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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump to Address United Nations Tuesday; Republican Leaders on DACA: "There's No Agreement"; Florida Keys Residents Returning Home; St. Louis Prepare for More Unrest After Officer Acquittal; What Protests Says About U.S. Culture; Rallies on National Mall to Support Trump; Rally in Richmond Over Robert E. Lee Statue; Trump Tells Congress to "Move Fast" on Tax Reform; Security Group: Equifax Breach Was Preventable. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired September 16, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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


[13:00:00] REP. JOHN FASO, (R), NEW YORK: I think that he's sending a message we have to work cooperatively to deal with these type of threats, whether it's ISIS and the worldwide terror network or it's a rogue state like North Korea. I'm hopeful we can maintain a level of good cooperation with our allies and international partners in order to address these threats. We saw just recently in London another terrorist attack in that city. We have -- the civilized world has to unite against these threats.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley also spoke about the upcoming speech. This is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: To start off with, the speech that the president gives, I think you can see it for yourself. I personally think he slaps the right people. He hugs the right people. He comes out with U.S. being very strong in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Is this speech designed, in your view mostly to, you know, comfort or allay the fears of certain allies?

FASO: Well, I think we have to always try to have a cooperative spirit. But we also have to be clear what our goals are. And accommodating a state like North Korea is not something that's truly possible. We've got to tighten those sanctions, tighten the economic and political noose around them and also make plain that we're prepared in the ultimate situation to defend ourselves.

WHITFIELD: North Korea has said its military -- its goal is to be a military equal to the U.S. So how important is it for the U.S. to either show patience or continue to, you know, tackle this in a diplomatic way?

FASO: Well, we have to continue to ratchet up the pressure. But that means also we feed to make sure that China and to a lesser degree Russia are brought along as well. I think the Chinese have been much more cooperative, although, not to the extent we would like. I do have a question as to whether the Russians are playing along in terms of the need to keep restrict oil exports to North Korea and the like. So it's vitally important that we try to shut down any foreign company, presence, which might trade with North Korea to try to tighten the economic sanctions that would be imposed on companies that would do business with North Korea. I think Secretary Mnuchin and the National Security Council are working hard in that regard. There's no doubt success of administrations both Democrat and Republican have sought to employ measures to bring North Korea into some type of situation where we can accommodate their existence but North Korea, frankly, has not shown itself to be responsive to those ambitions.

WHITFIELD: "The New York Times" had a scathing editorial by its editorial board called "Morality is Negotiable for Mr. Trump," and inferring, you see right there, that "Mr. Trump's actions are rarely underpinned by principles or a vision of who we are as a nation." And largely it concludes that the president is more motivated by his own personal, you know, preservation. What's your view on this?

FASO: Well, I didn't read that "New York Times" editorial. It's probably not surprising they're not exactly compatible with the presidency of Donald Trump.

But the fact is -- and I've told this to folks at a town meeting a few weeks ago in my district who asked for me to denounce President Trump -- I said, I pointed out Donald Trump won my congressional district in upstate New York. And so my attitude is we've got to work with the administration. And just this past week you see Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Pelosi, the Democratic leaders in Congress, working with the present on DACA and immigration issues. And I think that's good actually. It's high time we get past the polarization and political rhetoric and recognize that he's president for four years and we have a responsibility in Congress not just to go along with that agenda if we don't agree with it but actually to try to compromise and find areas where we can agree.

WHITFIELD: Where do you hope -- what do you believe the outcome of DACA is that you best propose?

FASO: Well, I mean, I think it's important to recognize a couple of things. When President Obama issued the DACA order back in 2012, he called it temporary. Indeed, the DACA order is under legal attack. So I think the administration actually gave us a good window, a six- month window, to resolve this. I'd like to see us -- I'm a co-sponsor of two bills to deal with the DACA situation. I'd like, if you for instance are getting a -- having a college degree here in the United States, you have full-time employment, you served in the military, then I think those people should be given permanent resident status in our country. We have to, as resolving this legislatively, which I think that's the proper venue to do it, not executive orders --

(CROSSTALK)

[13:05:19] WHITFIELD: But you heard the attorney general say rescinding DACA.

