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New Day Saturday

Democratic Presidential Candidates Call President Trump's Latest Attack on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar Shameful, Islamophobic, and Dangerous; Trump Confirms Considering Moving Migrants to Sanctuary Cities; Kim Jong-un Open to a Third Summit with President Trump. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 13, 2019 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: And I think the Congress has to take a very hard look at what their remedies are, if they are not given that information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST, NEW DAY WEEKEND: Now, we will have the full interview on Sunday at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They want more people in their sanctuary cities. Well, we'll give them more people, we can give them a lot, we can give them an unlimited supply.

MIKE POMPEO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: When we see those nations engaged in activities that reduce the outflow of migration from their nations, the American people will continue to be incredibly generous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are women and children being held in cages. I held a two month old baby. This is just as un-American as you get.

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just called it something. It wasn't even something terrible--

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obscene for the President to try to take that pain and make a political gain from it.

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Do you think that the world would be different if it were led by women?

CLINTON: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't just say that, I believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: This is New Day Weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: Top of the hour now, top Democratic Presidential candidates are calling it shameful, Islamophobic, and dangerous. They're rushing to defend Congresswoman Ilhan Omar against the President's latest attack.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST, NEW DAY WEEKEND: President Trump tweeted a video of Omar - Representative Omar and was cut with images from 9/11. The Minnesota Democratic member is one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.

BLACKWELL: And on immigration, another reversal for the White House, a day after an official told CNN, the idea was quickly rejected. President Trump confirms he is considering moving migrants to sanctuary cities. Critics call this plan cruel, unworthy of the President, and possibly illegal.

PAUL: And in North Korea, Kim Jong-un says, guess what, he's open to a third summit now with the President. However there are conditions, he says. And President Trump is responding to that now.

BLACKWELL: We're starting with this dangerous situation that's developing across a lot of the Southern US today.

PAUL: Yes, massive violent tornadoes, damaging hail winds expected. More than 100 million people are in the path of this severe weather situation. Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has the detail for us. This is not just today, but it's tomorrow as well.

IVAN CABRERA, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Yes Christi, good morning Victor. This is today though I think is going to be the day where we have the potential for an outbreak, and I use that word intentionally. We could have 10 tornadoes on the ground at any given time between noon and 8 later on this afternoon.

We're going to hammer this for you throughout the day today to get as much word out as possible, because it's not just a severe weather potential here, it is a - the kind of day where you are going to have those violent tornadoes long track upwards of 25 miles, all right.

So I don't want to get this too confused. Western Texas right now is seeing what we're going to call Round 1 of the severe weather. In fact tornado watch in effect till 9:00 a.m. and a severe thunderstorm watch to the north till 9:00 a.m.

We actually have a tornado warning within that tornado watch. Those expire at 9:00 a.m., but that's just the beginning. Later on this afternoon, that's when we're expecting this, right, this is going to be the bulls-eye here. We're talking the potential for some very strong tornadoes.

This is an arm - by the way, Storm Prediction Center, an arm of NOAA, they are very conservative with their forecast. This is a four out of five, they don't do this often. The point being is that we do have again the possibility, because all the ingredients are in the atmosphere to produce violent tornadoes anywhere from noon to 8:00 p.m.

If you're watching us from anywhere in the red area, Alexandria, north of Baton Rouge, Jackson Mississippi specifically, and you are in a mobile home today, I urge you to try and get away from that. Go to a relative's home, go to the mall.

If you cannot get out of your mobile home, just make sure you have your weather alerts ready on your phone, watch your favorite local weather TV person, they will keep you safe throughout the afternoon, because I think this will be a big deal.

There is a Futurecast forecast and you see those individual reds there, those are what we call the super cells and those are the ones that can produce family of tornadoes, and I think that has the potential to occur again anywhere from noon to 8:00 p.m. We'll keep you posted throughout the day guys.

PAUL: All right, Ivan Cabrera, thank you so much.

CABRERA: You bet.

This morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is criticizing President Donald Trump for his tweet attacking Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The Speaker joins a growing group of 2020 Presidential candidates who have also come to the defense of the Representative.

BLACKWELL: So last night, the President tweeted an edited video which some say is inciting hatred against her. Here's how we got here. March 23, the Representative gave a speech at the Council on American- Islamic Relations. Here's part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR: Far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and frankly I'm tired of it and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it.

[08:05:00] CAIR was founded after 9/11, because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.

As an American member of Congress, I have to make sure that I am living up to the ideals of fighting for liberty and justice. Those are very much rooted in the reason why my family came here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now here's the problem, the President only used a portion of her speech in his tweet, specifically the words some people did something, and many see that as an attempt to show she's minimizing the September 11 attacks.

BLACKWELL: Now, the President's words matter, especially when he has nearly 60 million Twitter followers. CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood has the latest for us. Good morning Sarah to you, and we're hearing now as we said from Speaker Pelosi.

SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That's right, Victor. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became just the latest Democrat to come out and rally behind Congresswoman Ilhan Omar amid this controversy over what Omar said about the September 11 attacks.

Here's what Speaker Pelosi said in a series of tweets. In part, she wrote it is wrong for the President as Commander-in-Chief to fan the flames to make anyone less safe. The memory of 9/11 is sacred ground and any discussion of it must be done with reverence. The President shouldn't use the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack.

And keep in mind, this comes just after a man has been charged with threatening - making death threats against Congresswoman Omar, so Democrats have been especially protective of her against any attempts that are perceived by them to incite hatred against Congresswoman Omar.

As you mentioned 2020 Democratic Presidential hopefuls, they have been weighing in in favor of Congresswoman Omar. But Republicans have seized on her remarks to make the argument that she is downplaying terrorism, she's downplaying what occurred on September 11, and that she's potentially minimizing the threat of terrorism.

So it has been controversial, Victor and Christie, among Republicans as well; President Trump joining that chorus.

BLACKWELL: All right, Sarah Westwood for us at the White House. Sarah thank you.

PAUL: CNN political analyst Rachael Bade with us now. Rachael, good morning, thank you so much for being here.

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

PAUL: I want to read some of the other reactions to what has happened here. Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg wrote, I served overseas at risk to my life in the struggle against such terrorism, but it can only be fully defeated if we have leaders at home whose defenses - to defuse its capacity to sow hate - hate against Islam or against any number of others. The President today made America smaller.

Why is the President, is there a sense of why he is focusing on Representative Omar?

BADE: Yes, the President and Republicans have basically found Omar to be, you know, their next big foil, they used to use Nancy Pelosi as sort of the boogeyman to show voters, say she's so super Far Left, vote Republican because you don't want her in charge.

Well, Omar is one of the first Muslim women in Congress. She's unapologetically progressive and as such, you know, she's a threat to a lot of Republicans in Congress right now. And so, over the past few months, you know, she has made some slip-ups. Every single word she says is scrutinized because of you know her position as being one of these firsts in Congress. And she made a number of remarks that Jewish members, including Jewish Democrats, found were anti-Semitic. She's a critic of Israel, we don't see that, or we haven't seen that a lot in Congress and in the US government in recent years or at all.

So she's really challenging the norm. And when you do that, you have to be very careful about your word choice, and the reality is, she hadn't been. So Republicans have seized on that to try to say that you know she hates Jews or you know Democrats do not like the Jews and are becoming anti-Semitic.

And now with this latest tweet about 9/11 they are trying to sort of use fears about Islamic terrorism, to say that she is not pushing back firm enough.

PAUL: Right, right, right. The RNC characterized her words as downplaying terrorism again. Is that a fair characterization that she did not better delineate between, you know, saying some people did something and distinguish that from Muslim communities in the U.S.?

BADE: Look, she could have been stronger on that, no doubt about it. But there's a difference between perhaps not using the right words on the fly and saying somebody supports taking down the Two Towers or supports what happened in 9/11.

[08:10:00] And that's exactly--

PAUL: But this one - the speech she was giving, I don't know how much on the fly it was, but--

BADE: Well, she was talking about Islamophobia and I'm sure you know this is a problem that she has struggled with her whole life, with people sort of discriminating against her because she's a refugee and she's a Muslim. But, you know, Republicans have long said Democrats don't do enough to call out Islamic extremism.

So yes, and experts have also said that, when it comes to Islamic extremism, the biggest - the way to eradicate that is to have the Muslims call out fellow Muslims, right. So, naturally she could have been stronger on that. But to again take those words and to put them next to the--

PAUL: To edit them the way--

BADE: --Twin Towers and try to suggest that she supported you know 9/11 is - that takes it obviously too far, and I think that a lot of Democrats are putting pressure on Pelosi to try to push back on the President.

