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New Day

Trump Vows to Cut Regulations, Threatens with Border Tax; Brady Downplays Friendship with Trump; Spicer: "Our Intention is Never to Lie to You". Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 24, 2017 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:27] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly nor'easter is pummeling several states with strong winds and heavy rain.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast.

What are you seeing, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Getting better. Unfortunately, the storm yesterday put down a lot of power lines and trees.

This weather is brought to you by Purina. Your pet, our passion.

And it did get intense in some spots. Three hundred and fifty flights were canceled if you add up LaGuardia, JFK and Newark yesterday, and already, about 50 cancelled from Boston to New York City this morning.

The snow is upstate. The snow is all the way into the Green Mountains of New Hampshire and into New England, the rain is still here. But the winds are still gusting.

Some spots, Boston right now, 46 miles per hour. So, it's not done yet. The snow is still going to come down later on today upstate and all the way through New England. By tonight, it goes away. It's completely gone. The winds will be 15.

Still breezy but not 50 like we were yesterday. The next storm comes in Thursday and Friday but it will be warmer. Won't make snow for New York City. It makes snow for the plains, but it will be 40 and rain in New York City. We'll take that compared to what you saw yesterday, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It was blowing around, no question about it, Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

CUOMO: No question about it, Chad. Thank you very much.

We have some breaking news. The U.K. Supreme Court ruling the British parliament must approve the U.K.'s departure from the European Union. This is a big deal. At most, it calls into question whether Brexit will happen and at minimum, it means Prime Minister Theresa May cannot start negotiations before the end of March. The supreme court also ruling the British government has no legal obligation to consult Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales before engaging in Brexit talks.

CAMEROTA: OK. You have to see this scary moment yesterday. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton collapsing during his annual state of the state address. The 69-year-old Democrat was about 40 minutes into his speech when he paused, reached for a bottle of water. He had begun slurring his speech and he slowly fell into the podium and fainted. Aides rushed to catch his fall. Fortunately, Governor Dayton recovered quickly, opting to go home instead of to a hospital.

CUOMO: EMTs cleared him but I hope that he takes and does due diligence of having some more tests on just so you can figure it out. They have a phenomenon called lock knee. If you are standing for a long time, that way talking, you can slowly lose blood flow and faint. But you got to be sure.

CAMEROTA: They also say, maybe he's dehydrated, we know how that goes. So, let's hope that he is on the mend and back at it soon.

CUOMO: All right. So, we're dealing with a fact and fiction situation. President Trump assuring CEOs he will roll back regulations on their corporations. But he says 75 percent. Is that a real number? He's also warning them there will be a price for leaving the United States, again, using a number, 35 percent. Going big can help in a campaign but can ruin a policy move.

We'll give you the realities, next.

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[06:37:12] CUOMO: President Trump at a White House meeting with CEOs of major U.S. companies repeating his campaign pledge to roll back corporate rules. But with the carrot comes the stick.

Here's a little sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be cutting regulation massively. Now, we're going to have regulation, and it will be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now. If you go to another country and you decide that you are going to close and get rid of 2,000 people or 5,000 people, if that happens, we are going to be imposing a very major border tax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Let's discuss the reality of these promises. We've got Javier Palomarez, CEO of the U.S./Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Timothy O'Brien, executive editor of Bloomberg View and author of "Trump Nation".

Javier, when you hear 75 percent, but regulation will be just as good now, does that make sense?

JAVIER PALOMAREZ, CEO OF U.S./HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Well, listen, here's what I do know, Chris. When President Obama took office on Friday, the federal registry had over 89,535 regs on the books. So, if he could cut only 25 percent, we would be thrilled.

By way of example, you look at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now, here's an agency that can unilaterally create its own regulations, enforce its own regulations, and punish those who don't follow its regulations -- unilaterally without congressional oversight. The net effect is that it has choke out small and community banks which are the very lifeblood of our small businesses in terms of lending.

