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NEW DAY

Trump Challenger in 2020; Russia Charges Whelan; Debt Reaches new High; Student's Test Scores Questioned; Shutdown Consequences for Workers. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 4, 2019 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Other Democrats are sitting back going, OK, who can actually beat this guy? And that's what gets you to looking at Biden as kind of a -- you know, an older, wiser member of the Democratic Party, kind of that lane. But all of that activism on the left is going to be important.

And I think one last thing is that Pelosi is still going to get a lot of attention as the leader, as opposed to the shadow leader of the Democratic Party in this large field. And that's going to be a dynamic to watch.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, David, MJ, Alex, thank you all very much.

OK, so comedian/actor Kevin Hart breaking his silence one month after bowing out of hosting the Oscars. What the comedian is telling Ellen DeGeneres in this new interview. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Russia has charged American Paul Whelan with espionage. He's been detained in Moscow for a week now. Whelan's lawyer says he has appealed his client's detention and applied for bail.

CNN's Sam Kiley is live in Moscow with more.

What's the latest, Sam?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, his lawyer, Alisyn, is saying that he is in good spirits. He's had a visit from Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador here, which is pretty unusual. And because he's a joint British-U.S. citizen, the British foreign office is also getting involved, demanding consular access to him. So in terms of diplomatic support, he's in pretty good shape.

The issue really is that according to local media reports that we have not been able to confirm, he was caught allegedly red-handed with some kind of electronic device containing sensitive material handed to him by a long-term contact or friend of his when this hotel in the Metropole (ph) Hotel, next to the Kremlin, was raided on December the 28th.

[06:35:12] But he doesn't fit the profile at all for an American spy in Russia. He was discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps on larceny charges, which means that he would actually be precluded from recruitment as a CIA or a DIA operative. Nonetheless, I think there's a sense perhaps the he might be used potentially in a spy swap, quote/unquote, for Maria Butina, the Russian -- young Russian woman who has been currently jailed in the United States for alleged espionage charges.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sam Kiley for us in Moscow. Sam, thank you very much.

So, the national debt, up $2 trillion. Wait a minute, I thought President Trump told us he would get rid of it. Now it's at a record high.

Our Christine Romans joins us now with the truth.

Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, it was an impossible claim at the time, of course. And not only is it a broken campaign promise, it's even worse.

New official Treasury Department figures show the U.S. national debt, a record $21.9 trillion at the end of the year. More than $2 trillion higher than when President Trump took office. Now, the debt began to rise last year as the tax cuts passed at the end of 2017 took effect. That lowered corporate tax rate, lowered Treasury revenues. Less money coming in. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the deficit jumped to 3.8 percent of GDP last year.

The chairman of the White House's Counsel of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, says the president is absolutely concerned about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, CHAIRMAN, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: He ordered the cabinet agencies to cut their spending by 5 percent across the board, or almost across the board. And so he absolutely is beginning to focus on spending.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Without higher taxes, massive spending cuts and economics explosion in growth and all three, the CBO projects public debt will rise to 96 percent of the economy by the year 2028. That's bad.

Now, futures right now, stock index futures are higher. It looks like a bounce back from what was a terrible day on Wall Street. Terrible. The Dow fell 660 points. That's 2.8 percent. That's because of Apple, that big sales miss on slowing growth in China and those trade tensions. The S&P 5000 fell 2.5 percent, the Nasdaq closed down 3 percent.

You know, that Apple decline was 10 percent. That is the worst day in nearly six years. It spread throughout tech. Some very big names had their worst days in six or seven years in tech land.

The jobs report, guys, is in two hours. We're expecting 3.7 percent unemployment, maybe modest job growth. We'll get that for sure at 8:30 Eastern.

But, Alisyn, it's fascinating, that Apple decline in stock market value, since last fall in market value, about $450 billion. That's more than the size of most other companies and certainly the economies of some countries it has lost.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, the numbers are stunning. So we will look for that breaking news from you at 8:30. Thank you very much.

ROMANS: Sure.

CAMEROTA: OK, comedian and actor Kevin Hart is breaking his silence, one month after bowing out of hosting the Oscars after past anti-gay comments on Twitter and in his comedy act resurfaced. Hart is addressing his critics head on and he's talking about reconsidering his Oscar decision in this new interview with Ellen DeGeneres. Here's a portion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HART, COMEDIAN/ACTOR: I know I don't have a homophobic bone in my body. I know that I've addressed it. I know that I've apologized. I know that. Within my apologies, I've taken ten years to put my apology to work. I've yet to go back to that version of the immature comedian I once was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Hart insists the entire fiasco was an attack on him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HART: It wasn't a coincidence that the day after I received the job, that tweets just somehow manifested from 2008. Now, I don't know who follows me or who doesn't. I'm on social media every day. I got over 40,000 tweets. To go through 40,000 tweets to get back to 2008, that's an attack. That's a malicious attack on my character.

ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST, "THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW": There are so many haters out there. Whatever's going on, on the Internet, don't pay attention to them. That's a small group of people being very, very loud. We are a huge group of people who love you and want to see you host the Oscars.

HART: You have put a lot of things on my mind. And I know where our relationship stands. So leaving here, I'm promising you, I'm evaluating this conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, Ellen reveals that she called the Academy to personally ask them to reconsider having Hart host the Academy Awards next month. That's remarkable. I didn't know this was still an option.

BERMAN: Well, no, but it's not the Academy that said no to Kevin Hart. Kevin Hart ultimately backed out after the whole --

[06:40:02] CAMEROTA: Right, and then they never filled the position.

BERMAN: And they haven't filled the position. So, you know, look, this has been so strange from the very beginning. I mean the Academy knew what they were getting in Kevin Hart when they asked him. Yes, he'd apologized for these things in the past. Kevin Hart's upset about these tweets resurfacing. Just -- what Ellen DeGeneres wants is Kevin Hart to go host and just talk about it as a teaching moment. Move on and then be funny. Just acknowledge it, address it and it --

CAMEROTA: Yes, it can be a teachable moment for sure. And, also, I think that this is part of a larger national conversation that we're having about how much of a pound of flesh do we demand from people for past offensive acts and when is there some sort of timeline on when they should be forgiven. And I think it helps if they are contrite and say that they made a mistake and apologize. And I don't know if his has been considered adequate.

BERMAN: I don't know either. I do know that attacking people on Twitter isn't necessarily addressing the central issue here, which is how do you feel about gay people? What has your evolution been since you had a comedy routine, a whole standup act that was all about not wanting your children to be gay. Again, address that.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: And, you know, Ellen DeGeneres and others want him hosting the Oscars.

CAMEROTA: OK. We'll keep you posted.

BERMAN: A Florida high school student speaking out after her dramatically improved SAT scores were called invalid. She says she didn't cheat and she's got a powerful lawyer now in her corner. They join us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: A Florida high school student is defending herself after her improved SAT scores were called invalid. The second time that Kamilah Campbell took the test, her score went up by more than 300 points. The testing company called that result invalid they said because her answers were similar to those of other test takers. But Campbell insists she did not cheat.

Joining us now is Kamilah Campbell and her attorney Benjamin Crump.

[06:45:01] Great to see both of you this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

So, Camila, let's start at the beginning.

The first time that you took the SAT, I think you got a score of 900. What did you think of that score and what was your plan after that?

KAMILAH CAMPBELL, HIGHER SAT SCORES QUESTIONED BY TESTING SERVICE: That score was just a basic baseline for me. I just took it to get a feel for how it was so I could know my strengths and weaknesses in the test. So from that point I just knew, OK, well, I need to work on this, I need to work on that, because it let me know what was my weakness.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BENJAMIN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: And that's what her high school guidance counselor told her to do.

CAMEROTA: To take a -- so the guidance counselor suggested taking the test for the first time without any prep whatsoever to get a baseline.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: After you got that test score, which is not, let's face it, an impressive test score, you then, as we understand it, you took online classes, you got a tutor, you got yourself a prepare book that so many other students used and you took the test again. And what score did you get that time?

CAMPBELL: I got a 1,230.

CAMEROTA: Which is really impressive. That is just an impressive improvement.

And then you heard from the testing company and they said that your test was invalid -- I mean your results were invalid. And what did you think of their conclusions?

CAMPBELL: They didn't really give me a basis on why they think it's invalid, they just basically said that I improved a little too much so it's kind of skeptical. So I was -- I was confused. It was -- it wasn't fair. So I just wanted to know more information.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Crump, here's what the College Board statement is. They say the student's scores were placed under review because of significant evidence of score invalidity due to substantial agreement between your answers on one or more scored sections of the test and those of other test takers.

In other words, they're not saying that they flagged it because she improved. They're saying that they found something suspicious between the answers that she had, along with other test takers, in the way they all got either questions right or wrong.

CRUMP: Alisyn, this is one of the -- well, they're saying two different things but the story keeps evolving. But this is one of the most un-American things I have ever seen. You are guilty until proven innocent. I mean -- and worse than that, you're not told the specific allegations against you. I mean, criminals get more due process than our children who have to be accountable to this SAT educational testing service, this private corporation, who tries to sit in determination as the measuring rod for human achievement and academic excellence.

She studied harder than she's ever studied in her life. She focused more. She sacrificed more. She checked all the boxes, did everything right, but yet she has now being accused of being a cheater.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CRUMP: And why? They say, oh, you just have to take our word for it that there's something that we see that's wrong.

CAMEROTA: And, you know --

CRUMP: You know, they need to tell us.

CAMEROTA: Well, there's one of the things that they've said to us. They gave CNN a statement. This is the third full screen graphic that we have. Another piece of evidence that can be reviewed in a score validity analysis is the student's answer sheet and, for example, whether the student's scratch work in his or her testing booklet shows calculations or other notes as legitimate test takers commonly have, or whether the booklet is blank.

