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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Signs Order On Border Wall; White House Drafting Refugee Restrictions; Trump To Soon Order Voter Fraud Probe; Trump On Torture: "Fight Fire With Fire"; Remembering Mary Tyler Moore. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 26, 2017 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- signs an order on the border wall that he says Mexico will pay for. Mexico says no way.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And remembering Mary Tyler Moore. The actress has died at the age of 80. We look back at her most memorable moments. I've got to say, it's so sad that she's gone but it's put a little smile on my face, all these clips we've been watching, you know. She really was -- she changed how women are portrayed on television -- amazing.
BERMAN: You know, a real contribution --
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: -- beyond just the T.V. screen.
ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START this morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. About 30 minutes after the hour right now.
So what will the president sign today and who is going to pay for it? Those questions all seem very much up in the air all of a sudden this morning. And a day after signing an executive order on the border wall we had been told the president would come with more immigration orders that could include a temporary ban on all refugees. Instead, we're now told he'll take more action on trade today.
As for that border wall, all during the campaign he said Mexico would pay for it, but his new executive action has nothing to advance that and new comments from Mexico do nothing to accept that. In fact, the Mexicans are saying forget about it. Still, the president was defiant in his first White House interview since taking office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will be in a form reimbursed by Mexico, which I've always said.
DAVID MUIR, ANCHOR, ABC WORLD NEWS: So they'll pay us back?
TRUMP: Yes, absolutely, 100 percent.
MUIR: So the American taxpayer will pay for the wall at first?
TRUMP: All it is, is we'll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from Mexico. I campaigned on the wall and it's very important, but that wall will cost us nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Mexico's largest source of income is threatened by President Trump. The country's biggest source of cash comes from Mexicans living and earning money in the U.S., then sending the money back to Mexico. How much we talking about here? Almost $25 billion flowed into Mexico last year from overseas, almost all of it from here in the U.S. The average remittance is about $300 so we're talking about relatively small amounts coming in.
And in 2015, remittances surpassed the amount Mexico made from oil exports for the first time ever. Think about that. It's biggest economic resource are the workers who leave the country and send money back to the United States.
Now, Trump said during the campaign that he was looking to stop or tax those payments so this is now a major bargaining chip. He seeks to fulfill his campaign promise of making Mexico pay for that border wall. Experts say even if the White House tries to stop that money and then use it somehow to pay for the wall, workers here would find informal ways to send the money home. They maybe wouldn't do an official remittance, they would give it with relatives traveling. There would be this huge cash business, maybe even sending it through the mail.
Mexico's president is scheduled to meet with Trump next week. He has reiterated his country will not pay for the wall that the American government is demanding. Mexican officials visited the White House yesterday.
BERMAN: It's complicated how to pay for it. It's also complicated how to build it, right? I mean --
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: -- in Texas, where a big part of that wall would allegedly be, you know, a lot of the land is privately owned. There's a big river, the Rio Grande, there. You can't build a wall in the river so where do you build it, with what materials?
ROMANS: And I'm telling you that securing that border has been just a minefield for unintended consequences. About a decade ago there was a big program to secure the border before there could be comprehensive immigration reform, right, so they put sensors and cameras and all of these things there so they could see and target what was happening and tell the border patrol where to go. But the -- but the -- but the rabbits set off the sensors and the birds destroyed the cameras and it was just -- it was -- it was more difficult than they thought, and a boondoggle. They spent a lot of money on it and it didn't work.
BERMAN: So not impossible. It's not impossible, it's just complicated. I mean, it would be very, very expensive. Now, as for the executive actions on refugees officials say they will not be signed today, maybe on Friday. A draft executive order obtained by CNN suggests the president is considering a blanket ban on refugees for up to four months. The plan would also bar, for up to 30 days, all travelers from seven countries. Those countries include Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, among others.
ROMANS: The draft also calls for barring admission for all Syrian refugees indefinitely until the president determines the vetting and screening process has been sufficiently overhauled. The president explained the rationale for the tough new restrictions last night to ABC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You're looking at people that come in, in many cases -- in some cases with evil intentions. I don't want that. They're ISIS, they're coming under false pretense. I don't want that. I'm going to be the president of a safe country. We have enough problems. We're not letting people in if we think there's even a little chance of some problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Also, as early as today, the president could sign an executive action ordering the Justice Department to launch an investigation into voter fraud -- what he calls voter fraud. The president has repeatedly pushed the false claim that three to five million illegal votes were cast in the election, which is why he says he lost the popular vote. There is simply no evidence of this. In fact, his own White House counsel -- his lawyer in the White House says there's no evidence of this. But, nevertheless, facts aside, overnight the president said an investigation might help prove his claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If you look at voter registration, you look at the dead people that are registered to vote, who vote, you look at people that are registered in two states. You look at all of these different things that are happening with registration. You take a look at those registrations you're going to find -- and we're going to do an investigation on it.
