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Erin Burnett Outfront
Interview with Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida; Trump's Army Secy. Pick: "Transgender is a Disease"; Kimmel's Cousin on Helping Him Through Son's Heart Surgery. Aired on 7-8p ET
Aired May 02, 2017 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Next, breaking news, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, the woman fired by Trump administration said she warned the White House loudly about Michael Flynn. Why did the do nothing about it? Plus the White House says Trump's border wall is being built right now. Really? And Jimmy Kimmel's personal and emotional monologue about his baby's heart condition, Jimmel's cousin, a pediatric cardiologist is our guest. Let's go OutFront.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OutFront tonight. The breaking news. White House warning. The CNN exclusive tonight. The former acting Attorney General Sally Yates gave a forceful warning to the Trump White House about General Michael Flynn's dealings with Russia. A forceful warning in which she relayed "serious concerns about whether Flynn would be vulnerable Russian blackmail." Now, Yates isn't just saying this to CNN. She's going to testify about it publicly next week and it is a major statement. Tonight because it is at odds with what the White House says actually happened.
The Press Secretary, Sean Spicer describing her warning as a mere heads-up. But was it just a heads-up or was it a forceful warning wilfully ignored. This breaking exclusive comes as President Trump spoke at length on the phone with Russia leader Vladimir Putin today and the senate intelligence committee went to CIA headquarters for a briefing on the Russia investigation. Pamela Brown is OutFront tonight with the breaking news. And Pamela, what are you learning?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, we're learning tonight that former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, the same person who President Trump fired is prepared to testify next week that she gave a forceful warning to the White House regarding then national Security Adviser Michael Flynn nearly three weeks before he was fired. And this as you pointed out contradicts the the administration's version of events.
In a private meeting, January 26, Yates told White House counsel that White House Counsel Don McGahn that Flynn was lying when he denied in public and private that he had discussed U.S. Sanctions on Russia and conversations with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. And she expressed concerned at that time, sources say that his misleading comments made him potentially vulnerable to being compromised by Russia for blackmail.
Now, the Yates-McGahn meeting took place January 26, on February 10th, more than two weeks later President Trump said he was unaware of reports on Flynn. And then three days after that on February 13, the Washington Post published a story that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about these conversations with the Russian Ambassador and as you'll recall Flynn resigned that night. Now, the next day on February 14th, White House Spokesman Sean Spicer described the Yates meeting in January and downplayed the urgency of the warning. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So just to be clear, the acting attorney general informed the White House counsel that they wanted to give "a heads-up to us" on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the vice president out in particular.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: So, again, we're hearing from our sources that Yates is prepared to come on say, this wasn't just a heads-up, this is a forceful warning. And this May 8th testimony will be the first time that the former acting attorney general will publicly speak about the White House meeting and a source familiar with the situation says that she will be limited on what she can tell the committee because many of the details involving Flynn are, of course, classified but she can give more color about that conversation she had with the administration back in January.
And Yates previously scheduled appearance in front of the House Intelligence Committee as you'll recall, Erin, was canceled by Chairman Devin Nunez. So, the as move as you'll recall sparked outcry from democrats who believe he was trying to shield the White House from damaging new revelations. Of course, we will be a keeping a close watch on that testimony May. 8. Erin?
BURNETT: Absolutely as we say, this news break tonight. Pamela, thank you. And also tonight, President Trump speaking with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. An extensive call, in fact, the first between the two leaders since Trump said, the U.S. and Russian relations maybe at a "all-time low" nearly a month ago. Jason Carroll is OutFront at the White House. And Jason, obviously, an incredibly significant call coming up this moment as this Russian investigation is heating up. Send intelligence committee going to the CIA for a briefing. What happened on the call?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We can tell you that Secretary of the State Rex Tillerson was also on that call. He describe it as a detailed exchanges between the two men. Much of the exchanges and much of the conversation had to do with Syria ending the conflict there, anything they can do to try to do - to try to do that, trying to work on some sort of a ceasefire perhaps, U.S. representative will be actually heading to Russian-sponsored talks on just that very same topic.
