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Parkland Dads Removed from Hearing; Dems want Biden; Inaugural Committee Investigation. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 07, 2019 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:33] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An absolutely extraordinary hearing on gun violence in the House of Representatives. Extraordinary in that Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz tried to change the subject first and then get the fathers of teenagers killed in the Parkland massacre removed from the room.

Our Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill to explain what happened here.

Wow, Lauren.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yes. Good morning, John.

The father -- two fathers of parkland victims were clashing yesterday with Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz in that hearing in the Judiciary Committee. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (voice over): A congressional hearing on gun violence boiling over after Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz suggested that illegal immigration poses a greater threat to the public than guns.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R), FLORIDA: I hope we do not forget the pain and anguish and sense of loss felt by those all over the country who have been the victims of violence at the hands of illegal aliens. HR-8 would not have stopped many of the circumstances I raised, but a wall, a barrier on the southern border may have. And that's what we're fighting for.

(INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman.

(INAUDIBLE)

REP. JERRY NADLER (D), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, the gentleman will suspend.

FOX: The Florida congressman's claim prompting outrage from the fathers of two victims of last year's massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school. Manuel Oliver and Fred Guttenberg repeatedly interrupting Gaetz as he argued against a bill that would require background checks for all gun sales, and actively campaigned for a border wall.

[06:35:14] GAETZ: The greatest driver of violence in the circumstances that I indicated was not the firearm. It was the fact that we have an immigration system that allows people to come here violently. We engage in --

NADLER: There will be no comments or demonstrations, please.

FOX: Committee Chairman Democrat Jerry Nadler issuing several warnings for the men to stop interrupting before Democrat David Cicilline posted this question to committee leaders.

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D), RHODE ISLAND: Is there any committee rule that prevents a member of Congress from reciting false statements in a committee hearing?

FOX: Cicilline's remarks prompting applause from some and a rebuke from Ranking Member Republican Doug Collins.

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Mr. Chairman, may I make a point of order against the gentleman from Florida. I make a point of order that the gentleman's words were unparliamentary because they implied the lying or the falsehood of a member.

FOX: The episode concluding with Gaetz calling for the Parkland fathers to be removed from the hearing.

GAETZ: Is there a process in the committee whereby if the very same people are repeatedly interrupting the time of the members, that those people will be asked to depart the committee, or is there --

FOX: Chairman Nadler denying Gaetz's request and later criticizing the congressman on CNN.

NADLER: He was beyond terrible in what he was saying. We were sitting in a room full of parents of children murdered at Parkland High School.

FOX: Gaetz telling "The Sun Sentinel" that he did not know that Oliver had lost a child in the Parkland shooting but would react the same way if he did, noting, quote, I don't think anybody, regardless of tragic circumstances, can expect to come to a congressional hearing and take it over with a series of interruptions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX: Now, both of those parents attended the president's State of the Union Address on Tuesday night. And, of course, President Trump not addressing gun violence, but recognizing the survivor of that synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh. The one-year anniversary of the Parkland massacre where 17 people were killed will be next week.

Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Lauren, thank you very, very much for bringing that to us. It's important.

All right, ahead for us, he's not even in the race yet, but a new poll shows who most Democrats want to see face-off against President Trump in 2020. Harry Enten has the answer, next.

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[06:41:32] HARLOW: All right, a new CNN poll this morning shows nearly two-thirds of Democrats want former Vice President Joe Biden to get into the Democratic primary for 2020.

Let's discuss with our senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.

Good morning.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Good morning.

HARLOW: I am -- I am fascinated by this. Your new piece on cnn.com is really interesting.

What do the numbers show us?

ENTEN: Thank you for the plug, by the way.

HARLOW: You got it.

ENTEN: It's very much appreciated. We're melding in both digital and television at this network, which is so key and important, and so I like it.

So, I think this is important to point out for where we are now versus where we are four years ago when Biden decided not, in fact, to run. And we see that Biden is in much stronger shape now versus where he was four years ago. Sixty-two percent of Democratic voters, registered voters, think, yes, it is now time for Biden to run, versus four years ago it was 47. And actually more voters last time around did not want him to run versus this time. Look at that, that's a 34 point by a 34 point margin. Democratic voters do, in fact, want him to run.

And where, in fact, has that translated to the polls so far? Well, we see -- hi, everybody.

HARLOW: Hi.

ENTEN: We see Joe Biden well out ahead. And this has been consistent, right, where he has held the lead in all the polls that were taken, whether it is now, whether it was three months ago, so on and so forth.

BERMAN: And then many people asked, is it just name recognition? Is it because people know who Joe Biden is? But you've got some numbers that indicate, maybe not.

ENTEN: Maybe not. So this, I think, is so interesting, right. Remember four years ago when Donald Trump was running, we said, oh, Republicans wouldn't want to go for him because he wasn't conservative enough and we thought Republicans wanted a conservative. But, in fact, we were completely wrong about that. We weren't listening to the voters. Well, this time I think we should listen to the voters.

Look at the top issues that we found among Democratic voters for choosing a nominee, a good chance to beat Donald Trump, has right experience, willing to work with the GOP. All of these. These all sound lie Joe Biden's sort of bread and butter, right? Good chance to beat Trump. He's leading in all the polls versus Donald Trump. Has the right experience, elected experience. You know, Joe Biden served in Washington for 40 plus years. Willing to work with the GOP. Joe Biden has that more moderate record. All of these look like Joe Biden's base versus the bottom four, consistency on issues, holds progressive positions, represents future of the party. I think even Joe Biden would admit at his age he probably isn't doing that at this point.

HARLOW: Is there a lesson in here for all of the other 2020 contenders who are already in?

ENTEN: I think that --

HARLOW: Because they're not the -- you know, I mean, other than the chance to beat Trump, we'll see, but, I mean, a lot of them represent what's getting the lowest rate.

ENTEN: Yes. I think especially right here with this --

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: Sort of the, holds progressive positions, they have been moving so far to the left in terms of where Democrats normally run.

HARLOW: Yes.

ENTEN: You know, basically I think it was the senators who are in at this point I think calculated that. Four of them were in the top seven positions for most anti-Trump positions with the Democratic senators.

BERMAN: Talk to me about the Biden coalition, as it were.

HARLOW: Oh, yes.

BERMAN: Who are the Biden voters?

ENTEN: Yes. So this, to me, is fascinating, right? We sort of think, OK, who's the base of the Democratic Party? We think white voters with a college degree. Well, Biden's actually doing significantly better with white voters without a college degree.

Now, you might say, OK, that's bad because this is the base of the Democratic Party. But, in fact, these two groups make up an equal share of Democratic voters. And then you say -- see the same thing with ideology, right? You say, OK, moderate conservative Dems versus liberal Dems. Well, look at this, Joe Biden is doing significantly better among moderate and conservative Dems versus liberal Dems. You'd say that's bad. But, in fact, this group makes up an equal amount of the Democratic Party as this group. And so I think what you're basically seeing here is, if you go back to

this, right, and you say, OK, you know, we think these are the most important positions, but, in fact, these are. And then you go to ideology and say, OK, we think this group is more important but actually he's doing as well among this group and they make up an equal share. You can see it. You can sort of trick yourself into saying, OK, we're looking for these certain signs of how Biden is doing and whether or not he's doing well, but he's doing very well on the things that actually matter, but not necessarily in the things we think matter. So we sort of fall on this sort of trap -- analysis trap whereby we think we're supposed to see something but, in fact, we're seeing something else, but it actually makes a lot of sense.

[06:45:27] HARLOW: What's the most important tab on there at the bottom?

ENTEN: I think the most important tab right here is, look.

HARLOW: Awe.

ENTEN: (INAUDIBLE) are reporting in less than a week. The Oakland As are reporting. And I know we're all big baseball fans, at least I am. They this very, very bad. I don't like -- see, in fact, I want to cross it out it's so bad. The Yankees at 15 percent for a chance to win the World Series. We don't like that. I know you don't like that. I know you don't like that. This you, Poppy, I'm sorry.

HARLOW: You know what, it's not zero.

ENTEN: It's not zero.

BERMAN: You're saying there's a chance.

ENTEN: We need you, John.

BERMAN: Well, it's been four days since -- since a -- since, you know, a Boston team has won a championship.

ENTEN: We need you, please. I do not mean the Devils, I mean the Yankees at 15 percent. That's very, very bad. Please help me.

HARLOW: There you go.

ENTEN: Please.

HARLOW: There you go.

BERMAN: I am here to help. I am here to help. So is Tom Brady, always.

HARLOW: Always. Always.

ENTEN: Maybe he can play center field.

HARLOW: And you do have one more interesting thing from the poll and -- ENTEN: Oh, yes, just one last thing. I would just point out, Howard Schultz, next week, he's not so popular right now. Ocasio-Cortez actually more popular. So I'm interested to see those two kind of go at it with the (INAUDIBLE) so on and so forth.

HARLOW: Neither officially running.

BERMAN: Poppy Harlow, very popular. She'll be hosting that town hall.

Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: We'll follow it.

HARLOW: Thank you very much.

BERMAN: She will be hosting that town hall next Tuesday night with former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, live from Houston, 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

HARLOW: All right, the president's inaugural committee subpoenaed by federal prosecutors. How worried should the president be? We'll have a reality check, next.

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[06:50:42] BERMAN: Brand-new investigations into the president from the House Intelligence Committee and a federal investigation into that very moment where he became president, the inauguration. So, what does it all mean?

John Avlon with the "Reality Check."

John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Guys, 17, that's the number of reported investigations into all things Trump. This covers the Trump Organization, Foundation, campaign, transition and the administration itself. But none may be thornier than the investigation into the Trump Inaugural.

Here's what you need to know. The Trump Inaugural Committee raised a mind-blowing $107 million, dwarfing both Obama and Bush inaugurations and raising questions about who they raised it from and where it went.

Now federal prosecutors are investigating the committee for a litany of potential crimes, including, deep breath, conspiracy against the U.S., false statements, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, disclosure violations and laws prohibiting contribution by foreign nationals.

The latest shot across the bow comes courtesy of WNYC and ProPublica. Now, they've uncovered a confidential document from Inaugural Committee Chairman Tom Barrack's investment firm Colony, which muses about profiting off its access to the incoming administration. The memo says, quote, the key is to strategically cultivate domestic and international relationships while avoiding any appearance of lobbying. Note that phrase, any appearance of lobbying.

Now, Colony is quick to point out that this was simply a proposed potential business plan, which was never acted upon. But the memo also talks about horning in on, quote, international bilateral meetings already occurring between the Trump administration and influential foreigners. What was said in those early meetings is anyone's guess.

Also anyone's guess is how the Inaugural Committee pulled in its record-breaking haul and from whom. Now a subpoena filed in the case demands a huge array of documents concerning virtually every donor and donation and what they received in return right down to shwag (ph) and photo-ops, especially any evidence indicating the possibility of donations made by foreign nationals, which is kind of illegal. That's why the Mueller team reportedly looking into an unusual number of pro- Russia Ukrainian guests could be significant.

Now, it's important to note that Inauguration Chairman Tom Barrack isn't named in the subpoena. The one-time Hillary bundler (ph) and sometime registered foreign agent, Imaad Zuberi is. And here's a fact to make you go, hmm. A company founded by the first lady's friend, Stephanie Wolkoff, received nearly $26 million for planning inaugural events, almost a quarter of the total haul. According to "The Wall Street Journal," she could be heard on tape questioning how the committee was spending its money. That's a good question, because right now it's hard to account for that $107 million, both where it went and what donors thought they were getting other than a big party.

This and the other 16 investigations are a reminder that trouble for Trump seems to be expanding, not contracting, more than two years into his presidency.

And that's your "Reality Check."

BERMAN: It will be very interesting to see how the Democrats proceed, what order they place things in, and how it runs in parallel with the federal investigations, John. That will be interesting.

HARLOW: That was great. John, thank you very, very much.

All right, so a moment of levity. Here are your late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Northam has been clinging to his job since it came out that his med school yearbook page featured a photo of a man in blackface next to a man in a Klan robe. Apparently Governor Northam saw the movie "BlackkKlansman" and thought, hey, that's two good costumes.

JAMES CORDEN, HOST, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": Last night was President Trump's State of the Union Address to Congress. There wasn't a lot of new information that came out of speech, but Trump did confirm that he'll be meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam later this month. I know, meeting with Kim Jong-un around Valentine's Day. Looks like someone's trying to make Vladimir Putin jealous. TREVOR NOAH, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH": The person I

enjoyed most last night wasn't Donald Trump, it was Josh Trump. He's the cute kid who the president invited because he gets bullied for his last name. But it turns out he fell asleep during Trump's speech. Oh, man, The Donald must have been so hurt. He'd be like, how could you, Josh? I spent minutes writing this speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:05] BERMAN: The kid needs sleep. It mean is past the bedtime. It starts at 9:00.

HARLOW: It's late.

BERMAN: It's like the World Series. Maybe the State of the Union should start at 6:00 so kids across America can watch.

HARLOW: My kids are in bed at seven on the dot.

BERMAN: So they could -- they could have seen the first hour.

HARLOW: There you go.

BERMAN: Congressional oversight of President Trump in a new gear this morning, crossing all the red lines the president set. How will he react this morning? That's next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: The parameters of our investigation go beyond Russia. We will make sure that the country is protected.

MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't object to oversight, but when it takes on a partisan tint, the American people expect better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thing he's done is laid down the gauntlet and say, we're not going to be stymied.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It should be formally announced sometimes probably next week that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate.

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: ISIS remains a menace. One that's our generation's responsibility to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are between 20,000 and 30,000 members of ISIS. And clearly there's still a threat there.

[07:00:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea that the behavior to be acceptable in the modern Democratic Party seems untenable.

END