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Erin Burnett Outfront
Supreme Court Allows Parts of Travel Ban to Take Effect; Trump Tearing Apart Obama's Legacy One Policy at a Time. Aired on 7-8p ET
Aired June 26, 2017 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:02] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for watching. Erin Burnett OutFront starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, OUTFRONT HOST: OutFront next, the breaking news, the numbers are in tonight. Twenty-two million more Americans will be uninsured if the Senate health care bill passes. Is it about to be the law of the land?
And more breaking news this hour, Jared Kushner with a major hire hiring one of the United States' leading criminal defense attorney to his team. Plus, Trump destroying Obama's policies and he's just getting started. Let's go OutFront.
And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. OutFront tonight, the breaking news. Twenty-two million Americans, that's how many more will be uninsured over the next 10 years under the Senate's version of Trumpcare. The Congressional Budget Office score was just release tonight and drew swift and much angry reaction on Capitol Hill. Senate Democrats, of course, are gearing up.
And right now, for a protest actually on the Senate floor that is expected to go late into tonight this evening as, of course, Republicans some are pushing for a vote in the next couple of days. Some Republicans, though, when it comes to this bill, not sure about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R), LOUISIANA: It makes me more concerned. I've been uncommitted and I remain uncommitted -- I mean, just deadline uncommitted. But it certainly makes me more concerned and makes me want to explore this more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now just moments ago, Republican Senator Susan Collins and Rand Paul, this is a crucial development at this hour. They have both said they will vote no to move forward on this bill. All right, so that's two. Then you add it to Republican Dean Heller who was already said he will vote no even before the CBO numbers come out. That gets you three. They could only afford to lose two. So as of right now, this would not pass. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, though, is still pushing for a vote on Thursday.
The White House tonight came out with an aggressive statement trashing the CBO, calling out the Budget Office and saying they have a history of inaccuracies. President Trump were told right now is working the phones, making calls to the Senate. And then this Obamacare repeal and replace going to go down in flames or the President pull this one out.
Phil Mattingly is out front on Capitol Hill with the breaking news. And Phil, these new numbers, obviously causing a problems for Mitch McConnell's cause when he wants to get this vote in the next what, 72 hours.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They're not helpful and that's to put through the most simple way you can put it. And look, you can look at the top line coverage number. Obviously, 20 million fewer insured by 2026.
For people like Dean Heller, as you mentioned, Nevada Republican Senator or Susan Collins of Maine, they made very clear before the CBO report came out that that was a number they were going to be paying very close attention to. There was an assumption based on the House number which was 23 million and the changes in the Senate bill restructured tax credit, slower, more gradual phasing out of the Medicaid expansion from the Affordable Care Act, that the number might actually be better. And it clearly wasn't markedly better. So that's important.
And there's another thing to keep a very close eye on as well, Erin, and that is the deficit savings over the course of 10 years. This bill has $321 billion in deficit savings. Why does that matter? Obviously, Republicans care about deficit savings, so that's important. But also, that gives them about $200 billion above where the House came in. And that matters because all they have to do is match up with the House deficit reduction to kind of comply with Senate rules.
That means Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has about $200 billion over 10 years to work with, to hand out to moderate senators saying senators who care a lot about opioid funding or Medicaid expansion, senators who feel like these phases out too quickly. He now has a pot of money to go try and address their major concerns. But Erin, it's really worth pointing out here, this isn't just moderate. This is isn't just Medicaid expansion to takes senators. Rand Paul is on the opposite side of the ideal logical spectrum. He's not the only conservative with a lot of real concerns about whether or not the regulatory cut of cutback in here goes far enough.
BURNETT: Yes.
MATTINGLY: So these numbers are important. They are absolutely something senators are working towards, but most importantly, these senators coming out saying they will not vote for essentially a motion to move forward on the bill means that the negotiations behind closed doors, which have been ongoing for the last three or four days, need to ramp up in speed. There's no margin for error here. They need to see progress. They need to see action and they need to see actual provisions that they feel like address their concerns soon or as you know, this thing is not clear towards passage right now. It's not even clear procedurally towards national final vote or amendment votes. Those are things that are outstanding right now and the numbers tonight certainly didn't help that process.
BURNETT: Not at all. With that, a late break of course to Susan Collins bringing it to three which would be a defeat the way it is currently.
Thank you, Phil. Sara Murray is out front at the White House. And Sara, the Trump administration coming out flaming the report and flaming the CBO itself.
SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This appeared to be the White House's defense this evening to slam the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the radio (ph) portion of the statement they put out after that CBO score saying "The CBO has consistently proven it cannot accurately predict how healthcare legislation will impact insurance coverage. The history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare, reminds us that its analysis must not be trusted blindly."
And, of course, there were some differences in what the CBO projected and what Obamacare -- what affects Obamacare actually had.
[19:05:04] But people who have worked with CBO, people who are experts in this field say it's impossible to fully predict the effects of legislation perfectly. CBO is essentially the best we've got. And it's worth noting that the only thing the White House is doing is not attacking CBO, they are working behind the teams to try to lobby senators.
BURNETT: Yes.
MURRAY: To that in, the Vice-President Mike Pence is inviting a handful of senators over for a dinner tomorrow night. It includes Mike Lee, Senator Sasse, Senator Cotton, Senator Lankford. All of those they are skeptical about the health care bill. Mike Lee, in fact, has said so far he cannot support it, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much Sara. And let's go now to Senator Ron Wyden, top Democrat in the Finance Committee, also a member of Budget and Intelligence Committee. So, thank you very much for being with me. Senator --
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), FINANCE COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: -- let's start with a couple of the points here. First of all, this deficit issue and obviously, I know you heard Phil Mattingly say Senator McConnell has some money to play around with here to try to win people over. But right now, the CBO does say that the bill will cut the deficit by more than $320 billion. Obviously, you know, who knows, that's like throwing something against the wall, whether it's actually true or not. But if it is, isn't this a good thing?
WYDEN: Erin, of course, you can cut the deficit if you cut coverage. If you destroy the social safety net that is Medicaid, of course, you can save money. And I think it's also pretty striking because Republicans are eyeing a multi-trillion dollar tax cut bill when health care is wrapped up.
Look, I can tell you that this legislation is pretty much just the same as the House. The 22 million uninsured, $770 billion plus in Medicaid does a cut, hundreds of billions in tax breaks. These folks are so eager to give out tax breaks. They're actually making them retroactive.
BURNETT: So, let me ask you on two of these points about the Medicare cuts that you refer to and also those losing insurance.
WYDEN: Medicaid.
BURNETT: Yes, Medicaid, I'm sorry. The CBO just say 22 million people will lose insurance because of this legislation. But, I'm wondering, though, if this is crucial, 15 million of them, that's about 70 percent, will loss coverage because they choose to, right? They are no longer going to be penalized to have health insurance so they will opt out. Isn't that a very different thing than having it taken it away from you? The 22 million number would seem to be very distortionary in that sense, isn't it?
WYDEN: I don't think so. The Congressional Budget Office is the group that we look to, to do nonpartisan work and this is their finding. So, I don't think --
BURNETT: Right, but if there number too, that 15 million of those will be because they are choosing to not have coverage because they are no longer going to be penalized for opting out, that's all I'm saying.
WYDEN: What I can tell you is the heart of this strategy is to take away benefits from the vulnerable in order to transfer money to the fortune of two. Look, they are also counting the idea that down the road, coverage is going to get cheaper. As you know, the CBO says it's going to go up in the individual market.
BURNETT: Yes.
WYDEN: In the short term, they said it might go down in the future. Well, of course, you can drive down coverage if you just say that all people are going to get as a toothbrush and some band aids. And the fact is that the new tax credits are basically going to be peg to bargain basement coverage.
BURNETT: So, on the issue of Medicaid, the counselor of the President Kellyanne Conway addressed this and here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: We don't see them as cuts. It's slowing the rate of growth in the future and getting Medicaid back to where it was. Obamacare expanded that the pool of Medicaid recipients beyond its original intentions." (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: President Bush's White House Press Secretary, Senator Wyden, Ari Fleischer put it on Twitter this way and he said, "My first job in the Hill was in 1983. The federal governments got $19 billion on Medicaid that year. When I was at the White House in 2001, we spent $129 billion. Today Federal Medicaid spending is $389 billion. Under GOP reforms, it will increase to about 500 billion in 2027. With Obamacare, it goes to 624 billion in 2026." His point is, in Washington spending goes up always. It's just a matter of how much.
Does he have a point, right? Because the GOP plans still dramatically then increase Medicaid spending but not by as much as it would have under Obamacare. Is it fair to say, are all those increases and spending needed to get better quality care?
WYDEN: Erin, so much of this program goes for older people. And guess what, your viewers know that growing older in America isn't cheap. Two out of three seniors have their nursing home care paid for by Medicaid. And this is going to get even more challenging in the years ahead. You have a baby boomer, for example, who's had an early onset of a stroke or perhaps Alzheimer's. That's where the money is going. For folks who need nursing home coverage, the disabled -- the account for disproportion amount to the program and that's because growing older in America is expensive.
