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U.S. Bans Devices Larger Than Smartphones on Some Flights; Trump's Health Care Promises Vs. Reality; USA Advances to World Baseball Classic Final. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 22, 2017 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We are following some breaking news right now. North Korea test firing another missile. This one exploded within seconds of launch. U.S. officials say this happened on the country's east coast and they are working with South Korea to determine what type of missile was used and why it failed. This comes four days after Pyongyang boasted that it was testing a new rocket engine, which it called, quote, "a great leap forward" in its missile program.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Recent intelligence finds an al Qaeda affiliate was honing techniques for hiding explosives in batteries of electronic devices like laptops. So, now, the U.S. and the U.K. are banning those devices on some flights, but only from certain areas the Middle East and Africa.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live from the Pentagon with more.

I got to tell you, the write through was scary in terms of the incendiary capabilities they were looking at. But why those areas?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there the a lot of concern in certain areas about these airports. Let's put up a list where the impact is coming from. And it's growing -- the list of airports, the list of countries.

The concern is that terrorists could somehow get into, ground crews could get devices past airport screenings, that these airports in these places may not have the screening technologies and the security in their crews that are satisfactory to the United States. I think we can also show you 50-plus flights a day now affected by this.

And what we don't know right now is whether it will grow further, whether other countries will be added. The U.K. and the U.S. stepping into this now and restricting flights.

So, what is the threat? Well, the U.S. believes that there is both new intelligence and existing intelligence about terror groups trying to put explosives into batteries on items like laptops. So, they are safer, the U.S. says, if those laptops go into the baggage hole and you can't have some kind of manual detonation of a device in mid- flight. But all the information on this still emerging, still a lot to learn about what really led the U.S. to take this step -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That is complicated on many levels. Barbara, thank you for the reporting.

Well, President Trump swore that he would repeal and replace Obamacare. So how does the new GOP plan compare to Mr. Trump's campaign promises? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:20] CUOMO: All right. President Trump's political capital on the line ahead of a critical vote tomorrow on the GOP's health care bill. How does their plan compare to the health care promises the president made before he took office?

And one "Washington Post" interview, days before the inauguration, you may remember, the president saying this, "We're going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. That's not going to happen with us."

Except it is under the bill before the GOP right now.

Let's discuss with CNN political commentator and host to "The Ben Ferguson Show", Ben Ferguson, and CNN political commentator and former Ohio state senator, Nina Turner.

We start with you, Nina, on this. This is a battle at this point about coverage, actual health care, for those who can't afford it either up in their 50s before they get to Medicare or down when they're raising families and poor. What do you think about the president's ability to sell this bill to the GOP?

NINA TURNER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Chris, I wish he wouldn't sell it. I wish he would take a step back. Because there is a difference between what is actually in this bill and what Mr. Trump sold to the American people while he was campaigning. And the CBO has made it very clear that 14 million Americans in this country by next year will lose their health care insurance and up to 24 million by 2026.

That is not what the president said. And it seems to me that this is more about Republicans being true to their word about repealing Obamacare than it really is about securing health care for all Americans in this country. And they need to slow it down and walk this back. Lots of people are going to be hurt by this proposal.

CUOMO: Brother Ben, putting the merits of the actual bill aside for a moment, I'm talking about his ability to sell it. We keep hearing from lawmakers who are on the fence or saying that they're leaning no on this, that they don't see Trump as on the same page with them when it comes to health care. They don't see him as an expert when it comes to health care policy.

How much will comments that he made that were popular with a lot of people during the campaign about I'm going to keep everybody covered, I don't care what they say? How could that affect the dialogue now?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It certainly could affect the dialogue. But I think what you see now, you are seeing pretty much a grand debate and bargaining on both sides. I mean, there is one thing, which is, what does the president want and what can you get passed and where the you get the votes?

And I think you are seeing some of the Republicans in the Freedom Caucus saying, hey, we want more reform, we want more things in this bill, we're not just going to lay down here on Thursday.

[06:40:03] You are going to give us more. I mean, this is really the art of the deal playing out, except this time the book is actually being used against Donald Trump. And there is what he's good at.

But let's also be clear about something here. You just heard the CBO numbers of 14 million Americans would lose health care coverage. That's not accurate. What the CBO said was there will be people, a lot of people, millions that will choose purposely not to purchase health care because the penalty and the tax will go away.

So, we need to be careful about this and be honest, look, it's not as if people will be thrown off of their health care.

CUOMO: Right.

FERGUSON: There are individuals who are going to say, hey, I'm going to be irresponsible. I'm going to roll the dice. I'm going to choose not to purchase health care.

There is also the second part of this when people say, well, the president needs to slow down here and realize he's going to hurt a lot of people. There are already Americans hurt by Obama care, which will implode if nothing is done. Many Americans have health coverage right now --

CUOMO: Right.

