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Hawaii Missile Scare: False Alarm Terrifies Residents and Vacationers; Trump Tweets Fake News, Not False Alarm; Salvadorans Worry As U.S. Ends Protected Status. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired January 14, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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


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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:25] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Pacific Command has detected a missile threat to Hawaii. A missile may impact on land or sea within minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Students at the University of Hawaii running in panic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put the baby in the bathroom and didn't know what else to do and the stroller in case we have to run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to the totally unacceptable?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone pushed the wrong button and let everybody in Hawaii think that there was this incoming ballistic missile. It took the government 38 minutes to be able to issue a correction!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you believe you're racist? He did not answer. His silencing was deafening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any comment from the president, no matter how racially inflammatory is, quote/unquote, not racist. For the Paul Ryan wing of this party, they have traded in the dignity of this country for their tax cuts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a bad remark and I would hope the president would retract it and move on from it.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And this morning, Hawaiian officials say they are determined to make sure the false alarm that sent the entire state into panic never happens again.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, for 38 minutes yesterday, people feared that there was a missile flying through the air and about to hit Hawaii. It's because of this alert. Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.

This was a warning that was sent to people's phones and they showed up on their TVs and played on radio station across the state.

BLACKWELL: State officials say the panic was caused by someone hitting the wrong button. And a federal investigation is going to begin to figure out how one incident could cause this many problems.

PAUL: So, CNN's Sara Sidner is in Hawaii. She's got some more details for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, you know, that emergency alert that said there was an incoming ballistic missile to Hawaii to seek shelter and that it was not a drill, did send out a sense of panic to folks here. People trying to figure out where exactly to go, what exactly to do, knowing that emergency management has been telling people here in Hawaii that there is only a 20-minute span between the time a missile would be launched from North Korea to the time it would make it here and make impact here in Hawaii. It's a very short time for people to figure out what to do and to take shelter.

We were also able to speak with one of the state representatives here who was in tears talking about the fact that he had to explain this to his children and take shelter in his house while he was also trying to get information out to his constituents and what a difficult, difficult thing it was to have a conversation, thinking that this could be their last conversation, and we are seeing that across social media as well. People talking about their last conversations they thought they were having with their family members after they got this message.

All in all, though, we have heard from emergency management officials and the governor himself. I spoke to them on the phone. They told me that this was human error. They apologized for it. They said it will not happen again.

They are looking at exactly how it happened, but they said what eventually happened and what they determined is that someone accidentally pressed the wrong button during a shift change. They were testing the system and they have been testing the system here in Hawaii, but never anything like this.

The test is an actual emergency siren, an attack siren that goes off and they have told the population here what it's all about. But, indeed, in this time, it wasn't the attack system that went off. It was a message to television viewers. It was a message through the radio, and a text message on the cell phone.

As emergency managers try and figure out how to make sure this never happens again, they are apologizing, saying this is human error, but it did create quite a bit of emotion here in Hawaii -- Victor, Christi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Sara, thank you so much.

CNN producer Amanda Golden is with us now. She was in Hawaii yesterday when this happened.

Amanda, I'm glad you're okay. But help us understand what it was like there when this alert first went out.

AMANDA GOLDEN, CNN ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Yes. Hi, good morning, guys. Thank you for having me.

It was incredibly alarming. I've never experienced anything like it. As you guys mentioned, the alerts went off on everyone's phones and started coming over the television.

[07:05:00] We didn't really know what to think of it at first. I didn't think it was a legitimate threat immediately until my sister started screaming and was running through where we were staying. I was vacationing with my family.

And Immediately, I called in to CNN and I was monitoring Twitter as actively as I was trying to figure out what was happening and screaming out a shot of the alert, because as you guys said at the beginning, the text of the alert was so alarming saying this was not a drill, to seek immediate shelter and just trying to figure out what next steps would be when you really don't know what the next steps would be.

BLACKWELL: So, where did you go? Where were the people you were with go?