So, any help he can give us in terms of lessening the regulatory hurdles would be sincerely appreciated by American small business.

CUOMO: All right. Let me try this again, though, Tim. I'm not saying that regulations can't be cut. I'm not saying that that's not something that's a concern to business. Seventy-five percent, does that wind up complicating what should have been a simple promise?

TIMOTHY O'BRIEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, BLOOMBERG VIEW: Well, the reason it's made is it's meant to be the offset to the border tax and to these other punitive trade measures that Trump is intending to take against U.S. companies who operate overseas. And he's saying, OK, that could be bad for you. Come back to the U.S. and we'll lower regulations and we'll lower the corporate tax rate. That will offset these other negativities. And that's actually bonkers.

CUOMO: Why?

O'BRIEN: Because the U.S. manufacturing peaked in the late 1970s. A lot of what Trump is arguing is ancient. Most of those jobs can't be brought back.

We're not losing jobs to globalization. We're losing mainly to technological innovation. Those jobs have been automated. So, any increase that you make around the tariff regimes or border tax is going to end into the profitability of companies to such an extent that deregulation or lower tax rate I don't think will offset those.

[06:40:07] CUOMO: Javier?

PALOMAREZ: You know, I think that you can go either way on that argument. The net effect of lowering the corporate tax rate by way of example, today, we rank like 189th in the world, where other countries, competing countries are somewhere around 15 to 25 percent, we're languishing around 34 to 35 percent.

(CROSSTALK)

PALOMAREZ: Any move in the right direction would help us.

CUOMO: Javier, just so people get the numbers right, you're talking about the nominal tax rate in the United States. But isn't the effective corporate tax rate right in that zone of 15 to 20 percent?

PALOMAREZ: You know, it depends which organization, which industry you are looking at. The net effect, though, is, we're not competitive on a global scale and we need to be. And so, having a president that fourth day into the job is talking about these types of things is very kind of encouraging to American small business.

CUOMO: And do you -- what do you think about the idea of jobs having been lost not to regulations and even wage prices, but that innovation is a reality and if you don't find a way to equip your workers for the new jobs, the new economies that are emerging, you are just making a promise you can't keep?

PALOMAREZ: You know, obviously that's going to be a challenge, but again, the fact of the matter that he's even addressing these issues, the fourth day on the job, is encouraging to us. How we get there is I think where the details lie and we can work through that. But the mere virtue of the fact that the man is focused on these types of things, this is where we need him to focus on -- on creating more jobs, allowing us to be a bit more competitive than we have been in the past.

We're excited about the fact that he's talking about the things that ultimately will help the economy, drive American jobs and help American small business. This is what we want our president to focus on.

CUOMO: I get the message line. I don't see the follow through. I get how cutting regulations can help businesses that exist right now. And maybe the means they'll even hire more, I get how a border tax might discourage somebody from leaving.

But I don't hear anything that's addressing this main point, Tim, which, not just you make but we hear it all time from economists, which is innovation matters. Nobody wants to deal with it because it's expensive and they don't have the answers to what the new jobs for the new economy is.

O'BRIEN: Because we're coming out of a political season that has misdiagnosed the problem. It was easy to score huge political points by saying, American workers, you are distressed.

We all recognize that. The American manufacturing class of workers is distressed. But Trump identified the problem as free trade and globalization. That's not the primary driver of the whole problem.

So, you know have this whole series of phony theories being put in place like border taxes, like getting rid of the TPP, et cetera, et cetera. That aren't going to address the core problem which is that technological innovation, which is a good thing, we're good at this in the United States, but it also has a negative effect on people who are left behind.

CUOMO: And, Javier, we give you that note of optimism, though. It is good to have somebody focused on making things better.

PALOMAREZ: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Let's see how it follows through.

Javier, please come back when we find out what the meat is on these bones and what the real numbers are so you can tell us if it's enough.

Tim, thank you as always.