Kamilah, do you -- do you remember taking notes? Do you think that would help clear all of this up?

CAMPBELL: I don't recall. I believe -- some test work I did take scratch work off of. But, when you take the test, they let you know beforehand that your scratch work will not be graded, nor noticed.

CAMEROTA: One more thing, Kamilah. They say that they suggest that you take the test again. Do you -- can you do that?

CRUMP: No, she's not going to do that.

CAMPBELL: No.

CAMEROTA: And why now?

CRUMP: It is unfair to ask her to do that. Just like the movie "Stand and Deliver," they want these students to be accountable to them, but this system is not accountable to anybody. I mean there's so -- such power and authority that they wield arbitrarily. I've gotten calls from now over 15 parents around the country saying, they did this to my child, too. They try to beat these young people into submission.

Well, this time, they're going to have to be accountable as well.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes.

CRUMP: We're talking to her congressional member. There is no oversight for this private corporation that has all of this power to decide the future of our young people.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that's a great point.

Very quickly, have you heard from Oprah? Is Oprah trying to get involved in Kamilah's case?

[06:50:00] CRUMP: Everybody has been reaching out to her saying that they stand with her. And so right now she's focused. This -- time is of the essence, Alisyn. They're making decisions whether to accept or reject her and the scholarship process, she's a -- has a single mother household.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CRUMP: This is real to them. This 1,230 makes a big difference whether she's going to get into the college of her dreams and whether they can afford it.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. We understand that your dream is to go to Florida State University. You want to major in dance. And we will be following your case, Kamilah, very closely because we want to know what the resolution of all of this is.

Mr. Crump, Kamilah, thank you very much for the update.

CRUMP: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: All right, for hundreds of thousands of federal employees not getting paid, it can make the difference between a choice between groceries and paying a bill. How are they getting by? The suffering from the shutdown, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The shutdown having real consequences for 800,000 federal workers who will not get paid. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ryan Baugh and his furloughed friend spend their unplanned time away from work volunteering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, but, really, I did find a voluntary thing we could do tomorrow morning if -- if you're interested.

MALVEAUX: Thursday, Ryan spent three hours giving blood platelets. Friday he'll pick up trash at the National Mall. And while he's being productive with his newfound freedom, he says he still feels held hostage by the shutdown.

[06:55:09] RYAN BAUGH, DHS EMPLOYEE: Let us work without having anxiety over our next grocery bill, for those who are working without pay right now and whose leave was canceled over the holidays.

MALVEAUX: Andrea Popelka is one of those with a choice between groceries and utilities.

ANDREA POPELKA, FURLOUGHED WORKER: All those things are already pre- budgeted. So when something like this happens and you're not going to get your next check, it's like, OK, what do I do?

MALVEAUX: Overall, 380,000 workers are furloughed. Another 420,000 working without pay. But, in a way, they could be the lucky ones. Traditionally, Congress grants back pay to those federal employees, though not guaranteed for anyone. Back pay is even less likely for federal contractors and the companies they work for, who might not get any money at all.

DAVID BERTEAU, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES COUNCIL: It will puts small businesses out of business if this continues much longer.

MALVEAUX: David Berteau, who represents federal contractors, says some businesses are still paying employees without getting paid by the government. He says the biggest impact for so many is the uncertainty.

BERTEAU: When is this going to be over? Am I going to be made whole at the end of it? Will anybody care about the work I do that matters so much to me?

MALVEAUX: It's a question some federal workers were asking even before the shutdown. Author Michael Lewis's latest book, "The Fifth Risk," looks at how President Trump's election impacted agencies across the government.

MICHAEL LEWIS, AUTHOR: All they get is slandered and abused. And yet we expect them to perform these critical missions in the society.

MALVEAUX: Lewis says the president just doesn't understand what federal employees do.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will shut down the government.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: OK. Fair enough. We disagree.

TRUMP: Absolutely. And I am proud --

SCHUMER: We disagree.

TRUMP: And I'll tell you what, I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.

MALVEAUX: Last week, President Trump cancelled federal employee pay raises for 2019, and claimed, without evidence, that, quote, most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.

Ryan, who refuses to get into the political mud, worries he may miss his opportunity to buy a house of his own.

BAUGH: When people in leadership positions publicly surmise about how the pain of a million federal families -- federal workers and their families are -- is going to tip the scale of the debate one way or the other, that represents a lack of moral leadership.

MALVEAUX: And, for now, no solution in sight. Susanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: OK, President Trump is losing support of two Republican senators on the shutdown strategy. Will there be a deal today? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president made it very clear, no wall, no deal.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: Does anybody have any doubt, we are not doing a wall.

[07:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never had so much support as I have for, frankly, the wall or the barrier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is purely political. The president has to stand firm.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY: Only one person is to blame for this.