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Hacked Emails of French Presidential Candidate Macron Released; House Republicans Questioned over Contents of Health Care Reform Bill; President Trump's Friendship with Rupert Murdoch May Affect Justice Department Investigation into FOX News; Hillary Clinton to Launch Political Organization; Women's March Takes Place in Venezuela; Donald Trump's Interview Style Examined. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired May 6, 2017 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:04] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to Saturday. We're always so grateful to have your company. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you, and welcome to CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: We begin this hour in France with something that might sound eerily familiar, an election apparently hacked by a foreign influence.

BLACKWELL: This time it's the leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron who says hackers have dumped thousands of documents online in trying to undermine him just 24 hours before voters head to the polls.

PAUL: Russia has been quick to deny any involvement, telling CNN, quote, "These like other similar accusations are based on nothing and are pure slander," unquote. Now, the French electoral commission is asking the media not to publish details because they're concerned it could sway tomorrow's outcome by giving far right candidate Marine Le Pen a last-minute bump.

BLACKWELL: Also this morning, former Trump advisor Carter Page has sharp words for the Senate Intel Committee, telling them to ask the Obama administration for his Russia communications. This comes after promising to cooperate with officials.

And a new report from "The Washington Post" says that senior members of the Trump transition team warned then general and incoming national security advisor Michael Flynn about his contact with Russia's ambassador Sergey Kislyak. We are covering all these stories from every angle with our reporters and analysts across the globe. Let's go first to CNN's Melissa Bell in Paris. And Melissa, what is the reaction from French officials to this claim from the Macron camp?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi mentioned a moment ago the electoral commission and the advice it has given out. It has now met to discuss this and has issued a statement warning people not to go about trying to disseminate the context of this alleged leak, that is the alleged e-mails and documents that were fraudulently taken from -- that were hacked, rather, from Emmanuel Macron's campaign. It warns that not only amongst the information that has been let out

is information that's been hacked but also, they say, false information. They warn of legal action against those who've leaked the information to begin with, and warn others, not just the media but ordinary citizens, that trying to pass on the information, the contents of these e-mails, could also lead to legal action. So they're taking this extremely seriously.

This is of course a crucial period as people try to prepare to go to vote tomorrow morning. For now Emmanuel Macron has not pointed the finger of responsibility in any direction. This is not the first time he says he's been hacked. In the past he's looked towards Moscow. We are going to speak now to our correspondent there for the latest from the Russian capital.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Melissa, thanks very much. That's right. The allegations that there's been a massive data dump affecting the Macron team has drawn instant comparisons with the allegations that Russia hacked the U.S. presidential election late last year, releasing large amounts of e- mails and other data with the intent, according to the U.S. intelligence services, to damage the political campaign of Hillary Clinton and support their favorite candidate, Donald Trump.

That's exactly what Emmanuel Macron says is happening now. He says this information release was designed to undermine his campaign. Well, the Kremlin, who we've spoken to over the past couple of hours, have taken the step of preemptively denying the suggestion that they were involved in this, saying, and I can quote from a statement to CNN, "These like other similar accusations are based on nothing and are pure slander." The Kremlin insists it's got no preference which of the candidates, Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen, wins the presidential election, although there is a suspicion that the Kremlin may be, let's say, a little closer to Le Pen given that just last month Marine Le Pen came to Moscow, she sat and had a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. And of course Russian banks have issued millions of dollars in loans to Marine Le Pen's campaign in order to fund her presidential bid.

BLACKWELL: All right, Matthew Chance for us in Moscow. Matthew, thanks so much.

PAUL: So how likely is it that hacking will affect the French elections?

BLACKWELL: Well, we spoke with Jack Barsky former KGB spy, earlier this morning. Here's his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK BARSKY, FORMER KGB SPY: Likely? Very likely. I mean, who else would do that, right? And we talked about in the past about the, I believe the major goal by the Russians is to create confusion. Now, if they were really trying to influence the election, the timing is a little bit odd, isn't it, because right now this data can't be used or shouldn't be used. It's against the law in France. So it's just either they're being really stupid, or their main goal is to just, you know, create confusion and undermine democracy, and I think that's probably where it's at.