Also the need to end the suffering there. This was discussed during the - during the phone call as well. Trump bringing up the idea of trying to establish safe zones in the region. You remember during his campaign, this was one of the points that he had brought up repeatedly, the neat to try establish safe zones there in the area as well. The two men also talking about the need to work together to fight terrorism. The conflict in North Korea also brought up as well, Erin, but a number of lawmakers who say that this administration has been sought on Russia, what they're wondering is, look, was there any discussion at all about possible Russian sanctions? Are Russians meddling in U.S. election. These are the points that they were wondering, you know, if it was brought up during this conversation, during this phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And at this point, Erin, still up in the air.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jason Carroll. And OutFront, Jen Psaki, White House Communications Director for President Obama and Former Congressman Jack Kingston who is a senior advisor to the Trump Campaign. Jen, let me start with you. Let me just start with the exclusive reporting here, you just heard Pamela sharing. The former acting Attorney General Sally Yates is going to testify, she gave a forceful warning with Syria's concern to the White House about Flynn three weeks before the president actually fired Flynn. And, you know, a sources says, look, Yates is going to be limited on the details of why she had those serious concerns because a lot of this information is classified. But how bad could this be?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, Erin, even with the limitations she'll have, obviously, since it isn't in a classified setting, a public testimony under oath is an entirely different ball game. So this isn't just anonymous sources in a newspaper. This is the former acting attorney general testifying publicly that -- with information that contradicts with a number of high-level officials from the Trump administration have said. So, it will bring up a lot of questions. What had Don McGahn do with that information, it's hard to believe, he sat on it, who knew what, when, why did it take three weeks. Believe me, I've been there when it - and a high-level officials have been fired, you don't sit on it for three weeks. And I expect this will all come through the surface again next week.
BURNETT: I mean, Congressman Kingston, that is one of the issues here is that it took three weeks from this forceful warning that Sally Yates is saying she gave the White House counsel until Flynn was fired. You heard the White House Press Secretary of course, Congressman describe Yates' warning as a heads-up, right? She said serious concerns, forceful warning. That sounds really different than a heads-up, doesn't it?
JACK KINGSTON, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, it does but let's back up a little bit. This woman is an Obama appointee. She is right now being recruited by the Georgia democrat party to run as a candidate for governor. She is a democrat operative, so she came to me and said, I heard something, I'd want to know what she heard and when she's using the word, if she's the one using the word forceful, what was it that she heard? There's an assumption that this was about sanction but maybe there's something bigger than that.
And I think another question that she's going to have to answer is, how many people did you talk to because this station among other said there were nine independent sources about this conversation. Who did she transfer this information to? And is there a transcript itself or did she just look at this and review it with somebody like Susan Rice? I think it's going to be an interesting testimony but it's certainly not about a time sequence. It's about who did she share this information for because leaking it is indeed a felony and I think the congress is going to be concern about that.
BURNETT: Right. Leaking of course a felony and it's a fair point and it's an important point. But it is a separate point from, if she knew that General Flynn was doing things he shouldn't do. She gives this forceful warning. Was he breaking the law or colluding with the Russians or whatever it might have been, Jen, right? I mean, if that's the warning the White House got, sitting on it for three weeks tells you what?
PSAKI: Well, first of all, she also reportedly they went to share this information with the support of Clapper, with the support of Brennan, with people in the intelligence community because there was information that being provided to people like Vice President Pens that was inaccurate. So she was trying to do her duty as the acting attorney general. I think this is really going to raise some questions about the credibility of the administration, the credibility of people who are out there speaking on their behalf. And I think we'll learn more next week when she testifies.
BURNETT: I want to bring in former CIA Operative Bob Bear here into the conversation, Jack and Jen, and I want to -- I want to ask you, Bob, you know, given your knowledge and being in the intelligence world, we hear tonight that Yates is "highly motivated." She wants to set the record straight as she sees it about this warning regarding Flynn, right? And she's saying it was - it was extremely serious, serious concerns, the White House is saying it was a mere heads-up? What does it say to you?
BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Well, Erin, it's a misjudgement on the White House's part when the attorney general, the acting attorney general comes to you and say, you have a problem with one of your nominees to national security counsel, we believe he's been compromised, has given classified information, has taken Russian intelligence money, but Russia today, that's essentially what it is, you listen. You don't ignore either the FBI or the attorney general. You just never do that. They should have put his appointment on hold. And it addresses the credibility of the White House and you know --
KINGSTON: Erin -
BAER: It's just amateurs coming into. The site-seeing was happened over and over again.
BURNETT: Go ahead, Congressman.
KINGSTON: Nobody said he's leaked classified information. Nobody said he took money from Russia that time. We have actually no idea what he actually did.
BURNETT: Well, he did, he took - he took right from Russia today for that speech.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: But to our knowledge, that's not the context of what Sally Yates said. And I might point out Sally Yates herself was fired for insubordination, so it's not like she's exactly a loyal trooper with the best interests of the president in her mind. But I think there's a lot of questions in terms of what is it that she did here or where did she find it and is there a transcript and who was that sharing it?
BURNETT: So, just to be clear, so everybody knows, I'm not going to politicize it but she was fired because she refused to uphold the president's travel ban to make an argument about. Just so people understand.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: That's absolute insubordination though. I mean, you don't have -
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Are you then saying that she was -- she was a liar when she came and said General Flynn had improper dealings with the Russian government?
KINGSTON: Well, no. But what I'm saying is if you're a general and you give an order to a colonel, and here she decides not to carry it out, then you're fired for insubordination and whatever their motivation is, might be up for question. But I'd say Sally Yates is not a credible witness. Keep in mind that democrat party right now is recruiting her to run for governor in my home State of Georgia. This is not --- she and Susan Rice aren't exactly --
BURNETT: Jen, do you think she could just made this up, made it all because of politics?
PSAKI: I think first of all, Sally Yates is somebody who served for years in public service. She's somebody who again wanted to provide this information to the White House, to the president's counsel because clearly the vice president had been lied to by the person who gets elected as the national security adviser. I think this - it's an information that you should ignore. And it really brings in to question their credibility, it brings into question their judgment, and there are a lot of issues around this, I think we'll again learn about - more about next week.
BURNETT: Bob?
BAER: Look, she was doing a favor to the White House. Whether the information was accurate, maybe Flynn is innocent. You just don't know but when the FBI and the justice department comes to you and says you have a problem, they're doing you a favor. Anybody else but this administration would have simply put his appointment on hold and let to be cleared up. This happens all the time in the government when there - when there's a doubt in the counterintelligence investigation. So, I think it was a mistake of judgment on the part of Trump administration to go ahead and force through his appointment. A big mistake.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much. I appreciate your time tonight. Much more to come on this, of course, that testimony going to be coming in public. We'll see what we find out about what she knew in just days. And next, Hillary Clinton speaking out, saying if the election were on 12 days earlier she would be the president of the United States and she's blaming somebody else for her loss. Plus the president angry tonight even as he says, this is what winning looks like. And Jimmy Kimmel going to appeal about the healthcare debate opening up about his son's heart condition.
JIMMY KIMMEL, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE HOST: If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make.
Kimmel's cousin, a doctor who helped him through the ordeal, is OutFront tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: New tonight, Hillary Clinton defiant. She says she would have won the election if it were held a few weeks earlier and so she's blaming one person for the loss, for the first time calling herself part of the Trump resistance tonight as well. Brianna Keilar is OutFront.
BRIANNA KEILER, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton emerging as a leading antagonist to President Donald Trump.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm now back to being an activist citizen and part of the resistance.
KEILER: Speaking with CNN's Christiane Amanpour today in New York, Clinton criticized the president's recent strike on a Syrian base used by both Syrian and Russian forces.
CLINTON: We later learned that the Russians and the Syrians moved jets off the runway, that the Russians may have been given a heads-up even before our own congress was.
KEILER: At times, she downright told Trump.
CLINTON: I remember I did I win more than three million votes than my opponent. I feel the tweet coming. Well, I'm, you know, better that than interfering in foreign affairs. If he wants to tweet about me I'm happy to be the diversion.
KEILER: She reflected on what it would have meant to win the White House.
CLINTON: Oh, I think it would have been a really big deal.
KEIKLER: Asked if sexism played a role in her loss, Clinton said yes but placed more blame on the FBI Director's decision to send a letter to congress stating he was re-examining the investigation into Clinton's use of a private e-mail and server with secretary of state. Director Jim Comey's letter went out October 28.
CLINTON: If the election had been October 27, I'd be your president and it wasn't.
KEILER: And she blamed Russia for its role in hacking into the e-mail account of her campaign refusing to speak Russian President Vladimir Putin's name.
CLINTON: He certainly interfered in our election and it was clear he interfered to hurt me and help my opponent. And if you chart my opponent and his campaign's statements, they quite coordinated with the goals that that leader who shall remain nameless had.
KEILER: As for her own role in last November's loss --
CLINTON: I take absolute personal responsibility. I was the candidate. I was the person who was on the ballot. I can't be anything other than who I am. And I spent decades learning about what it would take to move our country forward.
KEILER: Clinton promised more in a book she's publishing in the fall.
CLINTON: I am writing a book and it's a painful process reliving the campaign. So did we make mistakes? Of course we did. Did I make mistakes? Oh, my gosh, yes, you know, you read my confession and my request for absolution. But the reason why I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last 10 days.
