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Interview with Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI); Pence to Meet with Guaido; Warren's New Promise; Sanders Condemns Bullying and Harassment; Kraft Expected to be Charged. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 25, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Come through legal ports of entry. The national security is to build a wall, not the legal ports of entry.
REP. SEAN DUFFY (R), WISCONSIN: So, Alisyn -- yes.
So this -- so the president's talk about not just building additional barriers, he's talked about more agents, more fencing.
CAMEROTA: He got money for that. He doesn't need a national emergency for that, congressman. He got money.
DUFFY: Let me ask you this. Why would -- let me -- so let's -- let's talk about the conversation in regard to where Democrats come at this situation. They've all supported a wall in the past. I don't know why they're not doing it today. But when had -- when we were talking about keeping beds for -- when you -- when you arrest someone who's come in unlawfully, it takes some time to ascertain who they are. The border patrol said they need 52,000 beds to hold people so they can determine who they are and Democrats wouldn't give the border patrol that number of beds. They only wanted 30,000. Why is that?
CAMEROTA: I understand, but that's a different problem than they -- than the opioid problem you're talking about.
DUFFY: But -- but --
CAMEROTA: I just want to be clear on the opioid problem just for one second because everybody can relate to this. You think that the 10 percent of heroin that's coming through the southern border, not through legal ports of entry, you think that that's going to cure your drug problem in Wisconsin?
DUFFY: So what I -- what I think, Alisyn, is if -- if I can secure the lawful ports of entry --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
DUFFY: And I can secure the other parts of the border, drugs come across the whole border. And it takes money -- listen, it takes more than $1.4 billion to secure the border. It's not just a barrier. It's more agents. It's more technology.
CAMEROTA: They gave him that with -- before the national emergency.
DUFFY: Alisyn --
CAMEROTA: They gave him much more money.
DUFFY: How much? $1.4 billion.
CAMEROTA: So -- so you didn't think that was enough to secure the legal ports of entry?
DUFFY: No. So -- so -- so the president has said it's going to take $25 billion to secure the border. That's just not barriers. Hold on a second. And the Congress gave him $1.4 billion. He asked for -- he asked --
CAMEROTA: But where's the number he's pulling out of the air? I mean he's asked for lots of different numbers.
DUFFY: And he's asked for $5 billion between now and the end of the fiscal year. So we are wholly underfunding border security.
And so if you're taking $1.4 billion, some for barriers, some for technology, some for agents, some for beds, that money goes real quick.
CAMEROTA: So that's a national emergency to you. That used to be called a negotiation.
DUFFY: I would say it's a national emergency.
CAMEROTA: So -- so you're comfortable that in the future when a Democrat doesn't get the money that they want --
DUFFY: No, I'm not --
CAMEROTA: For whatever project they've promised on the campaign trail, that we'll declare a national emergency and take the money from a different pot?
DUFFY: Listen, this -- this gives me some reservation because I think it's a -- it's a -- it's a president who's -- who's taken a leap using I think a lawful authority, a legal authority --
CAMEROTA: Breaking a precedent.
DUFFY: No, a lawful authority that the Congress gave him. By I do get concerned. Will a president Elizabeth Warren say global warming is a national emergency?
CAMEROTA: And why wouldn't she?
DUFFY: And will, you know, will someone else say, well, the guns are a national emergency?
CAMEROTA: And why wouldn't they? DUFFY: So then the -- the point is, let's have the Congress act and
put some guardrails around this law. Here, listen, let's take -- let's take a step back. What's going to happen if -- if the House and the Senate pass this resolution, the president vetoes it, regardless the courts are going to decide, right? The courts will decide what the guardrails are around a national emergency. But, from my perspective, I think America should be able to determine who comes into our country and who doesn't. We know we have --
CAMEROTA: That's different than a national emergency.
DUFFY: But it's no -- if 17,000 criminals last year alone were coming into our country that we caught, 17,000, I think that's an emergency.
CAMEROTA: Right. But doesn't it tell you that the system's working? They were caught.
DUFFY: If we -- no, they weren't, but that's what --
CAMEROTA: They were caught.
DUFFY: Those are the ones that we did catch. If you have --
CAMEROTA: The numbers that you used are the people who have been arrested at the border.
DUFFY: Exactly. So you know how many we don't catch.
CAMEROTA: How's it a national emergency? How do you know how many you don't catch?
DUFFY: Exactly, that's --
CAMEROTA: You don't know if it's two people?
DUFFY: But isn't -- but isn't at that -- isn't that the point? You caught 17,000. You know, you have a porous border, so how many more came in that you didn't catch?
CAMEROTA: Right, but isn't the point that it's working.
DUFFY: No.
CAMEROTA: Yes, people are trying to get in. They're being stopped.
DUFFY: The -- so the point is, the ones that you caught, you had 17,000. If you think -- sorry, are you telling me that we have -- we have a secure border that you can't come into America -- you can't come into America --
CAMEROTA: I'm telling you that often you don't declare a national emergency on what you don't know to stop what you don't know.
DUFFY: Yes, you do. You actually do, because you don't whose -- if -- if you have people coming from terror countries into Panama and Costa Rica and they come north to the caravans and try to get into our country, I don't know if they're terrorists, but I know they're coming from terror nations, doesn't that concern us. I should.
CAMEROTA: But Costa Rica and Panama aren't terror nations.
DUFFY: No, they're now. They -- so people are coming from terror nations. They can come into Central America --
CAMEROTA: Uh-huh.
DUFFY: And they come north into the caravans and come into our country (ph).
CAMEROTA: You know that most terrorists have been stopped at airports?
DUFFY: Right.
CAMEROTA: Not the southern border.
DUFFY: Should we -- should we stop security?
Let me ask you this. So look at -- look -- look at what we expect from our government, right? So when I get on the airplane -- I just did yesterday in about an hour go through TSA. I expect 100 percent from TSA. No guns, no bombs in airplanes. Air traffic controllers, I expect 100 percent from them as well. I don't want planes to collide.
Shouldn't we have the resources to expect 100 percent from Border Patrol so we know who comes and doesn't come into our country? I think we should expect the same from Border and ICE that we do from other agencies. The FDA, when we buy meat, we expect 100 percent.
CAMEROTA: All right, Congressman Sean Duffy, I'm going to let you go so you can make that flight --
DUFFY: Thanks, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: And thanks for being here to make the arguments.
DUFFY: Thank you for having me.
CAMEROTA: Appreciate it.
John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks, Alisyn.
[06:34:50] New violence in Venezuela just as Vice President Mike Pence heads to meet with the opposition leader. Is U.S. military intervention becoming more likely by the day? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New this morning, high stakes diplomacy. Vice President Mike Pence is heading to Colombia for his first face-to-face meeting with the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. The show of support comes after a deadly weekend in Venezuela as the dictator, Nicolas Maduro, clings to power. CNN international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is live in Bogota
with the very latest.
I think this meeting today takes on a whole new meaning given the violence over the weekend, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we saw sort of a shift really in the last 72 hours in how this crisis is playing out. Those clashes, the border ports at the weekend, which have left about five people dead, that's no ordinary protest situation there. That was a symbolic moment designed preferably, according to the opposition, to get humanitarian aid in. They hope the military -- the Venezuelan military standing in their way would just melt away. That didn't happen. We saw the clashes. We've seen, though, over 100 Venezuelan soldiers defect, hand themselves over in those areas to Columbian migration officials.
[06:40:02] The point is, what does that do to international reaction? We've had threats from Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and John Bolton, the national security adviser, most likely of further sanctions. We may see more of that today at this key meeting. But this here in Bogota is about regional unity and about giving a sense of international recognition to interim president, self-declared opposition leader Juan Guaido.
He's out of Venezuela, though, now. He's in neighboring Colombia. They're pretty much the sworn enemy now of Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president. The question is, is this giving him more legitimacy or perhaps taking him further away from the people he says he governs and when is he going to go back in to Caracas? That will be the key test.
John.
BERMAN: Key test indeed.
All right, Nick Paton Walsh for us in Bogota. Nick, thank you very much.
We do have breaking news.
Elizabeth Warren, the senator from Massachusetts, set to make a big announcement on the presidential campaign trail. We will tell you what it is, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:45:57] BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news.
A highly unusual political move we just learned about moments ago. Senator Elizabeth Warren just sent out an e-mail to supporter vowing to forego any fancy receptions or big money fundraisers only with people who can right big checks. No big money fundraisers.
Joining us now to discuss, CNN national political correspondent MJ Lee and CNN Washington correspondent Ryan Nobles. MJ, this is your reporting here on this Elizabeth Warren memo. Pretty
interesting that she's going to duck away from the fundraising model.
MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really interesting and this promise is a big one. She's essentially saying she's not going to ask for money from any wealthy donors, and that means, John, no dinners, no receptions, no phone calls, all the things that we are so used to seeing presidential candidates typically do.
And I have to say, this is actually perfectly on brand for her. You know, if you've spent any time listening to Elizabeth Warren over the last couple of months, this is exactly what she says she is running for president for. She wants to fight corruption and money in politics. This is exactly the kind of campaign that she wants to run.
And her campaign actually tells us she has not held a single fundraiser since New Year's Eve. This is when she launched her exploratory campaign. Just think about that for a second, this idea that a candidate who has now been running essentially for president for almost two months now has spent no time on fundraisers. This is very unusual. And I think we are going to see this as sort of an implicit challenge and almost a criticism of anybody else in the field who's going to be asking for money from wealthy donors because she is making it clear this is not the model that she thinks should work for the Democratic Party and the candidates.
CAMEROTA: But, MJ, just to be clear, so she is doing away with big fundraisers, but what if a big check just comes in the mail? I mean is she still accepting big-ticket checks from wealthy people, just not doing the fundraisers, or, no, she only wants grassroots fundraising?
LEE: Right. So anybody could technically give her money, I assume, for the $2,800. This is the limit this year for how much an individual can give directly to a candidate. She's not saying no to necessarily that. But what she's saying is that she is not going to spend any time soliciting money from wealthy donors. That she doesn't want to be, you know, spending her time at receptions or dinners, all of which usually happen behind closed doors, because she says that that is time that she would rather devote to organizing events and actually getting in touch with the small-dollar donors that she believes will sort of be the backbone of her grassroots campaign.
BERMAN: It's a great question, though. She's not going to send the checks back if they do come in. Important to note.
CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean --
BERMAN: All right, so, Elizabeth Warren saying no to fundraiser.
Ryan, Bernie Sanders is saying no to being mean. Look, he's telling his supporters to take it easy. He sent out this note. Let us do our very best to engage respectfully with our Democratic opponents, talking about the issues we are fighting for, not about penalties or past grievances. I want to be clear that I condemn bullying or harassment of any kind in any space.
Now, this is notable --
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BERMAN: When it comes to Bernie Sanders because he has sharp elbow supporters particularly on social media.
NOBLES: Yes. This is a message directly to the Bernie Bros, as they're called, so to speak, and this is an example of, in the first week of the Bernie Sanders campaign, him trying to solve some of these problems that dogged his campaign four years ago. There was this concern that his supporters were too mean to some other supporters of other candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton supporters. There was also a huge problem with the way that women were treated in his campaign, sexual harassment issues there. He's met with some of those accusers, promised to do things differently this time around. And he's also tried to fix the diversity problem within his campaign.
His campaign manager is the first Muslim American to run a national campaign. So you see Bernie Sanders essentially not being tone deaf this time around. A lot of times people accused him of his 2016 race of him just kind of going forward without listening to anybody else or taking any advice. One week into this campaign he's already doing things much different and this is the best example of that.
CAMEROTA: I think that's really interesting that he's making visible amends. He's saying, you know, I've heard you and look at all of the changes that we're making.
NOBLES: Yes.
[06:50:04] CAMEROTA: I mean he didn't have to do it in such a sort of dramatic fashion.
NOBLES: Right. And, of course, the detractors of Bernie Sanders will say, OK, well, you can make all these symbolic moves to start the process out and that's important, but we won't really know how this all plays out until we get into the campaign, you get into kind of the rigors that happen and everything that goes on within that. And that's still something that remains to be seen.
BERMAN: And it remains to be seen if his supporters listen.
NOBLES: Exactly.
BERMAN: Because they're the ones often who, again, are throwing those elbows.
All right, Ryan, MJ, thank you very much.
CAMEROTA: We do have a programming note. CNN will hold a presidential town hall tonight with Senator Bernie Sanders. It's going to be moderated by Wolf Blitzer. It begins at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
BERMAN: All right, Patriots owner Bob Kraft could be charged today with soliciting prostitution. This is a very interesting story. Michael Smerconish came out over the weekend and said this whole investigation was a huge waste of resources. He's on with us, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is expected to face charges as early as today for soliciting prostitution. Police say they have video evidence of Kraft at a spa targeted by police during a wide-ranging human trafficking investigation. Now the Patriots and the ownership of the sports teams that he's associated with say that Kraft categorically denies the allegations. He categorically denies that he broke any law.
[06:55:13] Joining me now, Joe Lockhart, former executive vice president of the National Football League, and Michael Smerconish, he's the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."
Gentleman, I want to put one thing out there. I do not think there -- this is a sports story at all. So my concern about what the NFL does and what the Patriots do here is at a much lower level than what this means for society and what this means in terms of the law.
And to that point, Michael, on your show over the weekend, and it got a lot of attention, you called this investigation that wrapped up Bob Kraft, you called it the largest waste of resources since Jussie Smollett. What do you mean?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What I mean is that -- let me say at the outset, that those who would subject others to human trafficking need to be punished to the full extent of the law. I said that over the weekend. That part seems to have been ignored.
I think we should also keep in mind that most of those involved in the commercial sex industry, men and women, are not a part of trafficking and for them I have a libertarian attitude. I don't think it should be our business what goes on between consenting adults.
To get to the heart of what you're raising, I don't think this will change anything. I think that Robert Kraft will be embarrassed, but human trafficking will go on. And the best way to rid us of human trafficking is to decriminalize or legalize. Frankly, John, it's much like sanctuary cities. You want those who are the victims of human trafficking to be able to step out of the shadows without fear of being prosecute and make reports against those who have subjected them to that lifestyle.
BERMAN: So, Michael, are you saying you don't think Bob Kraft should be charged here?
SMERCONISH: I think that Bob Kraft has to be charged here because it's the law and it's on the books. Let's not lose sight of the fact, though, it's a misdemeanor. I mean this guy is being held out as public enemy number one for a misdemeanor. And I've -- the person who should be on the front page of the newspapers are whomever subjected women to human trafficking, if that's what took place. He's become the fall guy.
BERMAN: Yes, let me read you a quote from "The New York Times" which did a big investigation into what's been going on in Florida over the weekend. This quote is from Sheriff William D. Snyder from Martin County, Florida. I don't believe they were told -- these are the women -- they were going to work in massage parlors seven days a week, having unprotected sex with up to 1,000 men a year. We saw them eating on hot plates in the back. There were no washing machines. They were sleeping on the massage tables. I would never consider them prostitutes. It was really a rescue operation. The monsters are the men.
Joe Lockhart, what's your take on this.
SMERCONISH: Right, so --
BERMAN: Oh, sorry. Sorry, Michael. Very quickly, go ahead, Michael.
SMERCONISH: No, I just wanted to say, that's abhorrent. What do you want those women to do? Pick up the phone and call the police. They can't do it if they're engaged in an illegal activity. If they're in human trafficking for what is a legal activity and they know they won't be prosecuted, they'll make the call.
BERMAN: Joe.
JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean, I do think this is less about sports and Robert Kraft than about the serious problem of sex trafficking in the country. Ironically, the biggest sex trafficking day of the year is the Super Bowl and the NFL works with the FBI and authorities to really try to crack down on it.
But I don't think we can just give everybody a pass that's involved. You know, I think at some level people know that there's something going on here. And I think if there is a silver lining in this, and if Mr. Kraft has to pay the price for that, it's to bring attention to this, to bring some light to this because this is going on all over the country and it rarely gets attention.
BERMAN: So you don't think that Robert Kraft -- or it's a high bar to imagine that Robert Kraft went into this place twice thinking that these women were there voluntarily doing whatever it was that they were doing?
LOCKHART: Yes, listen, we don't know. He -- he denies it. But let's -- let's assume, let's take any of the other people there. I think it's very difficult to believe that people thought that this was just, you know, illegal prostitution. And I don't want to, you know, disparage Mr. Kraft because we don't know the facts.
What we do know is this is a serious national problem we have. And what they're doing in Florida is the right thing. And it's certainly not a waste of time or a waste of money.
BERMAN: Very quickly, Joe, will the NFL issue any punishment to Bob Kraft?
LOCKHART: I think they'll let the legal process go through. If Mr. Kraft pleads guilty or is found guilty, I suspect he'll be fined, he might be suspended for a few games. There's some precedent with Mr. Irsay and with the Colts for abusing prescription drugs. I don't expect there to be something more drastic like trying to force him to sell the team.
BERMAN: Joe Lockhart, Michael Smerconish, thank you for coming on and sharing your opinions of this matter. I really appreciate it.
And, Michael, your show was terrific, as always, on Saturday.
SMERCONISH: Thank you.
[06:59:59] BERMAN: All right, thank you to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next.
For our U.S. viewers, a critical week for the Trump presidency. NEW DAY continues right now.
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