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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Kabul Suicide Attack; Republicans Scramble for Votes on Health Care Bill; Clinton Blames Sexism, Russia & FBI Chief for 2016 Loss. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 03, 2017 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:45] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news out of Afghanistan. ISIS claiming responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing, leaving eight people dead and more than two dozen injured. Officials say this blast which struck at the heart of rush hour near the U.S. embassy in Kabul and targeted a convoy of foreign troops. Three members of the international coalition suffered non-life- threatening injuries.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: There's an intense manhunt underway right now because two Chicago cops were shot in an apparent drive-by. The officers are just sitting in their cruiser. Two cars pulled up along side them and opened fire. One officer was shot in the arm, the other in the back. Police say they recovered a couple of guns at the scene and say a few people are being questioned in the case.

CAMEROTA: Alton Sterling's family reacting to media reports that the Justice Department will not charge Baton Rouge police officers in his fatal shooting. The family says they are angry that the justice department did not notify them before the news became public. Local authorities also say they have not heard from the DOJ.

This 2016 incident was caught on video. It shows two white officers shooting sterling after they wrestled him to the ground. The decision on state charges now falls on the attorney general.

CUOMO: Congress is about to head home for another recess, but the Republican health care bill still hanging in the balance. Can President Trump cut some deals with skeptical lawmakers? We're going to take a look at the numbers and the stakes, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:14] CAMEROTA: OK. So, President Trump is putting pressure on House Republicans to vote on repealing Obamacare this week. They're supposed to go on recess, as you know, on Friday, but the issue of preexisting conditions is still a key sticking point.

Let's bring back our political panel to discuss this and more. We have CNN political analyst David Gregory, CNN political commentator Errol Lewis, and CNN political analyst, April Ryan. April was just named Journalist of the Year by the National

Association of Black Journalists.

April, congratulations.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you so much, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: We're honored to have you on our panel and with us in our CNN family.

All right. Let's talk about the latest whip count. This changes every hour, OK? But at the moment, there are 22 Republicans who are opposed to the repeal and the new GOP plan.

David Gregory, we know that the White House is really attempting persuasion this morning. In fact, we were supposed to have Congressman Billy Long on you are on show, but he was called over to the White House to see if they could change his no vote to a yes.

What's going to happen this week?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think, you know, Trump is getting involved. I think Trump has done a disservice, the president has, by not knowing what's been in the bill when he told John Dickerson that, well, I was going to mandate the preexisting conditions will be part of this when, in fact, that wasn't part of the bill. So, I think this is a test of what his relationship is like with these House members and House leadership. I think it's interesting given his lack of approval that there are enough House members willing to hedge on this.

And, look, we say it all the time. It's very hard to take away an entitlement that's already been given. Republicans do not want to be responsible for denying the vulnerable in our country insurance when it was already in place. Especially when they can't get it in the private insurance markets when a lot of conservatives say, yeah, this is -- you ought to let the markets work its will and it's available there when it's not available.

CUOMO: Well, let's question that supposition for a second because the MacArthur Amendment does exactly that. I don't know if you have taken the time to read it, but you should. Paul Ryan put out a tweet saying that the MacArthur Amendment insures that people with preexisting conditions will get covered.

That is a lie. OK? He has to know that it doesn't do that. He has to be intentionally deceiving people when he says that because by definition, what this amendment does is give the state an ability to opt out and create their own pools which are a morass of problems for the people at the high end of risk.

Isn't that just the fact?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that's true. I don't know if I would go so far as to say that it's a lie in the sense that you put it, though, Chris, because the Republicans have been talking for quite a while now, the conservatives about reenacting some of these high risk pools. New York never had one, but there are a number of states that did.

They were even talking about early on putting a ton of is he subsidy into that, you know, on the argument that it would be sort of like what is happening now, but it would be less. It would be less of a burden.

CUOMO: That still would not be a guarantee as it is now.

LOUIS: Absolutely not a guarantee.

CUOMO: You know it would not be when you say that it would be a guarantee, I'm saying as Ryan or any Republican lawmakers.