KEILER: And those events will likely be revisited tomorrow when Director Comey testifies before he senate judiciary committee democrats are expected to press him on that letter that he sent to congress October 28. You recall, Erin, he ultimately cleared Clinton two days before the election but by then democrats say the damage was already done.
BURNETT: All right, Brianna, thank you very much. OutFront now, former democratic congressman, Steve Israel of New York, Mary Katherine Ham, senior writer for The Federalist. And Mark Preston, our senior political analyst. Mary Katherine, so look, she said she's writing a confession. She's admitting that she made a lot of mistakes, OK. So humble in that regard. But look, she's saying it was intervening events. Had the election been on the 27th of October. She would have win, she was definitive and obviously what came between then in the election was Jim Comey.
MARY KATHERINE HAM, SENIOR WRITER FOR THE FEDERALIST: Right. This is the general fire festival apology which is - yes, I'm taking responsibility but also it's not my fault. And I don't think it's a great - look, I think - look, I know this is painful but if he just had some time to work through it and instead of maybe selling - publishing and selling the book (INAUDIBLE) do an honest hashing out of this on the stage and mention perhaps the fact that you should have gone to Wisconsin because I think even people who support her think, OK, that was really a serious mistake and that she should take some responsibility which she seem to be almost mocking in that state.
BURNETT: So, Congressman, you know, here's what she said specifically about Jim Comey and why she believes that that was - that was the lie, right? Before him she won, after him she lost. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I was on the way to winning until the combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28th and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Let's just remember. Jim Comey only had something to talk about because she had a private e-mail server, right? I mean, is this - is this the true -- I am to blame for my own loss, that she is saying it is because it doesn't sound like that fully.
STEVE ISRAEL, (D) FORMER CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE: I have to tell you -- first of all, I have to be careful. I'm about to see her in dinner after this show. So I'm going to make sure dinner he let me in the front door. I was in Clinton headquarters on October 27 and on that day --
BURNETT: The day she said she would have won.
ISRAEL: The day she said she would have won. The day that she delineates on that day. The senior campaign staff told me that in a catastrophic environment, they believed that they were safely at 280 electoral votes, that their voter turnout methodology and they're fully had them at 280 electoral vote. That was 10 days before the election. Then the Comey letter comes out and the bottom drops out, what happens. I'm a big believer having sure the democratic congressional campaign committee that whoever controls the narrative controls the outcome.
I do not believe that the Comey letter necessarily led to the outcome by itself but we -- it turned a referendum on Donald Trump into a referendum on Hillary Clinton and it contributed to the outcome. Having said that, just one other point. We should not minimize the unique anxieties, economic anxieties on voters of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and elsewhere. The unique conversions --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: But isn't blaming it on Comey doing just that?
ISRAEL: Well, she didn't blame it all on Comey. She took responsibility but my party needs to do a much better job of tapping into those economic anxieties constructively or else republicans are going to keep doing it constructively.
BURNETT: So, Mark, you know, another thing she said today was in terms of what her role was going to be, right? The democratic party is struggling for who the heck is in charge.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
BURNETT: She said, she's in "now back to being an active citizen and part of the resistance." OK? So you heard her say that. Here's what Bill Maher said to CNN about that earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, HOST, HBO'S "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": I don't know why she needs to be coming back. She had her turn and it didn't work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: She points out she won the popular vote by three million votes.
PRESTON: Right. So a couple of things. One is - I agree, I wrote down that I found the most interesting think of that was she said she was part of the resistance.
BURNETT: Right.
PRESTON: And we're at a time right now where you have Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who are still young, who are going to play a role in the Democratic Party. Now, what will Bill Maher is talking about right there is, are you blocking a future generation of leaders to grow up. I don't think necessarily you want to wipe away Hillary Clinton quite frankly because she just brings a lot of good to the party. But there is something to be said about trying to foster an environment for younger democrats to come in and take over the party.
BURNETT: So there's this interesting thing that came out. I want to get you all take on this. News week put out a story on Ivanka Trump and if anyone didn't see it, you got to look at it now because it's actually rather disturbing because it's so well done. The new Hillary Clinton in the White House, they suggest similarities between the two women and here's among them. She provides a cover for sexism, this is about Ivanka Trump but they're likening it Hillary Clinton. She's a White House power without bounds. She's starting on the third base, thanks to her man, and she's ethically challenged. Fair comparison?
