Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Chief Justice Retires Over Sexual Harassment Claims; Threats from North Korea. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 01, 2018 - 7:30   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: ...Pakistan over frustration with the country's handling of terror groups. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the federal courts will evaluate how they handle allegations of sexual harassment. In his year end report on the state of the judiciary, Roberts said that recent events show the quote, "judicial branch is not immune".

A federal appeals judge recently retired following misconduct accusations from former clerks. If you're looking to strike it rich in 2018 -- and who isn't -- this may be the time. The combined toll for Mega Millions and Powerball is now at $783 million. It's getting more common to have two big jackpots like this after recent rule changes have made for longer odds to win it all. I'm Boris Sanchez. We have more headlines coming up in just 30 minutes. Happy New Year.

CHRIS CUOMO, HOST, CNN NEW DAY: OK, we've just said goodbye to a year of worldwide tensions. But with threats from North Korea, shaky Middle East, concerns about Russia's influence, what can we expect from the world's hot spots in the year ahead. For more on that, let's bring in foreign affairs columnist Bobby Ghosh. Good to have you back.

BOBBY GHOSH, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, CNN: Good to be back.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, HOST, CNN NEW DAY: Good to have you. Happy New Year.

GHOSH: And the same to you.

CUOMO: So we have this list. Probably remains the same, at least as we begin 2018. So we start with North Korea. The stakes, the potential?

GHOSH: Well, the Olympics are in February and you can expect -- the Olympics are in South Korea, you can expect the North Koreans to rattle some cages when that's going on in the lead up to it. Going by his performance in 2017, the North Korean dictator seems to set off a -- a little crisis, setting off a missile over Japan or close to Japan every month or so. And so he's due one pretty soon.

And this means that everybody will be very, very tense. The North -- the South Koreans, remember, we have 30,000 American troops there. Will be very tense, the Japanese will be very tense. He's got -- he's becoming a problem for everybody, even his traditional allies. The Chinese who have supported him throughout and supported his father and grandfather before him don't like that he's constantly setting off these rockets and destabilizing potentially the region.

The Chinese economy depends on a stable Asia. They can't afford for this to go on. Even the Russians -- even the Russians are -- are not happy.

CAMEROTA: Right, nobody's happy with the saber (ph) rattling.

GHOSH: But no one is (inaudible) with the guy. (ph)

CAMEROTA: That's right. And so nobody's happy with the missile tests, nobody's happy with the saber rattling, so what does the global community, what does China do?

GHOSH: Well, the global community is looking to China. If anybody has any influence on North Korea, it is the Chinese. How -- and this is the real test. How much influence does China really have there? Is China riding on a tiger or is the tiger riding on China, with North Korea? The Chinese will want North Korea to tone it down. The Chinese will also want Donald Trump to tone it down.

But Trump and Kim seem to be perfectly happy to -- to raise the rhetoric against each other. That's not good news for anybody.

CUOMO: Terrorism. What and where? What do you see as the defined threat and where do you see it coming from?

GHOSH: Well with terrorism, the big development of last year was that ISIS was defeated on the ground in Syria and in Iraq. This was extremely good news and we should celebrate it as much as we can. But we should also recognize all that means is that ISIS now morphs into something else, just as it was Al-Qaeda in Iraq and morphed into ISIS, now it morphs into something else.

The -- the underlying roots of terrorism have not gone away. A lot of the ISIS fighters are still at large. Especially the foreign fighters, the Europeans, for instance, are extremely -- sort of like anxious about what happens to all those foreign fighters. We don't know. We don't know exactly how many were there. Probably thousands. Many of them came from France, from England, from Germany.

Many of them will be trying now either to find another place to go fight a conventional war or to go back into Europe or come -- god forbid come into the United States and try to see if they can practice terrorism in another form. Those are the anxieties for law enforcement, for counterterrorism authorities around the world. There's -- there was a quiet moment of -- among -- in that community, there was a quiet moment of celebration when ISIS lost it's large major city in Syria.

But immediately, they all went back to work to think about where is the next attack going to happen. You also have this conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia that's playing out in the backdrop of all of this. The -- the -- the winner in 2017 on the foreign policy landscape was Iran. Iran will continue to try and expand it's area of influence in 2018. And if last year was any indication, they will continue to get up the -- the noses of the Arab states, who are very alarmed by Iran's influence and are looking to the U.S., looking to the rest of the world to try and hold Iran off.

So that creates all kinds of instability. The Middle East is not going to get any less complex, if anything more so this year.

