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Senate GOP To Unveil Health Care Bill Today; FBI Investigating Airport Stabbing As Terrorism; Report: Two Holdouts Prevented Cosby Guilty Verdict; Fact Checking Trump's Jobs & Regulations Claims. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 22, 2017 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:33:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we came to you and said here's your plan. You're going to have the greatest plan in history and you're going to pay nothing, they'd vote against it, folks. But I hope we're going to surprise you with a really good plan. You know, I've been talking about a plan with heart. I said add some money to it. A plan with heart, but Obamacare is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Interesting choice of words from President Trump after he originally celebrated the House GOP's plan in the White House Rose Garden last month, you remember that? So what changed? Joining us now is Republican Congressman Chris Collins of New York. Good to have you, Congressman.

REP. CHRIS COLLINS, (R) NEW YORK: It's always good to be with you, Chris.

CUOMO: What's the answer to that? The plan was great, it was the best, he was in the Rose Garden. Now he says it's mean, needs heart. What changed?

COLLINS: Well, what's -- you know, I'm not focused -- I'm not focused on that as much as I am the problems with Obamacare. It's failed, what we've got to get going. I was with the Chamber of Commerce last week. They lost 25 percent of their members because they could no longer offer group insurance to the membership. The $800 billion of taxes, fees, and penalties that have been a wet blanket on our economy. It's all about jobs and the economy.

You know, the fact is, Chris, we promised to deliver on the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. I do think the Senate is getting very close. I understand everyone says it's going to be a nail-biter next week. But we've made that promise to America. They are suffering tremendously under Obamacare with, you know -- with, you know, deductibles they can't afford, insurance rates going up in my district -- 50 percent was just announced -- so we have to do something.

You know, to use an adjective her or there I was certainly somewhat disappointed in Sen. Wyden using words like "mean." No one goes to work and says today I'm going to be mean. You know, this -- CUOMO: But why are you putting it on Sen. Wyden? That's what the president said. He said it was mean, he said it needs heart. You're saying you're not focused on that. How do you not focus on what your president is telling you about your own bill?

[07:35:05] COLLINS: Well, because we are delivering to America on a promise we made to help, amongst other things, get the economy moving, deliver affordable health insurance that has deductibles that you can actually afford to fill your prescription and go to the doctor, you know. I would not use that -- you know, those particular words. But, you know, we made a promise and it sounds like Mitch McConnell and the senators are about to deliver on that promise. And what we've said is when that bill comes to the House that's what we're going to vote on.

CUOMO: There's no question that there are problems with the ACA and I think there's fair room for criticism with the Democrats that they had time to fix it and, yes, you guys were all in obstruction mode and it's hard to work together in D.C., and everybody plays to advantage. But, even now, there's a lot of opportunity to get ideas out there because this process has been so constipated.

But when you say that this is going to deliver on a promise -- you know, I did some digging into your district. I'm never going to know it as well as you do and your people up there find you popular for a reason, but if they pull the money out of the system -- if you pull the money out of the system the way you're planning to it's going to hit your constituents really hard. You have a lot of people depending on that Medicaid delivery money and you know the state is not going to be able to match it with its own funds. What are you going to tell them?

COLLINS: Oh, no, that's -- you know, I don't want to, you know, on your show, malign your brother but the fact is --

CUOMO: Go ahead. I do it all the time.

COLLINS: All right. Well, in a $160 billion budget what we're talking about doing, first of all, with my and John Faso's proposal that the counties will no longer pick up the tab that's about $2.3 billion or a little over 1.5 percent of the budget. And on the rollback on the expansion, depending on where the Senate bill ends up, that could be another 1.5 percent, so our governor would have two years to figure out how to cut three percent out of a $160 billion budget for 20 million people. All you've got to do is look at Florida --

CUOMO: But you're pulling a lot more money out than that, Congressman. I mean, again, we'll see where it winds up. That's a fair point. It hasn't made it through reconciliation yet but the way you're doing it through reconciliation, there's certain rules -- really, all you can do effectively is suck money out. You're going to have a hard time dealing --

COLLINS: Well, there's --

CUOMO: -- with any other adjustments if you don't -- COLLINS: There's money coming out --

CUOMO: But that's a lot of money coming out that's going to hit the level of income, you know, participation that you have in your district. The state's not going to be able to fix it. I don't think any state could.

COLLINS: Oh, no. It would be very easy for New York, let's face it. Florida has the same number of people as New York with an $80 billion budget. We have $160 billion. I could argue we could cut our budget by 50 percent if we followed the Florida model.

CUOMO: But I -- but I want to know on what theory. Don't -- let's be careful about the numbers because it gets so muddy, so fast and we don't really know what they are yet. But just conceptually, if you're cutting the tax credit that someone gets who's already struggling to make ends meet and you're cutting the amount of money that their state will get to help deliver them health care, how are you helping them?

