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Trump Furious over Leaks; Killer Leaves Behind Confession; East Coast Digs Out; Congress Unveils Spending Bill; March Madness Continues. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 22, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That this president is running.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Very quickly, pressure cooker. Donald Trump under increasing pressure, increasing isolated. Twitter is his pressure release valve. I think you'll see even -- as they say -- even more un-presidential behavior on Twitter. But I think this is sort of the last five or six days is indicative of what we're going to continue to see.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you both.

Police say they have a video confession from the Austin serial bomber. So does it shed any clues as to why he carried out this deadly series of attacks? We have those new details for you coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so Austin police revealed that the serial bomber did leave behind a 25-minute video that they're calling a confession on his phone because it describes each of the bombs that it says he built. Now, the big question will be, does it reveal anything about why he built these bombs and tried to hurt people?

[06:35:03] CNN's Nick Valencia live in Austin with more.

What do we know, Nick?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

We're here in Pflugerville, Texas, just a few feet away from the bomber's home. It's where police say he made those explosives that he used to terrorize this community over the course of the last three weeks. You can see behind me that they are still treating this very much so as an active crime scene, trying to glean any information they can about the 23-year-old.

But what they have found over the course of the last 24 hours is a 25- minute phone video recording. They're calling it a confession. And the police chief was quick to mention that there was no mention of terrorism, no mention of hate. But he did talk specifically about the six explosives that he used over the course of the last three weeks, as well as a seventh, they believe the one that he used to detonate, killing himself, as he was cornered by police.

Now, we are starting to learn a little bit more about this 23-year- old. We know that he was home-schooled in this area, eventually going on to Austin Community College for two years before he dropped out. His family is also speaking out saying that they're saddened by the crimes that he committed over the course of the last three weeks.

We should mention that these attacks, they left two people dead and several others severely injured, including a 75-year-old woman that's still in the hospital recovering from her injuries.

Erica.

HILL: Nick, thank you.

As we have been following that closely out of Austin, we also want to catch you up about what's happening along the East Coast. Millions of folks digging out this morning after that fourth nor'easter to hit the region this month. The powerful winter storm dumping heavy snow, forcing thousands of flights to be canceled.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joining us now with the forecast.

Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Erica.

Tell you what, it was a rough night for a lot of folks. Islipville (ph), you'll be digging out for 14 inches. There are other spots on Long Island with higher numbers. Also Connecticut as well.

LaGuardia, about eight inches. Central Park, about the same. And then Philadelphia, down to Dulles, a little bit less.

This weather is brought to you by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, packed with goodness. And you may need an extra cup today.

It is still snowing in some places. But the snow is going to taper off today. By noon it's just about done. Even for New York City it's done now. But for Boston, it finally ends around 4:00 today. Still putting down one or two more inches, but that's it.

The good news is that we get to 40, 46 in New York City today. So that will melt some of the snow. The problem is, tonight, we get down to 32 and the suburbs significantly down to about 28, which means more freezing of that melted snow. So more ice tomorrow morning as you drive to work tomorrow morning, anywhere from D.C. all the way up into Boston.

The story for tomorrow, Chris, is that there's a major flood event going on in southern California today. We'll have that for you tomorrow.

I have one other word for you, that's fake spring. Tired of it.

CUOMO: Two words, but I accept it. And -- MYERS: You put them together with a hash tag.

CUOMO: You have warned people before, and I will repeat it for their benefit now. This is when people get hurt. When you see the thaw, and then it freezes, you want to make time to work tomorrow morning because you're going to have some delays because of the snow. The ice can be a killer. Be safe. Chad Myers taught me that. He was right.

Chad, thank you very much.

Congressional leaders agree on a $1 trillion spending bill. It's actually more than that, but the numbers are so big that a few hundred million, we'll just leave it to the side.

HILL: Once you hit a trillion, I mean --

CUOMO: Is there enough support to get it passed to avoid a government shutdown? And what compromises have been made in order to get passed that deadline? The details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:26] HILL: Are -- are you working out now?

CUOMO: Oh, no, no, no, just some light reading I have here. This is the proposed omnibus bill, 2,232 pages. The average man couldn't lift it. But I'll put it right here. We actually only printed out the first page. All the rest of this is paper that was recycled and will be used in our printer.

HILL: Yes, I'm glad you -- you know, I actually went for the -- the version on cnn.com that tells you what's in it. It's only two pages when you print it out.