BURNETT: So, will bill pass this week?
WYDEN: I can tell you, what's going on now is the horse-trading caucus is in full swing.
[19:10:06] I can tell you, I'm watching out for that because I think that part of this money that's being set aside is first in horse- trading. I just hope that members are going to continue. You look at Susan Collins just yesterday when Kellyanne Conway said, oh, that we're not going to hurt anybody on Medicaid growth rate and that's what we're tackling. Susan Collins, who is pretty diplomatic, said that she pretty much thought that that was way off base. These are Republicans saying that, not Democrats.
BURNETT: Before we go Senator, your colleagues in the House Oversight Committee are waiting answers from the White House on security clearances for both Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner. We know General Flynn had top secret security briefings from the CIA Director Mike Pompeo even after officials were warned he was at risk of blackmail by the Russians. Do you know tonight whether Pompeo knowingly did something that could have been improper or did his own agency keep him in the dark and he didn't even know that there was a concern that Michael Flynn could be blackmailed?
WYDEN: Erin, of course it can't get into classified matters, but I did asked the CIA Director a number of questions in public about those matters and I think there are a number of issues there that are unanswered with respect to Jared Kushner. People have asked about the security clearance. I can tell you, I don't think the United States Senate ought to be in the business of making all of these decisions about people's security clearances, but there are a lot of unanswered questions here.
BURNETT: All right, Senator Wyden, thank you very much. Good to see you.
WYDEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, Russia's Ambassador to the United States out. Why is the man in the middle of the Trump Russia probes leaving the United States? Plus, Trump taking a victory lap tonight after the Supreme Court makes a big decision on his travel ban.
And what's up with Donald Trump and his two-week timeline for seemingly everything?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. Over the next two weeks. Two or three weeks that will be phenomenal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:15:35] BURNETT: Breaking news, Jared Kushner is lawyering up. He just hired a heavyweight lawyer as the Russia investigations are gaining steam. President Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law hiring Abbe Lowell as counsel. Lowell is a big time lawyer, one of the top criminal defense in trial lawyers in the United States.
Jim Sciutto is out front. And Jim, what more can you tell us? Obviously, this is a big move to hire Lowell.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: And with someone with a Washington pedigree. He is representing Senator Bob Menendez in a corruption case and in past he represented former Senator John Edwards in other cases. So he has a reputation for being able to handle the big cases like this. That's one thing.
Two, there was also a conflict issue because Jared Kushner was previously represented by lawyers at the same firm that Bob Mueller, was that before, he was chosen as a special counsel. And at that time, according to a statement from Kushner's attorney they recommended actually, listen, you know, better for you to seek counsel outside this firm in light of that conflict there.
The final thing I would say, Erin, is that Abbe Lowell is a big-time lawyer that shows the seriousness with which Kushner is taking this ongoing Russian investigation.
BURNETT: Right, incredibly seriously. You are also learning tonight on the Russian investigation front, the Russian ambassador to the United States is leaving. Obviously, this is the man who's at the center of the Trump-Russia investigation, believe to be a top spy and spy recruiter. What's the impact?
SCIUTTO: Well, I think you could say this. The U.S. already has a lot of information on Sergey Kislyak. This is someone as a senior Russian diplomat. The U.S. intelligence services as a matter of course would have been listening to his conversations. In fact, it's in those intercepted communications that lead to some of the other trails of this investigation, for instance, Michael Flynn's conversations with Kislyak during the transition period.
So in terms of the Russian investigation, not a big impact because they already have a lot of goods on him, I think you can say. The other point I would make is this. Not entirely surprising he is known to be someone who communicates with Russian intelligence. His profile has been raised so much by this investigation, lots of public comments about him, and when you're in the spy world when that's the case --
BURNETT: Maybe it's hard to be such a House spy (INAUDIBLE) anymore.
SCIUTTO: Exactly. Exactly.
BURNETT: Or top spy for that when everybody knows what you look like. All right. Thank you very much, Jim Sciutto. Out front now, editor- in-chief of "The Daily Beast" John Avlon, reporter and editor-at-large for CNN Politics Chris Cillizza.
OK, the breaking news to get to you John, let me start with you, you heard Jim. Abbe Lowell white collar defense attorney a very, very well respected guy who has taken on serious cases. This shows the seriousness in which Jared Kushner is now taking his defense in the Russia investigation.