PALOMAREZ: Thanks, my friend.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holding his first official briefing, after, of course, blasting the media's inaugural coverage. Our media expert is here to break it all down, ahead.

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[06:47:18] CAMEROTA: One day after leading the Patriots to another Super Bowl, quarterback Tom Brady is downplaying his friendship with President Trump.

Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report".

What's that about, Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you, Alisyn.

Well, here's the deal. On the eve of his inauguration, Donald Trump name dropped Tom Brady at a black tie dinner for donors. And Trump said the three-time Super Bowl MVP called on to congratulate him, even telling me he was feeling good before their big playoff game last weekend.

And Brady was asked about that phone call and he doesn't think his relationship with the new president is all that big of a deal.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: I have called him in the past. Sometimes he calls me. Sometimes I call him. For 16 years, you know, you know someone. You know, before, you know, maybe he was in the position he was in. He has been very supportive of me for a long time.

So, it's just a friendship. I got a lot of friends. So, I call a lot of people.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. Difference maker of the day, Grizzlies forward Zack Randolph is lighting up Memphis, literally. He made a $20,000 donation to help keep utilities connected for more than 100 families whose power was about to be turned off during this cold weather. And, yesterday, he -- personally he surprised two of the families and

look at the emotions, look at that happiness and gratitude. This is the 7th year Randolph has helped cover utility payments for families, guys. That's good stuff for Mr. Randolph.

CUOMO: It is. I wish it weren't necessary but it's good that he does it.

Coy, appreciate it as always.

WIRE: You're welcome.

CUOMO: The new White House press secretary tries to reset his relationship with the media but says press coverage of President Trump is demoralizing. Is that true? And if so, who is it demoralizing for and why? Next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:52:47] SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's an honor to do this. And, yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out. But our intention is never to lie to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holding his first official briefing on Monday. You remember, of course, that Spicer slammed the press over the weekend for accurately covering the crowd size at Mr. Trump's inauguration.

Let's discuss with CNN media analyst Bill Carter.

Bill, great to see you.

So, this was 79 minutes long, the longest of any first press conference in 16 years.

BILL CARTER, MEDIA ANALYST: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He called on 43 reporters, including CNN and all the traditional outlets.

CARTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: What jumped out at you?

CARTER: Well, I thought it was more professional than we saw initially. I thought it was a guy handling himself, you know, kind of apologetic about what he had done on Saturday.

CAMEROTA: Was he apologetic?

CARTER: A little bit. Our intention is not to lie. Things like that.

He backed away from some of the facts that he got wrong. I think he did -- he handled the question extremely well. Quick answers. Gave news which I think reporters really appreciate, but then he kind of under cut it with this whole thing about you know, if you guys weren't saying all these negative things, we wouldn't be so demoralized. And I though that was sort of -- it sounds whiney to do that.

CUOMO: Here it is. Judge for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: It's about a constant theme. It's about sitting here every time and being told, no. We don't think he can do that. He'll never accomplish that. He can't win that. It won't be the biggest. It's not going to be that good. The crowds aren't that big. He's not that successful.

The narrative and the default narrative is always negative and it's demoralizing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Are we more negative on Trump than on presidents past?

CARTER: I don't think so. I think every time a president does something, it's questioned, challenged. That's the job.

I think there's obviously -- maybe there's lingering questions from the campaign, and there's a lot of fractiousness. So, yes. People wondered whether or not he can be president. They doubted those.

But they overcame those doubts. That should be a badge of honor. Not demoralizes them.

[06:55:02] They should able to say, well, you doubted us before, wait until you see what we do this time. Instead of saying, oh, we're demoralized.

It seems counterintuitive. You succeeded. Why now doubt yourself? Why be insecure about it?

CAMEROTA: I'm also just worried about the proportion, because in the a 24-period that Chris and I were covering the inauguration, it was overwhelmingly uplifting, positive, we showed the excitement of crowds, and then to mention twice in 24 hours about the crowd size, maybe once, that they fixated on that.