ISREAL: No, not fair, not fair game. I think there's legitimate inquiry asked -
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Not fair to either or not fair--
ISRAEL: Not fair to either. Not fair to either. Look, there is legitimate inquiry to potential conflict of interests while her government influence health for business, will her business somehow be advances by her government influence. But that stuff about being born on third base, it was -- it's just not fair, it's not appropriate. We got to leave to that to the side.
BURNETT: Not fair, not appropriate? HANM: I think it's a little facile. But look, I think in the Clinton
administration they were pretty clear that Hillary is going to be this very active first lady and these were the things she was going to work on. I think (INAUDIBLE) less clear about exactly what those lines are and what the campaigns will look like such that they are . The problem I think for democrat is that of all the lines of attack for Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump is perhaps the most probably likable figure and I don't think that this is going to get you very far.
PRESTON: Yes. I agree entirely. I don't think it's fair to these two women, but the fact to the matter is it's very sexist to say that they are born - well, certainly Hillary Clinton --
BURNETT: Starting on third base.
PRESTON: Starting on third base because of her man. A lot of people say Bill Clinton wouldn't have gotten there if it wasn't for Hillary Clinton quite frankly. So, that itself is sexist. But let's, you know, let that go into the gutter and see how Ivanka Trump's performs but putting aside Ivanka Trump, I'd be more interested on Ivanka Trump's husband who seems to have an incredible amount of power in that last wing.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all. Appreciate it. And OutFront next, the president says the U.S. needs a good shutdown. So what does that mean? And can Trump's controversial pick for the secretary of army being -- be approved after saying this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GREEN, ARMY SECRETARY NOMINEE: Now you poll the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you that transgender is a disease
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: New tonight, President Trump taking credit for the government spending bill that avoids a shutdown. Making these remarks as he welcomed the air force academy football team to the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is what winning looks like. Something that you folks really know a lot about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny is OutFront at the White House. And Jeff, all right, so we guess this is what winning looks like but is the White House privately saying it's something very different and there's a lot of stuff in this bill he didn't want.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, the whole reason the president was out in the Rose Garden today talking about this was because there are many Republicans in this town who believe that they were essentially defeated message-wise by Democrats in this spending bill. We've been talking about here, particularly the border wall.
There's not one thing perhaps more than this the president has talked about again and again funding for this wall. The reality is there is no funding for a new wall in this. That became slightly even more confused at the press beefing today which was taken over by the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, who said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICK MULVANEY, OFFICE OF THE MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET DIRECTOR: We are building this now. There is money in this deal to build several hundreds of millions of dollars of this to replace this. That's what we got in this deal and that's what the Democrats don't want you to know. This stuff is going up now. Why? Because the president wants to make the country more safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: This is what you call political pushback and spinning tonight, Erin. The reality here is that the president did not get what he wanted in this spending bill that was to fund his new wall that he's talking about. Mick Mulvaney there was saying, look, this is already being funded, it's the biggest increase of border security.
Yes, it is a big increase in border security. But that new wall, the one that the president talked about again and again is not being built with any money in this budget. That will come later in the year in September, in the fiscal year '18 budget if they approve it then.
BURNETT: Right.
ZELENY: So, all those pictures, all the talking about the wall, the pictures there were actually an existing part of a wall. The new wall, no money's there for it yet, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Jeff, thank you very much.
Right. So, I guess they can't do anything in the wording for a new wall. They can patch existing wall, I suppose.
OUTFRONT now, the Democratic congresswoman from Florida, the former chairwoman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
So, Congresswoman, let me just get your reaction. You just saw the budget director there, Mick Mulvaney, run out in the middle of the press briefing, take it over and say, this is what Democrats don't want you to know. We're building this wall right now.
What's your reaction?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: Well, my reaction is -- particularly, as a member of the appropriation committee and serving as a ranking member of one of the subcommittees, that the president is right, this is what winning looks like for Democrats, you know, for people who actually want to make sure that we can continue to invest in health care research, for people who opposed his ridiculous unnecessary border wall, where there is absolutely no funding in this budget to build it.
Yes, there is border security funding which is important. We all support increasing border security. But there's no money in this budget to build a wall and there are also -- there also is no money for the additional detention officers. So, that they can't continue to add money to round more people up.
BURNETT: All right. So, obviously, what he said today when he said today when he came out and said that, as Jeff Zeleny points out, not true, they can't do it right now.
SCHULTZ: Right.
BURNETT: But as you know, the bill does have border security money, in fact the biggest increase for border security in a decade, something the president is frankly very proud of, as you know, Congresswoman. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We achieved the single largest increase in border security funding in ten years. With enough money to make a down payment on the border wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Again, he's classifying it as a down payment on the border wall. The language in the bill as we all know says he can't use the money for the wall itself, for building it.
SCHULTZ: Right.
BURNETT: But, you know, you hear what he says. You hear what Mick Mulvaney says. There's no question as to what their intentions are and what they want to do, Congresswoman. Yet you do support border security, you're saying, and you are voting for the bill, right?
SCHULTZ: I'm voting to the bill, yes, but they are desperately clinging and grasping at straws here to try to define for their members and their supporters that this is somehow a win for them. But they absolutely didn't want this budget to look like it does.
Not only does it have $2 billion more when they were proposing cutting NIH for health research funding, but it fully restores year round Pell grants, it doesn't build the border wall, doesn't have detention beds, has really significant resources to fight famine in Africa.
BURNETT: Yes.
SCHULTZ: The list goes on and on, and these were all things that they proposed cutting in the skinny budget that they rolled out. BURNETT: Right. And, in fact, you mentioned those things.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: It also doesn't cut the funding for Planned Parenthood which obviously they said they want to do.
SCHULTZ: That's right. Right.
BURNETT: It doesn't have money for the deportation force, as you point out. It doesn't have the federal cuts to sanctuary cities --
SCHULTZ: And it doesn't have the money to unwind the Affordable Care Act, either.
BURNETT: Right. So, you're voting for it?
SCHULTZ: I am voting for it.
BURNETT: What do you say to Democrats though that aren't? Are they just obstructionists at this point?
SCHULTZ: Well, I haven't heard actually very many Democrats come out and say they're opposed to it. There are members that are still looking at it.
[19:35:00] But overall, I mean, this is a really --
BURNETT: So, you think it was a big win for Democrats, opposite of what the president says because you heard him say --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: This is a win for America. This is a big win for America.
When it comes to what winning looks like, yes, it's a win for Democrats. It shows that even the minority were able to effectively reach across the aisle, work with our colleagues on the Republican side, and do the right thing for America.
But, you know, there are millions of Americans that are going to benefit from the really good things in this appropriations bill. And I hope that that goodwill extends to fiscal year 2018.
Unfortunately, as you heard the president say today, his real reaction is that he wants to shut the government down in September so he can get his way and do what he really wants to do, which is build that border wall with the taxpayer's money instead of Mexico's money, cut NIH, cut health care, and really reverse all this progress.
BURNETT: So, let me ask you, Hillary Clinton, as you know, spoke today. She, as we are all aware, was slammed during the campaign for taking millions of dollars from Wall Street for paid speeches, right? People though it's hypocritical. People thought it's unfair for someone who said they were going to stand up to the banks. Now, President Obama, though, is being criticized by some of your
fellow Democrats for his decision to take $400,000 for a single speech to Wall Street. Here is what some Democrats are saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: It's not a good idea. And, you know, I'm sorry that the president -- President Obama made that choice. I just think it is distasteful.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Well, I was troubled by that. One of the things I talk about in the book is the influence of money. I describe it as a -- you know, a snake that slithers through Washington. And that it shows up in so many different ways here in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Are they right?
SCHULTZ: I mean, of all people to question whether or not they are -- question their commitment to getting money out of politics, to really making sure that we restored integrity to the political finance process, you know, President Obama could not have done more.
BURNETT: But he says specifically about banks, right?
SCHULTZ: Look, it is none of anyone's business what someone who is a member of the private sector decides to accept in terms of compensation. You know, with all due respect to anyone who pushes to comment publicly on what Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or anyone earns as a member of the private sector, it's just like MYOB. It's enough your business.
BURNETT: So, you think, even though, look, the banks are bigger than they were, none of that -- none of that matters to you --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: You know what? I trust --
BURNETT: No bank CEOs went to jail, anything. I mean, those are some of the things --
SCHULTZ: Those were all --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: -- we presume Senator Sanders and Warner are upset about?
SCHULTZ: No, no. I agree. I think that there was a lot more that needed to happen to not only crack down on the big banks, but for there to be consequences for their actions. But as far as the compensation that a private citizen takes for a speech that they give, that's not my concern nor any of our business. I look more at the public record of someone like Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton and their public record is pristine. They both fought back against the big banks and their practices and I have every confidence in the service that they both provided.
BURNETT: Thank you very much.
SCHULTZ: Thank you.
BURNETT: I appreciate your time tonight.
SCHULTZ: My pleasure.
BURNETT: And next, the highly controversial comments from President Trump's army secretary pick. Is his nomination doomed?
