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Trump Slams Ruling on Sanctuary Cities; WH Officials to Brief Senate & House Today on N. Korea; How do Trump Voters Feel Now? Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired April 26, 2017 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICK MULVANEY, DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT: Yes. We informed the Democrats yesterday that we were not going to insist for now on bricks and mortar.
[06:30:03] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trump's budget director also flatly rejecting a Democratic demand that subsidies for Obamacare be included in the spending bill.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Is the president willing to go look with that?
MULVANEY: No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: As negotiations continue, House Republicans, again, trying to revive the issue of repealing and replacing Obamacare. Late last night, there were some Republicans who drafted an amendment to try to bring moderates and conservatives together at the center of that legislation of that amendment. Again, that's the issue whether or not insurance companies will be required to cover those with preexisting conditions, and that, of course, a nonstarter for many moderate Republicans -- Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. That is a big one. So, we will see how they cobble that together.
Suzanne, thank you very much for that reporting.
So, three executive orders now halted by federal judges across the country. President Trump is tweeting about it this morning. Who will be victorious in the battle between the president and the judiciary? We discuss with Jeffrey Toobin next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:56] CAMEROTA: President Trump slamming the ruling that halts his sanctuary cities order. He tweeted moments ago, "First, the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban, and now it hits again on sanctuary cities. Both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court."
"Out of our very big country with many choices, does everyone notice that both the ban case, meaning the travel ban, and now the sanctuary cities case is brought in..." It is a cliffhanger.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We suspect he is going to finish that tweet by saying that they're forum shopping. They're looking for a place that was convenient here.
Let's discuss. We got Jeffrey Toobin back, CNN senior legal analyst, and a former federal prosecutor.
Let's assume that that is what it is, and when the president finishes it, we'll report to you what he says in actuality. But the idea of forum shopping here and elsewhere, what do you make of it?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, there is certainly an element of that going on. That's what lawyers do. They try to find the jurisdiction, the judge that is most --
CAMEROTA: Sympathetic.
TOOBIN: Congenial. Sympathetic to them.
When Republicans wanted to challenge President Obama's immigration executive order, they went to a conservative judge in Brownsville, Texas.
CAMEROTA: OK. So --
TOOBIN: Both sides do this.
CAMEROTA: Let me ask you this. You mean, you have read what the executive order was that President Trump wants on sanctuary cities if it had gone to Brownsville, Texas, it.
In other words, would any judge have stopped this, or is this because of the particular district that it went to?
TOOBIN: You know, I think that's a tough question, and I don't really know the answer. I mean, this is not a simple legal issue. This issue of strings attached to federal money is something that has come up many times in front of the courts.
The big Supreme Court decision on this is actually about when the federal government said you have to -- you can't get federal highway money unless you raise the drinking age to 21. Again, strings attached to federal money. They said that was OK because it was related. It has to be -- basically the rule is that it -- that if you attach strings, it has to be on a related subject, and those are sometimes harder to find.
CUOMO: But also, there is a little bit of relevance to being out there in the Ninth Circuit on these because you are looking at sanctuary cities. And you have a couple of the biggest ones --
TOOBIN: Yes, where are they, right?
CUOMO: But, you know, politically, Trump could be on strong ground here, because sanctuary cities, one, there is a great deal of misinformation and misperception. That name alone, sanctuary cities, plays to political hot talk on it, people don't like sanctuary cities within Trump's base. Does that give him leverage?
TOOBIN: I don't think it's just within the base. I think that the idea that the city can defy the federal government is troubling to a lot of people.
Now, if you look at what the cities actually do, it's not like people -- they give carte blanche to violate the law. It is about whether they will report certain kinds of immigration to the federal immigration authority. It's not a sanctuary in the sense that you can violate the law.
CUOMO: In what other situation do you have where a city or municipality enforces federal criminal law?
TOOBIN: Rarely. Almost never. But there is --
CUOMO: It doesn't get said that often.
