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President Obama Makes His Case on Immigration; Interview with Josh Earnest; Bill Cosby Accuser Speaks Out; Cosby's Lawyer Fires Back at Accuser's Troubled Past

Aired November 21, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headlines.

Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson reportedly is in talks to resign from the Ferguson Police Department. Sources tell CNN Wilson will only agree to go if the grand jury doesn't charge him in the Michael Brown shooting. That decision from the grand jury could come as soon as today.

In the meantime, a dozen high school students in Kansas City are now facing disciplinary action for this. They stood and held their hands up in a silent protest during a speech by Governor Jay Nixon. He was at their school to congratulate Blue Ribbon Award winners.

To the Middle East now, three Palestinians have been arrested after allegedly plotting to kill Israel's foreign minister. Israeli defense officials say those men planned to fire a rocket toward the foreign ministry's convoy near his home during Israel's conflict with Hamas over the summer. Charges have been filed. It's unclear exactly when those men were detained.

The death toll has now reached 12 from the week of snow, terrible amounts of snow in Buffalo. Two people passed away after being evacuated from a nursing home. The snow may be slowing, but danger still looms.

The region could be hit with major flooding this weekend as rain and warmer temperatures move in to melt all of that snow. Some six feet plus that's accumulated. It forced Sunday's game between the Bills and the Jets to be postponed to Monday, and in fact moved to Detroit.

Embattled NFL star, Adrian Peterson is breaking his silence speaking with "USA Today." The suspended Minnesota Viking's running back said he's focused on rebuilding his relationship with his 4-year-old son who he bloodied with a switch from a tree.

Peterson expressed regret over the incident vowing that he will never use a switch to discipline his children again. The player's union is fighting to have his suspension through at least the end of the season dialed back.

So that's an interesting to hear him come forward and he's had some self-reflection and --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Sounds like it. It's a teachable moment for him.

PEREIRA: And for many people, perhaps.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Broader debate to be sure. The league still needs to find consistency in its policies that's for sure.

All right, so another big issue for you, the president's immigration plan unveiled last night. It's going to impact five million people. That's some 40 percent of the known population of undocumented immigrants so will the plans work? Is it legal? Will it survive the political fallout?

Josh Earnest is the White House press secretary. He joins us now. I know you're making the rounds, Josh.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning, Chris.

CUOMO: It's good to see you. You're going to be tested on this. This is a big moment. So let's get after it.

EARNEST: Let's do it.

CUOMO: The president signs the executive order today. When does it go into effect? And by that I mean, will he allow some time for Congress to do this themselves?

EARNEST: Well, Chris, it will take a little while for the Department of Homeland Security to implement this law. When the president announced that he was offering deferred action to some immigrants who were brought to this country as children. It took them a couple of months to implement the law.

It's going to take a couple of months to implement these executive actions too. The truth is, though, Chris, House Republicans have had more than a year and a half to act on a compromise piece of legislation that passed the Senate in bipartisan fashion.

So we certainly are hopeful. That Congress is going to view this as, as a motivation you might say, to try to take action finally on common-sense comprehensive immigration reform that would be good for border security.

It would be good for national security to finally bring some accountability to our immigration system. That's what's been missing for too long. And we're hopeful that Congress is going to take those steps.

CUOMO: That's some hope to have because it seems what you've motivated them to do is to come against you as much as they've ever have. And one legitimate point of push-back, Josh, is the president promised not to do this.

He kept saying I won't take executive action. Everybody keeps showing the tapes of him. And they said if you care about working with us, don't do this, And then he did it. What's the calculation?

EARNEST: Chris, what the president was challenged to do by many advocates of reforming the immigration system was challenged, because they were frustrated that the House hadn't acted on Senate legislation.

They were pushing the president to unilaterally implement the legislation on his own. The president said then and he says now, he doesn't have the authority to do that. What he asked him team to do is look at the law and figure out what it is he could do to try to fix the broken immigration system.

He wasn't going to allow House Republican obstruction as an excuse to not fix the obvious problems in our immigration system that everybody acknowledges exist.

CUOMO: You think you can tolerate constitutional and legal scrutiny of the executive order?

EARNEST: What the president announced last night is legally unassailable. It's entirely consistent with the way President Reagan. President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush use their executive authority to try to make changes to the broken immigration system.

Look, Chris, there's a whole lot more that needs to get done. What the Senate bill indicated, this is a bipartisan common-sense proposal, it passed the Senate a year and a half ago. If it were to pass the House of Representatives, the president would sign it right away. He would tear up his own executive actions.

And what we would enjoy significant economic benefits, it would reduce the deficit. Create jobs. It would make an historic investment in border security that we all know that we need. And it would finally bring some accountability to our immigration system.

I know Republicans like to run around and talk about the president supporting amnesty. The truth is the closest thing we have to amnesty right now is doing nothing and that's what House Republicans are doing.

CUOMO: The problem is that how this was done may wind up overshadowing what was done because now the motivation is to stop this from happening. Not to come up with their own plan. I mean, you had to see that coming, Josh.

EARNEST: Well look, Chris, this is the question that the president had in front of him. For a year and a half, well let's actually back up a little bit.

CUOMO: You should back up more, Josh, because had a lot of time, too, the president, Pelosi, Harry Reid, he had time, he got a bill done. I know the whole 513 days thing. But Pelosi had time, she didn't do it the president had a lot of time, he didn't do it and now all of a sudden he has to do it? EARNEST: You may recall in the first couple of years, the president was in office, we were dealing with the worst economic downturn since the great depression. We had a lot on our plate. But the fact of the matter is the president has done exactly what the voters wanted him to do.

They wanted him to sit down with Republicans in Congress and work with them to put together a common-sense compromise immigration proposal. The president did it right after he was re-elected with strong support all across the country.

He sat down and got to work with Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate. And he put forward a piece of legislation that earned the support of every Democrat and 14 Senate Republicans. That indicates that there's a lot of common ground here. And for the last year and a half, House Republicans have blocked it.

That means the president faced a fundamental choice. Here's another thing, the speaker of the House, John Boehner, shortly after this election was asked directly if he intended to bring up common-sense immigration reform legislation in the next Congress and he wouldn't commit to doing that.

So the president faced before him a central question, are we going to sit around and wait for House Republicans who have left no impression with anybody that they're willing to move forward or is the president going to use every element of the authority that he was elected to exercise to try to solve problems for the American people?

CUOMO: You just had a huge election --

EARNEST: In a way that brings accountability to our election immigration system.

CUOMO: You know there's desperation for Congress to work with the White House, you did the one thing thaw know will forestall that. And you could have done it after the New Year. Let them get their seats in. Let them have their numbers, see if they do it, if they don't, then you could have done this.

EARNEST: What indication is there that Congress is desperate to work with the administration? We've seen for four years that the Republicans in Congress have been engaged in a political strategy to block every single thing that the president wants to advance.

Even if they are things that they previously supported, there's no indication that Republicans in Congress want to work on this. And that's exactly why the president took a common-sense steps using executive authority that had been exercised by previous presidents, to try to bring accountability to the immigration system.

CUOMO: Are you worried that this winds up extending the urgency? It's not that normal people don't want action on this. Everybody knows that there's urgency. Everybody here is within two or three generations of being from somewhere else. You know, these people are no different, right? But if you get into this political fighting now, it may wind up forestalling any change for a very long time. They may not even fund it. They May not fund anything because of this.

EARNEST: Well, Chris, I would be surprised if Republicans, Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell have indicated that they have no interest in shutting down the government. I don't believe that House Republicans or Senate Republicans for that matter want to defund the Department of Homeland Security.

That's so critical to running criminal background checks or securing our border. I don't think they want to take those steps. But Chris, look -- the president is as frustrated as anybody that House Republicans are blocking such a common-sense measure that would be good for the economy. That would be good for national security.

That would be good for job creation. That would be good for border security and would bring some accountability to our broken immigration system. We have 11 million people living in this country living in the shadows, they're not paying taxes and they are --

But these are people who they send their, they send their kids to school with our children. They worship in our churches. Some of them actually work in the same buildings that we work in. But yet they don't pay taxes and they're not held accountable.

The president believes we need to bring them out of the shadows, there are significant economic benefits and it's good for our national security. So the president believes in accountability. But here's the good news.

The other thing and the way Congress can be held accountable. If Congress is willing to take action, willing to reverse course and make a commitment to working in a bipartisan fashion to get this done in the next Congress, then the president will be happy to sign that comprehensive legislation.

That fulfills the principles that he's a laid out and supersede the executive action he took last night so there's still an opportunity for House Republicans to act together and enact common-sense legislation that's supported by people all across the country.

CUOMO: Certainly on the agenda and that is good news and by the end of the day everybody should want to help these families and wind up having the rule of law be followed.

Josh, thank you for coming on and answering the questions on NEW DAY this morning. Appreciate it.

EARNEST: Sounds good. Thank you, Chris. Have a good weekend.

CUOMO: You as well -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Chris, sexual assault allegations continue to haunt Bill Cosby. Another accuser has come forward to CNN, saying she, too, was abused by the comedian. But Cosby's lawyers are firing back pointing at the accuser's troubled past. We have legal and psychological perspective ahead.

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PEREIRA: Another woman is speaking out for the first time saying that Bill Cosby tried to sexually assault her some decades ago. Linda Traitz said she was 19, working at an L.A. restaurant that the comedian co-owned and told our Alisyn about her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA TRAITZ, BILL COSBY ACCUSER: Then he was parked at that point. And he started grabbing at my, at my chest and you know, starting to try to fondle me and then he started to push himself on top of me like against the seat and against the door as he was groping me. I don't remember the conversation, but I do know that's when I panicked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Bill Cosby's attorney responded with a statement; I'll read part of it for you. Ms. Traitz' long criminal record for numerous criminal offenses includes charges for criminal fraud, possession of Oxycodone, cocaine, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, speaks for itself.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst, Paul Callan. Dr. Jodi Gold, she is a psychiatrist and author of Screen Smart Parenting. I'm so glad the two of are here.

Paul, let me start with you. I think right off the bat, that's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way, the response from Cosby's attorney. Is she less credible because of her history or is that just nearly revictimizing a potential victim here.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's a classic attack that used to be used all the time on women who made these kinds of charges. I mean, you would be accused of being promiscuous or a drug user or a number of other things.

We've kind of doing that in the criminal justice system, but remember this is -- we're not in court anymore. This is -- she is getting slammed on social media.

This attorney, by the way, Martin Singer is described in some places as the pit bull attorney you hire in California when your reputation is attacked.

PEREIRA: He's getting a chance to bear his teeth on that one. We've been talking about how these women are just getting destroyed in social media and people are saying why are you attacking? Why is the media attacking Bill Cosby?

He's a legend, there's an icon. But there's a common thread here, Jodi. When you hear their stories, there's a common thread in all of them. DR. JODI GOLD, AUTHOR, "SCREEN SMART PARENTING": It's an abuse of

power. It's about power, not sex. He abused his power. He abused his power in keeping them silent. He's kept the women silent. Now the women come out and we attack their back grounds. This isn't about them this is about him.

PEREIRA: It's interesting that we were talking about the fact that most of these women, we're talking about a very different time, which doesn't excuse the behavior. But it does give context, Paul, into the attitudes we had about the treatment of women and advances on, unwanted advances, we've come a long way since then. But that would speak to why people, these women May not have gone to authorities.

CALLAN: Yes, it does speak to that and of course, it's a long time ago and I don't want to get involved in you know whether it's true or it's false, but by the weight and number of accusations, you have to say -- whoa, this looks pretty bad for Cosby.

But back you know in the, even as far back as the '70s, women were attacked for things like, their sexual history in rape cases, that it's illegal now. We have rape shield laws, we've changed our attitude about this a lot.

There's still a long way to go, admittedly. I got to tell you, men and women have radically different, men who don't engage in this conduct, a lot of men don't think it's going on out there. And women I think, we were talking in the green room, have a radically different experience. Guys who don't do this, don't think it's happening.

PEREIRA: They have a hard time understanding that -- fellow men would do that. Real men would do this.

CALLAN: But women have a different experience.

PEREIRA: I want to play the sound from the "Associated Press" interview that Cosby gave recently and the part that appeared that wasn't part of the formal interview. We know how it went. I want to refresh your memory. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY: Can I get something from you?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's that?

COSBY: That none of that will be shown.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I -- I can't promise that, myself. But you didn't say anything.

COSBY: I know I didn't say anything. But I'm asking your integrity that since I didn't want to say anything, but I did answer you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Jodi, it's interesting, we'll get to the legality and what could potentially cause a problem along the line. He uses the word integrity three times during the off-camera on-camera interview, very interesting.

GOLD: It looks like he's trying to manipulate the journalist. He's using his power to try to silence the journalist in the way that he used his power to try to silence the women.

PEREIRA: Paul, last thought to you, is there any potentially damning there by him asking a reporter to scuttle the story?

CALLAN: Well certainly. It looks like a cover-up. And of course I'm sure his attorneys will say, well, he settled a case once, and there's a sealing order and neither side is allowed to talk about the case, it might upset the settlement. There could be a legal reason. But it looks horrible and in a case like this.

PEREIRA: Paul Callan, Dr. Jodi Gold, thank you so much for your expertise and insight into this -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Michaela, thanks for that conversation. President Obama's immigration overhaul proved a bittersweet victory for the so-called dreamers. They've championed their fight to keep their immigrants parents in the U.S. what does it mean for them now? We have the story of one of the families.

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CAMEROTA: As politicians duke it out over immigration, millions of people across the nation are focused on how the president's plan affects them. Ana Cabrera watched the president's speech last night with one of the so-called dreamers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANGEL OAXACA-RIVAS, UNDOCUMENTED DREAMER: We gave up ours to be part of something bigger and sometimes that's hard, but now we're a little more included. It's a good people.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Angel Oaxaca-Rivas is one of the so-called dreamers. The president's executive action on immigration provides hope for his family.

RIVAS: For however many years my parents worry about me that's how much I worry for them.

CABRERA: The 19-year-old pre-med student came to the United States with his parents when he was just 4 years old. His younger sisters were both born in America.

ANEL OAXACA-RIVAS, ANGEL'S SISTER: My parents are the ones who take care of me. Why should they not have papers and I do?

CABRERA: Their parents had a tourist visa when they traveled from Mexico to Denver in 1999, but because of a poor economy and violence in their native country, they decided to stay.

(On camera): Why didn't your parents try to legally immigrate?

ANGEL OAXACA-RIVAS: I think -- I never asked them that. I think the process is rough. I think when they got here they thought this is a better situation for our son, there's more work here.

CABRERA: Dad sells jewelry. Mom has her own cleaning company, both too afraid to reveal their identities for our story. Angel explains they have a number for tax purposes, but no social accurate number, no driver's licenses. April gel works at a restaurant to pay for his $15,000 a year college tuition.

ANGEL OAXACA-RIVAS: I want to be a psychiatrist.

CABRERA: He's grateful for some scholarships made possible only after the president took immigration action in 2012, giving him temporary status because he was brought to the U.S. as a child.

Now, under the president's new plan, Angel's parents can apply for protection from deportation for up to three years, since Angel's sisters are American citizens. What do you tell those critics?

ANGEL OAXACA-RIVAS: Give us a chance.

CABRERA: We still didn't hear anything about path to citizenship.

ANGEL OAXACA-RIVAS: As far as a path to citizenship, just give us a better shot.

CABRERA: Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Such an emotional topic on both sides.

CUOMO: It is. At the end of the day this is steeped in politics, but you have a new generation of people who are coming to this country, some the right way and many the wrong way. It's what do you do about it? Forget they're people and families, the ones that came over from us generations ago is well doing a disservice to what matters most.

CAMEROTA: Also this morning, another Cosby accuser has come forward to say the comedian sexually assaulted her. She spoke exclusively yesterday to CNN and I will play you that interview when we come back.

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