FASO: Yes, well, I think rescinding DACA after a period of six months, there's a real question as to whether President Obama's order back in 2012 was consistent with law and precedent. Rather than having this murky in terms of a temporary situation, as President Obama called it, we're best to have Congress act. That's why I'm sponsoring legislation sponsored by Carl Curbelo, my colleague from Florida, who has a very good bill.

We also have other immigration issues we have to deal with. In Upstate New York. The farmers definitely need a supply of solid seasonal labor. These are very skilled workers that come into our country and we need to resolve the issue for the agricultural industry as well. I think there's a multitude of areas on immigration where we should act. DACA is one. Farm labor is another. I think we can do it in a way that's consistent with our values, being open to immigration but also consistent with the rule of law.

WHITFIELD: All right, Representative John Faso, thanks for your time, appreciate it.

FASO: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Now, let's talk about Florida. Some Floridians, post- Irma, have been waiting for the message from officials who have now been giving an all-clear to residents of the Florida Keys to return to their homes this weekend, more than a week after that hurricane. The northern Keys through Marathon Key was opened this morning. The lower Keys are scheduled to open tomorrow.

Let's go live now to CNN's Martin Savidge in Key West, Florida.

Martin, it's going to take folks a long time if they're just now getting the message in any part of south Florida to make their way to Marathon or even to Key West. But what's the feeling as to how quickly people will start trying to make that traverse there?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I bet you there are people lined up now already. Because there have been people up there for days. This may look like any Saturday, just about any town, any place in America. But of course, it's Key West, Florida. And it is a week after a cat 4 hurricane blasted through this entire area.

These people are lined up to go to the grocery store here. Publix is open and it has everything. Now they got everything. They have stocked the shelves. Just jam packed full. Why so many people are waiting to get into the store. Everything is functioning. They love that because it's a sign of at least life starting to come back.

What you know is people are only buying what they can consume in a day because they don't have power to try to store and keep it. Then other groups just continue to drop off the food for free, just collecting along the curb. You take what you wish. People collect some water, bread, household goods, then they can move on.

Or you can go on to the parking lot over here and the National Guard is set up. They've got plenty of water. They've got plenty of ice, which is badly need. And then on top of that, they've got MREs. So everything is here. They're just waiting for their folks to come back tomorrow -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, like you said, they're probably lining up and will start making their way.

All right, Martin Savage, thanks so much, in Key West.

St. Louis bracing for another round of protests after demonstrations erupted over the acquittal of an ex-police officer who was accused of murdering a black motorist. A life report from St. Louis when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:13:09] WHITFIELD: All right, St. Louis police are preparing for more possible unrests today. Demonstrators marched through the city, protesting the acquittal of ex-officer, Jason Stockley, in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. Though the protest was largely peaceful, there were instances of unrest. Some protesters clashed with police. Others vandalized property. At least 23 arrests and 10 law enforcement officers injured.

The ex-cop, who was found not guilty of murder, speaking out for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON STOCKLEY, FORMER ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICER: As far as how I feel right now, I'm obviously currently pleased that there was a -- that right verdict came down. And it feels like a burden is lifted. But the burden of having to kill someone never really lifts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN correspondent, Dan Simon, is in St. Louis for us now.

So, Dan, what is the expectation today?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Fred. The community is certainly bracing for more chaos tonight. That's why the band, U2, had to cancel their concert tonight because police basically said that because of the potential for unrest, they wouldn't have enough officers to provide security at the venue. So U2 felt like it had no choice and had to cancel.

We were really in the thick of it last night, Fred, when we saw police unload their pepper spray and tear gas. Things for the most part were peaceful. That is until we saw a crowd of several hundred people surround the mayor's house. And took some very large rocks and broke some windows. That's when police really had to step up in to try to get the crowd to disperse. We also saw some flag burning as well.

The question is, what is going to happen tonight. I can tell you that police say again they're prepare and the Missouri governor has the National Guard on standby -- Fred?

[13:15:04] WHITFIELD: All right, Dan Simon, thanks so much. So the issue of race looms over the rallies and protests across the

U.S. today.

Let's get some perspective on what this says about the culture of this country, the country overall in 2017. Joining us is Michael Eric Dyson, the author of the book "Tears We Cannot Stop."

Michael, good to see you.

What's your reaction right now to how people are expressing themselves in St. Louis after this judge rendered verdict?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, AUTHOR: Thank you, Fred. Well, I think that instead of the police being celebrated for their calm and their restraint, we should acknowledge the huge gesture of restraint on the part of a population that has, once again, been deeply disappointed and let down by the criminal justice system. The justice system continues to render verdicts that are shot through with bias and limited understanding of the particular problems that black people and others confront. Here you've got a policeman on tape saying they're going to kill this M.F. tonight. Brings his own A.K.-47 to the scene. Shoots the man within a few seconds, claiming he was fearful of his life. Replaying the same stereotypical tape that many policemen evoke in the face of their obvious guilt. And then searching through his bag, not looking, it seems, for medical equipment to help Mr. Smith, but for a throw-down, a gun, to put into place. Because when the gun was retrieved, it only had the DNA of Mr. Stockley. This is repeating a pattern that is mind-numbingly repetitious to suggest that black people simply can't get justice in the courts of America. That prosecutors will hardly bring a case. And when they do, the charges hardly stick, whether it's a jury, as in many cases, or an individual judge. Look at some of the troubling language that that judge used. An urban heroin dealer. Likely to have had a gun. All of the bias and bigotry and the stereotypes and collective beliefs about black people coming to a head and that judge's decision and then this policeman getting off Scott-free. It repeats a pattern.

What we have to do is continue to underscore the fact that in Ferguson, in Missouri, in St. Louis, more particularly, is manifest all the problems of this culture. And as they continue to confront them, the rest of us as a nation not only look on but trying to wage war with them against some of the incense taste against black life and the inability to protect black life when it comes to the court system of American culture.

WHITFIELD: Earlier, I spoke with the former St. Louis alderman, Antonio French. He also expressed a feeling of frustration that there was much more expected, particularly after Ferguson's unrest. Very little, if anything, has been done to really tackle a systemic problem. And under these types of circumstances, some might want to turn to the U.S. Justice Department. But there isn't that feeling that the U.S. Justice Department stepping into an investigation like this, looking into systemic problems of the St. Louis area or anywhere, that there is much hope.

DYSON: Well, look at the Justice Department whose hands are handcuffed under the best of circumstances by an extraordinary burden of proof at the federal level. So they have to prove intent. Although, I think in this case when a man says he will -- he is going to murder someone that night, that should rise to meet an onerous federal burden of proof to substantiate a claim of intent. Even under the best of circumstance, it's often difficult for the Justice Department to come in and render a finding that will make those police departments be held accountable. On the second hand, what the Department of Justice can do, is do what it did under President Obama with Eric Holder and then Loretta Lynch. The Justice Department can come in and have a finding that suggests a systemic pattern of segregation, of intimidation, of discrimination, of Jim Crow, and then they can work with that police department to work out the kinks and to address its systemic inequities. We know, under Jeff Sessions, this department just decided yesterday or the day before that it will withdraw Obama-era consent degrees, if you will, with these department, and will withdraw that leg of the Justice Department that looks into these matters. So not only are we handcuffed in terms of the burden of proof, the disinclination of the Trump Justice Department to take seriously the claims of regular citizens against the police departments has been dealt a death blow. This is the vicious consequence of not only the limitations structurally placed on the Justice Department, but the kind of rise of this white insensitivity under President Trump that really beclouds this nation.

[13:20:05] WHITFIELD: All right, Michael Eric Dyson, thank you.

DYSON: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: It is the next best thing on the president's agenda. Straight ahead, how the battle for tax reform is shaping up. And what role the Democrats could play in getting it passed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

# All right, multiple rallies popping up around washington today. That's not unusual for the nation's capitol on the weekend. One in particular is describing itself as Patriots for Patriots Today. It's backed by pro-Trump supporters. Gathering on the National Mall right now.

CNN Washington correspondent, Ryan Nobles, is there.

Ryan, the National Mall, known for a lot of rallies, protests, you know, historically. But how does this one, you know, measure up and what is the focus?

[13:25:22] RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHIGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's safe to say this is not enormous crowd behind me for the mother of all rallies but it is an enthusiastic crowd. The goal here is to support President Trump. They've been talking about why they feel he's doing a good job and it's the job of Americans to get behind his presidency.