[10:05:07] Ultimately I think this is going to backfire. I don't think it's going to influence the election. It will probably make the incoming president more inclined to deal with the Russians more as an adversary rather than as a friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, just to clarify, he was initially talking there about whether he believed Russia was indeed behind it despite Russia's denials this morning and no definitive evidence that Russia is behind the hack.

Meanwhile, an explosive report surrounding former national security advisor Michael Flynn this morning as well. According to "The Washington Post," senior members with President Trump's transition team warned Flynn on multiple occasions about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Now, the report also claims the officials were so concerned that Flynn didn't understand the ambassador's motives, they went to the Obama administration for help, asking for a classified profile on Kislyak. But it's not clear whether Flynn ever actually read that document. Here's what the reporter who broke the story told our Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM ENTOUS, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Unlike a lot of other ambassadors in Washington who were struggling to make those connections with the incoming Trump team, you actually had a very receptive Trump team when it came to the Russians. And so if you talk to other European ambassadors around town, around that time, they felt like they were getting neglected whereas normally during a transition they're the one who is get most of the face time. Whereas in this case you had the Russian ambassador who was getting repeated phone calls and meetings with members of the Trump team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: This is the latest in a series of events since the election that has raised red flags for the intelligence community. The scathing detail now prompting new questions about Flynn's contacts and what the White House may have known.

BLACKWELL: Former campaign advisor Carter Page unleashing a damning charge against the Obama administration and a pretty graphic description of what he thinks will happen when people see some details. He says that it will induce "severe vomiting." A Senate investigator sent a letter to Page requesting information related to the investigation, but Page berated the Senate Intel Committee's request while leveling this accusation against President Obama and Secretary Clinton. And here's a quote from the letter, "I suspect the physical reaction of the Clinton/Obama regime perpetrators will be more along the lines of severe vomiting when all the facts are eventually exposed regarding the steps taken by the U.S. government to influence the 2016 election."

PAUL: Let's talk about the GOP health care bill. It is heading for a Senate showdown, as you know. The same issues that stalled it on the House floor most likely up for debate again all over with the Senate. CNN Washington correspondent Ryan Nobles joining us now. Ryan, what are you hearing about the fate and what the specific points of contention are going to be this time around?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christi, we have got a long way to go before this health care bill becomes law, and despite all the celebration by Republicans and all the criticism by Democrats, this has a big mountain to climb when it gets into the Senate.

The Senate -- the bill now goes to the Senate, and a lot of the Republican senators have already said they were essentially going to start from scratch, take everything that has been on the table and revisit it. That includes those provisions like preexisting conditions, how it's going to affect Medicaid at the state level. These are all things senators are willing to debate.

And the Republican senators have actually started a working group. This is a group of handpicked senators, none of which are women. They are all white men. There's been some criticism of that. And it's going to be their job to come up with an initial draft that can be then presented to the entire Senate so that they can begin these conversations.

Meanwhile, at the White House they have promised that the president will remain engaged in this conversation as the bill goes forward. Listen to what Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SANDERS, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I think we've made very clear we're going to be hands on in this process. It's a priority to fix a very broken system. Obamacare is a disaster. And this isn't a president who does things hands off. He's fully engaged on the House side. I expect him to be fully engaged on the Senate side and make sure that we get the bill that the American people deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And what we still don't have yet when it comes to this bill is a score from the Congressional Budget Office that will tell us projections as to how many people could lose their health insurance as a result of this bill and just how much it will cost the federal government. And one other important thing to keep in mind, Christi, as we look into the future that once the Senate passes their version of the bill this is going to have to go back to the House. And many of these same issues that prevented this bill from being passed initially will be brought up again. So we have a long way to go before we can talk about this bill even coming anything close to becoming a law.