COLLINS: Well, in fact, we are going to be giving them refundable -- advanced refundable tax credits --

CUOMO: Which is less than what they're getting now.

COLLINS: -- to go to the market and perhaps even buy the insurance from their local Chamber of Commerce.

CUOMO: Right, but it's less than they're getting now. That's all I'm saying, it's less. Any way you look at it, it's less, so tell me how less will be more for your constituents.

COLLINS: Well, amongst other things, I believe you're going to see premiums coming down. There's significant problems with the way Obamacare was structured. But I'm not agreeing with you that it's going to be less. I think --

CUOMO: Aren't the tax credits going to be less that the current allotment of the subsidy?

COLLINS: Well, it's going to depend on an individual's age, the size of their family --

CUOMO: Right --

COLLINS: -- their income. In some cases, Chris --

CUOMO: -- and as you get older and as you make less money you're going to get less.

COLLINS: Oh, no. Well now, in New York, see, we have a one-to-one age rating. The problem -- there's no problem on the older side in New York State. You cannot charge an older person any more than you can charge an 18-year-old. A 64-year-old and 18-year-old --

CUOMO: But the CBO said as you get up into the fifties those people with their health care costs get more expensive, right? COLLINS: Not in New York.

CUOMO: That the reckoning is going to be that way.

COLLINS: No, not in New York. We have a one-to-one age rating. You cannot charge a 64-year-old any more than an 18-year-old in the state of New York, so an older person in New York is probably better off than anybody else in the United States of America. So in my district and in New York State it simply doesn't apply.

CUOMO: All right, and you want to keep that protection, right?

COLLINS: Well, there's no question the one-to-one rating will stay in New York. That's a decision by our legislature, the governor, and our -- the head of our Department of Health.

CUOMO: And you favor it?

COLLINS: Yes, I'm actually in favor of that.

CUOMO: All right, good. So as we get the details of what are in the bill please, Congressman Collins, come back on so we can talk --

[07:40:02] COLLINS: Yes.

CUOMO: -- about your district in particular and how you --

COLLINS: I'd like to do that.

CUOMO: -- think it telescopes into everything else.

COLLINS: Yes.

CUOMO: Always appreciate you being on -- important conversation.

COLLINS: Good to be with you.

CUOMO: Alisyn --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Chris, Capitol Hill coming together again for a ballgame. This time, women took the field, including one bona fide hero. The details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: The Taliban releasing a new video that's said to show two Western teachers kidnapped in Kabul last year, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks. They look haggard in the pictures, allegedly taken last week. The two captives were last seen in a video the terror group released in January. The State Department says it is aware of this second video but not in a position to comment on it.

CAMEROTA: The FBI investigating the airport stabbing of that police officer in Flint, Michigan as terrorism. The knife-wielding suspect from Montreal was taken into custody on Wednesday. Now, during the attack he accused the U.S. of mass killings in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Officials do not believe he is connected to a larger group. The officer is reportedly in satisfactory condition.

CUOMO: We're getting a better idea of how grueling deliberations were in Bill Cosby's aggravated incident assault trial which ended in a mistrial. The jury was deadlocked. One juror tells "ABC NEWS" 10 of the 12 agreed Cosby was guilty on two counts. Now, on a third count, though, only one juror voted for guilty, all others to acquit. The D.A. says he does plan to retry the case. And the issue there for a lot of them, according to this one juror, was the consciousness level of Constand and whether or not she could consent or not, and that one statute was -- it's not confusing, but it's a complex legal analysis and it got them stuck.

[07:45:24] CAMEROTA: It's always interesting when they peel back the curtain and let us know what was going on in that deliberation room.

Meanwhile, here's some good news. Capitol Hill police officer Crystal Griner throwing out the first pitch at last night's charity softball game between female lawmakers and members of the media. Griner, you'll recall, was shot in the ankle last week while protecting House Majority Whip Steve Scalise at that Congressional baseball practice. She was released from the hospital right before the game. The press team, also known as the "Bad News Babes," defeated the lawmakers 2-1 -- yes.

CUOMO: As they should.

CAMEROTA: Our own Dana Bash served as one of the game announcers. Meanwhile, House GOP Whip Steve Scalise continues to improve. He has been upgraded to fair condition.

CUOMO: And we will stay on Scalise's improvement. It's important and we wish him and his family the best.

So, hoop dreams are going to be realized tonight for many young men. Their lives are about to change. Why? The NBA draft is going to take place in New York. Andy Scholes has more in the Bleacher Report. What are you anticipating?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Chris, I'm anticipating a lot of drama. You know, draft night usually has plenty of it but this year it seems like it's got a whole nother level. So many trade rumors out there. Teams try to bolster their lineups, you know, to catch up to the Warriors and the Cavs.

After an earlier trade with the Celtics, the 76ers own the top pick in the draft. They're expected to pick Markelle Fultz out of Washington. He's been compared to a young James Harden. Now, picking second, the Los Angeles Lakers. They're expected to select a guy right out of their own backyard, Lonzo Ball from UCLA. Now, Ball's dad, LaVar, has been quite outspoken about his son being the league's next big star and only yesterday he took to the streets of New York to say it again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAVAR BALL, LONZO BALL'S FATHER: LeBron be on his way out, Steph Curry be. They're getting old. Somebody got to carry the NBA and they ain't nothing like the Ball boys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And you can see more of LaVar tonight. The draft tips off at 7:00 Eastern.

And finally, here's proof that the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry never takes a break, even for the summer. Buckeye fan Ty Higgins lives next to a big Wolverines fan. So while his neighbor was on vacation Higgins decided to mow "Ohio" into his neighbor's lawn. Pretty creative, as he did the same style as the Buckeye's band forms at halftime of their games. And, Alisyn, you know, Higgins better hope that his neighbor's a good sport about the whole deal or he's going to come home from work one day and his house is going to be painted in maize and blue.

CUOMO: At least he cut his lawn.

CAMEROTA: Not all of it --

SCHOLES: Oh, yes.

CAMEROTA: -- just the Ohio part. That's great, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. So, President Trump made a lot of bold statements at his campaign rally last night. We will fact-check those statements, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've ended the war on clean, beautiful coal and we're putting our miners back to work. In fact, you read about it, last week a brand new coal mine just opened in the state of Pennsylvania -- the first time in decades. Thirty-three thousand mining jobs have been added since my inauguration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, that was President Trump touting some of his accomplishments at a campaign-style rally in Iowa last night, so let's dig deeper into some of the president's claims and fact check them with CNN commentators Jason Miller and Bakari Sellers. Great to see both of you this morning.

OK, let's start with coal because that's the much-hyped issue of whether or not the president can bring back coal mining jobs and whether that's even the right idea. So he says that he -- that he has helped add 33,000 mining jobs but, in fact, it's been 1,300, Jason. According to the Department of Labor, 1,300 coal mining jobs have been added. Why does the president say 33,000?

JASON MILLER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, when you take a look at the mining jobs that have been created and also the mining jobs that have been announced that are coming up, I think the president's actually pretty close to the pin there.

CAMEROTA: I don't think so. I think that it has to do also with oil and gas extraction. That's different. They add 21,000 of the new positions were in oil and gas extraction industries. That's like fracking and stuff. That's different than coal mining and he's lumping it all together.

MILLER: Well, there are a lot of energy jobs that are being created again. That's part of the -- I think the spirit and the enthusiasm in this presidency of what we've seen since President Trump has taken over.

CAMEROTA: Sure, but energy jobs are different and that's the whole point, is that energy jobs are different than coal jobs. Coal jobs are the ones that people felt that we should be moving away from to these newer energy jobs, but he's putting them out there. They -- look, it's false, I mean, basically. That is a false claim.

MILLER: Alisyn, the president believes very much in all of the above solutions on energy. And going back to the introduction package that you had there, I think one of the things we saw last night was the -- again, the enthusiasm that we saw with the crowd, we see with these jobs that are being created. And the point that he made about the war on coal being stopped, I think is 100 percent accurate. And I think the fact that now we actually have an administration that's trying to encourage and foster additional growth, I think is a very big deal. I think that's good for the economy.

CUOMO: Bakari, what do you see in this? They are new jobs, they are in the energy sector. The president is making the point that we shouldn't run away from oil, gas, coal, we should run toward it and that's why he's using this big number. Does it matter that it's not all coal mining jobs?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR, (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA HOUSE MEMBER: Well, it doesn't really matter that it's not all coal mining jobs. The fact is the president lied about the numbers. He lies about numbers all the time. We've been used to that over the campaign trail. We'll be used to that throughout his -- throughout his presidency. There are 54,000 coal mining jobs in the entire country -- 54,000 -- that's it. There are more people that work at Whole Foods than work in coal mining jobs.

[07:55:00] So I think that the president has the wrong focus. I am more concerned about his poor policy focus than I am the fact that he lies about the numbers. We should be moving to a clean energy solution narrative. We should be moving to funding jobs that are in solar, that are in these clean energy alternatives that are growing at a rate of five to one that will put these people who are in coal mines who no longer have jobs back to work. Reinvesting in old policy points that no longer work -- that we're moving away from as a nation, as a country, as a world --

CAMEROTA: Yes. SELLERS: -- will no longer be effective.

CAMEROTA: OK.

CUOMO: All right, next claim.

CAMEROTA: Jobs. He talked about jobs and how he has been able to prevent jobs from going overseas, so listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Unemployment is at a 16-year low and manufacturing is doing phenomenally and we have companies moving back. They're coming back, back, back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Jason, unemployment is at a 16-year low, that is true. It's the lowest -- it's 4.3. It's concerned, basically, full employment. That is fantastic that this has happened on his watch. But in terms of jobs not moving overseas, Ford just announced that it will ship production of the Ford Focus to China. Other places are obviously still manufacturing lots of things overseas, so that doesn't seem to have changed.

MILLER: Well, let's go back to what we saw when -- after the president was elected when we saw the Carrier deal that he and Vice President Pence were able to put together and keeping those jobs -- the 700 jobs or so right there in Indianapolis. And I think what the president was speaking to last night is the fact that we're seeing additional investment being brought into the company -- or, excuse me, into the country, and we saw announcement after announcement during the transition and then also since the president has taken office where we're talking about that foreign investment coming in, jobs coming back in.

Look, you brought up the Ford example. Yes, but there's also been Ford examples where we've seen the president help to influence marketplace behavior by keeping jobs here in the U.S.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but why can't he stop the Ford Focus from being manufactured in China?

MILLER: Look, he doesn't have a magic wand. Of course, companies are going to do whatever. But listen, thank you for teeing this up because if we want to go and keep a lot of these jobs here and recruit additional jobs we have to get this corporate tax cut done. That is a big deal. That's why you see Sec. Mnuchin, and Sec. Ross, and Gary Cohn, and the president working so hard on this -- that's critical.

CUOMO: But they already pay a low effective tax rate here in this country. I mean, the nominal rate is one thing in the state of rate, but what they pay is much less. And what you hear from these companies is there's two reasons we're sending our jobs overseas. The biggest is innovation. Jobs are just disappearing, right -- it's about 80 percent of the reason -- and the rest of it is labor costs. MILLER: Well, the other -- the other part is regulation. I think that's why you've seen the president take such an aggressive focus on the executive order front on eliminating a number of these regulations. I mean, heck you look at what the president was able to do in teaming up with the auto industry and the executive orders that he signed in Michigan a few weeks back. But again, it's the deregulation, it's cutting back corporate tax. We have to say that the U.S. is open for business and if we do cut that corporate tax we're going to see countries re-domiciling into the U.S. all around -- from all over the world.

CUOMO: Bakari, that is a point of economic debate, right? What it -- what the relationship is between tax cuts and job creation. What is your point on this?

SELLERS: Well, I think this conversation is a bit absurd, with all due respect. I mean, let's start with Jason's first point, the Carrier deal. I mean, in the first part of this segment I said that the president lied. The fact is that there were 1,100 jobs that the president was touting that he saved at Carrier. Three hundred-plus of those jobs were jobs that were not moving to Mexico. They were administrative jobs. The rest of those jobs are moving to Mexico. It is not true that they're staying in the United States. Half of them are moving by the middle of July, the rest of them are moving before Christmas. So the president lied to those Carrier employees and he lied to the country.

The fact is that we're touting the president for going to Michigan and signing executive orders that are not going to bring back jobs, when the 44th President of the United States -- he actually saved the auto industry and kept 2.4 million jobs, not 600 here or 1,000 there. I mean, the fact is we're coming off 84 straight months of job growth, the unemployment rate split in half, the stock market going from 6,000 to the precipice of 20,000, and the president lambasted all those numbers as fake and now I'm supposed to clap when he saves 600 jobs? The fact is he has no plan for automation and that is going to take away all the jobs in this country.

CAMEROTA: All right, gentlemen --

MILLER: And there's one critical point --

CAMEROTA: Very quickly.

CUOMO: Very quick.

MILLER: -- very quick, is that the reason why President Trump was able to win was because he was able to tap into those voters who said you know what, finally there's somebody who is fighting for me. And so, you might go anddebate whether it's 700 jobs or 1,000 but you know what? For every single job that he saved there, those folks are thankful --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

MILLER: -- and their families are thankful. CAMEROTA: I mean, as long as he's not misrepresenting and inflating the numbers. I mean, obviously, voters wouldn't have voted for that.

MILLER: Well, I think they're very happy with what they're seeing so far.

SELLERS: (Laughing).

CAMEROTA: Thank you, gentlemen, very much. We're following a lot of news this morning, including a preview of the Senate's health care bill, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Obamacare is a disaster. It's over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you have a good bill you don't need to keep it secret.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A working draft will be released. All the concerns people have had will evaporate.