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Aid Prevented from Reaching Venezuelans; Warren Visits Native American Lunch; Schultz on Starbucks Shares; Jury Convicts El Chapo. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 13, 2019 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:12] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Venezuela's political crisis is hurting the most vulnerable people, the children, in desperate need of medical care.

CNN'S Sam Kiley went inside the last pediatric surgical ward in Venezuela's capital and he joins us live from Caracas.

What's the situation this morning, Sam?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a very bizarre situation here in Caracas. You wouldn't know that this is a city at the center of a gigantic humanitarian crisis that has forced 3 million people, according to the U.N., to flee the country. A country that isn't driving its people out as a result of civil war or natural disaster, but as a result of economic collapse.

And that collapse has extended right across the board. People here eat mostly as a result of handouts from the government, but that simply isn't enough, not least among the most vulnerable, and that is children in the hospitals. And this is what we saw when we went to the biggest pediatric hospital, Alisyn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KILEY (voice over): In heavily guard hospitals, the government here wants to keep visitors out and its shameful secrets in. A failed economy now being crippled by American sanctions has starved hospitals of drugs and the very necessity of life itself, food. Like us, it's smuggled in by volunteers. If the government got hold of these essential supplies, these aid workers believe they would be stolen and sold on the black market.

Angie cannot leave the hospital. She lives on a ventilator. Incredibly, Venezuela's president has closed the country's borders to foreign aid.

KILEY (on camera): The entire structure is dependent on outside charity help precisely because the government refuses to take it. It will not accept that it needs help because that means the government admits that it's failed. KILEY (voice over): Antonella (ph) is six and she has a tumor in her

neck. She's terminally ill and there are no cancer drugs to buy her a little extra time. It's her mother, though, who's getting treatment today. She fainted from lack of food when she arrived at the hospital. Now she's recovering on a drip. It's just saline solution. So this handout is just in time.

In every room here, small donations are welcome. Staff here tell us that only three of 18 operating theaters are working, that this is the only pediatric surgical unit left in the capital and that 500 children are on its waiting list. One doctor quickly writes a shopping list of desperately needed supplies. She can't show her face for fear of being punished for doing this.

The U.S. and many other nations blame President Nicolas Maduro for scenes like this and they support his rival Juan Guaido. USs.-led efforts to cut off Maduro's access to foreign currency are intended to drive him from power. That might work eventually. In the meantime, it can only deepen the suffering.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Sam, it doesn't get any more grim than those pictures that you're showing us. I mean thank God you were able to go inside and reveal to the world what's really happening.

But when you say that the Maduro regime is preventing the tons of humanitarian aid from being brought into the country, what -- what's going to happen? How long can that go on?

KILEY: Well, yesterday, Juan Guaido, the interim president recognized by the U.S. and others but not by Maduro and certainly not by the military here, said that the aid -- the day that they would try and push the aid in would be on the 23rd of this month. But Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president here, said publicly on the TV that this food was a biological weapon, that it was deliberately contaminated by the United States. So it's turned into a propaganda war whilst the ordinary people here continue to suffer.

And I have to say, in the rural areas, the situation is a great deal worse, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh. Sam Kiley, thank you very much for all of your reporting. We will check back throughout the day.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Senator Elizabeth Warren made a surprise appearance at a Native American conference. So, what's going on here? New developments in the race for 2020, that's next.

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[06:38:21] BERMAN: Democratic Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren, Democratic senator from Massachusetts, made a surprise visit on Tuesday to a Native American conference in Washington, D.C. So, why? Joining us now to discuss, Harry Enten, senior writer and analyst for

CNN Politics, and Astead Herndon, national politics reporter for "The New York Times."

And, Astead, obviously this comes in the context of the controversy surrounding how Elizabeth Warren has identified herself in the past, including on documents as Native American or American Indian where there are people who suggest that her lineage isn't quite all that.

So my question to you, as someone who's been out on the trail with here, the campaign trail with her, why do you think she did that yesterday? What is she trying to do?