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, absolutely. This is a top flight criminal defense lawyer. And this is a rational action if you want to keep out of prison. But this is not -- you know, White House has not been telegraphing that degree of personal urgency around this entry (ph), right. So there's been a lt of spin about how this is a witch hunt.
But the fact that the President's son-in-law is lawyering up to this degree shows a real sense of concern. And you've got to assume that's a rational concern. He's trying to stave off, what could be a serious inquiry.
BURNETT: Very serious. Chris, your take?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Well, look, if you have the money to get the best money can buy or damn close to it, then you do it. And Abbe Lowell is certainly up there no matter what you think of Jared Kushner. I think John is right, that this is not --
BURNETT: That Abbe is the kind of guy that keeps you out of jail?
CILLIZZA: This is -- no, but this kind of frivolity, that is not a frivolity. Donald Trump has a tendency to portray this whole thing as a frivolity, sort of a sideshow host --
AVLON: Yes.
CILLIZZA: -- circus using his words. This is not ban -- I mean, Jared Kushner is smart and I think any of us would do the same. You get the best possible lawyer to make sure your viewpoint is represented. But it does -- it's a stark contrast to at least be public facing way in which Donald Trump is treating this whole thing.
BURNETT: It is clear, as Donald Trump would acknowledge, I believe, if he were honest about this, money talks. And if you're going to be spending money, big money in this way on a lawyer, you are taking it extremely seriously.
And what now, what about Sergey Kislyak obviously leaving and, you know, this is something they've been working on for a few months but really only did it come to light in the context of all of the heat in his -- Kushner and Kislyak name coming out in the Senate Russian investigation.
AVLON: That's right, because he has become radioactive in a way that doesn't work for a diplomat, let alone somebody who maybe recruiting spies that has been widely rumored and reported. Look, you know there have been a lot reports that he was being looked at for a U.N. position in counterterrorism.
[19:20:06] The fact that that plug has been pulled is pretty significant too. He's going back home. He's simply has become a total lightning rod in American politics. And, you know, to the point of Kushner lawyering up, one of the things is that he was caught in an intercept saying that Kushner had proposed a back channel with him on -- allegedly on Russian equipment. Now this has been contested by the White House. But that's a sign of not only how serious the charges are but how they all intersect with Kislyak.
BURNETT: So, Chris, you know, this is -- in terms of the President himself, he's come out now, he's tweeting today and he's saying that there was collusion here but it wasn't by him. So, you know, senior Obama administration official said the Obama administration actually choked in its response to the Russian efforts to interfere in the election. This is something the President is now seizing on. But Democrats, and this is what's really amazing Chris, Democrats are coming out and agreeing. They are agreeing that Obama didn't get it right. Here are just three in the past day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I think the Obama Administration should have done a lot more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they should have announced earlier that this was going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By keeping quiet, I think President Obama allowed the Russians to pursue their goal. It's very disappointing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Does having top Democrats agree with him, strengthen the President's hand, Chris? CILLIZZA: In this tribal world of politics, Erin, probably not. And I think Donald -- although we should, frankly. I think Donald Trump often on Twitter does himself much more harm than good with the words he chooses. So the collusion, you know, obviously that's a word we've heard a lot about, though certainly, no proof toward related to Russia and Donald Trump.
BURNETT: Right.
CILLIZZA: You know, he chooses these words on purpose because I think he is at heart -- sort of a provocateur. But it hurts him because it takes away what easy legitimate point the Obama administration for reasons of their own that are defensible if not sort of impenetrable did not make this as public certainly as giving the severity of the Russia intrusions in high that you would think they might have. So there's a legitimate criticism here.
AVLON: Sure.
CILLIZZA: Trump, the way that -- the words he uses to make it I think makes it impossible.
BURNETT: Well, OK. So what he did though was he went death constant (ph). So, instead of saying that -- he said choke isn't the word I would use. He went to Twitter today and said how he would use.
AVLON: Right.
BURNETT: The reason President Obama did nothing, caps of the President, about Russia after being notified by the CIA meddling as if he expected Clinton would win and didn't want to rock the boat. He didn't choke. He colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and crooked Hillary no good. So, instead of the see word choke he would use colluded. Can he change the narrative? Did he just kind of ruin his own argument?
AVLON: Well, this is classic Trump, right? I mean, this is you, you know, I know you are what am I? He's trying to take the word back. The word collusion has been floated so much. What he's trying to do as he did with fake news is deflective.
BURNETT: Right.
AVLON: He's trying to say Obama colluded. And therefore sort of -- all of the sudden muddied even the meaning of the word itself to lessen the accusation's impact. So, it's pretty classic in sort of that showman Trump twitter universe, you know, initial pushback. What I think is particular ironic though is he's got a point.
