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Cohen's Mystery Client; Miami Heat Stop Sixers; Starbucks Under Fire. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 17, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:38] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news.

South Korea says a high-level hotline between North and South Korea is scheduled to be operational this week. South Korea announcing today that they plan to broadcast Kim Jong-un's historic crossing of the border live when it happens next week ahead of an historic summit between both nations. Talks are expected to focus on the North's nuclear program and inter-Korean relations.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The White House not ready to hit Russia with a new round of sanctions over Syria. That is a swift turnaround from what U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced just one day earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: So you will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down. Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday, if he hasn't already. And they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons used. And so I think everyone is going to feel it at this point. I think everyone knows that we sent a strong message and our hope is that they listen to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Apparently not, because the White -- "The Washington Post" says President Trump pushed pause on those sanctions because he was angered by the rollout.

CUOMO: All right, now we know that Sean Hannity is Michael Cohen's mystery client. Why mystery? Because Cohen's lawyer didn't want to reveal his name, that's why. How big of a problem is this for the Fox News commentator? We discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:02] CUOMO: All right. So, yes, the hearing yesterday was about how the materials that were seized in the FBI raids would be processed. That was the outward thing. But there was a big development yesterday that wound up meaning a lot.

So, this federal judge is saying to Michael Cohen, President Trump's attorney, you need to tell me who your clients are. One client they didn't want to tell. But then after some wrangling, the lawyer decided to say it in open court. Who was that third client? Sean Hannity.

CAMEROTA: Dun, dun, dun.

CUOMO: So, let's bring back Chris Cillizza and bring in CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter.

Brian Stelter, we care that Sean Hannity was this mystery. Hannity, you know, didn't say I'm the mystery, but the lawyer didn't want to say his name.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.

CUOMO: It matters because?

STELTER: Well, something's not adding up here. Cohen lawyer's description of the situation and Hannity's description are very different. Hannity is trying to say there are no legal fees paid, no invoices. Basically that Michael Cohen really wasn't the lawyer.

CUOMO: But he thinks he has a privilege.

STELTER: But he still has a privilege. This is not adding up. Fox is not saying a word about this. And it's going to be a mystery both for Hannity's viewers, as well as for his critics, as well as for his bosses now.

CAMEROTA: And, Brian, I just want to stick with you for one more minute because in terms of journalism, right, the rules of journalism that we follow, there is something called full disclosure. And it works like this. When you have a previous relationship with someone, you say something to the effect of, I worked at Fox News for many, many years and know Hannity and have always had a very pleasant relationship with him.

STELTER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So the viewers know where I'm coming from, OK?

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: Hannity talked about Michael Cohen a million times. He's talked about Donald Trump a million times. He's had Michael Cohen on a million times. He never disclosed to his viewers --

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: That they have this relationship where he seeks --

STELTER: And that's what's missing.

CAMEROTA: Right. So, where he seeks legal advice from him.

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: But, Hannity gets to play with the facts in terms of whether he's a journalist or not. He's said both. (INAUDIBLE) he said --

[06:40:01] CUOMO: But it doesn't matter.

STELTER: He blurs the line.

CAMEROTA: But -- but does it matter -- does it matter if he's not a journalist? Does -- should he have had to have disclosed all of that?

STELTER: It does still matter. The disclosure for me about Hannity is that he calls me Humpty Dumpty for some reason. Don't know why. And I enjoy covering him. I think he's a really interesting phenomenon because he does blur these lines. He says he's not a journalist, says journalism's dead, and yet he calls his show real news and says he has anonymous sources. So he tries to have it both ways. He's an entertainer, but on a channel with the logo in the corner of it that says "news" on the bottom of the screen.

So, as a result, there are certain standards. And I think some of his viewers would have wanted to know about the Cohen relationship. Even if they like it. Even if they think, oh, good, my guy Hannity, he's tight with Trump's people. That would be a positive thing.