And Jimmy Kimmel tears up talking about his newborn son's heart defect. Is this the new rallying cry on health care?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child's life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:41] BURNETT: Tonight, another top nominee of President Trump's may be dropping out. Army secretary pick, Mark Green, has said he believes that being transgender is a disease. It's just one of the controversial comments getting attention tonight that he said. This nomination could be in serious jeopardy, after the first army secretary withdrew as did the Trump's nominee for navy secretary.
Barbara Starr is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump's pick for secretary of the Army, Mark Green, under fire for his controversial views on the theories of evolution, creationism, as well as anti-LGBT remarks.
Green is an army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, a West Point graduate, a state legislature and he has a medical agree.
But in 2015, he gave a speech discovered by CNN's KFILE that flatly rejects the science of evolution.
MARK GREEN, ARMY SECRETARY PICK: The question is, did all of this happen by chance operating inside the laws of chemistry and physics? Or is this unbelievable engineering, and is the scientific mind going to look at it and make the conclusion, observation, and conclusion that it was created and not that it evolved?
STARR: Green is a Tea Party favorite. But last year, Green, who serves as a Tennessee state senator, infuriated the LGBT community.
GREEN: Now, if you polled the psychiatrists, they're going to tell you that transgender is a disease.
STARR: All of this raising questions to some on Capitol Hill if he can get enough moderate Republican support to be confirmed.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is why we have hearings. And I want to make sure that he's the right man to lead the army.
STARR: On his website, Green lashing back at critics, saying, "The liberal left has cut and spliced my words about terrorism and ISIS, blatantly falsifying what I've said."
President Trump has had a rocky time filling top Pentagon positions.
TRUMP: Vincent Viola, everybody likes Vincent.
STARR: That's Trump's first choice for army secretary, Vincent Viola, billionaire businessman and owner of the Florida Panthers hockey team. Viola withdrew his nomination in February, saying it would be too complicated to untangle himself from business ties.
Same story for Trump's pick for secretary of the navy, Philip Bilden.
PHILIP BILDEN: Existing portfolios are experiencing significant declines in value.
[19:45:05] STARR: Too many business ties to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest.
But for Green, it's his past comments that could derail his nomination.
GREEN: The evolutionists have their bad argument, too. They say, well, I can't explain how it went from, you know, this to incredibly complex, so it must have been billions of years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Green's political adviser said it's completely absolutely untrue that he will withdraw his name from conversation. The Pentagon referred CNN to the White House. The White House declined to comment -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Interesting decline. Thank you very much, Barbara.
And next, Jeanne Moos takes it on a board for an epic airline brawl.
And Jimmy Kimmel breaking down over his newborn's fight for life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jimmy's cousin, doctor, is my guest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: New tonight, former President Obama praising Jimmy Kimmel for opening up about his newborn son's medical scare. In monologue, Kimmel revealed that his son was born with a heart condition just a few weeks ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: To be a normal, healthy baby until about three hours after he was born. We were out of the delivery room. We moved to the recovery room, our whole family was there.
And when a very attentive nurse at Cedar Sinai Hospital, her name is Nanoush, was checking her out and heard a murmur in his heart, which is common with newborn babies. But she also noticed he was a bit purple which is not common. So, she asked me to come with her.
They did an echocardiogram, which is a sonogram of the heart, and found out that Billy was born with a heart disease, something called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary Atresia.
It's hard to explain. Basically, the pulmonary valve was completely blocked and he has a hole in the wall between the left and right sides of his heart.
[19:50:07] So, we put the baby in an ambulance to Children's Hospital Los Angeles. And on Monday morning, Dr. Starnes opened his chest and fixed one of the two defects in his heart.
I want to thank my work family and my actual family, starting with my cousin, Dr. Denise Hayes, who happens to be a pediatric cardiologist in New York. There's one smart person in our family and she counseled us. She explained everything to everyone in our family over and over again so I didn't have to. Thank you, Denise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Denise is with me now, Jimmy Kimmel's cousin. Dr. Denise Hayes, a pediatric cardiologist, as he said.
You know, thank God you're a part of that family to help them. But what was it like watching -- watching that?
DR. DENISE HAYES, COUSIN OF JIMMY KIMMEL: Yes, it's very surreal to suddenly see my family experiencing something that I deal with on a daily basis at work. You know, I'm glad I was able to provide them with some counseling, but the truth is they had excellent care out of Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and I'm just glad I was able to help in some way. BURNETT: I mean, you know, Jimmy has obviously decided to take the courageous step to bear his personal life. It's very hard to do. You have a persona and you have a life that you choose to share.
