Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

New Coronavirus Cases on Quarantined Ship; Andrew Cuomo is Interviewed on Feud with Trump; GOOP Defends Trump's Intervention in Stone Case; Limbaugh Comments about Buttigieg. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 13, 2020 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A cruise is supposed to be like. But parents with young children on the Diamond Princess, this only happens for about an hour every few days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oink, oink.

RIPLEY: All those other hours are spent like this, waiting for the daily delivery of fresh toys, coloring books, crayons, colorful beads.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have this bracelet and also this one.

RIPLEY: Arts and crafts can keep the kids busy for hours. Every morning local jet skiers try to boost morale. Every evening, bunkbeds become trampolines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being trapped in this cabin, like, it makes you think and realize, well, we should appreciate like the little -- little moments, the little detail of life.

RIPLEY: Harvey is a young dad who asked us not to use his last name. He's on the quarantined cruise ship with his entire family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's 11 of us and then there's five kids.

RIPLEY: The youngest, three. The oldest, eight.

RIPLEY (on camera): What do you tell your children about why you guys are sitting there for this long?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We say there's like this invisible monster called the coronavirus and we can't go outside.

RIPLEY (voice over): That invisible monster may have the parents more spooked than their kids. Nobody in Harvey's family is showing any symptoms of novel coronavirus. He thinks they should all be tested anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The numbers are kind of strange to me. I'm also worried because even though I trust my own health, I don't want to be like an invisible carrier. RIPLEY: The Japanese government has only tested a few hundred people

out of more than 3,000 on the Diamond Princess. Many are asking, why not test everyone at once? Japan can only process around 300 test kits per day. The nation expects to more than triple its capacity by early next week, one day before the end of the quarantine. The question many are asking, is it too little, too late?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we are worried that we might be carrying, then it will affect our daily life when we -- when we go back. That's one of the major concerns, that we don't want to be carrying it, like, and then we don't want to spread it to the communities.

RIPLEY: Harvey worries what could happen when they go back home to Hong Kong. Could he and his children be stigmatized? Could they pass the virus to their neighbors, family and friends. Peace of mind, he says, can only come if everyone on board is tested, and if those tests come back negative.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: And we know that there are more than 400 Americans on that ship. Many of them with young children who will be returning home and they're being told they won't to have face another quarantine period. But most of those people will not have been tested. You can understand, John and Alisyn, why that makes some uneasy, even as the Japanese government insists if they don't show symptoms by the end of that 14 days, it should be safe for them to finally get off that ship.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Will, what a remarkable look you have given to us of what daily life with kids on that ship is like right now. And every parent around the country who is trying to come up with things to do with their kids, their young kids today, should be so grateful that they're not in that predicament.

CAMEROTA: OK, meanwhile, here's this story.

New York state is in a standoff with the Trump administration over the Global Entry program that lets travelers, as you know, get through airports faster. But this is part of a bigger beef that President Trump has with his home state. Governor Andrew Cuomo joins us next to talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:27]

CAMEROTA: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will meet with President Trump in a few hours to deal with the recent ban on New Yorkers from the trusted travel program that's called Global Entry. But it seems like there's a bigger beef here.

Joining us now is the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo.

Good morning, Governor.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Good morning, Alisyn. CAMEROTA: Governor, is this really about banning New Yorkers from the

Global Entry program, or is this the continuation of some beef that President Trump has with you and the city of New York and the state of New York? Is this somehow retaliation for something?

CUOMO: Yes, it is bigger than that, Alisyn. It's -- the president's administration disagrees fundamentally with the way we treat undocumented people who are in the state of New York, you have the right to apply for a driver's license because we want people who are on our roads to know how to drive and be licensed. We believe that's in the state interest to keep our people safe.

They disagree with us. They want to make political hay out of it. The Department of Homeland Security, which is supposed to be about security, by the way, actually did a memo that said we should punish the states that don't comply with their policy on undocumented people. It's New York, it's New jersey, it's California, it's King County in Washington. And they're going to punish, quote/unquote, those states. That's what their memo says, Alisyn. And then they turn around and say we're kicking you out of this trusted traveler program because we don't have the information.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: I said to the acting secretary, I will give you whatever information you want on the enrollees for the trusted traveler program.

CAMEROTA: Well --

CUOMO: But it's not rational. It's extortion.

CAMEROTA: Well, the acting deputy secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, says that this is the fault of New York and how you're handling it.

Let me play for you what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN CUCCINELLI, ACTING DEPUTY SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The issue here is that we're having a problem with the state of New York. We're not changing how the programs are run. New York has decided not to cooperate.