CUOMO: Right.

STELTER: He still should have disclosed it.

I think this story shows us how Trump world really works and how tight knit the relationships really are. It's a reminder about all of these men and their relationships going back decades. That could be a good thing or maybe that could be a very bad thing in this case (ph).

CUOMO: Right. But, I mean, look, Chris, I just think it's important not to get confused about what matters in this. It doesn't matter if he's a journalist or not.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR-AT-LARGE: No.

CUOMO: We have people on all the time who aren't journalists. And if they have a perceived conflict -- remember, the bar is very low. If it seems like it could be a conflict, you say it.

STELTER: Sure.

CUOMO: So and so is coming on.

STELTER: Yes.

CUOMO: They have this relationship to what we're talking about. And now let's get after it. And this was a -- pretty much a no-brainer from there.

So now it falls to Fox News. So Shep Smith talked about it yesterday, but in an interesting way. He says, so we contacted the PR person for Sean's show and they say this, this -- like he was some outside entity.

CILLIZZA: Well --

CUOMO: That was odd, because these are their standards. It's their brand that's on his program and all the others.

CILLIZZA: I think -- I would urge people -- and not just because he's on right now. I'd urge people to read what Brian wrote about this last night because I think he makes a -- the most important point, which is, Hannity is bigger than Fox News at this point in some ways. He exists outside of the normal structure. Sean Hannity is not a line producer for Fox News who, if they did something like this, would be in a lot of trouble.

I think of him in some ways as a -- when I grew up in Connecticut, Jim Calhoun was the basketball coach of the University of Connecticut. He was the highest paid state employee. He was largely unanswerable because he was bigger than UCONN. He was bigger than the president of the university because he made them money, they won national championships.

CUOMO: He was successful.

CILLIZZA: That's Hannity. Hannity is bringing them money in. That -- he -- he is a -- he's getting ratings. He is bringing them advertising dollars.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CILLIZZA: And he is being able to write his own rules.

But, the thing I don't understand is, he said last night in this back and forth with Alan Dershowitz, well, I have a right to privacy. This has nothing to do with your right to privacy. If I am out advocating every day for a certain kind of sandwich and then it comes out that me and the guy who founded the sandwich company are friends, it doesn't matter if I'm a journalist or not, I am using a platform which is television --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CILLIZZA: To promote something without disclosing why I might be promoting that thing.

CAMEROTA: Yes. A great point.

I mean, listen, Bill O'Reilly was big also, OK? And when it came out that he had all of these payments, these settlements, to women, Fox News got rid of him. We don't know why Hannity, you know, worked with Michael --

CUOMO: But this is very different from that.

CAMEROTA: No, we have no evidence of that. But obviously Michael Cohen's the fixer. We have no idea. OK, we have no idea about that.

CUOMO: Except he said it's never involved a third party.

CAMEROTA: That's right. That was (INAUDIBLE) --

CUOMO: We don't know anything different. I would not put him in the same basket with Bill O'Reilly. Not by a big stretch.

CAMEROTA: No. To his point where he says that you can't get rid of somebody because they're too big. Yes, you can. Yes, you can.

CUOMO: But you've got to have good reason. Right now this comes in terms of, should he have disclosed it, yes.

STELTER: And now Fox doesn't know --

CAMEROTA: Of course. I'm not saying --

STELTER: Fox doesn't know what it's about. That's a problem for the network.

CAMEROTA: I'm just saying that I reject the idea that you can never get rid of somebody who's too big because we've seen it happen.

CUOMO: But the rules can be different based on someone's watch. Anyway --

CAMEROTA: Chris, thank you. Brian, thank you.

STELTER: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right, so, Dwyane Wade, big star in his own right, but not bigger than the NBA. But, boy, did he heat it up in Philadelphia. The veteran Miami star showing the young Sixers age ain't nothing but a number. So playoff highlights in the "Bleacher Report." You're going to want to see these, next.

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[06:48:12] CUOMO: All right, who's the hottest team in the NBA playoffs? Well, you could say the young and exciting Philadelphia 76ers. But they were stopped in their tracks by a wily old veteran. The guy's not even close to 40, but this is sports.

Lindsay Czarniak has more in the "Bleacher Report."

What a night for a big name.

LINDSAY CZARNIAK, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It sounds good. Oh, it was, but don't call him wily, OK? Someone's got a serious beef with that. Wade's wife, you guys know actress Gabrielle Union, well, she tweeted this is not vintage Wade. This is what he does, she said.

What he did was end the red hot Sixers unbeaten streak at 17 games. And think about it, how satisfying for Wade. Traded back to Miami in February, where he spent the first 13 seasons of his career, won three titles.

Last night, off the bench he scores 28 points. Now they get to bring the series back to Miami. That means comedian Kevin Hart (ph) is going to have to go with them. Here's why. Wade said Sixers fans can thank Hart for that scoring outburst. Look, he was jawing at him, talking trash from his courtside seat. That's all Wade needed. Look at that stare down.

Here's how Wade described his play last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWYANE WADE, MIAMI HEAT GUARD: It's in my DNA. You know, I love the stage. You know, as I said multiple times, I play this game for these moments.

ERIK SPOELSTRA, MIAMI HEAT HEAD COACH: Like that country song, not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CZARNIAK; Head coach Erik Spoelstra. Do you think Toby Keith ever thought he would be quoted in a playoff press conference?

CAMEROTA: I couldn't tell how that went over since there was dead silence after that.

CZARNIAK; Right. I know.

CUOMO: And it's been more than once. I mean Wade, look, he's -- nobody's who they were when they were younger --

CZARNIAK; What they ever were.

CUOMO: But he has been really something special when they need him.

CZARNIAK; Yes, he has. And he -- also he provides that kind of lift that they need, I think, behind the scenes.

CUOMO: Right. And who knew that any super fan would ever get described as a smaller Spike Lee. That's what Kevin Hart is.

CZARNIAK; Exactly.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.

CZARNIAK; He's got to come to Miami, though.

CUOMO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: That's awesome. Lindsay, thank you so much for all of that.

CZARNIAK; Thank you, guys.

[06:50:02] CAMEROTA: So, now to this story that's getting so much buzz. There's outrage over the arrest of two black men at a Starbucks in Philadelphia. What were they doing wrong? We dig deeper, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAMEROTA: Starbucks under fire after the arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia store. The store manager called 911 because the men were sitting at a table not buying anything. They were asked to leave, but refused to go. The men were in police custody for nine hours for doing nothing wrong. Since their arrest, protesters have been demonstrating inside that store and on the streets of Philadelphia. A Starbucks spokesman says the manager who did that made that decision is no longer at the store.

Joining us now is Michael Eric Dyson, he is the author of "Tears we Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America."

Michael, thanks so much for being here.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR: Thank you for having me.

CAMEROTA: How does this happen? How do you explain what happened at that Starbucks?

DYSON: Well, it's just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. The edge of the -- a chia latte. The reality is, is that black people are constantly subjected to forms of surveillance and, in one sense, policing in inappropriate fashion.

[06:55:09] Many white brothers and sisters maybe don't understand this. Why didn't they buy some water? Why didn't they just avoid this? Well, because you don't have to buy water.

When we ask about what white privilege looks like, this is example one million seven hundred thousand, that you can sit in a Starbucks and a Starbucks spokesman has already indicated, this is not common practice. A person should be able to sit there, not buy anything and therefore not be harassed. So this is again the edge of a constant surveillance and policing of black life that no matter where we are, if we're driving we're subjected to it, if we're sitting we're subjected to it, if we're the president of the United States we're subject to it. It just seems to be something common and concurrent and common (ph) with black life.

CAMEROTA: I mean I know you've made the point we have seen obviously all too often the videos that show that driving while black can be very dangerous.

DYSON: Right.

CAMEROTA: And I guess sitting while black can also be dangerous. But it's true, we didn't know that and the -- the fact there were white patrons in the store in the Starbucks next to these two guys who were saying, what's happening? Why are you calling the police? They tried to stand up and ask the manager, I don't understand, these guys aren't doing anything. What's happening?

DYSON: Right. Well, exactly right. And it's -- and it's a good lesson for many white brothers and sisters to understand. You don't have to do anything. These are obviously businessmen waiting on a business deal targeted to somebody who can facilitate their interests economically. And the white folks there are going, like, we know this is a clear example of something not going wrong, except the fact that police are being called in. The police then are obeying what they think are their edicts and rules. They take these men away for no good reason. For literally, as you said, sitting while black or, in this case, waiting while black.

And the point is, it's not whether your sitting or waiting is while being black. And being black is still a problem in America.

Kendrick Lamar (ph) wins the Pulitzer Prize. Bate Shella (ph) is a phenomenal hit. And yet the ordinary black person, if you're not a star buck, you can't sit in Starbucks. If you're not the hot chocolate on the menu, you can't be the hot chocolate sitting there waiting. So the reality is, we've got to make things better for the average, ordinary black person in order for real racial, if you will, change to occur.

CAMEROTA: Here's how the CEO of Starbucks vows to make it better. So let's listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN JOHNSON, CEO, STARBUCKS: It was completely inappropriate to engage the police. And so clearly there's an opportunity for us to provide clarity. And in addition to that, I'd say there's training. More training that we're going to do with our store managers, not only around the guidelines, but training around unconscious bias. What happened to those two gentlemen was wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: How about that, training around unconscious bias? (INAUDIBLE) --

DYSON: It's extremely important. Yes. And I give the CEO there kudos for addressing this directly, not trying to hem and haw, not trying to go around the barn, so to speak, but addressing it directly. Unconscious bias that many of us foster regardless of our race in this country against darker skin people, especially African-Americans and Latinos, and the fact that we contribute to this atmosphere by refusing to see that these things are ridiculous. Thank God that most people have said, yes, this is wrong. This is clearly wrong.

But there are so many instances when our kids are being kicked out of school earlier. When we're subject to retail profiling. When we're constantly harassed in the criminal justice system. This is one aspect of a broader facet of American injustice that has to be addressed. But thank God reasonable voices are prevailing and insight is arriving.

CAMEROTA: But, I mean, what do you think the prescription is for -- if this is exhibit a of what a standard experience is for young black men in the country, where do we begin?

DYSON: Well, we've got to talk about it. Shows like yours have to address it. Police departments have to be conscioustized (ph). People in retail stores must be made sensitive to the fact that you don't treat people in one sense disrespectful fashion. And all of us have to take responsibility for it.

Everybody, if you will, ain't guilty, but all are responsible as the great Rabbi Hishel (ph) said. So the reality is, we must all take our role in trying to facilitate greater awareness in making sure that racial justice prevails so that ordinary experiences of ordinary black people will not be made -- rendered extraordinary because of the intervention of a police department or a criminal justice system that has no business being involved.

CAMEROTA: Michael Eric Dyson, thank you for having the conversation with us on NEW DAY.

DYSON: Thank you for having me.

CAMEROTA: All right, and thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump and his attorney, Michael Cohen, wanted to keep the prosecution from reviewing these documents. The judge rejected that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there is significant danger to the president. The chickens are about to come home to roost.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: My discussions with Michael Cohen never rose to any level that I needed to tell anyone that I was asking him questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His campaign is enmeshed in this and now the right wing media is getting pulled into this.

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: There's a non-zero possibility that the Russians have some sway over him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's very feasible.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Jim Comey loves to be in the center of power.

[07:00:02] NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just don't have a decision yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the administration is once again showing that it's a circus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone.