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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Clock Starts As GOP Unveils Health Care Bill; Comey Tape Admission Raises More Questions; NBA Draft Roundup; Johnny Depp 'Jokes' About Assassination. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 23, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:40] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that they'll probably get there. We'll have to see. You know, health care's a very difficult situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST: President Trump calling for holdout Republicans to get behind the Senate health care plan. Can the party build support after the bill was met with early pushback? Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik sitting in for Christine Romans.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: I'm Dave Briggs on the hashtag #longestfridayoftheyear. A sense of deja vu, though, for Republican lawmakers this morning, only this time it's not the House trying to hammer out a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare, it's the Senate working to balance the demands of both moderates and conservatives as GOP leaders attempt to get a health care bill passed in just a matter of days. The version unveiled by majority leader Mitch McConnell now meeting pushback from the rank and file. With just two Republican votes to spare, four senators say no, they can't support it right now. Four more say they have concerns.

KOSIK: And then you've got 10 other Republicans refusing to commit, saying they want time to review a bill that was basically under lock and key until yesterday. And, of course, the entire Democratic caucus is totally opposed to it. So on the policy side, the Senate bill mostly mirrors what you see in the House version but there are some key changes. More on those in a moment. Our coverage first begins with CNN's Ryan Nobles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Dave, good morning from Capitol Hill where senators haven't really had all that much time to digest this 142-page bill, but if the early reviews are any indication this is going to have a difficult time being passed and being passed quickly. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, could have a problem on both sides of the political spectrum. There's a group of moderate senators voicing concerns about the bill. This group already a little queasy after the House bill that was passed from a month ago. But he also has a problem on the far right, as well, as a group of

four Republican senators have said that they cannot support the bill in its current fashion. Among them, senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: You have to -- you have to be honest with people and it has to be paid for, so if we're not going to pay for it and we're going to keep a lot of stuff that was in Obamacare, I think we can do better than this and my hope is not to defeat the bill but to make the bill better.

TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: It's not enough just to pass a bill that has Obamacare repeal in the title. We've got to actually have legislation that fixes the underlying problem. They key to getting an agreement -- to getting a bill that can pass is we need common sense reforms in the bill that lower the cost of premiums.

NOBLES: Now, this group of four conservative senators have said that they are willing to negotiate on this bill but the timeline here is very brief. We've yet to hear from the Congressional Budget Office. They're expected to weigh in sometime at the beginning of next week, but Mitch McConnell has said that he wants this bill passed before the Fourth of July recess. If you look at the calendar that likely means that this bill needs to head to the floor sometime before next Friday if they have any realistic possibility of getting it passed before they head home for summer break. Alison and Dave, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: OK, Ryan, thanks very much. Let's bring in CNN political analyst David Drucker, senior congressional correspondent for "The Washington Examiner." Good morning. Thanks for joining us this morning.

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Good morning.

KOSIK: So this seems to be quite the uphill battle. What I'm talking about, of course, health care in the Senate, specifically the math's just not adding up. But, you know, the Senate needs 50 votes. Already you're seeing defectors. You're seeing four senators saying no, four more saying they've got concerns and that's not even mentioning, you know, the others that have -- that have big concerns. David, what do you think Senate leadership has to do to get these other legislators in line to vote for this measure?

DRUCKER: So I think the first thing we need to wait for is the Congressional Budget Office score which will project how many people will be insured or not with this bill, how premiums might be affected. And then, as members -- as Republican senators review that information you're going to start to see movement either toward the bill, away from the bill, or I think I could support it with these sorts of changes.

And there is going to be a very robust amendment process once it gets on the floor because under the reconciliation rules, which is allowing the Republicans to avoid a Democratic filibuster, you end up with hundreds of amendments being proposed in an open amendment process. We call it around here a "voterama," and so let's first see what the CBO score is.

[05:35:10] There is -- there are obviously competing forces here because the more pragmatic Republicans are concerned about what this is going to do for coverage and coverage protections. The more conservative Republicans that want to see a more aggressive repeal of the Obamacare regulatory regime are focused on that aspect as a matter of philosophy, but also on the premiums issue, and they believe the only way you really begin to reduce premiums is by repealing Obamacare aggressively and this bill, in its current form, doesn't do that.

BRIGGS: And that, of course, Rand Paul's chief argument. Kind of ironic that Mitch McConnell's memoir is entitled "The Long Game" and here he is trying to force in one-sixth of our economy remake in a week. But let's go from the politics to the policy of it and you talked about trying to bring premiums down, trying to bring insurers back in the market and make health care more affordable. What about the policy of this? Does it answer those chief challenges left over from Obamacare?

DRUCKER: Well, it depends on who talk to and the critics of the Senate bill on the right argue that it doesn't in this regard. That without repealing more robustly a lot of the coverage protections and regulations about how health care functions that exist in the Affordable Care Act you're not going to have the kind of market situation where premiums are going to go down because you're going to have a broader array of coverage choices that will make it more affordable for young and healthy people to buy insurance -- to motivate them to buy insurance because the prices will be better.

And -- then obviously, on the other side of the ledger there's a big concern that if you do that you could end up with states that don't have the same protections for preexisting conditions as other states if certain states have waivers or things like that -- that you're not going to have other protections in there having to do, you know, with whether you can keep your kids on your insurance until they're adults, and all sorts of things like that that people do like about the law.

So, this is the argument and the debate that they're having. We saw it play out in the house until they finally -- Republicans compromised among themselves. And I think the real question for Mitch McConnell is not so much can he get this done, it's can he get it done before the end of next week before they go on a one-week recess before they come back in for the month of July. I tend to think he can get there, I just don't know if he can get three in a week.

KOSIK: OK. We didn't get just a big reveal with health care -- we finally got a look at this bill -- we got a big reveal on whether or not there are tapes.

BRIGGS: Yes, we did.

KOSIK: Tapes, of course, concerning the conversation that President Trump had with former FBI Director James Comey in the White House. We found out via Twitter from Donald Trump himself that there are no tweets -- there are no tapes, rather -- but this sort of is an ironic twist in this whole scenario because you look at Donald Trump's tweet from -- when was it -- in May. It set off that series of events that actually put a special counsel --

BRIGGS: Yes.

KOSIK: -- in place because James Comey sort of took the lead and released his memos. That, of course, created a spot for a special counsel. And then we fast-forward to yesterday when we heard President Trump address it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should he recuse himself?

TRUMP: Well, he's very, very good friends with Comey which is very bothersome, but he's also -- we're going to have to see. I mean, we're going to have to see in terms -- look, there has been no obstruction, there has been no collusion. There has been leaking by Comey, but there's been no collusion, no obstruction and virtually everybody agrees to that, so we'll have to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Call me crazy but I don't think there's anybody Donald Trump can agree with to be the special counsel on this investigation.

DRUCKER: No, and I think the comments were very interesting. I think one way to look at it is that he's sort of setting up the foundation to eventually relieve Mr. Mueller of his duties --

BRIGGS: Yes.

DRUCKER: -- although I think that would be a mistake and it's unclear that he would actually go that far. I just think with this president you can't put it past him. I mean, the root of his problems really stem from the fact that he fired Comey and the way that he fired Comey. I think there was a way to do it that would've made this whole thing a lot different.

But the president, you know, when he feels wronged, when he feels like he's being treated unjustly he speaks his mind, he acts impulsively, and, you know, a lot of his supporters would say it's served him well. That's how he ended up as President of the United States. I think as president, it has not served him that -- as well because he has gotten himself into hot water and we end up discussing topics that he claims he doesn't want discussed because he doesn't think they deserve air time, but he is the one driving the news cycle on the issue of the special counsel -- the investigation --

BRIGGS: Right.

DRUCKER: -- Russian meddling, not everybody else.

BRIGGS: Time and time and time again, just unforced errors. He's bringing this upon himself. David Drucker, thank you so -- [05:40:00] KOSIK: David, thanks very much.

BRIGGS: -- for helping us out on a Friday. Read his piece in "The Washington Examiner" right now. Thank you, sir. Have a good Friday.

DRUCKER: Thank you.

KOSIK: All right. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, he knows his company has helped divide Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: Today, a lot of society is divided, right, and so it's pretty clear that just giving people a voice and connecting people isn't enough. We also have to do the work to help bring people closer together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: We're going to tell you how the company plans to bridge the gap. A CNN exclusive coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: OK. Facebook has been accused of helping divide Americans. Founder Mark Zuckerberg -- now, he knows this and he's responding to his company's role in creating this so-called filter bubble. He gave an exclusive interview to CNN, telling tech -- CNN tech Laurie Segall that's why Facebook's original mission needs to change.

[05:45:05] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZUCKERBERG: I used to think that if we just worked to give people a voice and help people connect that that was going to make the world all better by itself and I still think those are really important things to do and we're still going to do them.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

ZUCKERBERG: But now I feel like we have a responsibility to do even more, all right, because, I mean, today a lot of society is divided, right, and so it's pretty clear that just giving people a voice and connecting people isn't enough. We also have to do work to bring people closer together.

SEGALL: So let me ask you how you -- how you do that because technology, to a degree, has always promised to help us discover and to help us learn. There's also the question of like does it make us more insular and is -- you know, is information being hijacked and spread? How do you make sure they remain a place for authenticity and for real discourse?

