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NEW DAY

Manhunt for Christmas Market Killer; Twitter Pounces on Pence; Trump Threatens Government Shutdown; Vote on Criminal Justice Reform; British Prime Minister Faces Vote. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 12, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:13] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We do have some breaking news right now because there's a manhunt underway in France at this hour for a gunman who opened fire at a Christmas market in Strasbourg leaving three people dead and more than a dozen injured.

CNN's Melissa Bell is live in France with more.

What do we know at this hour, Melissa?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, that manhunt continues with several hundred security personnel involved, a couple of helicopters as well, to try and find out where this man, known to authorities, clearly identified since last night's attack, here in the center of Strasbourg, just after 8:00 p.m., known to have been wounded in the firefights -- gunfire firefights that ensued between security forces and the suspect.

This is the man they're looking for. It is unclear at this stage even whether he is still in France, Alisyn, because we are just a few kilometers here from the German border.

What do we know? We know that this is a man who spent a fair amount of time in and out of jail, both in France and across the border in Germany. He was known for common law crimes. Had a fairly hefty dossier, but had never been involved in any crimes to do with the radicalization that he had nonetheless come to the attention of the authorities for after having become radicalized in prison. So a sense that he was radicalized, but his crimes so far, the ones that he'd been charged with, were not linked in any way to that Islamist radicalization.

So, for the time being, authorities are being very cautious, even as this manhunt continues, Alisyn. They are not clear about what his motivations were. What we know is that police tried to take him in for questioning tomorrow morning, and a few hours later, at 8:00 p.m., this was the scene of his rampage.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Melissa, thanks so much.

Melissa Bell in Strasbourg in France. "The New York Times" reports a cyber-attack on the Marriott hotel chain was part of a Chinese hack to gather intelligence. "The Times" says the hacks were suspected of working on behalf of Chinese's communist controlled civilian spy agency. Officials say operatives collected the personal details of as many as $500 million guests. The hack could have a larger effect on negotiations between the U.S. and China on trade.

CAMEROTA: Google's CEO repeatedly defending the tech giant on Capitol Hill against Republican's claims that the search engine is biased against conservatives. Many Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee remain unconvinced about that. And Google's CEO also faced tough questions on data privacy, misinformation, and a search product being developed for China.

BERMAN: All right, the U.S. government could shut down next Friday over the president's demands for border wall funding. Will Democrats give anything to avoid a shutdown? We'll be joined by a key Democratic senator, next.

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[06:38:43] CAMEROTA: OK, that Oval Office spectacle between President Trump and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer lit up Twitter. Mike Pence was in the middle of all of it, though you wouldn't know that from him chiming in.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a tough issue because we are --

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It wasn't just what they said, it was how they looked saying it.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: I will shut down the government if I don't get my wall. None of us have said --

TRUMP: You want to know something?

SCHUMER: You've said it.

TRUMP: OK, you want to put that on my --

SCHUMER: You've said it.

TRUMP: I'll take it.

SCHUMER: OK, good.

MOOS: Anchors were agog.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was special.

MOOS: Watch the president pull a special face at the mention of Pinocchios.

SCHUMER: "The Washington Post" today gave you a whole lot of Pinocchios because they say you constantly misstate --

MOOS: But the guy the president glanced toward suffered the wrath of Twitter, merely for keeping his mouth shut. Mike Pence looks exactly like our elf on the shelf during this discussion. Someone even emptied his chair and moved him to the mantle.

MOOS (on camera): Vice President Pence seemed, pensive.

MOOS (voice over): And when he got that far away look in his eyes, the music mixes flowed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Hello darkness my old friend.

MOOS: Parodied as if zenning out, saddled with curb your enthusiasm.

[06:40:00] TRUMP: Because I'm not going to get the vote of the Senate. I need 10 senators.

MOOS: Honorable mention to Pence for willing himself to blend in with the furniture. At times his head swiveled as if he were watching tennis. When he blinked, he got taunted with, Pence has powered down to save electricity. People put thoughts in his head about being president. This rug is the first thing I'm getting rid of. Wishing perhaps that he were anywhere but here.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: Pass it right now.

TRUMP: No, we don't have the votes, Nancy.

MOOS: Senator Schumer wore the hint of a smile. But the guy who seemed uncharacteristically happy as the meeting broke up was White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. After all, in a few weeks, he's out of there.

But before the press is ushered out, we go live to Mike Pence. When you're at a smack down, it pays to wear armor.

TRUMP: And I am proud --

SCHUMER: We disagree. We disagree.

TRUMP: And I'll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government --

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: That's pretty cool what that thing is doing, by the way.

CAMEROTA: That's extremely cool. But Mike Pence wasn't able to pull that off.

