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New Day
Trump Administration Ends Protected Status for Haitians; Rep. Dingell Talks about Her #MeToo Moment. Aired 7-7:30a ET
Aired November 21, 2017 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The Trump administration canceling a humanitarian program allowing Haitian immigrants to live in the U.S. after the 2010 earthquake.
[07:00:25] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of those people, they go back home, they may not even have a home to live in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your thoughts on Roy Moore, Mr. President?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president thinks that this is something that the people of Alabama should decide.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: He's sending a message to his supporters down in Alabama that he needs that vote, he needs a legislative victory.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN survey finds that the death toll in Puerto Rico may be nine times higher than the official count.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's accurate based on the factual information that we've received.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is the government of Puerto Rico not calling these funeral homes one by one?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, November 21, 7 p.m. here in New York. And the question of what America is about is once again in sharp focus.
The Trump administration announcing it's going to end a humanitarian program that allowed nearly 60,000 Haitians to temporarily live and work in the U.S. after that deadly earthquake that devastated their country seven years ago. Homeland Security officials are not giving those Haitian immigrants 18 months to find a way to get back to Haiti, or at least to get out of the United States.
CAMEROTA: Also, a federal judge permanently blocking President Trump's executive order that cut funding to so-called sanctuary cities. The judge calls that order unconstitutional.
All this while the president stays silent on the sexual abuse allegations against Roy Moore and his run for the Senate. Kellyanne Conway, however, is not silent, and wait until you hear what she says about that.
So we have it all covered for you.
Let's begin with CNN's Joe Johns. He is live at the White House.
Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
You know, it wasn't too long ago that the administration was zeroing in on childhood arrivals from other countries. Now, the target is people who came here to the United States to escape the effects of a catastrophic earthquake.
Now tens of thousands of Haitians living in the United States could be forced to leave the country or live in the shadows.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): The Trump administration ending a humanitarian program allowing approximately 59,000 Haitians immigrants to temporarily live and work in the United States, giving them until July 2019 to leave the country or risk being deported.
Temporary protected status was given to Haitians in the U.S. in 2010 after a powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed hundreds of thousands in the island nation. The Department of Homeland Security declaring those extraordinary, but temporary conditions caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist.
However, Haiti remains the poorest country in the western hemisphere. And a recent United Nations report estimates 55,000 Haitians are still struggling in the aftermath of the quake, with thousands still living in makeshift camps seven years later.
The head of the Democratic National Committee responding in a statement, writing, "Donald Trump's cruelty knows no bounds."
Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen insisting that Haiti is not prepared to take back nearly 60,000 people.
This announcement coming as a federal judge permanently blocks the Trump administration's executive order that would deny funding to so- called sanctuary cities. The judge ruling that the president cannot set new conditions on spending approved by Congress, rejecting the administration's argument that the order was merely an instruction to enforce existing law.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to defund anybody. If they're going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly, that would be a weapon. JOHNS: This, as the White House seems to imply that they would prefer
to have alleged child molester Roy Moore in the Senate rather than his Democratic opponent if it means getting tax reform passed.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO DONALD TRUMP: Doug Jones is a doctrinaire liberal, which is why he's not saying anything and why the media are trying to boost him.
BRIAN KILMEADE, CO-HOST, FOX NEWS CHANNEL'S "FOX & FRIENDS": So vote Roy Moore?
CONWAY: I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax -- this tax bill through.
JOHNS: But just last week, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway sending a different message.
CONWAY: Whatever the facts end up being, the premise is, of course, the principle, the incontrovertible principle is that there's no Senate seat that's worth more than a child.
JOHNS: Press secretary Sarah Sanders refusing to take a stand on behalf of the White House.
SARAH SANDERS HUCKABEE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president believes this is a decision for the people of Alabama to make.
The people of Alabama should make the decision.
The decision that the people of Alabama need to make.
JOHNS: President Trump has not personally weighed in on the Roy Moore controversy in more than six days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe Roy Moore's accusers, Mr. President?
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[07:05:08] JOHNS: Important to underscore that Roy Moore denies the allegations that have been lodged against him. He is vowing to stay in the Alabama Senate race.
Today here at the White House, the president is expected to participate in the annual tradition of pardoning turkeys in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday. It will be another opportunity for journalists to try to get a question or two to him about the controversies of the day.
Chris and Alisyn, back to you.
CUOMO: The tradition of saving turkeys stays. The tradition of sheltering those in need, in doubt. Joe, thank you very much.
Let's bring in CNN Politics reports and editor of large, Chris Cillizza; and CNN political analyst David Drucker.
David, who likes this? Who is this playing to? Because you don't need to cancel this program. It's not like it's a huge budget buster. You have tons of umbilical connections now with Haitians and others. The supposition that it's OK in Haiti now is a laughable notion. So who likes this? Why are they doing this? Because it seems to be a sledgehammer to the foundation of what this country is about.
DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, the president campaigned on clamping down not just on illegal immigration but legal immigration. And there is a whole school of thought on the nationalist right. And it started, really, with Jeff Sessions, now the attorney general. But as a senator from Alabama, he picked this philosophy up that there are too many immigrants in the United States for what the economy can handle and especially after the Great Recession. They're taking jobs or competing with jobs that would otherwise go to Americans.
And so this is a part of clearing out an excess of immigration that the president did campaign on.
And if there's one thing he really has not wavered on -- and we've seen him waver on some things, not follow through on other things -- but his immigration policy, moving ahead with the wall, not built yet but in process, and beginning to make changes, obviously with the ban that inhibits certain people from immigrating here if they seem to be a national security threat, Muslims mainly, this is a part of what he promised he would do.
And I think this is, in a sense, how he -- from a political aspect, keeps his base happy. Because one of the reasons he did so well in the Republican primary -- granted, it was crowded -- is he was the one candidate willing to say, "I'm not going to play nice when it comes to immigration and immigration reform. I'm going to put a stop to it." And that has a constituency.
CAMEROTA: So politically, that's the motivation. I think you're right, and it may make great sense, politically. Realistically, it's much dicier.
So we're now at a different unemployment rate than during the Great Recession. The employment rate actually -- employment rate needs workers now, and there are now 30,000 kids who were born to these Haitian refugees who are now American citizens. So what to do about them?
So how is this going to work, Chris?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It's, you know, partisan -- partisanship -- excuse me, easy for me to say, Alisyn -- over policy. David is right. This is a symbolic move.
Look, we're not talking with tens of millions of people. We are talking about not even hundreds of thousands in some cases. We're talking about thousands. The reason it's being done is because Donald Trump wants to make sure
his base knows that he meant it when he said he was going to crack down on both illegal and legal migration.
The logistics of this, to point, Alisyn, they're going to be much harder. We're going to round these people up? How are we going to deal with children who were born in this country while these people were legally here?
Let's remind folks. This is a -- this is a program that exists, not just for Haitians but for people who are -- whose country is in a dire circumstance for whatever reason. We allow them some level of temporary citizenship status. They can stay here for a certain period of time.
How do we handle their children born here and technically American citizens? How do we handle finding them, keeping them here? I mean, this is -- this is what happens when you make a move for symbolic political reasons. It is making good on a campaign promise.
But it does -- the real-world execution of that decision is always far more complicated than simply making the decision.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: Well, it's a practical manifestation of you campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.
CAMEROTA: That's right.
CUOMO: The president usually has a second line problem, OK? "I'm going to do this." That's great. How are you going to do it? The practicalities here are going to be a problem.
But I still think that this is a fundamental sell on jingoism. I mean, that's what it is. This is an aggressive harshness directed towards what is seen as a group of others. Is this really the kind of thing that he thinks is going to get him re-elected?
DRUCKER: I think so. But I also think -- and I think you have to look at the Republican Party, writ large, and how much of it -- not all of it, but much of it has adopted a skepticism of immigration that didn't exist before. Because there's an argument--
[07:10:13] CUOMO: This isn't immigration. See, that's -- that's the thing. That's not what this is. This is a humanitarian program--
DRUCKER: Yes. Yes. But -- but it's--
CUOMO: --. for people who are leaving incredibly abject circumstances.
DRUCKER: But politically, it's under the same umbrella. And what I want to point out is, if you look at, for instance, the immigration security bill that Tom Cotton--
CUOMO: Right.
DRUCKER: -- the Republican from Arkansas, has come up with, it involves clamping down on legal immigration.
So for years in Republican circles, the issue was -- and especially with voters, when are you going to finally stop illegal immigration and not reward lawbreakers? And it has moved from that to now include clamping down on legal immigration, reducing--
CUOMO: Well why would you start with the neediest? Why don't you start with the people who are officially taking real Americans' skilled jobs?
DRUCKER: Because it's the easiest thing to do. These are visas that can be canceled. And that's the best argument I can come up with.
And look, the danger here -- you can satisfy security concerns, whether we agree or disagree. The danger here economically is one of the reasons I think the U.S. economy has been a lot more vibrant than economies in Europe is because of our immigration policies. We constantly have new, fresh talent--
CAMEROTA: Workers.
DRUCKER: -- in the U.S., even low skill, because they want more for their kids. They work harder, and they force everybody to compete. And we're in danger of making -- doing to the U.S. economy, making it much more static and less dynamic if we don't have that kind of energy.
CAMEROTA: OK. Let's move on to another top story, Roy Moore. The White House has sent different messages about what should happen with Roy Moore's candidacy and whether or not he should make it to the U.S. Senate.
So Kellyanne Conway is Exhibit A of what they first said about the allegations against Roy Moore, having had sexual contact with an underage girl and other teenage girls, and then yesterday Kellyanne Conway was on FOX and said something quite different. So watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: The principle, the incontrovertible principle, is that there's no Senate seat that's worth more than a child.
Doug Jones in Alabama, folks, don't be fooled. He'll be a vote against tax cuts.
KILMEADE: So vote Roy Moore?
CONWAY: I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax -- this tax bill through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So where are they, Chris? CILLIZZA: Well, look, if they want Roy Moore out and a Republican who
does not have these problems in, they, being the White House, then they need to say that, right? You can't simply -- Kellyanne Conway doesn't want to say, "Vote Roy Moore." And her comments last week made pretty clear that Roy Moore's behavior -- alleged behavior, in her mind is unacceptable.
But my point here is you're the president of the United States. Or in her case, a senior counselor. You are -- you are a senior member of the White House staff. You don't just get to say, "Well, we'll let the people of Alabama decide." If you truly believe that Roy Moore's behavior should disqualify him, but you want a Republican in that seat, come out and say what you want. You want a write-in candidacy. You want Jeff Sessions. You want Roy Moore to withdraw. Say something other than "The people of Alabama are going to decide" unless you are OK with Roy Moore being in the Senate.
DRUCKER: The president -- the president is clearly boxed in here. Because if he wades too deep into this, it brings up the allegations against him from last year.
CUOMO: Too deeply? He's said nothing.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: He goes at LaVar Ball.
CAMEROTA: And he also said stuff about Al Franken.
CUOMO: Right.
CAMEROTA: He doesn't seem to mind the allegations of him being--
DRUCKER: That's why I said too deeply. Because he's weighed in a little with Franken. But if he gets involved in this and tries to push out Moore, that's where he's going to end up. And Moore is not going to listen to him anyway, and it will make him look very politically impotent. He is in a very tough spot of his own making.
CAMEROTA: There you go. Thank you very much, David and Chris.
DRUCKER: Getting the look.
CILLIZZA: Thank you, C-Mo.
CAMEROTA: That was to you.
CUOMO: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: All right. We need to move on, because more women are coming forward with their stories of sexual harassment, from Hollywood to Capitol Hill. And that includes Congressman Debbie Dingell, who shared her story with us. We have the reaction that she has received over the past few days, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:18:23] CAMEROTA: More women coming forward with their "me, too" moments. On Friday, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell shared her story here on NEW DAY.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: There was a senator who -- I was married but I didn't want my husband to know, because I was afraid he might kill him. Everybody at my office knew. And the minute we were at a social setting, like, somebody would move in to protect me so I'd never be alone.
CAMEROTA: Because he was aggressive towards you?
DINGELL: He would be aggressive not only towards me, everybody on Capitol Hill knew it. I just happened to be one of his people.
I have -- I was with a very prominent, historical person, and I'm not going to name who this person is because -- and that's part of the problem. A lot of women don't have the courage, because even though they've got the "me, too" story, there are consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Well, a lot has happened since that moment. And joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell from Michigan.
Congresswoman, thanks so much for being back. We wanted to check back in with you and see what has happened over these past couple of days since you shared your story. What's the response been?
DINGELL: Good morning, Alisyn. It's been -- you know, for the most part, it's been really touching in the -- by Saturday, 50 women had reached out to me or called me. A 21-year-old woman hugged me at an event Friday night and said, "I'm that waitress you spoke for." Another young woman -- and this is one of the things I'm trying to do, is how do we help these women? Said to me, "My boss closed the door" -- she was 22 years old -- "and told me to get up on the table and dance, and I need my job." Another, a mother said, you know, "You've allowed me to talk to my son and my daughter." And I heard it again last night. Servers coming up and thanking me.
[07:20:04] But you know, men are uncomfortable with this discussion. And I've had some hostile comments, which -- that's why people like me are willing to talk, because we're strong enough to take them. I've had men act uncomfortable over the weekend. I had a man this morning say, "You've ruffled feathers," but I've also had a lot of men hug me and saying, "You're helping my daughters."
CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, listen, this is why we keep having this conversation. I get it. I understand why men feel awkward, and uncomfortable, and hopefully, these conversations will help everybody know what the boundaries are supposed to be.
But I do want to -- one more thing about what you said on Friday. You talked about a powerful man putting his hands on you in a grossly inappropriate way. And you said that he was an historical figure. And since then, there's been a lot of speculation about who that was, and you didn't name names. I'm just wondering if, for the record, you want to say who it was or who it was not.
DINGELL: I don't want to name a name. But the speculation is all centered on it was a United States senator, and it wasn't. And one of those people, the one that -- the name that I've heard the most was a very good friend to my husband and always treated me honorably and respectfully.
CAMEROTA: Can you say that name, of who it wasn't? Can I--
DINGELL: It was not Ted Kennedy, I will say that. Because all the media took off that way. He always treated me with dignity and respect. And that's why it's dangerous for people to start speculating.
I have to say that the speed and the sweep of the number of names that are coming out is -- I said on Sunday over the weekend, there are thousands of names out there. And I think that people who are currently in office or currently in a corporate suite and continuing to practice this just despicable behavior need to be held accountable. And I salute the women brave enough to come forward.
But even, Alisyn, as you read the articles, people are afraid to have their name, because they are afraid of consequences. And the dam has broken. So I hope that we are going to have real change, and we need to focus on how we're going to go forward but hold people there accountable right now.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
DINGELL: But maybe the culture will -- we have to focus on how do we help everybody? And that's who I'm focused on, the working woman, the tip waitress, the woman on the factory floor, the lawyer. The nurse, all of those people.
CAMEROTA: All those women that don't have the powerful platform that you and I have.
DINGELL: That's right.
CAMEROTA: But hopefully by talking about it on our powerful platform, it does help women who you talk about in your own district.
But just a few hours ago, veteran journalist Charlie Rose is now being featured. There are eight women who have come forward to "The Washington Post" to talk about things that they say he did to them at his show on PBS. And this morning his co-anchors on CBS just talked about what this means to them. So, let me play a moment for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS: I certainly echo that. And I -- I have to say, Nora, I really am still reeling. I got an hour and 42 minutes of sleep last night. Both my son and my daughter called me. Oprah called me and said, "Are you OK?" I am not OK after reading that article in "The Post." It was deeply disturbing, troubling and painful for me to read.