ASTEAD HERNDON, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, it's an interesting choice. I mean this is a conference she went to also last year, and last year she spoke at the main reception and kind of gave a more explicit understanding, an explicit apology to folks saying, you know, I was -- in the past I may have identified in ways that have confused tribal sovereignty and she was doing more mea culpa.

Here, yesterday, this isn't what was happening. She was introducing someone who's a master (ph) (INAUDIBLE) tribal leader, someone she's had a relationship for a long time. It was very short remarks that did not include any mention of the DNA test, any mention of the Native American controversy.

But, of course, she knows that even her mere appearance at that event is going to stir this up again. Last week she had her formally apologize to the Cherokee Nation, which is kind of her first big step in recognizing that there was some harm that may have caused to this community.

But it still -- it still is interesting to see how this might play out politically. Her on the trail, her supporters, the community who wants to support her in the Democratic primary, they shun this. They say this isn't a big issue. This is an issue that President Trump brings up and uses racist languages about it and they don't see it as a real harm for her in the Democratic primary. If that changes, if she's the nominee, that would be a whole different story.

[06:40:11] CAMEROTA: I mean it's also just, according to MJ Lee, and I think you have said, it's just not a burning issue for voters who support her. It doesn't come up at her appearances. And so did she make a surprise appearance yesterday to fly under the radar with this or what was the thinking?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes, I'm not quite exactly sure. I mean, you know, she has her own relationships outside of this controversy with the Native American community, obviously, as most politicians do.

I will say, you know, you point out, no, I don't think this is an issue with her voters. But, of course, electability at large is an issue with Democratic primary voters.

BERMAN: The number one issue.

ENTEN: The number one issue with Democratic primary voters. And the more that she sort of takes on Trump and sort of seems to have the weaker hand, I think that does harm her more generally in the minds of Democratic voters. So I would think, you know, this issue has been gone over, she's apologized for it, I think I would just leave it alone if I were here.

BERMAN: You are not running her campaign, obviously.

ENTEN: No.

BERMAN: And I don't think the offer has been submitted.

Howard Schultz, who may run as an independent, did a town hall meeting last night on CNN. Poppy Harlow was the moderator. Didn't have a lot of proposals, think that's safe to say. I'm not, I think, breaking any eggshells when I say that. But Poppy pressed him on a fascinating subject given where we are with this White House, would he divest himself from his Starbucks shares if it becomes president?

CAMEROTA: Yes. This is relevant.

BERMAN: Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD SCHULTZ, EXPLORING INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL RUN: I will do nothing whatsoever to have any conflict of interest between my investments overall or my interest in the company that I love.

POPPY HARLOW, MODERATOR: Have you not decided if you would sell all of your shares?

SCHULTZ: I don't think that's the question. I think I -- there's multiple ways to do this. No, no, I'm not -- I'm not evading the question. Let's -- there's multiple ways do this, to set up a blind trust, to do lots of things to remove any conflict of interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know what he was doing?

CAMEROTA: What?

BERMAN: Evading the question. He was evading the question. And it's not a small question.

CAMEROTA: Isn't there an easy answer to that?

BERMAN: Well, not if you want to hang on to your billions of dollars in Starbucks stocks there's not an easy answer.

CAMEROTA: I guess. But if you're running for -- haven't we already lived this -- seen this movie? HERNDON: I mean this is why he's not in the Democratic primary because

those voters would tell him that there's only one answer to and that is to divest, is to sell off those shares. I mean being out with Elizabeth Warren on the trail, the biggest cheer almost always is for when she talks about the anti-corruption bill that she has proposed which would cause candidates to do things like divest, like put up tax returns. And there's a real energy around that among democrats.

Howard Schultz is trying to play a different game. He's trying to play a king of both sides game. And we've seen this on a lot of issues at that town hall last night. He'll try to say that all Democrats are for the green new deal, but we know that that's not true across the board. He'll say -- he's trying to paint Democrats as all in that kind of Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez wing when that's not necessarily true. But he's doing that because he's trying to create a world where only he in the center is seen as the best person (ph).

BERMAN: Your colleague, Alex Burns at "The Times," notes that what Howard Schultz is doing -- and you just said it yourself last night -- is he's not coming up proposals of his own, he's pivoting, though, and attacking Democrats, particularly on the progressive side there, which really isn't going to sit well with members of the Democratic Party.