CUOMO: Oh, well --

HILL: Just for -- just for the future.

CUOMO: You could have done that also, sure, but then you couldn't have lifted up this massive thing (INAUDIBLE).

HILL: I probably couldn't have lifted it anyway, to your point.

CUOMO: All right --

HILL: There it is.

CUOMO: So why are we showing you this. Because this is how big the damn thing is and many of the lawmakers are not going to have a chance and will be kind and say I'm sure they would if they had the chance to read all of it. But they won't be able to, all right? So this is going to be about what the leadership tells them is in here and why they need to vote for it. And that just shows you a little bit of the dysfunction of the process.

Let's discuss what's in this bad boy and what it means for you. We have CNN political analyst David Gregory and associate editor for RealClearPolitics A.B. Stoddard, who could lift this with three fingers.

All right, so, David Gregory, let's talk about main compromises we have in here. One of the loudest voices coming out right now is Susan Collins from Maine, a Republican. She had been trying very hard across the aisle to get in a provision to get the cost sharing payments back from the federal government, in essence to lower people's insurance premiums. She wasn't able to get it in this bill. Why and what does it mean going forward?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, there was a lot of tradeoffs in this bill that everybody had to accept. Even the president was tweeting about the fact that he got some money for border security and for paying for the wall, although it was discussed differently about using existing technology to play -- pay for more border reinforcements and some wall, but not a concrete wall, in exchange for more domestic payments, more funding for domestic programs that Democrats wanted so that there's something for both sides, which is how these kind of bigger agreements come out where both sides have to say, yes, it's not perfect, but we were able to get enough priorities to keep moving.

HILL: And that's -- and that is part of what we heard because we are seeing from both sides, while there are obviously parties that are not happy with the way this turned out, you are seeing some positive spin from both sides this time around. Chuck Schumer even saying, hey, you know what, we made some compromise, but there's a lot in here that really is good for middle class families, for children.

A.B., is that the way it's actually going to play out?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Well, I mean, first of all, remember, people need to understand that this 2,232 pages is for six months. We don't know exactly how, you know, everything is going to play out in terms of the promises making a big difference. But certainly there's bipartisan praise about the fact that there is $3 billion more for National Institutes of Health, that there is $21 billion in infrastructure, that there is $4.6 billion for opioid treatment. And it really is -- you know, those are bipartisan issues. So there is a lot for everyone.

[06:45:30] What's interesting, though, is that they did not tackle either the dreamer issue or the health care stabilization. And what Chris raised is really an interesting thing for Republicans going into this election. This is the last -- this bill is the last train leaving the station. They won't be doing anything else this year, and they admit that.

The fact that they refused, after six months, to deal with this Obamacare stabilization issue, when Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican, has been begging the president, thought he had his word about this over the weekend to include this, so did Senator Collins, is really, in the end, a political problem for Republicans. They're not watching the polls where health care is the number one issue, not sanctuary cities, not a wall, not ISIS, not anything. It's health care. And those prices are going to skyrocket. And so that is a big political risk for them leaving this out of the bill.

CUOMO: It's interesting you say that, A.B. Just as word as this came out about what was in it and what wasn't, you start to see propagandas put out that for Republican voters immigration is the top voting issue. It's going to be what hits their pocketbook.

Now, one of the reasons we're playing with this, right, is that this is all about goodies, OK? That's what's in this. This is all so that lawmakers can go back to their districts before the midterms and say, look what I got you down there, all right?

So, David, I think we need one more beat on what Collins was trying to get done. When they got rid of the individual mandate, it was a great headline for President Trump because it became symbolic of the hostility towards the ACA. But it also created a huge divot in the funding mechanism and what would balance payments for the providers, OK?

So now you have a shortfall. They're seeing more risk. There are less people in the pool. So they're going to start raising their rates. And we're seeing that happen. This was a way to get away from it.

Collins says, I couldn't get it done because of the Democrats, all right? Now, what was it that the Democrats wanted that made them not go along with Collins's ask on this?

GREGORY: Well, I -- you'll have to ask A.B . I don't know the particulars about what the Democrats wanted. But I think the -- what's important about this is the structure of how the ACA works and the fact that what people are going to feel, to your point about people going to the polls, is premiums rise because, in the end, as we've always talked about with health care, the insurance companies have to be taken care of if they're not going to pass on the raise in rates to consumers. So you can't partially dismantle the architecture of Obamacare and think that it's going to be shored up. It's got to be shored up somehow to avoid it really impacting consumers.