LOUIS: Here's where I think you are exactly right which is that the White House and the congressional leadership are playing chicken with each other. Somebody has to go and deliver the bad news ultimately that necessity intend to take away guaranteed coverage for preexisting condition. That means, you know, 14 plus million people who expect to have cancer sometime in their lifetime would not be necessarily covered or they would be in one of these high risk pools with premiums.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Someone who was born with a sick kid like Jimmy Kimmel who has all the money in the world, but someone with a kid like that, you qualify as someone with a preexisting condition.

[06:40:01] The parents don't (ph) have care, they may not be able to get care.

LOUIS: That's right. Until they can figure out who is going to take the blame for this, they're not going to get to yes. I would be surprised if it would happen this week.

CAMEROTA: April, there's another bit of conflicting information that we're trying to wrestle with and figure out. And that regards the money for President Trump's plan for a border wall with Mexico. Dems were saying, you know, we -- that the border wall was not in the latest budget. Well, then Mick Mulvaney came out yesterday and basically said that there is money for the border wall or that the border wall is being built.

Listen to this.

CUOMO: And have pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: We are building this. There is money in this deal to build several hundreds of millions of dollars of this to replace this. That's what we got in this deal, and that's what the Democrats don't want you to know. This stuff is going up now. Why? Because the president wants to make the country more safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, April, they did get money for border security. So, which one is it?

RYAN: Hundreds of millions of dollars.

You know, the issue is they want to make sure this wall is built. This is one of the president's pledges, and I even asked yesterday, you know, of Mick Mulvaney, you know, why build the wall when the bigger issue is dealing with those who are overstaying their visas?

He said, you know, going back in history, you know, we got one piece, and we didn't get the other. So, we have to deal with building the southern border wall.

And what's happening is you got this big steel wall that had slots through it, that you can see through, so that you can see through to the other side for protection, for the security of the officers who are watching. But it's going to be a few pieces of wall.

But either way, they don't know how much of a stretch they want to cover, but they're going to build portions of the wall to replace the fencing that's there.

CAMEROTA: OK. Do we know if that's happening right now?

RYAN: They say it is starting. They say it's going to happen.

So, the bottom line is they are proceeding. They're finding ways, finding money, finding just anything to make this happen, to fulfill this president's promise. And they are not going to try to go through the traditional ways to do this. They are saying they have hundreds of millions of dollars to do this.

CAMEROTA: OK, that's fascinating.

CUOMO: So, David Gregory, the Democrats being deceptive when they say there was no money to build a wall put into this bill?

GREGORY: Look, I don't know -- I don't think we know yet. I don't know. April may know. I don't know that they even e-mailed where the pictures were taken.

I'm not suggesting that that was from Ohio somewhere.

RYAN: I don't know if they did.

GREGORY: But still, I think there's money for border security, and they want to try to maybe reinforce barriers.

I can see two things. One, I don't think there's great enthusiasm among Republicans to build the wall. But I can also see them defining the wall downward, you know, which is what's going to be called a wall, you know? They're going to reinforce barriers and have stretches of fencing.

This is all kind of opaque. We'll have to see exactly what happens. But, again, I think this will be a tough political sell, but I don't think the president has put himself in a corner. He said there absolutely is going to be a wall, and Congress is going to pay for it, after Mexico is going to pay for it. I mean, it's all pretty strange.

But, clearly, they're using some money and there were some -- just the peak, the anger that Trump felt that the Democrats got the better of him. Again, it's just it's over the top.

CAMEROTA: So, April, there was a moment yesterday in the press briefing or certainly the press room where Sean Spicer was there, but I guess didn't answer questions and as you can attest, the press was not happy about this. Let's play this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Sean, Sean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sean, what about --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sean!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one leave. No one leave.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sit and wait.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK, April, explain to us. I think we can hear your voice there even above the din. What was happening?

GREGORY: Of course, you can.

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: Is that my friend David Gregory?

GREGORY: We would have never let that happen.

RYAN: It's sad, you could. You know what, maybe you should come back.

