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Illnesses And Deaths Possibly Linked To E-Cigarettes Are On The Rise Across America; President Trump Spoke About The Dramatic Departure Of His Third National Security Adviser, John Bolton; Chinese Woman Found Guilty Of Breaching Mar-A-Lago Security. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 11, 2019 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:09]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Brianna, thank you so much. Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin, thank you for being with me. You're watching CNN. The President just now making a flurry of headlines in the past few moments on everything from vaping, to John Bolton, to guns. So let's start with vaping.

As illnesses and deaths, possibly linked to e-cigarettes are on the rise across America, the Trump administration looking to ban flavored e-cigarettes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Vaping has become a very big business as I understand it, like a giant business in a very short period of time. But we can't allow people to get sick and we can't have our youth be so affected.

But people are dying with vaping. So we're looking at it very closely. And you know, if nothing else, this is a conference that's going to let people know about it because people are going to watch what we're saying, and parents are going to be a lot tougher with respect to their children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The President also spoke about the dramatic departure of his third National Security Adviser, John Bolton, saying that Bolton made mistakes and had trouble getting along with others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Frankly, he wanted to do things not necessarily tougher than me. You know, John is known as a tough guy. He is so tough, he got us into a wreck. That's tough. And -- but he is somebody that I actually had a very good relationship with. But he wasn't getting along with people in the administration that I consider very important. And I hope we we've left in good stead, but maybe we have and maybe we

haven't. I have to run the country, the way we're running the country. We're doing very well. We're respected all over the world again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So let's go straight to our CNN White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins and on his comments on Bolton, so he repeatedly called John Bolton a tough guy, but then totally threw him under the bus.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he praised him at times, but then there were a lot of jabs for the former national security adviser in there, too, not only talking about the Iraq War, but also talking about a comment that John Bolton made 16 months ago that in the President's eyes through those negotiations with North Korea about denuclearization into a mess, something that President brought up repeatedly in the Oval Office today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But we were set back very badly when John Bolton talks about the Libyan model and he made a mistake, and as soon as he mentioned that, "The Libyan model," what a disaster. Take a look at what happened to Gaddafi with the Libya model, and he is using that to make a deal with North Korea.

And I don't blame Kim Jong-un for what he said after that. And he wanted nothing to do with John Bolton. And that's not a question of being tough. That's a question of being not smart to say something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So Brooke, what the President is talking about there, the North Koreans were highly offended, very critical of John Bolton before he made that comment, but also highly so after because, of course, the Libyan leader the President was talking about there was overthrown and killed just a few years after agreeing to abandon his nuclear ambitions.

But once again, we should note, John Bolton made that comment last April and the President still kept him around for another 16 months, though we should note, John Bolton did not accompany the President when he visited the Demilitarized Zone earlier this year and stepped into North Korea.

But clearly the President still irked by some of the comments that John Bolton made when he was the national security adviser.

BALDWIN: Let me move out Bolton and then he also made news on the whole controversy surrounding the NOAA statement repudiating those scientists who contradicted Trump on that whole Dorian forecast, aka Sharpie-gate. What did he say?

COLLINS: Yes, not long before that Oval Office meeting there, "The New York Times" reported that it was the President's Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, who called the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and told him he needed to get NOAA, that agency to issue that statement that they did last Friday, essentially rebuking their own National Weather Services forecasting that no, Dorian was not going to impact Alabama in any way.

The President denied in the Oval Office that he had anything to do with that, Brooke. But of course, we know that comes after the President was furious when he was rebuked -- widely rebuked -- after he claimed that Alabama was going to be in the pattern of the storm long after forecast assured people in Alabama that no, the state was not going to be affected by that storm.

BALDWIN: All right, Kaitlan, thank you very much for the updates from the White House. I want to go back to the headline from the President on vaping.

As Trump says, his administration will look to ban flavored e- cigarettes. The American Lung Association has now joined a host of agencies urging people and especially teenagers to stop using them.

There have now been at least six deaths and hundreds of cases of lung illnesses possibly linked to vaping. Erika Sward, the Assistant Vice President of National Advocacy for the American Lung Association is with me, so Erika, thank you so much.

I mean, you just heard the President. That's significant news. Your reaction to that?

[14:05:03]

ERIKA SWARD, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ADVOCACY FOR THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION: Absolutely. Well, the American Lung Association welcomes the President's announcement about the plan to remove all flavored e-cigarettes from the marketplace.

This, the Lung Association has been calling on Congress and FDA to remove all flavored tobacco products from the marketplace. Because we know that the only reason these candy and fruit flavors are out there is to attract kids and to make the poison go down more smoothly.

BALDWIN: But how did we even get here? Like if e-cigarettes are that dangerous, how did they even get approved for sale?

SWARD: Well, they haven't been approved. And I think that that's something that most people don't realize. These came on to the market about a decade ago, being imported online from China. And from there, they were pretty much allowed to remain on the market as we waited for FDA to take action on them. It took both the Obama and the Trump administrations a long time to do that.

In the meantime, we saw companies making claims that were unproven, left and right, and a whole another generation of kids getting addicted to tobacco as a result.

BALDWIN: Okay, and then why this warning just to go cold turkey and then why did it take so long to sound the alarm?

SWARD: Well, the American Lung Association has been sounding the alarm for a long time. And we're so thankful to hear the President's announcement today and really look forward to reading the details about the guidance, but the American Lung Association wants to urge everyone not to use e-cigarettes.

If you are trying to quit smoking for good, we want you to use something that has been approved by the FDA, and the Lung Association can help you quit, as can 1-800-QUIT NOW.

But it's really important to recognize, and for parents and for schools to recognize that they need to talk to kids about the dangers of these products. It is simply not safe to inhale these chemicals into your lungs, whether it's a nicotine or a THC or a CBT compound, you only want to inhale clean air into your lungs.

BALDWIN: What then should doctors be discussing with their patients about the use of e-cigarettes? You know, should people who vape but haven't had any problems get checked out? What's your recommendation?

SWARD: Well, clearly if anyone is having symptoms like shortness of breath or chest pain, in some cases, GI symptoms, they should immediately talk to their doctor, but if it's severe enough, they should go to the emergency room right away.

But people should also talk to their providers about what they might do to end their use of all e-cigarettes and it's important that especially as we continue to wait for the state and local health departments and CDC to make the determination about what is sickening people in this kind of current outbreak that no one use e-cigarettes and it's also important for FDA to regulate these products moving forward and to remove them for the marketplace until they have gone through FDA review.

BALDWIN: OK, Erika Sward. Thank you so much for joining me.

SWARD: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Every day, we wake up, there's a new vaping story there. Moving on before their debate Joe Biden's campaign taking shots at Elizabeth Warren and all her plans.

Plus, one Republican Senator has been quiet for months after openly criticizing the President and now the President just endorsed him. We have so much to talk about. You're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:13:31]

BALDWIN: Breaking news in the trial of a woman accused of intruding at Mar-a-Lago, the President's resort. A verdict has now been reached. Shimon Prokupecz has the verdict which is --

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Guilty -- it was two counts. It was a bizarre trial, it only lasted about two days. But here's what she basically did and what this jury has found her guilty of is trespassing on Mar-a-Lago. Of course, it is considered an area because of the President and his family goes there. So it's protected by the Secret Service, so it's a Federal charge of trespassing.

And also when FBI, the actual Secret Service agents had questions her about what she was doing on the property, the jury found that she lied to them about why she was there.

BALDWIN: Because -- did she get past the front desk?

PROKUPECZ: So, yes. So she got past the receptionist because they thought she was there for a pool day. Her name matched. She used the name that matched to someone else that belonged to the club.

But then when she got to the second set of screeners, the Secret Service agents there and the officers there, they began noticing very strange behavior from her. She was wearing an evening -- what they called the evening dress, basically it was one o'clock in the afternoon --

BALDWIN: To go to the pool.

PROKUPECZ: To go to the pool.

BALDWIN: Okay.

PROKUPECZ: So there was a lot of bizarre behavior. But what has been the most interesting about this, I think, is we really don't know much about her. The government has chosen not to bring any kind of evidence into the case to really explain what she was doing there.

They did file some evidence under seal leading certainly some to suspect that you perhaps may have been a spy there operating on behalf of the Chinese government, because some of the things that the government has sealed -- that they now have under seal as evidence, the judge and the government said, "Well, it's because of national security interest. We need to not make some of this public.

[14:15:09]

PROKUPECZ: And also, strategically, probably, the government did not charge or to any kind of espionage crime, so that they would not have to introduce any kind of evidence and explaining how they obtained certain information about her and what she was doing there.

Keep in mind, in her hotel room, she was staying at a hotel room -- a local hotel room, they found about $8,000.00 in cash. They also found some spy equipment. They actually found a gadget, a device that can detect hidden cameras.

BALDWIN: So bizarre.

PROKUPECZ: Of course, it raised all sorts of questions. This trial was so bizarre. She chose to represent herself. She had an interpreter. She barely asked any questions. She didn't even do a closing argument. So certainly, not a very difficult case for prosecutors to present.

This jury started deliberating at 9:30 this morning, and about 1:30 or so, just as they got their lunch, right after lunch, they came back and said, they had a verdict.

BALDWIN: OK.

PROKUPECZ: So I still think there's still a lot of questions here that need to be answered about who she is. But clearly the government here choosing not to get into that for probably very specific reasons here.

BALDWIN: Okay. I think we'll be hearing more about her from you. Shimon Prokupecz, thank you very much for the update there.

He is one of the NFL's biggest and most controversial stars and now Patriots, Antonio Brown is being accused of rape. We have those details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:21:04]

BALDWIN: All right, so tomorrow evening may be the third Democratic debate for President, but it offers a first for the 2020 race because the two front runners here Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren will be facing off standing side by side.

So this is the podium positioning on your screen. The former Vice President is showing some of his cards in these hours ahead of this 10-candidate event in Houston, Texas.

A Biden adviser says quote, "I expect you'll see Biden echo an important point he made during last week's climate forum. We need more than plans. We need a President who can deliver progress on the most pressing issues facing Americans which Joe Biden has proven he can throughout his career."

That comment appears to be a bit of a strike against Senator Warren's known strategy of having a plan for just about every policy issue. The Massachusetts Senator also says she gave a preview of how she will counter Biden after she was asked about Biden saying we need more plans. This is her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think that we start with a plan, and then we get out there and fight for it. To me, that's what being President is all about. It's about laying those plans out and showing the direction for this country and then getting in the fight, leading the fight and bringing people along.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: In the meantime, two other competitors may have started a

debate on their own. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Mayor Pete Buttigieg discovered that they were on the same flights. Buttigieg tweeted a quote, "Very funny, United." With Klobuchar then re-tweeting, "And the debate begins. Good sitting by you, Pete Buttigieg to be on that flight."

David Chalian, he is our CNN Political Director. Would have totally geeked out. I'm already geeking out ahead of, you know, the fact that they're all going to be standing together tomorrow night.

So when you hear that Biden is going to basically take her on, and we need more than plans. Is that a risky strategy? Because there's a lot of love for Elizabeth Warren and all her plans.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: There is. There's no doubt. I think it's more than just taking on her line that she has a plan for everything. And you know, he's got two other candidates on either side, Sanders and Warren, that he has to sort of contend with and what is clear if you heard him at the Climate Change Town Hall, you hear what the strategist are saying here.

He wants to make the point that he is going to also offer progressive solutions, but ones that can actually get passed. I think that's the contrast he wants to draw.

So when he says something like, "Having plans is just not enough," you actually have to be able to enact it.

BALDWIN: To getting passed, yes.

CHALIAN: Yes, but the contrast, you heard Elizabeth Warren paint right there, which is "Fight, fight. I want to be a fighter. Fighter." That's like an energy contract she is trying to draw with Joe Biden is how I see it, that she wants to show this constant desire to be in the fight to actually enact those plans.

His point is, we can't just be pie in the sky. Right? We have to put forward stuff that we can actually get across the finish line.

BALDWIN: OK, so that's the contrast we can watch for tomorrow night. There are new polls sure to give a tailwind to the Democrats. We will throw these up on the screen. Sixty percent of voters do not think Trump deserves reelection. And a new poll from "Washington Post-ABC" also bears good news, not just for Biden, so tell me about that.

CHALIAN: Yes, well, this 60 percent number is -- that's a chilling number for the Trump folks. It's also astonishing, because it's been remarkably consistent over the last couple years in our polling. If you look back two years ago, that's where Donald Trump was.

So he is not -- he hasn't solved that problem yet to get to where a majority of the country wants, a second Trump term. But you're right, "The Washington Post-ABC News" poll matched up the head-to-heads for all the top five Democrats against President Trump, and basically -- four of the five actually best him in the numbers. And Joe Biden gets another credential here to be able to sell the

Democratic voters, which is he beats Trump in this poll 55/40. Again, not that that's what the election is going to be 14 months from now, Brooke, right? I mean, that's not what the poll is.

But it's for Joe Biden to say right now to Democrats, "I am the safest choice to defeat Donald Trump and I know that's priority number one for you." But I think it's also why you hear the likes of Cory Booker or Elizabeth Warren telling Democrats don't go with the safe choice. The safe choice won't create enough energy that we need as Democrats to defeat Donald Trump. That is going to be a divide we see play out on the campaign trail.

[14:25:15]

BALDWIN: OK. David Chalian, thank you very much for setting that up.

CHALIAN: Sure.

BALDWIN: Now, this Alyssa Milano, Senator Ted Cruz in the same room talking about guns. I'll talk with the father also in the room who lost his daughter in Parkland.

And one of the NFL his biggest and most controversial stars is now accused of rape. What Antonio Brown's camp is saying about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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