BERMAN: You know, I will note that Indiana, which is Mike Pence's home state, did come up in the back and forth. Chuck Schumer brought that up and Mike Pence didn't chime in about the Senate victory there. So you could --

CAMEROTA: And I -- and, by the way, I wasn't sure that that was a winning strategy of Chuck Schumer to dismiss Indiana and North Dakota or what else -- what else he said.

BERMAN: No, maybe not. I'm just saying, there was a good -- if Mike Pence wanted to speak up about something --

CAMEROTA: There was a moment.

BERMAN: There was a moment he could have.

CAMEROTA: I think he was long gone by then.

BERMAN: Really?

CAMEROTA: He was long gone into his alpha state by then.

BERMAN: Meditating. The health benefits of meditation are like extraordinary.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I agree.

BERMAN: All right, so, we're talking about the possibility of this government shutdown. We're talking about the fight over the border wall. What will Democrats in the Senate do about this? That's next.

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[06:45:45] CAMEROTA: Well, there was a dramatic showdown in the Oval Office as President Trump sparred with top Democratic leaders in this televised Oval Office meeting over border wall funding and a possible government shutdown next week. What does all of it mean?

Joining us now to discuss this and more, we have Democratic Senator Chris Coons. He's a member of the Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees.

Good morning, senator.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Good morning, Alisyn. Great to be on with you again.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you.

Is the government going to shut down next Friday?

COONS: I certainly hope not. The only person who's been publically saying that he would be proud to shut down the government is President Trump. And that would be a striking last gasp of the government with Republicans in control of both the Senate and the House and the White House.

CAMEROTA: Look, I mean as I -- I heard what he said and he -- it sounded to me, said, I'm willing to do this. I'm willing to play this brinksmanship. I care about that wall, he's claiming that much, and I think he thinks that his base would be with him because they care about the wall that much and so he's willing to take responsibility for this -- it would be a partial shutdown. And it sounds like he's willing to go there.

And I guess my question is, is this brinksmanship good for Democrats? I mean, I understand that even if you call it the Trump shutdown, as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer kept doing, don't voters hold all of government and Congress responsible for being dysfunctional?

COONS: Well, Alisyn, yes, I think the average American, the average voter just wishes that we would find things to work together on, problems to solve, rather than greater problems to create.

But the reality here is that the vast majority of Democrats have voted for significant increases in border security.

The fight we're having here is really more over the symbolism of whether we're going to give President Trump $5 billion more for wall funding when he already got about 1.3 billion this year that hasn't been spent yet for border security.

We had a hearing yesterday with the head of the Customs and Border Patrol, CBP, was in front of us describing how much they built, how much more they could build. And, frankly, there's an emerging gap between the leaders in the administration responsible for border security and what they say would be wise investments and the president's grandstanding over demanding $5 billion more. The president keeps mischaracterizing Democrats as wanting open borders and not being willing to invest in border security. Alisyn, that's just not true.

CAMEROTA: Well, senator, I'm just confused, why are Democrats willing to give the president any money on a border wall when he made a campaign promise that Mexico would pay for it?

COONS: Right. We're both old enough to remember when Mexico was going to pay for this wall.

I think there is broad agreement that in order to make progress on immigration issues, we are willing to work in a bipartisan way on improving border security. I think that's a responsible part of being committed to having secure borders. But not an unlimited amount and not an amount that is clearly, purely for public relations purposes.

CAMEROTA: Yes, so how is this stalemate going to be broken?

COONS: I suspect it will be broken the way the last one was, which is the president will blink and we will end up appropriating some money for border security. We won't shut the government down and we'll all move forward.

As someone who's on the appropriations committee, the committee responsible for all the spending decisions, we have made more progress come father than at any point in my eight years. And so I know the leadership, both Republicans and Democrat of the Senate and the House, is really hopeful that we can get past this point without a dramatic shutdown the week before Christmas.

Alisyn, there's other good things going on here. We just passed a bipartisan farm bill yesterday out of the Senate. We're about to take up and pass a criminal justice bill. And I'm hopeful we'll send a strong bipartisan message that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident journalist, by the Saudis is unacceptable.

And, on Monday, Senator Tillis and I introduced a bill to create a new human rights commission here in the Senate in honor of the late Senator John McCain.

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about some of that, including the criminal justice reform. Why was Leader Mitch McConnell so resistant to bring this forward for a vote?

COONS: Because it divides his caucus. There are a number of Republican senators very strongly opposed to any sort of criminal justice reform. But eventually, as they were doing an internal whip count, seeing how many Republican senators favored it or opposed it, the numbers became overwhelming and the majority leader was willing to give this a vote. Because it's already passed the House, because it has support from the White House and because an overwhelming majority of senators, both Democrats and Republicans, have endorsed this. It's a bill I've co- sponsored and worked on over the last six years. This is an important bipartisan accomplishment, Alisyn.