CAMEROTA: And Russia? What do you see happening with Russia in the coming --

GHOSH: Another big winner in 2017 was Russia. Russia has anxieties. It has -- it -- it will look upon Syria now as a success story. Russian arms helped to defeat ISIS there. It will continue to back Assad while he tries to take back the remaining 20, 25 percent of the country that he has no control over. That'll be very bloody, but the Russians will be enthusiastic participants there.

But beyond that, Russia has anxieties all around it. It has North Korea at one end, the unfinished business in Ukraine at the other, it has -- it has an alliance with Iran, but they're not traditional -- they're not traditional allies and they have interests that are counter to each other. The one thing Russia is banking on is for the United States not to interfere in what it considers it's sphere of influence.

And it seems that -- from -- that's perfectly OK with Donald Trump. He's happy to let Vladimir Putin do his own thing.

CAMEROTA: Bobby Ghosh. Great to talk to you. Thank you for all of these ominous and worrisome predictions. But it's great to have your expertise.

GHOSH: It's good to be here. Happy New Year.

CUOMO: Yes. It's great to have you for 2018.

CAMEROTA: Yes. All right, we all make resolutions, of course, on New Years, to get healthy. But sometimes it's hard to know where to start this morning. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us with what you need to know to get your diet on track for 2018 and how to cure a hangover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: New year, that means a lot of things. One of them is new laws. Guns, marijuana, voter ID, so what are the high ones? All right, let's do this. I guess plays us a little bit of a pond, right? Anyway, to break it down is CNN Chief Legal Analyst, Jeffery Toobin. Happy New Year to you, professor.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Happy New Year to you both and to all the world.

CUOMO: And to all a goodnight, or in this case good morning.

TOOBIN: Good morning.

CUOMO: So, let's start with these laws. How about the gun restrictions in California. Let's start there. What are they?

TOOBIN: Well, the California gun laws are - just a broader point if I may, Chris. What we see with these new laws is that the blue states are getting more liberal and the red states are getting more conservative. The polarization is just amazing.

California guns laws. It is now illegal to possess an assault weapon in California. It's illegal to bring any kind of ammunition into California. This is a big change, and it's a response, of course, to the mass shootings that we've seen in so many places, including sometimes in California.

CUOMO: California's got a marijuana law in the books, too, right? What will it mean?

TOOBIN: It will mean that it's legal recreationally starting in 2018. Marijuana is perhaps the most interesting, new situation here because I think people forget that marijuana is still illegal - completely illegal under federal law.

CUOMO: Right.

TOOBIN: Under President Obama, Eric Holder, the Attorney General, essentially made a deal with Washington and Colorado, the first two states to legalize it completely and said, "look, if you meet the following conditions - no access for children, no organized crime - we will not enforce federal laws."

Jeff Sessions, the current Attorney General, is a long time foe of marijuana. He has not yet moved against marijuana, but he has not really made his position clear. Now we have California and a whole bunch of other new states legalizing it. I mean, the momentum seems enormous, but no one has settled the issue of federal laws against marijuana, and we see how many states it's legal there. It's a lot - it's probably a third of the population of the country, but it's still illegal under federal law and that is very much an unsettled situation.

CUOMO: It would be interesting if there were a case because you know what's supposed to happen? Federal law is supposed to be, obviously, the advantage there, but we'll see what happens with it.

All right. How about West Virginia's voter ID law. That takes - that's January 1st, so we're in it. What do you think this will mean?

TOOBIN: That's a red state getting redder. This is - has been a big cause of conservative states - Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin - basically saying we have a problem with voter fraud, that we want to make sure people who are not eligible to vote are prevented from voting, so we're establishing photo ID requirements.

People on the left, Democrats, believe that this is a transparent attempt to limit Democratic voters - poor people, people of color, people who have - don't necessarily have photo IDs - but this is an example in West Virginia of another red state making it harder for people to vote.

CUOMO: They say that it is written flexibly so that it's - there's different way that you can show it. Does that matter in terms of its chilling effect?

TOOBIN: Well that's what the courts are sorting at now. Under President Obama, the Justice Department sued Texas and North Carolina saying that their new laws were too restrictive, that the opportunities to vote, the photo ID requirements were too strict. The current Justice Department has taken a very different direction, has dropped those cases, and they are saying that the current laws are OK. The United States Supreme Court, they upheld the voter ID requirement from Indiana about a decade ago, but they haven't yet weighed in on this whole new spade of laws making it harder to vote starting since Obama became president.

