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New Day
Trailblazing Senator Mikulski Saying Goodbye; Radio Announcer Fired For Leaking Game Plans; Jim Brown Teams Up with Trump's National Diversity Coalition. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 14, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:18] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Ohio Governor John Kasich trying to strike a balance on competing abortion laws in his state. He has signed a measure to outlaw most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy but he vetoed the so-called heart beat bill that would ban any abortions where a fetal heartbeat is detected. It is not clear if Republicans who passed that more aggressive measure have the votes to override Kasich's veto.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Bill Cosby is expected back in court today after some drama erupting during his hearing and his sex assault case. Attorneys on both sides were shouting at each other. At one point, Cosby himself spoke up, actually on two occasions, blurting out details about a hotel and his own birth date after the judge asked attorneys for clarification. The hearing is pivotal that is going on right now because the judge is going to decide if 13 Cosby accusers should be allowed to testify against him reinforcing the accuser in the current case, Andrea Constand.
CAMEROTA: Sad breaking news overnight. Hollywood is mourning the loss of Alan Thicke. The Canadian-born star whose resume spans five decades was best known as America's dad, Jason Seaver in the '80s hit sitcom "Growing Pains."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ben, what are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watching Carol flirt with some guy and he's not Bobby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's none of your business -- what guy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, but I think he's a little weird.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's interested in Carol. Wait until I tell Bobby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ben. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK. This show holds up. That was a good show. Thicke leaves behind a wife and three children, one of them, of course, singer Robin Thicke. In an Instagram post, Thicke says his father was, quote, "the best man he ever knew and the best friend he ever had." Alan Thicke reportedly died of a heart attack. He was just 69 years old.
CUOMO: So young.
CAMEROTA: So young. Handsome. That show was funny. It was clever. It was quick. He had great comedic timing.
CUOMO: And one of the few people in that business where people unanimously say he was a decent person on top of his accolades as an actual performer.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: All right. So, it is an end of an era on Capitol Hill. The nation's longest serving female Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland is going to step down in a few weeks. What were her highs and her lows? She's going to tell us next on NEW DAY.
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[06:36:34] CUOMO: The end of an era. Trailblazing Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland who has served longer than any woman in the history of Congress is going to call it a career.
What is her departing message to her colleagues on both sides of the aisle? She opened up to our chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Here's the story.
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DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Barbara Mikulski was elected senator 30 years ago, it was really a man's world.
SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: When I came to the Senate, you know, senators were Tom, Dick and Harry. Now --
BASH (on camera): Literally.
MIKULSKI: Yes. Now, they're Barb, Tammy, Dianne.
BASH (voice-over): When she arrived, Senate women weren't allowed to wear pants. There were only two of them. She is now leaving as one of 20, a bipartisan group Mikulski gathered for monthly dinners.
MIKULSKI: We disagree on issues but what we said was, number one, we were going to be a zone of civility even when we disagree. BASH: Mikulski is the longest serving woman in the history of
Congress. Still, she's retiring disappointed. Her old Senate colleague failed to become the first female president.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The best things really do some in small packages.
BASH (on camera): On a scale of one to ten, Hillary Clinton's defeat for you was?
MIKULSKI: A 52. I mean, really, I couldn't believe election night as I watched the returns. And it was enormously disappointing.
BASH: Do you think America was just not ready for a female president?
MIKULSKI: I'll let the history books analyze that.
BASH: What do you think? You're a female trailblazer. You have some informed opinions, I would think.
MIKULSKI: I think there were a lot of biases against her. You know what we find when you break the glass ceiling, you end up leaving in a glass office where everything you do is scrutinized.
On behalf of all the women who have broken down barriers for others --
BASH (voice-over): It's not just Mikulski's feminism that makes Clinton's defeat so crushing, it's that her own Democratic Party lost touch with the kind of working class voters this Baltimore native says she never stopped fighting for.
MIKULSKI: There are people right now in Baltimore that have, you know, three part-time jobs. Many of my constituents feel that they're either losing their job overseas or they could lose it to a robot.
BASH (on camera): You know you sound like Donald Trump, right?
MIKULSKI: No, I think I sound like Barbara Mikulski.
BASH (voice-over): She admits the election results make it tougher to leave, worried a lot of her work on Obamacare and beyond may be undone.
MIKULSKI: You cannot take a wrecking ball to the agencies that are designed to help American workers get on their feet.
BASH: Still, the first woman to ever chair the powerful Appropriations Committee tells us, behind the scenes, bipartisan she witnessed in this historic room gives her hope.
MIKULSKI: We sit next to each other and rather than at the head table, our job is to bring together when the best ideas and the most affordable ideas. Not to square off.
BASH: The 4'11" senator made a long career out of people underestimating her. MIKULSKI: I bring my own stool to have longitudinal parody. It's not
easy being 4'11" in an institution like this.
BASH: She has a reputation for sometimes being intimidating, making male colleagues cower.
MIKULSKI: Let them feel the hard landing that my constituents face.
[06:35:00] I've heard this rap (ph) before.
BASH (on camera): Yes.
MIKULSKI: And I think that when women are persistent and insistent, we're viewed as tough. Now, I view it as just being effective.
BASH (voice-over): One of her proudest achievements legislation giving women equal pay for equal work. The first bill signed by the first black president.
MIKULSKI: He said, "This pen is yours."
BASH: Now, it's the end of the Obama and the Mikulski eras, and the trailblazing senator walked out the door, dropping important pearls of wisdoms.
MIKULSKI: Always listen to the people. They really do have the best ideas.
BASH: Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: She's going to be missed in Congress. She's been around so long. I remember when I was a budding young reporter, maybe even an intern and going out and interviewing her there on Capitol Hill.
CUOMO: And supposedly a tough decision for her because while she's been in there a long time, there is part of her that feels like now is when a Mikulski is going to be needed the most. This is going to be the time of taking stock in Congress about why you're there and what you want to fight for.
CAMEROTA: Right. I'm sure she will still have influence there in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, speaking of influence, an NFL legend who voted for Clinton now says that he admires Donald Trump. So, why the change? We will ask Hall of Famer Jim Brown live on NEW DAY, next.
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[06:45:00] CAMEROTA: So, here's a story you don't hear very often in sports. Wake Forest said they have found the mole within their program -- the person who is providing opponents with their game plans.
Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Tell us about that, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, this story is really unbelievable.
Wake Forest says that their radio announcer who is a former player and assistant coach for the Demon Deacons was providing or attempting to provide confidential game preparations to opponents several times starting back in 2014. Now, the man's name is Tommy Elrod. He's been fired and banned from Wake Forest athletics.
Previously, though, Elrod had unlimited access to the team. Wake Forest started an investigation after their equipment manager found play sheets inside Louisville stadium before their game with the Cardinals. Head coach Dave Clawson released a statement saying that it's incomprehensible that Elrod betrayed his alma mater the way he did.
The NFL announcing on Tuesday that for the first time ever, they will play four games in London next season. Here are the matchups. The Ravens are going to take on the Jags. The Saints will play the Dolphins. The Browns who may still be looking for a win will play the Vikings. And then the Cardinals are taking on the Rams.
Of course, this week, Thursday night football. You've got the Seahawks taking on the Rams and then on Saturday, we're getting the rare Saturday night football now that college is done for the regular season. On Saturday night, I know what you're doing, the Jets taking on the Dolphins.
Their season not looking so hot right now, Chris. But at least they can ruin the Dolphins.
CUOMO: Even your beautiful smile cannot brighten up the Jets reality. You are not a fan because you expect them to win. All right, my friend, thank you.
SCHOLES: Have a good one.
CUOMO: All right. Staying on one more beat of sports. The president-elect, Donald Trump, huddling with Jim Brown and Ray Lewis. Why? Because after years of promises on both sides of the aisle, Trump may be presenting new ideas for how to help minority communities. The Hall of Famer Jim Brown will give us his take, next.
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[06:51:11] CAMEROTA: President-elect Donald Trump met with NFL greats Jim Brown, Ray Lewis, as well as members of his National Diversity Coalition on Tuesday to discuss issues impacting African-American communities. Both players praised Mr. Trump after the meeting.
Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown is here this morning, along with the head of Trump's National Diversity Coalition, Pastor Darrell Scott. Great to have both of you gentlemen here this morning.
JIM BROWN, FOUNDER, AMER-I-CAN PROGRAM: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: What was this meeting like? Tell us what you talked to Mr. Trump about.
BROWN: It was a fantastic meeting. We talked about helping people and we are offering our services to do that and particularly the African-American people who are poor and, you know, uneducated to a certain degree. And he was very amenable to the points that we made.
CAMEROTA: What made you think he got it?
BROWN: Well, he has very dynamic personality and he's also a very friendly committed type of individual. So when he said that he was in, that's what he meant because basically he'll say what's on his mind and he will tell you the truth.
So, I felt very good because of his reception of what we brought to the table. So, someone criticized us of being with Mr. Trump is that he has a power of that office. And when you meet him, he's a very personable person.
So, I was very happy and very proud to have had that opportunity and for him to give us that opportunity to present things that I've worked on most of my life because I do work for the underprivileged people in this country.
CUOMO: Pastor Scott, how do you explain to people why it was okay for then-candidate President Trump to explain the African-American condition in this country. You can't walk out of your house. You walk out of your house and go down the street and get shot. That was very offensive to a lot of members of the African-American community. How do you explain to people?
PASTOR DARRELL SCOTT, HEAD OF TRUMP'S NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION: And it was offensive to some and realistic to others. Not too long after he said you can walk out into your community and get shot, we had Dwyane Wade's cousin suffer a fatality.
And so, you know, he's almost prophetic and what he was saying was the potential exists. And when President-elect Trump, when he said, what do you have to lose? What he was really saying was give me a chance, give me a shot. I'll prove myself to you.
And as part of his ongoing commitment to the African-American community, that's what led to the meeting we had with him yesterday. He was to be proactive and not reactive. And so, why wait until another person is killed or another riot erupts, let's get someone -- let's address this and tackle this problem now.
Now, having said that, I've been very familiar with Mr. Brown's Amer- I-Can program for years. To me, it was a match made in heaven. I mean, why try to invent a wheel, why try to invent a vehicle that could be beneficial to the African-American community when such a vehicle that has all the components that we need to address the problems in the inner cities, it already exists?
So, let's take this vehicle, present it to the Trump administration. He'll put some gas in it and get the country behind it and get it going. We can ride it and it can be very --
CUOMO: Jim, tell us what it does. What does Amer-I-Can do and what do you think is going to happen with it now?
BROWN: I can tell you, I've been very happy with the company I've been keeping lately.
CUOMO: You mean today. Oh, you -- Pastor Scott.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: The last couple days. He's a very important person but Amer- I-Can deals with the underprivileged and we will stress self- determination and we encourage people to take that first step, you know, not look to be delivered but to do everything you can do for yourself and we can help you because you are participating to your own advancement and your own success.
[06:55:13] And it is a program that has been in existence now for almost 20 years. And very successful because it teaches the responsibility of self-determination which means that you are not looking to blame anyone for your plight. You're not playing a victim role. But you're getting up off your butt and you're applying yourself with where you have to apply to yourself.
But then you can be open to what we can do for you. We do violent intervention on the greatest level because we deal with the people that live in those areas.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BROWN: And we believe in education and, particularly, life management skills education because those fundamentals teach you how to solve problems, make good decisions and set goals. All of those things that we take for granted. But when underprivileged people don't apply that, you can't even help them.
CAMEROTA: On the point that you just made that you've been very please would the company you've been keeping lately. Yesterday, you said something that got a lot of attention and maybe you want to clarify it. You said, "I fell in love with him because he really talks about helping African-American, black people, that's why I'm here." People thought that you meant Donald Trump when you said you fell in love with him.
What were you talking about?
BROWN: I was talking about my partner setting here. I was talking about the man who got us together, the man who has been the catalyst, the man who has represented. And he's comical and he's very vivacious.
SCOTT: I fell in love with Trump a long time ago.
CAMEROTA: A lot of love going around here.
BROWN: I'll take the love. But I think he's a great personality.
CAMEROTA: Got it.
CUOMO: So, the big concern you're going to have is to see what the president actually does. So, what we'll do president-elect once president, 37 days from now. We will stay on the policies and we'll keep the conversation going to make sure that the most important part happens, which is the actual actions on the ground where it matters.
SCOTT: He is a man of his word. He gets behind this program and this program is going to make it happen and he's going to be behind it to support it.
CAMEROTA: But do you have any concern about his cabinet? It is not a very diverse cabinet. In fact, it's the least diverse cabinet thus far. Does that worry you at all?
BROWN: We see you out here doing your job, and your job is exactly what you're doing and I have to take action. I always say that I'm not a quarterback. I was supposed to be a great football player, but I was a running back. So, I don't know too much about quarterbacking.
CAMEROTA: Meaning --
BROWN: So I cannot comment on every issue in this situation and justify everything that goes on. I know what we're going to bring to the table. We're not asking for favors. We're going to bring the business world from Youngstown, Ohio, (INAUDIBLE) and you've got Ray Lewis --
CAMEROTA: Got it, you're happy with what you've seen.
BROWN: But we're going to support what he can do.
CAMEROTA: Understood. Gentlemen, thanks. Jim Brown, great to have you here. Pastor Scott, thank you.
CUOMO: One clarification, you were the greatest football player at your position and some argue it wasn't even your best sport. You may have been better at lacrosse.
So, you're a champion. That's what we got.
BROWN: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, guys.
We're following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: Rex will be a fierce advocate for America's interests around the world.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: There are going to be a lot of tough questions related to Mr. Tillerson's relationship to Putin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would never accept an award from Vladimir Putin. You give credibility to this butcher.
TRUMP: Rex made some of the greatest deals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Department of Energy refusing to name employees who worked on climate change issues.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: A career civil servants are evaluated based on merit and not on politics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That cabinet looks like the Republican Party, a lot of white men.
TRUMP: These are seriously great people. The cabinet with the highest IQ.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning to you. Welcome to your NEW DAY.
We begin with Donald Trump taking another victory lap, this time in Wisconsin. The president-elect touting the high IQ of his emerging cabinet and defending his pick for secretary of state, calling ExxonMobil boss Rex Tillerson a, quote, "great diplomat."
CAMEROTA: Trump also engaging in a bit of a love fest with House Speaker Paul Ryan, insisting that he has come to admire his former adversary like a fine wine. This as the president-elect prepares to meet with the leading tech titans of Silicon Valley. We are 37 days until the inauguration and CNN has every angle of the transition covered for you starting with Sunlen Serfaty in Washington.
Hi, Sunlen.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn.
There has been a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and those within Donald Trump's own party, slamming his pick for secretary of state. So, the president-elect is now responding by using these campaign style rallies to push publicly for his nominee, bracing for the battle ahead.