Harry Enten, you've looked at the numbers and it's not clear whether he's sitting well with anybody.

ENTEN: Right. I mean if you look at our latest CNN poll, for example, what you see is that his net favorability rating, which is his favorable rating minus unfavorable rating, stands at negative 11 percentage points among voters. That's quite bad for someone whom 44 percent of the electorate hasn't even heard of at this point. He needs to actually come up with policy proposal. I mean where is the beef, to quote Walter Mondale at this particular point. There's nothing there.

CAMEROTA: That was Clara Heller, but, OK.

ENTEN: Well, it was her and then he was he. I -- I remember the politics reference because I watch those old debates.

CAMEROTA: I remember the food. I remember the cheeseburger.

ENTEN: Well, I remember Wendy's as well. I mean, come on, let's all get some Wendy's breakfast in here or something.

CAMEROTA: But -- but I'm -- I'm still confused. No policy specifics.

ENTEN: No policy specifics.

CAMEROTA: And no commitment to what he would do with his investments. And going after progressives. So what's the play here?

ENTEN: Well, I don't know what the plan is. It's almost like he rolled out of bed in the morning and decided, I'm going to run for president. I'm going to spend, you know, a billion dollars and hope that's enough. But the fact of the matter is, is you have to actually come up with policy proposals that separate you out from the two major parties if you're going to run as an independent, otherwise you're going to end up with 5 percent of the vote and, you know, maybe you'll end up in the history books, but you certainly won't end up in the White House.

BERMAN: Astead, I don't know if you read Harry Enten as closely as I do, but he had an article this weekend and he said, by the numbers, Senator Kamala Harris had the most successful rollout of the Democratic candidates. She saw the biggest bounce, correct?

ENTEN: Correct, in the polls.

BERMAN: are the other candidates -- and you're covering many of them -- are they having to deal with it and react to that now? Is there now a sense among the other Democrats in the field that she's the one they have to watch?

HERNDON: There is a sense -- a growing sense that Senator Harris had -- not only had a great rollout, but is well positioned through the states that come in the map in the primary. And that's been known for a little while. But it's gone from being kind of a whisper topic to now that the rollout has been successful to kind of being an assumed truth, that she's someone who is well positioned with California moving up the primary, with her strength among black voters in places around South Carolina. And that's going to have an impact. Not only will that have an impact in many some other campaigns, kind of targeting her as we get further down the road, as we -- as this campaign moves towards more policy specifics, but that also will have an impact with how she has to run.

[06:45:23] I think there has been an increasing amount of pressure asking that campaign to produce policy ideas and to -- and to know what exactly the affirmative vision for the country under a president Harris would look like. And that's going to increase more and more as she is seen maybe possibly as the front runner.

BERMAN: Astead Herndon, Harry Enten, thank you very much.

One programming note, Democratic candidate, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota will take part in a CNN presidential town hall. That's on Monday in New Hampshire. Don Lemon moderates Monday night at 10:00 p.m. only on CNN. These are great to have.

CAMEROTA: These are great. And you learn so much. Or --

BERMAN: Not.

CAMEROTA: Sometimes not. But even that, telling.

The notorious drug lord El Chapo convicted on all counts. He is facing the rest of his life behind bars, though that hasn't stopped him before, we might add.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: His attorney's plan now. That's a live report, next.

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[06:50:08] CAMEROTA: A New York jury has convicted notorious Mexican drug lord El Chapo on all counts. He now faces the rest of his life in prison. But his legal team has a plan.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us with more.

What's happening now?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, well, it's that first count, first of all, that Guzman faced, engaging in a criminal enterprise, that carries the life in prison sentence. So likely at minimum that's what he faces. But the federal judge will make the final call on that.

Now, when jurors came back with that verdict, they had been deliberating for more than 30 hours. No one looked at the notorious drug lord in the face and in response Guzman didn't have a dramatic reaction. He, instead, turned to his wife and they smiled at each other. She had tears in her eyes.

Now, this is a woman who was in the courtroom for every day of this trial, including when El Chapo's his mistress testified against him. And when jurors were dismissed, the judge told them their thoughtfulness when considering this verdict reminded him of why he's proud to be an American, because, remember, the government put on an enormous case that was sometimes very dense, sometimes incredibly dramatic over ten weeks.

As for Guzman, a defense attorney says he was upbeat and ready to appeal. His lawyer struck that same tone in a news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDUCARDO BALAREZO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR EL CHAPO": When he came in here, he was already presumed guilty, unfortunately, by the media, by the government, by everybody. And that is an extremely tough case to defend. We weren't just fighting the evidence, we were fighting the perception of what Joaquin was.

RICHARD P. DONOGHUE, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: This conviction is a victory for every family who's lost a loved one to the black hole of addiction. There are those who say that the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Keep in mind, despite this conviction, the Sinaloa Cartel, which El Chapo led, continues to be incredibly powerful.

Now, it's unclear what prison Guzman will be held, but as you guys noted before, for a man who's escaped custody twice, we can only imagine it's the highest, maximum security, guys.

BERMAN: All right, Brynn Gingras for us. Thank you very, very much. Appreciate it. GINGRAS: Yes.

BERMAN: We have new information on whether the president will sign that deal to keep the government open. Brace yourself. That's next.

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[06:56:47] BERMAN: So, will it be another messy morning in the Midwest and Northeast?

Our meteorologist Chad Myers has the forecast.

Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, John, there's some snow today, but really this is light. The best is what was already on the ground and refroze overnight. That's where we're really going to work our way into some slippery stuff today.

Not down here, though. For Miami, you'll see some showers across parts of Orlando and Jacksonville, and that's where it is warm. It's the same cold front, it's just not as cold.

This weather's brought to you by Jared, dare to be devoted.

So let's get right to it. If you're going to be traveling in the Northeast today, even driving around, make sure you have sunglasses because the sun will come out and that snow is still going to be very, very bright today if it's on the ground in your area.

Cold air comes out of the way for a couple of days and then back into our forecast for Saturday. In fact, D.C. over 60 and then back down into the 30s. New York City on Friday at 55. By Saturday, a cool 39.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chad, thank you very much.

BERMAN: But the sun will come out, he says.

CAMEROTA: Tomorrow.

BERMAN: Bet your bottom dollar.

CAMEROTA: That -- well, I'll spare the viewers.

The bipartisan agreement to avoid another government shutdown is providing fodder for comics. Here are your "Late Night Laughs."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CORDEN, HOST, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": Well, it looks like Congress has agreed on a bipartisan spending deal to avoid another possible government shutdown. It's a good compromise. Negotiators say there's enough in the deal to make both sides completely miserable. He introduced a new slogan, you can see it on the banner behind him

here. It says, finish the wall, right? Now in Trump's two years in office, zero miles of the wall have been built along a 2,000-mile border and now he's saying finish the wall. Trump's next banner's just going to say the wall's finished, don't go looking for anything, just trust us, trust us on that.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Trump said something that rang a bell.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we're only getting stronger together. That's what's happening.

COLBERT: Yes, stronger together. He stole Hillary Clinton's campaign slogan. That's bold. At this point, it's only a matter of time before he steals her look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was disturbing.

BERMAN: James Cordon, by the way, is exactly right on the wall issue. It's not a joke. The president is moving the goalpost here in such a big way.

CAMEROTA: We've been talking about it this morning. It hasn't -- nothing -- no part of it has been built, but the president, this morning, seems to be claiming victory. So, we will discuss that.

Thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, will President Trump sign this new border deal? We have the answer. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Am I happy at first glance? The answer is, no, I'm not.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: It's a good step in the right direction. I hope he'll sign it.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: We have a bipartisan agreement. Please, Mr. President, don't cause a shutdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the president is going to start reprogramming dollars without congressional approval, there's going to be a big fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Burr (ph) was very clear, he doesn't see evidence of collusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's still witnesses to be called and there's still a final report to be written.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Cohen is going to go to prison. He cannot escape his testimony. [07:00:03] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's already stiffed us. Any good will

that he might have existed in the committee with Michael Cohen is now gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY.

END