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Huge Flub As Oscar Telecast Ends; Trump's Day Focused On Healthcare; Entitlements Won't Be Touched; Trump Administration Nixes Informal Talks With North Korea. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 27, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:30:03] FAYE DUNAWAY, OSCAR PRESENTER: "La La Land."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Just one problem, "La La Land" did not win Best Picture. The moment bringing squirm-inducing flashbacks of Steve Harvey announcing the wrong Miss Universe back in 2015. After two and one-half minutes of acceptance speeches and onstage celebration for "La La Land," the mistake was announced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN HOROWITZ, PRODUCER, "LA LA LAND": And Damien Chazelle, we're standing on your shoulders. We lost, by the way, but you know --

WARREN BEATTY, OSCAR PRESENTER: What? Guys, guys, I'm sorry -- no.

HOROWITZ: There's a mistake. "Moonlight," you guys won Best Picture.

BEATTY: "Moonlight" won. This is not a joke.

HOROWITZ: This is not a joke. I'm afraid they read the wrong thing. This is not a joke. "Moonlight" has won Best Picture. (Holds up card) "Moonlight," Best Picture.

JIMMY KIMMEL, OSCARS HOST: I think you guys should keep it, anyway. Oh, sorry -- I'm sorry. Guys, this is very unfortunate, what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this. I would like to see you get an Oscar, anyway. Why can't we just give out a whole bunch of them?

HOROWITZ: I'm going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from "Moonlight."

KIMMEL: That's nice of you. That's very nice. Warren Beatty --

BEATTY: Hello, hello. I want --

KIMMEL: Warren, what did you do?

BEATTY: I want to tell you what happened. KIMMEL: Oh.

BEATTY: I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, "La La Land." That's why I took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny.

KIMMEL: Well, you were funny. That was very funny.

BEATTY: Thank you very much.

KIMMEL: Yes.

BEATTY: Thank you very much.

KIMMEL: Wow, this is --

BEATTY: This is "Moonlight," the Best Picture.

KIMMEL: Yes, OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. Let's talk about this gaffe for the ages and bring in senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN'S "RELIABLE SOURCES." Thanks for checking in with us this morning after what was really an eventful -- they've been doing this for a long time and I've never seen a mistake like this.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and now the blame is on the accountants. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company in charge of tabulating the results for 83 years, says it was their fault. Says the envelopes got mixed up. Someone handed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, sent them out there, and I suppose these two actors just stuck to the script.

(Video playing) They read what was in front of them and then as you see the "La La Land" producer start to give the acceptance speeches, you start to see a commotion behind the scenes. I would love to know who the anonymous -- here he is actually opening the envelope and you can see it --

ROMANS: He's stalling.

STELTER: -- as we rerack the tape, he's stalling. He's trying to figure out what's going on.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: He's looking for another card in that envelope.

STELTER: But then, later -- just a couple of minutes later you see a commotion backstage. There's this anonymous stage manager that comes out -- the stage manager comes out and says something's gone wrong. And I think, really, Jordan Horowitz here deserves an award. He's one of the producers from "La La Land" who was so gracious, saying I want to bring my friends from "Moonlight" up here. I'm proud to hand the award to them. BRIGGS: I'm still baffled by the whole thing, but let's talk about --

ROMANS: You had to see it to believe it, right there on the card.

BRIGGS: Talk about how it was handled, though. Look, a couple of weeks ago we saw Adele embrace Beyonce when she won an award, but how about how another two casts and both producers handled it. That was their shining moment.

STELTER: Yes, it definitely was, for as embarrassing as this was for PricewaterhouseCoopers and for the Academy Awards -- for the Academy -- it was a wonderful thing to see the "Moonlight" stars and producers coming up on stage, trying to make the most of what was a, you know, weirdly, disappointing moment. They had just reached this pinnacle for their careers but in this really strange way.

ROMANS: Right.

STELTER: Almost like a fake-out, you know, at the end of the Oscars.

ROMANS: Best Supporting Actor, I know, was from that film, too --

STELTER: Yes, that's right.