[05:35:13] MUIR: But three to five million illegal votes?
TRUMP: Well, we're going to find out, but it could very well be that much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: And he says not one of those three to five million votes that he thinks were cast illegally -- not one of them were for him. He, in that interview with David Muir, seemed obsessed with the notion that he only lost the popular vote because of some kind of voter shenanigans. A senior administration official tells CNN the president wants to discuss what he calls the voter fraud issue with Republican lawmakers before launching a probe.
ROMANS: New reaction to the president's comments about torture. The president says he wants to "fight fire with fire" to counter terrorism. He said that includes being open to using banned techniques, including waterboarding. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are outraged at the notion of bringing back the enhanced interrogation techniques, including Sen. John McCain. He's a former prisoner of war. He endured years of torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese.
Several media outlets have obtained a proposed executive order apparently drafted by the Trump administration. It calls for a policy review that could authorize the CIA to reopen black site prisons overseas and restart interrogation programs that were dismantled when President Obama took office.
So, a lot of headlines to react to. A very busy day in the Oval Office. Let's bring back Eugene Scott to break all of these headlines down for us. And, Eugene, I guess let's start here on the -- on the voter fraud issue. There will be a major probe, we're told, although now, you know, wondering when that would begin or where it would begin. There isn't, you know, an attorney general in place just yet. You got to get the -- you've got to get somebody to run the Justice Department first.
Tell me why -- what we think this storyline will be on this here today with the president still seemingly convinced or trying to convince the rest of the world that he could have won the popular vote.
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I think the main storyline will be continued criticism from lawmakers on both the right and the left towards Donald Trump making claims that have not been substantiated. Of all of the investigations to support and back, there's been some concern and question about why it's this one the one that has gotten Donald Trump's attention most, especially when there's been no proof, creating more distrust in the voter system -- in the election -- especially in light of ongoing investigations regarding Russia's involvement in the 2016 election.
It just seems to be a misdirected focus for Donald Trump. It's what we see Republican lawmakers and Democratic lawmakers say, especially with such little proof to back that up.
BERMAN: And just to be clear, among the things that he considers being fraud, being registered in two states, that's not fraud. It's fraud if you vote in two states. You're registered in two states if you move -- a lot of people are. Among people who were registered in two states, Steve Bannon, you know, his chief strategist.
SCOTT: Right.
BERMAN: Steve Mnuchin, his nominee to be Treasury secretary. There are reports that his daughter, Tiffany Trump, was registered in two states. So, you know, what he's calling fraud just isn't fraud and, again, there's just simply no evidence that three to five million people voted illegally in this election. Now, that interview with David Muir also fascinating. We heard the president talk about torture and talk about the idea that he personally would not oppose waterboarding. This is going to be controversial. It already is controversial with members of his own party, including John McCain who pushed back very hard on this notion. How far do you think the president will be willing to fight on this?
SCOTT: Well, it remains to be seen. I can't imagine that he'll fight that much harder because not only are members of his own party pushing back, there are members of his cabinet who are more familiar with the going-on's (sic) in war that find the issue problematic. Here in the United Kingdom, some labor leaders have been encouraging Theresa May in her meeting with him to push back on torture and the national security attempts he's hoping to make that the international community has said actually don't keep the world more secure.
ROMANS: Let's talk a little bit about this Muslim ban because we -- this ban on travelers coming to the United States and this refugee -- this refugee ban or at least ending these refugee programs. This is exactly what he promised on the campaign trail. I mean, this really is exactly what he promised. I want -- I want to listen to a little bit of him saying this is not a Muslim ban, but this is a lift that will make you all very happy -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: No, it's not the Muslim ban but its countries that have tremendous terror and its countries that people are going to come in and cause us tremendous problems. Our country has enough problems without allowing people to come in who, in many cases or in some cases, are looking to do tremendous destruction.
MUIR: When you look at what's happened --
TRUMP: I have a whole list. You'll be very thrilled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So what do you make of that? He is really coming through with his campaign promises, at least on the immigration side -- we think on the immigration side of all of this.
[05:40:00] SCOTT: Well, the optics of it are great. I mean, he's certainly hit the floor running -- hit the ground running in terms of signing these executive orders, fulfilling promises he made to his supporters. The reality is that just signing an executive order does not mean something comes to pass. We saw that with President Barack Obama and Guantanamo Bay. These are decisions that other agencies and other lawmakers have to back before Donald Trump can make them a reality.
And I think that will be increasingly difficult as he gets more pushback, especially from some people in his base. Donald Trump won more than 80 percent of the white evangelical vote, which is a community that has been very vocal in terms of their concern about finding safe places for refugees. So whether or not he's going to be able to keep that support for -- from them on this issue, it's probably not likely.
BERMAN: You know, we should also note that the list of countries, at least that we know about right now, there's some inconsistencies there. It doesn't include Saudi Arabia --
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: -- it doesn't include Egypt, it doesn't include Afghanistan, it doesn't include Pakistan, it doesn't include France, it doesn't include Belgium which is where we've seen so much of the terrorist activity around the world stemming from over the last few years.
Eugene Scott, thank you so much.
SCOTT: Thank you.
BERMAN: All right, 20 minutes until the hour right now. So many people around the world mourning the loss of a legendary actress, Mary Tyler Moore. We're going to have much more on her life and legacy coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:30] ROMANS: Former President George H.W. Bush could be home this weekend. Doctors say the 41st president is recovering from pneumonia but still has a lingering cough and needs to build back his strength. If he continues to improve he could be released in the next couple of days. The 92-year-old has been hospitalized for 12 days now and required a surgical procedure to clear his airway.
BERMAN: All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Mr. Chris Cuomo joins us right now.
ROMANS: Hi, Chris.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": I'm sitting down just for you two. You see big Phil there fixing my coat for you, fixing the rug --
ROMANS: Hi, Phil.
CUOMO: -- just for you. All right. So, John and Christine, what we're going to talk about this morning is the truth. We are at a time of a national reset. We have to start from a position of knowing what is true and what isn't.
The border wall, great idea during the campaign. The executive order signed by the president, so we're on our way to building the wall. No, we're not. Why, because the truth is the executive order is not enough. Well, at least it will fix the problems that we have with illegal immigration in this country, right? No, it won't. Why? We're going to take you through the numbers. We're going to test the people who say it is the answer and we'll look at it.
Voter fraud is now a signature issue for the president despite an absence of proof with each of the allegations he's mentioned. We'll take you through it. We're going to do a reset. I know that word has been a little tainted --
ROMANS: Yes.
CUOMO: -- in our political dialogue. But we're going to look at what is true and what is not. We have New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joining us this morning with his own take, on "NEW DAY."
BERMAN: We are glad you were sitting down for that, Chris. Thank you very, very much.
CUOMO: Well, we need to sit down and sometimes we don't.
ROMANS: Thanks, Chris. Nice to see you. We'll talk to you in a minute. The Dow finally hits 20,000, an exclamation point on the Trump stock market rally. And guess what, he has his own opinions. Yes, the President of the United States weighing in on Dow 20K. He even has a forecast of where he wants it to go next. We're going to check on CNN Money Stream next.
In Canada's cold wilderness sled dogs are giving tourists the rides of their lives, part of a growing attraction for visitors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HECTOR BAROON (ph): This is absolutely stunning scenery. Hi, I'm Hector Baroon from Winterdance Dogsled Tours. Welcome to Haliburton, Ontario. We're two and one-half to three hours away from Toronto. Part of our clean heritage is running dogs. We do two-hour trips, half-day trips, full-day trips and moonlit trips. Our trails run through the valleys of some very rugged land. Our dogs are part of our family. We've got to keep the dogs happy. What we do as a trip is two people per sled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sunshine's cold but we're set.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was awesome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you get to know their personalities along the way and we had one that was really rambunctious.
BAROON: The enthusiasm of the dogs -- these guys live to run and it runs off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dogs are really, really nice. They keep asking for more. Like, it's an amazing experience.
BAROON: You can just actually give up everything else but you live the moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:53:18] ROMANS: The legendary actress Mary Tyler Moore has died. Friends and co-stars offering tributes to a woman whose most memorable role changed how women are depicted on television. CNN's Jeanne Moos has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
("MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW" theme song playing)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mary Tyler Moore's smile has been turned off at the age of 80, but not before she made it. Her famous hat throw even immortalized in a statue.
MARY TYLER MOORE, ACTRESS: Here it goes.
MOOS: her first acting break was as an elf --
MOORE: I'm "Happy Hotpoint."
MOOS: -- pushing appliances, but her career really got hot in 1961 with her first starring role.
DICK VAN DYKE, ACTOR: I want to show you off. How about it, Laura, will you give me that pleasure?
MOORE: No.
MOOS: In her own show she played a single woman in a T.V. newsroom.
ED ASNER, ACTOR: You've got spunk.
MOORE: Well --
ASNER: I hate spunk.
MOOS: The show had enough spunk to last seven seasons. Mary also went after serious roles.
CHARLIE ROSE, TV TALK SHOW HOST: Do you chase these roles?
MOORE: Yes.
MOOS: She was nominated for an Academy Award for "Ordinary People." In her not so ordinary life she was married three times, lived through diabetes and a benign brain tumor, lost her only son when he accidentally shot himself. She was a vegetarian and, for years, an alcoholic --
MOORE: I just made up my mind to stop.
MOOS: -- and checked into the Betty Ford clinic. Watch her expression when Larry King described her as --
[05:55:03] LARRY KING, FORMER TV AND RADIO HOST: Television's comedy goddess.
MOOS: She said this quote from Dorothy Parker was her motto.
MOORE: What other people think of me is none of my business.
MOOS: If you now think of her with sadness, recall Mary cracking up at the funeral Chuckles the Clown.
(CLIP PLAYING FROM "MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")
Remember how that ended?
(CLIP PLAYING FROM "MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")
Mary Tyler Moore fans may need some tissues or at least a group hug.
(CLIP PLAYING FROM "MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All that time. Just a real moment in time, all of that time we were together.
BERMAN: Yes, a special moment. And, of course, Mary Tyler Moore, she spanned generations. She went from the sixties to doing great movies as far as the nineties, too, so she will be missed.
Among the most notable tributes, her longtime co-star Ed Asner. He wrote, "A great lady I loved and owe so much to has left us. I will miss her. I will never be able to repay her for the blessings that she gave me." And Dick Van Dyke, of course, her co-star on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" wrote, "There are no words. She was the best. We always said that we changed each other's lives for the better." They changed all of our lives for the better.
(Video playing) Dick Van Dyke shared this video of the two of them on stage singing and dance -- just watch.
ROMANS: An amazing talent. All right, 56 minutes past the hour. Let's switch gears here and get a check on CNN Money Stream. The Dow finally did it, passing the 20,000 mark right at the opening bell. It closed 68 points above there. The Dow, the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 all record highs. Futures higher again right now. Global stock markets are higher.
The stock market, of course, measures corporate profits. That's what this is telling us. This -- these markets are telling us they think that Donald Trump -- President Donald Trump will be very good for their bottom lines, for their fattened profits. The optimism surrounding President Trump's policies of less regulation and lower taxes is a bet the companies will make more money, so this is great for corporate America. What will the Trump economy do for jobs, housing, and your pocketbooks? That's what we don't know yet.
So what does the president think about Dow 20,000?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's the first time in history. I'm very proud of that. Now, we have to go up, up, up. We don't want to just stay there.
MUIR: That's the challenge, Mr. President.
TRUMP: That's going to be the challenge but it's gone up a lot since I won. Don't forget, when I won people thought oh, maybe it will go down, but the business world doesn't think that. The business world knows me. They don't think that. And it was a steady climb and now we just hit a record and a number that's never been hit before, so I was very honored by that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I mean, remarkable to see a president in the Oval Office talking about the level of stocks. It's just not something you see usually. Many analysists predicted a drop between eight and 15 percent if Trump won. Instead, the Dow is up nearly 10 percent since Election Day, and the president pointing that out. Everyone said it would be so bad for the economy if he were -- if he were elected, and instead, the opposite. There's an old joke. They say that God created economists to make weather forecasters look good.
BERMAN: Of course, the problem he'll have is if the market goes down in any way.
ROMANS: That's true. Well, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The United States of America gets back its borders.
VICENTE FOX, FORMER PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: Mexico will never pay for that f****** wall.
TRUMP: We are going to get the bad ones out.
ROMANS: Is Tuesday's meeting with Mexico's president in jeopardy?
TRUMP: You have people that are registered who are illegals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's not make it harder for people to vote.
SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: I felt sorry for him. I even prayed for him but then I prayed for the United States of America.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I'm alarmed by anybody that wants to go back to torture.
TRUMP: As far as I'm concerned, we have to fight fire with fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She certainly was the epitome of star quality.
BERMAN: Remembering the iconic Mary Tyler Moore.
("THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW" theme song playing). (END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: All right. We lost a great one. We'll be talking about that this morning, but we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, January 26th, 6:00 here in the East.
Up first, President Trump's plan to build a wall along the Mexican border is shaking up a longstanding tie between Mexico and the United States and it's probably not going to be an easy job, certainly not as easy as signing an order. In his first major interview as president, Mr. Trump vowed to begin construction of the wall within months and insists, without details, that Mexico will pay for it.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Mexico's president slamming Mr. Trump's plan, saying they will not pay for a wall. Their planned face-to-face meeting next week at the White House could be in jeopardy.