ZUCKERBERG: People are connecting over something that they have in common. If you want to engage on issues that you disagree on, right -- so things that society is divided on, the first thing that you need to do is connect over your common humanity, right? And that could be something as simple as, you know, we both have families or we both like a T.V. show together. So bringing people together and creating these communities is, I think, a lot of what we can do help create more civil and productive debate on some of the bigger issues as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Zuckerberg says he has just the tool for the job, Facebook groups. He says they're going to connect communities, not just individuals. I just can't stand politics clogging my feed.

BRIGGS: I'm sorry to be insensitive but listen, Facebook is where fake news started in this election. It's where hatred has snowballed. I hope he knows --

KOSIK: That's why I'm not on Facebook much anymore. I hate to say it but, yes.

BRIGGS: I hope he's figured out a way to calm it down. All right, let's check out what's coming up on "NEW DAY" with my friend Alisyn Camerota. You are, too?

KOSIK: Hi, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: I have found common humanity. It can be done.

BRIGGS: Are you? Are you, that optimistic, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: If you and I can do it, Dave, anybody can.

BRIGGS: Happy Friday, my friend. What do you got?

CAMEROTA: You, too. OK, we have a very big program for you this Friday. So, we have all of our uber-smart analysts and reporters on to help us parse through what's in this GOP Senate health care bill and, of course, what it means for everyone out there. And then, of course, we have the latest chapter in the tale of the tapes -- the 40- day odyssey that the president took us on about whether or not he had audiotapes. We have his -- one of his top counselors. Kellyanne Conway will be here on all of that and news of the day. And helping me will be this man, David Gregory.

KOSIK: Hello, David.

CAMEROTA: Chris is on assignment today so David is preparing with his oatmeal this morning --

DAVID GREGORY, CNN HOST: Yes, yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and he will have a lot of energy as a result.

KOSIK: Well, I like the team, Alisyn. Two American University alums, I'm a third.

GREGORY: That's right.

CAMEROTA: That's right. Oh my gosh, common humanity again. We bring it full circle, our commonality.

BRIGGS: Kellyanne Conway on and Cuomo off.

CAMEROTA: I know.

BRIGGS: You guys --

CAMEROTA: We're going to do the best we can.

BRIGGS: All right, we'll be looking forward to that. Thank you, guys.

CAMEROTA: OK, guys.

BRIGGS: See you in a bit.

KOSIK: OK, I don't know if you've noticed but Uber is in the middle of quite a crisis.

BRIGGS: Yes, I've heard.

KOSIK: Its employees and a competitor are being told not to gloat. CNN Money Stream's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:25] BRIGGS: All right. The NBA draft in the books and no real shocker up top. Number one pick, 76ers use it on Markelle Fultz. The Sixers hoping the Washington point guard will help turn around the franchise but it's four straight years with a top five pick and still not there. Minutes later with the second pick, the Lakers taking UCLA guard Lonzo Ball. And like clockwork, Ball's outspoken dad, LaVar, stealing the spotlight from son. LaVar Ball bragged Lonzo will help lead the Lakers to the playoffs in his first season. Lakers coach Luke Walton saying the bold prediction will only make Ball's rookie year more challenging.

And number three, the Celtics snagged Duke standout Jason Tatum. Boston had the number one pick, traded down to the Sixers in exchange for a future first-rounder, which they are accumulating by the masses. A major tradeoff also went down as the Bulls ship all-star Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for guards Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn. Bulls and T-wolves also swapping first-round selections. That T-wolves team looking awfully good for the future.

KOSIK: The Secret Service says it is aware of an eyebrow-raising comment actor Johnny Depp made about President Trump at a film festival in the U.K. -- roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY DEPP, ACTOR: When was the last time that an actor assassinated a president? (Cheers) Another thing, I want to clarify I'm not an actor. (Laughter) I lie for a living.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOSIK: Depp's joke is an apparent reference to actor John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Clinton (sic).

BRIGGS: Wow, sorry. That is just hard to swallow. Deplorable, the only word I could use. The Secret Service releasing a statement saying, "For security reasons, we cannot discuss specifically nor in general terms the means and methods of how we perform our protective responsibilities." Depp, very quickly, under intense criticism from all quarters, apologizing. Conservative host Laura Ingraham just one voice, calling him the "Pothead of the Caribbean. Johnny Depp jokes about assassinating Donald Trump. Walk the plank, Cap'n Jack." And look, that is his most successful franchise. It's a Disney franchise. How are they going to like those comments?

KOSIK: And I misspoke. I meant to say Lincoln, not Clinton. We'll move on from here.

BRIGGS: John Wilkes Booth, 1865. Look, there's no walking this back to -- you know, we've seen Laura -- the Kathy Griffin thing, we saw the Shakespeare in the Park. This type of stuff has just got to stop.

KOSIK: And many say just stick to acting and stay away from politics.

[05:55:00] BRIGGS: That would be a good idea.

KOSIK: All right, let's get a quick check on CNN Money Stream this morning. Global markets looking mostly lower this morning after Wall Street closed mixed. The Dow and the S&P closing lower as bank stocks fell in preparation of their annual stress test, while the Nasdaq popped as health stocks rose more than one percent. They jumped after the Senate unveiled its health care bill. And crude prices rebounded half a percent. Right now we're seeing futures higher.

Qatar Airways wants to buy a 10 percent stake in American Airlines and American CEO Doug Parker, he's not happy about it. However, he told employees in an email that American can't control who purchases its stock. And, Qatar would own $808 million if this deal winds up going through. The world's biggest airline has been at odds with Qatar Airways. It claims the state-run company enjoys government subsidies and that allows it to expand in the U.S., hurting jobs. Qatar denies this but it's one reason U.S. carriers want the Trump administration to review current aviation agreements.

Oh, with the mass exodus of top executives at Uber, the company is in the middle of a crisis, but a rival ridesharing company, Lyft, is saying don't gloat. The founders of Lyft sent out a memo saying this. "The faults of our competition don't do anything to deliver a better experience for our customers." Uber has faced one P.R. crisis after another, though, but that's wound up creating an opportunity for Lyft. It's raised $600 million in funding this year and saw an uptick in new passenger sign-ups.

BRIGGS: Competition's good for all of us. I like both apps. They're fantastic.

KOSIK: Me, too. BRIGGS: All right, it's the longest Friday of the year. We thank you for joining us on it.

KOSIK: I'm Alison Kosik. Thanks for being with us.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" with David Gregory and Alisyn Camerota starts right now. Have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Obamacare is a disaster. It's dead.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: The way this bill cuts health care is heartless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give us a chance to fix this system.

PAUL: We can do better than this.

SEN. RON WYDEN, (D) OREGON: Senate Republicans are trying to con Americans into thinking that they are fixing problems. What they're doing is causing new ones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are there tapes?

TRUMP: Oh, you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don't worry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has known for weeks that there were no tapes and yet he strung the American people along.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the president regret the tweets?

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't be a reality talk show host. This is not designed to be entertainment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Friday, June 23rd, 6:00 here in New York, and Chris is off this morning. David Gregory joins me.

GREGORY: Particularly because --I mean, who doesn't love a health care debate in the middle of summer? Let's get right to it, shall we?

CAMEROTA: Is this your summer beach read that you brought?

GREGORY: Yes, I read it on the train but I had to take it to China in order to finish it. CAMEROTA: Fantastic. Here's our starting line. The Senate health care bill is facing resistance from all sides, four GOP senators publicly saying that they oppose the plan. Mitch McConnell will have to turn two of them by next week to get his bill passed. And former President Obama is slamming the bill. He calls it "A massive transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle-class to the rich."

GREGORY: Meanwhile, President Trump coming clean this morning admitting, in fact, that he didn't tape those conversations with now- fired FBI Director Jim Comey. So, was the president's dubious claim just a bluff or an attempt to intimidate the former director of the FBI? And, President Trump, once again, dismissing the Russian hacks as a "big Dem hoax." That came in a tweet, you'll be surprised to know. The Trump White House facing serious questions about accountability and transparency again this morning. We've got it all covered. We want to begin with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux who is live on Capitol Hill with the battle over health care this morning. Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, David. Well, it is now up in the Senate side, up to lawmakers who are heading to their home states to go back to face their constituents, the voters, to explain why their health care version is a better version than what they've had before. So far, with all negotiations and the compromises, no one seems to be happy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRUZ: This current draft doesn't get the job done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put me down as a solid undecided.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we've done a pretty good job keeping our promises.

MALVEAUX: Senate Republicans split over their party's new health care proposal. Four senators already saying they cannot vote for the bill as it currently stands. The legislation was designed to appease moderates and conservatives but its upset members of both camps.

PAUL: It keeps the preexisting condition, keeps the regulations, and then subsidizes the death spiral. We are not fixing Obamacare.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE: I cannot support a bill that is going to result in tens of millions of people losing their health insurance.

TRUMP: I think that they'll probably get there. We'll have to see.

MALVEAUX: The Senate bill eliminates Obamacare's individual mandate, keeps insurance protections for preexisting patients, but allows states to drop essential benefits.