The Obama folks do seem to have basically have been worried that they would be seen as interfering in the election if they called out the Russians with everything they knew when they knew it.
BURNETT: Right.
AVLON: And it was done with an assumption that Hillary would win. BURNETT: Yes. He is right about that.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
BURNETT: He is right about that. All right. Thank you both very much. And don't miss Jim Sciutto's special report inside the Russia hacking investigation. Everything you need to know at this hour, "The Russian Connection" here is tomorrow night at 10:00 only on CNN.
And next, Trump's travel ban tonight. That a major win, a major win for the President from the Supreme Court. Will he win the ultimate battle? And Trump is tearing apart everything he can with the Obama name on it. Is he playing politics or is he obsessed?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:27:57] BURNETT: New tonight, the White House taking a victory lap. The Supreme Court ruling tonight that part of President Trump's travel ban can go into effect. Jeff Zeleny is out front live at the White House. And Jeff, look, this is a big night for the President. He feel it is because there have been a series of defeats by lower courts. So, frankly, to many this was a surprise. They cited religious discrimination but tonight the President declaring victory.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He is declaring victory and I'm told by someone who is in the room with him when he found this out. They said -- he views this as vindication. But, Erin, so interesting, his reaction tonight entirely different tone and type of language. Just few weeks ago, the President, you know, has said, "Never mind the political, a correctness running all this. I'm going to call it a travel ban. It's a travel ban".
But today his statement entirely different. He said this today, he said, "It's a clear victory for our national security. It allows the travel suspension from the six terrorist-prone countries and the refugee suspension to become largely effective." So, we've gone form travel ban at the beginning of these months to travel suspension.
Now, Erin the reason his language is softer, his attorneys and advisors have told him the oral arguments in front of -- now what could be a friendly Supreme Court, he does not want to complicate them by any sort of statements he makes between now and next fall. We'll see if he can hold on to that and be disciplined, but no question about it. This is a victory for this President at least the spirit of this travel ban which he's called and so long, he campaigned on it, is now staying, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeff. And now for now Jeffrey Toobin, our senior legal analyst, former Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, and former Republican Congressman Jack Kingston, also of course former senior advisor to the Trump campaign.
So, Jeffrey let me start with you. The Supreme Court says the administration can now ban and their words quote foreign nationals who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity. So, it's OK to ban people who aren't American, who don't have bona fide ties to the United States. What is that mean?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's -- and it only applies of course to the six countries that --
BURNETT: Right.
TOOBIN: -- the six Muslim majority countries.
BURNETT: Yes.
TOOBIN: But, it means that the people who have close relatives within the United States, who have job offers within the United States, who have letters of admission from universities in the United States, they are not covered by the travel ban. But I do think it's important to point out that Donald Trump having lost in a series of courts got all nine justices to agree that some part of his travel ban can go into effect, and I think there's no question, that's a victory for the president.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, Governor, you know, the president came out and tweeted, by the way, a different tone, to be fair. I mean, he wasn't -- he wasn't, you know, jumping up and down but he said: Very grateful for the 9-0 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. We must keep America safe.
Can you give him this? This is a win for him tonight?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think part of it was, but it wasn't a unanimous decision in the sense -- I mean, it's unanimous in the sense that some portions of the ban, like, for example, people who are coming from those countries as tourists, they are banned. But it is not a victory when you think of all of the cases that have been heard before this, which are -- which were claiming that they were being -- that it was unconstitutional because they were students, or they were visitors that were attached to the families or to businesses. So, that portion of the ban is a victory I would say for those who oppose the ban.
So, really, it's got on both sides, there's something from both sides and then in the end, it's only, it's a 90-day ban, right? So, when the actual -- decision on the merits of Supreme Court, which will be on September 27th or after September 27th, that's when the ban actually expires, so will this even be an issue the fall. That's really a question.
BURNETT: Which, of course, Jeff, what he could do would be -- just if it is approved, he just puts a new ban in.
TOOBIN: He could. But the Supreme Court may decide to just punt come fall and say the issue is moot because this executive order has expired, and then make everyone relitigate a new executive order if one is promulgated, and then, you know, wait for the whole process to evolving out.
BURNETT: So, Congressman, how surprised were you when this happened? Because I think there is -- you know, Governor Granholm raises good points. But, look, the cases that we heard so far, the rulings so far have been pretty much universally and overwhelmingly negative. This one was not.
