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Senate to Vote on Dueling Bills; Farmers' Loyalty to Trump; Darrius Simmons Shares his Story; Saints Fans File Lawsuit. Aired 8:30-9:00a ET

Aired January 23, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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


[08:30:00] SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Absolutely torpedoed that bipartisan bill. We ended up getting 54 votes. We needed 60. We had 60 the night before until the White House threatened to veto and basically pulled the rug out from under us after six weeks of negotiations. Mike Rounds and I were very optimistic and I think we had a reasonable compromise, but that went by.

And that underlines one of the problems here that we've got, Alisyn, is, if this were a congressional issue, we could work it out. We could get in a room, Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, Mike Rounds and I or whoever, a group, could get in a room and work it out on a reasonable common sense basis. The problem is, you've got this third party out there, called the president, and we could work for months, come up with something and then he would say, no, that won't do, and out it goes. And that's exactly what happened last winter. So that's where we are right now.

Our negotiations among ourselves are very frustrating because we never know exactly what the White House position is going to be. We don't know how it's going to shift from day to day.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

KING: And we don't even know whether if they tell us today it's something they can support, if tomorrow they, indeed, will support it. Ask Mitch McConnell about that.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that is a tough one. I think you have just spelled out for everyone how hard it is -- I think it was Chuck Schumer who said, it's like, you know, nailing Jell-O to a wall trying to negotiate with an ever-shifting position.

But now you might have some hope in the president has spelled out and laid out his plan, as it currently is, and I think Mitch McConnell is going to have you all vote on it tomorrow. So as we understand it, $5.7 billion for the border wall, a three-year DACA temporary extension that may or may not have been made moot by the Supreme Court yesterday. Temporary -- three-year temporary protected status extension, $12.7 billion in disaster add.

Now, asylum law changes, these are fascinating. They snuck them in on page 1,271 of this bill, and these are big, big changes. And then an extension of Violence Against Women Act. Are you going to vote for this tomorrow?

KING: No. And you put your finger on one of the problem. There are really two problems. One is, do we assed to the president's requests, whatever it is today, with a gun to our head, with a shutdown, with 800,000 people furloughed, not being paid. There's -- that's one of the real underlying issues. And I have to share with you, that's one of the real concerns among the Democratic caucus -- I hear them talking -- because the fear is, this will become the routine way to do business around here. We give in to the president today. We say, OK, it's only, you know, it's only a little bit of the wall. It's not the whole wall. And there are some things for DACA.

The problem is, we've got a major debt ceiling vote coming up in March. We're going to have budget votes over the next two years. Is this going to be the way he does business every time?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KING: And I think that's one of the important issues.

The other piece is, you touched on, is even this supposed compromise, which, by the way, a compromise involves two parties coming together. This wasn't a compromise, this was the president's offer. But in it were these major changes in asylum laws. And this is typical. This is Steven Miller's signature. You think you've got a deal and then he'll stick something in at the end to try to gain a little bit more in terms of limiting immigration, even legal immigration. And now we've got something that really makes it impossible to vote for.

CAMEROTA: And so senator --

KING: I was disappointed when Mike Rounds said he wouldn't vote for the second bill, which essentially says, let's sit down and work it out and take two or three weeks, put the government back into functioning --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KING: Turn it back on and let people go back to work and then we -- let's work this out as any other political issue.

CAMEROTA: So, senator, I mean, as of today, the TSA, the FDA, the FBI, they are telling us -- they are all trying to sound an alarm in one way or another telling us that they believe that the country's safety here on day 33 is actually at risk. Be it our food supply or be it that the FBI is now saying that they don't have the money to continue investigations into MS-13, into interdicting heroin, into counterterrorism. So what keeps you up at night today?

KING: That -- that does keep me up at night because, you know, as you know, from having been with you a number of times, I work on the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee. I know that we face threats in this country. And it's ironic, one might say ridiculous, that in the name of national security we're jeopardizing national security. That's -- that's one of the -- just terrible side effects of this whole thing. We shouldn't be trying to govern in the midst of this kind of a government shutdown.

The Congress has a role to play here. The president has a role to play. But the president doesn't get to say, if you don't give me my way, I'm just going to take my toys and go home, or, in this case, I'm going to shut down the government. That's not the way our system works.

