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Woman Nodding Behind Trump Ran Pro-Trump Campaign in 2018; Interview with Phillip Halpern, Who Quit DOJ Due to Barr Being "Lap Dog" to Trump; Christie: "I Was Wrong" Not to Wear Mask at White House; NY College President Resigns after Hundreds of COVID-19 Cases. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired October 16, 2020 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:34:30]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Of all questions to come from last night's town hall with President Trump, one of the big ones: Who is the woman nodding behind President Trump?
The overly agreeable woman immediately garnered Internet fame. And she's been identified as immigration attorney, Mayra Joli.
As the president was questioned on a range of topics, Joli could be seen nodding as Trump answered.
Despite the town hall being billed as an audience of undecided voters, Joli is actually a Trump supporter who ran for Congress as a pro-Trump candidate in 2018.
[14:35:00]
Alex Daugherty is joining me now. He's the Washington correspondent for "The Miami Herald".
And he tracked down the nodding woman, who everyone wanted to know her identify.
Tell us what you found out about here. Tell us who she is.
ALEX DAUGHERTY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Yes, so Mayra Joli is former congressional candidate and well-known Trump activist in local circles in Miami.
I picked her out because I saw the pictures and videos just like everybody was while covering the debate or covering the town hall. And I noticed a lot of her mannerisms looked similar, having written about her and covered her and talking to her in the past.
I went to her social media pages and she was already posting live videos of her conversations with the president shortly after the town hall, to kind of confirm it was her.
She's a really enthusiastic Trump supporter. Ran for congress two years ago as an Independent but as a pro-Trump Independent and still is a presence in local circles in Miami.
KEILAR: So you mention that what she posted online is what confirmed it to you.
This is actually a video of the interaction of what she posted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYRA JOLI, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: You are the best. You are the best for migrants. I'm from the Dominican Republican. But I'm American. I'm an American. Oh, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
JOLI: Trump, Sammy hey, Sammy, he adores me. Mr. President, I was running. I was running. I was running for Congress. Mr. Trump, Sammy, he's a good guy. He's a good guy.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: (INAUDIBLE)
JOLI: I will. I will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: You knew to go to her social media page because, I mean, obviously, she has quite a presence there. Can you tell us about that?
DAUGHERTY: Yes. So she's a well-known pro-Trump activist in local circles.
I think what is more interesting here is - and you heard in the video her companion shouting "Brazilians for Trump" and she's a Dominican for Trump.
Miami is a very diverse place. And these are folks who are going to be part of Trump's winning coalition if he's going to win Florida.
He's going to have to win Latino and Hispanic voters from all across Latin America. And Joli's support is kind of emblematic of the type of voters he needs to win.
Joli is obviously a very enthusiastic Trump supporter, and very well known in local political circles. But it's a point of a larger phenomenon that is really present in Miami this cycle.
KEILAR: Does he have the support of that group that he needs?
DAUGHERTY: It's not clear. There's polls that show he's performing better, Trump is performing better with Latino voters in south Florida, in Miami, than he did in 2016.
But it's going to be close, just like every election is in Florida. And it's a really big point for the Trump campaign.
Vice President Pence was also in Miami yesterday making explicit points about Colombian politics, the country Colombia. Not something you typically hear on the trail.
But definitely something that matters to slices of voters in Miami who are going to be crucial to the president's reelection.
KEILAR: Yes. Well, he certainty does have her very ardent support and the attention of anyone who was watching that town hall.
Alex Daugherty, thanks so much for joining us.
DAUGHERTY: Thank you.
Next, a DOJ prosecutor quits a life-long career because he says he was compelled to speak out about the attorney general acting like a lap dog for the president. He's going to join me live in just a moment.
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[14:42:34]
KEILAR: A prosecutor who spent three and a half decades at the Justice Department is now blasting Attorney General William Barr for his, quote, "slavish obedience to Donald Trump's will."
Phillip Halpern just quit the DOJ after serving under 19 different attorneys general and six different presidents. And he's joining me now from San Diego.
Sir, thank you so much for coming on to talk with us.
I want to read first part of your op-ed that is in the "San Diego Union Tribute."
You say, quote, "Barr overruled career prosecutors in order to assist the president's associates and/or friends who potentially harbor incriminating information. This career bureaucrat seems determined to turn our democracy into an autocracy."
You call Barr a "lap dog" to Trump. Why did you finally decide that you were going to go public?
PHILLIP HALPERN, CAREER PROSECUTOR WHO RESIGNED SAYING BILL BARR POLITICIZING DOJ: The question is, when could I have gone public. Because this is something that I think has bothered many people in the Department of Justice for a long time.
I think, at the outset, I should say it's a truly sad day for me when I end up criticizing and speaking out against the attorney general of the United States.
I've made my career in the Department of Justice. I cherish the work it does and I cherish the people in it.
