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New Day
Michigan Gov.: Flint Water Crisis A "Disaster"; Comparing Donald Trump and Donald Reagan. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 19, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:32:42] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Michigan's governor under fire for his handling of the contaminated water crisis in Flint, acknowledging the situation is a disaster and admitting that it is fair to call it his Katrina. He is expected to propose a fix in the State of the State address tonight.
CNN's Jean Casarez is live in Flint with the latest.
And, Jean, the question is, will it be enough?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.
We're right on the banks here in Flint, Michigan, of the Flint River, which is really the heart and soul of the issue. And here in this city we expect two more civil suits, class-action suits to be filed later today alleging that state officials knew fully well that the water that was going into the homes of everyone here to drink and eat and wash and bathe with was filled with lead and copper.
Now, meanwhile, yesterday, there were protesters in Michigan and today as the day progresses it is believed the protesters will go to the state capitol building on the steps to protest the State of the State address this evening by the governor.
We do have a quote that he gave to "The National Journal" in an interview that was very interesting. And he -- we want to show everybody that he does say, "Critics have called this your Katrina," this is the question to him. "Do you think that is unfair?"
And Governor Rick Snyder says, "No, it is a disaster. That is something that once you lose it, trust, it is much harder to earn it back. So that's the point we are at."
Now, the governor is also saying that once he realized what was happening, he took action. In the one civil suit that's already been filed, we do see they point fingers at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, not saying the governor knew what was happening but he is the manager of the state.
And, Alisyn, the National Guard has been called in, the governor has declared this a state of emergency. And the National Guard has been passing out bottles of water, water test kits and water filters -- Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Just look at that water that looks so rusty, Jean. Thank you so much for that report.
Well, he is one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters. Now in his new book CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord explains why he thinks Donald Trump is the next Ronald Reagan. What's his response to Trump's skeptics? Jeffrey Lord is next. >
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[06:38:11] As Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz continue to battle it out for the top spot in Iowa, Cruz flatly rejecting any comparisons between Trump and President Ronald Reagan.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ronald Reagan was a voice of consistency. And I'm pretty sure that Ronald Reagan didn't write checks and support Democratic politicians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Well, former Reagan White House political director and CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord disagrees with Cruz. In his new book, "What America Needs: The Case for Trump", Lord lays out the similarities he sees between Trump and his former boss, Ronald Reagan, and he explains why he supports Trump.
Jeffrey Lord, great to see you. Great to have you here in studio with us.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you? Nice to be here.
CAMEROTA: You heard Ted Cruz. Donald Trump is no Ronald Reagan. Why do you liken the two?
LORD: They're not very much -- they're not the same. I mean, let's be candid. No two souls are the same. So, they're very different in style and this kind of thing.
But they draw some of the enemies. They're anti-conventional. They're anti-establishment, for sure. Ronald Reagan was decidedly not a member of the Republican establishment. His latest march of 1980, former President Ford was saying he could never win an election and we're just headed for disaster here if we nominate him. And there was a lot of antipathy towards him in the day.
One of the things I found interesting about Senator Cruz, I really do like Senator Cruz a great deal, within he talks about Ronald Reagan not supporting Democrats, I have a column in "The American Spectator" this morning. I found out that in 1948, there was an audiotape on YouTube of Ronald Reagan giving a broadcast endorsing Harry Truman and Hubert Humphrey for the U.S. Senate. He sounds like Barack Obama.
CAMEROTA: Oh my God.
LORD: And Bernie Sanders.
It's an incredible thing to hear.
CAMEROTA: You are great at digging up archival things, I will say.
[06:40:03] But beyond the fact that they're both outsiders, Ted Cruz goes further. I mean, he basically says that Ronald Reagan would not support the policies that Donald Trump has supported. Listen to Ted Cruz here.
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CRUZ: Ronald Reagan spent decades as a principled conservative, spent decades traveling the country, sharing his conservative free market views, defending the Constitution. Ronald Reagan did not spend the first 60 years of his life supporting Democratic politicians, advocating for big government politics, supporting things like the TARP big bank bailout, supporting things like expanding Obamacare to turn it into socialized medicine. That's not what Ronald Reagan did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: I mean, there you go. Those are things that are definite distinctions with Donald Trump. So, how do you explain he wanted to expand Obamacare or do what he just says, universal health care.
LORD: Right, right, they're not the same person. Again, when Reagan was on that broadcast, he was supporting the principles of Harry Truman and Harry Truman famously was the first president to come out for singer payer health care.
CAMEROTA: Yes. But do you think Donald Trump's policies would get him into trouble?
LORD: I think Donald Trump has more or less seen a light on some of these things. He isn't Ronald Reagan. He's Donald Trump. He's a different person.
But I think in terms of today's issues, defending America, being a champion for the country and heavens knows, opening up the musty doors of the Republican closet, kicking in the door and bringing in fresh folks and new folks, I think that's good.
CAMEROTA: One of the biggest differences, people and critics of Trump say between he and Ronald Reagan, is that Trump engages in personal attacks. That can be downright rude.
LORD: Right.
CAMEROTA: Let me play some of his greatest hits or repeat them to you. Carly Fiorina, he said, "Look at that face, who wants to look at that?" He mocked a disabled reporter. He said Cruz is, quote, "nasty guy". He said that Jeb Bush is weak and embarrassment to the Bush family.
These are not things Ronald Reagan would have said.
LORD: No, they're not, but I will say this. In Ronald Reagan's day, we didn't have what I think many people see as an epidemic of political correctness here. You know, this went from an amusing notion to a bit of an irritation to now, I think people find this in their everyday life, they're not supposed to say merry Christmas, all this kind of thing.
And then you look at things like Major Hassan down there in Ft. Hood, where the army knew, according to a number of reports, there was a problem with this guy and they didn't want to do it because they wanted to be politically correct and not go after him. People get killed because of this. This is no longer a laughing matter. I think Donald Trump in essence responds to this by saying, hey, I'm not politically correct.
CAMEROTA: But some people think that his lack of political correctness goes -- veers into rudeness and goes beyond not being politically correct, including Ronald Reagan's son, Michael Reagan. Listen to what he says about the comparisons about his dad and Donald Trump. Listen to this.
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MICHAEL REAGAN, RONALD REAGAN'S SON: Ronald Reagan didn't attack the people around him. He didn't demean the people around him. You know, he brought everybody together.
Would my father be appalled? I'm appalled on behalf of my father and the Reagan family. I think to see someone like this who just personally attacks people time and time and time again is absolutely appalling to me. I hope the voters start to see through Donald Trump and the kind of candidate that he is and the kind of president he may end up being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Michael Reagan says he's appalled by the comparisons.
LORD: Right, right. I love Michael Reagan.
One of the reasons I wrote "What America Needs: The Case for Trump," I got tired of seeing Trump supporters, regular folks out there, good people, being beaten over the head as -- and portrayed as a bunch of xenophobic bigots and all this type of thing. These are good people, the vast majority of these people are good people.
They're concerned about the country. They're looking at their life, what's going on around them and they're upset and they want something done and they see Donald Trump as a man of action who will make some changes. So, that's why I wrote the book.
Respectfully with Michael, I understand the differences here. No two people are different but we're living in a different time here.
CAMEROTA: The book again is "What America Needs" by Jeffrey Lord.
Jeffrey, great to have you in studio.
LORD: Thanks, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Thanks, great to see you.
Let's get over to John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn.
A major winter storm could be brewing in the coming days. Which area will be the hardest hit? Where will we get our first real snowfall of the season? Here's a hint: here.
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[06:48:20] BERMAN: A new arrest in connection with November's terror attacks in Paris. A Belgian man of Moroccan descent was arrested in Morocco. Authorities identified him as 26-year-old Gelel Attar. A Belgian prosecutor says Attar had a direct link to the rampage and knew the attackers well, including the mastermind.
CAMEROTA: Futures in wall street pointing up despite China reporting its slowest economic growth in 25 years. The economy growing at 6.9 percent for the year with a downward trend in the final quarter. The news, though, not having a big impact on global markets. Shanghai closing up more than 3 percent and European markets trading higher this morning.
PEREIRA: Prosecutors in Texas are meeting with a judge this morning to have their case against the so-called affluenza teen heard in adult court. If the judge agrees, it could create stricter probation conditions for 18-year-old Ethan Couch. Couch was spared jail time for drunken driving conviction back in 2013, which killed four people. He is currently fighting deportation from Mexico after he fled the country last month.
BERMAN: Folks on the East Coast, gird your loins. The first major winter storm of the season --
PEREIRA: What does that have to do with them?
BERMAN: You need to stay warm. It's important to stay warm. There's a big winter storm coming. It's going to bring heavy snow and strong winds from Washington to New England.
This is all happening. This is the news. I'm reporting it.
Let's get to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers --
PEREIRA: It went sideways, Chad.
BERMAN: -- with the latest on the forecast.
Chad, help me out here.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Was that written down on the prompter or did you adlib that?
CAMEROTA: He ad-libbed that.
MYERS: I couldn't tell.
PEREIRA: You have to get ready.
MYERS: All right, Berman, enough for you.
Cold air across the country right now and it continues for this morning.
[06:50:00] This is the story. The cold air is already in place. There's a small storm system that will bring light snow across the Great Lakes today, two to four inches. But this is not what we're worried about. We're worried about that storm right there.
Now, given the fact that it's still in the Pacific Ocean, this could change a little, not very much. For the first time in a very long time, the American model and the European model are in agreement. I mean, Europeans and Americans don't agree on much.
This time it's happening. Notice this pink line, north of there, it's all snow. This is Friday at our time right now. This is 48 hours from right now. It's just beginning to snow in D.C., then it snows in New York City. The heaviest snow is in the Appalachian Mountains west of Washington, D.C.
I'm going to move you into the model here. Model here, Philadelphia, D.C., that's where the heavy snow is, American model. Now to the European model, very heavy snow, same spot, same bullseye. We'll keep watching. Still 72 hours away.
