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Senators Call For Trump's Resignation Over Sexual Assault, Harassment Allegations; Late Night Audiences Were Given Two Kimmels On Monday Night; Trump's Fast Food And Diet Coke Habit. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired December 12, 2017 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:33:05] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Four Democratic senators calling for President Trump to resign over multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment against him. President Trump has denied all of the accusations and the White House dismisses the claims as old news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has addressed these accusations directly and denied all of these allegations, and this took place long before he was elected to be president. And the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley. He's one of the senators calling on President Trump to resign. Good morning, Senator.
SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Good morning, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: What did you think of Press Secretary Sarah Sanders' explanation for why it's time to move on?
MERKLEY: Well, I think it's totally insufficient. We're in a national conversation about the sexual harassment, both in the workplace and in life, and certainly, no one has a worse record than the President of the United States.
And I think these individuals need to have a forum in which we can hear each of them in a clear fashion. And if the president says well, hey, I've got people who can discount these things and he invents some individual from halfway around the world to do so, well, we can -- we can listen to them as well.
CAMEROTA: And what is that forum that you're suggesting?
MERKLEY: Well, I'd like to see there be a hearing on Capitol Hill. If there is not -- the Republicans are unwilling to have this conversation about this president, then we should hold a shadow hearing with the Democratic Caucus.
CAMEROTA: Is this why Sen. Al Franken had to resign? Was there some conversation that took place last week that said Al, if you resign we can then, with credibility, call for President Trump to resign?
MERKLEY: No, no, not at all. I don't -- I didn't hear that conversation from anyone. I would -- I would certainly think that that would be a stretch in any case.
[07:35:05] I mean, realize that, you know, there's a way to apply pressure within the Senate community but it's much harder with the -- with the -- with the president.
But I think we should give full opportunity for these women who the 2president completely discounted and said are completely inauthentic, unbelievable, never happened -- I think there's a -- it's only fair that we give them a full chance to tell their story before the American people.
CAMEROTA: But even before you hear all of their stories, even before this hearing that you describe, you're calling for President Trump to resign, and let's face it, the chances of that seem nil. So what is this exercise?
MERKLEY: Well, it's fundamental accountability. That's what it boils down to.
CAMEROTA: I mean, is this an exercise -- I hear you. I understand what you want. I mean, in a utopian world you want everybody to be accountable. I get it.
But it does feel as though you and your three fellow Democratic senators -- this is -- I mean, is this a publicity stunt? There's no chance that the president's going to resign and that's not how it works. I mean, you -- a Democrat calling for him to resign is not how it works.
MERKLEY: Alisyn, there were over 40 senators who said it was the right thing for Sen. Franken to step down. But if you believe that that's the case wouldn't you also believe that it's the right thing for the president to step down, who has a far more serious set of stories?
He's grabbed women's butts, he grabbed their breasts, he's grabbed their genitals. He's bragged about it. He's bragged about it in a variety of forms. It's just a horrendous list of treatment of women.
And this is -- this is why if you called for Franken to step down, don't you have to also say it's the right thing for the president to resign?
CAMEROTA: So do your Republican senators share your feelings?
MERKLEY: Well, we'll find out if --
CAMEROTA: I mean, have you had any conversations with them? MERKLEY: No, no, I haven't heard any of them share this. A couple of them did join the conversation about asking -- or saying that it was the right thing for Sen. Franken to resign. I would think that they -- it would be a good question to ask those individuals if they share the same feeling about the president. I would hope they would.
CAMEROTA: It seems as though this is done right, as far as we've heard it in terms of members of Congress who are accused of sexual harassment and/or assault.
There's a House Ethics Committee, so it seems as though that's where the investigation happens. That there is this kind of process in place.
So can the House Ethics Committee -- are you calling for the House Ethics Committee to investigate the president?
MERKLEY: Well, I would certainly welcome such a thing if it was an authentic investigation. I don't have a great deal of faith that under Republican control that there would be such a fair consideration. But if they were to shock us all that would be just fine.
CAMEROTA: OK. But in the meantime, are you calling for this shadow hearing -- this shadow investigation that can be led by Democrats and is there -- are you getting any traction for that?
MERKLEY: Well, I'm just suggesting it starting yesterday so we'll see if there's any traction. My colleague Kirsten Gillibrand has called for an investigation and I absolutely agree with her. That would be terrific.
But if the Republicans do not respond and hold such an investigation, then let's take matters into our own hand and provide a forum for all of these women to make their -- to tell their story -- to make their case to the American public.