FERGUSON: -- that is meaningless to them unless they have a catastrophic emergency.

I'm one of them. We -- my family is on Obamacare. I buy on the exchange. Our plan is meaningless until there's $13,000 out of our own pocket.

So I basically don't have health care until $13,000. Who care what is the card looks like? It's worthless.

CUOMO: That's true, a high deductible certainly pitches.

But, Nina, look, this is a hard issue because it's filled with misinformation. Ben is right, there are a lot of people who in lieu of the mandate, won't take care. They're put in the calculus by the CBO. But he is ignoring the fact that they also say that millions of people who need their Medicaid money given to them with the Medicaid cuts will lose. TURNER: That's right. That's right.

CUOM: Both parts are true.

The other part here, though, Nina, is, again, I want to put up there what the president had been saying. A lot of which you guys should have been okay with: insurance for everybody, that's become the main issue. Cheaper plans, lower premiums. The question with that was always, how? Because we don't see how that will happen with this bill.

TURNER: Right.

CUOMO: No changes to Medicaid. That was the huge one, he wants to leave entitlements alone, then there is the across state lines false promise called Phase 3. We will deal with that another day.

But Democrats could have gotten behind all three of these. They're just not in this bill.

TURNER: No, they're not. And to the point, you know, again, there is flesh and blood tied to this. There is no doubt that Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act needed to be fixed.

But what the Republicans are proposing will devastate millions of Americans, so he can be flippant about how he's framing this. But I've talked to people all across the country who have literally said that their loved ones will die unless they have some type of strong health care.

Now, I mean President Trump did campaign and said he was going to make it better and throwing millions of people off Medicaid, we are talking poor people, Chris. We're talking about disabled people. And we're talking about --

FERGUSON: He's not throwing people off Medicaid.

TURNER: That is not what they voted for.

FERGUSON: Chris, that's just not accurate.

President Trump said he is going to change, he said everybody was going to have health care in the country. Bill as proposed does none of the above.

CUOMO: OK, quick though, and, Ben, I got to go. A quick point for you.

FERGUSON: This is the sad part about this debate. You just had people that were going, that are terrified after what they we heard, I'm going to die and people are going to be thrown off Medicaid, millions of them are going to die.

TURNER: Well, no different than Governor Palin talking about death panels.

FERGUSON: That is not accurate. That's not accurate. Let me finish.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: That is not accurate. No, that is not accurate. The numbers do not support your claim.

CUOMO: Why are they inaccurate? Let him make his points.

Ben, finish your point.

FERGUSON: First off, you got the Freedom Caucus which is also and many congressman that helped the legislation that will give bigger subsidies to people that are older, on these issues, on Medicaid, we saw that just put into the bill. The idea that you are going to die because of this is absurd, give me a direct example of an individual where if this passes, they automatically pull the plug on them and they die because they don't have some coverage.

That is just a lie and fearmongering and it's said that you are doing that.

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: -- the people who said that to me are lying about their circumstance. So, now you --

FERGUSON: I would say they have misinformation.

There is not a doctor out there that is saying this. If there is through what you are claiming, doctors would be coming out all over the country saying --

TURNER: The College of American Physicians say this is the worst plan, that this plan will hurt health in this country --

CUOMO: All right. Let's --

TURNER: That's the American College of Physician, they just said that.

CUOMO: Let's leave the debate there. There is no question that there are people who are coming out saying that if you pull care away from certain patients and categories, it could have dire effects on them. But there is certainly politics played on both sides. Let's see what happens when they take this vote.

Ben, Nina, thank you very much.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris.

Ahead, Press Secretary Sean Spicer sacrificing his own credibility by standing by the president's claim, even those that are demonstrably false. For instance, wiretapping. We dig deeper on what's going on with Sean Spicer. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:48:40] CAMEROTA: So, now, the White House is weighing in on Tom Brady's lost and found Super Bowl jersey.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

Yes, Brady's jersey was allegedly taken by Mauricio Ortega who was the director of popular tabloid newspaper in Mexico. He's resigned from his post but still has not commented on the allegation.

But White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer did have fun with the press about the jersey finally being recovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And, by the way, I'm very happy that the individual in the press corps who took Tom Brady's jersey, that has been returned properly. Another bad on the press, but we've righted that wrong. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. This is a pick of Brady's Super Bowl 51 jersey that was recovered. It was sent out by Mexico's attorney general. Brady's jersey from Super Bowl 49 and what is believed to be Von Miller's helmet from Super Bowl 50 were also found in Ortega's home.

All right. For the first time ever, Team USA will be playing the championship game of the World Baseball Classic. They beat Japan 2-1 last night in L.A. to advance to the championship. The U.S. will now play Puerto Rico in that championship game tonight at Dodgers Stadium. Puerto Rico undefeated in this year's tournament.

And, Chris, this is the fourth World Baseball Classic. Amazingly, the U.S. has then finished better than fourth. So, we've already beat that.

