Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Trump's Budget Plan; Congress on Trump's Budget; Trump Addresses Congress; Jewish Center Bomb Threats; Helping Refugee Moms Adjust; Hero in Kansas Shooting Speaks Out. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 28, 2017 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:50] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It's time for "CNN Money Now." Chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us with a closer look at the big spending and big cuts in President Trump's new budget plan.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Budget math this morning. President Trump vows one of the biggest military buildups in American history. To do that, it will be big cuts from other government agencies. The budget comes in May, but here's the guidance sent to federal agencies to get ready, $54 billion more in defense spending, more money for law enforcement, and the president renewing calls for a big infrastructure build. Expect the states to have a bigger role there.

Where to cut? Foreign aid, the State Department and other federal programs and agencies. Sources at the EPA tell us they are bracing, you guys, for big cuts.

So how much money are we talk here? This is what the budget looks like. The government is set to spend more than $3 trillion to run the country this year. Social Security and Medicare together are the single biggest expense. That comes from this part of the dollar bill. President Trump doesn't want to cut those. So that means this is what's left. He's working with discretionary spending. That's the third of the budget over there in the green. That means half of all discretionary spending already goes to the military. More than half a trillion dollars.

So the president and the Office of Management and Budget, they've got to cut from all of this. Look, this is already defense. To pay more for defense, they're going to have to cut from here. That's a lot of different stuff. We're talking about big priorities here. The agencies are going to have to tweak their numbers. They hope to have that final budget, you guys, by May. But it gives you just an insight into just how hard it is going to be to balance those numbers without looking at entitlements.

CAMEROTA: Very helpful because those pizza slices would not satisfy my hunger.

ROMANS: No, they wouldn't.

CAMEROTA: That would be too much of a sliver right there.

ROMANS: Pizza and math together, I love that.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: You're a pizza talker. You don't eat a lot of pizza.

CAMEROTA: I eat a lot of pizza. I eat pizza almost every day.

CUOMO: The proof is in the thinness. I, obviously, eat a lot of pizza.

CAMEROTA: And pudding.

CUOMO: That's true. Chocolate.

How will President Trump sell Congress on this budget plan that we're hearing about and will they approve it? It may not be as simple as it sounds, so let's get "The Bottom Line" with CNN political analyst David Gregory.

We just had Steve King, Tea Party, deficit hawk, and he said, hey, I want to expand the military too, but it's got to be paid for. I want to see the cuts.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

CUOMO: I like tax cuts, but I want to see how it's paid for. How big a challenge?

GREGORY: It is going to be a big challenge, right? I mean we've been saying all morning, are Republicans with the president and for how long? And when it comes to spending and the deficit, this is where there's going to be a battle. Paul Ryan has always wanted to reform the entitlements, particularly the Medicare program and Social Security. The president says he doesn't want to do that. So are they going to stay onboard? This is a blueprint that he's going to provide, but there are going to have to be some real details about where cuts are going to come and then how they're going to be paid for.

Look, the president wants to create jobs, wants to loosen regulation, wants to get a big tax reform bill through. To do all of that, which is the real recipe for potential success politically and perhaps economically, he's going to have to bridge these divides over spending and how -- how they're going to bust the budget. And I don't think the president has laid enough of a foundation yet to get this kind of conservative reform agenda passed. And I think that's what we're going to see the beginning of tonight is that friction.

CAMEROTA: So let's talk about that, David, about what we're going to see tonight, because this is a golden opportunity to lay out his vision, his plan, any specifics, or not -- GREGORY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: To the American public, to the entire American public, not just the people who go to his rallies and not just his base. What are you listening for?

GREGORY: Well, I'm -- look, I think he's been consistent about saying, this is what I campaigned on and this is what I'm going to do. He's not a typical politician, the president, but any good politician is going to do that and he's been true to his word. The reality has been, however, that the executions of some of these goals has been really chaotic, has been disorganized, has been divisive. So I think he may try to clean some of that up.

But I wouldn't expect, you know, bridges here to the Democrats or to those who oppose him. That seems completely inconsistent with his style, his temperament and his tone so far. I think the president, if you look at the people he's going to invite into the first lady's box, and all the rest, is going to really double down on fighting illegal immigration, fighting the threat that he sees from terrorists around the globe, and by trying to grow the economy. But it's still going to come back to how he's going to do it. Where does Obamacare fit into all of this? He talks about how complicated it is. It is complicated. It's always been for Republicans who want to take this entitlement away but also keep those provisions that are popular to a lot of consumers.

[08:35:24] CUOMO: Well, he opened himself up to criticism also by saying who knew it was that complicated.

GREGORY: Right.

CUOMO: That's part of the beef on him, right, is it's --

GREGORY: Right.

CUOMO: Easy to say, hard to do, when it comes to policy. So what is your guesstimate as to how long he wants to go tonight and how broad he wants to be in terms of message?

GREGORY: I think there -- I mean I think the message is going to be broad and he's got -- he's got a captive audience here. But, you know, I think the ultimate recipient, the ultimate audience here -- I just don't see evidence that the president wants to really bridge the divide that he talks about. He's about 44 percent in the approval rating, playing very much to his base. He and his team is wasting a lot of time, you know, with this kind of ethno-nationalism, economic nationalism, taking on the news media, all of which is a lot of noise and seems to detract from some of his core goals on, you know, having America win economically again.