JACK KINGSTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it was a huge victory for the Trump administration. And the four classes of people who are actually exempt from this, they're not the targets -- students and guest lecturers and people who are tied in because of work, that's not really who we're more concerned about. We're concerned about the people who haven't been probably because they come from these six countries of concern.
And -- but the bigger -- I guess the bigger victory here is that this goes back to maybe re-establish -- I hate to use that word, Jeffrey, but re-establish in this case the 1952 law which is the immigration and security law, which has given presidents a lot of discretion in terms of who can come in this country and who cannot. Presidents like Jimmy Carter used it to kept people from coming in from Iran or Cuba or other places.
So, this puts a lot of discretionary power back to the president should they decide in his favor, which I think they're going to do ultimately in the fall.
BURNETT: So, here's the question I have on this, though. Today, as pointed out, it's been very restrained. Jeff Zeleny was reporting that, right? In the statement, he said -- in his -- saying that he had victory. It allows the travel suspension for the six terror-prone countries and the refugees suspension to become largely effective.
So, the word suspension, right? He uses that twice.
But earlier this month, he did not use any such word. He said that's right, we need a travel ban, which he put in all caps. You see it. These are his words, for certain dangerous countries. Not some politically correct term that won't help us or protect our people.
And during the campaign, Congressman, he spoke about his views multiple times and words that don't reflect the word suspension at all. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
I think Islam hates us.
We are not exactly loved by many Muslims.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BURNETT: Congressman, isn't all of that fair game to be used against him in terms of his intent even if he uses the word suspension now, he can't unsay what he said or tweeted? KINGSTON: You know, the law doesn't say what your intent is. It just
says the president has this power and lots of presidents, including -- Obama did it for six months when he was president. And so, this has been used periodically throughout, I'd say, the last 50 years, but the -- or 60 years.
The thing that I think is important is that the Supreme Court is saying that politicians' rhetoric during a campaign does not necessarily outline their intent or maybe it doesn't have the force of law because it's only rhetoric and I think Governor Granholm would agree with me. Democrats and Republicans on the campaign trail, we all say some crazy things that if they came back to haunt us as they were applied to court decisions, we'd all be in trouble.
[19:35:07] BURNETT: Governor?
KINGSTON: I think it would tie up government and courts forever.
BURNETT: Governor?
GRANHOLM: Well, except for when you say things that you're going to do that are clearly unconstitutional, that becomes a problem and potentially that could be part of what the Supreme Court decision says, especially if he continues to say it when he is president. And so, that will be the case.
This has to be carved with a scalpel and not with an ax, and I think the Supreme Court made an effort to do that. But they didn't decide it on the merits yet, and that's what's going to be really interesting if they even take it up.
BURNETT: So, do you read anything into the fact, though, that they came out and did this, you know, unanimously, that they are going to not pay attention to those things he said or tweeted?
TOOBIN: Yes, I actually do. I think the president's in good shape. I've always thought that the Supreme Court was going to take a much more sympathetic view. They have a very clear sense of the president's discretion in foreign policy.
And, remember, there were three justices today who said they wouldn't have allowed any part of the ban to be stayed. The three most conservative justices -- Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch -- said the whole ban should have gone into effect.
So, you know, I don't think the suspension versus ban semantics matter much. These justices are smart people. They know what Donald Trump has said. But they also know that the order it seven does not refer to any religion. It only refers to countries.
And I just think the president is in very good shape heading into this oral argument.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all. I appreciate it.
And next, President Trump taking on Obama, undoing his predecessor's legacy one big policy at a time. And he is hitting the accelerator on it.
Plus, who does the Senate health care bill really hurt? Well, this does come down to individuals. You're going to meet a 5-year-old who was born premature and now, her desperate story.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She started at one pound, 12 ounces. Nobody was really sure that she was going to live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:02] BURNETT: Breaking news, the GOP health care bill at this hour does not have the votes to move forward. President Trump trying to turn that around, trying to win over Republican support for his repeal-and-replace of Obamacare. The fight for 50 votes much tougher after the CBO came out and said 22 million people would not have health insurance in the next decade if this bill passes.
The White House says the president is determined, though, to reverse President Obama's perhaps biggest achievement and it's not the only part of Obama's legacy that the president is unraveling.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't long ago when President Trump had some good things to say about his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
TRUMP: It's a very strange phenomena. We get along. I don't know if he'll admit this, but he likes me.
CARROLL: Those words may be hard to swallow among Trump and Obama supporters.
TRUMP: I inherited a mess.