[06:50:20] CAMEROTA: OK, I want to ask you about the revelations out of Michael Cohen's criminal case. He's going to be sentenced today. And in the sentencing memo, the big headline was that prosecutors believe, because Michael Cohen said it and they have other evidence, we are told, that he was directed to make hush money payments about the two women who allege affairs with Donald Trump in order to help Donald Trump win the presidency, to rob voters of the information -- relevant information that they might have wanted to have before they went to the polls, and so he paid off these women and was directed to do so, he says, by Donald Trump.

Your colleagues on Capitol Hill don't read the sentencing memo that way. Let me play for you a brief smattering of some of their responses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On Friday morning federal prosecutors implicated the president in two crimes. Do you have any concerns about that?

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: I don't have any observations to make about that. REP. TOM REED (R), NEW YORK: I don't agree with the assumption that he's been accused of a crime. I don't see that here. I see that, you know, the Mueller investigation --

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: He's been implicated. He's been implicated. Michael Cohen --

REED: I disagree with that.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I don't care. All I can say is, he's doing a good job as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Of course, Orrin Hatch is on Judiciary with you. He says he doesn't care because he likes what the president's doing. What's your response to all of that?

COONS: Alisyn, that's sadly a pretty good summary of the overall opinion of most of my colleagues on the other side. I don't care about the president having made hush payments to a porn star just before the election, he's doing a good job. Broadly speaking, many of my colleagues think that between deregulation and tax cuts and a conservative Supreme Court, that President Trump has accomplished their policy goals and that that should lead us to overlook or forgive a lot of other things that are destabilizing, that are undermining the rule of law or that may be just flat out illegal.

CAMEROTA: So, do Democrats believe that something illegal, a federal crime of campaign finance violations, again, robbing the voters of important information, is that worth going through the process of investigations and impeachment and all of the things that would obviously take the eye off the ball of other agenda items?

COONS: Well, as you know, what I've urged my House colleagues in the Democratic -- incoming Democrat majority to do is to take up and pass a series of strong, broad bills that would reduce the cost of health care, of co-pays and of deductibles and improve the quality of health care, that would create more high-paying, good quality jobs through investing in infrastructure, that would address the opioid crisis in a broader, more meaningful way. Put those on the table, push them over to the Senate and say, let's get real things done to help the average American and call the question, see if we're actually able to get things done on a bipartisan basis. Yes, there are issues --

CAMEROTA: So -- so, no is the answer to --

COONS: Alisyn, there are issues that deserve investigation and I'm confident that Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will hold the president accountable for a number of the issues we've just talked about.

CAMEROTA: Well, but he sees -- as you know, I mean he sees things that do rise to the level of impeachable crimes. So you would say, don't go there? COONS: I'd say start by showing that we are committed to legislating

in a responsible and bipartisan way on the issues that I here in Delaware affect the average family. That's what they want us to do. The average American doesn't want impeachment and shutdown, they want progress and solutions. And it is our job to hold the president accountable and improve the transparency of this administration, but I think our first job is to make sure it's clear, we are willing to legislate in a responsible fashion that addresses the real problems the average American is waking up this morning saying, how can I possibly afford health care for my ailing mother, how can I afford retirement, how can I afford to send my kid on to college if he finishes high school, and how can I pay these health care bills? That's the sort of thing that the average American sitting around their breakfast table before they head off to work and school is struggling with, and that's what they want to see us do in Washington, not more bickering and fighting.

CAMEROTA: Senator Chris Coons, thank you very much. Great to talk to you.

COONS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: All right, we are watching breaking news. A major international story developing at this moment. British Prime Minister Theresa May on the brink. A vote of no confidence coming shortly. If she loses, it would shake up the United Kingdom, Europe, and also the financial markets. She will speak in just minutes. We're going to bring it to you live.

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[06:59:02] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: All right, good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY.

We do have breaking news.

This major international story developing this morning. The British Prime Minister Theresa May, she could be out. She faces a vote of no confidence very shortly with really no clear picture of which way it will go. This would be a major shift of power for one of America's closest allies.

CAMEROTA: So this vote was triggered by her handling of how Britain will exit the European Union. The embattled prime minister is about to take questions from lawmakers in parliament and it is getting very feisty there. And we've been watching it during the commercial break. So we will bring that to you as soon as she enters the room.

But CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is live at 10 Downing Street with all the breaking details.

This is really rapidly unfolding, Nic. [06:59:52] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It really is. In six hours' time now, there will be a secret ballot of Theresa May's conservative MPs. She needs to get 158 of them to back her against this vote of no confidence. She does feel that she's going to get it. She has said this morning everything is at stake.