So the audience has really got to be conservatives. And I think the key here to his success politically is whether conservatives stay onboard, whether Republicans in these key congressional districts that he carried stay with him. And you've got the specter of investigations about Russia and all of the rest clouding what he can actually do because, let's not forget, he is disorganized in the way he tweets and pays attention to various things off message. H's going to have to work to build a consensus around some of these big things he wants to do, regulation, taxes, immigration and the like.

CAMEROTA: All right, David, thank you very much for all of the analysis and "The Bottom Line."

GREGORY: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: All right, there's another wave of bomb threats to tell you about, these in Jewish centers around the country. What's being done to stop these? We have a live report for you next.

CUOMO: Will we hear about these tonight?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:17] CUOMO: Time now for the "Five Things To Know For Your New Day."

Number one, President Trump addressing Congress for the first time tonight. He's expected to focus on a new budget that hikes military spending, makes deep cuts at several other agencies.

CAMEROTA: Number two, the House Intelligence Committee agreeing to the scope of its investigation into alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The committee's Republican chairman rejecting calls for a special prosecutor.

CUOMO: Two women suspected of poisoning North Korean leader Kim Jong- un's half-brother are going to face murder charges in Malaysia this week. South Korean intelligence suggests the North's reclusive leader ordered the assassination.

CAMEROTA: Investigators are trying to determine what caused a small plane to crash into homes in a southern California neighborhood. Three people onboard died, two others suffered injuries.

CUOMO: SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealing two paying tourists have signed up for a mission around the moon. The unidentified duo expected to take flight late next year.

CAMEROTA: Hmm.

CUOMO: Hint, hint, their names rhyme with shmerota (ph).

CAMEROTA: And shomo (ph).

For more on the "Five Things to Know," you can go to newdaycnn.com for the latest.

CUOMO: All right, Jewish community centers and day schools, there's more bad news coming their way. A rash of bomb threats. At least a dozen states hit by this in one day. A disturbing rise in anti-Semitic attacks that includes vandals desecrating Jewish cemeteries.

We have the story with CNN's Brynn Gingras. She's taking us through it.

What do we see?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, we're not even just talking about bomb threats. That's what we're reporting on now. But there have been anti-Semitic incidents happening really all across the country. We have the schools, Anti-Defamation League offices, cemeteries. Right now these are all being targeted. Not once, but in some cases multiple times in the last two months.

Just yesterday, 20 incidents reported in one day. The latest one we heard about was last night in San Francisco. An ADL office had to be evacuated after the threat was called in and that was after a day of threats phoned into JCCs in 12 states.

Overall, take a look at what these groups are dealing with right now. Since January there have been 90 incidents at 73 Jewish-affiliated locations in 30 states. All of these have turned out to be false alarms. But even still, Governor Cuomo here in New York, he's ordered state police to help federal authorities. The FBI is also now involved in the probe into what happened at the Pennsylvania cemetery this weekend where at least 100 gravestones were toppled.

Now, the ADL has also sent out an alert to Jewish institutions all across the country to take a closer look at these bomb threat security protocols. And families, of course, guys, are adjusting their (INAUDIBLE) as well.

CUOMO: True. True.

CAMEROTA: The numbers are staggering (INAUDIBLE).

GINGRAS: It really is.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CUOMO: I wonder if the president's going to address it tonight. We will see.

So, he put himself in harm's way to try to stop a gunman that killed an Indian immigrant. You remember that story. His name is Ian Grillot. He was seriously injured in the confrontation. He's going to join us live, next.

CAMEROTA: Also, many refugees from various countries have settled in the U.S., of course, and one charity is helping mothers with young children adjust to life in America, in this "Impact Your World."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These women share a common experience of being displaced from their home countries with young children.

Refugee Family Literacy Program is a two generation program providing education for refugee mothers and their young children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could get hurt surprising someone like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children come to our school and participate in an early childhood development program so that when they start school someday they'll hit the ground running.

Mothers are upstairs learning English. Our students are from about 20 different countries.

HIA MAY, PROGRAM PARTICIPANT: I am from Burma. We fled in 2007. In Burma it's a government it's not good. It's not safe.

[08:45:06] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They didn't want to leave their home country. They left because they did not have any choice. That common experience transcends language. These women are able to support each other, sometimes in ways that even I can't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to look at the front page.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a misconception is that most refugees were uneducated and impoverished. Many refugees have strong education, strong skill sets, and so much to offer us in the United States. If we think of them as uneducated just because they don't know English, really, it's our loss.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: It's the crime that's getting a lot of attention, but not yet from the White House. On Wednesday a gunman opened fire in a bar in Kansas killing an immigrant from India and injuring his friend. Another man, Ian Grillot, was also shot trying to stop the shooter. The FBI is investigating this as a potential hate crime.

Ian Grillot joins us now from his hospital, along with his doctor, Lee Norman.

Gentlemen, thank you so much for taking time to be here.

Ian, we know that you're still recovering. We see you with your bandages and your splint still on. Can you just take us back through those moments. You were minding your own business at a bar. You were watching the Kansas game on TV. And then what happened?

[08:50:15] IAN GRILLOT, HERO IN OLATHE, KANSAS, SHOOTING: Well, we were sitting there, like you said, just watching the game and enjoying ourselves, having a few cold beers, just hanging out, catching up. And a gentleman came in and started acting out of line and he was escorted out of the bar. And he proceeded to come back about 20 or 30 minutes later. And that's -- that's when everything kind of changed. He opened fire, and it definitely was a life-changing event.

CAMEROTA: It was --

GRILLOT: (INAUDIBLE). CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, obviously, for everybody, you included. What was -- what was it about this gunman that got your attention and that got the attention of the bouncer that -- that sent him away? What was he saying?

GRILLOT: Well, honestly -- I honestly didn't hear too much of what he was saying. I just saw these gentlemen, and I had met up there a few times, and every time I was up there and seen them, I always tried to make them laugh and vice versa, they tried to make me laugh, say hey and they just -- they seemed a little distraught about the situation. So I had went up and tried to help them out and get the gentleman out of there. And then when he came back, it was all a little different.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GRILLOT: So it was just -- still a little hard to talk about sometimes on it all, but --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GRILLOT: Yes.

CAMEROTA: I understand, Ian, and I appreciate you trying to make it through it for us because I think that it's a really important story, not only what you did, but obviously what it means for the country.

So when the gunman came back and you saw -- well, I guess you just heard gunshots, and this -- here comes -- I mean one of the remarkable parts of this story, you took cover, you heard the gunshots, and as I understand it, you counted the gunshots. And when you believed that the gunman was out of bullets, you then approached and tried to take him down, but your calculation was wrong. What happened then?

GRILLOT: Well, after I had obviously miscounted a little bit, I tried to take him down. That's -- like you said, that's when he had turned on me and fired upon me. And, honestly, still, it's kind of been a little bit of a blur with everything. It's --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Well, doctor -- Dr. Norman, we see, obviously, that Ian is still in the midst of recovering. The bullet went through his hand, as we understand it, and fractured a vertebra in his neck. Can you just explain how it is possible that he is sitting next to you as -- doing as well as he's doing this morning?

DR. LEE NORMAN, UNIV. OF KANSAS HOSPITAL CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Well, it's a very remarkable story. And, you know, bullets don't necessarily take a straight line trajectory, and that's what happened with Ian, it went through his hand and then went into his body, made a right turn and hit his clavicle, some ribs, the vertebral body of his spine, fortunately missing his spinal cord, and then lodging in his left shoulder area. He had a collapsed lung and bleeding into his chest, so he had to have a chest tube, reconstructive surgery on his hand, his vocal cord is a little bit off, as you can hear from his raspy voice that we're trying to redefine as a sexy voice, and -- but he's just making great recovery.

CAMEROTA: Ian, "The Kansas City Star" editorial is calling for President Trump to speak out about this tonight at his address before Congress. I mean they want him to talk about how these two Indian men, the guys that you describe as just being, you know, friendly guys in a bar, were targeted by this gunman because she believed them to be Middle astern. Do you want to hear President Trump say something tonight?

GRILLOT: I would like to hear him address it because it is a very sensitive subject right now. And I think it should be addressed because there's a lot of people in mourning. And it's just -- it's a very sad subject, and the simple fact that nothing has been addressed about it at this time, it is saddening to see that because, like I said, there is a lot of people in mourning. It's happening all over the word. People are just emotional distraught about this entire situation. So it would be nice to have some kind of address about it and a little bit of closure for everybody in mourning and everybody struggling with this hard time right now.

CAMEROTA: The division in this country and elsewhere is a sad subject, but you are a beacon of light, Ian. Thank you for your heroism and for running towards the danger to try to stop it and to protect basically two strangers who you felt for. We wish you the speediest of recovery.

Dr. Norman, thank you very much for sharing all of this with us this morning.

[08:55:21] GRILLOT: You're welcome.

NORMAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Chris.

CUOMO: What a story.

All right, up next, Jimmy Kimmel is responding to the epic Oscar's mistake. How can he make this funny? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right, they're laughing at themselves. This time the Oscars giving late night comics plenty to work with. Envelope-gate.

CAMEROTA: Ahh.

CUOMO: I still think it should be #thesnatch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": except for the end it was a lot of fun. It was -- it went very well. We were chugging along. And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it turned into one of those Maury Povich paternity test shows where -- here's where the story starts.

WARREN BEATTY, ACTOR: And the Academy Award -- for best picture -- FAYE DUNAWAY, ACTRESS: You're impossible.

Come on.

"La La Land."

CONAN O'BRIEN, "CONAN": If you saw the card he was given to read, it was pretty confusing.

[08:59:52] BEATTY: And the Academy Award --

ON SCREEN TEXT: Moonlalalightland?

ON SCREEN TEXT: Denzel Washington.

BEATTY: For best picture --

DUNAWAY: You're impossible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And to Faye Dunaway