They've also not been afraid to take some shots at the mainstream media and also Hillary Clinton. In fact, just a few minutes ago, there was a pretty loud chant for "lock her up" having to do with Hillary Clinton, something we haven't heard really since the campaign.

For the most part, it's been a peaceful and positive rally. They started the rally out by telling everyone if you can't turn and shake the hand of the person next to you, then you should leave. For the most part, that has worked. We've seen a couple minor dustups. But nothing that has caused any alarm bells.

Still, Fred, it's kind of a weird day in washington. You mentioned there are rallies happening and rallies happen here on a regular basis. But there's actually a number of different rallies and protests happening in different parts of the city and from, frankly, groups that come from different perspectives. A protest that's set to take place just down from us, back the other way on the National Mall at the Lincoln Memorial. Comes from a group of people that are fans of the group Insane Clown Posse. They describe themselves as Jugolows (ph). They're upset because they've been designated as a gang by the FBI. They've come here to show they are not, that they have a positive message as well. At one point, they're expected to march right by where we are on the mall and could mix in with this group. There's no reason to think those groups would run into any trouble. Regardless, Fred, an enormous police presence down here. As they want to make sure everybody stays safe and these protests remain peaceful -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Noble, from the nation's capitol, thank you.

Heading further south to Richmond, Virginia, another rally is under way. People there gathering for the Heritage Not Hate rally, protesting that, this, you're about to see, Robert E. Lee statue, stay put in that state's capitol.

CNN national correspondent, Scott McLean, is there for us.

Scott, the rally started this morning. Again, I see a handful of people behind you. But kind of paint the picture, how significant, you know, the turnout has been today and what the message is.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, things have actually been pretty tame here, Fredricka. In light of the violence in Charlottesville, officials here in Richmond were taking every precaution that they could to make sure we didn't see a repeat. You can see here, they set up these heavy barriers all around the statue of Robert E. Lee. They also cordoned off all the streets around this monument as well to try to keep some of these warring functions away from one another.

But the group that organized this rally called the New Confederate States of America, they didn't have that many people. Earlier on this morning, there were less than a dozen people here being shouted down by a group of maybe more than 100. Now you can see things are starting to die down. It sort of turned into more of a discussion amongst some people who support the Confederate monument staying in Richmond and some other folks who don't, Fredricka. But this is certainly not what officials here in Richmond were expecting to happen. It's probably for the better. WHITFIELD: So, Scott, was there a lot of expressed concern that this

gathering was taking place not long after what took place in Charlottesville leading to death of one?

MCLEAN: Yes, absolutely right, Fredricka. I think that is why officials were so on edge. You can see, you know, there's a pretty heavy police presence here. Earlier, we saw a lot of police in riot gear. You can see just how many police officers were ready for what may have been an ugly situation. Obviously, that hasn't happened in this case. The dialogue, though it was pretty heated earlier today, it's been relatively civil lately. Things have not really turned into what they thought that it might.

The group that is putting this on though, or did put this on, Fredricka, they didn't actually have a permit for this space. The officials, though, they just wanted to make absolutely certain that, despite the fact this protest was going ahead, they wanted to make sure they were prepared.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Scott McLean, a day in the life of gatherings for various reasons from Virginia to the nation's capitol and, of course, Missouri today.

All right, still ahead, personal information from millions of Americans exposed. The security firm says Equifax's data breach could have been prevented. What that could mean for the legal fallout as customers join class-action suits against the company.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: What that could mean for the legal fallout as customers join class-action suits against the company.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This coming week, the president will be addressing the United Nations Security Council. But then, another big item on his domestic agenda will be tax reform, separately. He also, the president, says that he's banking on the Democrats to actually come to the table. Tweeting out just this week, quote, "The approval process for the biggest tax cut and tax reform package in the history of our country will soon begin. Move fast, Congress."

There haven't been any specifics so far, but some of the president's main proposals have included simplifying the tax code. As part of that, he wants to reduce the tax brackets to three down from the current seven. And probably the biggest change would be in the corporate tax rate. The president wants to drop it to a standard 15 percent. Right now, it's about 35 percent for most companies. Lower income tax rates are also part of the plan, including dropping taxes for the wealthiest of Americans.