That said, I think we have to make this matter to women, the women that have spoken up, the women who have not spoken up because they're afraid. I'm hoping that now they will take the step to speak out, too, that this becomes a moment of truth.
You know, I've enjoyed a friendship and a partnership with Charlie for the past five years. I've held him in such high regard. And I'm really struggling, because how do you -- what do you say when someone that you deeply care about has done something that is so horrible? How do you wrap your brain around that? I'm really grappling with that. That said, Charlie does not get a pass here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Congresswoman, I mean, one of the things they went on to say is that it requires all of us to hold two thoughts in our head at one time. You can be a talented man, you can be a veteran journalist, you can think that you have mentored people and you can also have been a predator in the workplace. And we're just seeing this happen.
DINGELL: You know, I think Gayle was very articulate. I think we're all trying to wrap our heads around this.
And by the way, there are more names coming. There's no question. I've heard them for years. And any man that has practiced just despicable, irresponsible behavior needs to be worried.
But what I think we ought -- and I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around some of them, just like she is and you are. But what we've got to figure out is how do we really make this the dam moment? How did the dam break and how do we change the culture so men know, you cannot do that anymore? You cannot take your power and wield it over us?
One of the first things we have to do when we get back, I hope that Paul Ryan schedules Jackie Speier's bill the week we are back. And the Senate needs to do the same thing. Congress needs to lead on passing legislation that holds people accountable, doesn't make the taxpayers pay for it.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
DINGELL: Has everybody pay for it and is transparent. We all need to know. Corporations are doing the same thing. They're signing these confidential agreements, burying the money that they pay. One, that shouldn't be tax deductible, and shareholders should know who is doing it.
CAMEROTA: For sure. I mean, you're talking about Jackie Speier's legislation about how there have been these settlements paid out in the millions of dollars from Capitol Hill against people who have accused men, primarily, of bad behavior, and it's taxpayer dollars. And you didn't even know about it. You are on Capitol Hill. You didn't know about this.
So, yes, it's time to shine some sunlight on all of this.
That brings us to what's happening with Roy Moore. So, Roy Moore, as you know, running for U.S. Senate from Alabama, and the White House has been struggling with how to respond to this.
So, Kellyanne Conway, lead counselor to the president, has said what sounds like two different things. She said something last week about how, you know, child molestation, or call it whatever you want, is unthinkable and cannot be tolerated, and then yesterday she said something that sounded different. Let me play both of these for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: Dog Jones in Alabama, folks, don't be fooled. He'll be a vote against tax cuts. He's weak on crime, weak on borders. He's strong on raising your taxes. He's terrible for property owners.
KILMEADE: So vote Roy Moore?
CONWAY: Doug Jones is a doctrinaire liberal, which is why he's not saying anything and why the media are trying to boost him.
KILMEADE: So vote Roy Moore?
CONWAY: I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax -- this tax bill through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So, they want the votes. So it sounds like that trumps everything, pardon the pun. So what do you want to hear out of the White House?
DINGELL: You know, what I want to hear out of the White House is condemnation of -- I mean, I still know that we've got to -- you know, he's denying everything. But when you have the number of young women who aren't so young anymore come forward and say the same story, there is something there.
And I think her first reaction was absolutely the right reaction.
And we all have to look at our souls and our hearts. And how did we get to this place? How are so many men allowed to get away with this behavior?
I get mad about the very first man that did it to me and how that -- but it built my backbone for the rest of my career to help other women. But we can't tolerate it. And if this dam is really going to have been broken, and if we're really going to make real change, nobody, nobody can dance the line on what is moral behavior and what is not.
CAMEROTA: There we go. Congressman Debbie Dingell, we really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story and coining the phrase "the dam moment." It seems fitting. Thank you very much for being here -- Chris.
CUOMO: A double entendre there.
Now, a reflection of what's not being talked about by the president when it comes to Roy Moore is reflected by the man on your screen. The president has plenty of time to talk on LaVar Ball. He did a big interview with CNN. It literally dominated the Internet. Hear why he refuses to thank the president who helped get his kid out of china after he stole something. Next.