GOLDEN: We stayed where we were. We realized very quickly that there wasn't any basement or any other option, a room without a lot of windows. It's, you know, right near the water. So, obviously, everything is little more beach-designed.

And we were tossing around ideas do we get in the car, do we go anywhere? We really weren't sure, so we all got together and tried to understand what was happening the best that we could.

PAUL: Did anybody, where you were staying, or anybody near where you were, were they able to talk to you and give you any advice? Or were they -- I'm trying to understand what the mood was like, not just with you and your family, but around you.

GOLDEN: Yes. Well, we tried to call. We knew other people staying close to where we were on the big island and all of the lines were dead locally. You couldn't make calls. Internet was slowing down.

So, we really weren't able to communicate with other people other than in our immediate vicinity and it was just our family and some friends that were with us. So that was part of the problem, I think, was just not understanding if we were alone in this in these alerts other than, you know, what I was picking up on the Internet. BLACKWELL: Amanda, give us an idea of the conversations after you

found out that this was a false alarm. Because I'd imagine once everyone takes that first deep exhale, the question is, what if this had been real? Where were we supposed to have gone? What were the instructions? There was no guidance.

GOLDEN: Right. And that is exactly the point is I was able to have a bit more understanding that it wasn't a legitimate threat sooner than I can imagine most other people did because I was able to call in to a major news organization and, you know, probably had a good 15 minutes of scare. But compared to others who didn't hear anything until that second alert went out 38 minutes after the first emergency alert came through the phones.

All of our conversations were in the immediate following of what happened was -- well, there really wasn't a procedure. There wasn't anything we could have done. There's no set of evacuation plans for the state of Hawaii. There aren't any, you know, shelters for people to go into as part of their set emergency plans for something like this.

They -- I spoke to locals afterwards and they say, you know, they get threats for tsunamis or for hurricanes and they do drills for those kind of things. But there is nothing set to kind of deal with any kind of threat like this if it were real.

PAUL: So, when you went to the airport, because we understand you're now back from Hawaii, but when you went to the airport, what were the conversations you were having and hearing?

GOLDEN: I spoke with a few other people who were just tourists like myself who seemed shaken and alarmed, but for the most part, all right. Surprisingly, a lot of the locals who I spoke to are people who worked at the airport or who were around that area were making light of it and I think you definitely have to have a sense of humor about this, but it was definitely an interesting vibe everywhere.

PAUL: My goodness. We are glad you're OK, Amanda. Everybody is OK, certainly.

BLACKWELL: CNN producer Amanda Golden, thanks so much for spending some time with us early, early this morning, 4:00 a.m. out on the West Coast.

GOLDEN: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

PAUL: Thank you.

So, we did talk with CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, last hour about this. Listen to what he said about the protocol if a missile attack should really take place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: This particular event yesterday was horrible and I'm sure very traumatic for anyone that lived on the island, but because it was a test that went awry and it started from the wrong direction. Usually, it is not the emergency management association that starts the warning. They, in fact, receive information from military sources that understand that if a missile is coming in or not.

So, it would actually begin with the notification by Northern Command that they have cited a missile being launched or heading toward Hawaii. They then process that toward Pacific command, a military organization that is actually headquartered in Hawaii. And then they notify the emergency management association that starts the process of notification.

[07:10:01] That's not the question you're asking. You're asking what happens when all of that does occur? Truthfully, not a whole lot, because there isn't a whole lot of shelters that would prevent a massive disaster, an injury for the people that live on the island or anywhere else where a nuclear missile is headed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The Hawaii Emergency Management Association is now testing the nuclear warning siren system. But if a missile is launched by North Korea, nearly 1.5 million people will have only about 20 minutes of notice before that missile hits the island.

PAUL: And just hours after the folks in Hawaii were scrambling to find shelter after this false alarm, President Trump sent out a tweet.