CUOMO: And we're going to have to wait for somebody to standing who said that this affected them in election, so it'll take some time.

TOOBIN: Correct.

CUOMO: But it will take no time for me to thank you. Jeffrey Toobin, you are a gift every day. I wish you the best for the New Year.

TOOBIN: And to you and yours. Same here (ph)

CUOMO: Alisyn -

CAMEROTA: So, what New Year's resolutions did you make last night? If you're like most people, you're hoping to get healthy and lose weight in 2018, and some of us are vowing never to drink again. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us this morning with some advice. Sanjay, great to see you -

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Happy New Year.

GUPTA: Doing OK?

CAMEROTA: Yes. Feeling good this morning, but I do know the importance of breakfast. A lot of people are waking up and trying to figure out what today to eat for breakfast. What is Sanjay's idea of a healthy breakfast?

GUPTA: This may surprise you, but because you hear a lot of mixed things about eggs, I eat eggs every morning. I love eggs, and when you think about eggs, people typically think they get a bad name because -

CAMEROTA: Cholesterol.

GUPTA: Cholesterol and association with heart disease and all that. Eggs have nine particular amino acids that our bodies can't make themselves. You need these types of substances in your body, and eggs are a really good source of that. I think they've gotten a bad rep. They are high in cholesterol -

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GUPTA: - but they're not high in saturated fat, so if you get one poached egg, for example, it's around 71 calories, you do get a little bit of the extra cholesterol. If you want to get rid of that, you can get rid of the egg yolk. But take a look. You can't find -

CAMEROTA: But don't you need the egg yolk? See, I eat the whole egg because I feel like -

GUPTA: I do, too.

CAMEROTA: - there are still things in the egg, the - I mean in the yolk.

GUPTA: I do, too, and I have a family history of heart disease. I am good with eggs. I've looked into this. I eat at least one egg, sometimes two eggs everyday.

CAMEROTA: Me, too, and I also eat eggs benedict which I see there now -

GUPTA: (inaudible)

CAMEROTA: - I each eggs and I do it a lot.

GUPTA: Asking me (ph) what to eat, what not to eat.

CAMEROTA: And yes, I see that it has 800 calories -

GUPTA: So there's your New Years resolution now. It's right there.

CAMEROTA: - and 26 grams. Oh my god. I will be rethinking my eggs benedict habit. OK.

GUPTA: Half your calories for the day.

CAMEROTA: Wow, OK. Moving on. So listen, I operate under the principle of fat is not the enemy, sugar is the enemy. Is that the proper principle?

GUPTA: I absolutely believe that is the proper principle, and it defies what we've been thinking in this country since the 70s. We became a low-fat country in the 70s -

CAMEROTA: And we got fatter.

GUPTA: - and that was a trillion dollar decision, right? Everything that was low-fat was synonymous with healthy. What happened? Heart disease still the big killer of men and women alike. Diabetes rates. Half the country's going to be pre-diabetic within the next few years. It's really unbelievable, and the entire time it may not have been fat, it may have been sugar that's such a big problem. CAMEROTA: That leads us to dried fruit. So you think, "oh, fruit. This has to be healthy." But these are like sugar bombs.

GUPTA: Yes, so the - a lot of people eat the dried fruit, and you need to get your fruit. That's not a bad option if you're trying to do that. Just keep this in the back of your mind when you're thinking about dried fruit, the number 5 because you five times as much stuff typically in the dried fruit versus the whole fruit. That's five times the nutrient, five times the good stuff, but also, as I think you pointing out, five times the sugar as well. So -

CAMEROTA: Yes. But five times the nutrients sounds good.

GUPTA: Yes, so you can get a lot more of the good stuff in there. You just got to really be judicious. About a fifth of the cup is going to be a whole cup of fruit, so just be careful with it. It's great, especially if you're working out or something. It's a great little boost of energy.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's talk about people may have overdone it on champagne last night.

GUPTA: I feel great.

CAMEROTA: Do you because you look great?

GUPTA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So is one drink a day good for you? We hear all the different medical advice about this -

GUPTA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: - whether alcohol's good or bad. What is it?

GUPTA: I think a drink a day is good for you.

CAMEROTA: And are all drinks created equal?

GUPTA: All drinks are not created equally. We have wine up here. You're going to see - you can compare wine to other drinks in terms of calories, in terms of amounts.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I want to put that up again with that graphic. So wine is the least caloric or no? Oh yes, wine is the least caloric. 120.

