Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Intel Chiefs Take Their Case Against Russia to Trump; Speaker Ryan Vows to Strip Federal Funding from Planned Parenthood. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired January 06, 2017 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAMEROTA: We are now two weeks away from inauguration day. We have it all covered for you. Let's begin with CNN's Jason Carroll. He is live in Trump Tower in New York. Good morning, Jason.

[07:00:09] JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you Alisyn. We're now just hours away from the president-elect receiving that briefing from intelligence officials on what evidence they have showing that Russia was behind the cyberattacks. But the question is now, Alisyn, will it be enough to change Trump's mind?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): The heads of the FBI, CIA, NSA and the director of national intelligence will meet face to face with President-elect Donald Trump today to brief him on their findings about Russian cyberattacks.

CLAPPER: I don't think that we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process.

CARROLL: DNI head James Clapper making it crystal clear at a congressional hearing yesterday that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies believed Russia meddled with the U.S. election.

CLAPPER: I do think that public trust and confidence in the intelligence community is crucial.

CARROLL: And indirectly calling out Trump for his repeated attempts to undermine their conclusion.

CLAPPER: I think there's a difference between skepticism and disparagement.

CARROLL: But Trump continues to strike a conspiratorial tone, tweeting, "The DNC would not allow the FBI to study or see its computer info after it was supposedly hacked by Russia, so how and why are they so sure about hacking, if they never even requested an examination of the computer servers? What is going on?"

Former chairman of the joint chiefs, retired General Martin Dempsey breaking his strident rule not to comment on politics, tweeting, "Intelligence is hard, thankless work. Fortunately, we have dedicated, patriotic and courageous men and women on the job. Thanks." SEN. JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Grow up Donald.

Grow up.

CARROLL: Vice President Joe Biden calling Trump's comments dangerous.

BIDEN: For a president not to have confidence in, not to be prepared to listen to the myriad of intelligence agencies is absolutely mindless.

CARROLL: But to the surprise of Trump critics, the president-elect has tapped former Senator Dan Coats, a hawk on Russia, to replace Clapper. Trump's transition team insisting that he supports the intelligence community, pushing back on reports that the president- elect wants to revamp the DNI.

SPICER: There is no truth to this idea of restructuring the intelligence community infrastructure.

CARROLL: Trump's team did, however, signal an about-face on one of his biggest campaign promises.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who is going to pay for the wall?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mexico!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mexico!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mexico!

CARROLL: House Republican officials say Trump is looking to ask U.S. taxpayers, not Mexico, to pay for his proposed border wall. Republicans may try to add billions of dollars to a massive spending bill if Mexico refuses to pay for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And Trump tweeting out this morning that what he says and what will happen is that Mexico will actually reimburse the U.S. for the cost of that wall.

If Republicans end up going that route, it could end up leading to some sort of a showdown with Senate Democrats, who could end up forcing some sort of a government shutdown. Trump, for his part today, in addition to receiving that briefing on the Russian cyberattacks, he'll also be meeting with magazine editors from Conde Nast, including "Vogue's" Anna Wintour.

Back to you.

CUOMO: All right, Jason. Thank you very much.

No specific evidence of Russian hacking was presented at Thursday's Senate hearing, but in context, it's important. They said "And you know why" to the lawmakers. They said why we don't give you specific information about sources and methods, because we have a big infrastructure here that would put people at risk if we did that and the lawmakers nodded and agreed.

Now today President-elect Trump is going to hear details about operatives who acted as go-betweens for the Russians and WikiLeaks. CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez live in Washington with more. The big surprise isn't what Donald Trump is going to be told. It's what the president-elect is going to say in response.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The reaction is what we're waiting for. But U.S. officials tell us, Chris, that the U.S. has identified intermediaries who they believe provided the WikiLeaks website with the Democratic Party e-mails that were stolen by hackers working for Russian intelligence.

This is among the pieces of information that the top intelligence officials are expected to provide President-elect Donald Trump at a meeting in New York in the next few hours.

Today is the first time that Trump will see an extensive intelligence report that looks at not only the Russian hacks of Democratic Party groups in the last election year but also cyber hacks going back to the 2008 election year.

[07:05:05] We're told by officials that U.S. intelligence agencies have also collected an intercept of Russian officials expressing happiness at Donald Trump's victory on November 8.

Now officials say that the intercepts aren't considered smoking gun evidence against the Russians, but rather it's part of broader evidence that they put together. Director of national intelligence James Clapper told senators at a hearing in Washington yesterday that the intelligence agencies believed that the evidence points at Russia more resolutely than they did back in October when they first made that charge.

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, told FOX News this week that the Russian government wasn't his source. But he's also claimed that WikiLeaks never knows its sources.

At this point, Alisyn, the plan is for the public to see a declassified version of the intelligence report next Monday.

CAMEROTA: All right. We will look forward to that. Thank you very much, Evan.

There's a lot to discuss this morning. So much news. And joining us now is Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York.

REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R), NEW YORK: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: He's the congressional liaison for the Trump transition executive team. Good morning, Congressman. Thanks so much for being with us.

COLLINS: Good to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Let's start with what happened yesterday. Now that you have heard DNI head James Clapper make the case, do you now believe that Russia was behind the hacking of the DNC computer?

COLLINS: You know, I'm someone that has said all along, I'll stipulate that it was Russia, but I continue to be disappointed in the subtext here that the Democrats are pushing, that somehow any of this had anything to do with the results of the election.

And I think that's, you know, when we talk about cyber hacking, it's been going on for decades. Russia has been stealing our intellectual property. Others, rogue states have attempted to get into our electric grids.

CAMEROTA: So you accept it. So basically you -- you accept that Russia does this, and we need to move on. There's no need to talk about it more or figure out how to retaliate.

COLLINS: Well, no, we should continue to do whatever we can to dissuade these rogue actors, and it's really the four main countries of Russia, Iran, North Korea and China. They're all working in different areas, trying to get into our cyber systems in different ways.

We need to be constantly sending the message, especially to those four countries that, you know, we're just not going to stand by and let it happen.

CAMEROTA: Right. So...

COLLINS: I'm not saying we should be announcing this on the front page of the paper.

CAMEROTA: Sure. But I mean...

COLLINS: But this is an ongoing battle.

CAMEROTA: In terms of constantly sending the message after Mr. Trump is briefed today by the intel heads, do you think that he will change his message to Russia?

COLLINS: I can't speak for what President-elect Trump will do or not do, other than I can assure you that, between General Flynn, the NSA and certainly others, you know, Tom Bossert, Donald Trump is going to take a very strong stance on cyber hacking.

And I think what the other nations will find out from Donald Trump, he is actually going to take some steps to make sure that they -- they discontinue this behavior and especially China stealing our intellectual property.

CAMEROTA: Such as?

COLLINS: Oh, I can't tell you what they will do, but I do know, you know, there's things, you know -- we're able to cyber hack, as well. And I think in some cases, you know, we all know peace through strength works. And at some point, I suspect our capabilities are greater than those other four countries combined. There's ways to send a message, but again, it's not something the public is going to see on the front page of the paper, nor should they.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about this new information about the border wall. Is it your understanding that the plan is for U.S. taxpayers to pay for the border wall with Mexico, and then somehow to have Mexico reimburse the U.S.?

COLLINS: Well, here's what I will say. The U.S. is going to build the wall. So if you're going to build the wall, you have to pay for the wall. Now the question is where does the money come from? Does it ultimately come from the taxpayers or Mexico? That will be a negotiation Donald Trump will be having once he's president.

But we do need to secure our borders. We do need the wall. Congress has been talking about that for years.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

COLLINS: So the person who is hiring the contractors, which will be the U.S., will pay the bills. And however it ends up being paid, I can tell you the American public knows we need to secure the borders. Congress knows we need to secure our borders.

CAMEROTA: Sure. But I mean, Congressman, that is different. What you're saying is different than the way it was explained during the campaign, which was Mexico will pay for it. I guarantee Mexico will pay for it. There was no mention that taxpayers would have to pay for it. So this sounds like a different spin on it.

COLLINS: Well, no, no. I would not tell you right now that Donald Trump won't sit down with Mexico and have them reimburse the taxpayers. But of course, we have to pay the bills. We're building the wall.

Ultimately, though, that's a negotiation the president, Donald Trump, will have with Russia -- or not with Russia, with Mexico, to determine whether or not they will reimburse us. But I can tell you the mood of Congress is, regardless of what we do, we need to secure our borders; and the wall is part of it.

[07:10:13] CAMEROTA: And how will he get Mexico to reimburse the U.S.?

COLLINS: Well, when you sit down, when you understand that Mexico's economy is dependent on U.S. consumers, Donald Trump has all the cards he needs to play to make sure that Mexico does. If they're dependent, their entire nation is dependent on the U.S. consumers and our economy. That's something that we control through trade negotiations, so on the trade negotiations side, I don't think it's that difficult for Donald Trump to convict Mexico it's in their best interests to reimburse us for building the wall.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, let's talk about Obamacare. Obviously, you and your Republican colleagues are very interested in repealing it. How exactly will you replace it?

COLLINS: Well, the replacement, Alisyn, is going to come. You know, we'll put a plan for it sometime this year, I suspect, in the next 6 to the 12 months. It's not something we can do quickly. We know the Democrats aren't going to help us at all. So we need 218 out of 241 Republicans to come together.

And we've had five or six different plans that have been discussed over the last 8 years. Well, now we have to condense them into one final plan that is going to be the replacement for Obamacare.

But we should also remember, only 10 percent of Americans get their health care through Obamacare. It has impacts on others from a cost perspective, but Obamacare as such is about 10 percent of Americans.

CAMEROTA: Right. I mean, that sounds. I get it, and that sounds low when you frame it that way, 10 percent. But when you hear 30 million Americans are in limbo and could, you know, be -- there could be a window where they're not covered...

COLLINS: Sure.

CAMEROTA: ... then they want to know exactly what your replacement plan is.

COLLINS: Well, for one thing, they can be assured that their coverage will not change over the next two years. There's nothing we're going to be able to do that would change their coverage, their doctors and so forth this year.

CAMEROTA: Right. But after that, if it's repealed, that's what they're worried about. So how you will be sure that you don't have a gap in coverage. And in terms of the cost of it, there are estimates now that it will cost to repeal it, $350 billion over ten years.

So I mean, since you do, you have been working on this with your Republican colleagues for years. I mean, 6 to 8 years, why don't you guys have a consensus on a plan?

COLLINS: Well, because we've known for the last 8 years, President Obama, one, wouldn't sign a repeal. No. 2 he would never sign off on any kind of replacement.

These are just healthy debates that we have on, you know, even on the Medicaid expansion. We have several Republican governors who did do the Medicaid expansion. We're going to have to sit down with them and discuss, on the repeal, what happens relative to the expansion of Medicaid. That's not a done deal.

And as we come forward on plans, we're talking about all different kinds of tax incentives to get people to take coverage.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

COLLINS: There's different ways. You know, buying insurance across borders and the like. So no, it's a debate that we're going to have hearings, bring in all those insurance companies, bring in all of the stakeholders over the next 6 to 12 months. But we have the outline of where we're going to go. We probably agree

on 80 percent on 20 percent. That's where the rubber hits the road. That's why we're going to have hearings, negotiations. But in the meanwhile, we're not going to see any coverage changes over the next two years that should cause anyone to be worried what's going to happen in three months when I've got to go in for my next doctor visit.

CAMEROTA: OK. So no coverage changes. You can guarantee over the next two years. Can you guarantee after that that 30 million people will be covered and also don't have anything to worry about.

COLLINS: I can assure them they're going to have better coverage options.

However we end up paying for it and however we make it available to them. We understand everyone needs health insurance. What we have with Obamacare, it's not affordable, with $12,000 deductibles. On the Bronze plan, people effectively don't have insurance. They're being required to buy something they don't want to buy that gives them no coverage.

We're going to have a solution, and we certainly understand, the Republicans do, every American deserves access to health care. That's why we have Medicaid for the poor. The poor have Medicaid. The working poor is what we're talking about here to make it accessible to them, affordable to them. And we are committed to that, and I do know we're going to do a much better job and what Obamacare has done it has now shown to be too expensive without good coverage.

CAMEROTA: We look forward to hearing your plan as soon as it comes together. Congressman Collins, thank you very much.

COLLINS: Good to meet with you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: You too.

CUOMO: That was a great interview that shows the complexity of this problem. And just one answer of his really frames the whole thing for you. To hear a Republican say, "You know, the ACA only covers about 10 percent of Americans." They would have never said that before they owned this problem. They used to make it sound like everybody was covered. They have huge problems. More choice and less cost, that's going to be something to see how they figure that out.

[07:15:25] Now something that's making it even harder is this new battle over Planned Parenthood. Speaker Ryan said when we do our first budgeting bill we're going to take money away from Planned Parenthood.

Speaker Ryan said, "Yes, when we do our first budgeting bill, we're going to take money away from Planned Parenthood."

How is the nonprofit organization going to fight back? How can this complicate the overall battle in Congress? We have Planned Parenthood's executive vice president joining us next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speaker Ryan, can you tell me how and when you're going to pass legislation to defund Planned Parenthood?

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, Planned Parenthood reconciliation would be in our reconciliation bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right. There it is. House Speaker Paul Ryan vowing to strip federal funding for Planned Parenthood, tying it to the repeal of Obamacare. The nonprofit group is determined to fight the move, but with Republicans controlling Congress in two weeks, the White House, what can they do?

[07:20:04] Joining us now is Dawn Laguens. She's the EVP, the executive vice president of Planned Parenthood.

You say yourself the fight is on. How do you fight when all of the sides are against you?

DAWN LAGUENS, EVP, PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Chris, you know, I'm always glad to come on and talk about the amazing services that Planned Parenthood provides to 2.5 million women in this country, and unfortunately, today to talk about how those services, birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment are threatened by Paul Ryan and members of Congress. And we are going to fight back, because people are relying on us, as they have for 100 years.

CUOMO: One of the things that makes this interesting, because this issues breaks down on one word: abortion. That's what this is about for the conservative base. This is something they want to deliver for their base. They see you as the biggest provider of abortion in the country. And that's all that they need to know in terms of satisfying their base.

But you did an interesting survey, and let's put up the numbers. Those who are going to vote for Donald Trump -- this was before the election -- found that 48 percent of those likely voters support federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

What do you think the disconnect is there, that people who said they were going to vote for Trump, you know, so assume they're to the right, almost half of them said fund Planned Parenthood; and yet this is such a priority for the political right, defunding Planned Parenthood?

LAGUENS: I think most Americans think it's absurd that here we are in the first days of the new year; and Paul Ryan isn't talking about a jobs bill or a terrorism safety bill. He's talking about taking away healthcare from millions of Americans, many of whom voted for Donald Trump and who come to Planned Parenthood. And I've talked to many of these voters, and they absolutely had no idea that that was going to be the first thing to come to the fore. And of course, they're thinking already their healthcare through the ACA, their healthcare that they get through Planned Parenthood, is at risk.

And let's just talk for one minute about the utter hypocrisy and they say they want to reduce abortion but yet they would cut birth control access for millions. They want to help women's healthcare, but they would take away cancer screenings that millions of women rely on. This is the kind of two-faced political hypocrisy Americans hate.

CUOMO: All right. So let's get some context to the realities. How much money are we talking about? What would it do to Planned Parenthood if you don't have it? And how much of those essential services that you're talking about that you provide to Americans.

LAGUENS: When we talked about defunding Planned Parenthood, I always like to say Planned Parenthood does not get a Publisher's Clearinghouse check from the government.

Planned Parenthood, like every other healthcare provider, is reimbursed very little for the services that we provide. These preventative health services. Birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment. And as we have all talked about this funding doesn't actually have anything to do with abortion.

So what we know is 50 percent of Planned Parenthood health centers are located in underserved areas of this country. That it is women in rural areas, women of color who were going to be affected by these cuts; and Planned Parenthood is a vital part of the safety net in this country for healthcare.

CUOMO: Two quick questions. One, can you exist without the federal reimbursement. Well, Planned Parenthood has existed for 100 years. And we are not going to go away, but will we be able to serve these millions of patients who need our services? Not if we face defunding as has been discussed.

LAGUENS: If you want to fight and you're going to fight on the basis of the numbers, here's your main challenge. You say 3 percent of our overall services go to abortion. The opposition says they're playing funny money at Planned Parenthood. It's not only 3 percent.

CUOMO: They're more than that, and they use whatever money they get to fund whatever they want. So they're not keeping their books in a way that tells the real story. Can you rebut that presumption?

LAGUENS: Well, this is more of the fact-free zone that we seem to be living in today. Years and years of, quote, "studies and every other thing shows that Planned Parenthood is one of the most trusted, honored organizations in this country well-known for the quality of our care and absolutely proven to be operating 100 percent under the law.

And so these are these outrageous charges that opponents made that have no validity. And 70 percent of Americans say they want Planned Parenthood to be supported, to be able to provide care. And by the way, that same 70 percent say protect Roe v. Wade. And that is what Planned Parenthood and all of our supporters are going to be standing up for and making known over the next few weeks.

[07:25:07] CUOMO: Well, we will cover this intensely, and for all the services you provide, it does come down to one. And we'll follow this throughout. You're always welcome on the show to make your side of the case. Dawn Laguens, thanks very much.

LAGUENS: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: We will.

What do you think about this? Tweet us, @NewDay, or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well, with all the talk of Russia meddling and hacking, how prepared is the U.S. for cyber warfare? Next, we will speak to a filmmaker who explored the cyber threat in his latest documentary. You want to see this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The broadest context, it is an act of war. But you respond differently to different acts of war. Espionage is an act of war. Fits the definition of an act of war, but it doesn't mean that all of a sudden, you start shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Senator John McCain, talking about America's new battlefield: cyber warfare. So how prepared are we to do battle? You've got Alex Gibbon, a documentary filmmaker. His latest film, "Zero Days," deals with that cyber threat. And you've got David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for "The New York Times," and he appears in "Zero Days." Good to have you both, gentlemen.