This is what he said: So much fake news is being reported. They don't even try to get it right or correct it when they're wrong. They promote the fake book of a mentally deranged author who knowingly writes false information. The mainstream media is crazed that we won the election, unquote.

So, there was no mention of the false alarm and no statement for the people in Hawaii. And that is something people noticed.

Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" is with us now, as well as Daniel Lippman, reporter and co- author of "Playbook," "Politico".

Thank you gentlemen for being here.

Brian, I want to start with you. Do we know as far as I'm aware, we do not know what exactly the president was told when he was briefed on this --

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, because we don't have --

PAUL: -- and might change how he reacts, yes?

STELTER: -- because we don't have the exact details of when the president first heard about this, the text message alert that went out to the population, and because we don't know when he was first briefed, exactly. It's hard to say exactly how he should have or did react or would react in the future.

What we know for sure is one of the president's aides, who was on duty, a national security aide, did brief him at some point while we believe he was at his golf club before he went back to Mar-a-Lago. That would suggest to me based on the time right here, perhaps he was informed shortly after Tulsi Gabbard and other local official began to reassure the public this was not a true threat.

So, there was a 13, 14-minute window of time here before any local official gave the public any information at all. That is the most important window of time here to question the actions of local and federal officials. From that point on, there started to be reassurance this was not a real threat.

And then, of course, as you reported, just 38 minutes were the official word to get out. We don't know exactly where this that time span President Trump was informed, but we can say this for sure. A reassuring tweet, a message from his Twitter account or a statement from the White House with more details would have been helpful yesterday. And the fact that the president was tweeting instead about Michael Wolff's book and calling an author mentally deranged, it goes to show the president is impulsive, he does not use his Twitter account necessarily to comfort the nation or to comfort individual state at a time of concerns.

Instead, he uses his Twitter account to get to pick fights, to get even, to punch back, et cetera.

PAUL: So, Daniel, do we know if the president ever called Hawaii's governor?

DANIEL LIPPMAN, REPORTER AND CO-AUTHOR OF PLAYBOOK, POLITICO: Yes, we haven't heard any evidence that he did. The Hawaiian governor is a Democrat. But, usually in these situations, regardless of party affiliation, you talk to the president in this type of case. I expect, you know, later this week when President Trump comes back to Washington, there will be a full investigation about the federal government's role in this.

DHS, is part of Homeland Security, hasn't conducted a full-scale exercise at the principle level, so cabinet secretaries about how to respond in a situation where there is a domestic missile attack and that's something that everyone will probably be pressing for after this weekend's incident.

PAUL: Go ahead.

STELTER: Daniel, you said something there that resonates with me that is uncomfortable, but has been real for the past year. Hawaii is a Democratic state. And there have been --

PAUL: Do you think that played a role, Brian? STELTER: I don't know for sure, but we know in the past there have

been these instances where there seems to be a lot more attention heaped on red states or states that went for Donald Trump that supported him in the Electoral College. You know, we've had these terrible mudslides out near Santa Barbara. We haven't heard from the president on that topic either. There was a delay in a response to the wildfires in California last year.

So, there have been these kind of questions. Does the president react differently blue state versus red state? This is another one of those cases where it's going to feed people's concerns about that, I think.

PAUL: So --

LIPPMAN: Just remember that -- just remember that in the tax bill, all of the talk was about how blue states, states that voted for Hillary Clinton, were hit much more disproportionately in terms of higher taxes than red states. So, that's a real concern that people will be looking at because, you know, there are 50 states in the union. It doesn't really matter if it's a blue state or a red state. That's what it should happen.

PAUL: So, Brian, if the president comes out, say, today, and tweets about this, how do you take it?

[07:15:02] STELTER: I would say one of these better late than never situations. But I would think we should emphasize this is primary a state issue, not a federal issue, in terms of the mistakes that were made in Hawaii, state level, local level issues, not federal, where the federal government does, of course, play a crucial role is in reacting, if there was a real threat, first detecting a threat, reacting.

And I think one of the silver linings of this very scary situation yesterday is that it has people talking about the subject, wondering how it's supposed to work. Wanting to find out how the actual protocol works to inform a state and then to inform a population about a threat.

Hopefully, this is an opportunity to dust off those plans, to make sure everybody is fully prepared in case there is something real to react to. Not just in terms of missile launches, by the way, but other local emergencies where there are push alerts to phones. I think the reality is when these -- when these technologies were invented to inform the public of a crisis, this was the pre-cell phone period. This was mostly for broadcast draft television and radio.

Now we live in this world where everyone gets push alerts. It can be much scarier. It can also be much quicker to get information. The fact it took 38 minutes to send out a new alert telling the public not to worry in Hawaii, that to me is one of the sins here. If everybody has a phone, it means they can be alerted right away when there's not a crisis.

So, there's a lot to learn from this and I think it's good the Trump FCC is going to be involved. That's the Federal Communications Commission, looking into how to push alerts did or did not work yesterday.

PAUL: Yes, no doubt about it. But mistake like this can turn into another big lesson and could end up saving a lot of grief in future if something does really happen. So, they can use this as a positive in that regard.

Brian Stelter, Daniel Lippman, good to see you both. Thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Well, the Trump administration is being forced to reboot part of the DACA program after an order from a federal judge. Next, can they come to a permanent deal to avoid a government shutdown this week?

PAUL: Also, look. Did you see anything unusual in that picture there? How about on the right side of your screen is in the plane that skidded off the runway and landed just feet away from the sea.

BLACKWELL: Also, a 911 call captures the drama of an unfolding hostage crisis as an armed man holds a bus load full of people at gun point.

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[07:21:29] BLACKWELL: A man in Chicago is facing felony charges after threatening to kill passengers on a greyhound bus that was headed to Chicago from Wisconsin. This was late Friday night.

PAUL: Yes. And this morning, we are hearing the 911 calls from passengers who were on the bus as that threat was severe there. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

911 OPERATOR: The bus driver is unaware that this situation is taking place.

911 OPERATOR: Can you confirm it's a Greyhound bus? It is a Greyhound bus number 67268 Greyhound bus.

911 OPERATOR: Copy we are trying to get a hold of Greyhound. Thank you.

911 OPERATOR: He made statements where he showed the gun that he was going to kill everybody on the bus when they got to Chicago.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, police chased down the bus and arrested 33-year-old Margarito Vargas-Rojas. He's now facing terror charges. He said he had a weapon but police they didn't find one. The passengers on the bus say the threats were made after an argument between two passengers. The suspect is reportedly an undocumented immigrant who had been previously been deported. Let's go to southern California now where the mudslides have killed 19

people. The river of mud you see coming down the streets, washing cars away. Homes have been destroyed. There has been left behind this swamp of mud. Like this one you see. This is common across this part of California.

PAUL: Which is just unbelievable. Rescue workers are scrambling because people are still missing and they are trying to find them. And even though on some level it has to feel like time is running out, they say we are not giving up hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are still holding out a lot of hope. There's been plenty of documented cases all around the world where almost to a week now, we're getting close to almost a week that people have still than found. So, we're still cautiously optimistic. We know that window is closing but we still want to make sure that we find those people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: There is a vigil, by the way, that's being held this evening in Santa Barbara County for the victims.

BLACKWELL: Well, the Trump administration's plan to end protection for El Salvadorian nationals in the U.S., it would leave more than 200,000 immigrants without legal status.

PAUL: And many of them have lived here more than a decade and consider this their home.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann asks one man what he plans to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the end of a dirt road in the mountains of El Salvador is a family facing a gut- wrenching decision. Rogelio Galmadez has lived in the United States for the last 17 years. He may soon return here.

The Trump administration announced in January they are ending the program that allowed over 200,000 El Salvadorans like Rogelio to live legally in the U.S. In 18 months, he could be deported. Rogelio worries about the impact the change in policy could have on the already impoverished and crime-ridden country.

The worry is that if there were a mass deportation, he says, this would become I guess, I would call it a hell. It's a disaster. Everyone wants to work but there isn't any. So, Rogelio has come back to El Salvador for a few weeks with the money he earns working as a landscaper in New York to finish the home he is building here should he return for good.

(on camera): He is telling me that many other people are thinking that might neat to come back and it's hard to get workers because so many other people are fixing up their homes.

(voice-over): But Rogelio's biggest concern is his three children all born in the United States. His eldest have been to El Salvador just twice and his 6-year-old Jocelyn's (ph) first visit.

(on camera): What do they know about El Salvador?

[07:25:04] (voice-over): Rogelio says he doesn't want to live in the U.S. illegally or run the risk of having his family separated, so he may soon move his children, all U.S. citizens, back to El Salvador, one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Even here in the remote countryside, criminal gangs terrorize the population. Barbed wire fencing surrounds Rogelio's house.

MARELIN GALMADEZ, ROGELIO'S DAUGHTER: For us, it's going to be really hard. I keep telling him, I like it here, but I wouldn't live here.

OPPMANN: They may have no choice. Rogelio had hoped to provide his children a better life in the U.S., he's afraid of what could happen if he's deported.

The day I'm not with them and they're not with him, he says, I think they're going to suffer and I will too.

Rogelio drives his children to the airport to fly back to the U.S. He will remain in El Salvador a little while longer to finish their home, just in case. They don't know what the future holds, but they say they will do whatever it takes to stay together.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, San Salvador.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: All righty.

Listen, if you're about to take a flight, you don't want to see this but we are going to show it to you any way because it's incredible video. You can turn away if you'd like. Look at the right-hand side of your screen there, right there. Yes, that is a Pegasus Airline passenger jet skidding off the runway in Turkey, halfway down a steep slope nearly into the Black Sea. None of the 162 passengers, two pilots or four cabin crew were hurt.

The airline says the plane had, quote, runway excursion incident. I don't know what that means. I just know that I'm looking at that thinking how did they get everybody out of that plane without it sliding down into the sea?

BLACKWELL: Yes, I guess runway excursion incident, they didn't have a box for we fell off the damn hill and fell into the water. So, that's not on the checklist, I guess.

PAUL: We're just glad everybody is OK.

BLACKWELL: We can joke because everybody is OK. PAUL: That's right. Everybody is OK.

BLACKWELL: So, the president, he wants a wall. Democrats say he is not going to get it. And there is a -- well, a possible shutdown coming if they can't come to an agreement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:32] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now.

And to keep the government running beyond this week, lawmakers have to reach a deal and then get it signed by the president. The White House says fund the wall. Democrats say, solve DACA. And Republicans say step up border security. Can they make this happen?

Joining us live from Washington, CNN White House reporter Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, good morning to you. What are you hearing from there?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Christi, we are closer to a government shutdown than we ever have been in the Trump administration and stakes are pretty high now because we are going to run out of money for funding the government in just a matter of days at this point. Now, in order to pass a spending bill, Republicans will need some Democratic support here but Democrats are insistent that there needs to be protection for dreamers attached to this spending bill. Now, that's for the DACA program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program that President Trump rescinded in the fall and has tasked Congress with coming up with a solution to this problem.

However, the one solution that has been presented to the president by a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House last week, the president rejected that and that was the same meeting on immigration when the president made those very controversial comments about why are we taking more people from Haiti and why are we taking people from, quote, shithole countries like countries in Africa, something we continue to see fallout over those comments from the president on Thursday at the White House, as these negotiations are ongoing over funding the government.

Now, House Speaker Paul Ryan says he does not believe there will be a government shutdown but he also said he does not believe an immigration bill for these DACA recipients will be attached to the funding bill. So, certainly, several different messages coming out of the White House, coming from Capitol Hill, but all of this comes as the fallout from the president's remarks has continued with South Africa's government saying they are going to file a formal complaint with the United States embassy over the president's remarks, Christi.

PAUL: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's talk about it. With us now, Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, and Jack Kingston, CNN political commentator and former Republican congressman.

Good morning again, Jack. Good morning, Maria.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So, let's pick up on a point that, Kaitlan, was just introduced. The president during this open meeting on Tuesday of this week, he set his place in these negotiations clearly and Democrats thought honestly. But let's watch what the president said and then talk about what he did afterward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This group comes back, hopefully with an agreement. This group and others from the Senate, from the House comes back with an agreement. I'm signing it. I mean, I will be signing it. I'm not going to say, oh, gee, I want this or I want that. I'll be signing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, Jack, that was the president on Tuesday. And then late this week, he tweeted, the so-called bipartisan DACA presented yesterday to myself and a group of Republican senators and congressmen was a big step backwards. Wall was not properly funded. Chain and lottery were made worse.

I mean, the president started by saying this is where I am in these negotiations. Is he a good-faith actor here if he then moved the ball?

JACK KINGSTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I think two things happened, Victor. I think, number one, the statement that he said did send somewhat of a shock wave through the Republican base, because Republicans do not like amnesty. But I think the other thing is as a negotiator, he likes to send mixed signals.

[07:35:00] We are seeing that right now, for example, in North Korea. We saw it last year on the budget deal, last April. So I think that this is part of what goes on.

Anybody who goes to a negotiating table with purity and thinks they are walking out of there keeping their purity is absolutely wrong.

BLACKWELL: Not purity but how do you negotiate with someone says this is what I want and I will sign. And you bring that to them and then they say, no, I'm not signing that.

KINGSTON: Well, I think that the Democrats have to say, listen, we are willing to keep the government open and we are going to give a little and, by the way, on the wall vote that they had, I think, in 2007, most of the Democrats who are there now, voted for the wall.

BLACKWELL: But even if that is in the bill, the president has said, I will sign whatever they bring me. They brought him something. He didn't sign it. Maria, let me come to you with that point also.

CARDONA: Yes.

BLACKWELL: The decision by a federal judge in California to temporarily block the administration from preventing renewals for DACA recipients, even allowing some new applications, although those are not mandated to be accepted.

Does that drain, at least from these negotiations, the urgency to get a deal done?

CARDONA: No, I don't think so. And it certainly shouldn't, because even though I am thrilled and Democrats are thrilled that judge made that decision, it's only temporary and it is not a long-term permanent solution. So, we need to go back to the drawing table and to your point, Victor, it is almost impossible to negotiate with somebody who just lies and that is what this president does. He just lies. Almost everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie.

So how can you negotiate with somebody who you --

KINGSTON: Well --

CARDONA: Hang on, Jack! Don't interrupt me!

That you can't trust? And so, what Democrats are doing is that they are doing this in as much of a good faith as they can. They have always supported increased border security measures. Yes, they supported billions of dollars in the past getting an immigration bill because it did have increased border security measures. It was not a wall. But here is my -- here is my --

KINGSTON: They did vote for a wall it was a separate piece of legislation.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Here is my --

BLACKWELL: Hold on, Jack. Hold on, Jack.

CARDONA: Here is my recommendation to the Democrats if jack did zip it for a moment, is that they -- is that they accept increase border measures. Let the president call it a wall and then let's continue with making sure that we protect these almost 1 million immigrants who are as American as you and I Victor and Jack on this panel and make sure we move forward with the majority of the Americans want.

BLACKWELL: So, accept the border security funding and let the president call it a wall.

Jack, your thoughts. You wanted to jump in there.

KINGSTON: What little time my friend Maria has left for me. Let me say there's a lot of areas where you could negotiate. E-Verify

at the workplace, for example, which draws up the job magnet. Birth right citizenship which most countries have removed away from.

CARDONA: That is ridiculous.

KINGSTON: Don't interrupt.

CARDONA: That is un-American.

BLACKWELL: Hold on, America. Let him finish.

CARDONA: Chain migration would be another thing that you can negotiate and ending the visa lottery.

I mean, there is so many different jots and tittles that you could move around and come up with a good deal. But if the Democrats decide that purity and posture is more important, than they're going to shut down the government --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Hold on! Let me ask Jack. The point -- a lot of this comes down to the wall. Back in the gang of eight negotiations back in 2013, there was some changes, even a repeal to the visa diversity program, right? That was something that was negotiated.

This comes down, in many respects, to the wall. I need to know -- and I think many Americans need to know -- what for this president defines a wall? It has changed many times. Let's watch the president over the last several months to more than a year, actually.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to be made of hardened create and made out of rebar and steel.

We will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern border wall!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you accept a fence?

TRUMP: For certain areas, I would, but certain areas, the wall is more appropriate. I'm very good at this. This is called construction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So part wall, part fence?

TRUMP: Yes, it could -- there could be some fencing.

On the fence, it's not a fence. It's a wall. You just misreported it. We are going to build a wall.

They take drugs literally and they throw it a hundred pounds of drugs, they throw it over the wall. They have catapults but they throw it over the wall and it lands and it hits somebody on the head. You don't even know they are there.

Believe it or not, this is the kind of stuff that happens. So, you need to have a great wall but it has to be -- has to be see-through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Jack, so, it's an impenetrable wall but not a fence but some fencing, but it's got to be a see-through wall.

[07:40:06] I mean, as Maria suggested, give on border security but let him call it wall, what is wall to this president?

KINGSTON: I think he does describe a wall similar to the 13-mile wall that we built in San Diego under Democrat and Republican funding bills and which reduced the illegal immigration by about 94 percent in San Diego.

So, I think that is what he envisions. But I do think, having gone down to the borders there are areas you don't need the huge brick and mortar. But let me say this, Victor, I've talked to many Republicans about this. What the president needs is 218 votes in the House and 60 in the Senate and you've got a deal.

Now, it's incredible to me that out of 49 Democrats, that there aren't nine of them that will compromise enough to say, here is a good proposal. The president will sign it. I can tell you equal branch of government, if the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, get together and agree on something, I would predict -- I would bet -- give you odds 10-1 the president will sign them.

CARDONA: Democrats have said --

BLACKWELL: Maria, finish it up.

CARDONA: Democrats have said time and again that they are willing to accept increased border measures. So, let's do that.

But, Jack, you brought up something that the president hasn't even brought up so I hope that you're not becoming more anti-immigrant than the president. You brought up birth right citizenship. Oh, my goodness! A complete nonstarter and something the president has brought up. So, this shows you --

KINGSTON: It's been around as an issue.

CARDONA: This to me shows the American people just how extremist the Republicans are becoming and that is a dangerous position to be in and that is a dangerous position to be in and that is a dangerous position to be in going into 2018.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Jack, I need a one-word answer here. I need you to commit to a one-word answer. Do you believe we are headed for a government shutdown? Maria?

CARDONA: Not if the Republicans can be measured and can be commonsensical about this.

BLACKWELL: All right. Jack?

KINGSTON: One word? No.

BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you both, Maria Cardona and Jack Kingston.

CARDONA: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right.

PAUL: Maria had her mom voice on there a couple times too.

All righty. The new names in the auto industry, plus one you may not recognize -- or you may. We are going to show you the latest models making their debut at -- yes, the Detroit auto show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:46:52] PAUL: All righty. New Year means new car. Dozens of dealers are unveiling their latest models at the Detroit Auto Show.

And the show is packed with new pickups and Ford is highlighting the return of the Ranger.

CNN digital correspondent Peter Valdes-Dapena joins us now with some details.

So, talk to us about -- I have to think the technology in this car has got to be pretty impressive?

PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: So, it has interesting stuff. One of the cool thing, this is the thing that's awkward on other Ford trucks as well, but it has blind spot warning which we all know many of us know from cars , it tells you that you have a car in your blind spot but this detects when you're towing a trailer and can tell even -- you know, as far back as the back end of your trailer whether a car in your blind spot, which one is a really big deal for safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALDES-DAPENA (voice-over): Here at the Detroit Auto Show, Ford showed off the 2019 Ford Ranger. It's coming back to the U.S. and it's going to be built here at the Michigan assembly plant just outside of Detroit.

I talked to Ford's global head of operations Joe Hinrichs about why the Ranger is important and what it's going to do for Ford and for the workers of this factory.

(on camera): All right. So, right now, there's a lot going on. We are getting ready to build a Ford Ranger and which when is that going to start? JOE HINRICHS, FORD MOTOR COMPANY EXEC., VICE PRESIDENT & PRESIDENT,

GLOBAL OPERATIONS: The production start at the end of 2018. Right now, what we are doing, we're going to pull ahead work on the conveyors and overhead system to get ready for the production which will start in the second half of the year. We'll balance out the Focus production in the second quarter of this year and then start converting the plant over completely during the summertime frame.

VALDES-DAPENA: Now, as small car interest in the United States, has it fallen that much that there is just really doesn't make sense to make them here any more?

HINRICHS: Well, it's been fascinating. About a ten-year run now, we've had SUV growth and truck growth and cars declining. Cars are still a substantial part of the industry here, but we identified an opportunity here to build Ranger and then eventually Bronco here.

VALDES-DAPENA: So, are you employing the same number people here you employed before?

HINRICHS: That's right. We're not going to lose any job. As a matter of fact, we anticipate growing some jobs as the Ranger and ultimately Bronco volume kicks in.

VALDES-DAPENA: Why does it make sense to bring it back now?

HINRICHS: Actually, we sold over 7 million Rangers between early '80s and 2011.

What's happened is full-sized pickup trucks have gotten larger overtime. They got more expensive, a lot more capable. But what's happened with that size getting bigger and price going up, there is now room for a mid-sized truck. A little smaller, a little bit less pricey than the full-sized pickup truck but with the adventurous spirit an SUV or a truck can give you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALDES-DAPENA: So, really it's cool to see, you know, all the work going on there. They're still making small cars but those workers are really happy to have those trucks coming in too that that are keeping their jobs there.

PAUL: Oh, yes, no doubt about it. Peter Valdes-Dapena, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

VALDES-DAPENA: OK.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: All right. Coming up, Bill Murray as Steve Bannon on "SNL". I'm not saying anything else. I'm not saying anything else. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL MURRAY AS STEVE BANNON: The cannon magic is still out there. Steve Bannon, the Bannon cannon, magic, magic, magic, magic. King of kingmakers.

[07:50:00] The Bannon dynasty is dawning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We are always so grateful to have your company. We hope you make good memories today.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next. But before we leave you, "SNL" returned with some late-night laughs.

As promised, Steve Murray as Steve Bannon and a few other features. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve Bannon, who was just let go as head of "Breitbart News", here to talk about it. Steve Bannon?

MURRAY: Thanks for having me.

I never said Don Jr. was treasonous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you did.

MURRAY: Well, I certainly never said that he'd crack like an egg on TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that sounds exactly like you.

MURRAY: OK, that does sound like me, yes. All right, thank you. Good reporting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go live by satellite to a special guest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, it's Oprah. I thought I smelled lavender and money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oprah, are you running?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I am a celebrity, so I'm qualified.

But I'm different from Donald Trump, because I'm actually a billionaire. So who knows? I mean, there's only one job in the world more powerful than being president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, really, what's that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being Oprah! (COMMERCIAL BREAK)