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Barry Weakens But Flood Threat Lingers; Millions Face Flash Flooding; Djokovic Beats Federer; Trump Tweets Racist Attack on Democratic Congresswomen; Call for Puerto Rico's Governor to Resign; Former U.K. Ambassador talks about Trump Leaving Iran Deal. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 15, 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] SARAH ISGUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: But on the economy, for instance, you're still seeing the president polling ahead than most of the Democrats on that issue. And I think that that's where they need to move next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think it gives Joe Biden a chance to differentiate himself on this debate stage one week and two days from now here on CNN. It will be interesting to see how he uses this issue there.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Jess, Sarah, thank you both very much.

Now to this.

The Gulf Coast is grappling with potentially life threatening flooding as Tropical Depression Barry slowly moves north. So, what has authorities most concerned this morning? We'll bring that to you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Tropical Depression Barry is slowly moving north, but that does not mean the worst is over for millions of people under flash flood watches.

And CNN's Erica Hill is live in Baton Rouge with the latest.

What's the situation there, Erica?

[06:35:01] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, good morning.

Those flash flood watches still in effect for southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi through 7:00 a.m. local time. And local officials are stressing people need to take that into account as they're making their way to work this morning. Some of the worst flooding that we saw over the weekend happened in Terrebonne Parish, which is south of us. As you can see from the aerial footage we have here what that flooding was like. There are still also power outages. Some 55,000 customers without power this morning. Keep in mind, yesterday at this time, that number was 154,000. So important improvements there. But in areas like St. Mary's Parish and Terrebonne, those issues will continue today.

A rescue that we can also show you video of. Over the weekend, 12 people rescued in Terrebonne Parish by the Coast Guard and local authorities there. Twelve people and two pets, a puppy that you may see in that basket there being pulled up, and also we're told a cat.

As for things today, we can tell you New Orleans, the mayor there saying not only were they beyond lucky, in her words, we were spared. Everything held. The levels in the rivers there did not rise as high as was anticipated. And that is good news.

But, again, local officials and even the governor stressing preparedness is key. These are things to keep in mind as they move forward. Three thousand National Guard troops still on the ground here. And I can tell you, the mighty Mississippi behind me at this point has already crested. Although, keep in mind, it's been in flood stage, Alisyn, since February.

BERMAN: All right, I'll take it Erica. Terrific work this weekend, Erica Hill, down in Louisiana, thank you so much.

So where is Barry headed next?

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers here with the forecast.

Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the center, John, is going to head right over Little Rock later today, but the heaviest rain is still in Louisiana. And we're still looking at these flash flood warnings. Even overnight, flash flood emergencies with rescues taking place for people that didn't stay out of the water or didn't get out of the way. And, yes, we had a few spots there with the 20 inch rainfall as predicted. The good news is, not for them, but for the big cities, it didn't happen over the big cities, it didn't happen over Lafayette, didn't happen over Baton Rouge, didn't happen over New Orleans, but it did happen in some of the Calcasieu Parish areas, up near Beauregard Parish. Some of these really did pick up very, very heavy rainfall in the 20-inch rainfall range.

Certainly more rainfall for today, but not as much as we've seen because the storm is far enough away from the Gulf of Mexico. The eastern half of the country, over the past six months, has been well above normal. I don't have to tell any farmers about that. But some spots 10 to 20 inches above normal for this so far this year. New York City, you're going to be above normal on Friday and Saturday. Look at that temperature, 97. Maybe I'll just stand here and it won't happen. Big, hot weather coming to the northeast over the weekend.

Guys.

BERMAN: We're way beyond normal here, Chad, safe to say.

MYERS: That's right.

BERMAN: Chad Myers, thank you very much. MYERS: You bet.

BERMAN: This was one of the most breathtaking moments in sports history. I mean, ever. Period. What Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are now saying about their epic Wimbledon final. The "Bleacher Report" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:22] BERMAN: In one of the greatest tennis matches in all of recorded history, Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer to win the Wimbledon title.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

This was stunning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was --

BERMAN: Yes.

SCHOLES: John, this match was so good, I mean, and it was so long as well. It was the longest final in Wimbledon's history, four hours, 55 minutes. And, you know, at 37 years old, Roger Federer definitely the sentimental favorite. We just don't know how many more times he's going to be in this situation. And Federer in the fifth set had double championship points, two chances to win the match. But Djokovic was able to fight off both of them and come back to win the game.

The match would end up going all the way to 12-12 in the fifth set. And this is the first year with the new rule at Wimbledon, once a match gets to that point, you go to a tie break. And Djokovic would end up winning that tie break 7-3 to take the match for his 16th grand slam title. Federer's family cheering him on all match long and he was asked afterwards what he thought his kids would think of his performance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER FEDERER, 20-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: They won't be excited with a plate, but it's a -- they'd want to take that golden thing.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, 2019 WIMBLEDON CHAMPION: Roger said that he hopes that he gives some other people a chance to believe that they can do it at 37. I'm one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes, I'm one of them too. I hope I'm still doing my best at 37.

But, just, guys, what a match. One for the ages. And, you know, Federer about to be 38 years old. Here's hoping we see him in a final at Wimbledon again in the future.

CAMEROTA: Andy, that's so great. I was driving back from Portland, Maine, yesterday. My husband was watching on his device. And he kept gasping, which was unsettling for the driver, may I say. But I could tell that it was the most thrilling game ever as he would put it.

SCHOLES: Yes, it certainly was.

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much.

OK, there's deafening silence this morning from most Republicans in Congress after President Trump launched a racist attack on their Democratic colleagues. When will one of them speak up? That's next.

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[06:48:20] CAMEROTA: OK, so we're talking this morning about what President Trump did yesterday when he tweeted out this attack on the four freshmen progressive women. He told them that they should go back to their countries, or go home. And three of them were born here in the United States. One wasn't. They're all American citizens. And it's just impossible to see it as anything but racist. He's basing it on how they look.

And so we're waiting to hear from Republicans and whether or not they're going to say anything about this.

But, meanwhile, we are joined by Terry McAuliffe. He, of course, is the former governor of Virginia and he's now a CNN political commentator.

Governor, what did you think when you read the president's tweet?

TERRY MCAULIFFE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, disgraceful, disgusting. You know, the man's just plain nuts.

But, listen, what he's trying to do is to get Democrats off about talking about the issues that matter to the American families. They -- Trump knows he can't win again if the debate's about taking this nation forward, dealing with infrastructure, education, prescription drug prices. So he wants to continue to divide, try and divide Democrats, trying to divide Americans.

So this is a standard playbook for Donald Trump. It doesn't surprise me. The man is a disgrace to the office of the president of the United States. But, you know, let us not take the bait here. Let us continue as Democrats, build the broadest tent possible. We're going to beat this guy, but let's not get in a trap with him. And that's exactly what he's trying to get us to do.

CAMEROTA: Well, Congressman Chip Roy of Texas, Republican of Texas, is the lone voice that we can find right now who sort of spoke out against it, but it was kind of hard to tell what ultimately the message was. Here's what he tweeted yesterday. The president was wrong to say any American citizen, whether in Congress or not, has any home besides the U.S. But I just as strongly believe non-citizens who abuse our immigration laws should be sent home immediately. And lawmakers who refuse to defend America should be sent home 11-2020.

[06:50:28] So is he against the language or not?

MCAULIFFE: Well, see this -- this is exactly, Alisyn, what they're trying to do. And Trump wants us to play on the immigration issue to try and divide us. I mean it's reprehensible what he has done at the border, separating children from families. I've said this for a long time, I can say it as a former governor, Congress has failed in their mission. We need a national immigration policy in this country. They haven't done it. Shame on the Congress for not doing it. But we got to get this issue solved once and for all. We've got to protect our borders. But, you know what, we need a comprehensive immigration plan for the people who come into this country, to give them a pathway to citizenship, very specifically what we need to do.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

MCAULIFFE: But, in the meantime, the idea that you're separating these children from their families, these children will live with the long- term effects of what has happened to them at the border for the rest of their lives. It's a disgrace. This is the United States of America. A beacon of liberty and democracy. People around the world have looked to America as the shining example of what a nation should be.

And, unfortunately, under Trump now, that's not the case. He has a base of about 40 percent, 42 percent. He is not growing that base. And all he's doing is inflaming his base. But, you know what, in 203 days, the Iowa caucuses start. That is the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency. But I warn Democrats, we need to get away from these labels. We need to talk specific about what we're going to do for the American public. We need to build the broadest tent possible. But talk about health care and infrastructure and education. That's what they want to hear from -- that's what Americans are craving for.

CAMEROTA: Well -- well, former VP Biden must be taking your advice because he released his health care plan just this morning and it's basically the public option. It's Medicare for all.

MCAULIFFE: That's right.

CAMEROTA: And I'll get to that in one second, but I know you want to look forward --

MCAULIFFE: Yes, sure.

CAMEROTA: To 2020 and the first stop is this Thursday where the -- there will be a live, on air drawing on CNN.

MCAULIFFE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So complete transparency about who will be with whom on the debate stage.

MCAULIFFE: Right.

CAMEROTA: So it will be all -- it will be 20 candidates. Some won't make the stage.

MCAULIFFE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: But there will be a drawing to see who will face off against who. Who will be standing next to whom.

MCAULIFFE: Yes, you bet.

CAMEROTA: So who do you want to see face off? Should Joe Biden have a second chance with Kamala Harris, or should they be on different nights?

MCAULIFFE: Well, listen, we'll let the drawing do -- but I think what would be interesting, I give Elizabeth Warren a lot of credit. I thought she did excellent in the first debate. Why? As she said she has a plan, but she's laying it out very specific answers and solutions to the problems that Americans face today.

So I've been very impressed. I may not agree with everything, but I am impressed that she has laid things out in a comprehensive way.

So, you know, if Joe Biden's still the frontrunner, I would like to see a good, healthy debate about the issues. So I'd love to see Vice President Biden and Senator Warren on the debate stage. But it's all going to -- here's the issue. For many candidates, this is their last shot. As you know, we're going to have a lot of issues and we're going to really bring this thing down. It's going to end for many of them after this debate if they can't do a good job they won't be on the September debate. So this is going to be a huge issue.

CAMEROTA: All right, former governor Terry McAuliffe, thank you very much for previewing it with us. Great to see you.

MCAULIFFE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: A major, political crisis engulfing Puerto Rico's governor and his administration. Why protesters are now calling for his resignation. That's next.

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[06:57:14] BERMAN: This morning protesters in Puerto Rico are demanding the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rossello. Two of Rossello's top cabinet members have already stepped down after a trove of sexist, homophobic and profanity-laced private messages were published.

CNN's Leyla Santiago has been tracking this story, digging into it.

Leyla, what have you learned?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, as I've spoken to Puerto Ricans, the words that are -- are used are shame, embarrassment, lack of trust, anger. I mean they see this as more than just a violation of trust. A lot of people that we're seeing on the streets right now protesting say this is an inability to govern. That is how far this has gone.

So let's talk about that anger that you're seeing play out on the streets. What's behind this?

This comes from 900 -- nearly 900 pages of a conversation that was published by the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico in which you see the governor with sort of his inner circle and he talks about -- he sort of makes light and uses even derogatory terms to describe a woman. Terms that I would not repeat. He absolutely attacked some of the journalists and also makes light of some pretty serious moments after Hurricane Maria.

For his part, he has apologized. He believes he can move forward. That he can restore trust and that he will not resign. But the time of this is critical because many Puerto Ricans are concerned that this could impact the level of aid that comes to the island for those who are most vulnerable years after Hurricane Maria.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, Layla, please keep us posted on what happens there. It sounds like that is a developing story.

There are also new revelations from more leaked diplomatic cables from the U.K. "The Daily Mail" reports that the former British ambassador to the U.S., Kim Darroch, believed that President Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal to spite former President Obama, something he called an act of, quote, diplomatic vandalism.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live in London for us to explain.

What else is there, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Alisyn, it also said that the United States and the White House in particular didn't have a next day strategy of what to do with that. We've heard from Boris Johnson, who may well become the British prime minister next week, admit that when he didn't back the British ambassador in a TV interview last week, that that contributed to the ambassador deciding to step down. The British police here opened what they said was an investigation to break the official secret sect warned editors not to publish any materials to do with these leaks. Twenty-four hours later, they backed away from that and said journalists could do what they do, which is print things of international importance.

[07:00:01] The British foreign secretary today trying to do his best with EU partners to repair the relationships with Iran and asking the United States to consider the.

END