[08:35:01] And I think he's got to come to grips with the reality that he's not the CEO of America. He doesn't get to say, we're going to build a wall. He's got to persuade Congress. And it's interesting, Alisyn, he had two years with total Republican control of both houses. Why didn't this come up then? That's when they had the numbers. They could have gotten something through.

The dirty secret is that I haven't met many members, Republican members of Congress, that are all that enthusiastic about the wall. You know, they -- they say, well, it would be nice to do. Everyone wants to do border security. Everyone. Everyone. Both sides. I certainly do. I voted for it a number of times.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KING: The question is, doing border security that makes sense that is cost-effective and not doing something that is basically the fulfilling of half a campaign promise. Remember the other half was, Mexico was going to pay for it. This whole shutdown is about us paying for it, not Mexico.

CAMEROTA: Well, Senator Angus King, you are an independent. You talk to both sides. It is fascinating to hear just how stuck we are and to hear you explain how we've gotten here. So thank you very much. We'll be watching what happens.

KING: Thanks, Alisyn. We're going to keep at it.

CAMEROTA: Good to hear. We'll talk to you again, senator.

KING: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So they supported President Trump in 2016. Now, after being hit hard by tariffs and the government shutdown, are Iowa farmers still on his side? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:23] BERMAN: Farmers across the country dealing with two financial hits during the Trump presidency -- the trade war with China and now the government shutdown. So, are the farmers who voted for the president still supporting him?

CNN's Bill Weir traveled to Iowa to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE EDWARDS, VEGETABLE FARMER: My grandparents are farmers. And I -- I thought my grandpa was the smartest man I'd ever met.

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Like most Iowa farmers, Kate Edwards loves the rhythm of the seasons, seeds in the spring, harvest in the fall. But while winter is usually a time to plan, this winter is a time to worry.

EDWARDS: As a farmer, it's kind of the worst time of year for the government to be shut down because --

WEIR (on camera): Is that right?

EDWARDS: Because if it was any other time of year, we'd be too busy in the field to care. In the winter months, you're the business person.

WEIR: Ah.

EDWARDS: So this is the time of year we're making these business decisions.

WEIR (voice over): But she says the shutdown makes it much harder to apply for loans, collect checks, or see the Department of Agriculture data needed to plot the next crop.

WEIR (on camera): I suppose you also have to make equipment decisions, right, investments.

DAVE WALTON, CORN AND SOYBEAN FARMER: Oh, that's an easy one. We don't have any money, so we're not investing.

WEIR (voice over): Dave Walton says the shutdown is part of a one-two punch that came when President Trump started a trade war with China. This destroyed his profit margin in soybeans, while raising the costs of his equipment.

WALTON: The cost of a new grain bin went up 15 to 25 percent.

WEIR (on camera): Wow.

WALTON: So things are already tight. And if you're thinking about buying a grain bin, you probably not going to do it now.

WEIR (voice over): But he refuses to criticize the president, who flipped Iowa from blue to red with a big help from farmers.

WALTON: You know, I think there is some growing uneasiness. We're sort of in the middle of the game, so you can't really predict the outcome of the game. We're in the middle.

WEIR (on camera): But you can second guess the coaching if you're down by --

WALTON: Oh, yes.

WEIR: By 50 points at halftime, right?

WALTON: Yes. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Yes, we're down by a few touchdowns if you want to put it that way. But he campaigned on a lot of the things that he's doing right now and he's doing it.

BRIAN WOLKEN, FARMER, MAYOR OF MONTICELLO, IOWA: A lot of farmers, big supporters of Donald Trump. Until he's out of office, I don't think you'll hear him say anything bad about him.

WEIR (on camera): Really?

WOLKEN: Bad about the tariffs. I think they're just going to say, it's going to be good for us in the long run.

WEIR (voice over): When he's not growing soybeans, Brian Wolken is the mayor of Monticello. And he says that most farmers he knows will swallow the pain of patriotic pride.

WEIR (on camera): Oh, yes, Iowa soybeans, baby.

WOLKEN: Iowa soybeans.

WEIR (voice over): Oh, and a $12 billion bailout doesn't hurt.

WEIR (on camera): By borrowing more money from China to pay you guys a subsidy.

WOLKEN: Yes. He knows that we're taking a hit. He's acknowledging that the tariffs are having a negative impact on the agriculture industry. And so to keep the farmers happy, he's giving us a subsidy.

WEIR: Does that make sense?

WOLKEN: It does, if his plan works out in the long run.