TOOBIN: There is often coordination between local government and --
CUOMO: Let me say there is now. The argument of the chiefs is actually somewhat of a practical one-on-one level, which is, look, I'll give you whoever you want, but you gives take too look. You don't give me the correct paperwork --
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: The police rely on some of these folks, so we don't want to make them enemies.
TOOBIN: Exactly, all those are plausible arguments, but as Chris was saying too, Trump's base feels like, hey, you know, if you want to take federal money, you are going to honor the president's wishes. That's not a crazy argument either.
CAMEROTA: The White House also suggests that this is the work of activist judges. These are judges with an agenda and that they are unilaterally making decisions about national security.
[06:40:00] TOOBIN: I -- you know, judges do everything unilaterally. That's what it means to be a judge.
You know, I don't think Judge Orrick who is a distinguish federal judge, you know, woke up in the morning and thought, how am I going to interfere with the Trump administration's, you know, agenda broadly? These judges have different legal philosophies.
You know, the difference between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas is not that one is good and one is bad, is that it is a different way of going about being a judge. These ideological differences are real. And, you know, it just matters who's on the federal bench.
CUOMO: Now, the president is upping the Trumpiness. He finished his tweet and he said, "Brought in the Ninth Circuit". So, he was talking about forum shopping. But then he says, "Has terrible record of being overturned, close to 80 percent. They used to call this judge shopping, messy system."
This is another piece of misinformation. What is the reality about how often this circuit is overturned as a function of the number of cases that it has?
TOOBIN: Right. Well, I mean, I don't know where the 80 percent number comes from, but it is true that the Ninth Circuit has been reversed many times by the United States Supreme Court.
CUOMO: Yes.
TOOBIN: Those more liberal judges out there, there are some in particular that --
CUOMO: But there is a caveat on that percentage of why it gets overturned. There is a volume issue on cases that go up there also, and what they get overturned on and it's not as simple.
TOOBIN: And one thing most people don't realize is that most times -- not always, but most times when the Supreme Court takes a case, they reverse it. If they agree, they wouldn't necessarily --
CUOMO: And because it's such a big circuit, with so many cases, and it is -- it's a very respected circuit, the ninth circuit. That's going to happen where.
TOOBIN: It's also not all liberal judges. There are conservative judges on the ninth circuit. It's a very big circuit. I believe there are 30 or 40 judges on the Ninth Circuit.
CUOMO: To be fair, the president is not the fist president to go after a judge for disagreeing with him.
TOOBIN: And I think he has every right to do so.
CAMEROTA: There you go. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you very much for all of the analysis. Great to have you.
CUOMO: All right. To the North Korean situation, obviously, a tense situation. The U.S. and South Korea conducting military drills. How will Kim Jong-un respond? We are inside North Korea, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:46:11] CAMEROTA: Something unusual is happening today. The White House will host the entire Senate for a briefing with the president's top military brass and secretary of state about North Korea. The meeting comes as the U.S. and South Korea team up for joint military drills stirring up even more friction with the North.
CNN's Will Ripley is live in Pyongyang, North Korea. He is the only western TV journalist there.
What's the latest, Will?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, North Korea putting on its own military drill. In fact, they are claiming this is their largest military drill ever preceded over by their supreme leader Kim Jong-un. You're talking about 300 pieces of long range artillery, bombers, submarines, and huge masses of troops. We don't know if the number is in the hundreds or thousands, but there were a lot of soldiers out there.
And I was told by a North Korea government official who was given rare authorization to speak to CNN on the record just a short time ago that this entire drill was in direct response to what North Korea considers provocative behavior by President Trump.
And they also told me that even though North Korea has not yet conducted its sixth nuclear test, the delay has nothing to do with mounting international pressure from the Trump administration, the possibility of stricter penalties from China. They say they will conduct more nuclear tests when the time is right for them -- something that we'll have to watch on the ground here very closely -- Chris.
CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much, Will. Appreciate it.
So, big news from the baseball world. It looks like Derek Jeter, the Yankee legend, is going to go from the dugout to the owners box.
Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report".
Where he might do that and with whom he might do that, some eyebrow raisers.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Chris. You know, the future of hall of famer going to join forces with former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush to buy the Miami Marlins.
According to multiple reports, Jeter and Jeb's group has won the bid to buy the team. The price tag? $1.3 billion. Now, it's not a done deal by any means. The sale now must be approved by 75 percent of Major League Baseball's owners.
Now, Jeb, though, following in his brother former President George W. Bush's footsteps as he was once part owner of the Texas rangers, and according to the reports, Jeb would be the controlling owner of the marlins.
All right. It's only April, but we may already have the play of the year in baseball. Check this out. Tied 2-2 in the seventh. Blue Jays Chris Coghlan charging home. And he's going to go airborne over St. Louis Cardinal catcher Molina. He is safe at the plate. The somersault landing right on the plate. Just incredible. Blue Jays win the game 6-5 in 11 innings.
And, Alisyn, I'll tell you what, I don't think you're ever going to see a greater way to avoid a tag than that in baseball.
CAMEROTA: I have done that too, but it was about accident.
SCHOLES: Oh, yeah?
CAMEROTA: Yeah.
Andy, thank you very much.
SCHOLES: All right.
CAMEROTA: All right. So, how are President Trump's voters in the heartland feeling about his first 100 days? We went there to find out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:52:47] CAMEROTA: As we approach President Trump's 100 day milestone, CNN is crisscrossing the country to talk to voters to get their assessments of how he is doing so far.
Martin Savidge spoke with Trump's red state supporters as part of our special series "Red, Purple Blue, First 100 Days".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ashville, Alabama, the sun's been up for three hours and Greg Weston's been up for six. He's a farmer. What he grows, he and his wife, Brandi, sell on an old gas station on the edge of town.
Around here, the only thing redder than the maters is the politics. The county where Greg and Brandi live voting 89 percent for Trump.
(on camera): How do you think Trump is doing?
GREG WESTON, FARMER: I think he's doing good.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): They like Trump even though his first actions haven't helped really them. Trump's tough immigration talk has made it harder for Greg to find migrant workers to harvest his crops.
G. WESTON: (INAUDIBLE) you're in trouble.
SAVIDGE: Then, there's Trump's efforts to replace Obamacare, which Greg and Brandi are on.
(on camera): Why do you like about -- why do you like it?
G. WESTON: Well, I pay $88 a month for me and my wife, where I was like, before Obamacare come in, I spent like $660.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Obamacare is working so well, Brandi feels guilty. She says she knows people who can't afford their private insurance or they can't get insurance at all. She's OK with Trump's efforts to replace it.
BRANDI WESTON, FARMER: It still doesn't make sense to pay so little and still the poor people get nothing.
SAVIDGE (on camera): You think you should pay more?
B. WESTON: Yes. In other words, yes.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): In Birmingham, it's also another long day for Quinton Posey, a cab driver. In the past, he's voted Democratic. But in 2016, voted Trump.
QUINTON POSEY, TAXI DRIVER: The thing about a businessman is there is action, and it's not policy.
SAVIDGE: Black Trump voters are rare in the South, only about 9 percent. Quinton's even more rare since he is black and gay.
(on camera): One hundred days in, how do you feel he's done?
POSEY: One hundred days in, I'm not pleased.
SAVIDGE: Really?
POSEY: I'm not pleased.
[06:55:00] SAVIDGE: What don't you like?
POSEY: He's a little too brash. Is that the word?
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Quinton hasn't seen as much change as he expected and he worries about what a Trump budget might cut.
(on camera): I mean, do you wish you hadn't voted for him?
POSEY: I don't wish I had because -- I mean, according to the alternatives, I don't have any regrets.
SAVIDGE: Right, you were not going to vote for Clinton?
POSEY: I'm not going to vote for Clinton.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): In Des Moines, Iowa, I find another surprise named Alberto Alejandre, a 32-year-old public school teacher who teaches Spanish to inner city kids.
(on camera): Who did you vote for this go around?
ALBERTO ALEJANDRE, SCHOOL TEACHER: I voted for Trump.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Born in Mexico, he became an American through an amnesty program in the '80s. Yet voted for a president who has called Mexicans criminals and threatens mass deportations.
ALEJANDRE: Here we are, 100 days after he was sworn in, and he has not acted against innocent, undocumented workers.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Some would disagree, but what's certain is that Alberto feels good about the administration so far, including on immigration.
ALEJANDRE: Being in America, to begin with, isn't a right. It's a great privilege.
SAVIDGE: Madison County, Iowa, famous for its bridges and home to a man many people feel personifies America, John Wayne.
Brian Downes knew the dude and found similar qualities in the Donald when he met Trump at a campaign event.
BRIAN DOWNES, TRUMP VOTER: Meeting him, that made a huge difference. Yes, made a huge difference, because he's somebody who we really felt like one of us. I had that feeling.
SAVIDGE: The big campaign issue for Brian was the same as Alberto.
DOWNES: Borders, immigration, and I think that national security is all part of that.
SAVIDGE: And like Alberto, Brian is pleased by Trump so far.
DOWNES: I think he's doing great.
SAVIDGE: And he also admits that Trump's had to deal with a bit of a learning curve.
DOWNES: And he has as much has admitted, I didn't know it was going to be this complicated.
SAVIDGE: From the birthplace of John Wayne, to a scene right out of the old west.
John Platini's (ph) family has been raising buffalos since the '60s. Today, the Durham ranch has more than 3,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're a great story. I mean, they have a great comeback story, you know?
SAVIDGE: Wyoming may be the Cowboy State, but here, coal is king.
But a King Kong scale, Wyoming produces 40 percent of America's coal, dwarfing West Virginia and Kentucky. There's also oil, natural gas, and wind.
MAYOR LOUISE CARTER-KING, GILLETTE, WYOMING: We are the energy capital of the nation.
SAVIDGE: Here, if you're not mining or drilling, you're selling to those who do. This past election, only one issue really mattered: jobs and energy. Yes, that's two but in Wyoming, they're one and the same.
Jeff Dale runs a business running industrial generators. He voted for Trump saying Democrats were anti-energy.
JEFF DALE, BASIN ELECTRIC POWER: The path that we were on was definitely crippling this industry. So, there are too many regulations and too many hurdles.
SAVIDGE: That could explain why Wyoming was the reddest state of all.
Michael Wandler's family owned business has been repairing monster size mining machinery for decades. He voted for Trump and says things have been improving ever since.
MIKE WANDLER, L & H INDUSTRIAL INC.: Business is better now. We had our worst year since 2008 last year. It's better now. We feel like it's going to be 10 percent better, maybe 20 percent better this year.
STACEY MOELLER, COAL MINER: A spot at the table.
SAVIDGE: Stacey Moeller is a single parent, a grandmother, and a coal miner. She operates a P&H 4100 electric shovel, that's larger than her house.
(on camera): One mistake and you really could do a lot of damage.
MOELLER: Yes, yes. We don't make mistakes.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): She also voted for Trump, even though she was reviled by his words and actions toward women.
MOELLER: And I was offended by his words about women, but it was not about me. It was about the people I work with, and the people I love. And I had to make a choice that was bigger than me, so I did.
SAVIDGE: For Stacey and all the voters I talked with, Trump was not a perfect candidate and is not a perfect president. They voted for him believing he would make their lives better and 100 days later, they still do.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Wyoming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: All right. A good look at what's going on in America.
Hey, international viewers, thank you for watching. For you, "CNN NEWSROOM" is next.
For our U.S. viewers, we're going to talk with a senator about why he says he's proud of President Trump's first 100 days. Let's get after it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Trump administration's arguments were not legally plausible. The court sided with us on every substantive issue.
CUOMO: The president attacking the court ruling on executive order that would cut funding to sanctuary cities.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unconstitutional political threats cannot take away our rights. And they certainly can't still our tax dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanctuary cities are unilaterally deciding not to enforce federal law.
REPORTER: Do you believe that Michael Flynn broke the law?
REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R-UT), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: As a former military officer, you simply cannot take money from Russia, Turkey or anybody else.