PAUL: So, I want to read from the Senator Amy Klobuchar as well. Last night, she said someone has already been charged with a serious threat on Congresswoman Omar's life. The video the President chose to send out today will only incite more hate. You can disagree with her words - I have done before - as I have done before - but this video is wrong. Enough.

Is there an idea of what kind of danger this might have put her in, and where did the video come from, do we know who produced it?

BADE: I actually don't; I think it's a good question. But I mean obviously there have been threats on Omar's life, she has shared those with other colleagues in the House for the past few weeks. So, I don't - I mean you can't say that, you know, the President saying something is going to incite someone else to do violence, you know. This is a free country, you are legally--

PAUL: But the timing of it is questionable after this man was charged with wanting to murder her.

BADE: Right, right, and I think that that's why you're seeing progressives in the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York, Rashida Tlaib who is another Muslim woman in Congress, have been pressuring Speaker Pelosi and some other Democrats in the House to actually put something on the House floor that would call out the President and censure his remarks.

And so, there are a lot of friends of hers who are concerned about this, yes.

PAUL: Okay.

BADE: But again, this is the President typically hitting back at his opponents and trying to use this to sort of inflame his own base.

PAUL: All right, Rachael Bade, always appreciate you taking time for us, thank you.

BADE: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And 2020 Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is also showing support for Congresswoman Omar. Tweeted this yesterday, we are stronger than this President's hatred and Islamophobia. Do not let him drive us apart or make us afraid.

CNN's Leyla Santiago has been following the O'Rourke campaign. Leyla, what else is he saying?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well Victor, he continues to be critical of President Trump. In fact in an interview you'll see soon with David Axelrod, he calls him an arsonist on immigration and the influx of migrants that we've seen on our southern border.

He is in South Carolina today and he's continuing these town halls in which he talks about a wide range of issues, like he even talked about Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, publicly congratulating him at yesterday's Town Hall in Bluffton, but also committing to his two- state solution for Israel as well as the Palestinians, and this comes after earlier this week, he called Benjamin Netanyahu a racist.

Something else he talked about at that Town Hall, he says day one, we sign back up for the Paris climate agreement. And when I asked him later, would that be the first thing you sign as President, he wouldn't commit to that. He said there's a host of issues that he wants to take on and among them, no surprise here, he says immigration. Here's what else he said yesterday about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's penned up asylum seekers in El Paso, Texas two weeks ago underneath a bridge, behind cyclone fencing and barbed wire in the dirt. His willingness to continue to inflict harm and cruelty and torture upon human beings who are already at their most desperate and vulnerable point, we should not underestimate what he's willing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTIAGO: And so this is his second visit to South Carolina. He will head to Charleston next for the 50th anniversary of the hospital workers strike, a very big moment there for the civil rights movement. And then he heads to Denmark, where more than 80% of those voters are African-American.

As I've spoken to those voters, they say it's good that he's knowledgeable about it, but what is he going to do for us, that's what he'll have to answer today.

BLACKWELL: All right, important questions, Leyla Santiago, thank you.

PAUL: Now, the President, as we've been talking says he wants to move detained migrants to sanctuary cities. One of the big questions a lot of people have is, can he legally do that? We'll talk about that.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 19 minutes past the hour, and as the President confirms he is considering moving detained migrants to sanctuary cities, the Acting Secretary of Defense says he expects to send more troops to the southern border as well.

BLACKWELL: CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood is back with us. Sarah, good morning.

WESTWOOD: Good morning Victor and Christie, and yes President Trump is now saying that his administration is indeed seriously considering this plan to release migrants into sanctuary cities. That's a plan that administration officials, White House aides, had spent all of Thursday night and Friday morning denying was under serious consideration.

They said it was an idea that was informally brought up in a meeting, quickly shot down, President Trump obviously confirming those earlier reports. And this comes as Customs and Border Protection is saying that its facilities along the southern border have reached capacity. They have started to release migrant families into the U.S., that's something President Trump had worked to avoid.

[08:20:00] And so, he now says that if sanctuary cities say they want to welcome more immigrants, he is happy to oblige them by releasing some of those migrants instead, specifically into sanctuary cities, a legally dubious claim. And Democrats are pushing back on it with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that's an idea unworthy of the President. She called it disrespectful to immigrants.

Now, this also comes as sources tell CNN's Jake Tapper that the President told the CBP Head on a recent trip down to the border that he would pardon him if he were to break immigration laws in pursuit of the President's hardline agenda.

Trump has denied that. It also comes, Victor and Christie, as the Acting Defense Secretary says he's prepared to send a surge of troops down to the border as well.

PAUL: All right, Sarah Westwood, always appreciate it ma'am, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Critics are calling the plan cruel and unworthy of the Presidency, as you heard there, Sarah Westwood referring to the Speaker. But question is, is it legal? Back with us, Rachael Bade and we're joined by Michael Moore, former US Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.

Michael, let me start with you, is it legal?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: You know, the President has a lot of authority to do what he wants to do, when it comes to immigration policy.

The problem that he's got is that he just has never understood what it means to be President, that words matter, and so he kind of gives these pool hall public policy talks and throws something out, and it ends up shining the light of his intent on what could otherwise be an action that he may or may not be able to take.

So you know, in this example for instance, he's really using federal - talking about using federal money and resources to essentially punish people who disagree with his politics, to put - to threaten people who have sanctuary cities, that he's going to have an influx of immigrants.

That's nonsensical, and I think at the end of the day, he can't do it. The immigration system is set up so that people come in and they can, especially if you're claiming asylum, you come in and you can have a credible fear hearing or reasonable fear hearing, things that are geared to help expedite the immigration process.

And he's tried to get around that from the beginning, but again I mean he apparently said at some point during the week that he's going to pardon somebody if they'll break the law and then he says that he's going to use federal resources to try to punish people who disagree with his political ambitions and his political objectives.

So, at the end of the day, his words are probably going to come back to hurt him and I don't think he'll get far at all with this.

BLACKWELL: We should know that we don't know if that suggestion that he would pardon--

MOORE: Sure.

BLACKWELL: --clearly, if he broke the law, it was a joke or not. But Rachael, let me come to you, the President was bucked by some Republican members of the Senate when that resolution about the national emergency went up for a vote. Plenty of Republicans rejected the plan to close the border.

Do we know if Republicans are along for the ride on this transporting of immigrants to sanctuary cities?

BADE: Right now, it's crickets. Leadership in the House and then the Senate, the Republican leadership, have not weighed in. Obviously Republicans are loath to criticize the President because he is so popular with the base.

But I think again this is going to be someone that Republicans in general on Capitol Hill, it's been - it's where the story is going to be next, because you know the President is not just going up against Democrats on this, he's going up against his own administration.

DHS did not want to do this. That's why they went to Congress and blew the whistle. And in fact you know legally they said they could justify it. This came up, twice once in December, again during the shutdown showdown in February, when they wanted to send these migrants to Nancy Pelosi's district as punishment for her negotiating hardline - her hardline negotiating.

But again, DHS said no, they were the ones who said logistically this makes no sense. It's going to put an undue burden on the agency, when you know they're already dealing with a crisis right now.

So, it'll be interesting to see if Republicans actually push back on the President and point to the agency and say, look they are sending distress signals right now and they don't want to do this. So, do Republicans stand up for the agency or do they go along with the President who obviously sees this as something that will rev up his base and could help him in 2020 and that's why he is sticking with it.

BLACKWELL: Michael, let me bring to you another legal issue. An Appeals Court is temporarily allowing the U.S. to require asylum seekers at the southern border to wait in Mexico, while their case is decided.

There was a lower court ruling on Monday that put a stay on that and now there this Appeals Court in the Ninth Circuit is allowing this to continue just for a few more days, while they come to a decision, asking both parties to come back with more information.

And the lower court determined that the government could not sufficiently safeguard against people being returned to where their "life or freedom would be threatened." Do you expect this policy will be upheld, that that people who are coming from these northern triangle countries will have to wait in Mexico? [08:25:00] MOORE: I don't think so. I think it sounds to me like the appellate decision basically just leaves things status quo for a couple of days, because you've got to remember that the primary purpose of the asylum procedure is to protect people who are coming here. That's why it's an expedited process, that's why there's a credible fear hearing, a reasonable fear hearing.

And so, my guess is that, given some finding that they were in more jeopardy here, perhaps - and that we needed to keep them across the border, that's - it sounds like there for a couple of days, while the court comes together on that.

I think there's a big misunderstanding about how many of these folks, after they've been brought in, especially asylum seekers who have been in immigration detention actually report back to court hearings; and it's a huge percentage, it's 92% and up.

It depends on if there's a mother with a child or a family or if there's counsel appointed, those things affect whether or not you get to 92%, 95%.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MOORE: But it's a significant number of people who report back to court as ordered to do. So, the process could work. What we need to do is make sure that we've got funding and the resources there to keep the process in an expedited fashion, so we don't have people sitting in immigration facilities for month after month.

BLACKWELL: To that question, Michael, and I've only got a few seconds left, if they start moving these people who are coming into the country to Seattle and Chicago and Baltimore, all across the country, where's the hearing? Is it back in the border state?

MOORE: I mean I think that's the question and the hearing is going to be where there's an immigration judge or where there's immigration officials who can hear these initial stages before it moves into the immigration hearing process, the full administrative process.

So, again, that's I think why you're seeing this pushback of why would we take resources where we have the court system set up or we have immigration officials, how's now - why would we take those resources and have to reestablish them in other places, just because there's places that the President has deemed to be the homes of his political enemies.

BLACKWELL: All right, Michael Moore, Rachael Bade, thanks so much.

MOORE: Thank you.

PAUL: So CNN's Fareed Zakaria sat down with Hillary Clinton and talked about a lot of different topics. She's praising the Prime Minister of New Zealand, in fact, for her leadership in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a mosque. We'll tell you more in a moment, stay close.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: Well CNN's Fareed Zakaria has just sat down with Hillary Clinton

to talk about women in power, about gun control, and about the Mueller investigation. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: She showed the heart, not only of a leader, but of a mother. And her reaching out to the Muslim community in New Zealand sent a message about how leaders should behave in the face of horrific violence conducted for ideological reasons. And I think that that was as strong a signal as we could get, that given the chance, many women will govern and lead differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: You can watch that full interview with Hillary Clinton on Fareed Zakaria GPS, that is tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

In Pakistan, people came together to pay tribute to the victims of the New Zealand terror attack. I want you to take a look at this drone footage that we have. This is published by The Muslim Institute.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

Those are people gathering to recreate the shape of the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, declaring Islam is peace. It's been almost a month since that deadly attack on the mosque, where a gunman went in and shot worshippers during Friday prayers.

And this morning, there are tough new gun laws in New Zealand. Wednesday, parliament passed a bill that bans most semi-automatic weapons, high-capacity magazines, and some shotguns. The laws took effect yesterday.

Those reforms passed 26 days after 50 people were killed in the attacks on those two mosques in Christchurch, and that's remarkably fast. But we've seen this type of rapid response after mass shootings before in other countries.

Let's go back to 1987, a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle, several of them in fact, killed 16 people in Hungerford, England. A little more than a year later, British lawmakers banned semi- automatic weapons.

In 1996, a man walked into a school in Dunblane, Scotland and shot and killed 16 children and a teacher using handguns. Within a year and a half, UK lawmakers passed a ban on the private ownership of all handguns in mainland Britain, with broad public support.

Now that same year, 1996, a man murdered 35 people with a semi- automatic rifle in Port Arthur, Tasmania. The government enacted what are some of the strongest and strictest assault weapons laws in the world, and they did it in 12 days. There hasn't been a gun related mass killing in Australia since. Now, there are plenty of similar examples around the world. What do they have in common? Well, soon after their mass shootings, their governments took action or at least collectively agreed to take steps to ask questions about how to stop them. Here's what we often hear from national leaders in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be a time to have a conversation about what we do to make our state or city or our country safer again.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There will be certainly time for that policy discussion to take place, but that's not the place that we're in at this moment.

PAUL RYAN, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: This is not the time to jump to some conclusion, not knowing the full facts. We've got a lot of more information we need to know.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think it's particularly inappropriate to politicize an event like this. It just happened within the last day and a half.

TRUMP: We'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:35:00] BLACKWELL: And of course there are the thoughts and prayers. Well, after New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Arden proposed the weapons ban, within a week of the mass shootings, the opposition party announced its support for the plan.

One of the country's largest gun sellers backed it too. The National Rifle Association of New Zealand was also onboard. Now, we should say that the NRANZ is very different than the American NRA.

The point is there's consensus. Some of the gun restrictions around the world, you know whether you agree with them or not, cannot be replicated in the United States because of the Second Amendment and our population is significantly larger than those countries, and diversity of opinion and lifestyle must be considered.

So that lends itself to a critical question, can a country of 330 million reach consensus on a first step in reducing mass shooting deaths? Well, if you believe that expanded background checks are part of the solution, the answer is yes.

Consider this, in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, in 2016, a CBS News poll found support for universal background checks for gun purchases at 89%. The following year, after the shooting, during a Congressional baseball practice, support in the Quinnipiac poll rose to 94%. Then up to 97% after the Parkland shooting last year.

The margin of error in that poll was 3.4%. That's within the margin of error of everybody. Republicans, Democrats, independents, men, women, white, non-white, all age groups, all regions, urban, rural, all above 95% in favor in that poll.

The American people have reached consensus, as some lawmakers say the immediate days and weeks after a mass shooting in the U.S. is not the time to talk about gun laws, even though most Americans favor stronger ones.

New Zealanders started the conversation within days of the worst mass shooting in its history. Less than a month, later the legislators have approved the reforms 119 to 1, and there's new law.

So, here's the question, when do U.S. lawmakers suggest is the right time to talk about U.S. gun laws, or is that not the point? We'll be right back.

[08:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Details are emerging this morning about a suspect who police say threw or pushed a five-year-old child from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America outside Minneapolis.

PAUL: This is frightening. CNN's Kaylee Hartung is with us now. What have you learned about that?

KAYLEE HARTUNG, REPORTER, CNN: Well it turns out yesterday was not the first time that this man in custody was arrested at the Mall of America, okay. So the five-year-old is laying in a hospital this morning and the man believed to be responsible for his injuries, it turns out shouldn't have been at the mall in the first place. The Minneapolis Star Tribune saying he had twice been banned from the mall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a report over on the south side that someone just fell from the third floor to the first floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Images from the Mall of America just outside Minneapolis, where police say a five year old boy was either thrown or pushed from a third-floor balcony. Police and witnesses rushed to help the victim, and emergency crews could be seen performing CPR.

BRIAN JOHNSON, WITNESS: I heard the mother screaming, please pray for my kid, please pray for my son, everyone please pray.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The unidentified boy was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Under arrest, 24-year old Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda. He's been charged with attempted homicide. Police say he did not know the child.

CHIEF JEFF POTTS, BLOOMINGTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: At this time, we do not believe there is a relationship between the suspect and the child or the family of the child, and we are actively investigating as to why this incident occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARTUNG: The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that he had two previous trespassing notices that led from him being banned from the mall, again twice. It turns out court records show he has a long string of arrests, has been convicted for multiple misdemeanor crimes, and he has a history of mental health problems.

PAUL: Goodness, Kaylee, thank you so much. Wow, we'll stay on that for you, we'll be right back.

[08:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You know, when Tiger Woods is playing golf, everybody's paying attention.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and this is a weekend to do just that. Andy Scholes at Augusta National, hey Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, SPORTS ANCHOR, CNN: Hey good morning guys. You know second round yesterday is one of the best we've ever seen here at Augusta. Tiger is one of the many big-time names on top of the leaderboard right now, and I'll tell you what, Tiger had himself an eventful afternoon.

On 14, he had hit the ball into the trees and he got it out masterfully. But a security guard running in slipped, clipped Tiger's foot. Luckily Tiger wasn't hurt. He ended up with a birdie on 14, and then on 15, Tiger with a long birdie attempt, he nails it, gives the patent Tiger fist pump.

After the round, Tiger, he talked about that scary moment on 14 and being just one shot off the lead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: It happens. You know I've been run over by galleries before and it's all good.

You know, it feels good to be back in contention in a major championship. This is my third in a row that I've put myself there. So, look at that board, we're all bunched together, and look at myself and Phil, you know we're on the older side and we understand how to play this golf course and it is advantageous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And look at this star-studded leaderboard. For the first time ever in any major, five guys that have all won a major share the lead after around. Nine guys at the top are separated by just one shot. That's the most in Masters history after 36 holes.

And Adam Scott, who won the Masters in 2013, he's one of those guys tied at the top, and he said he's never seen anything like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ADAM SCOTT, AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: This is really stacked. I think it's going to be an incredible weekend, no matter what happens now. There are so many great players in with a chance. As a golf fan, I like it. As a player, I'd rather be like six in front or something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Alright, so moving day should be fantastic to watch. And good news guys, the rain seems to have missed us today, so should be an afternoon - fabulous afternoon for golf here in Augusta.

Tomorrow could be a different story, lots of thunderstorms in the forecast, but hopefully we'll finish up on Sunday. We haven't had a match in Monday since 1983.

[08:50:00] PAUL: Yes, Andy's got a tough job right now.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so tough.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Thanks Andy.

BLACKWELL: Thank you Andy.

PAUL: Have fun.

SCHOLES: All right.

PAUL: Listen, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, I'm so excited about this, traveling across the world to find the secrets to living better for the mind, for the body, for the soul, and he is with us next.

[08:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: And the good doctor himself with us now. Host of Chasing Life, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent.

So, I have to get to, I know the first episode I think is tackling Japan, right?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN'S CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

PAUL: And I was reading, you went acupuncture, and your acupuncturist was blind, is that right?

GUPTA: Yes, that's right. And you know how it often works in television is that, they didn't tell me this until I actually arrived there.

(LAUGHTER)

And then I'm thinking, you know, I don't want to point this out too much, but I don't think he can see. But it's a thing in Japan. In fact, these acupuncturists, it's such a tradition. He was born blind, trained from a very young age, and they say the senses - other senses are really heightened because it's such a tactile thing, acupuncture.

And he explained a lot about why it might work. This is the first time I ever had it. The idea that when you put a needle in the skin, that it decreases what is called the sympathetic system in your body, your adrenalin, your sort of surge of adrenalin, and it increases the amount of your native opioids, that we all make opioids, so why does it help with pain, you know, throughout your whole body.

There's, you know, there's science behind this now. There has been some large studies around this, and I thought it was pretty interesting.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so there is, and we'll learn tonight in this episode about Japan, a wealth of stress that needs to be relieved in Japan.

GUPTA: It's considered the most stressed country in the world, and it was really fascinating in the history, because after World War II, they built themselves into the second largest economy in the world, right. This little island nation just lost a war, and it was called the miracle economy, and everyone expects that growth will just continue on forever, and there's all of these expectations put on the younger generations which can't be met.

The world changes, but the younger generations feel such intense pressure that suicides have gone up tremendously over the last few decades. And when they're dying by suicide, they are oftentimes jumping off the buildings where they work. They want the world to know what is happening in Japan, and you see all of these other things starting to evolve, like we need to figure out how to deal with stress in Japan. So, all these various strategies are coming up. They're going to Okinawa, this chain of islands, to learn ancient traditions to see if they can help mainland technology Japan.

BLACKWELL: And they are on the other end of the spectrum.

GUPTA: And I mean, it's a real juxtaposition because you're more likely to live to a hundred if you live in Okinawa, than just about anywhere else in the world. You go to the mainland of Japan and you are having this rash of suicide and incredible stress. So, it's the same country, but very different sort of lifestyles.

PAUL: It's so interesting, on this journey, was there anything you did, maybe the owls, I'm waiting for this, that just really got you in a very uncomfortable position, you found yourself saying ewwww I don't know about this?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, it wasn't supposed to be a sort of guinea type show. I wanted to immerse myself because I think it's the best way to understand whether these therapies work. But yes, there were a few in Japan, besides the owls.

And not everything works for everybody, right? I have always been a little skittish around birds, I just say, but - so the idea that that would be used a stress reliever didn't make sense to me. But there was these - in the United States, when you do hot tubs, for example, there's a law that says it can only be 104 degrees. If you every tried to turn it up higher, you can't do it. There are

these baths, you see there, which were 115 degrees, and they are made up of - there's sulfuric acid in them. And it's really designed, they say, to calm you and they say you're going to try it. And I don't even like hot tubs, so going into something like this was quite a departure for me, and literally have to do a prayer before you go in the water because you have got to - you are praying for your own well being and all of that.

PAUL: Did it work? Did you feel--

GUPTA: Look, here's the thing about most of these things. Certainly it works for you, but I think a lot of what I have learned is that, when it takes you to a place where you're fearful or you are out of your comfort zone and you get through that, the joy you get on the other side of that, the stress relief you get on the other side of that is gold. You just got to get through that.

BLACKWELL: Well, we are looking forward to watching the episode tonight at 9 Eastern. Be sure to watch Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, premieres tonight at 9 p.m. only on CNN.

GUPTA: Thank you, Victor.

PAUL: Smerconish is next. We'll see you in an hour.