And I would note that those databases are critical for public safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So he says this is about public safety. I know that you say that today, when you go to this meeting with the president, you plan to call their bluff somehow. So what is your plan?

CUOMO: I'm going to say, if your apparent rationale is I won't cooperate, New York state won't cooperate with the trusted traveler program, we will.

[08:40:02]

We will give you whatever information you want from the DMV database, the Department of Motor Vehicle's database, for the trusted traveler program. I'm cooperating. Will you now stop doing what you're doing, which is gratuitous and retaliatory?

I believe they're going to say no because there's a memo leaked from the Department of Homeland Security, which they agree is a memo from the agency, which says, we need to punish these states.

This is what happens when an administration believes they are above the law. There are no rules. It's all politics. It's all self-serving. They can do whatever they want with immunity. Period.

CAMEROTA: And so --

CUOMO: And I want to make sure the president knows the situation.

CAMEROTA: Well, just explain to me, I mean there has not been much love lost between you and President Trump. You've criticized him. He's criticized you. He pulled up stakes from his longtime city. I mean, obviously, I remember, you remember when he was a bon vivant around town of New York City and now he says he wants nothing to do with New York. He's moved to Florida.

And so given all of that backdrop, I'm just curious, how is this meeting going to go between you and he?

CUOMO: It's not personal. And it shouldn't be personal. It's about the principle.

First of all, he moved to Florida because he believes he's politically viable in Florida, and he's not politically viable in New York. And they are absolutist in their self-interest. He moved to Florida so he can say to Florida, look, I'm a resident, you should vote for me. Leave New York because he believes he can't win here anyway because we're a Democratic state. And if it's a Democratic state, then abuse them and use them as a political pinata because it doesn't cost you anything politically.

I want to make sure the president knows that his Department of Homeland Security is extorting other governments. They said they're going to punish governments that don't get in line with their dictate. They're hurting hundreds of thousands of people who get kicked out of this trusted traveler program which actually, Alisyn, makes security worse because what the trusted traveler program did was it prescreened people so at the border you didn't have to waste a lot of time going through their background. Why would you jeopardize homeland security, hurt people gratuitously just to play politics?

CAMEROTA: All right.

CUOMO: It has to stop at one point.

CAMEROTA: Well, we will see what happens after your meeting with President Trump today. Governor Andrew Cuomo, great to see you. Thanks for being here.

CUOMO: Be on the lookout. Bolo, Alisyn, be on the lookout for imposters. And, remember, identity theft is a problem. There's only one real Cuomo.

CAMEROTA: I was wondering where we were going with that, but now I see.

Thank you very much to the real McCoy.

Thank you.

BERMAN: That took a turn. That took a turn right there. It took a turn.

CAMEROTA: I knew he was cautioning me about something very important though.

BERMAN: Actually it is very important. We all know.

All right, we've heard two Democratic senators on the show this morning call out their Republican colleagues saying that these Republicans in the Senate are involved in something of a cover-up now, allowing the president to abuse his power before their very eyes. So, what will be done about it? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:47:43]

CAMEROTA: President Trump is carrying out revenge after his impeachment. The president is praising the Justice Department for trying to lessen the prison sentence of President Trump's longtime pal Roger Stone. Republicans in Congress are largely reacting by doing nothing.

Joining us now is Charlie Black, a Republican strategist, and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama.

Great to see both of you.

CHARLIE BLACK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Charlie, I want to start with you because of your -- you had a longtime relationship with Roger Stone. And I'm just curious what your thoughts are as you watch all this play out, that he was supposed to be sentenced, or at least the prosecutors suggested seven to nine years because he lied to Congress, because there was witness tampering, and that the president and the Department of Justice got involved for leniency.

BLACK: Well, I hope Roger gets a fair but light sentence. As you've already told everybody this morning, Judge Jackson's going to make this decision. I doubt seriously she asked for the president's opinion on this. Veterans of the Justice Department who I know from both parties said this recommendation, the first recommendation, exceeds the sentencing guidelines, that they were expecting a recommendation of a two to three-year sentence.

So also may I note that the best investigative reporter on your show today, Maggie Haberman, said, we don't know what the president did with the Justice Department, if anything. So I --

CAMEROTA: No, I -- Charlie, and I hear you, I just want to be clear, it didn't exceed -- there are them and that falls within them. So the seven to nine years falls within the recommended guidelines, number one. And, number two, you're right, we don't know. We're looking forward to March 31st for Bill Barr to come and testify so that we can find out more information.

But the appearance of impropriety. The president sends out a tweet. He doesn't like the verdict. He doesn't like the sentence. And the Justice Department recommends for it to be lowered.

Are you comfortable with that?