He tweeted this afternoon, "Sincere thanks for the outpouring of love and support -- Dr. Jane," referring to your niece, you know, the stethoscope on there, "keeping a close ear on Billy, who is very well."
What drove Jimmy to make that decision, to say I'm going to speak about this publicly?
HAYES: Well, you know, I -- besides the obvious wanting to announce the birth of their beautiful new baby, I think one of the most important things was to recognize the actions of all the people that helped take care of Billy and helped save his life. I think Jimmy really wanted to show the appreciation. You know, in medicine, there's a lot of privacy rules, right, and a lot of times the people caring for the children in the hospital don't necessarily get public recognition and we're OK with that, but sometimes when it does happen and it happened so beautifully last night, I think it means a great deal.
BURNETT: So, he spoke about the personal side, but obviously, this has a political side because it would be a preexisting condition. You deal with this every day with people who may not have the means and the ability or the health care. This is part now of the Obamacare conversation. It's something Jimmy did not shy away from.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world. But until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all. You know, before 2014, if you were born with a congenital heart condition, like my son was, there's a good chance you'd never be able to get health insurance because you had a preexisting condition. You were born with a preexisting condition, and if your parents didn't have medical insurance, you might not love long enough to even get denied because of a preexisting condition.
If your baby is going to die, and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make. I think that's something that whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right? I mean, we do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And he's right. Of course, President Obama, Hillary Clinton both coming out and supporting him on Twitter. The former president said, "Well said, Jimmy, that's exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, the Affordable Care Act, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations." Clearly, Jimmy knew he was wading into this by speaking out about this. How does he feel, though, about being a rallying cry for President Obama, for Hillary Clinton?
HAYES: Well, you know, I think from the pediatric standpoint, I think the most important thing that we want to see as pediatricians, is our patients getting excellent care, quality care, and I think we're doing that. But I really do feel that it was necessary to -- for Jimmy to put that out there, to put a face, kind of a personal note to this topic.
It's really hard to shy away from the topic, when there's the photo of a beautiful newborn baby attached to the debate. So --
BURNETT: And when you look back at 2014 and what you did, were there kids then who would have this happen and not be able to get the care because they didn't have insurance?
HAYES: So, luckily, in the critical care setting, we would never deny a baby health care. So, once you're admitted to the hospital, you're absolutely going to get the care you need. There's things like emergency Medicaid obviously that patients can obtain.
I think the problem comes more in the outpatient world, when you're trying to get tests done and medications from pharmacy. So, no, any baby with this form of heart disease would have absolutely gotten surgery and life-saving care.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Hayes.
HAYES: Thank you.
BURNETT: I really appreciate your time and congratulations to your family on the joyful outcome.
HAYES: Thank you for having me.
BURNETT: All right.
And OUTFRONT next, another day, another fist fight on a plane. Jeanne Moos with a look at the incredibly unfriendly skies.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:58] BURNETT: Welcome to the unfriendly skies. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't quite -- an in-flight fight. The Japanese All Nippon Airways plane --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone help! This guy's crazy!
MOOS: -- was still on the ground, preparing for departure to L.A. when a man in the Hawaiian shirt started attacking other passengers. The guy in the black landed some good punches, did he not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he had a good left, a good, solid left.
MOOS: That's when the passenger shooting the video, a professional photographer from Arizona named Corey Hour, turned office camera and intervened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was still on a rampage and I actually got up and at that point I confronted him and said you need to get off the plane, what you're doing is crazy, you need to stop this. That's when he said, oh, you think I'm crazy? What about the government?
MOOS: He then exited the plane and was arrested after choking a gate agent. Japanese police confirmed a drunk passenger was arrested at the airport.
Add this to the collection of recent shocking airlines cell phone videos, joining the passenger dragged off the United plane, and a crying mother who had her stroller snatched away by a flight attended who was then challenged by another passenger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, buddy, you do that to me and I'll knock you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You stay out of --
MOOS: An American airlines executive told a congressional hearing Tuesday that the incident was improperly handled.
Congress called the airline execs on the carpet for their customer service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to ask, slightly in jest, is why do you hate the American people?
MOOS: But in the case of the Japanese airline, you know who deserves a medal in this? The flight attendants I thought.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They handled it superbly in my opinion.
MOOS: Watch her get in the middle like a referee who refuses to flee.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Look at that flight attendant, completely unafraid. Way to go, ANA Airlines.
All right. Thanks for joining us.
Anderson is next.