MEL MANTERNACH, RETIRED FARMER, MONTICELLO RESIDENT: It's unbelievable that the farmers in Iowa can still support Trump when it's costing them thousands every week. I can't believe they they're that blind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but they're being placated with a $12 billion bailout.

WEIR (voice over): Over at Daryl's (ph) Diner in Monticello, Gary the eye doctor tells me after he was critical of Trump supporters, he lost a few regular patients. And while a Democrat won this district in the midterms, political riffs are only getting wider.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got die-hards. You've got die-hards.

MANTERNACH: I think there's some of them -- some of them -- the die- hards are dying harder.

EDWARDS: But I think that that piece is really important to what we do. And so I think we're frustrated right now, but I also think that we look to each other to build resiliency in that moment.

WEIR: But Kate believes in the kindness of neighbors and strangers to save the American farm. Like the 9,700 federal Farm Service Agency workers now being called in to work without pay.

Bill Weir, CNN, Monticello, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Really helpful glimpse into what's happening there.

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) from Iowa all the way to Davos. They're talking about it at the World Economic Forum, the ripple effects all over the economy.

CAMEROTA: There's another casualty of the government shutdown. The State Department forced to cancel an international conference on border security. This is an annual event scheduled to take place next month in Scotland. It typically brings together hundreds of border security experts from dozens of different countries. Officials say it is being cancelled because of limited funding during the shutdown.

BERMAN: Flights have resumed at New Jersey's Newark Airport this morning after a drone sighting grounded flights last night. The drone was spotted flying over a nearby airport. Crews on both Southwest and United flights reported the sighting to authorities, leading them to stop flights coming into and out of the airport. No word if investigators found the drone that caused the trouble.

[08:45:00] CAMEROTA: A police officer in Nashville taking time out of his day to stop and play football with a teenager. This was caught on video by the teenager's mom. She said the officer played with her son Kaden (ph) for at least ten minutes out in the cold. She shared the video on FaceBook. She was hoping to be able to track down that officer to thank him. And our affiliate WZTV reports that the mom eventually did track down the officer. She found out his name is Officer Graham and he also has a son named Kaden (ph).

BERMAN: Well, how do you like that?

CAMEROTA: What are the chances?

BERMAN: What are the chances? Now, look, community policing, this is why they do it, so people are a part of the community, they feel connected to law enforcement.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and invested.

BERMAN: All right, it is the call that likely cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl -- almost definitely. And now it could cost the NFL. Can anything be done to prevent something like this from happening again? The former head of NFL officials joins us next.

BERMAN: But first, Darrius Simmons has four fingers and two prosthetic legs, but that does not slow him down on the piano. This teenager is striking a chord while inspiring others in today's "Turning Points."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARRIUS SIMMONS, SENIOR, WARREN G. HARDING HIGH SCHOOL: I like to be somebody's motivation. I wanted to learn how to play the piano around like the age of 10. I knew it was going to take a little bit more extra work for me to learn to play the piano, even at a young age. Everybody has ten fingers. I knew I had four. But I was pretty sure I could make it work.

TAMARA SIMMONS, DARRIUS' MOTHER: He was born with three fingers on one hand and the one on the left. And without the tibia and fibula of his lower legs. At 18 months, in order to walk, his only choice was the amputations.

D. SIMMONS: I (INAUDIBLE) play at Carnegie Hall (INAUDIBLE). One of my favorite composers and pianists.

T. SIMMONS: That night Darrius walked across the stage, sat on the same bench together and played a song. He got a standing ovation.

D. SIMMONS: One of the best experiences I ever had in my life.

One of my compositions that I made is "Dreams are Forever." I filmed it and then I posted it on social media. (INAUDIBLE). So it did pretty good.

REID YOUNG, BAND DIRECTOR, WARREN G. HARDING HIGH SCHOOL: Very few high school students can be as emotional with music and be able to perform it and really tell a story through his music.

T. SIMMONS: He doesn't know the word "can't." He's just one heck of a boy.

D. SIMMONS: If I played in front of a whole crowd and I see one person smile, that's a job well done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:16] BERMAN: New Orleans Saints fans taking their anger over what might be the worst no-call in NFL history to court. Two season ticket holders are suing the NFL, demanding the commissioner reverse the result of the NFC championship game or schedule a replay.