BLACK: Well, I think they're two separate things. But let me tell you something, I wish the president watched CNN so he could hear me say, he is not helping Roger by commenting about this matter. And it's up to Judge Jackson. She didn't ask for his advice. I hope she's fair and gives Roger a light sentence. He's no threat to society.

[08:50:00]

BERMAN: Axe, you know, we heard from Democratic senators today and some people on our show who keep on saying, well, if Republican senators let the president keep on doing this. If they stand by and watch him fire people who are involved in the impeachment investigation, then we'll be in a real place.

And I keep wondering why they're using the word if. It's no longer a question of if. It's happened. It continues to happen.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there's -- there's no --

BERMAN: And the question now is, what's to stop him?

AXELROD: Yes. No, look, I did an "Axe Files" podcast with Adam Schiff yesterday, and this is the point that he made. He said so long as, you know, there's this cultive (ph) personality and Republican members of Congress are unwilling to challenge the president, there's a limit to what the Congress can do in terms of oversight and reining him in.

But I just want to make one point on the Roger Stone case.

First of all, Charlie, they do get Twitter over at the Justice Department and I'm sure that they saw his words on this.

Secondly, I don't think this really is about the sentence that Stone gets. I think the president is laying the predicate to pardon Roger Stone and he wants to sully that sentence, whatever that sentence is, so as to justify that pardon that will probably come after the election.

But the overall impact of everything that's happened in the last week, you know, the handling of witnesses to the impeachment trial, the suggestion to the Pentagon that Vindman be disciplined, those are -- you know, the institutional damage that's being done is really severe.

BERMAN: I want to play some sound from Rush Limbaugh in his show yesterday and remind you both that Limbaugh was just presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And he was talking about South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who won the most delegates out of Iowa, came in a close second in New Hampshire, and this is what Rush chose to talk about yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: Then they're sitting there and they're looking at Mayor Pete, 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage, and they're saying, OK, how is this going to -- a 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage next to Mr. Man, Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, Charlie, I do wonder what this feels like now that he has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom before the entire Congress, to hear comments like this from Rush Limbaugh.

BLACK: Well, it's too bad. I wish he had not said that. Unfortunately, we don't have a code of conduct or speech for former winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

But, again, as I said about President Trump and Roger Stone, Rush is not helping the president by making these kinds of totally tasteless comments.

AXELROD: It does make you wonder what they think about Mayor Pete as an opponent because, you know, you can read it as, well, he's on their radar screen and they're going after him. So, you know, that's -- if I'm sitting over in Pete's headquarters, I'm sort of thinking, well, we're getting their attention.

CAMEROTA: I want to play a clip right now from some -- a project that you're both connected to, and that is this CNN special series coming up, "Race for the White House." This one focuses on the 2008 race which is Obama against McCain, something you both know a lot about.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Hillary Clinton's office is a photograph of the Obama family, a gift from the freshman senator from Illinois.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: People call me Alabama or they call me yo mama, but the name's Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barack Obama really wasn't on our radar as a candidate in early 2006. I think the general feeling was, he just got to the Senate. There's no way he's going to run for president. That would be pretty, you know, audacious.

DAVID AXELROD, CHIEF STRATEGIST, OBAMA CAMPAIGN: I got a call from Senator Obama in the spring of 2006, and he said, just had the most peculiar meeting. He said Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer called me in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senators Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, top Democratic dogs on The Hill.

AXELROD: And Harry said, you ought to think about running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Isn't this interesting to revisit it right now, David?

AXELROD: You know, I got to see the whole film last night. It was really quite emotional to be thrown back to that time and that race, these two larger than life figures, really three if you include Hillary Clinton, but John McCain and Barack Obama and, yes, it's -- it seems like a long time ago now. But, you know, it was just 12 years ago. And the whole spirit of that was quite different than what we're seeing today.

[08:55:02]

BERMAN: Charlie, quickly, flashbacks for you?

BLACK: Yes, absolutely, John. It's a great documentary. I recommend it to your viewers. It does remind us that people of integrity and stature could disagree civilly and have a good campaign. Unfortunately, I was reminded that we lost and David won, so I congratulated him last night.

BERMAN: That's what always happens when you have these types of reunions from campaigns. Someone doesn't like it quite as much but we're thrilled to have you both here.

AXELROD: Thanks.

BERMAN: It's always so interesting to get to talk about history like this.

BLACK: Thank you.

BERMAN: Charlie Black, David Axelrod, thank you very much.

Axe has a podcast with Adam Schiff, part of the "Axe Files." That is definitely worth seeing.

And do not miss "Race for the White House." It premieres this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. CAMEROTA: OK. Fantastic.

Thank you all for joining us.

See you tomorrow.

BERMAN: I'm told.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:02]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto.