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President Trump Backs Legal Move to Strike Down Affordable Care Act; President Trump Announces Continued Funding of Special Olympics; Vatican Promulgates New Rules regarding Reporting Sex Abuse Crimes among Personnel. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 29, 2019 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Republicans are very nervous. This is not a winning issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota on John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, March 29th, 8:00 in the east.

And while you were sleeping, President Trump again falsely claimed total exoneration in Mueller's investigation into obstruction of justice. This happened at the president's first campaign rally since the investigation ended. Mr. Trump also warned the investigators behind the Russia probe that they would, quote, be held accountable. Calls continue for the full Mueller report to be made public. CNN has learned the report is more than 300 pages long. So what will those pages reveal?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The president also talked about health care overnight. His administration has moved to eliminate Obamacare immediately. That would impact millions of Americans with pre- existing conditions. The president has claimed he will protect people who have them but he hasn't said how. He hasn't even proven he understands the issues surrounding how. And plans he has endorsed in the past would allow potentially huge increases in premiums for those with pre-existing conditions. Overnight we should note a federal court blocked a different move by the administration to get around some of the standards put in place by Obamacare.

CAMEROTA: Joining us to discuss all this, we have Frank Bruni, "New York Times" op-ed columnist and CNN contributor, Seung Min Kim, White House reporter for "The Washington Post" and CNN political analyst, and David Chalian, CNN political director. Great to have all of you.

Let's play a little portion from last night, Frank, because I think it is really illuminating how the president talks about health care. There is one part of the rally where he does the thing that is sort of vintage President Trump, where it's like don't listen to anything else you hear. I find it hypnotic a little bit. So he says, remember this. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Remember this, because it's very important. And I'm speaking now for the Republican Party. We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions. Always. Always.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: I think there are some tells in there, remember this, because it's very important. He's saying listen up. I'm going to tell you something very important. And there's no facts. But it's convincing, I think, sometimes to the people who are applauding there.

FRANK BRUNI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: If you want to believe him, I guess it's convincing. And he seems to have hypnotized you a little bit, which concerns me.

CAMEROTA: Yes, he has.

BRUNI: We are again in this territory where President Trump seems to believes that a slogan said emphatically enough is the same thing as a policy, and it's not. And the one thing he has never done, and he can say that as often as he wants, he can say listen to me, trust me. He loves to do those, because those make him feel powerful.

CAMEROTA: And don't believe what you read, he says.

BRUNI: He has not given us details, and he has not shown us where there is this mythical Republican consensus on what to do. And when you're talking about health care, which is an issue that affects people every minute, every hour of their lives, you can't just indulge in slogans. And that is why Mitch McConnell is saying I want nothing to do with this. Other Republican leaders are saying I don't know why you are doing this. They are stepping away because they see a hot stove there, and President Trump seems determined to touch it.

BERMAN: Mitch McConnell says I look forward to seeing what the president is proposing and what he can work out with the speaker. In other words, I have no idea what the heck he's talking about right now.

But Frank, let's get to something else you have written here, which is that the president is capitalizing on the fact that sometimes people don't get the nuance, or don't even look for the nuance. We had up on the screen before this comment the president vows to protect pre- existing conditions. He knows that if he says it enough, he might get a banner like that. And that doesn't explain enough. I'm sorry, but that banner there doesn't explain the reality of what's going on here. The president says he wants to protect pre-existing conditions, but has never explained how, never explained how he will maintain the low rates, the equal rates that people with pre-existing conditions have. And to an extent he's capitalizing on the knowledge that people may not dig deeper.

BRUNI: That's absolutely right. It's the same kind of philosophy and strategy, if you say witch hunt often enough, that enters the bloodstream.

But here's the thing on this when it comes to health care. As Harry Enten, with those numbers you showed in one of your last segments showed so well, Republicans do not have the public's trust on health care. And President Trump, as a Republican does not have the Americans' trust on health care. His lowest approval ratings were when he was trying to do something legislative with health care that was being criticized and Americans saw as inferior to Obamacare with all of its faults. So in this instant I think he's overplaying his hand.

CAMEROTA: I think that's a very good point, but Seung Min, with the border wall where the President Trump did say it enough that now it is becoming a reality, however he had to achieve it, going around Congress. But that's more amorphous. That's not in every person's life in their home at the kitchen table. People do know how much they pay for health care, they will know if their pre-existing conditions are no longer covered. So this one, just using those top line slogans and repeating them over and over may not be as effective.

[08:05:00] SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's exactly right. And it's just a simple rule of politics. If people like something, taking it away or making it harder for them to get it is just not good politics for anyone involved. But look, I have been talking with allies of the president, particularly on Capitol Hill, and the senators who he has spoken with on the phone over the last several days, and the president really sees this as probably his one unfulfilled campaign promise, and that is why he is fixated now on pushing this through, despite all these calls from all these corners of his own party, saying this is not a good idea to go forward at this time.

You mentioned the border wall. He went as far as he could, perhaps even legally dubiously to get that done. Obviously, he's cut taxes, rolled back regulations. But health care really has eluded him for the past two years, which is why he is so pushing Republicans on it right now.

The problem is, Republicans, particularly on Capitol Hill, cannot coalesce around a plan that can pass. They could not do this when Republicans controlled both chambers and the Senate used another option beyond needing 60 votes. They couldn't even get it done beyond then. So with a Democratic House who won the majority, who won the House majority on a largely health care message, it is next to impossible to see how this would happen.

Particularly, though, Republicans do acknowledge the fact that because the case is live in the courts, it is almost certain to make it up to the Supreme Court at some point, that they do need some sort of plan, some sort of replacement to the Affordable Care Act. But that is something that particularly in the heat of an election season, in the presidential election season, that they do not want to take up right now.

BERMAN: David Chalian, in terms of the Mueller report, we saw some high drama yesterday with the president and Republicans calling for the resignation of Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff. We saw Adam Schiff fight back. And that was tense and cringeworthy and dramatic. But in terms of new information that might matter in all of this, it's the idea that the Mueller report itself we learned is some 300 pages long, more than 300 pages, and that doesn't include the exhibits. So it could be with those, who knows how long it would be.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICS DIRECTOR: Volumes, perhaps.

BERMAN: Volumes, exactly. So we know that. That's new. And we know that the only thing that's been made public is the four-page summary from William Barr that contains two or three direct quotes depending on how you look at that. So where are we exactly and how do you see this playing out politically over the next several days.

CHALIAN: So politically, it's never going to get better than it was last Sunday from that four-page summary from Barr for the president. If the Mueller report becomes public, as, by the way, majorities of Democrats, Republicans, independents, everyone in the country agrees that the Mueller report should be made public. We don't see that agreement on much of anything in politics, John.

And so assuming that the Mueller report, or good chunks of it, do indeed become public, those details will get picked over and away, and it will take some of the shine off the sale that the president is trying to make on complete exoneration, though probably not with his base, I would imagine. And here's why. You saw in all the polling this week that came out after the Mueller report, we learned that the country was so partisan and polarized in the way they were viewing the entire investigation for two years, that didn't change much in how they are seeing the after effects. So you see Republicans agreeing with the president that he's exonerated, and you see Democrats in equal numbers saying that that is absurd.

So where you sit depends how you see this. And the fact that the needle didn't move for the president in some substantial way after Sunday, no doubt a political victory, to be clear. But I think we're right back where we have been, which people in their partisan corners, and this is not an issue, we know, that the voters really engage on to make voting decisions.

CAMEROTA: I want to go to Seung Min, because I want to save the breaking wind news for Frank Bruni. Lucky you.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Seung Min, it's easy to see when the president digs in on a position and when he reverses course. And so yesterday we saw a rare course reversal, and that was after the outcry over the Special Olympics. The president came out and said that he had overruled the people around him, whatever that means, on his budget. So here's that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have been to the Special Olympics. I think it is incredible. And I just authorized a funding. I heard about it this morning. I have overridden my people. We are funding the Special Olympics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Seung Min, it was interesting, because Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said this was not her idea. She didn't like this, she didn't want this in the budget. She said she and the president are now likeminded on this. The president says he didn't want it in the budget. Who is the scoundrel that put this in the budget?

KIM: Well, this is the president's budget. This is the Trump administration's budget. It is overseen by Betsy DeVos. That's where the buck stops when it comes to the budget. But by no means is this the first time that the president's own administration has put forward something, and the president perhaps gauging the public reaction or the public outcry has reversed himself.

[08:10:09] Obviously, the Special Olympics funding was the major focus yesterday. And I would be remiss if I didn't point out as a Congress nerd, that it's Congress that authorizes funding and not the president, which is what he was telling reporters yesterday.

But during the rally yesterday in Michigan, it was a little less noticed, but he said he would actually support funding for a Great Lakes initiative. That's very important to Michigan and Ohio, obviously two critical swing states. But that is different, actually, than what is in his own budget.

So this is the administration's priority. This was the administration's budget. And yet the president doesn't seem to perhaps know what's in it, or is looking at the outcry and just backing down.

BERMAN: If only these people worked for him. I do want to play this one piece of sound and have Frank Bruni respond to it.

CAMEROTA: It's just too good.

BERMAN: It's the president last night talking about wind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Hillary got in, you wouldn't have that stat, I can tell you right now. You would be doing wind, windmills.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And if it doesn't blow, you can forget about television for that night.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Darling, I want to watch television. I'm sorry, the wind isn't blowing. I know a lot about wind.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That last line, Frank, he knows a lot about wind.

BRUNI: If it doesn't blow, you're not watching television tonight? The mind reels and the interpretations are multiple.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: We'll leave it at that. Interpret it as you will. Frank, David, Seung Min, thank you very much.

BRUNI: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: We do have other breaking news. Pope Francis just announced sweeping changes for the Vatican and Holy See personnel, requiring them to report sex abuse allegations to prosecutors. This marks the first time the Vatican has put legal requirements on Catholic officials to report sex crime claims to police. Our Delia Gallagher live in Rome with the details. Explain this to us, Delia.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: So John, this is a new set of laws and guidelines, particularly referring to the Vatican City State. The Vatican, remember, is its own country, so this is binding on people that are working at the Vatican, living at the Vatican, and in the Vatican's embassies abroad. It includes mandatory reporting, as you mentioned, to Vatican police of a crime that may have occurred on their property and in the embassies. It includes raising the statute of limitations to 20 years after the 18th birthday of a victim. That was also important. The Vatican currently had a statute of limitations of only four years after the crime had occurred. And it includes automatic dismissal of an employee who is found guilty of sexual abuse of minors.

What is important about this, John, is that this has really been a gap in the whole sexual abuse story for the Vatican. It was something that was flagged by the U.N. back in 2013 that while the Vatican was calling on different churches to come up with guidelines for sex abuse, they themselves didn't have anything in place in their own properties and on their own territories, governing people and priests that worked there.

So that is what this document is about today. It is something, if you remember, in February at this summit here at the Vatican that was called for. And the Vatican today has now delivered on that. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Delia, thank you very much for that reporting from Rome for us.

So we are just hours away from a pivotal vote on Brexit. These are live pictures from parliament. Theresa May's future could be decided today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:24] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What on earth is happening in the United Kingdom? You are looking at live pictures from inside parliament. It is a pivotal day there.

In just hours, they will vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's latest Brexit plan and the outcome, if it turns out well for her, ironically, would be the end of her tenure.

Joining us now is Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the Eurasia Group and author of "Us versus Them: The Failure of Globalism".

I have never seen as much paralysis as we are seeing in London. The inability to move forward in a reasonable way on Brexit is stunning.

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: I have never seen a prime minister say they would leave if they succeed on a vote. It usually goes another way around, right?

BERMAN: Yes.

BREMMER: I kind of like Brexit because it makes us feel more functional as the U.S.

BERMAN: Yes.

BREMMER: Right? This has been going on for over 1,000 days at this point. They still have absolutely nothing close to consensus on a deal.

And that's because there have been no consequences for any individual members of parliament or members of cabinet to say, no, we don't like that. No, we don't like that. But they don't want to become prime minister until the Brexit is agreed on. Who else would want that poison chalice? That's why we are where we are.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Oh my gosh. Now, they have come up with many plans, none of which they like. Is it possible they just don't like Brexit? Is there a way to be done with Brexit?

BREMMER: A second referendum, first of all, Theresa May will not support one, because it would break up the conservative party. She's more loyal to that party than she is to the Brexit concept. Remember, she originally campaigned on remain herself when she was home secretary.

Also, while the polls tell you if there were a second referendum, it would probably fail, but it would fail by a small margin which means turnout matters. What exactly would they be voting on? Whose deal are they putting up or down? Is it Theresa May's that you can't get through? Or a more popular deal?

We did see this week is that there is considerably more support across the entirety of parliament for having a permanent customs union, a softer Brexit than Theresa May's deal. That shouldn't surprise you. Actually in the U.K., unlike the U.S. center left and center right are where most of the parliamentarians actually occupy. I mean, I do think when you get closer to, you have to vote or the thing is truly falling apart. Then you likely get a vote.

BERMAN: And that's the last part, because your job is to know the future. You know it. Some people say predict it. I think you know it.

You think there will be something that ultimately passes on this?

[08:20:04] BREMMER: I do. But what we don't know is how long they actually have, right? I mean, so, the Europeans have said they have to come out in the next few weeks before April 22, get a deal done or maybe there is no more extension.

But a lot of Europeans are saying that because they don't want to tip their hand and give them an extra nine months to restart this process from scratch. A lot of British parliamentarians think, well, if we vote no on this deal we'll be able to have a restart of the process. So why do we bother at this point?

There were negotiations we have seen on the Democratic Unionist Party, which has been the key alignment with the conservatives, say when they were asked if they want a permanent customs union as a party, they actually decided to abstain, different than the position they had historically applied, that they are actually favoring a softer Brexit. The alignments truly slowly are moving towards, it rating toward what a Brexit deal will look like.

But here is the big point. Over the last three years the pain of Brexit has largely been taken. The jobs have already left. The economic trajectory of U.K. is worse than it otherwise would have been.

So, assuming there isn't a crash out no deal exit which is an unlikely possibility, when we finally get the deal oh, my God, there is not much there there.

CAMEROTA: All right. Move on to North Korea because Jim Sciutto has new reporting --

BERMAN: Jim Acosta.

CAMEROTA: Jim Acosta has a new reporting -- Jim has new reporting, Jim Dandy -- that in -- my favorite sundae.

BREMMER: Jimmy Crack Corn.

CAMEROTA: That in October of 2017 --

BREMMER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- President Trump was -- said to people that he was closer to using the nuclear football, the portable device that could signal nuclear war to North Korea than anyone knew previously. This is before the love letters -- before he fell in love obviously with Kim Jong-un.

Was that just bluster or were we on the cusp of something?

BREMMER: He talked about how the nuclear button was bigger. He talked about fire and fury. This is a very salacious and sensational quote. It's important to know the president thinks about using nuclear forces, certainly as a threat. Certainly as an ultimate deterrent in a way that other president would not have. I don't think we're that surprised and I also think it's consistent with all the other statements.

BERMAN: I think the context he was in Puerto Rico. Hurricane response, you know, appearances there. He was fixated on the nuclear football.

BREMMER: He was throwing paper town halls. It has an ICBM connotation. Made the connection.

BERMAN: He wasn't throwing the football in this case, because that would have been much worse. At least it was the paper towels.

BREMMER: That's what I'm saying, that's what I'm saying.

CAMEROTA: All right. I didn't know that was going to be the kicker. But thank you. Ian Bremmer, fantastic. Thank you very much.

BERMAN: All right. This is a stunning case. The Connecticut man who thought he had paid his debt to society. He served three years in prison more than a decade ago. Now faces the prospect of going back because of a mistake that was made. It doesn't appear to have been his. His fight for freedom, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:12] BERMAN: Demetrius Anderson walked out of prison 13 years ago. He had served three years for possessing and passing counterfeit currency and he says he has led a law-abiding life ever since. But now, he may have to go back to prison all because of a decades-old mistake.

A recent audit found that Anderson he was mistakenly released and never served a 16-month federal sentence on a similar charge.

Demetrius Anderson joins me now, along with his attorney Mike Dolan. And also with us, Van Jones, host of "THE VAN JONES SHOW" who brought this story to our attention and is now getting involved. We'll tell you how in just a moment on that.

Demetrius, you were living your life 13 years out of a state prison. You thought it was all over, all behind you. You've got a knock on your door and it was U.S. Marshals telling you you had to go back. What was your reaction?

DEMETRIUS ANDERSON, COULD BE SENT BACK TO PRISON OVER CLERICAL ERROR: Devastating. I thought it was a nightmare. Definitely a mistake. You couldn't be coming for me because I didn't do anything. And they didn't give me a reason they were there. I opened my door

willingly and they just immediately threw me against the refrigerator and just cuffed me. So, I didn't know what was going on. I just knew I was innocent and didn't do anything. I didn't find out what was what until they took me.

BERMAN: You thought when you walked out of Connecticut state prison that that was it, you were done.

ANDERSON: Correct.

BERMAN: That you had served your time.

ANDERSON: Correct.

BERMAN: You had previous to going to state prison pleaded guilty to a separate federal charge. A separate federal charge, similar crime but different charge. But you had been sentenced to 16 months in prison for that.

ANDERSON: Yes.

BERMAN: You thought going in that those sentences were to be served concurrently.

ANDERSON: Correct.

BERMAN: You were wrong.

ANDERSON: Yes.

BERMAN: Mike, how did this happen? How did this happen?

MICHAEL DOLAN, ATTORNEY FOR DEMETRIUS ANDERSON: Well, apparently, there was an audit done by the federal marshals in Philadelphia. It revealed he had not been given credit for that time. So, the marshals came to -- sent a warrant out and he was taken into custody out there in Connecticut.

BERMAN: Just to be clear, someone is supposed to do something. If you are supposed to go back to federal prison after a state prison there is supposed to be communication so when you get out, someone gets you.

DOLAN: Absolutely. The federal system is supposed to send a detainer, letting Connecticut know that he's to report, or to transfer him in federal custody. The state system is supposed to do a warrant check, a detainer check. We don't know who dropped the ball.

BERMAN: It wasn't him. It wasn't Demetrius.

DOLAN: It was not him.

BERMAN: They blew it. Someone, either the state or federal government blew it. And, Demetrius, this is an important point I want to get to before I bring Van in.