ROMANS: -- and Viola Davis got -- was the Best Supporting Actress for "Fences." So there were -- you know, there were a lot of other headlines of the night but, frankly, this is the big headline. Let's listen to our Stephanie Elam -- our reporter Stephanie Elam caught up with the folks from "Moonlight" after the show. Let's listen to what they said to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When they said this is wrong, "Moonlight" actually won, did you guys -- what did you guys think?

TREVANTE RHODES, ACTOR, "MOONLIGHT": We thought it was -- I mean, it seemed as if it was a joke, you know. I mean, it's Jimmy Kimmel --

ELAM: Right.

RHODES: -- you know. So -- but I was like that's kind of the most disrespectful joke you could play on somebody, but OK. Or it was like they were just like well, "Moonlight" is the real one, you know.

ELAM: Yes.

RHODES: There were just paying homage --

ELAM: We decide (ph) --

RHODES: Yes, you know, but then it was real and that was just the most unique moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yes, that really is the Best Picture.

STELTER: I think the cast of "Moonlight," the producers still celebrating at this hour out in L.A., you know. The parties are just winding down. And I bet just like us, they're going to go re-watch that tape 10 tens to figure out what the heck happened on stage.

[05:35:07] ROMANS: I know. Emma Stone really did get Best Actress for "La La Land."

STELTER: That's right.

BRIGGS: That's right.

ROMANS: She held up the real card.

BRIGGS: And she held the card and told people that she still had it but --

STELTER: That's because there's two sets of cards it turns out -- two envelopes with each winner.

BRIGGS: Right.

STELTER: So the question is, how did the wrong envelope get in the hands of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and I'm sure there will be an investigation to find out.

BRIGGS: Yes, we need Jeff Sessions on this one. We expect -- we did not expect that. We did expect politics to enter the evening. How did it?

STELTER: Yes, and certainly, from the get go, Jimmy Kimmel joked about the divided country, joked about trying to bridge the divide. We did hear, I would say, typical left-leaning celebrities taking some jabs at the president.

But the most significant moment politically of the night was the man who wasn't there on stage. Director Asghar Farhadi, who had been nominated for the best foreign-language film -- he's an Iranian nominated for "The Salesman." Well, "The Salesman" won but this man boycotted the awards. Farhadi said he was not coming -- boycotting because of Trump's travel ban. So instead, an Iranian engineer came up on stage, read a statement from him talking about the inhumanity of the travel ban, and then went on to say "Films create empathy between us and others and we need that now more than ever."

So I thought that was a nice moment on stage to think about the power of films. As much as they entertain us, as much as we're laughing at this flub overnight, this Iranian filmmaker trying to make the point that movies can bring people together. But then again, he decided not to be there to accept it in person because of the travel ban.

ROMANS: All right, Brian Stelter. Nice to see you this morning.

BRIGGS: Thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

ROMANS: This morning, the big buildup begins to President Trump's first address to the joint session of Congress -- that's tomorrow. But first, the president has a busy day ahead of that speech with a special focus today on healthcare, including meeting with governors, health insurers, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Last night, the president joked about repeal and promised some very special replacement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As most you know, the Obamacare has had tremendous problems. I won't say in front of the Democrats, I'll just say it to the Republicans, it doesn't work. But we're going to have it fixed and we're going to repeal and replace, and I think you're going to see something very, very special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, the White House is also set to release outlines of its first budget proposal. Officials telling CNN the Trump budget will safeguard Social Security and Medicare, but some other federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency will not be spared.

BRIGGS: So, between healthcare and the budget, what should we expect in the president's big address tomorrow night? We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:41:40] ROMANS: All right, happy Monday, everybody. Expect President Trump to focus on military spending, healthcare, and tax reform during his address to Congress. But what about the most expensive parts of the U.S. budget, entitlements. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was asked about that on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: We are not touching those now so don't expect to see that as part of this budget, OK? We are very focused on other aspects and that's what's very important to us and that's the president's priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The budget director, Mick Mulvaney, is known as a deficit hawk and a senior administration official says the president's upcoming budget outline will call for spending cuts to federal agencies -- several federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

But here's the issue -- here's the math. Agencies like the EPA only take up about 17 percent of the federal budget so squeezing costs there limits you in terms of what you can cut for overall spending. Social Security and other labor costs represent about one-third of all government spending. Health programs like Medicare and Medicaid, that's about 27 percent. Then that's followed by military spending and interest payments. So, that shows you some math -- the question when we're talking about the president's budget when it comes in. It's going to be fascinating to see.