Does that mean that anything negative, anything they perceive as negative, they don't want to hear?

CARTER: I think there are particulars things. If you said a policy thing isn't working, that might not be the same as saying you're now the biggest, the best, and the tops. That seems to affect Mr. Trump more than anything. When I was covering him, when he was on the "The Apprentice", he would

always say that the ratings were at the top, he was top rated show, even long after it wasn't a top rated show. It just seemed very important to him to be able to say that.

And I thought, nobody cared really. But now, it's sort of like -- you can't keep saying things that aren't factually true.

CUOMO: Well, look, the president of the United States deserves respect and that is something that bothers people on the left and those who didn't vote for him right now because they have made it personal instead of about the position.

I think that they have a point when they say the media is more negative. I think the media is more negative toward Trump than it was during a similar period with Obama, but I think there's a reason for that. I think that this president floods the zone through his own words or those of the surrogates around him with false and/or outrageous statements at a rate that is unheard of.

CARTER: Yes, well, that's certainly true. Every day, there's a new thing. In fact, he then said the same day this has gone on, that he didn't get enough votes because illegals voted. So, again, he brought out another thing that's completely has no evidence for it. Even if you don't think it's factually -- there's no evidence for it.

But also he's taken on the media. He's called them disgusting, and, you know, the most dishonest people on earth.

CUOMO: Called the heads of the intelligence agencies Nazis. You know, these are the things that would have been the worst that you've heard in this genre of political talk.

CARTER: Right.

CUOMO: And it's all happen in a compressed period.

CARTER: In a concentrated period of it and it continues. It seems to be daily there's something that arouses this kind of hostility.

CUOMO: I actually think we're doing them a favor overtime because we are self-selecting what stuff that you could go after, not to. We make that decision every day where something is said, where -- if it would have been somebody else, I can't believe he said this, let's go after it.

Because it's him, we choose to do things that are in the people's benefit even if there is something else to go after.

CARTER: In the campaign, it's a very effective thing, because he would top his previous statement with another thing and that wouldn't get covered anymore. The circus kind of moved on.

CAMEROTA: Something else that came out of the press conference that's an interesting development. They announced they are going to have four or five Skype seats for reporters outside of beltway. This is what was -- I mean, if you look at the postmortem, maybe everybody was too insular, maybe people were in their own echo chamber. So, now, you'll have somebody in Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio, and wherever else they choose.

What do you think?

CARTER: I think it's fine. It's acknowledgment of the way people work today. Of course, we've all used Skype. I've been on the air on Skype. It's something people are comfortable with.

Let's see who they pick and who they choose. It was also interesting to see who parsed out the questions yesterday, who got first attention and they probably will continue to do that, as long as they allow people to ask questions, I don't think there's a problem with that.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something else, the "SNL" writer who got suspended for talking about one of Trump's kids. The right move, enforce decency?

CARTER: Totally. That was an outrageous thing. You never take on the kid. It's a ten-year-old kid. You don't ever take that -- it's always been a rule. It was absolutely -- a juvenile like that.

CAMEROTA: Bill Carter, thank you. Great to talk to you.

CARTER: Good to be with you.

CUOMO: And thanks to our international viewers for watching. CNN "NEWSROOM" begins for you in moments.

But for our U.S. viewers, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Great thing for the American worker what we just did.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP ADVISOR: If anybody can achieve that, it's President Trump.

TRUMP: I'm talking about no tax, because if you stay here, there's no tax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't change his point of view on the crowd size.

SPICER: I believe that we have to be honest with the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president reiterated illegal ballot costs him the popular vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not an alternative fact. It's just a falsehood.

SPICER: It's time for Senate Democrats to stop playing political games. MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's my privilege to

welcome Mike Pompeo as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators are scrutinizing phone calls between Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least one of the calls came on the same day that the Obama administration announced sanctions on Russia.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY.