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Erin Burnett Outfront
Congresswomen On Trump's Racist Rant: "We Will Not Be Silenced"; Rep. Andre Carson Is Interviewed About The President's Racist Comments; Congresswomen Fire Back At Trump's Racist Attacks As The President Escalates Assault, Saying "They Hate Our Country"; Biden Doubles Down On Obamacare, Slams Medicare For All. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 15, 2019 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Look how adorable, look at how cute he is. Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next breaking news, the four congresswomen who were the target of Trump's racist rant firing back as the President digs in defending the indefensible. Plus, Biden's big gamble. The former vice president unveiling his health care plan, but is Obama 2.0 anything like Medicare for all? And the President moves to stop nearly every migrant from seeking asylum. So what's going to happen? Let's go out front.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, taking on Trump. The for Congresswomen who were the targets of Trump's racist rant moments ago stepped before the cameras to respond to the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): We are grateful for your solidarity, your encouragement and your support in the face of the most recent xenophobic, bigoted remarks from the occupant of our White House.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): The recent tweets and words from the President are simply a continuation of his racist and xenophobic playbook.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Weak minds and leaders challenge loyalty to our country in order to avoid challenging and debating the policy.
REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): This is the agenda of white nationalist and now it's reached the White House garden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: This after the President of the United States today not only defended but escalated his racist attacks against the four Congresswoman you just heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are people that hate our country. Hey, John, they hate our country. They hate it I think with a passion. These are people that in my opinion hate our country. And all I'm saying that if they're not happy here, they can leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Of course this country is their country too. They are in Congress not to agree with him but to represent their voters and to uphold the United States Constitution. Let's get to the core of this here, Trump says the four women are not from America. His original tweet reading in part, quote, so interesting to see "Progressive" Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.
Well, that is racist and, of course, it's also factually wrong. All four of those women, of course, are as American as Trump. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez born in the same city as Trump, New York. Rashida Tlaib, Detroit. Ayanna Pressley, Cincinnati. Congressman Ilhan Omar came to the United States as a child with her father 23 years ago and has been a U.S. citizen since she was a teenager.
At this point, you just got to say it like it is, it seems clear that Trump believes brown and black people are not legitimately American, at least not like white people. Remember these moments including this attacks on Obama?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He doesn't have a birth certificate or if he does there's something on that certificate that is very bad for him. Perhaps it would be that where it says religion, it might have Muslim.
When Mexico sends his people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.
You had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump is embracing the fact that white supremacist are embracing his latest racist slam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it concern you that many saw that tweet as racist and that white nationalist groups are finding common cause with you on that point?
TRUMP: It doesn't concern me because many people agree with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, those many people include the man who founded the alt- right movement, Richard Spencer, who tweeted Trump's comments helped him win back a sizable portion of the alt-right. And yet as Trump fans the flames of racism and bigotry, Republicans have been slow to condemn him.
It took 15 hours after Trump first sent that tweet for a single republican to condemn him and as of tonight, about a dozen Republican lawmakers have spoken out. Some responses, though, are sort of shocking, to be honest, they didn't play dumb, I guess.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You saw the President's tweets this weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, I was out of town.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Oh, I guess, they did. OK, or, at least, they didn't say that tweet saying that the brown and black women weren't from America was up for interpretation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: What did you think of the President saying that these Congresswoman should go back to the country?
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Well, I didn't take it that he said that.
RAJU: He said you should go home.
COMER: Well, that's the way you interpret the tweet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:05] BURNETT: No, it's not the way Manu interpreted the tweet, it's what I just read you the tweet said. Original came from countries whose governments are complete and total catastrophe. Look, it's a racist attack and yet still nothing from Republican leadership.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was just asked if the tweet was racist. He avoided the question, instead saying it's about the ideology of the Democratic Party. And the Office of the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying, quote, if he issues a statement on this we'll be sure to forward it. Well, await that, McConnell, of course, did call the President out for that tape, remember the one grab them by the you know what.
But in so many cases has turned a blind eye, refusing to condemn the president for referring to African nations as blank whole countries refusing to call Trump's racist attack on the American judge, Curiel, racist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a racist statement? SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I couldn't disagree more with what he
had to say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, do you think it's a racist statement to say?
MCCONNELL: I don't agree with what he had to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, at this point there should be no disagreement among Americans, wherever you stand on the political spectrum. Americans should know that it is unAmerican to fuel and endorse racism. Kaitlan Collins is out front live outside the White House. And Kaitlan, the President not just refusing to apologize, he's upping the ante. He keeps saying, "Well,, you can leave." He is not backing down.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not only is he not backing down, he's escalating these attacks saying that these four congresswoman hate America and that if they don't like living here, then they should lead the country. He's also widening his attacks to include the Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who recently said the President wants to make America white again. When he was asked about that statement today, he said it would be a racist statement if that's something that Pelosi has said even though just last week, he told reporters he did not think Nancy Pelosi was racist.
Now, Erin, the President came ready to defend his tweets over the weekend and his comments today with reporters because as he spoke at this event that was focused on something totally separately then these remarks, he had two pieces of paper in his hand that had essentially bullet points of what he argued there in front of reporters with his own classic sharpy that he likes to use with edits that he had made.
Now, this comes and the President is doubling down on these as even his own aides are struggling to defend the President's remarks with some of them on camera just outright refusing to acknowledge them saying that that's something you have to talk to the President about, with others pointing to a naturalization ceremony that the vice president recently attended, which the President did not because he was at his golf course, to his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The only cabinet member to weigh in on this so far, who said he did not think the President's tweets were racist.
But Erin, we should note that behind the scenes, very few White House officials are defending the President's comments.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I should hope so. All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan. And let's go now to Democratic Congressman Andre Carson, member of the Congressional Black Caucus. The second Muslim ever elected to Congress. Good to have you with me tonight. And I'm sorry to talk about something like this, but Congressman, I want to give you a chance to respond to the President tonight.
REP. ANDRE CARSON (D-IN): Well, I think his comments are consistent with what he's done. He obviously has a problem with strong women. That's evidence. He has a problem with diversity in this country and that's evidenced by his repeated comments against this country. Look, he's speaking to his base. These comments are tying right along the side of the announcement about the ICE raids and so I think it's strategic, but it's hurtful as well. And I think that he's showing who he really is.
BURNETT: So to that effect, I want to play an exchange the President had with a reporter about this earlier today. Here he is, Congressman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it concern you that many saw that tweet as racist and that white nationalist groups are finding common cause with you on that point?
TRUMP: It doesn't concern me because many people agree with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, of course, what he wrote was racist. Congressman, did he do that because he's a racist or did he do it because he's a racist and he thought it would help him politically?
CARSON: Listen, I don't know his heart, but I can tell you this. It's walking like a duck, is quacking like a duck. It looks like a duck to me and so the fact that white supremacists are reaffirming his statements that says two things; one, he's speaking to that particular segment, that very toxic segment of our society. And secondly, he's throwing a hail Mary hoping that he can reassure his base. The same base that bond into this mythology, this mythical place that never existed in our country.
And so his remarks coming from the highest office in the land, they're destructive, they're hurtful, and dare I say they're anti-American?
BURNETT: Why do you think Republican leadership is so far failed to condemn the President publicly?
[19:10:02] CARSON: Well, I have friendships with many Republicans and quietly and privately they're embarrassed. I can't speak to leadership strategy on this but I'm disappointed. If they're truly concerned about the preservation of our Republic, the preservation of our democracy, as it were, they should condemn the President's remarks so we can move forward on important legislation like building our infrastructure.
BURNETT: Do you think the former president at any point, is it time for him to speak out, President Obama?
CARSON: I think President Obama has been very bold, I think we can make a mistake in putting too much on President Obama. We have a responsibility as legislators, as political leaders, as activists, as concerned citizens to speak up and condemn the president, and to do even more to make sure he is not reelected in 2020.
BURNETT: So the Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only black GOP senator said in a statement, quote, instead of sharing how the Democratic Party's far-left, pro socialist policies, not to mention the hateful language some of their members have used toward law enforcement and Jews, are wrong for the future of our nation, the President interjected with unacceptable personal attacks and racially offensive language.
He's calling up the President but he's also calling out Democrats for saying some pretty hateful and awful things. Is everybody guilty here?
CARSON: Well, Tim is a friend of mine. I have great respect for Tim. Kudos to Tim for being bold and calling out the President. I think both sides have made provocative statements. I'm not exempt from that but I think in a very real sense, those provocative statements could never outweigh the very hurtful, the very toxic, and the very destructive statements that the President of the United States keeps making.
BURNETT: I want to ask you one more question, when Marc short was on this network today, the Vice President's chief of staff, he said did not think the President's tweet was racist and here's his back and forth with a reporter today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is it not recist to tell women of color to back to their countries when most of them were born here anyway and they're all U.S. citizens?
MARC SHORT, CHIEF OF STAFF TO VP PENCE: Listen, he has Asian woman of color in his cabinet who came to the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But what does that have to do with lashing out at four women of color?
SHORT: Because I'm making the case that this is not a universal statement that he's. He's making it about the very specific, pretty much the individual member of Congress that I think has said most things that she's most unhappy bad about the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So he's referencing Elaine Chao as proof that the President is not a racist against women. Your response?
CARSON: Well, I think madam Chao has served in previous administrations and she could speak for herself. The focus is on President Trump and his comments that are destructive, that are racist, that are hateful, that are xenophobic, in many ways Islamophobic. And I think that the focus should be on President Trump.
President Trump has shown repeatedly that he cannot be trusted. He's shown that he's calculating and appealing to his base but those calculations, those miscalculations were proved to have been ineffective in 2020. That's my hope. BURNETT: Congressman Carson, I appreciate your time. Thanks tonight.
CARSON: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next one Republican senator justifying Trump's racist attack, insisting you can't change a 73 year old man. Is that an excuse? Plus, Joe Biden pushing back against his Medicare for all happy rivals, is his Obamacare plus plan going to work though when it comes to the primary? And a historic case, putting one state against an iconic company, Johnson & Johnson. Are they about to pay 10s of billions for opioids?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:36] BURNETT: Breaking news, as Democratic Congresswoman respond to Trump's racist attacks, world leaders are slamming President Trump's tweets. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May saying that Trump telling the women to go back where they came from was quote completely unacceptable and here's Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: That is not how we do things in Canada. A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian and the diversity of our country is actually one of our greatest strengths.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Out front now, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Carl Bernstein and White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, April Ryan. So Carl, obviously you have covered politics for many years with many presidents, did you ever think you would see a President speak like President Trump just has?
CARL BERNSTEIN, PULITZER PRIZE WINNING JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: Not out loud? This is a watershed moment in the history of the country as it should be, because this was no dog whistle. This was the expression of a rabid dog expressed as racism. The rabid dog of American racism on ambiguous expressed by the President of the United States in a way that no other president has.
And it's time that the republican party, the party of Lincoln, does the Republican Party want to be defined as a racist party? That's really the big question here and it's a big question for the press as well, because the press has got to make this is a continuing story in which we go to all members of Congress who are Republicans and try to get them on the record about what they really think about this and let's really stay with this story.
BURNETT: So April, let me just ask you, because obviously, there's been a deafening silence. There are some who have spoken up and done so firmly and I want to make sure that everybody knows that, a dozen of them, but many others and we just gave some examples have not. President Trump, of course, April though knew when he tweeted that, that they were American citizens. He knows that full well. He knows AOC was born in New York same as he was, he did it anyway.
So he did it knowing it wasn't true. He did it deliberately. What is his strategy?
APRIL RYAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Erin, you know his strategy, how we all know his strategy. This is an election season and he wants to bring back that core group that believes these crazy things. And I'm going to go back to something that happened last year, that really riled people up.
[19:20:04] And I'm going to take my time with this, Erin. January 2018, I asked the President of the United States, "Mr. President, are you a racist?" In the Roosevelt Room. And I received a lot of hate, calls that I'm a race baiter from his supporters and conservative media went in on me. But the reason why I asked because the laundry list was long and people really did not jump about it.
The laundry list included Charlottesville, the exonerated five, which was once known as Central Park five, his housing practices as whole nations, the list goes on. And then let's talk about how he has attacked minority women. Let's start with Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Let's even bring in a royal Meghan Markle. Let's talk about minority female reporters, Yamiche Alcindor. Our own Abby Phillip and April Ryan, myself.
This is not a dog whistle issue. This is a blaring bullhorn issue and I'm going to go back to something my CNN colleague and former Florida gubernatorial candidate, Andrew Gillum said, "Mr. President, I'm not saying you're racist, but the racist think you're racist."
But if the President and his followers are concerned about the words racist and linking that to the President, he needs to check his tweets, he needs to check his words and at this moment, I'm going to say, "Mr. President, if you don't want us asking the questions or saying you're racist, stop acting like a racist."
BURNETT: Well, Carl, I think, April, you said it so well when you said, "Well, the racist think you're a racist." Clearly they do as we just showed up, Richard Spencer there. I'm curious though, Carl, from your perspective, Republican John Cornyn, one of the ones who commented today, obviously senior. He said, "Senator, I don't think you're going to change someone at this point in his life." So he's saying, I don't like it, but you're not going to change anybody. Are you worried that that's too much of the attitude in the Republican side?
BERNSTEIN: I think the attitude of the Republican side so far in this presidency has been craving in terms of challenging President Trump on the most outrageous of his statements and actions. His contempt for the law in many cases, his contempt for American traditions in terms of who we are as a people fighting racism, trying to move forward and bring the country together. He's never tried to do that.
Look, he is known to those who have been with him for a long time who know him the longest. He is known as a hater. You can read the biographies of them. You can go back to people who have gone to school with him, who have worked for him and hate is a piston of this presidency.
We need to focus our reporting in a very calm way, on biography and on this whole question of race in this election as expressed today in this moment by the President of the United States in a way that we've never heard before. And it needs to be the central issue put before the American people by the press in a dispassionate way, but simply facts, this is racist.
BURNETT: I am curious though whether this is, April, in your judgment driven in the president or perhaps you're going to say both, more by race or more by gender? We're talking about four black and brown women.
RYAN: I know. I know. Well, black women to him don't rank and he wants to send brown people back across the border. So race and gender are, for this president, conjoined twins. But I really hopeful, there's something, Erin, there's something new that's on the That's on the horizon next week that I'm hopeful about that maybe the President can come to grips and start talking about why he says this explain himself.
As a reporter, I want to hear where this is coming from and why he's doing this. The NAACP has their national convention next week and they have offered him a prime opportunity on the 24th of July to talk about black and brown America and I'm going to be the moderator of the presidential forum and I'm going to ask him about things and other things, because this is important as we are talking about the fabric of America, not just one part of America.
We're talking about women who made the quilt and we're talking about people, this is humanity. This is not politics and black women who actually support the nation.
BURNETT: Well, at the least it would be an opportunity to drown out Bob Mueller in part which no doubt he wants to do on that day.
RYAN: And that's on that day.
[19:24:57] BURNETT: Certainly, something like this ...
RYAN: That's right.
BURNETT: ... would get some notice. Thank you both so very much. And next, Joe Biden already having to defend his new health care plan that pits him against his more progressive rivals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FORMER UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I understand the appeal of Medicare for All. But folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of Obamacare and I'm not for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, Trump had tanks at his parade, but the French, ooh la la, just on upped him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:23] BURNETT: Fight for 2020, Joe Biden taking a huge risk taking a stand against Medicare for all, which is top 2020 rivals support. Instead he is betting on Obamacare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I believe we have to protect and build on Obamacare. I understand the appeal of Medicare for All. But folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of Obamacare, and I'm not for that and I'm surprised that so many Democrats are learning running on getting rid of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny is out front. So Jeff, Joe Biden says protect and build on Obamacare, which of course has taken a huge hit when President Trump took away the mandate and cost surged for anyone to sign up for those plans. How does Biden plan on doing this?
[19:30:06] JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORREPONDENT: Well, Erin, what he's doing here politically speaking is essentially throwing down the gauntlet against Bernie Sanders, against Elizabeth Warren, against Kamala Harris, saying Medicare-for-All simply isn't workable.
But here's what he's proposing. He's proposing an expansion of Obamacare. Let's take a look hat a couple key provisions here that he's calling for today.
He would launch a government-run public option. It would essentially extend tax credits to help Americans buy lower priced insurance. This was discussed early on when the bill was being debated back, you know, almost a decade ago.
It also would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and comes with an estimated price tag of $750 billion over a decade.
So, Erin, you will remember back when the House and Senate were debating this, in the early years of the Obama presidency, this was one of the ideas that many people in the House of Representatives, what the public option wanted to do. But it simply would not have passed muster in the Senate. Now, this is looking like, you know, a moderate program.
At the time, it looked like a liberal program. Erin, the question here is this. Would it bring the prices down enough for people?
What the former vice president is betting on, is banking on, is the fact that people do not want to get rid of their private health insurance.
So, Bernie Sanders, Senator Warren, Senator Harris are essentially putting themselves in a box. He's making a bet that the party is more in the middle of the road here. But he's also going against the liberal wing of the party. But, Erin, this is the most distinction that he has made yet with his top rivals.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And it's a distinction that can make a world of difference one way or the other.
OUTFRONT now, senior adviser to the Biden campaign, Symone Sanders. She also was the national press secretary for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 campaign.
So, Symone, you know this from every angle, OK?
As a general idea, Symone, a lot of people like the idea of Medicare- for-All, right? And that's in part because it sort of rings like it's free, Medicare-for-All, right? But it is not free. It has an estimated price tag of $3 trillion a year.
People who are on Medicare could pay huge amounts of money out of pocket for things like cancer drugs, which almost certainly mean payroll tax, income tax increases, right? It is not free but it sounds that way to a lot of people.
How can you explain that to Democratic-based voters that Medicare-for- All may sound good but doesn't really come out that way?
SYMONE SANDERS, BIDEN CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: So thanks for having me tonight. I think it's important to note that health care is really so important to the American experiment, so important to folks' lives. And that is why people have such a visceral reaction when we have a conversation about health care.
In the 2018 election, one can argue that the House of Representatives was decided on this point about health care. Republicans are trying to take away health care and Democrats were running on really shoring up and protecting Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. And so, today, Vice President Biden released his plan for his Biden health care plan.
And as Jeff said, Erin, we are really drawing a line in the sand here and that we believe health care is a right. We believe health care is a right for every American. We believe health care is so important and we believe folks have to be covered. We believe in universal coverage.
And the way that Vice President Biden is going to get there is through this public option, this expansion of Medicare and also make sure that folks who are currently eligible for Medicaid live in states where governors have failed to act, that those individuals can opt into their new plan into health care.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: I get it. I'm just trying to understand. Are you trying to explain to voters that Medicare-for-All is not free, right? It comes at immense cost. You're trying to come up with another option. SANDERS: Erin, it's not for me to explain -- let me just hold a
second. I don't have to -- it's not for me to explain anything about Medicare-for-All to the voters. If the Sanders campaign or other campaigns would like to propose a Medicare-for-All plan, want to be clear about what it is that they believe, and what they I think it's important that they do that.
Look, I --
BURNETT: OK, hold on. I get what you're saying. You want to talk about yours and not theirs. But the reason I'm pushing so hard on this is that it is popular. Look at Democratic' based voters, Symone, as I know you know better than anybody, our latest poll shows more Democratic voters trust Bernie Sanders on health care.
If you combine him with Warren, you are well north of 40 percent. That's the Medicare-for-All crowd. So how do you tell those voters Medicare-for-All doesn't add up? Our alternative is better and here's why?
SANDERS: So, Erin, again, I want to take you back to 2018. In 2018, I know Republican strategists would have liked for folks at home to believe that Democrats across the country were running on open borders and Medicare-for-All. But that's not what folks are running. We were running on putting a check on this president, on Donald Trump. Folks were running on protecting Obamacare, and then after we protected Obamacare, building on that success.
So, I think I -- what we are explaining to voters and saying as well in the campaign trail this week, the vice president is out there right now is that we have to protect Obamacare. Obamacare is under assault right now from this very administration.
[19:35:03] The Trump administration is in court arguing to take health care away from millions of Americans.
And while we are defending it, we also have to put plans together to build on the enormous success that is Obamacare. That is what the plan that Vice President Biden has put forth. There are folks that will argue otherwise. There are people that want to say, well, we want to go.
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: I ask those people to tell folks, how are you going to pay for it and explain to people what is going to happen to them.
So, it's not enough just to say we go forward. I ask to explain to people what is going to happen to them? It's not enough to say we believe in universal health care. We have to talk about what that specific plan for health care means. I encourage other campaigns to do the same.
BURNETT: So, let me just ask you because Medicare-for-All on this point, you used to and in your prior role working with Bernie Sanders, you know, you intellectually came to the conclusion that you could have Obamacare, add to it and get Medicare-for-All. And, obviously, now, you are saying that it's different, right, because Joe Biden is saying he can't, you can't have Medicare-for-All because Medicare would replace Obamacare.
Here you are back in 2016. And I want to play it, Symone, because I want to give you a chance to explain to everybody how you came to change your mind. Here you are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Thinking big is how we get change in this country. Thinking is how we got the Affordable Healthcare Act. And thinking big is how we're going to build on that with a Medicare-for-All single payer system.
When we talk about a Medicare-for-All single-payer system, we're not talking about doing away with Obamacare, with the Affordable Healthcare Act. We are talking about building on its enormous success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, now, Joe Biden says that it would, Medicare-for-All would get rid of Obamacare. What is it doing differently?
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: Erin, let me push back, (INAUDIBLE) just a second, because I unequivocally reject what is being set up here. What I just saw, to be clear, let me be really clear for a second. Yes, in 2016, I served as press secretary for Senator Sanders. I'm extremely proud of the work I did on that campaign and the work I have gone on to do since, and I left the campaign in June of 2016.
But let me tell you something, talking about universal health care has been a very popular point in the Democratic Party. It has been popular in places across the country. Frankly, it's popular with Republican voters and independents alike. But when you talk about health care, when you talk about coverage, we have to talk about specific plans.
In 2016, we were having these conversations. What Senator Sanders has put on the table is not an expansion of Obamacare. It is not. It does away with private insurance and what is currently on the table in his Medicare-for-All plan says that Obamacare isn't enough, that we have to go on and do something else. This is not an expansion.
And if the Sanders' campaign would like to say it is an expansion, I hope you welcome them to your program to have that conversation. But for anyone to suggest, for anyone to suggest that because I work for Vice President Biden, now I feel differently. That is not true. I welcome the conversation.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: I'm not suggesting you feel differently. Hold on, let me say why I played that.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Hold on, hold on. I didn't say it to do a gotcha. I said it because it is very different than what you're saying now. You are a thoughtful, smart person. You have changed your mind. I want to give you a chance to explain to people why.
SANDERS: Because, Erin, I believe in building on the enormous success of Obamacare. But the plan that is currently on the table being discussed by a number of folks when they talk about Medicare-for-All, particular, specifically Senator Sanders' plan, does not do that. And that is the difference.
So if the Sanders' campaign or anyone else would like to assert otherwise, I welcome the conversation. Our campaign obviously welcomes the debate because health care is so important to millions of people across America.
BURNETT: It is.
SANDERS: I just want to be very clear that there are values and things that anchor me. I know that there are a lot of people on social media that get into the minutia of what's going on at Democratic presidential primaries. But I am proud to be on a campaign that cares about millions of Americans, that's putting forth ideas, that is not about tearing down or attacking other Democrats, that understands that the goal here is to get Donald Trump out of the White House, is to put forth a plan that takes us further and doesn't take us back.
So, if other Democrats want to have conversations about other things, they can do what they want. We're focused on the issues, and we'll see you at the debate at the end of this month.
BURNETT: And to be clear, Symone, I think the fact that you have the history is why people should listen to you and your evolution and why you think what you think because it is important and the issue does matter to you and that's why you said then and now, I think should matter to a lot of people so they can understand it and make a smart and inform decision on which person to back. And I appreciate your time as always, thank you.
SANDERS: Thank you so much.
BURNETT: And next, in a dramatic move, the Trump administration making it a lot harder now for people to seek asylum in the United States. So, will it stop hundreds of thousands of migrants?
Plus, one of the world's largest drugmakers being sued for its alleged role in the opioid crisis. The case could cost Johnson & Johnson, the baby oil company, tens of billions of dollars. The man leading the charge is OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:43:35] BURNETT: Tonight, no asylum. Trump moving to block hundreds of thousands of people from seeking asylum along the U.S.- Mexico border. The new rule takes effect tomorrow.
It bans anyone from claiming asylum in the United States if they pass through another country to get here, which means only Mexicans can apply for asylum coming from Mexico. The thing is, very few. Almost none do. The people who do are from places like Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. And that apparently ends tomorrow.
Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In March, Itania Toledo dela Rosa (ph) and her husband left Cuba with their son to seek asylum in the United States. They flew to Nicaragua on a visa and then travelled through Central America and Mexico to reach this shelter in Juarez, Mexico.
(on camera): So, when they arrived here in Juarez in mid-May, she -- the family had no idea there would be so many people here seeking asylum and that there would be so many obstacles to get across into the United States. She said she is trying to reunite with her son who lives in Florida.
(voice-over): Their fourth-month long journey has them at America's door step. They can see downtown El Paso from inside the shelter where they've been leaving since May. But taking the last few steps just became even tougher.
The Trump administration has put a new rule in place that bars migrants traveling through Mexico from claiming asylum at the U.S. southern border.
[19:45:04] Immigration officials say it will dramatically limit the ability of Central Americans, Cubans and migrants from places other than Mexico to seek asylum at ports of entry.
Right now, more than a dozen shelters in Juarez alone are filled with migrants waiting to seek asylum.
KEN CUCCINELLI, ACTING DIRECTOR, CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES: The president of the United States should be doing what he is in the immigration space and that is on focusing on trying to fix an obviously broken system when we look at the border, when he's getting almost no help from Congress.
LAVANDERA: As they sit and wait in Mexico, Daniel Segas says his family is running out of options.
(on camera): They have no choice. They can't go back to Cuba.
He says where they come from, Cuba, they are scared of the government. Here in Juarez, they are scared of everything that's around them, everything that's beyond this wall. (voice-over): Immigrant's rights advocates say U.S. asylum laws are
one of the vital cornerstones of American immigration policy. While President Trump has called asylum laws absolutely insane.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF TEH UNITED STATES: Some of these people are holding their country flags and waving their country's flags and then they talk about the fear they have of being in the country that the flag they were waving freely.
LAVANDERA: In reality, migrants waving their homeland's flag are an extremely a rare sight on the southern border.
There is a sign in Juarez, Mexico, that every migrant watches closely. When they arrive at the border, migrants register for their number in line to cross into the United States. More than 11,000 people have had their number called and each day, a few more are added to this tally.
But nearly 18,000 people according to Juarez officials are waiting. That's almost 6,000 people left in limbo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: So, Erin, the real life implications of all of this will remain to be seen. We'll see how migrants are waiting in limbo there along the U.S. southern border will react to this. But legal challenge is coming. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, says they will mount a legal challenge to this new rule -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Ed.
And next, an historic case against once of the biggest drugmakers in the United States. Oklahoma suing Johnson & Johnson over opioids, and this case could be one of the biggest the country has seen.
Plus, Jeanne Moos on how the French one-upped President Trump with a flying, gun-toting man.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:14] BURNETT: New tonight, paying for allegedly pimping opioid. A judge is, tonight, weighing whether Johnson & Johnson, the company behind baby oil and no tears shampoo, should pay more than $17 billions for playing a key part in the opioid epidemic. This could be the single biggest case in the opioid crisis and set the stage for how this entire country has to blame in this country, whether it's on big drug companies.
OUTFRONT now, the man who is leading the charge, Republican Attorney General Michael Hunter of Oklahoma.
And, Attorney General, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
Obviously, we've been watching this case as you have gone through this in recent weeks, and I am so happy to finally have you on the program.
How confident are you that you are going to win?
MIKE HUNTER (R), OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Very confident, of course, it's with a judge now but we feel really good about the case that we have presented to him. We've demonstrated that the defendant, Johnson & Johnson, has been the prime provider of the raw ingredient for opioids for the rest of the opioid manufacturing industry almost 60 percent for the last couple decades. We've demonstrated their misrepresentation of the addictive qualities of the products and we, you know, we did the job we felt like we needed to do to provide the judge the evidence and the testimony he needed to make a good decision.
BURNETT: Now, you know, you're mentioning here that you think you have proof that Johnson & Johnson knew that what they were doing was addictive. They knew people were dying and yet they played down those risks aggressively.
What do you think was the slam dunk to prove that, that they knew and that they purposely buried it under the rug?
HUNTER: Well, the idea that you can just be completely deaf, dumb and blind with regard to the fact that you've increased supply into this country by a factor of nine or ten, and deaths are going up by a factor of ten to 15, and you're not going to do anything about it. You're not going to take any kind of cognizance -- as an important, as a responsible corporate citizen, they knew what was going on. They couldn't just afford to quit doing it.
BURNETT: You said nine to ten times, ten to 15 times people dying. I mean, they say tonight that you're just making them a, quote, scapegoat. What do you say to them?
HUNTER: Well, there's another term I've used and we've used them in the trial, and that's kingpin. When you devise a multi-decade plan to move into the pain franchise, to provide the raw product for the rest of the industry, and you not only sell opioids, again, you provide the raw material for the rest of the industry, you help your partners in the industry promote in an unbranded way opioids, you tell doctors that, hey, don't really worry about addiction. This stuff is something you need to provide your patients whenever they have the least amount of pain.
So, we have proved our case, I believe. But it's up to the judge, and I have to say this judge has done a remarkable job of being fair and evenhanded in administering this trial.
BURNETT: The testimony in this case is emotional. One person who testified was Craig Box, his son Austin, former linebacker for the Oklahoma Sooners died of an overdose. He was 22 years old. Here is his father, Craig.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG BOX, FATHER OF AUSTIN BOX, WHO DIED OF AN OVERDOSE AT 22: He graduated, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma the Saturday before he died on a Thursday. We heard from so many parents across the -- that have lost children under similar circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How do you think people at companies like Johnson & Johnson or Purdue Pharmaceuticals and the Sackler family, how do they know about things like that and look the other way?
HUNTER: I don't know. It's a function more than anything else of profit over patience. I mean, I told the judge today, I think there is a one-word answer and that's greed. They were making hundreds of millions of dollars and they could not afford to quick making hundreds of millions of dollars.
As far as I'm concerned, Johnson & Johnson was in this up to their neck. Again, we're confident they have got responsibility here and we're going to hold them accountable and again, we feel really good about our case and the judge will do the right thing.
BURNETT: Attorney General Hunter, thank you for your time.
HUNTER: Thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: And next, Jeanne Moos on a flying Frenchman who President Trump may want in Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:45] BURNETT: Tonight, Trump's Fourth of July was inspired by France's Bastille Day. Trump wanted to top Bastille Day. It's really hard to do.
Did France just outdo him?
Here's Jeanne moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, up in the sky, it's a bird.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a plane.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the flyboard guy who stole the show at the parade in Paris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Faster than a speeding bullet.
MOOS: Actually, the Flyboard Air's top speed is around 118 miles an hour, that's the inventor and entrepreneur Franky Zapata operating the flyboard.
FRANKY ZAPATA, INVENTOR: We have one remote control.
MOOS: French President Emmanuel Macron watched approvingly as fans compared it to everything from Marty McFly's back to the future hoover board to that flying villain, the Green Goblin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, my dear.
MOOS (on camera): But making the Green Goblin a reality is enough to make a certain someone green with envy.
President Trump loves toys. At Monday's Made in America event, he boarded a boat and got behind the wheel of a FAD missile defense vehicle.
Remember what happened last time he watched a French parade? He liked it so much he said, I'll have what they are having, and on the Fourth of July, we hit a bevy of fly-bys.
But now, the French have one-upped everyone. Maybe by next Fourth of July, we'll see the commander in chief commanding his own fly board.
Franky Zapata's next stunt will be to fly across the English Channel since the turbine powered engines allow for at least ten minutes flying time. That will require mid flight refueling. Flyboard development got a grant from the French military though some were skeptical of the usefulness and survivability.
The parade featured horses to robots and even anti-drone guns which could probably the take the fly out of a flyboard, as well. By the way, that rifle was reported to be unloaded or fake and even the French haven't figured out how to kiss through a helmet.
Jeanne Moos, CNN.
TRUMP: Would be like a rocket ship.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And thank you so much for joining us. Have a good night. See you tomorrow.
Anderson starts now.