I want to bring in Stephen Moore. He is CNN's senior economics analyst and a former economic adviser for the Trump campaign. And Ken Rogoff, a professor of economics and public policy at Harvard, and the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

Good to see both of you.

[13:35:51] STEPHEN MOORE, CNN SENIOR ECONOMMICS ANALYST: Hi, Fredricka.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Steve, you, first, a couple of things, you know, even this week, the president in discussions about his tax reform, also kind of intimated that the wealthier Americans would end up paying more. At the same time, the president sat at the table with Democrat leadership in the White House. How might all of that come together and perhaps reshape what people have come to know as the president's, you know, tax reform agenda?

MOORE: Great question by the way. I see you have on the screen, "Move fast."

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: He's done anything but that up until now. We're in the middle of September. There's still not a bill, Fredricka. They're still talking about a plan. We don't know what's going to be in the plan. There's a lot of frustration I got to tell you among conservatives and Republican activists that the clock is ticking here. It's like three minutes left in the fourth quarter in terms of getting something done this year. And there's still not a bill in the House or the Senate.

Now, you mentioned this issue about -- that became a big issue this week about tax cuts for the rich. That will be certainly the number one attack that Democrats make. They've already started making it.

I've got to tell you, every time I met with Donald Trump on tax reform during the campaign, one of the first things he's always say is I want to make sure this is not a tax cut for rich people like me. I think there's a way to device this plan, Fredricka, in a way that helps businesses and business owners, brings our corporate rate down -- I know Ken and I have talked a lot about the benefits of doing that -- without providing a, you know, massive tax cut for rich people and really orienting it towards the middle class.

WHITFIELD: Ken, how do you see this? Is this kind of a work in progress? You know, is there real clarity, you know, about where the president wants to go in this tax reform? Because the president's made it very clear he wants it to be one of his top agenda items but here we are in September. What's it going to look like?

KEN ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS & PUBLIC POLICY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY & FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: Well, you have a Republican president, a Republican Congress. There's one thing Republicans agree on, it's cutting taxes.

MOORE: That's right.

ROGOFF: As Stephen said, they're, you know, nowhere on this. So President Trump has laid out some general principles, simple to help the middle class, but, and it's a big but, they want to make it relatively revenue neutral. In other words, someone might pay less and somebody else pays more. That's where the rubber hits the road here. They're talking about things like reducing the deductibility of state income taxes. But that hits the wealthy, but it also hits New York and California, which have a lot of Republicans, much less Democrats, it's hard to know how they're going to get that done. I do think the ultimate tax bill will -- they'll sort of paper it over by saying it's going to be great, it's going to be wonderful, don't worry about the debt. That's probably the right thing. That's what I see happening. They've got to get something done.

(CROSSTALK)

MOORE: Ken is probably right about that. I do not think this will be a revenue-neutral plan. I think this will be sold as a tax cut for families and businesses. And I think Republicans will say, look, we're going to grow the economy, we're going to put more people to work. That's a good way to get more tax revenues.

Because of these arcane budget rules, the Republicans are probably looking at a ten-year -- can call that temporary, I don't know if 10 years is temporary, but these arcane budget rules say only over 10 years. Unless you get 60 votes.

And the other interesting development this week, Fredricka, was what you just mentioned, whether Donald Trump can bring some of these moderate Democrats to the table. He had dinner with three of the moderate Democrats, including the West Virginia Senator and the Senator from Indiana, and saying, look, we're going to do this, it's going to be good for the economy. If he can get a few Democrat, that will be a breakthrough for Donald Trump.

WHITFIELD: But, Ken, when the president tweets out, you know, move fast, I mean, he's sending the message that he's saying, OK, you guys work on this, bring it to me, but wasn't that the big mistake for health care? Instead of crafting it himself or being more specific about what he wanted publicly, here we go again, with he's now putting the onus on members of Congress or somebody else to say come up with this plan, and then either I'll rubber stamp it or not?

[13:40:11] ROGOFF: Well, the tax bill is simpler -- Stephen may disagree with this -- in that you can fiddle around with it and do something and declare victory and say growth is going to be great, it's going to be a beautiful thing. You couldn't do that with health care. You couldn't sort of touch a few things and work with it. What I think he's really saying is, do something that I can declare victory. Do something that we can throw some red meat to our supporters. The principles he's laid out, it's kind of hard to argue with, you know, simplification, help the middle class. The corporate tax cut is something a lot of Democrats agree on. We have a crazy inefficient corporate tax system. However, when you cut it, it's going to benefit the wealthy more, and how do you take that back?

WHITFIELD: All right, Ken Rogoff, Stephen Moore, good to see you both. Thanks so much. MOORE: Thank you.

ROGOFF: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so much more in the NEWSROOM. But first, here's this week's "Fit Nation."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONAS LETIERI, PROFESSIONAL SURFER: When I paddle all day on the ocean, I have no limits.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Growing up on the beaches of Brazil, Jonas Letieri was no stranger to the ocean.

LETIERI: Was my dream, become a professional surfer and travel all over the world to get some good waves. One day, my entire life changed.

GUPTA: In 2011, he was electrocuted in an accident that forced doctors to amputate both of his arms below the elbow.

LETIERI: I asked God for another chance. That day, I was reborn. It was the restart of my entire life.

GUPTA: Jonas thought he would never catch another wave again until he discovered stand-up paddle boarding.

LETIERI: The main problem was to stand up on the board to catch the wave. With the paddle board, I don't have these kinds of problems. So the only problem right now was how to hold the paddle.

GUPTA: Jonas attached two wings to the side of his paddle, creating custom handles for his arms.

LETIERI: I got my first wave, was like this big, was the best wave of my entire life because that day I realized I can do everything, you know, I can surf again.

GUPTA: Now he has his eyes set on the Nash Columbia Gorge Paddle Challenge. Racers come from across the globe to compete on the Columbia River. A demanding seven-mile course with strong currents, 30-mile-an-hour winds and large swells.

LETIERI: So it was, like, really hard to stay on the board and go faster.

(SHOUTING)

GUPTA: Jonas crossed the finish line in just over 90 minutes, ahead of dozens of able-bodied competitors.

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here he is.

LETIERI: Finished the race and I saw my friends. It's amazing.

(CHEERING)

LETIERI: Being in the ocean, for me, it's the best place in the whole world. I just forgot that I don't have hands anymore. I feel like I'm complete again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:49] WHITFIELD: Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is taking aim at Equifax after the massive data breech that compromised the personal information that encompasses nearly half of America. Warren and Democratic Senator Brian Schacht introduced the Freedom from Equifax Exploitation Act in an attempt to get free credit freezing and unfreezing. Right now, a credit freeze costs between $2 and $10.

The Equifax breach compromised full names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and some drivers license and credit card information. So what can you do?

Joining me right now, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor joining us from Cleveland.

Good to see you.

And Richard Herman, a New York criminal defense attorney and law professor joining us from Las Vegas.

Good to see you as well.

All right, Richard, to you first, what can one do?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY & LAW PROFESSOR: Well, what one can sign up for, one of these class action lawsuits, 23, 24, I'm sure there's going to be more coming down the road. The problem, in this day and age with the advancement in technology, one of the issues that will be litigated in the class action or in Congressional inquiries is what if anything did Equifax do? Did they act reasonable? Did they know they were vulnerable to data breaches? If they knew that, what steps did they take to prevent that? Once they determined that, when did thought notify their customers? Here, it looks like Equifax is not the first rodeo for data breaches for them. They had some in the past. They knew for 60 days about this data breach before notifying any of their customers. And the question is, were they reckless, were they negligent?

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: How do you quantify the damages? That's very difficult in a case like this.

WHITFIELD: Right.

Avery, most people look at Equifax and the other, you know, the other two companies as sort of like an armored vehicle, you know, that it's impenetrable of your personal information. So on what grounds would people be able to say, hold it, you know, I'm willing to sue because you have been negligent or you have been careless with my personal information?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY & LAW PROFESSOR: Yes, penetrated all over the place. Look, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fredricka, which was a law passed about 40 years ago, requires two things. Number one, notice. You've got to tell customers what's going on. In this case, the breach occurred on July 29th. Executives winded up sell their stock off for $1.8 million. Then they told their customers. So they're in trouble on that.

Number two, remediation. What do you do? Put up a Web site and provide information like credit freezes and that type of thing. The problem was that Equifax put up a notice that you couldn't go to court and couldn't be part of a class action. That was wrong. Without the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, a federal agency, that wouldn't have been straightened out.

What's happening now is the law is crashing into politics. Does -- do financial agencies need more regulations, like Equifax? The answer is yes. But will Congress and the president oppose and try to limit financial regulation? And I think the answer is, unfortunately, yes.

[13:51:03] WHITFIELD: Richard, reportedly, after this hack, Equifax was actually charging people to freeze their credit. That's unusual, isn't it? I feel like I did that way back when, when I needed to, and I don't remember paying a fee.

HERMAN: You have pristine credit. You never have credit issues, Fred.

(LAUGHTER)

HERMAN: Us normal people out here, it's ridiculous, it's absurd. They've caught in a data breach. It took them 60 days to notify the customers and told them to sign up for this premier program. It will cost you $10. But you can't sue or join a class action. You're under the gun, Equifax. You need to show good faith to your customers who have been damaged. And 143 million customers had a data breach here. This is outrageous conduct.

(CROSSTALK)

HERMAN: And Equifax is going to feel the bite here in Congress and those class actions.

WHITFIELD: And, Avery, you cited the fact that some Equifax executives had already sold off stock. Given that, will customers be able to say you really did fail to notify customers immediately, because you took steps to protect yourselves first, before you reportedly took steps to protect us.

FRIEDMAN: Yes, that's exactly right. And $1.8 million in self- dealing. Bottom line, Equifax has insurance. They have got $150 million. The slight problem is you have 143 million affected. If you do the math, it looks like everybody walks away with about $1 in this case.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lot of folks who are very worried, very concerned. I know you answered the questions of many, but there are still many more questions.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Avery Friedman, Richard Herman, thank you so much.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: If you do continue to have questions about your private information, whether it was accessed, you can actually go to CNNmoney.com. There's an in-depth article there on the Equifax data breach. And then scroll down to "Am I at Risk" to access the Trusted I.D. Premier link. It will allow you to determine whether your information was stolen.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:57:35] MELISSA MCCARTHY, COMEDIAN: And our president will not --

(LAUGHTER)

-- be deterred --

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

MCCARTHY: -- in his fight against radical Mooslambs.

(LAUGHTER)

Does anybody else have any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED COMEDIAN: Yes, "Wall Street Journal." Are you OK?

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. That, of course was actress, Melissa McCarthy, playing the role of former White House press secretary, Sean Spicer on "Saturday Night Live." The performance won her an Emmy. The actress received the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a comedy series at the Creative Emmys, which were held a week ago. And these awards were handed out ahead of tomorrow's big event. After McCarthy won her Emmy for playing the former White House press

secretary, the man himself, Sean Spicer, appeared on late-night with Jimmy Kimmel and joked about the "SNL" skits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: The president didn't think that was funny?

SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think he found as much humor as others.

KIMMEL: Was he particularly annoyed at the fact that a woman was playing you?

SPICER: I really didn't ask a ton of questions.

KIMMEL: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

SPICER: That may have been a contributing factor.

KIMMEL: What a no-win situation that is. They're making fun of me and you're mad at me for it.

SPICER: Yes, and she wins an Emmy.

KIMMEL: I know, and then she won an Emmy.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So the big Emmy show is held tomorrow night. "SNL" is tied with the HBO show "West World" for the most prime-time Emmy nominations. We'll have special Emmy coverage tomorrow. Be sure to tune into CNN.

And for now, the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins.

Hello, again. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin in the U.K. where British police continue the search of a house west of London and have evacuated surrounding homes. All of this in connection with their investigation of Friday's bombing on a subway train. Earlier today, officials said they made a significant arrest of an 18-year-old man. Thirty people were injured when a bomb detonated on a rush-hour train. ISIS is claiming responsibility but authorities are down playing that claim, saying there is no evidence of its involvement so far.

CNN's Nima Elbagir is following the story for us from London.

Nima, what more do we know about this search police are conducting? NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just as we were --