CARROLL: Candidate Trump spent much of his campaign promising to undo much of President Obama's most important achievements and now, just six months in to office, President Trump has made good on some of those promises. In short order, pulling out of the Paris climate accord --
TRUMP: The bottom line is that the Paris climate accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States.
CARROLL: Obama, while not mentioning Trump by name, weighing in with a statement: Even in the absence of American leadership, I'm confident that our state, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way. Trump also kept his word and bowed out of the Trans Pacific Partnership which Obama administration had negotiated. TRUMP: I immediately withdrew the United States from the horrible,
disastrous, would have been another NAFTA but worse Trans Pacific Partnership.
CARROLL: And Trump has continued efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
TRUMP: At the core of this agenda is repealing and replacing the disaster known as Obamacare.
CARROLL: Trump has also rolled back the Obama administration's policy with Cuba by tightening restrictions on the Castro regime and the president has threatened to tear up the nuclear agreement with Iran but so far only a threat.
It's not unusual for presidents wanting to change course from their predecessors. Franklin Delano Roosevelt wouldn't allow Herbert Hoover's name to be on what was then called the Boulder Dam. It was later changed to the Hoover Dam by Congress.
George W. Bush had what was commonly called the anything-but-Clinton policy, and Ronald Reagan removed those solar panels from the White House Jimmy Carter had installed.
But presidential historian Doug Brinkley says those comparisons pale in comparison to what Trump is doing.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Donald Trump's become a wrecking ball on Barack Obama's legacy. He's trying to score point after point with his base by anything that Obama signed or did or said or had his name attached to, Donald Trump wants to kind of erase it from history.
CARROLL: The question going forward, can Trump create a legacy of his own beyond destroying that of his predecessor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And, Erin, Trump supporters say his legacy will come in other ways and other forms. Creating jobs, they say, will be one form. And also, in a form of tax reform and they say when he eventually creates and builds that wall on the southern border -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jason Carroll.
And Anna Palmer is OUTFRONT now, the senior Washington correspondent for "Politico".
Anna, you know, you just heard Doug Brinkley, the historian there, refer to it as a wrecking ball. How much does that being a wrecking ball of Obama motivate President Trump?
ANNA PALMER, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Well, I think certainly it motivates him and his supporters in terms of what he ran on his campaign. He's not a legislator. [19:45:01] He doesn't have a ton of, you know, bills he's been working
on for 20, 30 years that he's looking for Congress to pass. And so, certainly, in the short term, he's spent time kind of focused on taking back some of the things that Obama has done.
BURNETT: Oh, that's interesting. So, you think because he came from outside politics, it perhaps makes him even more want to unravel the legacy?
PALMER: Well, I think it certainly -- you know, what motivated him to run, what motivated his supporters was kind of Obamacare, things like that that really fired up the base.
BURNETT: Yes.
PALMER: But I do think one of the things that is important to note is he doesn't have a ton of legislation that he's ready to roll out, that they've done a lot of signing of statements and things like that, and that's where they have focused a lot of their time.
BURNETT: Right, right.
OK. So, throughout the campaign and obviously into his presidency, as you know, Anna, the president promised to roll back Obama's legacy. It's been a big point of it. And he's been very, very specific about it. Here's an example.
PALMER: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Great long years here in America, the conservative movement has long to reverse the illegal and unconstitutional conduct of President Obama. On November 8th, we can wipe away the lawless legacy and create such an unbelievable American future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Anna, since the election, President Trump has mentioned President Obama in a tweet nearly 40 times. That's a lot considering that they haven't actually spoken since Trump took office. How unusual is this situation between the two of them in the historical context?
PALMER: I think what the piece showed before was there is certainly differences in policies between Republicans and Democrats, but there's a respect level that you don't see happening right now, particularly on Twitter, what he's kind of been doing, the jabs. I mean, they are frenemies at best right now.
In terms of how they're acting back and forth towards each other, it's not a lot of actual kind of political decorum or respect that you see between other former presidents, whether it's the Bushes and Clintons, where they kind of be able to work together in terms of some of the nonprofit and fundraising things to help kind of the world writ large.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Anna. Good to see you.
PALMER: Thanks.
BURNETT: And next, the human face of the battle over health care. Her name is Charlie. And her mother says Medicaid saved her life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was afraid she wasn't going to survive. It terrified me that that was it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And on a lighter note, President Trump loves time limits, especially the two-week deadline. Jeanne Moos is on it.
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[19:51:18] BURNETT: Breaking news: The Senate health care bill would slash nearly a trillion dollars in Medicaid spending according to the CBO. But how would that affect an individual person who relies on Medicaid?
