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New Day Sunday

Trump Doubles Down Attacks Against Baltimore, Rep. Cummings; Police, Protesters Clash on Eighth Weekend of Protests in Hong Kong; Booker, Biden, Harris to Share Stage in CNN Debate; Trump Continues to Attacking Baltimore, Rep. Cummings; Teens Testify Juul Told Ninth- Graders Its E-Cigarette Was "Totally Safe". Aired 7-8a ET

Aired July 28, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:19] ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you thought President Trump would exercise restraint after receiving widespread backlash to his Twitter tirade against Baltimore. Yes, that's not happening. In a late night tweet, the president fortified his attack on the city and Congressman Elijah Cummings.

So sad that Elijah Cummings has been able to do so little for the people of Baltimore. Cummings has done but milk Baltimore dry.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, listen, thousands of people have weighed in on the president's remarks. This has really struck a chord with them and many have come to the defense of both Baltimore and Congressman Cummings.

Mayor Young had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BERNARD YOUNG (D), BALTIMORE: We're not going to ignore anyone degrading Baltimore city and its elected leadership, no one. I won't consider it fueling the fire. I look at it as defending Baltimore City, the city where I live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN's Sarah Westwood following the very latest.

Sarah, good morning to you.

What is the president saying about this this morning?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Good morning, Christi and Vick.

And yes, into last night, President Trump doubling, tripling down on his attacks on Congressman Cummings and on Cummings' district, representing Baltimore, of course, suburban, rural, affluent areas in Congressman Cummings' district. So, this is just an inaccurate representation of the people that Cummings represents.

But, nonetheless, President Trump going after Baltimore for its rankings in unspecified categories and claiming that Baltimore is, quote, very dangerous. Here's some from the president's latest missive last night, writing: Elijah Cummings spends his time hurting those through his oversight. He does nothing for his very poor, very dangerous and very badly run district. Take a look and the used the #blacksforTrump2020 and shared a clip purported to be of a dilapidated backyard in Baltimore.

President Trump there referencing the fact that as the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Cummings has launched and made progress on investigations on the president's finance and private communications of some senior aide. In fact, on Thursday, the oversight committee authorized a subpoena for the private text messages, WhatsApp messages of senior White House aides, including Jared Kushner.

And then the original criticism of Cummings and of Baltimore, the president referenced the border. Well, just last week, Cummings grilled Acting DHS head Kevin McAleenan about the conditions of children at the border. So, obviously, the president has a lot of partisan political reasons right now to be going after Cummings that have nothing to do with conditions in his district.

Of course, the president and Cummings do have a very complicated past. This is not the first time they've sparred. Ironically in 2017, the two of them met. And according to Cummings' recollection, he informed the president that his neighborhood about black neighborhoods is often offensive and president claimed, according to Cummings, that he had never been told that before, Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right. Sarah Westwood, appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, joining me to discuss, CNN political analyst April Ryan and CNN political commentator Paul Begala.

Good morning to both of you.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, April, let me start with you, for obvious reasons. You are from Baltimore. You know --

RYAN: Yes, I am.

BLACKWELL: You know the district. You know it's west Baltimore and more than west Baltimore. When you saw the president's tweets, what did you think, what did you feel?

RYAN: OK. Victor, first of all, thank you for being you and letting your humanity show yesterday. I cried with you. I am a product, a proud product of Baltimore city. Born in Sinai Hospital just blocks from where the Preakness is run.

BLACKWELL: I was born there, too. RYAN: You were born -- yes, more connection, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

RYAN: You know, I lived in northeast Baltimore and northwest Baltimore growing up. Attended school at Morgan State University at Baltimore University. I'm still in the Baltimore area. I as a child used to frequent the area where that was -- that standoff with police and community on North and Penn after the Freddie Gray death.

You know, I know Baltimore from the top to the bottom, from the upper income to the low income. Baltimore is a community. It's a community of communities.

It's a city that, yes, is made up of survivors. It's pockets of poverty, pockets of wealth, but people, what I don't understand like Detroit, Baltimore is like Detroit, like Flint, we need help. After Beth Steele left, there was a massive blight in Baltimore.

[07:05:01] You know, Detroit here where we are right now, Detroit is on the upswing but there's a problem, too, because these auto manufacturers are having problems with the president's tariffs. This is a city that's struggling. Baltimore is a city that's struggling.