But here's the deal -- after all of that, the show and tell with the wall, you had the call with Putin, and you have the tweets, and you have so many other things, and still, I was trying to ask the question if I would have gotten a question from Sean yesterday, about the civil war comment from the president. There were so many issues on the table. People wanted answers to after Mick Mulvaney left, and particularly when it came to the wall, and particularly when it came to the tweet, what the president saying about the shutdown. There were still a lot of questions to be answered.

[06:45:01] And the room was waiting for Sean to come back in to make his statements, but he did not. He walked out with Mick Mulvaney and the rest, and the briefing was over for the day.

CAMEROTA: Perhaps you could employ a big lasso and throw it at him and yank him back if he tries to get out of the room.

RYAN: I will not try that. I will not try that. I will not try that.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Well, we heard your voice loud and clear, April. Thank you very much. David, Errol, thank you guys.

CUOMO: All right. Sports headline for you, the Fenway faithful stepping up big time in support of an opposing player, the Orioles' Adam Jones. What they did and why in this morning's "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: A night after being taunted with racial slurs. Orioles outfielder Adam Jones got a very different reception from the fans at Fenway. This is a story worth telling.

Andy Scholes in the "Bleacher Report" -- give it to us.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Chris, Monday night, Adam Jones said fans at Fenway used the N-word towards him and even threw peanuts at him, and after that, you know, news spread. Other African-American players around baseball said they too had been subject to racial slurs by the fans in Boston.

[06:50:04] Before last night's game, Jones, he spoke to the media about the racial tension that's at Fenway Park.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM JONES, ORIOLES OUTFIELDER: People still live in their own world. They still have their own views, obviously. And some people like to express hatred towards another person and other groups. It's a long history of these kind of incidents in Boston, and, you know, I spoke with various players of different eras, and a lot of the things they told me I can't say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Three of the Red Sox four outfielders are African-American. One of them encouraged Boston fans to cheer on Jones last night. That's exactly whether they did. Jones getting a standing ovation before his first at-bat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Much appreciated by Boston Red Sox and MLB getting ahead of it. You know, just appreciative that action was taken and that not everybody feels the same way as select people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: A few miles away from Fenway, Isaiah Thomas coming through with an inspiring performance in game two against the Wizards. Thomas pouring in 53 points, leading Boston to the 129-119 overtime win. Fifty-three points, the second highest total in Celtics playoff history. Thomas dedicating the performance to his sister who died in a car a few weeks ago. Yesterday would have been her 23rd birthday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISAIAH THOMAS, CELTICS POINT GUARD: My sister wouldn't want me to stop. Only thing about it is once I leave this gym, I hit reality and she's not here. So, that's the tough part. When I'm in this arena, I can lock in and I know everything I do is for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP

SCHOLES: And five-foot-nine Isaiah Thomas has always been a fan favorite, but considering what he has been going through recently, he has really become the sentimental favorite of the NBA playoffs.

CAMEROTA: Understood. I mean, what a personal tragedy and so poignant the way he describes it.

Andy, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton criticizing the president publicly and calling herself now part of the resistance. We discuss that candid interview, next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the election had been on October 27th, I'd be your president, and it wasn't.

So, did we make mistakes? Of course, we did. Did I make mistakes? Oh, my gosh, yes. You know, you read my confession and my request for absolution.

[06:55:00] But the reason why I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last ten days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Hillary Clinton opening up on her 2016 election defeat, taking some, but not all the responsibility for that loss. She admits to making mistakes in general, but specifically blames FBI Director Jim Comey, Russia, WikiLeaks, and sexism.

Let's discuss with former senior advisor and spokesperson for Hillary Clinton's campaign, Karen Finney, and CNN political commentator and former senior communications advisor for Donald Trump's campaign, Jason Miller.

Karen, your reaction?

KAREN FINNEY, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER AND SPOKESPERSON, "HILLARY FOR AMERICA": I thought it was a wonderful interview. Wide-ranging. I was proud of her that she -- as you said, she took personal responsibility, absolute responsibility, talked about some of the other factors that we now know.

I mean, when she talked about Comey and she talked about Russia, both of those things have the facts to back them up, and we've seen reporting on that. But I also appreciated that it was a substantive conversation, talking about the importance of education and economic empowerment of women and girls.

CUOMO: Right.

FINNEY: About Syria, about, you know, what's happening to other parts of the world. I thought it was a great conversation.

CUOMO: Right. That was the forum specific to the election. What was your take, Jason, on Clinton's assumption that if the election were October 27th, she wins?

JASON MILLER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Secretary Clinton would have been much better served to have channeled British philosopher Robert Plant and simply said it's nobody's fault but mine.

I mean, look, the reality is that the polls were wrong about this race the entire time. Secretary Clinton was insider candidate in a change election. Much in the same way that Secretary Clinton was the insider candidate in 2008 when she lost then as well. I mean, the fact of the matter is that President Trump was the right candidate at the right time really seizing on the issues of trade and taxes and immigration. Things he had been talking about for the last 30 years, but there's been this populist realignment of the base really across the country, and I think he tapped to that.

And, look, Secretary Clinton could blame people all she wants, but nobody forced her to support TPP, nobody forced her to not campaign in Wisconsin. Look, I think the longer the Secretary Clinton is out there making excuses and blaming other people for her loss, it slows down the ability of Democrats to find new leaders.

FINNEY: Hold on.

CUOMO: Go ahead, Karen.

FINNEY: That's not exactly fair. I mean, she said very clearly and unequivocally that absolutely not only we made a mistake, but that she takes full responsibility. But it is a fact, and we do know that things like Russian interference, that is -- that was real. We do know that, for example, we've seen a number of studies that show that a number of voters in the Rust Belt states said that the reason -- even voters who voted for President Obama who then flipped to Trump that fear of diversity over economics was part of the reason that they shifted their votes.

So, her point was not -- hold on. Her point was not to blame other people, but to say, look, since the election, we've learned that there were other factors. I can tell you from having been on the ground, you could feel the chilling effect of the Comey letter, and I find it ironic because, you know, I do think that some people thought -- you know, she said that kind of scared them off. Look at how many scandals we've had to deal with president Trump ever since. How many --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: What's the counter of that?

MILLER: Karen, that's it --

CUOMO: Jason, what's the counter?

MILLER: Right. I think that's a bit disingenuous, Karen. I mean, the fact of the matter is the polls said Secretary Clinton was going to win a couple of weeks out, and they also said on Election Day, she was going to win.

And so, fundamentally, the polls on these, quote/unquote, "studies" --

FINNEY: We know the polls are completely wrong. You know the polls are wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: But, look, Donald Trump had a great campaign. He had a great message. Make America great again.

I helped run a campaign against you guys for upwards of six months. I still to this day can't tell you what your message was, and neither could Secretary Clinton when she was on that stage yesterday. You had no message.

FINNEY: Well, that actually is not true. Our message was talking about an America that is stronger, that would be stronger together. We were -- one of the things I was most proud about is she talked about --

MILLER: Karen, even you don't know what your message was.

FINNEY: They never race-baited the way that your campaign race- baited, and you know what's exactly what you're talking about.

(LAUGHTER)

FINNEY: I felt very proud of that campaign. I felt very proud of the camp that we didn't scapegoat immigrants, that we -- and that we to this day she would never do that. That's part of why she was talking about the resistance. I mean, she was talking about protecting things like, you know, equal pay for women, which is the simplest thing that we can do to lift families in this country and our president doesn't even believe in that.

MILLER: Karen, that wasn't your message during the campaign.

FINNEY: It absolutely was. I mean, I was on the campaign. I did it for 18 months. You don't get to tell me what our message was.

MILLER: Again, because you didn't have one. But President Trump had a clear message.

FINNEY: Yes, make America great again. For who, Jason? For who?

MILLER: Exactly, for the voters you just talked about, where the forgotten men and women across the country who have been adversely impacted by these terrible deals on trade, terrible taxes, as we talk about the problems of illegal immigration.

FINNEY: Look at how President Trump seems to be backing away from all of his promises on trade. He can't even get a health care deal.