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New Day Saturday

Macron's Campaign Hacked On Eve Of Election; WAPO: Trump Transition Team Warned Flynn About Contacts; Edwards Family: Arrest "Softens The Blow"; Trump's First Overseas Trip: Vatican, Israel, Saudi Arabia; Opioid Battle Threatened Under GOP Health Care Bill; Trackside At The Kentucky Derby. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired May 06, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: There were 2,500 dogs in that same shelter and they were all adopted. Eastwood was a deformity in his leg and was not able to find a home, they think, because of that until the shelter posted his story on Facebook. Within an hour, more than 80 people said they would give him a home and he's moving in on Monday. Congratulations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emmanuel Macron, the frontrunner in the French election, now confirming what his team is calling a massive coordinated hacking operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senior members have warned Michael Flynn about the risk of his contacts with Russia's ambassador.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unlike a lot of other ambassadors, you actually had a very receptive Trump team when it came to the Russians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is overall effort of the anonymous sources in the meeting to go and try to smear the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirteen men are deciding the future of American health care. There is not one woman at the table to represent more than half the population of this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This House bill would be devastating for women. Women would be denied coverage because of situations that are unique to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an effort to kill off Planned Parenthood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the bill passed today, thousands of Americans would die.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Senate is looking forward to getting it, and I think we're going to have some really great health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: I hope there's some sunshine wherever you're waking up this morning. Good morning. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you. And we begin with the major news out of France. The leading French presidential candidate says he's been hacked on the eve of their election, but we should say that Russia is denying any involvement.

The Kremlin spokesmen tells CNN, "These like other similar accusations are based on nothing and are pure slander." But Emmanuel Macron's campaign says the hack is meant to, quote, "undermine democracy like it happened in the U.S.

This hour, the French Electoral Commission is asking the media not to publish details out of concerns it could sway Sunday's outcome.

PAUL: Also this morning, former presidential adviser, Carter Page, has sharp words for the Senate Intel Committee telling them to ask the Obama administration for his Russian communications. This after promising to cooperate with officials.

And a new report from the "Washington Post" says senior members of the Trump transition team warned Michael flynn about his contact with Russia's ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. We have on all of that in just a moment.

BLACKWELL: We're covering all of these stories including the French election from every angle and with our reporters and panelists across the globe.

Let's start with CNN's Isa Suares outside of Paris in France. Isa, what is the reaction to these allegations from the Electoral Commission?

ISA SUARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this, Victor, as you know was supposed to be a day of reflection just 24 hours before the French go to the polls. Instead it's become really a day of confusion for many people because yesterday around 11:00 local, just an hour before campaigning wrapped up and before really the restrictions came in, reporting restrictions came in.

Emmanuel Macron, the centrist party leader, came out saying that his -- really himself and his campaign had been a victim of a massive, it said, coordinated hacking operation. We're talking about 14.5 gigabytes of e-mails, personal e-mails, e-mails within their campaign that were put online, along with 70,000 files.

Some of them the campaign was saying are real, some are fake. They're both being mixed in in order to add to more confusion and really sow more doubt on people's minds. They had one hour, the campaign, to come out and talk about this. And this is what they said. I'll read the statement to you. "This operation," it reads, "is clearly meant to undermine democracy, just like happened in the U.S. during the last presidential campaign."

In terms of who is behind this, we do not know. You were talking about Russia there, saying this is not them, this is just slander, but we have heard, we saw a tweet from the French ambassador to Washington yesterday which was then deleted.

He said this, "It was expected, a last-ditch offensive to benefit a foreign government." To put it into context for you, Victor, a few months ago we had heard various experts basically saying that perhaps Russia was behind this, trying to impact Macron.

Also we know that Putin and indeed Le Pen have met together and in many ways they see eye to eye -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Isa Suares, actually reporting there in (inaudible) in the northern section of France. Isa, thanks so much.

PAUL: CNN senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance in Moscow now. So Matthew, what is the reaction from Russian officials this morning?

[08:05:08]MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, there have been these instant comparisons made with this massive data from the team of Emmanuel Macron that the French presidential candidate has reported.

Within the hacking the U.S. intelligence officials say was the responsibility undertaken by Russian hackers on the Democratic Party there in the United States with the release of e-mails related to Hillary Clinton's campaign with the express intention to damage her electability and to promote the candidacy of Donald Trump.

So those comparisons have already been made. The Russians of course still deny any connection with that hack attack. Likewise, they've denied any connection with these latest data dumps in France as well.

We'll read the statement again from the kremlin spokesman. He said "These like other similar allegations on based on nothing and on pure slander." The kremlin said it does not care which of the presidential candidates in France, either Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen, the far right nationalist, win the French election.

They say they'll work with either candidate. But I think it's fair to say that the Russians are somewhat closer to Le Pen than they are to Macron in the sense that just last month Marine Le Pen visited Moscow and she had a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

And also Russian banks have given her campaign and her party millions of dollars in loans over the past several months. So there are clearly strong connections between Russia and the campaign of Marine Le Pen.

PAUL: All right, Matthew Chance, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security joining us now. Juliette, thank you so much for being with us. First of all, your reaction to what we're hearing out of France this morning.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, two things, one is the swiftness by which not only the Macron campaign as well as the French authorities are really trying to get the French media to not engage in this is possibly a lesson learned after what happened to Hillary Clinton.

So in some ways they were anticipating something like this. The other is the sort of -- the inability of media to take seriously Russia's denials. Russia clearly wants Le Pen to win. Wikileaks as we have noted here in the United States is essentially an agent of Russia.

They have put out this material with the hopes of helping Le Pen. They did not put similar e-mails out for Le Pen. So the Russian denials both understandable and predictable. They are not believable at this stage.

BLACKWELL: What is your assessment of the timing of this release? Because the major difference or one of the major differences between what we're seeing in France to what we saw in the U.S., the Podesta e- mails were hacked weeks, months before the election so that whatever narrative they were trying to sow had time to resonate. This comes at the end of the campaign in which the election commission can control over just a two-day period what is reported. What do you make of that difference?

KAYYEM: And the campaign is not as close as it was here, at least by the polling which we all obviously look at skeptically. So there may be a couple of explanations. One is their capacity to actually get the e-mails from the campaign to Wikileaks and then released.

But the fact that the campaigns are not authorized to respond to this does hinder any effective response by the campaign, but I would say there's a third reason and we certainly saw this with the Hillary Clinton campaign here in the U.S., which is it may very well be that the Russians believe their candidate will lose.

But the winning candidate will be hurt by these e-mails being exposed. So they may just have put them out so that when a new -- when Le Pen loses, they will at least have undermined Macron. So that's how I think about it right now in terms of the timing.

BLACKWELL: All right, we'll look more into this throughout the morning. Juliette Kayyem, thanks so much for being with us.

PAUL: An explosive report surrounding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to talk about now. According to the "Washington Post," senior members of President Trump's transition team warned Flynn on multiple occasions about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Now the report also claims the officials were so concerned that Flynn didn't understand the ambassador's motives, they went to the Obama administration for help, asking for a classified profile on Kislyak, but it's not clear whether General Flynn ever read that document. Here's what the reporter who broke the story told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:10:01]ADAM ENTOUS, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Unlike a lot of other ambassadors in Washington who were struggling to make those connections with the incoming Trump team, you actually had a very receptive Trump team when it came to the Russians.

So if you talk to other European ambassadors around town, around that time, they felt like they were getting neglected. Whereas normally during a transition they're the ones who get most of the face time. Whereas in this case you had the Russian ambassador who was getting repeated phone calls and meetings with members of the Trump team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: It is the latest in the series of events since the election that have raised red flags to the intelligence community. The scathing detail now prompting new questions about Flynn's contacts and what the White House may have known. As you see here in this timeline, former Trump transition spokesman, Jason Miller, dismissed the report though as just another smear attempt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MILLER, FORMER TRUMP TRANSITION SPOKESMAN: You can tell when President Trump is having a good week when another one of these anonymous stories comes out bringing up the Russia issue in some way, shape or form.

Again, this is a story that's pushed by former Obama White House people going to the "Washington Post" to try to get this story out. Again, there is nothing untoward or illegal or wrong that's been presented today. It's just the fact that there was a briefing that was given.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Although we don't know the sourcing. We don't know it was Obama. It could be Trump transition team.

MILLER: Well, we do know that seven Obama White House folks were interviewed as part of the story. That's what they say in "The Washington Post" story. Clearly, it's not Trump folks who are putting it forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And also this morning, former Trump adviser, Carter Page, has sharp words for the Senate Intel Committee, telling them to ask the Obama administration for his Russia communications. This comes after promising to cooperate with officials over his ties to Russia. Joining me now, Ryan Nobles, a CNN Washington correspondent. This seems to be a shift. Earlier this month and last month it seemed as if Carter Page was going to play ball with the Senate Intelligence Committee, and now maybe not.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No Doubt, victor. Carter Page of course a key figure in the investigation into Russia's alleged attempt to intervene in the U.S. election and whether or not the Trump campaign played any role in that effort, but Page who has been combative and forceful in the defense of his actions has now made it clear that he's not going to make it easy.

In a harshly written letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Page refused to provide any details about his communication with Russian officials and Page went on to accuse the Obama administration of tracking his conversations.

He told the senators that if they want to know who he talked to, they should ask former President Obama. Here's an excerpt from that letter. Quote, "I suspect that physical reaction of the Clinton/Obama regime perpetrators will be more along the lines of severe vomiting when all the facts are eventually exposed regarding the steps taken by the U.S. government to influence the 2016 election."

Now, the Senate Intel Committee has asked for records from not only Page but from former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and one- time adviser, Roger Stone. Now sources tell CNN that if they need to, the Senate committee will subpoena the records.

In a joint statement, Senate Intel leaders, Richard Burr, who's a Republican, and Mark Warner who's a Democrat said they will continue to pursue their inquiry into Russia's involvement into the American election.

Federal investigators believe that Page was the target of Russian spies as a potential asset. That's a charge Page has vehemently denied. At one point during the campaign, Page was listed as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign.

But as reports surfaced about his possible connections to Russia, the White House has distanced itself from Page. It's still not clear just how closely connected Page was to the day to day operations of the Trump team during the campaign -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ryan Nobles for us in Washington. Ryan, thank you.

A former Dallas area police officer who shot an unarmed teen will now face murder charges. Next, what the teen's family says will help them heal.

PAUL: Also the GOP health care bill passed in the House. What is in store in the Senate? We have more on that ahead.

And we're about ten hours away from the most exciting two minutes in sports, the Kentucky Derby. BLACKWELL: Coy Wire, cannot wait, already there at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi. It's starting to come down here at Churchill Downs. People from Kentucky would just say it's raining (inaudible). We're going to talk the favorite, the fashion and we found a horse named Generator. What would your name be if you were a derby horse? Wait until you hear Victor's. It's a winner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:45]

PAUL: It's 18 minutes past the hour on this Saturday morning. Former Dallas police officer, Roy Oliver, facing murder charges now.

BLACKWELL: He was arrested for shooting and killing an unarmed teenager. This happened last weekend. His bond was set at $300,000. He's now out after posting bail.

PAUL: Investigators say he shot 15-year-old Jordan Edwards as Edwards rode in the passenger seat of a car. The city's police chief initially said the car was driving toward officers when one of their officers opened fire.

Later said he, quote, "misspoke" after body cam footage showed the car actually driving away from the officer. The news of this arrest comes as the family of Jordan Edwards is holding his funeral today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't take away the sting of obviously losing their son, but it does soften the blow a bit. They won't really be satisfied until there's a murder conviction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All righty, so we have to hear from Joey Jackson, of course, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney on this one. Joey, thank you so much for being with us. First and foremost, he's charged with murder, he's out on bond. Would you expect that to happen in a case like this?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Christie. What happens is generally when you face a life sentence it would be discretionary to the court to keep you in. That is to remand you.

[08:20:04]However, several states throughout the country -- Texas is one of them -- there's a presumption for bail to the extent that the court believes that you will respond and otherwise appear for your proceeding. But make no mistake about it, you know, these are significant charges in the event he's convicted. He could face a life sentence.

PAUL: The first story from police was that the car was driving towards him. The second story on video shows the exact opposite. If you were defending him, Joey, how do you start that?

JACKSON: Well, let's back up here. That's critically important what you're talking about because you have a discrepancy with regard to a statement that's being made.

Now, the prosecution is going to exploit that and say that that statement is consciousness of guilt. That is you knew you were doing something wrong which is why you made the story with the car coming to you.

Now let's talk quickly before I speak about how I would defend him, what he has to overcome. Now the prosecution is going to look at three things. Number one, where was the immediacy of the danger. That's first off.

Number two, the proportionality of the force. While a car can be a deadly weapon, if it's moving away, it presents no threat. And number three, what was the reasonableness as to your conduct.

I think what we'll see from a defense perspective is they will play up the notion that there were the sound of shots when he got on the scene. That's relevant to a state of mind, the fact that he believed himself to be in danger.

However, again, there's a lot to overcome because when you look at that tape it belies what he was initially saying, Christi, which is that he was in an immediacy of danger, the car was coming towards you.

Now that you shift away from that it takes away the immediacy and while again the car can be used as a deadly weapon, you fire a rifle into that? How that could be deemed as reasonable?

And so I think the defense certainly has a major strategy to play if there's any hope of coming out of this. Also remember, we're talking about state charges now for murder.

I would really be interested to see down the line what the federal government does because the big hang up with the federal government, Christi, has always been we can't show intent. We can't establish the mind-set of the officer.

The state and prosecuting for murder is clearly saying that there's intent here. If there's an intentional deprivation of civil rights that is excessive force, you get two bites of the apple.

You get a state prosecution which we're seeing here and then potentially depending upon what happens there you could have a federal prosecution for violating civil rights. The commonality, life in jail.

PAUL: All righty, Joey, as we heard, they're going to have that funeral today, and you have to think that perhaps the family will be filing a civil suit as well. Joey Jackson, always appreciate your input. Thank you, sir.

JACKSON: Thank you, Christi. BLACKWELL: President Trump announced his plans for his first trip overseas and it includes a visit with major U.S. allies. A look at what the president's goals are for his first foreign outing.

PAUL: Also, it's a drug so potent, touching it, just touching it, can kill you. Details on an urgent warning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:17]

PAUL: Glad to see you on this Saturday morning. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you. The president has now announced his plans for his first trip overseas.

PAUL: Not keeping it low key, let's say. His first foreign outing includes the president visiting to capitols of three major world religions. His aides say this is a symbolic gesture to U.S. allies, both his fight against extremism and desire for peace in the Middle East.

BLACKWELL: CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is live in London. Nic, what do we know about the itinerary, the agenda for this trip?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, we certainly know that this is something that the Iranians, for example, are going to be watching very closely. President Trump when he was in Saudi Arabia and Israel will be expected to discuss the cooperation of both nations on the issues of ISIS and both those nations will want to talk to President Trump about Iran as well.

Look, the Saudis in particular here and to a degree the Israelis as well have grown particularly wary if you will from President Obama. From the Saudi perspective going back to the Arab spring, he didn't support regional allies like the Egyptian Leader Hosni Mubarak and the Saudis took that badly.

So over time they became wary of President Obama's position and they really upped their own defense and security spending to be one of the biggest spenders in the world at the moment on armament. So when President Trump comes to visit them, it's a very strong message for them.

He sees them and we heard this from Defense Secretary James Mattis when he visited Saudi last month, that the United States sees Saudi Arabia as a major strategic regional partner in terms of security, in terms of intelligence, in terms of military influence.

So there will be likely a meeting of minds on Iran and talk about how both countries can support each other on that. When the president goes to Israel, again, Iran will likely be part of the conversation there, as well as Mideast peace.

And the president has said that he's willing to support and wants to support peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. When he gets to the Vatican I think that's probably going to be somewhat away from the sort of cauldron of the conflicts that are going on in the Middle East.

But certainly the pope has expressed his desire to see peace and his desire and concerns about what's happening to Christians throughout the Middle East. So you know there's going to be a lot of Middle East content in all those meetings.

PAUL: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you so much. We appreciate the input.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in now CNN political analyst and columnist for the "Washington Post," Josh Rogin, and Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun Times," Lynn Sweet. Good morning to you.

[08:30:00] And Lynn, Let me start with you. I went back and check the State Department archives, and President Trump is making the latest first international trip of the last 50 years of any President. And his first visit is to Riyadh, to Saudi Arabia. What do you make of those two?

LYNN SWEET, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES BUREAU CHIEF: Well, from domestic politics-wise I make that he did not want to make the traditional first trips to either Canada or Mexico. So, that's worth noting what he decided not to do. I think he had plenty of time to - he needed the time to just figure out what to do as President because this was, as we all know, such an unprecedented win and he just needed time to stock his administration and even get his Secretary of State confirmed.

Let's remember how long it took to get the operation up and running. So, that his first trip is coming in May, doesn't really come as a surprise because also Trump had to establish what he wanted to do in these trips. Also worth noting and I know is Josh probably will have a lot more to say on this, is that by going to Israel on this first trip, domestically it is also - in domestic politics it's a marked contrast because when President Obama first went to the region he made a very significant speech in Egypt and he did not go to Israel and that had created problems for him within some precincts in the American-Jewish community that he had worked pretty hard to display his support for Israel because he didn't go there in the first term.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk now about that trip to Cairo back in June of 2009, Josh. It was billed as the President's address to the Muslim world. And as this President now goes to his first trip to a majority Muslim country there, I want to remind people of what President Obama said in 2009. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES FORMER PRESIDENT: I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world. One based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: "America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition." President Trump in the campaign proposed banning all non-American Muslims from coming into the U.S. When this President now goes to Saudi Arabia, what will be likely his message?

JOSH ROGGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I think the main difference you're going to see here is that where President Obama was doing outreach to the Muslim people of the world, President Trump is doing outreach to the Muslim governments of the world and therein lies a huge difference, OK. President Obama wanted to align America with the aspirations of the citizens of all of these countries, and when that came to the Arab spring, he had very mixed results because U.S. policy in the Arab spring is very - a complicated and really not really not effective in the end and that the whole other stories that this one is in pour over.

President Trump's not trying to be the new ones, OK. He wants to align himself with the governments that are in charge of these countries. He's given them largely a free hand to do what they want inside their countries. He said explicitly that the United States will no longer impress these governments to impose American values inside their borders. And you know, he wants them to deliver things that can benefit America, America first, and those things are pretty clear. He wants them to step up in the fight against ISIS. He wants them to - help them solve Syria. He wants them to join him in pressuring Iran, and he wants them to buy into his idea for Middle East peace. Now, none of those things are going to get solved on this one-day trip to Saudi Arabia but it would be symbolic. And what he's trying to do here is trying to align the United States with these regimes, not with the people of the Muslim world. That's where we are.

BLACKWELL: Josh, let me say with you. And what Lynn pointed out is that President Trump is pairing his visit to Israel and his visit to Saudi Arabia on the same trip, which President Obama did not. We remember clearly that APEC speech during the campaign that President Trump promised to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That did not happen during the first 100 days. Do we know what the status of that move is? And potentially, he'll have to sign a waiver in the next couple of weeks to determine if he will waive, as every President has since 1995, the mandate of U.S. law that moves the embassy to Jerusalem. The status of that?

ROGGIN: Yes. Campaigning is different than governing. A lot of the things that President Trump campaigned on with regard to foreign policy have fallen by the wayside. And this is one of them. What happened is that the White House decided to pursue this Middle East peace initiative. It's not really clear exactly what the strategy is or how they're going to keep Middle East peace, but that is now the main priority when it comes to dealing with Israel. So, everything else that can complicate that is getting pushed aside, including the drive to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Now, they'll say that this is under consideration, et cetera, et cetera. What's really happening is that they've just sort of taken this off the agenda because it complicates their drive, and because the Israelis don't necessarily support it and the Palestinians definitely don't support it and the Arab states don't support it. So, this is where their sort of campaign rhetoric flies in the face of their administration goals and the administration goals are waiting out.

It also shows that the coming U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Friedman, is not winning the day internally. The people who are running Israel policy in this administration are: Son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Special Envoy, Jason Greenblatt; and some other of the White House folks, who want to see if some sort of peace deal is possible. It's not clear that one is, but they're going to give it a shot.

[08:35:53] BLACKWELL: All right. Lynn, let me come back to you with the third leg of this trip headed to the Vatican. And you know there was that contentious relationship between then-candidate, Trump, and the Pope in February 2016, but there is an often overlooked speech that was given - some remark given, I should say, by the Pope on the weekend before the election, during which many received his comments as being focused at then-candidate, Donald Trump, in which he said this. "In a time of paralysis, disorientation and destructive proposals, people seeking the common good can overcome with God's help, the false prophets who exploit the fear and hopelessness that sell magic formulas of hatred, and cruelty, or selfish welfare, and an illusory security." This could be an awkward first meeting of the President and the Pope.

SWEET: Well, could be and I think President - it isn't President Trump's own self-interest to not make it an awkward meeting and certainly he has been critical of the Pope. And certainly, those words that you just quoted, Victor, you know, are more than a little slap aimed at Trump. But I think Trump understands the politics of this, that you don't want to get the American Catholic Community upset because he insulted the Pope to his face in the Vatican. It's another thing to do it, you know, in the campaign and not in the Pope's house. So, what his message is and I would listen also, just as important, what the Pope says to Trump and how public the Pope makes the conversation they have. That's what I would watch for because Trump has done things that I think the Pope would want to comment on.

BLACKWELL: All right. Lynn Sweet, Josh Roggin, thank you, both.

ROGGIN: Thank you.

SWEET: Thank you.

PAUL: Still to come, America's opioid crises threatened by the GOP's health care bill, this as a new dangerous drug is hitting the market. We'll tell you more.

BLACKWELL: And be sure to watch Sunday, the episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA." W. Kamau Bell, walks the streets of Chicago with gang members to see first-hand why the violence is rising.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) W. KAMAU BELL, CNN UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA HOST: What does the

phrase Black Lives Matter to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is a touchy subject.

BELL: The most notorious city in the country, is that exaggerated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's worse.

BELL: For the younger generation, what does that mean for them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing you put in your hand is a gun. Everybody look up to the shooter. Other shorty's will come in up and be like, damn, that's what I want to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The violence that has hit our city of Chicago is perplexing.

UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Poverty brings on all of these problems.

BELL: What can we do to make this better?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we want to talk about violence in our communities, we have to talk about the support systems we have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The black school is getting way less funding per student.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:42:54] BLACKWELL: 42 minutes after the hour. And now, to an epidemic that is plaguing cities across the country, the opioid crises. President Trump vowed to fix the opioid crises but health advocates say if the GOP health care bill becomes law, it might make the harrowing crises even worse. Now, this comes as a new and dangerous drug known as "gray death," has now hit the market. CNN's Scott McLean tells us all about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually, we want to be able to have it readily available to our citizens.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In Caroll County just outside Atlanta, Deputy Chief Bud Benefield is on a mission. He wants every first responder to carry NARCAN, a nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

BUD BENEFIELD, CAROLL COUNTY FIRE RESCUE DEPUTY CHIEF: Sometimes they are revived in as little as two to three minutes.

MCLEAN: Sounds like a miracle drug.

BENEFIELD: It does. It sounds like a miracle drug.

MCLEAN: But the medical drug may not be so miraculous when it comes to the street drugs Furanyl Fentanyl, and U-47700, both on the rise in Georgia and both so strong, investigators say a single dose of NARCAN may not be enough.

NELLY MILES, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: That's very, very scary.

MCLEAN: Nelly Miles speaks for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation which she says has seen some combination of the drugs 50 times this year, causing 17 deaths, the same number as in all of 2016.

MILES: This crop of synthetic opioids for us, it's unheard of, it's unprecedented to see these types of concoctions coming into the crime lab here in Georgia.

MCLEAN: The drugs have all the trappings of Fentanyl, an opioid that's often linked to overdoses and deaths. But these next- generation drugs are so potent, Miles says, even touching them can be deadly.

MILES: They're transdermal that means they can be absorbed through the skin. So, if you're not wearing a personal protective gear, you can be exposed and at risk.

MCLEAN: What makes the drugs even scarier is that they're sometimes pressed into pills meant to look like more common street drugs. Even for drug users, every high is Russian roulette.

MILES: These days, you just don't - you have no idea what you're getting. So, the moral of the story is just stay away from it all. It's just really out of control.

[08:45:00] MCLEAN: Miles says the drugs are made in China and often come through Mexico before reaching the United States. These drugs are so new that it was just last month that Georgia officially outlawed them. Other states are still catching up.

BENEFIELD: It's becoming a nationwide epidemic.

MCLEAN: In the meantime, Benefield's mission to expand the use of NARCAN is becoming more urgent. He says the opioid problem is only getting worse, not better. Scott McLean, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Scott, thank you for that report. Now, the GOP health care bill, as you know, set to face an uphill battle in the senate. Republican lawmakers facing skeptical constituents back home and it can get dicey. The fallout from Washington to Main Street, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:08] PAUL: How about this. Imagine having a face-to-face conversation with someone who isn't really there. This is exactly what CNN Tech Reporter Sara O'Brien did. She sat down with a digital version of Pinchas Gutter to talk about his experience as a holocaust survivor. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA O'BRIEN, CNN TECH REPORTER: The subject I'm speaking with today is going to share his own story but in an unusual way.

PINCHAS GUTTER, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: My name is Pinchas Gutter, I'm a holocaust survivor.

O'BRIEN: Do you remember when you first learned that there was a war?

GUTTER: We went on a train and the war had already started and we were - memory is a bit hazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not an avatar. He's video. And we preserved that video like we would preserve any other memory source on video. We're not changing his comments; we're not digitally manipulating them. What you get in the answer is what he gave. And the idea is that then it becomes an archive in its own right.

O'BRIEN: How many concentration camps did you go to?

GUTTER: I went to five concentration camps. The first concentration camp I went to, was the camp called (INAUDIBLE 51:15). My parents, and my twin sister, they were murdered on the same day that we arrived there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We asked him about 1500 questions about his life. What's happening is when you're asking questions, it's using automatic speech recognition and natural language processing to go and find the most appropriate answer for the question that you asked.

O'BRIEN: Tell me about this idea of technology being used to bridge the empathy gap.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We made a decision that we were not going to make this a technology-driven project but that the technology should be subsumed behind the authenticity of the real voice of the individual. There's a lot of tech involved here but you don't see it. You shouldn't see it. What you should really do is experience that emotional connection with the interviewee.

O'BRIEN: Were you always comfortable talking about your experience after the war?

GUTTER: Because of the reasons that I believe are so strong that I should talk, and because I do share it with people, so every time I talk and every time you listen to me, you get a piece of me which now, is now embedded in you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Wow.

PAUL: That's so fascinating. Think about kids, you know, learning about his experience in a very different way and maybe in a way - they absorb it better.

BLACKWELL: His inflection, his voice, his emotion, that's remarkable.

PAUL: It really is.

BLACKWELL: Let's turn back to D.C. now, and there's a health care fight now heading to the senate. They're planning to set the house bill aside and write their own plan.

PAUL: The voters are already voicing their opposition to the house bill at GOP town halls across the country. Congressman Raul Labrador, back to his constituents last night in Idaho. Look what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mandating people on Medicaid accept dying. You are making a mandate-

RAUL LABRADOR, UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN FROM IDAHO: No one wants anybody to die. You know, that line is so indefensible. Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: All right. And there's some backlash for senate republicans as well before they even get started. The GOP announced a group of 13 members that will write its own health care proposal, and all of those members are men. Not a single woman in that group.

BLACKWELL: Let's take a turn now. It is Derby Day. And you know what that means: Coy Wire, living the good life trackside in Louisville, Kentucky.

WIRE: Hi guys! Here for the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby. There's a new favorite. We're going to tell you about that, and of course, we're going to talk about the fashion that's one of the greatest parts of the best two minutes in sports, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WIRE: Welcome back to NEW DAY! It is raining here in Louisville, but there will still be well over 100,000 here at Churchill Downs to witness the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby. One big question: who's going to win it? It's a new favorite, always dreaming, the current favorite at 9-2, has won his last race by five lengths. He's jockey, John Velazquez, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2011 and a hall of fame jockey has earned more money than any jockey in the history of the sport. We're talking over $300 million in winnings.

The trainer, Todd Fletcher, won the Kentucky Derby in 2010 but has never saddled the post time favorite. We'll see if the money keeps coming in on always dreaming as post time approaches. The Kentucky Derby, rich with tradition dating all the way back to 1875, the roses, mint juleps and one of the greatest traditions, the fashion and the hats. The bigger, the flashier, the better. There will be well over 100,000 people here today, most sporting a hat. And some of them cost thousands of dollars and on the flight to Louisville each year.

I love it when you see people, not with suitcases, but with huge protected boxes for their hats, not fighting for overhead states, they're being very careful with their prized possessions. Now, I have a question for you NEW DAY friends. If you were a Derby horse, what would your name be? Well, we found a great site, a Kentucky Derby name generator. And here they come. You've been waiting for it. Christi Paul, your name would be "fantastic gunner."

PAUL: All right. I'll take it.

BLACKWELL: That's a good one.

WIRE: That sounds like a winner to me. But Victor, you may take the cake. Here it comes. Drum roll, please. Super fire fire.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WIRE: Not once, but twice. I love it. Go to the link we tweeted @newday. Let's have some fun on Derby. What's your horse's name?

BLACKWELL: So hot they said it twice. Super fire fire. Thanks so much for watching this morning. We'll see you back at 10:00.

[09:00:01] PAUL: Thanks, Coy.