CAMEROTA: So, Senator, before we let you go, what's your prediction for what's going to happen in Alabama today?
MERKLEY: I am certainly hoping that the state of Alabama, here in the year 2017, does not define itself by electing a child molester to be their U.S. senator.
CAMEROTA: We shall see what happens.
Senator Jeff Merkley, thanks so much for coming in --
MERKLEY: Thank you, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: -- with your perspective on all of this -- Chris.
MERKLEY: Thank you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Jimmy Kimmel back on late-night and bringing in a special guest, his newborn son, Billy. There he is. He looks great. Kimmel got emotional again.
He's bringing up another issue. What is it? We have it for you, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:43:31] CUOMO: Temperatures are going the wrong way. More snow could be on the way from the Great Lakes to the Northeast.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the forecast. What do you see?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I see the temperatures going the wrong way for a few months, Chris.
You're at 47 degrees in New York with a couple of rain showers around, whereas, Chicago's not going to get above 25 today. Here is the snowfall right now coming down and right now, still 47 degrees at LaGuardia and it is raining.
This weather is brought to you by Purina. Your pet. Our passion.
Yes, cold air coming in. It's one Alberta Clipper after another. Here is the first one. Enjoy the morning in the big cities because by this afternoon it's much colder.
And there goes the next storm system for tomorrow into Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This will bring much colder air into the region so we're going to be from the forties to the thirties, and many spots for morning lows in the teens.
There is the snow for Detroit, also for Buffalo, for Erie. Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties will pick up the biggest snow. There are even some spots in New Hampshire that will pick up a foot.
The high tomorrow in New York only in the thirties. Morning lows, even in Chicago, in the teens with a wind chill around zero.
CUOMO: So, Chad Everett, I've got a good one for you.
MYERS: Oh, yes, go ahead.
CUOMO: You ever done a polar plunge?
MYERS: I have --
CAMEROTA: I reported about it.
MYERS: -- in Jamestown, Rhode Island.
CUOMO: How cold was it?
MYERS: I couldn't feel my legs.
CAMEROTA: Chris is going to out --
MYERS: I could barely -- I could barely get back in the car because my legs were numb.
[07:45:00] CUOMO: I did a polar plunge this weekend for this charity --
MYERS: Oh.
CUOMO: -- out where I live called Heart of the Hamptons.
I go in and I was struck by the pain in my feet and I didn't understand why my feet hurt so much instead of the rest of me, right, because I figured -- so I looked it up and it turns out that the blood rushes to the most vital areas --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: -- to keep you alive --
CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: -- and that's why I had the agony of defeat.
MYERS: Oh.
CAMEROTA: Oh, wow, wow. That was a long way to go.
CUOMO: It's all about the set-up.
CAMEROTA: I don't even go in the ocean --
CUOMO: Good charity.
CAMEROTA: -- in the summer if it's too cold.
CUOMO: I don't feel hot or cold.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: He doesn't feel.
Chad, thank you.
CUOMO: That's the upside of no emotional depth.
CAMEROTA: That's right.
Chad, thank you --
MYERS: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: -- for playing along --
MYERS: See you tomorrow.
CAMEROTA: -- with all of this.
All right. Police say the man who detonated a pipe bomb at the New York City's Port Authority is a lone wolf who pledged allegiance to ISIS. A source with knowledge of this investigation says the Bangladeshi man was carrying two devices but only one went off. An NYPD official says the 27-year-old was not on their radar.
The suspect remains in the hospital. Five people were injured during this blast but they have been treated and released.
CUOMO: Jimmy Kimmel made an emotional return to his late-night show with a very special guest. Kimmel walked out on stage with his little man -- his son, Billy.
The comedian was off last week. He's got his 7-month-old. You know, he's dealing with his heart surgeries. They have a condition that they have to deal with that got Jimmy involved in health care.
Here a little sound of what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": And I want to thank Chris Pratt, and Tracee Ellis Ross, and Neil Patrick Harris, and Melissa McCarthy for filling in for us last week. Each of them -- they each gave a full day of their very busy lives to give me time off and I'm grateful to them for doing that.
And (CRYING) -- Daddy cries on T.V. but Billy doesn't. It's unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: He is a good kid -- boy. Seven months old and he's already ready for primetime.
Kimmel also pleading with Congress to renew CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Plan. The program provides coverage for about nine million kids whose parents usually earn just a little too much for Medicaid but not enough to get private coverage.
Funding for the program has run out. States are sending parents letter saying that their coverage could get cut off.