And if you are a leader, remember this, power means service. So, Mr. President, where is your service to a city that is looking for help? It's not just about Cummings or the mayor of Baltimore. It's about you as a leader who says, I want to look down and pick you up.

Instead of laughing and talking about being infested. How dare he? We are people.

BLACKWELL: That's where I want to pick up, Paul. And SOT two, sound bite two, control room. It's what the order here. This is what the president said, and he mentioned the city of Baltimore when he accepted the nomination to be president. This is 2016.

Let's watch and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I am president, I will work to ensure that all of our kids are treated equally and protected equally.

Every action I take, I will myself, does this make better for young Americans in Baltimore, in Chicago, in Detroit, in Ferguson, who have really in every way, folks, the same right to live out their dreams as any other child in America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Paul, what was on striking about the tweet, one of the things, is that he -- it seemed not to find common cause in helping the people of Baltimore. Those are your people. That's your responsibility, as if Maryland is not one of the United States of America and Baltimore is not a city in that state.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Victor, first, I want to echo what April said about your commentary yesterday. It was badly needed.

This is a president that has a strategy. The strategy is to divide and conquer. This is an old and discredited strategy -- I grew up in rural Texas, a small in Texas.

We've seen this all our lives. Demagogues come in and they divide white folks from black folks so that they can rule from above. And this is I think the message, frankly, at the debate these Democrats should take to the country.

We know what the president said was racist. We know that. That's news from nowhere. I hope they say it, but it's true.

But I think what's more interesting is to talk to those folks. You know, I spend time in rural America. I was on a farm yesterday, OK? Rural America has challenges, too, Mr. President. We're dying from opioid abuse, marriages are falling apart, children being born out of wedlock.

He does not lecture, attack and denigrate rural America. By the way, neither did Barack Obama, the Democrat who was president before him, right. We are one nation under God. We're one nation by God.

And for him to divide us this way is hateful and hurtful but it is strategic. He's trying to divide those folks so they don't see they have common interests in trying to build a better life together.

BLACKWELL: Let me play a little more sound here for you, because just ten days ago when we were having a conversation about the president's racism, it was after going after four minority congresswomen and he justified it by saying, well, listen to the way they speak about our country. Here is what the president said earlier this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When people are speaking so badly, when they call our country garbage, think of that, that's worse than deplorable. When they call our country garbage, I don't care about politics. I don't care if it's good or bad about politics.

Many people say it's good. I don't know if it's good or bad. I can tell you this: you can't talk that way about our country. Not when I'm the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You can't talk that way about our country, not when I'm the president.

First, he's misconstruing and misrepresenting what Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez said in the use of the word garbage. But, so, now, his supporters will say -- I mean, first, you can't talk that way and now it's, yeah, but look at Baltimore. What -- are people just going to follow along? Where is the rest of his party? April?

RYAN: The hypocrisy is right there in our face. You can't talk about our country but Baltimore, Baltimore, Baltimore is part of this country. Let's go to Francis Scott Key, let's go to the Star-Spangled Banner, o, say can you see.

This is Baltimore. I'm Baltimore. We are Baltimore. All of us, because it's Baltimore today. It will be another city tomorrow. We are Baltimore, Baltimore, #weareBaltimore.

And I'm going to say this to you, for him to use the word -- Victor, just bear with me for a minute -- to talk about infested, infested. Mr. President, where's your urban renewal plan for Baltimore and cities like Baltimore? Don't talk about it, be about it, OK?

This is now the reporter hat's off because this is ridiculous. On top of that, you talk about infested. You know, the city that's infested. You're living in a house infest infested with mice.

You, Mr. President, are living with a house infested with mice, stink bugs and everything else. So, if you want to start about infestation, start talking from where you live, what's running across your covers at night.

Now, if you really want to get into the history of the word infested, let's talk about the word infested when it was used against our Jewish brothers and sisters during the Holocaust. There are awful references that this president is making, and it needs to stop. This president said last week or two weeks ago when this -- all of this squad issue came up that he enjoys this.

He's enjoying it at other people's peril. It's not right. If he's the moral leader and the leader of this nation, it's not right.

BLACKWELL: Paul, let me finish up with you here. There's this op-ed that's been co-signed by 149 African-American staffers in the Obama administration condemning what they've seen from the president, those tweets. I mean, this came out before we heard about -- saw the tweets from Baltimore, saw those four minority congresswomen.

Congresswoman Ro Khanna of California said it's time for President Obama, for Mrs. Obama to come out and start delivering some speeches. Should they? What about President Bush?

I mean, this should not be left as a partisan issue. If we're calling for one president to come out, should not President Bush come out? Should there be some rebuttal from that level, from the former holders of that office?

Paul, your take.

BEGALA: I do -- President Obama and Mrs. Obama, they carried so much freight for so long, they have a right to try to stand back. President Obama did retweet a column highly critical of President Obama. I do think you make an interesting point about president bush but also about the current Republican leaders. They have to call out their own. OK?

If President Obama stands up, he opposed Trump in a campaign, obviously, when he's a different party. Republican leaders have to stand up. Paul Ryan, former speaker, he said it plainly when Donald Trump said Judge Curiel in San Diego couldn't ruin a case because being from Indiana he had Mexican heritage and couldn't rule. Paul Ryan said that is the very definition of a racist statement.

BLACKWELL: How long did that last? I mean, once the president started his administration and they tried to get taxes passed, a lot of that went to the side. Then we heard from Paul Ryan again after he's out of office. Where was all of that when he could have affected some change?

BEGALA: That's right. They have complicit. The Republican Party -- I'm ashamed to say this is Democrat. My party was party of racism for its history.

The Republican Party was founded on equality. It was founded in abolition. It was founded in part by Abraham Lincoln.

For that party today to be silent when a president is, I believe, intentionally trying to divide this country --

RYAN: He is.

BEGALA: -- along racial lines, I think that is a form of complicity, I think.

BLACKWELL: All right. Paul Begala, April Ryan, stay with us.

We, of course, want to talk about the priority, it seems, from the president if you read what he's writing online. Of course, you're there in Detroit for the debate coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday. We'll talk about that in a moment. Stay with us.

PAUL: We do have some breaking news out of Hong Kong. Thousands of protesters are there and our own Anna Coren was just hit with tear gas. We'll go live to her after the break, so you can see what's happening, hear what's happening. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:45] BLACKWELL: All right. More in the breaking news in Hong Kong. Thousands of protesters there are on the march. Tear gas is in the air.

PAUL: In fact, CNN's Anna Coren is in the crowd. She was hit by tear gas a few minutes ago.

Anna, first of all, you and the crew OK?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, thank you, Christi, we're OK. But it was something we were not anticipating. We've been here covering these protests every weekend for the last eight consecutive weekends. And police have fired tear gas, but not at that strength.

This was something quite toxic. It hit the ground. Admittedly we were in a residential area. And then it was just burning up. If you don't have your mask on super tight, it gets in.

My producer, myself, we were just choking up. It was extremely difficult to breathe. We just had to get out of there, as did everybody else.

We were down the hill. You can still see riot police down there. They have dispersed the crowd. Now they are moving in that direction.

You can hear them hitting their shields. They are moving these crowds much quicker and much more effectively than they have over the past eight weeks. This is a completely different operation to what we have seen.

In the past, police have allowed this to drag on for hours, but tonight it is happening at a much faster pace. Where we are is Sheung Wan, very close to the Beijing liaison office. That is basically the Chinese government building here in Hong Kong.

Last Sunday protesters graffitied it, defaced the national emblem and Beijing was quick to respond. They said that that was challenging the one country, two systems policy. That is why they are guarding that area and they don't want protesters getting anywhere near it.

Those protesters are now being moved back in Sheung Wan. This is a very residential area. But we also know there's another protest happening 15 minutes away in causeway bay. There are thousands of people there. Apparently not a heavy police presence at this stage.

It would seem after last night where we were at Yuen Long, a border city very close to the Chinese mainland, those violent clashes with police where they use tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray, we -- our crew were with the protesters when they attacked.

It seems the police are now upping the ante, whether they're going to tolerate these unlawful assemblies for much longer. You get the sense, Christi and Victor, that police are starting to clamp down.

BLACKWELL: All right. Anna Coren, be safe out there. Thank you so much for your fantastic reporting of this last several weeks.

Coming up, what to expect in next week's debates. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Twenty-three minutes past the hour right now. Thank you for being with us.

Senator Cory Booker promised to run a positive campaign, but we've seen him force Joe Biden to defend his record. The problem is Booker's is barely registering in the polls right now. There's a South Carolina poll out, showing Biden on top by 39 percent, Booker misses the top five, polling just around 2 percent.

CNN political analyst April Ryan with us, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, and CNN political commentator Paul Begala, counselor to President Bill Clinton.

Thank you both for sticking around with us. We certainly appreciate it.

Not just that poll, April, but Monmouth poll of likely black Democratic primary voters in South Carolina. We see former Vice President Joe Biden with 51 percent. Kamala Harris is next with just 12 percent and Booker showing 2 percent there.

How does Booker come into this particular debate for CNN and have a moment that seems to be organic with former Vice President Biden or something that might be too calculated?

RYAN: Yes, contrived or calculated. You know, just last week, I was here with the top tier candidates to include Senator Cory Booker, and he knows that this debate is make or break for him because if he doesn't do well, show up or show out, as they say in the black church on Sunday, if he doesn't do that, he may not make the next debate. So, he's at the moment where he has to come out fighting.

[07:25:03] And he's going to. We're going to see someone that's going to be a little more forceful. But I also want to let you know, I talked to Cory Booker about this.

But I also talked to former Vice President Joe Biden who is learning how to give the clap back, if you will. He's ready. And the issue -- he's done his opposition research. All of the candidates have done their opposition research, especially the ones who need to make a showing at this debate like Cory Booker.

So, but it's going -- I tell people, get your popcorn ready because it's going to be fireworks in politics style, OK? But Cory Booker has to show up and show out.

PAUL: Well, they all do, obviously, to some degree.

And, Paul, you know, Biden after the first debate, his defense was, listen, Obama vetted me. How compelling is that with voters, how much weight does it carry?

BEGALA: I think it's pretty compelling for a lot of Democrats. But it can't be the end of his answer. It has to be the beginning. And I think Joe's problem is if I were -- you know those great videos of him driving his Corvette, he needs to take that rearview mirror and chuck it out the back. OK?

It's great. It's really impressive that he served under President Obama and I think they did a great job. That's the beginning of your answer, certainly, not the end. But the rest shouldn't be looking backwards and defending this bill or that voter or some friendship with a segregation that has been dead so long we don't remember. Look forward. All of these folks -- we were talking about Cory a minute ago. It's interesting what he was telling April. Senator Booker's challenge is, he's not an attacker by his nature.

RYAN: Right.

BEGALA: Kamala Harris is a prosecutor and she went in for the kill and she was brilliant doing it. That's her game.

Senator Booker is much more of a unifier. He was a mayor of Newark where he really tried hard to bring people together. It's harder for him. But for Joe Biden, he's got to stop looking backwards. He's got to always look forward.

It's great -- the one time you look backwards you talk about Barack Obama because he served him with such honor for so long. But otherwise, Mr. Vice President, you have to talk about your plans for the future. That's got to be your game.

PAUL: So, April, let me ask you this. The testimony from special counsel Mueller this week, a lot of people say it didn't do a lot of favors to strengthen it is impeachment argument. When it comes to impeachment, do every one of these candidates needs a definitive answer to where they stand in regards to impeachment on Tuesday and Wednesday?

RYAN: Yes, but they have to really give an explanation as to why, not just a definitive answer, but really why, because, you know, as we know, the vast majority of America did not read the Mueller report for whatever reason, to include the Republicans who are including the. They already said in their minds, we're not going to deal with this. We're going to support the president.

But they have to explain the fact it's not about collusion. It's about ten episodes of obstruction of justice and the president lied. They have to make the case.

I mean, even as more people on Capitol Hill, more Democrats are talking about, yes, we have to impeach, they have to convince people. There's still a large swath of America that feels Donald Trump should not be impeached. But they have to make the case as to why. And the case is there. People just haven't read. They have to re-teach, relitigate in just a matter of seconds where they're on stage.

PAUL: All right. April Ryan, Paul Begala, I'm sorry we've run of time. Appreciate you both so much. Thank you.

RYAN: Thanks, Christi.

PAUL: Sure.

And the lineups are set for the CNN Democratic presidential debate. Two big nights, ten candidates each night. The first round Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Make sure you tune in for round two on Wednesday as well. The live action gets under way 8:00 p.m. Eastern, live from Detroit, only on CNN. BLACKWELL: Reporting is that president Trump thinks this attack on

Baltimore works for him politically. So, he's showing no restraint, not holding back. How do the people who live there feel? We'll talk with Baltimore City Council Member Brandon Scott live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:32:37] MAYOR BERNARD YOUNG (D), BALTIMORE: Today, we stand united in support of our great city of Baltimore. It is completely unacceptable for the president of the United States of America to use his considerable power and global voice to attack our American city. We know our city to be home to a collection of unique and inviting neighborhoods, world class medical institutions and a thriving research and tech scene.

Baltimore has a lot to offer. We can never allow nasty and hurtful rhetoric to go unchecked by the president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: That was the mayor of Baltimore, Jack Young.

Joining me now to discuss all of this is Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott.

Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

BRANDON SCOTT, PRESIDENT, BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL: Thank you for having me this morning.

BLACKWELL: So, first, when you read the president's tweets, what did you think? What did you feel?

SCOTT: Well, I think there's no surprise, right? I thought immediately that, of course, these things are not true. But this is not something that's surprising coming from this president.

Beating down an American city only for personal and political gain is something that should be beneath the office of president but we clearly can see it is not beneath this president because he's continuously done that throughout his term. So, nothing shocking and surprising in the tweets from this president.

BLACKWELL: What do you make of the reporting from our CNN analyst, Toluse Olorunnipa in "The Washington Post", that his aides see that after he tweeted about the four minority congresswomen two weeks ago, that this is beneficial for him, that attacking minority Congress members and in this way helps with trying to win over white working class in 2020?

SCOTT: Well, we know this president is continuously trying to widen his divides in America. We know he has a base of people who think that brown people, that women and people who are not straight, white men don't belong in this country. For him to beat down on an African- American congressman who represents a great African-American majority city is something that many in his base are incited by. And you can see that just in the social media followings.

It's just unfortunate that the president of the United States, who was supposed to be the leader of the free world, can stoop to such lows. What we have to do, the rest of us, is be actual Americans and let's work together, understand that he is the president and he, above any other person on the planet, could help cities like Baltimore with the issues instead of just tweeting.

[07:35:06] How about some action as opposed to words that are just empty and hollow and only self-serving?

BLACKWELL: So, you are this morning, and I read your statement online, offering a full-throated condemnation of what we saw from the president.

This is what a spokesman for the governor of Maryland, Republican Larry Hogan, told "The Baltimore Sun". Baltimore City is truly the very heart of our state and more attacks between politicians aren't going to get us anywhere.

That's a third-party statement, not directly from the governor. It is not a condemnation of the depiction of the city of Baltimore and it frames it as bickering between politicians.

Are you satisfied with that from the governor?

SCOTT: Well, listen, the governor and I disagree on a lot. As I said yesterday, this to me is not about Donald Trump. We can't allow this to be about Donald Trump. We have to view this about the fact that he's the president of this country. Instead of helping Baltimore, he's beating down an American city, which is something that is un- American and unfitting of the president of the United States.

BLACKWELL: Would you expected or wanted more from the Republican governor?

SCOTT: Well, I think the governor had been better if he would have just condemned everything Donald Trump said and stood up, but he did it in his own way. I'm not going to bicker back and forth.

We all know the president is wrong. We all know Baltimore is a great American city. We all know that we face challenges, that we need help from, including help from the federal government that Donald Trump represents and is in control of.

BLACKWELL: So let's talk about these challenges. We talked this morning that there are problems in most if not every major American city, but after the death of Freddie Gray, I took our viewers to North Avenue. I took them to Walbrook Junction, I took them where I grew up.

There are vacants along Baltimore -- along North Avenue. For as long as I remember, there have been plenty of vacant homes, the row homes on that street. So, what is, for the people that want change, is the city doing to improve conditions in some of the neighborhoods?

SCOTT: Well, I think, as you know, this is something -- Baltimore is a place -- basically the birthplace of realigning an American cities via legislation. And what we have to understand, as you know, many of those houses that were vacant when you were here in 2015 have been vacant since the riots in 1968.

What we have to understand that when you talk about a city like Baltimore, systematic and institutional racism plays a very deep part in how we got to this point. That's why last year I was proud to push through the city council equity legislation that will now moving forward face our city to operate in a different way, so that we can also systematically go back and undo those things.

We have a program where we work each and every day and take I vacant homes, even knock them down, put people back in them. We've been great in the council about putting $20 million money into our affordable housing trust fund. That's just the beginning.

It's going to take Baltimore a long time to get back to our best form. Baltimore was worse when I was born. This is why I got into public service. I grew up in Park Heights, a neighborhood people forget about until the Preakness.

I got into public service to make our city the best city it can be. And I will not let anyone, including the president of the United States, beat us down when they have no skin in the game and do not want to help us.

BLACKWELL: All right. I've just been told that the president has tweeted again about Congressman Cummings. He thinks this works for him because he thinks, according to the reporting from "The Washington Post," his aides say that this helps with the white working class.

Let me read what the president tweeted. I'm reading it for the first time.

Someone please explain to Nancy Pelosi who was recently called racist by those in her own party that there's nothing by bringing up the very obvious fact that Congressman Cummings has done a very poor job for his district and the city of Baltimore. Just take a look. The facts speak far louder than words. Democrats always play the race card when, in fact, they have done so little for our nation, great African- American people now lowest unemployment in U.S. history and only getting better. Elijah Cummings has failed badly.

Any response from you to what you're reading from the president or hearing from the president?

SCOTT: Much of the same from the president. Again, this is all talk and chatter. I'm about solutions. If the president wants to help Baltimore and American cities, how about he deliver on the infrastructure package he's been talking about since he ran for office? How about he invest in affordable housing for Americans across cities, including Baltimore, of which his HUD director should know what we need because he lived here for so long instead of trying to eliminate HUD each and every year in his budget?

That's what we want to hear from this president, solutions. We are willing to work with him still.

[07:40:01] Despite all his missteps and his uninformed opinions, we're willing to work with him. But we'll move on without him if he doesn't step up to the plate. We're about solutions, not about talk.

BLACKWELL: Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott, thank you so much for being with us.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, we now know Juul, a leading vape company, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund youth programming. In a Capitol Hill hearing, Juul executives were grilled on the company's role in this youth vaping epidemic, and students testified that a Juul representative told them the product was totally safe.

Caleb Mintz was one of those students who testified. He's with us now, along with Meredith Berkman, co-founder Parents Against Vaping.

Thank you both so much for being with us.

Caleb, I want to ask you. How expansive is the vaping problem and how did what you saw the program that was given by the Juul representative affect what was happening at your school and the students?

[07:45:07] CALEB MINTZ, TESTIFIED IN FRONT OF CONGRESS ON JUUL AND VAPING: So, I would say that the Juul problem, you can go to any social group in any school and at least one kid will be Juuling. I don't think it's specific to, like, group, like risk takers or rebels. I think any group has at least one kid.

And a lot of kids at my school were previously a little uncertain -- unsure about the health effects of vaping, but after the presentation we received, I think a lot of kids were -- now believe they could Juul without consequences.

PAUL: OK. So, Meredith, I want to listen with you to what a company executive had to say about their intention for these programs that they took to schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY GOULD, CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, JUUL: We have never marketed to kids. All of these educational efforts were intended to keep youths from using the product.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Have you ever heard of a company spending thousands and thousands of dollars to keep --

MEREDITH BERKMAN, CO-FOUNDER, PARENTS AGAINST VAPING: Millions.

PAUL: -- people from using their product? Does that -- does that answer fly with you? That's my question.

BERKMAN: Those are lies. And the company knows it.

The problem for Juul is they've gotten caught. They've been caught out and they've been slammed in Congress for targeting our kids. I mean, I -- we testified at the first day of these oversight subcommittee hearings this past week. And there were other experts who testified specifically about the marketing.

And the Juul executive, the Juul co-founders, you know, literally studying the enormous archive of early cigarette advertising. Remember, Juul is a company that is more than 30 percent owned by Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, so is literally big tobacco 2.0.

And all the things they've been doing, preying on kids. Another woman testified they had gone onto tribal land offering free products to Native American tribal leaders, you know, preying on vulnerable populations that is straight out of big tobacco's playbook.

But Juul's targeting of kids -- another thing that came out is they had actually funded a summer camp for kids from third grade to 12th grade.

So, the flavors that Juul put out there, that are so popular, that they claim they've taken out of retail stores, yet I bought mango pods in two separate stores in a one-block radius. And you can do that all over the country. It's for kids.

PAUL: OK. Caleb Mintz and Meredith Berkman, I'm sorry, we're out of time. Thank you for being with us and talking for us today.

MINTZ: Thank you for having us.

BERKMAN: Thank you so much.

PAUL: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: Well, in today's mission ahead, there's a new cancer vaccine for dogs. If it works, humans could be next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go. This way. We're going right in here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good boy.

DR. DOUG THAMM, DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL RESARCH, CSU FLINT ANIMAL CANCER CENTER: Fraser is here to finish off enrollment for a new clinical trial called the VACCS trial, the Vaccine Against Canine Cancer Study. The vaccine is designed to potentially delay or prevent a variety of different kinds of cancers simultaneously. Dog and human cancers look very similar at the molecular level. So, if it's successful in dogs, we're hopeful that will provide really encouraging evidence to pursue the same approach in people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, nice work.

STEPHEN JOHNS, VACCINE INVENTOR: We've been working on this for 12 years. We made it by screening 800 dogs for the eight major cancers and then we looked to see which components were in common across those eight cancers. We took 31 of those and that's what we made the vaccine for.

The hope is that when a tumor arises, you'll have one or more of those components we vaccinated against. As soon as the "T" cells see that and the immune system, they'll start reacting against that in a very step and kill the tumor. Most people in the cancer community will still say this is impossible because every tumor is personal.

They may be right. Our rationale is that if there's a possibility it might work and the impact would be so big, it's worth taking that chance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, he's going to get his first vaccine.

STEPHANIE FOSTER, FRASER'S OWNER: Right. Our dogs are our best friends and they love us unconditionally. I jumped at the opportunity to help people. It's awesome our dogs could be the answer to this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:53:41] PAUL: So there's an all new episode of the CNN original series "THE MOVIES", exploring American cinema up in 1970s tonight.

BLACKWELL: Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A powerful mob, a struggle for survival and succession, "The Godfather" hit Hollywood with indescribable force.

STEVEN SPIELBERG, DIRECTOR: I saw that film four times in five days. And up until that point I always thought Lawrence of Arabia was the greatest film ever made.

NEAL GABLER, FILM HISTORIAN: This is the product of Francis Ford Coppola and this is the great revolution of the 1970s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday --

FOREMAN: It is a revelation of young directors, Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, and more, pairing up with an equally talented clash of rising actors, producing some of the most memorable characters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you talking to me?

FOREMAN: And moments ever seen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It signaled to me that movies were getting made in different ways and told in different styles. It was really anti- Hollywood.

FOREMAN: Taking pages from the news and documentaries, films saw a gritty realism glossed over in many earlier movies.

[07:55:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it's me (INAUDIBLE)!

FOREMAN: And audiences ate it up.

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: The first time you get a sense of how big the shark is, you're immediately worried about the guys in the boat. They're going to die.

FOREMAN: It wasn't just drama, comedy, too, was taking a turn. From the introspective hilarity of "Annie Hall" to "Animal House", to the brilliance of "Blazing Saddles".

JOHN SINGLETON, DIRECTOR: I love "Blazing Saddles" because it is such a revolutionary film. It deals with race with a sense of humor and candor.

FOREMAN: So many landmark films emerged in those 10 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The future.

FOREMAN: It is hard to assess just how deeply they tapped into our hopes, our fears and our dreams.

TODD BOYD, PROFESSOR OF CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES, USC: You can just sit down for the rest of your life and watch movies from the '70s. They're amazing.

FOREMAN: And they have informed our sense of what movies and we can be ever since.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: "THE MOVIES" airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

Favorite movie from the '70s?

PAUL: I was trying to think of what I watched in the '70s. Willie Wonka is probably what I was watching.

BLACKWELL: Well, it's tie for me between "Blazing Saddles" and I can't tell you my favorite line on television and "Godfather 2". "Godfather 3" made we want to throw my whole TV away. PAUL: How you really feel.

BLACKWELL: The second was fantastic. Best sequel ever.

Thanks for starting your morning with us.

PAUL: Make good memories today.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with John King is up after a quick break.

[08:00:00]