BRIGGS: So with that pie chart in mind -- helps me learn -- let's bring in Ellis Henican, political analyst, and discuss this Trump budget. OK, if you're going to give major --

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST & BEST-SELLING AUTHOR: Those numbers were good, by the way.

BRIGGS: Very good.

HENICAN: Very good numbers.

BRIGGS: But that tells you how complex that is to boost military spending and just tweak it with the margins on the EPA, how do you satisfy budget hawks on the right?

HENICAN: You don't. I mean, you say -- you give them good rhetoric but it doesn't seem to me that there is a route here that you're going to be able to protect the budget deficit. I don't see it.

ROMANS: What we're going to hear from this president -- I think you're going to hear -- he's been talking about sovereignty -- American sovereignty. He's been talking about American safety and security, right?

HENICAN: Yes.

ROMANS: That's all the "America First" stuff --

HENICAN: Yes.

ROMANS: -- and American jobs here in this country. Do you think those are the themes that he's going to really hone in on again tomorrow?

HENICAN: Yes. I mean, they have great themes. Until you come down to the part of what is your policy is going to produce then. Then let's talk about the jobs for a second, all right? Clearly, there's great desire out in the country to rebuild well-paying, solid jobs. There's not as much of that in the economy as there used to be. Now, tell me where in this program is there something that's going to actually do that. I don't know, I'm looking.

ROMANS: Tax cuts?

HENICAN: Maybe, but then -- but then you're back to the deficit problem, right?

BRIGGS: And to -- and to get to the tax cuts you first have to solve the Obamacare quagmire, which is more complicated than the budget because he says it's going to be better --

HENICAN: Yes. BRIGGS: -- he says it's going to be cheaper --

HENICAN: And everybody --

BRIGGS: -- and no one's going to lose insurance.

HENICAN: Yes.

BRIGGS: Do we have any glimpse at how he accomplishes any of those?

HENICAN: Well, yes.

BRIGGS: Where do the concessions go?

HENICAN: The third one is already getting a little squishy, I think. I mean, the president did very explicitly promise that on the campaign trail, but as with the details of this new plan -- certainly the one that's come out of Capitol Hill that's really the only one we've seen any outline of yet, does seem to be raising questions about --

ROMANS: Well --

HENICAN: -- exactly how many people is this going to cover.

ROMANS: I think that, you know, now we're moving into the how, you know. This is the how phase. It's been more than a month. Now, he can talk to Congress and he could say how he's going to do business, how he's going to fix Obamacare. How he's going to cut, you know -- cut spending but not grow the deficit, you know. How he's going to cut taxes.

HENICAN: Yes.

ROMANS: That's where we are right now, right?

[05:45:00] BRIGGS: Right. Well, he wants to. He wants to get to all those things but Darrell Issa didn't do him any favors when he kept the focus on the investigation between the U.S. and Russia and the discussions leading up. Here's what Issa said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: You cannot have somebody, a friend of mine, Jeff Sessions, who was on the campaign and who was an appointee. You're going to need to use the special prosecutor's statute and office to take -- not just to recuse. That's -- you can't just give it to your deputy that's another political appointee. You do have to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That's the man calling for investigations under the Obama administration. What does that do to the agenda for President Trump?

HENICAN: Well, you're right. He was quite a Pitbull when it came Hillary. BRIGGS: Oh, absolutely.

HENICAN: But don't forget, there is some politics here, Dave. He runs in a district that he just barely won in California that he really does have to position himself as someone who can play to the middle a little bit. That -- don't assume that people like Chaffetz and other of today's hawks are going to be quite as -- quite as understanding.

ROMANS: We're going to hear from Sean Spicer this afternoon. There's supposed to be a -- you know, the regularly scheduled press briefing this morning. Do you think there will be any kind of detente between the -- what does he always say? The dishonest media and the White House?

HENICAN: I think the opposite. Believe Steve Bannon, what he says. This is going to get worse, right? I mean, it's -- clearly, the administration's made a judgment that they need an enemy and that enemy is us.

ROMANS: Did you see the ad last night in the Oscars, by the way? I mean --

HENICAN: I did.

BRIGGS: "The New York Times."

ROMANS: "The New York Times" -- a T.V. ad from "The New York Times" -- interesting.

HENICAN: I thought it was great.

ROMANS: But I think that some of the media players are, honestly, capitalizing on all of this drama.

HENICAN: Well, listen, I mean, there's a lot of people watching this show, you know? I mean --

ROMANS: Millions and millions and millions of people watching Dave Briggs.

HENICAN: I mean, you know --

BRIGGS: (Ad playing) Here's "The New York Times" ad. Can this be a winner, though, for President Trump -- blocking out media outlets like "The New York Times," "The L.A. Times," CNN, "Politico," and others, Ellis. Politically, can this be a winner?

HENICAN: I think it's a loser. Listen, we keep coming back every day, every day, every day. There's a lot of airtime out there, right?

ROMANS: All right, Ellis Henican. We're so glad you're here with us to talk about it.

HENICAN: Good to see you guys. It always is.

ROMANS: Thank you. Nice to see you this morning.

BRIGGS: All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joining us. Good morning, Chris.

ROMANS: Good morning.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Boy, I just got an early surprise hearing Ellis say that Darrell Issa has to show that he can play to both sides. He's never been accused of that in all his time in Congress, I promise you that. Darrell Issa is a great indication, guys, of what we're seeing going on in politics right now in America, which is this kind of unknown that hangs over everything. We're going to take you through what we anticipate from the president when he addresses Congress -- what it could mean for your healthcare.

But we're going to start this morning with, come on, the biggest mix- up in the Academy Awards history. How did they get Best Picture wrong? We think we know now and we'll take you through it. Two of Hollywood's best gets caught up in it and it was also a reflection of the job of the host on that bus.

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: We're going to take you through those numbers. We know, you know, your partner, Dave, Christine Romans, she loves the numbers.

BRIGGS: She's a smart one.

CUOMO: And today, how the president wants to cut taxes, cut some spending, but also spend a lot more. Does it make sense? We'll take you through it.

ROMANS: All right. I do love the math, Chris. I do love the math.

BRIGGS: I was told there'd be no math.

CUOMO: She loves the numbers.

ROMANS: There's no math, yes. There's no math in journalism, except there is. All right. Thank you so much. Nice to see you.

Back channel talks between the U.S. and North Korea put on hold after it was announced VX gas was used to kill a relative of North Korea's dictator. For this bizarre story we go live to Malaysia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:05] BRIGGS: Planned back-channel talks between the U.S. and North Korea are off, at least for now. The Trump administration now withdrawing visa approvals for Pyongyang's top officials on American relations. The last-minute cancellation came just hours after the Malaysian government announced a toxic agent was used to kill Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

CNN's Alexandra Field live in Kuala Lumpur. Alexandra, shed some light on this confusing story. ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point, the latest developing, Dave, is that South Korea spy agencies coming out, calling this an act of terror. They say that it was an assassination directed from the top of North Korea's government from Kim Jong Un, himself. They are also saying that they believe that this was carried out with the work of three groups, two assassination groups and a support group. And they say that the four North Korean suspects whom Malaysian officials believe fled the country immediately following the attack to return to Pyongyang are all members of North Korea's government -- members of the National Security Ministry and also the Foreign Ministry.

South Korea's spy agencies saying that those government officials recruited the two women who unleashed that weapon of mass destruction, VX nerve agent, inside Kuala Lumpur's airport. (Video playing) You can see them just a bit on CCTV video. That's the moment of the attack. Fifteen or 20 minutes, Kim Jong Nam is dead. The health minister here in Malaysia says it was a painful death.

The revelation that VX was used in this attack came almost two weeks after the fact. That busy airport terminal had been open the entire time. And it was just over the weekend that police in protective suits went into to do a sweep of the terminal to determine whether or not any dangerous substances had been left behind. Much to the public's relief, they found nothing dangerous in that airport but, that said, it had been full of people for nearly two weeks. Everyone has checked out at this point. No illnesses reported.

[05:55:00] The Vietnamese and Indonesian women accused of using that VX agent remain in custody. They're telling officials from their home country that they believed they were part of some kind of prank. Malaysian officials not buying it. They say these women were trained to use that VX -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Intriguing. Thank you, Alexandra. Appreciate it.

The father of the first service member killed under the Trump administration is slamming the president for greenlighting the mission that killed his son. Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens was killed in a raid in Yemen last month.

The White House has called the mission a success but Owens' father told "The Miami Herald," "Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn't even barely a week into his administration? For two years prior, there were no boots on the ground in Yemen. Everything was missiles and drones because there was not a target worth one American life. Now, all of a sudden we have to make this grand display?"

Owens also says he declined to meet President Trump when the president showed up at Dover Air Force Base for the return of Owens' body.

Another disturbing act of vandalism at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. Police say between 75 and 100 headstones were overturned. It comes less than a week after a similar incident at a Jewish community cemetery in St. Louis where vandals damaged dozens of headstones. There have also been 70 bomb threats made to Jewish centers in the U.S. and Canada since January.

ROMANS: All right, 56 minutes past the hour. Time for a check on CNN Money Stream this Monday morning. The Dow -- gosh, it looks almost unstoppable. Eleven record highs in a row. It closed Friday with just a slim 11-point gain but that keeps the winning streak alive. Looking at futures right now, they look flat. The average, though, is on the verge of history.

A gain today would tie the record for -- the streak for record streaks. That was back in 1987. If the Dow goes until Wednesday with record highs it would break the record for consecutive gains at the close -- 14, in case you're wondering. That was set all the way back in 1897.

Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders featured this review of the state of the U.S. economy. "From a standing start 240 years ago, a span of time less than triple my days on earth, Americans have combined human ingenuity, a market system, a tide of talented and ambitious immigrants, and the rule of law to deliver abundance beyond any dreams of our forefathers." He's got a way with words.

BRIGGS: Brilliant.

ROMANS: Buffett's annual shareholder meeting will take place May 6th. His company made $17.6 billion last year.

BRIGGS: I made that.

ROMANS: The stock is up 30 percent over the past year. And here is his tip, Dave Briggs, for how you can make money in stocks this year. Invest, Warren Buffett says, in index funds that mirror the S&P 500 and keep your fees to a minimum.

Donald Trump's pressure on manufacturers to make things in America could be spreading to the toy aisle. Hasbro will shift production of Play-Doh to a factory in Massachusetts. This is according to the "Journal" -- "Wall Street Journal." The company has not yet responded to our request for confirmation and comment.

Hasbro currently makes Play-Doh in Turkey and China. Now, it used to own the factory that will make it, which also produces board games and trading cards. The company tells the "Journal" that the move will -- was not a response to President Trump's policies, but a step to boost production after years of strong Play-Doh Sales.

BRIGGS: Now, what they need to figure out is how to keep the colors separate. You know, they always get mashed together.

ROMANS: This is your --

BRIGGS: It's just one gross --

ROMANS: This is your burning -- this is your burning question there, really.

BRIGGS: It keeps me up at night. ROMANS: This economic indicator --

BRIGGS: You know what I'm talking about.

ROMANS: I know exactly what you're talking about. We must go. Thank you for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: And I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. Have a great day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEATTY: The Academy Award for Best Picture --

DUNAWAY: "La La Land."

HOROWITZ: There's a mistake. "Moonlight," you guys won Best Picture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was speechless. I'd never seen that happen before.

TRUMP: I think you're going to see something very, very special.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be a surge in defense spending and cuts pretty much across the board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The future ain't what it used to be at the EPA.

TRUMP: As most you know, the Obamacare has had tremendous problems.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: Are Democrats going to work with Republicans?

TRUMP: We are fighting the fake news. It's fake, phony, fake.

ISSA: We're going to need to use the special prosecutors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The FBI has already said this story is B.S.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: Let's have the investigation and find out the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CUOMO: All right. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, February 27th, 6:00 here in New York.

And we do begin with breaking news. A wrong envelope brings the Academy Awards to a halt. The presenters in the category of Best Picture mistakenly announced the wrong winner. The right one, "Moonlight," takes home the top prize after this dramatic ending. We have details on how it happened. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Awkward. Hollywood's biggest night also had its share of political moments. Celebrities taking on President Trump's travel ban with their own message of inclusion. This, as the president heads to Capitol Hill tomorrow to make his first address to a joint session of Congress.