Guys, back to you.
CAMEROTA: All right. Thank you very much for that warning, Chad.
Meanwhile, the water situation in Flint, Michigan, now a full- blown crisis. Could it have been averted? Next, we'll talk to one of the first people who tried to alert officials about the potential dangers.
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PEREIRA: Tonight, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is expected to address the dangerous levels of lead found in Flint's water during the state of the state address. This catastrophe now out of control. Snyder even saying on the record, saying it's fair to call the water crisis his, quote, "Katrina".
Joining us now is Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha. She's a director at Hurley Children's Hospital, one of the first to flag officials about the dangerous effects of lead in Flint's water.
Dr. Mona, so glad you could join us today.
[06:55:01] You saw this, you researched it, noted it, you published your findings. Let's show people what you found. Research showing the percentage of children with elevated blood levels nearly doubled from 2.1 percent in the 20 months prior to September 2013 to 4 percent by September of last year, in some zip codes going as high as 6.3 percent.
You flagged health officials. What was their response?
DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA, DIRECTOR, HURLEY'S CHILDREN HOSPITAL: Well, when we released our research in late September, we were attacked. I was told that I was an unfortunate researcher, causing near hysteria, and that the state numbers were not consistent with our numbers.
HANNA-ATTISHA: OK. An unfortunate researcher causing near hysteria, you didn't back down. You didn't let the situation go. How many more times did you go back to the well, pun intended, to try to get their attention?
HANNA-ATTISHA: The attacks continued for about a week and a half, two weeks. But we knew the numbers were right we checked them, double checked and we were confident with our numbers. It was entirely consistent with what was happening with the water. It was a perfect setup for lead to be in the water because of the lack of corrosion control.
So, we knew that lead in that water was getting into the bodies of children. So, we stood our ground and had some good conversations finally with some people in the state and they relooked at their numbers and realized, hey, we know what, we have consistent findings with yours.
PEREIRA: We have a problem.
HANNA-ATTISHA: Yes.
PEREIRA: So, I think it bears reminding people, given that you're a pediatrician the dangers of lead. You talk about these levels that are found in children. Remind us of how serious -- this isn't something that's going to go away.
HANNA-ATTISHA: No. So, lead is something that is with us forever. The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics say there is no safe level of lead in a child. It causes these long-term, life-long irreversible impacts. Impacts your cognition, it drops your IQ and impacts your behavior.
It's been implicated to be associated with criminality. It has life-long, generational effects. We know there should never be lead in a child. We've just now exposed an entire population to this irreversible neurotoxin.
PEREIRA: In some of the zip codes it's higher levels. Some of the zip codes are areas where they're struggling with community issues, poverty and joblessness, et cetera. That --
HANNA-ATTISHA: Absolutely.
PEREIRA: That just compounds the problem.
OK. So, we know the governor is giving a state of the state. We understand he's reworked it to address the situation, says he's got a possible fix. Are you happy to know he's going to address it or in your estimation is it too late?
HANNA-ATTISHA: I think it's great. It's great to all this national attention and the federal declaration and the governor's words. We have to see what fools. I believe we're in a state of emergency. If we don't do something now, we'll see the life-long consequences.
So, I want the resources. And until we see those resources for those kids, we're not going to stop talking.
PEREIRA: So, give us specifics. What do you want to see? What do you want to hear?
HANNA-ATTISHA: Sure. You know, we can sit back and see the consequences of this mass exposure or mitigate it. We cannot reverse it. There's no pill or antidote for lead.
But putting in wrap-around services such as early education, early literacy programs, great nutrition services, mental health services, all these things that are well known to help all children who are at risk for developmental problems. So, that is what we're asking for. All these wrap-around services that will help lift our children who have this exposure.
PEREIRA: The governor has said to say to have likened this current situation there in Flint to Katrina. Fair assessment, you think?
HANNA-ATTISHA: Yes. It's unheard of. In 2016 in the middle of the Great Lakes we are literally in the middle of the Great Lakes to have such a disaster.
And yes, it was a manmade disaster. It wasn't a natural disaster but it in a clearly demarcated area. The response has been inadequate. We've been living this disaster since April of 2014.
PEREIRA: Well, listen -- I'm just one person but I'm going to say, I'm really impressed by your steadfast resolution to make sure this didn't go away. Good on you, Dr. Mona. Keep doing great work and hopefully we'll see a reversing trend here.
HANNA-ATTISHA: Thanks for having me.
PEREIRA: All right. A lot of news to get to this morning. Let's get to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRUZ: We need a leader who is prepared to do whatever is needed to keep this country safe.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Two Corinthians, right? Two Corinthians, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
CRUZ: I like Donald Trump. I respect Donald Trump. If he or anyone else wants to engage in a battle of insults, he's welcome to do so.
PEREIRA: Three Americans freed in that Iranian prison swap reuniting with her families.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Mysterious cases remain very much unresolved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama has had seven years to get him home. I think it's obvious that the Iranian government knows exactly where he is.
PEREIRA: Where is the diversity in Hollywood?