GUPTA: Least caloric. Yes. Least caloric, and you can see the alcohol content there. You get higher alcohol content, you're going to get more calories generally. Here's another word to sort of keep in mind, conjoiner. Conjoiner is a word that - there's two words actually. I know it's New Years Day. Conjoiner though is a word - that's the stuff in alcohol that typically makes you feel terrible. That's the stuff that's the darker liquor. It's the bourbons. It's the whiskies. That's the stuff that actually is going to be more likely to give you a hangover. CAMEROTA: Yes.

GUPTA: Wine, on the other hand, has - while it has some of that, also has resveratrol. That's the only other big word I'll use, but resveratrol's the stuff that's associated with longevity, more associated with reducing heart disease. You have - people are taking this now as a supplement, but that's really some of the health benefits of wine. I worry about heart disease. I think a glass of wine a day is totally fine.

CAMEROTA: But what about the clear liquors like vodka and gin? Are those better for you?

GUPTA: They're going to be better in terms of preventing hangover. And frankly, when you're looking at the heart benefit and actually why it works, alcohol probably thins your blood a little bit. So in that regard, any alcohol can have some benefit for your body overall. Wine maybe a little bit more because of this resveratrol ingredient, but a glass a day I think is totally fine. Most cardiologists, most heart surgeons, people who look inside those vessels think the same thing.

CAMEROTA: Great to know. Sanjay, -

GUPTA: There you go.

CAMEROTA: - thanks so much.

GUPTA: Happy New Year.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for all the advice. Happy New Year.

GUPTA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Chris -

CUOMO: All right. This is Hollywood award

750

cn010750.ms

UNIDENTIED MALE: But a glass a day is totally fine. Most cardiologist, most heart surgeons, people who look inside those vessels, think the same thing.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Great to know. Sanjay, thanks so much. Thanks for all the advice. Happy New Year.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alright, this Hollywood Award Season. You got the Golden Globes coming up. You got the Oscars, we're looking forward to a lot of big winners and oh, the losers. A preview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the entertainment award season is about to get going so who will take home this year's coveted award. Joining us now, with their prediction is CNN Senior Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter and CNN Entertainment Correspondent, Michelle Turner. Happy New Year, guys.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi Alisyn, Happy New Year.

MICHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Happy New Year.

CAMEROTA: It's so great to see you, bright and early, out there. OK, let's go through your picks, the Golden Globes is this week, basically, I mean, on the 7th. So let's, look at your picks that you predict for best picture, in terms of drama. You say, "Call me by Your Name" "Dunkirk", "The Shape of Water", "Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri".

STELTER: Is that in any order, by the way?

CAMEROTA: No, not in any order, just the ones that are nominated and listen, the Hollywood Foreign Press, they like to do, they like to zig when everybody else zags. So, this can go anyway here. I can see the "Shape of Water" winning this. "The Post", I can see winning this but there's been this groundswell lately for "Dunkirk".

And so, I wouldn't be surprised if that took home the Golden Globe either.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, those are the dramas, do you have any additions in there, Stelter, anything?

SELTER: Well, I think that noteworthy of (ph), obviously as journalist, I think a lot of journalists want to see "The Post" win. This is the Meryl Streep drama with Tom Hanks. Inside the Washington Post of the time of the Vietnam War but I think that you saw a little something about "The Shape of Water". And, about "Dunkirk", you know, this movie came out number of months ago, it's good (ph) to go see it again.

It is an incredible film, especially, to see it on IMAX, on the biggest screen possible. You know, some these films get re-released in time for award season sanction. (ph)

CAMEROTA: Do that today, everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT): OK, how about best picture comedy or musical?

CAMEROTA: Oh gosh. Well this is. Yes, go ahead.

CAMEROTA: The disaster artist "Get Out" which I know you have issues with that's doing there.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, my eyebrows are raising, right now about that one.

CAMEROTA: Right? The greatest showman I thought (ph), "The Lady Bird". OK, go ahead.

TURNER: Well, it's interesting because number one, like you said, "Get Out", one of my favorite movies of the year but I didn't laugh, I didn't laugh at all. So, I don't why it's in the comedy category.

CAMEROTA: I think why is it in the comedy category? How did it get in there?

TURNER: Yes, listen. Your guess is as good as mine.

STELTER: Inaudible (ph). are always tricky like that aren't they? They don't know where to put it.

TURNER: Yes, exactly. You know, but it is there which I am appreciative of. I do not, necessarily think it will win the award. I think that the Hollywood Foreign Press, they love a musical, they love, you know, a story with a lot of meat. So, I can see "Lady Bird" taking this, maybe "I Tonya" taking this or "The Greatest Showman". They really do love Hugh Jackman, as well.

STELTER: But let's give a plug for "Get Out", I mean, is there any movie that was more thought provoking.

TURNER: No,

STELTER: More shocking. It's really a horror movie that's also trying to be a comedy. It's - It's so many things all wrapped up in one. I've been glad Allison Williams and the other stars again, promoting the films toward the end of the year because it does deserve to be in this award season contingent but for the Oscars as well.

CAMEROTA: You know, hey Brian, you talked about before with "Dunkirk", how it was released several months ago. "Get Out" was released in February. And they're still talking about this film.

STELTER: Right, right.

CAMEROTA: It was a social experiment as well and so, it was made to provoke conversation that's exactly what was done and you're right. It is definitely one of the best movies of the year.

STELTER: I'm also curious to see by the way, in the Globes noms (ph). We're gonna see if Christopher Plummer, him win Best Supporting Actor (ph). He's the one that came in, took over for Kevin Spacey and replaced Kevin Spacey in "All the Money in the World".

Almost no one even saw the film in December. Now, we can see what Plummer did in those retakes. It's gonna be fascinating to see "Peoples" (ph) without (ph).

CUOMO: OK, what about, what's the next one? Best Television Series Drama.

CAMEROTA: Yes, so we have "The Crown", "Game of Thrones", Chris's favorite. "The Handmaid's Tales", "Stranger Things" and "This is Us" is of course, obviously, such a crowd pleaser right now.

TURNER: Well Chris, I hate to tell you, I don't think "Games of Thrones" is going to win. Even though, it is your favorite. The Hollywood Foreign Press, again, they like a little meat. "Games of Thrones" is a lot of show and it's a great, it's a great television program but it doesn't really fit into what they usually award. So, I can see "This is Us" because it's a very heart-felt drama. I could also, you know, and it's a network television program which would be a really amazing statement (ph). I don't think that "The Crown" will win either because it won last year. And, "The Handmaid's Tales" is my favorite show so I'm kind of bias and high hopes that it will take home the Golden Globe.

STELTER: Yes, "The Handmaid's Tales", "Handmaid's Tales" is amazing. Some people think it's depressing and horrifying. I found it.

TURNER: It is.

STELTER: Weirdly uplifting. Reminds me how much worse the world could be. We can debate offline (ph), Nischelle but I'm with you. I'm hoping for him, Nischelle (ph).

CAMEROTA: I think that's a window into Brian Stelter's mind right there.

STELTER: Society could be a lot worse. You know, "Handmaid's Tales" reminds you of that.

CAMEROTA: OK, next comedy.

TURNER: Inaudible (ph) of the story.

CAMEROTA: That's right. That's Brian's solo (ph).

STELTER: I didn't say that, didn't say that, did not say that.

CAMEROTA: OK, best series in comedy, "Blackish", "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (ph). "Master of None". Nulf (ph) "Will and Grace", what do you see, Nischelle?

TURNER: Well, this will be in shing (ph), this is why. I think this a two man race between "Blackish" and "Master of None". The Golden Globes loves to nominate "Will and Grace". They don't love to give it awards. So, I don't think that it will take home but The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" is really getting a lot of attention now. It's very funny. The lead actress was nominated for it as well. So, you know what? They do like to surprise us so that can happen as well.

CUOMO: Same (ph)

STELTER: Yes, I have not seen, the one I haven't seen is "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, so, I don't know, is it a show? Is it a must see? Is it a must view ?

TURNER: For me, I wouldn't call it a must see or a must view but it's good watching. It's funny. It is funny. STELTER: Yes. I would inaudible (ph).

TURNER: I like that it's getting recognition because it's a little show that is now having again, a groundswell.

STELTER: Yes. "Blackish" for comedy, "This is Us" for drama, these are these big network T.V. shows that are normally don't get award season love. So, it will be notable to see if the Golden Globes go in that direction. And, I am also interested in seeing how much diversity, both in gender and in racial diversity we see. There was so much attention in past couple of years, about Oscars so white (ph) that Hashtag (ph) pointing out the lack of diversity of the Oscars. Now, for three months we've been talking about the tipping point about sexual harassment. Let's see how these awards shows acknowledge what's going on in the culture?

TURNER: Well quickly, there are going to be a couple of things that happen. At the Golden Globes, you will see all the women there wearing black dresses as a nod to the MeToo Movement. At the Sag Awards, there will be all female presenters, as a nod.