Here's what he said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMMEL: This is literally a life and death program for American kids. It's always had bipartisan support but this year they let the money for it expire while they work on getting tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire donors.
And imagine getting that letter literally not knowing how you'll be able to afford to save your child's life. This is not a hypothetical. About two million CHIP kids have serious chronic conditions. I don't know about you, I've had enough of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CUOMO: Chip is very important, that's objectively true. We are hearing from both sides that they will renew it but they are playing politics with it right now, which doesn't matter much when they give a future promise politically. It does matter to those families because if the money does come they go into crisis mode right away.
CAMEROTA: Of course. And even if you get that letter saying that your money might dry up, then you go into anxiety mode right away. I mean --
CUOMO: In how you apportion your budget, how you prepare for these things emotionally. It's very hard.
CAMEROTA: And there might not be the budget in your family budget to take care of these kids.
I mean, listen, he just spells it -- you can't say it better than Jimmy Kimmel. He explains it as --
CUOMO: Especially holding that gorgeous kid.
CAMEROTA: It is so nice.
All right. Meanwhile, a South Beach shocker. The Miami Dolphins upset the defending Super Bowl champs, the New England Patriots.
Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report," but I can't believe he could do it with any more drama than I just did -- Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Alisyn, now we'll try the Patriots
And Tom Brady, the only man on who I have a bigger man crush than our man Chris Cuomo, needed just one win in their final four games to clinch yet another division crown. Not so fast, my friend.
The Dolphins just five and seven going into this game. No way they'd beat the Pats, right? Well, they do. They snapped New England's eight-game win streak and they did it with a palpable perniciousness on defense.
New England unable to convert a single third down conversion the entire game. The Dolphins intercepted Tom Terrific twice. He didn't even complete a pass to a wide receiver until about five minutes into the third quarter.
Miami wins 27 to 20.
We have to show you this feel-good moment of the day.
Kevin Durant, former league MVP, gives a signed pair of his shoes to a young fan at a Trailblazer's game there, and look at the tears flow. This is what it's all about, understanding your platform and your position and knowing that someday, somehow you might affect young kids for life.
You see those tears and that smile, Chris? Incredible stuff.
CUOMO: You know, I've been asking you for a pair of your shoes for a long time now. But it is nice. It makes you wonder why waste time on the negative stuff when they can do so much good.
WIRE: Amen.
CUOMO: All the best to you my handsome brother.
President Trump reportedly drinks 12 Diet Cokes a day. What would that do to you, if true?
We have Sanjay Gupta. He's never even looked at a Diet Coke in his life. He's bringing us the facts, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:54:25] CUOMO: There's a piece in "The New York Times" that gives us some insight into what the daily life is like for the 45th President of the United States.
A couple of details raising some eyebrows, like President Trump reportedly drinks up to 12 Diet Cokes a day. Is that good?
Joining us now to discuss the president's diet is CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I mean, it's just better than regular Coke.
CAMEROTA: Is it?
CUOMO: I don't know.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It doesn't take a doctor to tell you drinking four liters, which is what that is -- four liters of Diet Coke a day.
CAMEROTA: But what does that do to somebody, seriously?
GUPTA: Well, you know, when you talk about sort of breaking it down into caffeine content, for example, it's a -- you're looking at 46 milligrams of caffeine per Diet Coke. Now, I don't know if he also drinks coffee, if he's getting other sources of caffeine.
[07:55:10] That alone would be way more caffeine than he should be getting in a day if you have any kind of underlying heart condition or something like that. It can lead to irritability, it can lead to insomnia. That's just in the caffeine alone.
CUOMO: Specifically, toward the media, is there anything in the guidelines --
GUPTA: It could be a hostility to --
CUOMO: -- the DSM?
GUPTA: Listen, the other thing -- CAMEROTA: Hey, isn't there other stuff in Diet Coke that also doesn't -- that doctors wouldn't recommend having trouble with?
GUPTA: Well, what's interesting is that people drink it because they don't want the calories, right? So you're getting these artificial zero-calorie sweeteners.
The problem is -- and President Trump has tweeted about this himself in the past saying he's never seen someone whose skinny drinking Diet Coke.
Part of the problem is your body starts to crave sugar after that. Your body is tricked into thinking it received sugar -- it didn't, so it goes out and starts foraging for sugar later on.
CUOMO: Fake sugar.
GUPTA: Fake sugar, right, and a fake product because it's all basically chemicals.
So, it's -- no doctor, no person would recommend -- the makers of Coca-Cola would not recommend drinking four liters of this stuff in a day. So it's --
CAMEROTA: We have a few more details about his diet that I feel you must address.
OK, this is from "Let Trump Be Trump." This is from Corey Lewandowski, OK --
GUPTA: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- a big fan of the president. This isn't, you know -- this isn't --
CUOMO: A solid source.
CAMEROTA: This isn't him making something up.
LEWANDOWSKI: Not him.
CAMEROTA: On Trump Force One there were four major food groups -- McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza, and Diet Coke. Also in the book, Corey Lewandowski said that for meals, the president would often have two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish, and a chocolate milkshake.
GUPTA: Right.
CAMEROTA: I mean, Sanjay, what -- as a doctor, what does this mean to you?
GUPTA: Well, so much of this food, it's obviously really bad food. It's really high in saturated fats. It's the ultra-processed foods.
These are sandwiches that have 121 chemicals in them so they're fake food. They're not even real food in terms of what he's eating. I -- you know, it's -- if somebody does this occasionally, I guess it's not that concerning, but the sense that I got was that he's doing this on a regular basis and --
CUOMO: But you remember his doctor's letter. His doctor's letter said that there was no metric of fitness. That this man --
GUPTA: Astonishingly excellent.
CUOMO: Yes, astonishingly excellent.
GUPTA: Yes. A couple of things jumped out after we got that letter as well, is he's take -- he takes a cholesterol-lowering drug, so obviously someone's worried about his cholesterol. And yet, he's still eating this amount of saturated fat in a day.
He's also had a coronary calcium scan which looks at how much calcium is actually in the -- in the arteries leading to your heart, and it was sort of in the moderate risk category. So this is something that any doctor would recommend he not be eating to try and reduce his risks.
It's a terrible diet. There's nothing that you can say that's good about this diet and no doctor is going to recommend a diet like this.
CAMEROTA: There was also a moment that raised some concern and that was the president appeared to have some slurred speech. Do we have that? Let's listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: God bless you, God bless Israel, God bless the Palestinians, and God bless the United States (slurred). Thank you very much. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: As a doctor, anything you see there?
GUPTA: Well, it's interesting. Obviously, you hear the difficulty that he has forming words.
It's funny. Right as he left the lectern and walked to his seat -- I was watching that part very closely as well because if someone suddenly has difficulty with their speech, the first big concern is, is he having some sort of TIA or stroke.
He was moving just fine. He went to the table, he pulled the chair out with both hands, he signed something. There was really no suggestion of a stroke there. This was something clearly, it seemed to be inside of his mouth.
I don't know. Dry mouth, they say.
CUOMO: Good.
GUPTA: It could be some misplaced tooth or something like that.
CUOMO: Good.
GUPTA: He was speaking about 11 minutes -- fine before he got to that point. So --
CUOMO: And he's going to have a physical and now we're supposed to hear on Friday --
GUPTA: Yes.
CUOMO: -- so we'll see what they decide to release.
GUPTA: This will be the -- I mean, he's going to follow past precedent.
Presidents have done this in the past. There's been a lot of presidents, by the way, who have been sick in office. About a third of our presidents have had some sort of illness. Bill Clinton was famous for a similar sort of diet.
But this would be good information to get.
CAMEROTA: Sanjay, great to talk to you.
GUPTA: You got it, thank you.
CUOMO: Always a pleasure.
GUPTA: Thank you.
CUOMO: Fit.
GUPTA: Thank you, sir.
CUOMO: So fit.
GUPTA: I try to practice what I preach.
CUOMO: We're following a lot of news. What do you say? Let's get after it. Put the Diet Coke down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY MOORE (R), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: It's difficult to drain the swamp when you're up to your neck in alligators.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: To think you can elect Roy Moore without getting the baggage of Roy Moore is pretty naive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're trying to give Judge Roy Moore a high-tech lynching.
DOUG JONES (D), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: It's time that we put our decency before a political party.
RACHEL CROOKS, TRUMP ACCUSER: I ask that Congress investigate Mr. Trump's history of sexual misconduct.
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: I thought we litigated that. Didn't the American people already vote on that one?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE; The White House's preferred excuse is that this has all been asked and answered, but it really hasn't been.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY: This was an attempted terrorist attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: We're not going to allow them to disrupt us. That's exactly what they want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your new day. It is Tuesday, December 12th, 8:00 in the east and polls are now open in Alabama's high-stakes special Senate election.
Will voters elect the Republican who --