It is because of this play. You can see it here. This is crystal clear pass interference. It was not called on the Los Angeles Rams. Very late. The last two minutes of the fourth quarter. Had it been called, the Saints almost definitely would have won and gone to the Super Bowl. Instead, the Rams are going.

Joining us now is Mike Pereira, the former vice president of officiating for the NFL and rules analyst for Fox Sports.

Mike, thank you so much for being with us.

Just for some of our audience who may not be rabid football fans, I just want to get two things on the record as we see this play again. Number one, this is crystal clear, no doubt about it, pass interference and it should have been called, correct?

MIKE PEREIRA, FORMER VP OF OFFICIATING FOR THE NFL: That's absolutely 100 percent correct and you can throw in the element that it's also an illegal hit on a defenseless player.

BERMAN: All right, so that was a crystal clear penalty that the whole world can now see.

Number two -- and this is a bit more subjective -- that in a championship game like this, had the call gone the right way, almost definitely, you can never know for sure, but almost definitely the Saints would have won.

PEREIRA: I have to agree with that, certainly, because it would have given them a first down at the six yard line, and they could have run the clock down to just a few seconds left before kicking a -- basically the winning field goal.

BERMAN: Yes. So that -- what we're looking at here -- and we're getting this from someone who knows -- is that basically a missed call put a team in the Super Bowl. Had the call been made correctly, the Rams -- the Saints would be in the Super Bowl today. That is so hard for the people of New Orleans to stomach right now and they filed this lawsuit and, among other things, they say that the call has caused them emotional trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, a distrust of the game which has become a national past time.

Explain then again to our audience why then the NFL just doesn't reverse it and send the Saints to the Super Bowl.

PEREIRA: Well, I mean, listen, the commissioner does have authority to do what he can for the best interest of the games. But, you know, you can't do this when it comes to a judgment call made by officials. I mean I get the fact that -- and certainly everybody connected with the Saints that has right to be upset. But you're not going to reverse a game based on a missed call -- a missed judgment call. If you were to do that, think of the slippery slope. Man, there would be ice going everywhere because you'd have to look at -- in week one of the season next year, there's a holding call that was missed and it was at the end of the game. You're not going to go that way. I mean officiating when it gets to judgment is subjective, it's tough, it's miserably tough to do and you hate the outcome the way that it turned out. I think it's more important not the focus now backwards as it is to focus forwards and what could we possibly do to keep this from happening again? What measures can the league take going forward to maybe correct an error like this at the time.

BERMAN: And the answer is what?

PEREIRA: Well, I don't think it's expanding instant replay, in my opinion. I mean, pass interference, everybody's talking about making pass interference reviewable. I don't think that you want to do that in the replay system. But that doesn't mean it can't be taken care of.

Look, in my opinion now, college football has eight officials, the NFL has seven. I think they need to add an eighth. And I say this not out of a lack of respect for officials, but technology is improving at a faster rate than officiating is. And so I think it's time to suck it up and actually say, we need to use more technology by hiring an eighth official, not involved with replay, it's called the sky judge, I call them, and he has a booth in the stadium with replay equipment and he can immediately, as the eighth member of this crew, just call down to the referee and say, I got the look, it's pass interference on the Rams, it's New Orleans' ball first and goal at the six. It will take 15 to 20 seconds to fix it.

BERMAN: Right.

[08:55:43] PEREIRA: Not a three-minute stop on replay. And it just gives officiating another tool for them to use and focus only on the major fouls, the player safety fouls, the pass interferences. It can be done. And I get a bit alarmed when I hear people like John Elway and Steven Jones just come out publically and say, we can't review pass interference. And this is even before even going to the competition committee meetings, which they are on. You can, if you open up your thoughts and use technology with an eighth official. There are mistakes that could be corrected in 15 to 20 seconds and it will look a little strange but you'll get the calls right. And I think we need to focus on that.

BERMAN: There might be a little pause -- there might be a little pause in the game, but in those 15 seconds, you can make sure the team that deserves it should be going to the Super Bowl. Mike Pereira, great to have you on. Thanks so much.

PEREIRA: OK. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: I really understood what was happening now.

BERMAN: And you loved it because you love discussions like this that involve sports.

CAMEROTA: Well, yes, number one, I love sports. But, number two, I now get it. Now I see, having watched that replay -- and you educated me -- now I see why that is so outrageous. Thank you for that.

The Senate is set to vote to end the shutdown tomorrow. Will there be any deal today?

"NEWSROOM" picks up our coverage, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)