Elizabeth Cohen is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDETAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Charlie Wood was born three months early. She weighed just one pound, 12 ounces.
REBECCA WOOD, MOTHER OF CHILD ON MEDICAID: I was afraid she wasn't going to survive. It terrified me that that was it. That she would pass away.
COHEN: But not only did Charlie survive, she thrived.
Now her mother, Rebecca, is terrified of something else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bill is passed and without objection, the motion --
COHEN: The Republican health care reform plans. Rebecca says one of the reasons Charlie has done so well is Medicaid. The government health care program helps pay for her care to the tune of about $12,000 a year.
(on camera): It's your birthday soon. How old are you going to be?
CHARLIE WOOD: Five.
COHEN (voice-over): Charlie relies on a feeding tube and sees seven different doctors for complications of her extreme prematurity.
Rebecca remembers the very moment she heard the news that the House passed its bill. It calls for $834 billion in cuts in Medicaid over ten years. Charlie was napping on her shoulder at the time.
R. WOOD: It's kind of a punch in the gut. Like wow. They're stealing her chance. And she's sleeping on me. They're stealing her chance.
COHEN (on camera): How angry are you that your representative voted for the American health care act?
R. WOOD: I'm furious. I feel betrayed. I feel like his job as a representative is to speak out in the best interests of his people, and I don't feel as if that was done.
COHEN (voice-over): Rebecca paid a visit to that congressman, Virginia Republican Tom Garrett. She confronted Garrett and an aide about the house bill, known by its acronym, AHCA.
AIDE: We're not going to sit here and say the AHCA is the best plan of all time.
REP. TOM GARRETT (R), VIRGINA: No. Generally, there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do differently.
AIDE: And we're going to have to do stuff outside of it long-term to make the system as good as --
R. WOOD: Well, then, why did you vote for a plan that you weren't happy with?
GARRETT: Well, when you get 80 percent of something, that's better than you got, you go with it.
R. WOOD: It's not good.
GARRETT: It is better.
COHEN: Garrett says cuts to Medicaid don't necessarily mean cuts in care.
GARRETT: The reality is that sometimes you can move money and still get good outcomes.
COHEN: Rebecca doesn't buy it. She fears for Charlie and the 5 million children on Medicaid with special health care needs.
R. WOOD: She started at one pound, 12 ounces. Nobody was really sure that she was going to live. Yet here she is in front of us, bright, joyful, determined. It breaks my heart that after all that, bad policy can just snatch it from her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Rebecca wants Garrett and all lawmakers to know that families like hers work hard. Her husband has a job with insurance. But even so, she says her family needs Medicaid because her medical bills are astronomical -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Elizabeth.
And next, Jeanne Moos, giving Donald Trump two weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:58] BURNETT: President Trump and fake deadlines. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Waiting for something coming out of the White House? Just give it two weeks. Be it something mythical about wiretaps --
TRUMP: To the forefront, over the next two weeks.
MOOS: A decision on the Paris climate accords.
TRUMP: Over the next two weeks.
MOOS: A plan for cutting taxes.
TRUMP: Two or three weeks, it will be phenomenal.
MOOS: Except it ended up being 11 weeks before a one-page outline of a tax plan came out.
The president sounds like a contractor in "The Money Pit".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long do you think that will all take?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long will it take to put this place together?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two weeks, two weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You sound like a parakeet there. Two weeks, two weeks.
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: It was "Bloomberg News" that first noticed the president parroting two weeks.
TRUMP: Sometimes of the next two weeks as to NAFTA.
MOOS: Want to know how well the U.S. is doing against ISIS?
TRUMP: We're going to be having a news conference in about two weeks.
MOOS: Three weeks later, still no ISIS press conference. So, what did the president do? He said it again. TRUMP: We're going to be having a news conference in two weeks in
that fight and you'll see numbers that you would not have believed.
MOOS: The number not to believe is two weeks. And to think Donald Trump once made a cameo in a movie called "Two Weeks Notice", in which Hugh Grant wore a tie so long, he looked like a Trump caricature.
TRUMP: I hear Kelson finally dumped you.
HUGH GRANT, ACTOR: Not exactly, no.
MOOS: The president may have trouble sticking to a calendar, but that doesn't prevent his face from being plastered on a few.
From the out of office countdown calendar showing how long the Trump administration has to go, to Donald Trump's greatest quotes calendar.
TRUMP: Part of the beauty of me is that I'm very rich.
MOOS: Very rich, but not very punctual.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
TRUMP: Over the next weeks.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Thank you so much for joining us.
"AC360" with Anderson starts right now.