CUOMO: So, A.B., what's that short -- what is that other piece? David gives us the right analysis of it. What was the pushback from Democrats?

STODDARD: There's push -- it usually comes down to abortion and Planned Parenthood funding and how that works in the insurance mechanism. And that's why you see Mark Meadows, head of the Freedom Caucus, saying that this bill funds Obamacare, funds Planned Parenthood, funds sanctuary cities, is too expensive, doesn't fund a wall, and it is not what the forgotten men and women voted for. So he's been telling Trump all week not to -- not to support this. But that's usually what happens is that when it came down -- so when it came down to --

CUOMO: So who was right? So the Democrats said these things --

STODDARD: No, no, no, Republicans also did not want, Chris --

CUOMO: Oh, OK. STODDARD: To shore up Obamacare. That is a huge political hot button for them. They don't want to be seen with their base after a promise of seven years to repeal and replace looking like they're shoring up Obamacare.

GREGORY: And let me just say, there's a bigger point here too about some of the things that are not addressed. Whether it's, you know, gun legislation. Whether it's the dreamers. Whether it's health care. Again, the president has promised and is going to have to --

CUOMO: The V.A.

GREGORY: Right, and going to have to go to voters and say, look, I can get deals. I can get things done in a way that nobody else could. And yet he's had to avoid even areas where I think he could have had these deals, the most difficult things, because he can't get agreement. He can't force the agreement, which looks a lot like his predecessors.

HILL: Still a lot to hash out there and interesting too you bring up what voters care about and we know from polling they actually care about dreamers as well too and they want that addressed and nothing has happened with that.

CUOMO: And buried in these pages is the story of what's getting done and what's not getting done. Who's going to read it? We'll see.

HILL: I'll tell you one thing that is getting done, a little March Madness resumes tonight. Two Cinderella teams facing off in the Sweet 16. Coy Wire talked to players on both teams. "Bleacher Report" up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:50] HILL: March Madness continues tonight. Which Cinderella team will keep on dancing?

Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report."

Good morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Erica.

This "Bleacher Report" presented by the new 2018 Ford F-150.

Tipping off tonight, and there are some matchups that a lot of folks probably didn't see coming, like Cinderella 11th seed Loyola-Chicago. Again, 17 comeback kids in Nevada. But you also have, in the other game tonight, one of them is Kansas State and Kentucky. I caught up with the guys to see what it's like being in the Sweet 16 but in a unique way. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: You made it to the Sweet 16. Let's talk sweets. What's your favorite candy of all time?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: M&M's with peanuts in it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sour gummy worms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to go with Snickers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: KitKat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sour Skittles is my favorite candy of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Skittles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reeses for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably Snickers.

WIRE: Which candy bar is named after our own galaxy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Milky Way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Milky Way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Payday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, a Milky Way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Milky Way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Milky Way.

WIRE: You helped him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My fault, my fault, I didn't mean to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: The guys are fun. Lots of personalities, especially, Chris, in that first game tonight you'll see Loyola-Chicago taking on Nevada. And the fighting Sister Jeans against the comeback kid. That's going to be a good one to watch.

[06:55:06] I've got to ask you, what's your all-time favorite candy, Chris?

CUOMO: You know, I was going to ask you the same thing. It would be a tossup for me. Not currently. Currently I'll eat whatever my kids have. But I love the Reggie bar, you're too young to remember that one, and the Marathon bar, which was the braded caramel.

WIRE: Oh, good one.

CUOMO: Some of the older fellows in the crew are nodding their head in assent. Yours? What are you eating? You'll eat the blood of your enemies,

right? What do you eat again?

WIRE: And raw meat and peanut butter. Yes, right, buddy. Whatchamacallit and those Fun Dips. The sugar. Yes, those were good for me.

CUOMO: Strong, strong, just lie you, Coy Wire.

WIRE: All right.

CUOMO: Thank you very much.

All right, so FaceBook's CEO breaking his silence in an exclusive CNN interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: This was a major breach of trust. And I'm really sorry that this happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, Mark Zuckerberg says he's sorry, but for what and what will he do about it? That's the big story. You won't want to miss this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:02] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: I think this was clearly a mistake in retrospect.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Zuckerberg says he's willing to come to Capitol Hill. That's a big change for him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FaceBook is not the victim here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe FaceBook impacted the results of the 2016 election?