in to Brian this morning, "RELIABLE SOURCES", at 11:00 a.m., only here on CNN.

SANCHEZ: And still to come, a mom on a mission. For the past five years, a St. Louis mother has been feeding hundreds of hungry kids in her neighborhood. She joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:16]

PAUL: Let's talk about human kindness here. A St. Louis mother is feeding children who live in poverty in her community one day at a time. Her name is Champale Anderson.

She's been feeding kids in her neighborhood five years. They knock on the door before and after school and she gives them a snack for breakfast and lunch.

She makes about 100 bags a day! Think about the work that takes. And she is with us now.

Champale, thank you so much for being with us.

I'm wondering. I understand you're a health care provider. You're a mom of six. Anybody who is a mom knows, oh, my goodness. The time you have is certainly precious.

What is happening in your neighborhood that you found this to be a need?

CHAMPALE ANDERSON, HEALTHCARE PROVIDER: Well, you know, the kids, by me having so many kids, you know, I would deal with a lot of kids in the neighborhood so they trust me enough to let me know that they were hungry a lot of times. I had to help them.

I'm passionate about it. You know? I have to help kids. Anybody. I help anybody that needs my help.

PAUL: Well, the fact that you've been doing this for five years and that you make a hundred bags a day, I understand sometimes it's even a little more than that.

ANDERSON: Oh, yes.

PAUL: What does that take work-wise? I mean, it's got to take a lot of time.

ANDERSON: Oh, it's no time, because I'm passionate about doing it. Look, I am set a routine. I get in a routine and I just get to going. I make the sandwiches and I make them with love because I love to do it.

PAUL: So, what do you give them? What are in the bags?

ANDERSON: Well, I switch it up. Sometimes I give them peanut butter, jelly, maybe orange, sandwiches, I will give chips, maybe cookies and nutria grain bars, whatever, and they are excited because I'm always switching it up.

PAUL: I bet. So, if you've been doing this as long as you have, you must get to know these kids and their parents.

ANDERSON: Oh, yes.

PAUL: What is it like for you to see how you've changed them? What do you say to you?

ANDERSON: Oh my goodness, the kids -- they love it. They love me. Some of them come up to me and hug me, in the evening time and saying, I love you, Champale, and thank you. That brightens my day.

I had a young lady, she - you now, she help me give out the bags. She asked me, can I take anything home something extra? I said, do you have anything at home? She said no. I took her in the house and made up a bag and put it in her book bag so she wouldn't be embarrassed by the other kids. So --

PAUL: You know taking care of the kids like that and letting them know they matter, that really is changing their lives.

ANDERSON: Right.

PAUL: That's giving them a whole new perspective, and I know you said one of your goals is to expand this into other neighborhoods. What do you need personally to make that happen? ANDERSON: Oh, just volunteers. Help funding, because my goal is to

set up in every neighborhood, everywhere it's needed, I would like to have my own place one day. You know? Just they can have somewhere to come, you know? They wouldn't be on the streets, you know?

I want them to always trust me. And I'm going to keep this going because I'm very passionate about it.

PAUL: I know you do accept donations because, listen, some people have a hard time just feeding their own kids, let alone feeding kids in the neighborhood and it costs money.

ANDERSON: Absolutely.

PAUL: Do you find other people chipping in to help?

ANDERSON: Yes. Now that I kind of went viral a little bit, I get a little help, you know? It's just getting the volunteers to help me. Someone might say, yeah, I'll come help you tomorrow and they don't show up. So, that is fine. I'll get started making my hundred sandwiches.

PAUL: Champale Anderson there in St. Louis, if anybody wants to help her out, you will be able to figure out how to find her, no doubt about it. You're doing important work, ma'am. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

ANDERSON: Thank you so much for having me.

PAUL: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Boy, she is incredible and this is an incredible sight too. Something that might lift up your spirits this Sunday morning. Thousands of people turning out to see Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta at twilight. We will have more after the break.

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PAUL: Sound healing or singing bowl therapy as it's called is an ancient way to soothe stress and now it's being used to ease anxiety and depression.

So, in this week's "Staying Well", we look at the power, the healing power of sound.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIELLE HALL, SOUND HEALING PRACTITIONER: The sound and vibration kind of act like a butter fly net. It's really helpful in capturing all of the mind chatter that we're constantly bombarded with throughout the day.

Sound healing is the use of sound and vibration for supporting people in getting into what's called the relaxation response, the state in which we are able to go into deep rest and counteract the hormones of stress. TAMARA GOLDSBY, RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGIST, UC SAN DIEGO: In relaxation

response, the body basically just chills and lowered blood pressure, lowered heart rates, healing of the body can kick in again. There's a significant amount of reduced anxiety and reduced depressed mood. There was higher spiritual well-being and physical pain reduction.

HALL: In a sound session, close your eyes and be open to where you're hearing the sounds in the room and where you're feeling the sounds in your body, because it feels like the sounds are washing over your body. It's going from that fight or flight into I am resting, I am digesting, I am detoxing, I am repairing.

[07:55:05]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came with a really bad headache, pretty achy, and I was blown away by how I feel now. It's like night and day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: The 40th annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is under way right now. It's a huge event every year. People from around the country flock to New Mexico, the land of enchantment, to see these hot air balloons. Look at that.

PAUL: That is gorgeous. Gorgeous.

And I don't know why, somebody said there's a little disappointment in this yesterday. But apparently that was Mother Nature, low clouds, fog forced some of the balloons, in fact a lot of them apparently, to stay on the ground. Several of the balloonists were able to launch before the fog set in. The favorite viewing time for the balloon launches, by the way, are at dawn and at night, because obviously you see it in all its beauty.

SANCHEZ: All its glory. Yes, it looks gorgeous right there.

PAUL: Enjoy your time out there if that's where you are and hopefully you get better weather. We certainly hope that for you.

Thank you so much for spending time with us this morning. We appreciate the fact that you wake up and you turn your TV on and you kind of let us into your morning. Thank you for that and we hope you make good memories and thanks to this guy.

SANCHEZ: Thank you for having me. Rolling with the punches, I'm dealing with a bit of a fever.

PAUL: You would never know, would you?

SANCHEZ: And she's also shoved me to the side, and not get contagious --

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: That's all right. No, no. I'm all good.

SANCHEZ: "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JOHN KING" is up after a quick break. Thanks so much for joining us.