However, it became apparent to me, though, our democracy is not guaranteed anymore. It's not guaranteed any more than the Roman Empire was destined to last forever.
When the attorney general of the United States believes he serves the president and not the people, our very democracy is in peril.
KEILAR: One of the things we've seen Barr be noticeably absent on is the issue of this domestic terror plot against Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who is a Democrat, who the President Trump has been very critical of.
Why has Barr been so absent from something that usually an attorney general would be very present on?
HALPERN: You make a great point here. I want to make it clear to everybody that I don't run the Department of Justice. I firmly believe that the attorney general should decide what he needs to speak out on.
But justice has to be blindfolded. It has to be done evenhanded.
So the question is really, and what disturbs everybody that I speak to in the department, is: Why does he choose to speak out guess Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland?
Why does he authorize the use of tear gas in Lafayette Park against American citizens, yet stand idly by when storm troopers, armed militia storm the Michigan state capital? That is a problem.
[14:45:12]
And not only does he do that, but he doubles down.
When the president tweets about it, "Liberate Michigan," he goes on TV and tells people that the governor's public health orders are the greatest danger to the United States since slavery.
This is abhorrent. This should be abhorrent to every single American citizen who listens to this. And it's certainly abhorrent to anybody who has to serve under his at the Department of Justice.
KEILAR: What do you think, if the president is to lose this election, what happens in the final two months of his presidency?
What are you concerned could happen? Whether it's pardons, or there are cases involving Barr? What are your worries?
HALPERN: Well, the president has a track record, from General Kelly to General Mattis to John Bolton to Jeff Sessions.
Donald Trump has made it clear that there's no place in his administration for anybody who places loyal service to their country over blind obedience to him.
That worries me. Because these are the demands of a dictator, not a patriot.
And what is particularly troubling is that this attorney general appears almost universally to simply, as you said, act as his lapdog.
And unless the Department of Justice is vigilant in looking at the electoral system, our country has a problem. This is something we have been consistently in the past.
And what gives me great heart is that there's so many people in the Department of Justice who I know, like myself, will be committed to making sure we don't have abuses.
KEILAR: Phillip, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about this. Phillip Halpern, we really appreciate it.
HALPERN: Thank you, Brianna.
KEILAR: One of President Trump's most ardent supporters is warning Americans about coronavirus. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent seven days in the intensive care unit recovering from his bought with COVID-19.
Last month, Christie spent time with the president doing debate prep and he also attended the super-spreader event that followed the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
In an interview this morning, Christie admitted he was wrong to not wear a mask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: I was doing it right for seven months and avoided the virus. I let my guard down for a couple of days inside the White House grounds and it cost me in a significant way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Just ahead on CNN, another blow to President Trump's hopes of a vaccine by Election Day. Pfizer now saying it won't try to get its version approved until late November.
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[14:52:18]
KEILAR: A college in New York is the latest to struggle with a coronavirus outbreak on campus.
Evan McMorris-Santoro is following this for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Evan McMorris-Santoro. The president of the Oneonta campus of the State University of New York system has resigned as the school continues to grapple with a large coronavirus outbreak on campus.
The school has reported 712 student cases of the virus since residence halls opened on August 17th. That's more than half of the total number of student cases in the entire SUNY system.
SUNY Oneonta switched entirely to remote learning in late August in response to the large number of cases.
The school had initially decided not to test students or quarantine them upon their arrival to campus. One student told CNN that's rare for SUNY.
A school official acknowledged there were several issues with SUNY Oneonta's original reopening plan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Evan, thank you.
[14:53:15]
After a night of dueling town halls, President Trump and Joe Biden are each holding multiple events today. We'll hear from Joe Biden next hour as he makes his health care pitch to voters in the battleground state of Michigan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:58:28]
KEILAR: Social distancing has helped protect the elderly from COVID-19 but the social isolation has had a devastating effect on the mental and emotional well-being of some seniors.
Since 2014, "CNN Hero" Carol Rosenstein has been using music to help people battle diseases, like dementia and Parkinson's. When COVID hit, she moved her organization's programing online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL ROSENSTEIN, CNN HERO: COVID just makes this doubly difficult for people to sustain the levels of wellness because they have so much isolation going on.
We're going to start seeing people deteriorating faster.
(SINGING)
ROSENSTEIN: But we can provide a great substitute for this that will keep us healthy and well during quarantine.
(SINGING)
ROSENSTEIN: Music is medicine for the mind.
(SINGING).
ROSENSTEIN: The complexity excites so many centers in our brains. All of that excitement miraculously pushes neurotransmitters that help us function.
(SINGING)
ROSENSTEIN: Medicine with a side effect that is pure joy.
Where is my Kleenex?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:00:00]
KEILAR: And you can see Anderson's full story about Carol's work. Go to CNNheroes.com right now for that.
Our special coverage continues now with Jake Tapper.