PAUL: Yes, very good point to make. Ryan Nobles, always appreciate you. Thank you.

NOBLES: Thank you.

[10:00:00] BLACKWELL: Up next, we'll examine that partisan divide on the proposed health care plan and the rough ride ahead in the Senate.

PAUL: Also, how President Trump's friendship with the media mogul Rupert Murdoch could become somewhat of a liability for the Justice Department as it tries to impartially investigate claims of sexual harassment at FOX.

And a Dallas cop who shot an unarmed 15-year-old is fired, now facing murder charges. It's only a small victory for a family that's dealing with its grief this morning and still wondering how this could have ever happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't take away the sting of obviously losing their son, but it does soften the blow a bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Congresswoman, please respect that I'm asking you a question, because I'm not feeling like I'm getting an answer to it.

REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN, (R) TENNESSEE: It is a big issue --

KEILAR: Excuse me, congresswoman.

BLACKBURN: -- and preexisting conditions --

KEILAR: Can you say their premiums will not increase as a result of this legislation, because that's the knock right now on this?

BLACKBURN: The knock on this right now is something that those who do not want to see it succeed are going to continue --

KEILAR: Will people who have preexisting conditions, can you assure them that their premiums will not rise as a result of this legislation?

BLACKBURN: -- you're not going to see it --

KEILAR: The premiums will not go through the roof for people with preexisting conditions? Can you pledge it won't happen as a result of legislation?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: What you saw there was Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn's refusal to answer the question that Brianna Keilar was asking her, simply, will people who have preexisting conditions see their premiums rise under the new GOP health care bill? And that's at the center of this conversation in large part.

PAUL: She could not seem to be able to get an answer out of her, but that is the overriding question for most people. That's one of the biggest cruxes and arguments of this whole bill.

BLACKWELL: Joining us now to talk more about this, former South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, good morning to you.

ANDRE BAUER, (R) FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, SOUTH CAROLINA: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So this bill, all health care as the president has learned, as many people have learned, is complicated, right. But this is simple. This is easy to understand -- the inability to guarantee to the 117 million people in this country that their premiums will not rise under the AHCA. Why can't Republicans make that guarantee? And what do you make of what we just saw with Congresswoman Blackburn?

BAUER: A couple thoughts here. Number one, I admire the Republicans and Donald Trump push for an issue that they had a passion for. Some people said they couldn't get it done and they kept on and on. So I admire that. I hope they'll do that on a multitude of issues for the American people.

But back in February we talked on CNN about this, and I said I think they're taking an approach that's too fast and not dug in enough to really discuss issues. All we're talking about is shift costs, and we're talking about protecting the insurance companies. I want a discussion that says I think the American people need to know when they go for any type of procedure they need to be informed. How much is their doctor going to charge them and what's the cost, whether it's cash or whether it's the insurance company. When you go to the hospital, you ought to know what you're going to pay before you pay it. People need to be informed. We need to have discussion about prescription drug cost, tort reform. We're not talking about anything that ultimately brings the cost down.

We need more skin in the game for the consumer. We need to do things from keeping people walking in the ER that don't need immediate help, they can go to a primary care physician. For a real conservative, a look at this bill, it's disheartening to me that we aren't doing more to actually lower costs. But it says to me too many people in the swamp still haven't been drained and they're still controlling and dictating health care when you really boil it down. There needs to be a bigger discussion.

BLACKWELL: The reason that House Republicans who voted for this bill cannot guarantee the premiums of people with preexisting conditions will not rise is because there is no guarantee, and for many of them they will, is that not true?

BAUER: I can tell you that premiums aren't going to go down until we find a way to bring health care costs down. And that's not what this discussion has been about. It's been about different ways to insure them, but we aren't discussing a bigger overall problem that health care costs have risen exponentially over the last few years and even over the last few decades, and that has to come under control.

And so for conservatives, they need to delineate a big difference, and this is the big to do it between Republicans and Democrats. That Republicans believe in a more fiscal, prudent, responsible way of governing. And this bill if they go back and take more time to do it, allows to show a difference. But they've got to have a bigger discussion than just shifting.

BLACKWELL: How can Republicans claim that they want a fiscally responsible way of doing this without knowing how much it's going to cost?

BAUER: Well, until you have a way to bring health care coverage down, and that hasn't been part of the discussion, you're not going to know what it's going to cost. And that's not the real -- I don't see that anywhere in the discussion.

BLACKWELL: They would at least have an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. Let me bring it to the conversation now we've got with us CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: Good morning to you, Ron. The point we were picking up there with Andre, he says that Republicans in the House want to do this in a fiscally responsible way, but there are no updated numbers from the effort last month from a CBO report. Republicans didn't wait for it.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. It is really almost unprecedented, I think, to vote on a bill of this magnitude without having a CBO score. I mean, look, what you've got in this bill are two fundamental transfers of kind of resources. On the one hand you have a big tax cut by repealing the Obamacare surcharges on the top earners offset by an enormous reduction in Medicaid spending that would be $880 billion over the decade, according to CBO and will not change in this final bill. That is not going to be affected.

[10:20:08] And 14 million fewer people will be on Medicaid, and that I think is going to be the crux of the issue in the Senate because there have been a number of Republican states that have expanded Medicaid and it has reached precisely what has become the core of the new Republican coalition.

The other change, the other shift in the bill is an enormous shift of costs from -- towards sick people away from healthy people. There's no question that the changes in insurance that the Republicans are proposing would in many cases reduce costs for younger, healthier people at the price of making insurance much more expensive if available at all for older and sicker people with greater health needs, and in essence taking us back almost entirely to a pre Affordable Care Act world where essentially, you know, most of the people who bought coverage in the individual market were those who didn't need it, and if you actually need coverage, it was very hard to obtain it. So this is a big philosophical change that moves away from the idea of

establishing in essence more of a community vision of how health care is provided.

BLACKWELL: Andre, quickly, I want to play for you something from a town hall meeting last night, Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador, the House is on break and they'll be off until the 15th. And here's an exchange from that meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Mandating people on Medicaid accept dying.

REP. RAUL LABRADOR, (R) IDAHO: No one wants anybody to die. You know, that line is so indefensible. Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: If you couldn't hear that or understand it, he said "Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care." Do you agree with that?

BAUER: Well, I would have to hear an instance where that happened. My understanding, and I represented a rural district when I was a senator, if somebody walks in the hospital, they are going to give them care regardless of what it does for the hospital bill. And I had hospitals that actually lost money every year and were having a difficult time making a go of it because it was such a rural and poor district.

But again, there's got to be free market principles in here if you're going to lower health care costs. And Ron talked about it. We're talking about shifting, but we're not talking about addressing the real issue and that is the ultimate cost of what it costs to provide health care to Americans. We've got to find a way to bring the costs down and we're not doing that. We're just shifting the cost.

BLACKWELL: All right, Ron Brownstein and Andre Bauer, thank you both.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

BAUER: Thank you.

PAUL: Well, next, is the reputation of the U.S. Justice Department at stake as it investigates sexual harassment claims at 21st Century FOX? The question, could President Trump's friendship with FOX boss Rupert Murdoch be a liability here?

Plus sources tell CNN Hillary Clinton is launching a new political organization but not as a candidate for office. Will her next move help move the Democratic Party forward, or could it hold it back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:12] BLACKWELL: Well, a presidential friendship could soon cause headaches for the federal government. Sources tell CNN the president speaks with the head of 21st century FOX Rupert Murdoch almost every day, and Murdoch gives the president advice on policy and strategy.

PAUL: At the same time the president's Justice Department is investigating 21st Century FOX and how it handled settlements with women who accused former FOX News CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Let's talk about this with former White House ethics lawyer and law professor at the University of Minnesota Richard Painter and Bill Carter, CNN media analyst and author of "The War for Late-Night, When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy." Gentlemen, so glad to have both of you in the conversation, thank you. Richard, I want to start with you. As an ethics lawyer is there anything about this that makes you uncomfortable when it comes to this friendship that we know of and the ongoing investigation?

RICHARD PAINTER, PROFESSOR OF CORPORATE LAW, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Well, I don't know how it's going to effect the investigation. This administration's attitude toward women is quite clear. I don't trust them to deal with sexual harassment allegations anywhere, much less FOX News.

But the second issue is that Rupert Murdoch is clearly trying to use his relationship with the president to expand his news empire, and the president of course is desperate for positive news coverage, which he's getting from FOX News. And this is a relationship that's going to create conflicts throughout the United States government including the Justice Department in this investigation. But we also have the FCC that may let him acquire more local television stations. So it's a serious problem, the political appointees of the president involved in decisions that impact Rupert Murdoch's news empire.

PAUL: So the conflict is very clear to you, you're saying?

PAINTER: Absolutely. The Justice Department, the Federal Communications Commission, everywhere, the political appointees are getting involved in decisions that affect Rupert Murdoch while the president is dependent on FOX News for positive news coverage. We have conversations between the two of them every day. I really do think that the political appointees and all of the agencies need to back off of this specific party matters that involve FOX News and Rupert Murdoch.

There are plenty of career appointees in all of these agencies including the Justice Department, the FCC, and elsewhere who can make decisions about these matters that are critical to our country, particularly with respect to concentration in media. That's the issue over the FCC. The sexual harassment issue is very important as well. Let's just say I don't trust the Justice Department to deal with it anyway.

PAUL: OK, Bill, this isn't the first time the Justice Department, though, has been under the microscope. Let's remember last year, then Attorney General Loretta Lynch had her impromptu meeting with Bill Clinton as his wife was under investigation. There was a huge uproar there. Does the same scrutiny apply? [10:30:04] BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: It's a very good

comparison. You heard people roaring about that one conversation, and here you have Rupert Murdoch apparently speaking to President Trump every day even as his company's under investigation by the Justice Department.

You know, there are things that are obvious conflicts of interest, and then there's the appearance of conflict of interest. And this is really both in big majority of opinion has to be that this is wrong. I mean, if it was a previous administration, the conservatives would go crazy about this amount of influence by someone who's under investigation.

And Murdoch because, you know, FOX is sort of an arm getting to be the official government network including the story about the EPA now only can show FOX News in their offices. So, you know, there is all of this conflict going on. And somebody really should speak out against it. You could make the argument that the Justice Department is under more pressure to go through with this because otherwise it really looks like a whitewash.

PAUL: Richard, can the Justice Department go to the president and say you have to sever your ties, your conversations right now during this investigation?

PAINTER: I don't think they can do that. They're not going to tell President Trump what to do. He's going to do everything he can to expand his ties with Rupert Murdoch because he wants favorable press coverage. He's not getting it elsewhere. He's shutting the "New York Times" out of the White House press briefings from time to time. He is hostile to CNN, other networks. He is going to talk to Rupert Murdoch and you're not going to stop him.

What you can do is insist that career government employees throughout the agencies deal with FOX News related matters. And I have to say the sexual harassment allegations are just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue for Rupert Murdoch is expanding the number of TV stations he owns. And of course Donald Trump wants that. If he's asking to give him positive coverage going into the 2018-2020 elections, that's the really big issue. And we're at a very, very difficult situation in the United States. We're not supposed to have Pravda or some other media outlet linked to the United States government that dominates the airwaves, but we could be going in that direction if we're not careful.

PAUL: Bill, I only have a couple of seconds, but talk to me quickly about the optics here and the authenticity now of the government?

CARTER: Well, that's a big question going forward. I mean, if they're sending their message out through basically a propaganda channel that's in bed with them. You know, it's another mark against their credibility. You do have to question where the honesty and forthrightness is going in this country.

PAUL: All right, Richard Painter, Bill Carter, thank you for your thoughts. We appreciate both of you gentlemen taking the time. PAINTER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Well, the Federal Communications Commission is investigating talk show host Stephen Colbert's recent comments about President Trump after people called and reported a controversial joke. Now, here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(APPLAUSE)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": You attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla who got hit in the head. In fact the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: It's important to note here the FCC is not trying to censor Colbert. Instead it's routine for the commission to review clips that get complaints. Colbert says he does not regret his comments.

You know, we could see a new political PAC from Hillary Clinton, possibly coming as early as this week. She's now reentering the political arena after a 2016 election loss, it seems.

BLACKWELL: But she told our Christiane Amanpour she is not looking to be a candidate for office this time. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm now back to being an activist citizen and part of the resistance.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Sources tell CNN she is putting together a political organization called Onward Together that will fund and invest in activist groups. Joining us now Jonathan Allen, political analyst for Roll Call and coauthor of "Shattered, Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign." Jonathan, good morning to you.

JONATHAN ALLEN, CO-AUTHOR, "SHATTERED": Good morning to both of you.

BLACKWELL: So first let me start with what you write in the book, there was too much money, too many advisors, too many staffers. And let's put up an excerpt here. "Hillary had built a massive operation with insatiable appetite for cash. Trump's leaner beast was fed with relatively small morsels from his personal treasury and contributors." That sounds like if you take out the name Trump, an accusation, a critique that could have been made about the 2008 campaign.

ALLEN: That's right, Hillary Clinton started with a huge cash advantage in the 2008 campaign. Ultimately Barack Obama was able to catch up with her because he sort of ignited the grassroots and ended up, you know, securing a ton of money. But Donald Trump was much more efficient this time around, and, you know, was able to focus his campaign on the key battleground states in the Midwest that ended up making a difference.

[10:35:06] BLACKWELL: One of the major headlines this morning we're talking about hacking and its involvement in elections. And you found, I understand, along with your co-author that voters were well aware of Russia's involvement or the accused involvement in the U.S. election but it did not dissuade them in large part from voting for Donald Trump.

ALLEN: That's right. We've heard Secretary Clinton come out this week in that interview with Christiane Amanpour and talk about some of the things she thinks affected the election, the Jim Comey letter, the Russian interference. Those are certainly part of the story. But as you said, you know, the Russian interference was something voters knew about. And 17 U.S. intelligence agencies had come out and said that Russia had tried to tamper with the election. Donald Trump was out there encouraging the Russians, or whoever else, to hack into Hillary Clinton's e-mail. So this was something that was known and did not prevent the right number of voters in the right number of states or the right set of states from electing Donald Trump president.

And now we're seeing that go on in France as well. You know, I think it's something that everybody should be concerned about and certainly we're going to continue to see investigation into Russian influence in the election. But this was not the key to the election. It was not as big of an issue as some of the others that put Donald Trump in a position to win.

BLACKWELL: So what was, if there was a singular reason? If it wasn't the hacking, was it the e-mail server, was it the strategy of which states to visit? What -- did you see if there was one, a singular reason for the loss?

ALLEN: I don't think there was a singular reason. I think this was a perfect storm. Certainly the things Secretary Clinton talked about influenced the election. My co-author, Amie Parnes and I go through all of this in detail in the book "Shattered," but it has to do with Hillary Clinton not having a succinct message that explains to the American public why her, why now.

It has to do with the e-mail server, which, by the way, is the original event that created the Jim Comey controversy. It has to do with Obamacare premiums spikes that voters found out about in October that were coming, and you don't hear Democrats talk about that so much. There were so many factors in this election.

And I think what's interesting is that there are some Democrats that have chosen to focus on the external factors and not spend a lot of time looking at what the Clinton campaign did wrong, what the candidate might have been able to do better, all of the lessons from this campaign, many of which are laid out in this book, that might help them in the future. I know certainly a lot of folks on the other side and basically a lot of people just interested in politics are looking at some of these lessons for the future.

BLACKWELL: Still many questions that need to be answered, as you point out, that the Democrats now need to rebuild. Jonathan Allen, thanks so much for being with us.

ALLEN: My pleasure, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

PAUL: Well, a Dallas area police officer who was fired for shooting an unarmed teen is facing murder charges now. Next, why a former prosecutor says after early errors were corrected the case is now back on track.

BLACKWELL: Plus, after days of deadly protests in Venezuela, marchers have a new message in the streets today. Live pictures right now. Will this different approach bring about any change?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:32] PAUL: Well, the family of Jordan Edwards is holding the teen's funeral today, this happening as a former police officer is facing murder charges for shooting that unarmed teen.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Roy Oliver was arrested Friday for shooting and killing Edwards last weekend. He was fired from his job as a Dallas area police officer on Tuesday. He is now out of jail after posting bail.

PAUL: Investigators say he shot Edwards as the 15-year-old rode in the passenger seat of a car. The city's police chief first said the car was driving toward officers when one of the officers opened fire. He later said he, quote, "misspoke" after body cam footage showed the car driving away from the officers. Now, earlier I spoke with Dallas area defense attorney and former prosecutor Yodit Tewolde about the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YODIT TEWOLDE, FORMER PROSECUTOR: I'm very proud of Dallas. I'm very proud of the Dallas district attorney's office for acting so swiftly with regards to this case. I'm even proud of the Balch Springs police chief who came out and recanted his story after realizing, watching the evidence on video, that the story that the officer told them was untrue. So I'm extremely happy that an arrest has been made. I'm extremely happy that they're pursuing a murder charge. It should have happened sooner, but, you know what, it happened and now we just need to look forward to him getting indicted for murder and going to trial.

PAUL: The interesting thing is, so he's charged with murder, but he's out on bond. Is that common?

TEWOLDE: It is. I would hope that they put some conditions of bond because clearly he is a danger to society. He has a rifle. I mean, he shot a rifle and several rounds into a car full of teenagers for no reason. So I would hope that there would be some conditions of bond. But yes, he's entitled to a bond. He made bond. He's out of bond. But I hope that they keep a strict eye and a close look on him while this whole thing plays out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And thanks again to Yodit Tewolde for being with us this morning.

BLACKWELL: After days of deadly protests, there is a new approach now. Today women in Venezuela stage a peaceful march in opposition to that government. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon is there live with the mothers of Venezuela.

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Hello? Yes, I'm here in Caracas. It is yet another march.

[10:45:00] Marches started in early April, the very first one, and still the protests are here. Today it's the women's march. It's the mothers and the wives of political prisoners and of the victims of the protests so far, they're trying to raise pressure.

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BLACKWELL: Well, after days of deadly violent protests, marchers are now bringing a different message to the streets of Venezuela today.

PAUL: Sizable crowds expected, and there's a picture for you there, for the women's march against repression. It just started in the capital of Caracas. You see white shirts, white flowers there, hoping to show a message of unity.

[10:50:00] At the same time they're calling for the current president to step down. The U.S., we should point out, watching in on this crisis in Venezuela this morning. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley actually released a statement saying in part, quote, "We are deeply concerned about the Maduro government's violent crackdown on protesters in Venezuela. President Maduro's disregard for the fundamental rights of his own people has heightened the political and economic crisis in the country. The Maduro regime must respect Venezuela's constitution and the voice of its people. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon is live at the march in Venezuela. Stefano, what are you seeing there?

POZZEBON: What I've seen today is yet another march that has taken to the street. Today it's a women's march in order to mourn the victims and the prisoners of this latest cycle of protests. People were asked to wear white and to carry white flowers in order to mourn. The unrest started here in the early days of April. More than 30 people have died, although not every one of them died, but more than 30 people died in Venezuela since the latest cycle of protests. And in particular today's march is linked to a personal case of Leopoldo Lopez, a very powerful and charismatic opposition leader who has been in isolation in a military jail from the early days of April, pretty much from when the protests started. And his family are saying that they want to see him as soon as possible to make sure that he's alive.

PAUL: All right, Stefano Pozzebon there, we appreciate your reporting. Thank you for bringing that to us.

President Trump has talked to a lot of reporters over the years. Seems when the questions get tough, the Donald gets going. Jeanne Moos has a look at his greatest hits.

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PAUL: He's just out of college, but this week's CNN hero already making a huge difference in the lives of Cambodian children.

BLACKWELL: The problem is the lack of access to something we all take for granted, simple soap.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMIR LAKHANI, CNN HERO: When children do not wash their hands, they are vulnerable to illnesses which unfortunately can take their life. No child should suffer because there simply wasn't any soap available. My hope for Cambodia's youth is for them to understand that they can take their own health into their very own hands.

Very good. Very good. Yes.

Just by a simple act such as hand washing.

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PAUL: To see how Samir is using soap not only to save lives but boost the local economy and help the environment, you can go to CNNheroes.com, and while you're there nominate someone you think should be a 2017 hero.

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[10:57:57] BLACKWELL: President Trump is no stranger to the big headlines. He's been in the news long before his run for president.

PAUL: And this is what we're going to see, because when it comes to a line of questioning maybe that he doesn't agree with or he doesn't want to answer, he has a strategy to just walk on out. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can have your own opinions.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What really made it more than enough.

TRUMP: That's enough.

MOOS: Was the dismissive wave, interview over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I want to know your opinion? You're the president of the United States.

TRUMP: It's enough. Thank you. Thank you very much.

MOOS: CBS's John Dickerson was thank you-ed right out the door. And 27 years earlier it was Donald Trump who walked out after tough questions from CNN about the financial health of his casinos.

TRUMP: Back to the negative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back to the negative.

TRUMP: You know what, do this interview with somebody else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talked about this yesterday on the phone.

TRUMP: Do the interview with somebody else, really. You don't need this. Do it with somebody else.

MOOS: Instead of "thank you," it was "good luck."

TRUMP: I think it's very unfair. Good luck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry you feel that way.

MOOS: Actually, Trump's walkouts are rare when you consider how many hundreds, even thousands of interviews he's done over the years. He's never come close to terminating me, though as a presidential candidate Trump walked off on two Ohio TV reporters in a single day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And 19 days out from the election you've been labeled a racist, you've been called a sexist.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you respond to that?

TRUMP: I am the least racist person you've ever met.

MOOS: This after a woman came out accusing Trump of touching her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know the woman came out about you groped her, can you talk about allegations of that?

TRUMP: I know nothing about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About the open allegations?

TRUMP: I don't know about that.

MOOS: Trump clearly knew nothing about fake rapper Ali G. when he sat down with Sacha Baron Cohen's character who asked him to invest in --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These ice cream gloves.

MOOS: Trump declined the request, did it without taking off the gloves. TRUMP: Good luck, folks, it's been nice to see you. You take care of

yourself, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is you going to be in on that?

TRUMP: Well, it sounds like an interesting --

MOOS: Trump tends to be harder on the microphone.

TRUMP: Do it with somebody else and have a good time.

MOOS: Than the interviewer.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

TRUMP: That's enough.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Only as Jeanne Moos can do it. Thank you so much for watching. Make some great memories today.

BLACKWELL: Much more ahead on the next hour of CNN Newsroom. We turn it over now to our colleague Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much. Good to see you guys. Take care of that cough there.

BLACKWELL: I will.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks guys. Have a great day.

All right, it's 11:00 eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Newsroom starts right now.