[06:50:00] Hopefully, we bring home the title tonight.

CUOMO: I was reading about that. I am surprised by that.

I'm also surprised by the uniforms, don't love them. Don't love them at all. Also surprised that Spicer missed the chance there. He had a twofer. He could have taken a chance at the press and Mexico, unusual.

Thank you very much, my friend.

SCHOLES: All right.

CUOMO: So, the podium in the briefing room is more like an island for White House press secretary Sean Spicer, I know you can't look at.

So, Spicer continues to defend the president's bogus claims. How bad is this for his own credibility? We discuss, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is under fire for saying loads of demonstrably false . Our next guest interviewed Spicer in January and asked what Spicer would do if the president wanted him to say something he knew was false.

Here's the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If it was demonstrably false, no, I would explain to the president that here's why this doesn't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, joining us now --

CUOMO: Unless -- I think we edited that.

[06:55:02] CAMEROTA: You are right. I needed to add that dangling participle.

Joining us now is Frank Sesno, author of "Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions and Spark Change". He's also the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

Frank, great to see you.

FRANK SESNO, AUTHOR, "ASK MORE": Good to see.

CAMEROTA: Let's remind everyone of sort of Spicer spectrum. Let's go back to the day after the inauguration, which was the first time we saw Spicer action saying something from the podium. This was the very first press briefing. It was so outrageous, it was demonstrably false, it was about crowd size, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period, both in person and around the globe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. That was January 21st, now, not much has changed, because you fast forward to this week and what Spicer said at the podium. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: There has been a discussion of Paul Manafort who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, Paul Manafort was the campaign chairman.

So, Frank, you've covered a million different presidential campaigns, seen lots of different press secretaries. Historically, how different, I mean, they all spin, so how different is what Spicer is doing?

SESNO: There's a big difference between spinning and misrepresenting reality and it's why when I interviewed Sean Spicer at George Washington University that was on January 30th, ten days after the inauguration.

I was determined to ask him at the time, how are you going to measure your own credibility? Do you understand that your credibility is the only currency you have and that that currency is going to go way past your time at the White House, and that when you stand out there at the podium, you are speaking to the press, but you are also speaking to the American people and the world and words matter? You we heard what he said, yes, I understand words matter.

But since then, we have seen a repeated case where Sean Spicer comes out and does Donald Trump's bidding. They are both falling into this trap of becoming caricatures of themselves on late night television where words don't matter or the words don't match with the reality around them. And that, you pay a very heavy price for over time, because that's how you lose credibility. It's how you become a caricature.

CUOMO: Is it lying? What is the impact on his ability to communicate? And can he get his respect back?

SESNO: You know, I'm very careful with the L word "lie." And there is a lot of talk about whether that gets thrown around too much or whatever in the media, because to me "lie" needs to be an intent. You know, you can falsely state something, you can be inaccurate, you can spin, you can exaggerate. Lying is when you know one thing and you deliberately say another. And there are cases where it certainly appears that that word fits.

In any case, when you do it repeatedly and we have seen that, you start creating this sense that you are just disconnected from reality, whatever you call it. When you go out to that podium, that's your business -- I mean, part of the business of the press secretary, the White House press secretary is to present for the president. He's got to advocate for the president. And that's a terrible place that Sean Spicer finds himself, this is a president who will tweet at whatever time in the morning that Barack Obama tapped his phones and there is absolutely no evidence to support that.

Used to be that the White House, the president and the others, were the first to insist on accuracy, even when they were spinning, even when they were making their political points. CAMEROTA: But, Frank, aren't those press briefings always a heavy

dose of political theater? You know, I don't even know what the reporters in there, they know that they're being spun. It's all this dance, right?

SESNO: That's right. Oh, yeah.

There is no press briefing like the White House press briefing. There are other agencies and department itself around Washington, for example, the State Department, the Defense Department. Those are serious policy-based briefings and the press secretaries or the spokesmen come out with written guidance.

The White House is or always has it. When I started covering in the 1980s, it was a circus. It was a smaller circus, it was a two-ring circus, now, it's a 12-ring circus. But it was a circus.

And reporters are trying to make their points, they come from all over in the ideological spectrum, the press secretary is standing his ground trying to make his points. But this -- this is something completely different. And the damage that this is doing to accuracy, truth, what the American people and those who are watching can they bank on what they're hearing, even knowing that it's part spin is not anything like we seen before.

CUOMO: Frank Sesno, appreciate the depth of perspective as always.

SESNO: It's my pleasure.

CUOMO: All right. Hey, thanks, to you, our international viewers for watching us here on NEW DAY. For you, CNN "NEWSROOM" is next.

For our U.S. viewers, it's a lot of news. Let's get after it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: President Trump was here to do what he does best, to close the deal.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thursday's crucial vote to finally repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are not the votes to pass this bill as it stands.