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Key U.S. Ally Furious to Not Be Involved in Talks; Michigan Gov.: Flint Will Get What It Needs; Trump Stands Firm on Boycotting Tonight's Debate. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 28, 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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[06:30:50] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Sharp divisions jeopardizing the first Syria peace talks in two years before they even begin. A key U.S. ally in the region, the Syrian Kurdish force known as the YPG, furious that they will likely be excluded from the process.
CNN's senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward is on the front lines in Syria.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are scenes of utter devastation like this across northern Syria, where the Syrian democratic forces made up largely of Kurdish fighters have been battling against ISIS. Thousands of them have been killed in the process, but a lot of territory has been taken back. And it's precisely because of the blood that has been spilled and the ground that has been retaken from ISIS that the Kurds feel so angry that they don't have a seat at the negotiating table in Geneva.
They see these talks as prioritizing regional interests over the future of Syria. They say that only the regime of Bashar al Assad and the Sunni opposition groups that are fighting Assad are really represented at the talks and that minorities like the Kurds and the Christians have essentially being ignored.
One commander told us that he feels particularly disappointed with the U.S., a key ally of the Kurds in the battle against ISIS for not trying to support Kurds in this political process. And he warned that the absence of the Kurds at the negotiating table in Geneva could threaten the entire military effort with the coalition to defeat ISIS.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Hasakah, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Our thanks to Clarissa for that.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder standing his ground. He says he will not resign over his handling over the water contamination crisis in Flint. The governor speaks exclusively to CNN, next.
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[06:36:38] BERMAN: All right. This morning, a remarkable CNN exclusive with the man whose job is on the line in one of the most glaring manmade disasters in memory. Calls for the governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, to resign following the water crisis in Flint. Doctors say at least 100 children affected by lead poisoning because of government decisions.
CNN's Poppy Harlow spoke exclusively with Governor Snyder. She joins us now.
Good morning, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.
Look, Governor Snyder has called this a terrible tragedy. He has apologized to the people of Flint. He has vowed to do everything he can to help them. But for many of the people that I spoke with here, it is simply too late.
Just yesterday the governor sat down behind me with 17 doctors and other experts to get their recommendations on what can possibly be done at this point for the people of Flint who have, frankly, been through the unthinkable.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can the people of Flint today as we sit here, can they drink the water?
GOV. RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: No. We don't want them to. And that's the terrible tragedy of all of this.
HARLOW (voice-over): This morning, as the people of Flint wait and wonder, if they have been poisoned by the lead in their water, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder admits he failed them, and promises to fix the crisis.
(on camera): All medical experts agree, no level of lead ingestion by anyone, especially children under the age of 6, is okay.
SNYDER: That's correct.
HARLOW: You said last week, over 100 children here in Flint have high levels of lead in their blood. How many kids is it as we sit here today?
SNYDER: It's about 100 and some if you go back over the last couple years.
HARLOW: You're saying there is 100 children as of now, and there may be many, many more.
SNYDER: There could be many more, and we're assuming that.
HARLOW (voice-over): A local pediatrician, one of the first to discover the lead in the water here, calls the impact on the children irreversible and multigenerational.
(on camera): Dr. Mona Hannah-Attisha told me that what can be done is that you can minimize the impact through early literature programs, universal preschool, access to healthy foods so the calcium binds instead of the lead to the child's bones, et cetera, mental health services.
She put a price tag on that, Governor, and she told me it's going to cost $100 million just to do that. Will you make sure they get $100 million?
SNYDER: I'm not sure she would know how to put the price tag. I have reviewed recommendations she's made. And actually, a number of those actions we were already working on doing in Flint.
HARLOW: She's done the analysis. I'm asking you again. A hundred million dollars, will you make sure they get that if that's what they need?
SNYDER: Well, we're making sure they get what they need.
HARLOW (voice-over): A 2011 study found water from the Flint River would have to be treated with an anti-corrosive agent to be safe to drink. To do that would have only cost $100 a day. But that was never done.
(on camera): I was speaking with a young man this morning, and he said to me, they put money over people. And he said, "The black lives and the poor white lives weren't worth it."
When you look at the numbers, $100 a day, what happened?
SNYDER: Well, that's the failure point. I mean, in terms of cost structures, $100 a day, this is where the huge error was, is people -- there were people that were subject matter experts in this that didn't believe that needed to be done. That was a huge mistake. That's part of the fundamental mistake of this whole situation.
HARLOW: Needed to be done, why? Money was given --
[06:40:00] SNYDER: Well, again, in terms of -- no, not on that point.
HARLOW: -- priority here over these people?
SNYDER: Not at all. This is where the investigations will follow up and all of those -- in terms of the details of all that. And we're cooperating with all of those investigations because I want to find out what went on. I want the facts out there.
HARLOW: The kids were being poisoned by the water they were drinking here. The EPA knew about it. Your spokesman, your former spokesman knew about it in July 2015 and sent an e-mail about it. And you didn't declare a state of emergency until January of this year. Why did it take so long?
SNYDER: Actually, I learned about it in October. And I took action immediately then, offering filters, working with people on getting water, on doing water testing.
Again, we needed to do more, though. So, as soon as I learned about it, we took dramatic action.
HARLOW: Why not just immediately replace all of the lead pipes?
SNYDER: That's a question you can ask across the country. And the challenge of that is, that's not --
HARLOW: But I'm asking you, because Flint --
SNYDER: -- a short project.
HARLOW: -- Flint has had people poisoned.
SNYDER: That is not a short-term project in terms of ripping up all the infrastructure, replacing all that. That can take an extended period of time.
HARLOW: Your former spokesman wrote an e-mail back in July of 2015. Here's part of it. "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint. These folks are scared and worried about health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us."
You have said, since then, that you knew about that e-mail. And that you were made aware of that. Why not act then?
SNYDER: The experts came back from both the Department of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services to say they didn't see a problem with lead in the water or lead in the blood.
HARLOW: Folks here did. They were getting rashes.
SNYDER: This is in --
HARLOW: Kids were having rashes. The water was discolored.
SNYDER: Let me finish, Poppy. I mean, that makes me feel terrible. I wish you would -- have done something different.
HARLOW (voice-over): As this scope of the crisis has grown, residents have rallied, demanding the governor step down.
(on camera): A number of the residents I've spoken with in Flint have said ultimately they want accountability. Governor, will you resign?
SNYDER: No. Again, I think it's normal that right action is, if you have a problem that happened from people that were -- you are responsible for, you go solve it. You don't walk away from it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Really interesting discussion, Poppy. You pressed the governor on a price tag. How much is Michigan going to put up here? I mean, there's $28 million being discussed in the legislature now. Is it going to take more than that?
HARLOW: I believe they will. He would not put a number on it. You heard him tell me we will get them what they need. He's meeting with that doctor who put the $100 million price tag on it, John.
But to put this in perspective, that's just $100 million to help the kids with those services they need to counter the lead poisoning effects, which are irreversible. You need $50 million to $75 million, according to the EPA, to replace all those lead pipes. You need the interim millions for all the bottled water, et cetera.
So, I think we're looking at hundreds of millions of dollars here. Only 28 million has been approved so far. He did say that we're going to get this done.
BERMAN: You've been in Flint. You've been talking to the people. What are they saying in Flint?
HARLOW: So, many of them that I spoke with said, look, the governor needs to resign. One man that I spoke with who is a professor here, a middle class white man said to me Flint has always been marginalized. This would never have happened down the road at Grand Blanc or in Gross Pointe, one of those white affluent communities.
An African-American man told me, as you heard in the piece, that he felt as though they put money over people. At the same time, right now the governor is focused on solutions. You heard him say he is not resigning. He is going to spend a lot more time here in Flint. He is vowing to do everything they can to fix this, John. And right now, frankly, that's what the people here need.
BERMAN: It's what the people deserved and what the people are owed. Poppy Harlow in Flint. Thanks so much.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, last night, no less than Bill O'Reilly made the case to Donald Trump to do the right thing and reconsider his decision to back out of tonight's Republican debate. Will the Donald change his mind? They talk about the bible, next.
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[06:48:15] CUOMO: It is time now for CNN Money Now.
Chief business correspondent Christine Romans in the money center.
Christine, let's just get it straight. Stocks today, up or down?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right now, looks like they're going to be up. Stock futures are up. But, yesterday, the Fed said the U.S. economy slowed down at the end of last year and stocks got clobbered, down more than 200 points.
Widely held Apple shares down another almost 7 percent. Apple said its sales will fall this quarter. Tough month for stocks. The S&P 500 is now down 8 percent this year already.
One stock soaring this morning, though, guys, Facebook. It's up about 12 percent before the bell. It wowed investors with soaring sales, profit, user growth, mobile ads growth, a big winner. During the last three months of 2015, Facebook tapped a billion-dollar profit for the first time ever, $1.6 billion, more than double a year earlier. That stock is going to pop -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK. So, thanks so much for that, Christine. Good to know.
Well, Donald Trump still promises to boycott tonight's GOP debate over his war with FOX News. Trump will instead host a veterans' benefit in Iowa at the very same time.
Trump's rivals hope to capitalize on his absence. They say he's afraid to answer hard questions.
CUOMO: There is concern over increased activity at a North Korean satellite launching system. A U.S. official says recent satellite images show rocket related equipment and fuel being moved in. U.S. officials are concerned about a possible ballistic missile launch. The site is so secretive, an underground railroad is used to deliver parts.
BERMAN: Today marks the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. This morning, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held at Florida's Kennedy's Space Center as well as Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Seven crew members including school teacher Christa McAuliffe, they perished as the shuttle exploded seconds after liftoff.
[06:50:03] I still remember, I was in 8th grade. They wheeled in a TV to the classroom after, you know, all day just watching the coverage. I remember Ronald Reagan with a beautiful speech about the astronauts, you know, slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of God, 30 years ago.
CAMEROTA: I remember that so well, too. Before 9/11, that was one of those similar shock to the systems, where you watched it live and you thought, oh, can this be happening? It was so disconcerting. Like I had a visceral reaction to watching that live and how tragic that was. God.
CUOMO: It was also a big part of Reagan's legacy, was making the case for continued space travel. And why it needed to be done. And that it wasn't just fanfare when you watch them going to the sky. It was real risk for real reasons and purpose.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
All right. Back to what's happening in the next 24 hours. Donald Trump's decision to back out of tonight's debate, only the latest feud with journalists. Let's look at his love/hate relationship with the press. That's next.
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[06:55:03] MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will the charge when Hillary Clinton, who is likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: All right. Well, that was the moment that started this battle royale.
Megyn Kelly challenging Donald Trump on his treatment of women during the first Republican debate. Trump standing by his decision to skip tonight's debate because FOX refused to replace Kelly as the moderator.
So, let's look at some of Trump's journalists. Brian Stelter is here. He's CNN senior media correspondent and the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES".
Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: So, this goes -- it started there, basically.
STELTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: But it has gone on since then.
STELTER: Absolutely. August is really the beginning of Megyn Kelly and his original victim, or a person he argues with. He thinks that she is the one that is at fault here. But, of course, she's trying to do her job as a journalist.
CAMEROTA: The next day, he was on Don Lemon's show and this is what he said about Megyn Kelly. Let's listen.
(CROSSTALK)
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions. And, you know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: Now, this outraged FOX. It outraged the FOX News chairman. This has continued ever since. Even this morning, Trump retweeting people who are critical of Megyn Kelly, which I think is an important point here. There's a real time feedback loop. So, Trump hears from his fans that they don't like these journalists, so he keeps up this war.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely, takes on a life of its own.
But it hasn't just been Megyn Kelly.
STELTER: No, this is the reminder of Jorge Ramos, Univision anchor who tried to come to a Trump press conference and confront Trump. There's almost like a stage here. Trump uses these scenes in order to make points about his campaign.
Here's Jorge Ramos, an immigrant confronting Trump. What does Trump do? He boots him out of the room. Then lets him come back to ask his question later.
CAMEROTA: Just incredible.
Bill O'Reilly.
STELTER: Now, of course, this is an interesting case because O'Reilly has been a friend to Trump over the years. They have been friends for decades. Here's what Trump said over the phone. He said, "O'Reilly, why don't you have some knowledgeable talking heads rather than the same old Trump haters. Boring."
Trump is always watching TV. Always watching cable news and always giving feedback in real time.
CAMEROTA: We've had many experiences with him here at CNN. Successful interviews, as well as those that he didn't like so much.
Here is him talking to Chris about one of our fine reporters, Sara Murray, who Donald Trump doesn't think talks enough about the big crowds that he's getting.
STELTER: Yes, I remember this.
CAMEROTA: Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Unfortunately, you have me followed by Sara Murray and she doesn't know what she's doing.
CUOMO: Listen, Mr. Trump, you have to start insulting people who do their job.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: -- nor does she report the energy in the room. She stands there like, you know, there's 12 people in the room. I'm sure she'll defend herself in a very timid way. Go ahead.
CUOMO: Well, she's doing a good job.
TRUMP: No, she's not. She's not reporting accurately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: I mean, this is the first time the politicians call out people by name --
STELTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- and they say -- I don't know if it's the first time. But he does it more than any other politician.
STELTER: What's unique here, politicians in D.C., they have their own rivals, right? They have their own political rivals. What Trump has are journalists as rivals. He uses journalists as foils to make points about his own campaign and his own strength.
CAMEROTA: OK. Roger Ailes, no shrinking violet. He doesn't like how Donald Trump has been treating Megyn Kelly.
STELTER: This is a real remarkable quote, especially in light of what's happening this week.
CAMEROTA: Right. So, Roger Ailes to Adweek the conversation that he's had in the past with Donald Trump, where he said, Roger Ailes said to him, "What the hell is wrong with you? The United States is at war with every goddamn country in the Middle East and you're at war with Megyn Kelly, and you think that looks good? It doesn't look good." Excuse my language.
STELTER: That's the FOX point of view right there in a nutshell. But to Trump, this war with Megyn Kelly is a proxy for how he would handle the presidency, so he's basically using Kelly as a foil.
I also thought it was interesting to see how Trump in his rallies, I think we can show the video clip -- actually, the he'll coverage, he'll demand the camera to turn around.
CAMEROTA: Right, he talks to the cameramen themselves. Listen to that.
STELTER: Right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: These cameras back here right now, they will never show this crowd. They'll never show this crowd.
(BOOS)
No, no. They're never going to show this crowd.
Look at the guy in the middle. Look at the guy in the middle. Why aren't you turning that camera? Why aren't you turning the camera?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: I think Trump brilliantly acts like a TV producer. In that case, he's a pull camera. The cameraman is required to keep the camera on Trump at all times.
CAMEROTA: He's on lockdown. He has to get that shot and Donald Trump may or may not have known that.
STELTER: Maybe Trump knows that. But this has all lead up to tonight. This battle with FOX is sort of the grand finale. We're in the fourth quarter now of many Trump's battles with the media.
CAMEROTA: All right. We'll see what happens. Brian, thanks so much for walking us through all of this.
We're following a lot of news this morning, including how Trump's decision to skip the debate will play out. Let's get to all of that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: I was not treated well by FOX. They came up with this ridiculous PR statement. It was like drawn up by a child.
