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Challenges on Emergency Declaration; Weld to Challenge Trump; Town Hall with Klobuchar; Battle for Democrats' Message; Trump Threatens Retribution. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 18, 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] JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And it seemed to be a habit or part of the culture in medicine for a point in time. We changed all that in Ohio. So by prescribed opiate deaths went down because we clamped down on the ability to prescribe those opiates in massive amounts.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

KASICH: The danger, of course, is fentanyl, which does come across the border, or heroin, or cocaine. And these -- they tend to come across the border, they say, through these checkpoints and they smuggle them in somehow.

Do I think the border's a serious problem? I do. Enough to declare it a national emergency like the president is doing? No. Because I think this is a political declaration. And, frankly, you don't do end runs around Congress.

The purpose of the national declaration was to say if we have -- really have a problem here that is something that everybody agrees upon, rather than going through the formal process of running everything through the Congress, the committees, the subcommittees, the this thing, the that thing, give the president the authority to do what the president needs to do, which is in the interest and agreed to by all the parties in the country it's an emergency.

This is not the case. The Congress has already decided what they want to do on the border. And for him to say, well, I just don't like what they did, that just flaunts in the face of that national declaration.

Now, it's going to go to the courts. And you try to tell me what the judges are going to decide. I really don't know. Could he win that? Maybe. I sort of feel as though, well, it depends who the judges are that are hearing the case and where they come down on this --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KASICH: But this is definitely not the intent of what the Congress had when they passed this.

CAMEROTA: Earlier in the program we had former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld on. What do you think of his idea to pose a primary challenge to President Trump? KASICH: Well, this used to be a -- you know, an everyday occurrence.

You know, you had Teddy Kennedy running against Jimmy Carter. You had Eugene McCarthy running against Lyndon Johnson before Bobby Kennedy got in. You had Pat Buchanan running against George Bush. This happens all the time. And now lately they're like, oh, no, no, you can't do that.

Well, he has a right to do this. And, you know, you have to look at what's happening here in the Republican primary. Not at this point in terms of where we are today, but where we might be given the advance of time.

Secondly, it's really healthy to have a debate about what the Republican Party stands for. I mean, is the Republican Party for not having free trade? I don't think so. Is the Republican Party don't care about debt? I don't think so. Is the Republican Party anti- immigration? I don't think so. Is the Republican Party into name calling? I don't think so. So this will be a test to determine where the party is. And I think that's very, very healthy for the Republican Party.

Frankly, the conservative movement just can't sit back and attack progressives and say all their ideas are crazy without offering some sort of an alternative on the environment, on the difference between the rich and the poor --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KASICH: On immigration, on all these things. It's -- ideas are what move politics, not, you know, some stupid political considerations.

CAMEROTA: Well, in terms of those stupid political considerations, I mean what Governor Weld said is that he has not gotten a warm welcome from the state Republican Party. Listen to what he says has happened since he announced this exploratory committee.

KASICH: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL WELD (R), LAUNCHED 2020 EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE: Sure, it was a joke. I mean the -- the response to my announcement of an exploratory committee has been for everybody to close ranks among the state Republican parties and say, no, we can't have a primary. And the truth is, if the president had his first choice, he wouldn't have a primary, and he wouldn't have an election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: It sounds like the folks in New Hampshire at least do not like this idea of him getting in.

KASICH: Yes. You know, the party -- you know, there's some party people that they tolerate no dissent on this. And, you know, look, they criticized me. I didn't -- I didn't go to the convention. I didn't endorse the guy. You know, who cares? You can have your opinion, just respect my opinion.

Now, you know, in this world today, it seems as though we don't have a lot of respect for other people's opinion and that's just not held by Republicans. That's across the board. It seems as though we have an inability to listen to one another, and that's -- well, we're going to have to get over that because we don't function well when we're divided.

In terms of his right to run, of course he has a right to run and the fact that people are, you know, are all flipped out because he wants to present a different point of view, that's nonsense. It's good for the party. Now, presidents don't want to have, you know, governors, presidents, nobody wants to have a primary, but it's all part of the system, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And do you think there is room for more than one primary challenger to President Trump?

KASICH: I don't know how -- I don't know how that's all going to work out. I can't -- I can't predict. That's one thing I -- I can't predict a few things, like the vote -- like maybe what's going to happen on the Senate on the national emergency, because that's a little clearer to me. But I'm not a swami looking into a ball here. I cannot predict the future. But I can tell you this, whatever we think is going to happen probably won't.

CAMEROTA: I'll take that to the bank.

Governor John Kasich, always great to talk to you. Thank you very much.

KASICH: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: John.

[08:35:02] AVLON: A swami. I like that. That word's not used enough in politics these days.

CAMEROTA: Not enough. I agree.

AVLON: Senator Amy Klobuchar set to answer questions from voters in a town hall tonight on CNN. We preview the event, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AVLON: Breaking news.

Haiti's foreign minister confirms to CNN that five Americans have been arrested on conspiracy charges, but they've not been formally charged by Haitian authorities. It comes after more than a week of deadly riots protesting Haiti's president and calling on him to step down over alleged corruption.

CNN has reached out to the U.S. State Department and we are awaiting its reaction. CAMEROTA: All right, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar is spending Presidents ' Day in New Hampshire as her campaign enters its second week. Tonight, Klobuchar will take part in a CNN town hall moderated by Don Lemon.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is live in Manchester with more.

What's going on there, Suzanne?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

There's a lot of excitement here, as you can imagine. You see the stage just behind me. That is where Don Lemon is going to be talking to Amy Klobuchar. But also in this small, intimate setting, she's going to be hearing and getting questioned fielded from students, from faculty, from Democratic activists. And seeing her up close for the last couple of weeks, get a real impression, a sense of how she'll respond.

[08:40:06] If you ask her about immigration reform, she loves to tell stories. She'll tell the story about her grandfather who went to Ellis Island and was rejected and then later accepted U.S. citizenship two weeks before World War II and how that meant the world to her. If you ask her about everybody participating in this democracy, she'll talk about her husband John growing up with five siblings, all six of them in a trailer and then piling into a station wagon and having to count off each one of those kids so they didn't leave anybody behind. That everybody has to be included. Those are the kinds of things that she loves to do to make those personal connections.

She's travel with her daughter Abigail, her husband John. And you won't hear so much about Minnesota and ice (ph) as you will hear about heartland economics. And that is the idea, that people in rural areas should have education, have jobs, health care, just like the rest of the United States, the rest of Americans. Those are the voters that she is really focusing on. That is her greatest strength.

And, Alisyn, I would put money on this. She will make a joke about not being in the snow. That how wonderful it will be indoors. That she didn't bring her snow globe.

It is one of those metaphors that she uses for showing that, yes, she has grit, she has tenacity, she's able to handle kind of those tough circumstances, including the president.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, she has grit, tenacity, but no hat. That is what I felt she needed for that announcement.

MALVEAUX: I -- and gloves. I don't know how she did it, but --

CAMEROTA: I don't either.

MALVEAUX: We'll -- we'll hear about it for sure. CAMEROTA: All right, Suzanne, thank you very much for that preview.

You can watch Senator Amy Klobuchar in our CNN town hall with Don Lemon tonight at 10:00 p.m. in New Hampshire only on CNN.

AVLON: Now, all nine 2020 Democratic contenders, some wearing hats, vowing to go to battle for main street over the interest of Wall Street. But that rallying cry could pose a challenge.

CNN's Athena Jones explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Part of my goal in running for president is to make sure that no community feels left behind.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's become a rallying cry for Democrats, fight for main street over the interests of Wall Street.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When bankers who crashed our economy get bonuses, but the workers who brought our country back can't even get a raise, that's not our America.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The problem we've got right now in Washington is that it works great for those who have got money to buy influence. And I'm fighting against that. And you bet, it's going to make a lot of people unhappy.

JONES: A growing chorus of Democratic contenders is now answering the call more than a decade after the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. A crisis sparked in part by big banks making risky mortgage investments.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should close those tax loopholes designed by and for the wealthy and bring down our debt and make it easier for workers to afford child care, housing and education.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to run this campaign on the power of the people.

JONES: Seeking to burnish their populist credentials on this front, all nine of the Democratic candidates who have entered the 2020 fray so far have pledged to reject money from corporate political action committees.

GILLIBRAND: We really need to make every effort we can to get rid of the corporate money and dark money that is flowing into politics. And my effort to ban corporate PAC checks is just a first step in that direction.

JONES: These candidates are mindful of the lessons of the 2016 primaries, when Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders seized on Hillary Clinton's paid speeches before banks like Goldman Sachs to paint her as too close to the industry.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Secretary Clinton was busy giving speeches to Goldman Sachs for $225,000 a speech.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stood up against the behaviors of the banks when I was a senator. I called them out on their mortgage behavior.

JONES: The reverberations from that debate still being felt as the 2020 race gets underway.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand took to Twitter last month to respond to a report about her outreach to Wall Street executives to gauge support for her campaign by laying out her record taking on the financial industry. She touted her support for a financial transaction tax and separating commercial and investment banking, as well as her two votes against the 2008 bank bailout. But she argues the problem is bigger than Wall Street.

GILLIBRAND: It's not just about one industry. It's actually about how the country works. It is a system that is deeply rigged for the people who have enormous amounts of money and power. It is the powerful interests that control everything. And that's what we have to take on.

JONES: It's a move that reflects how ties to Wall Street could pose a challenge for some Democrats, particularly for candidates such as Gillibrand and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who have accepted millions in campaign contributions from employees of a securities and investment industry in recent years.

WARREN: Our democracy is not for sale.

JONES: And opens a potential line of attack for rivals.

WARREN: By the way, if we truly believe that, then we also need to end the unwritten rule of politics that says that anyone who wants to run for office has to start by sucking up to a bunch of rich donors on Wall Street and powerful insiders in Washington.

[08:45:16] JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, she makes a good point there. You know, that's how you play the game. I mean you need the grassroots small funding and you need the Wall Street funding. So --

AVLON: Well, and I think now talking about it honestly builds a backlash and people saying, look, you know, don't just look at the donations, look at my record. But there's appropriate scrutiny of that process.

CAMEROTA: That's a tell (ph).

AVLON: So, here we go.

CAMEROTA: All right. Here's what else to watch today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 12:00 p.m. ET, protest against national emergency declaration.

4:00 p.m. ET, President Trump speaks at FIU on Venezuela.

10:00 p.m. ET, CNN town hall with Sen. Klobuchar in NH.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: The president not laughing at "Saturday Night Live's" opening sketch. The threat he tweeted after the show, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:23] CAMEROTA: Well, "Saturday Night Live" apparently getting under President Trump's skin this weekend. President Trump tweeted, how do the networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real collusion.

That tweet came after this sketch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": So I'm going to sign these papers for emergency. And then I'll immediately be sued. And the ruling will not go in my favor. And then I end up in the Supreme Court. And then I'll call my buddy Kavanaugh. And I'll say it's time to repay the Donny. And he'll say, new phone, who dis? And then the Mueller report will be released crumbling my house of cards and I can just plead insanity and do a few months in the puzzle factory and my personal hell of playing president will finally be over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Brian Stelter, CNN chief media correspondent and anchor of "Reliable Sources."

The president really wants to retaliate against a comedy show? He wants somebody to look into what "SNL" is doing? Who, the comedy police?

AVLON: Yes.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, laugh so you don't cry.

CAMEROTA: See you that you get on this.

STELTER: But, seriously, look, he should not be talking about retribution. It's unpresidential. And yet we've seen this story for the last two years. He'll make a ridiculous threat that's completely inappropriate, but then he doesn't do anything about it and everybody forgets about it and everybody moves on. I mean he's threatened NBC's licenses in the past and then not done anything about it.

But I do think he's giving Alec Baldwin exactly what Alec Baldwin wants. I could actually argue that Baldwin's sketch, and his impersonation is get a little boring, getting a little tired, getting a little predictable. But then President Trump comes along and gives it new live and gives it new energy and I think in a way Trump keeps Baldwin going playing Trump, you know what I mean? They're in this -- they're locked in this twisted relationship.

AVLON: This dysfunctional relationship.

STELTER: Yes.

AVLON: Well, I call tell you what -- Baldwin, at the end, when he says my personal hell of playing the president will be over --

STELTER: Uh-huh.

AVLON: Seemed to work both ways on that one.

STELTER: I think he's -- uh-huh.

AVLON: But in all seriousness, when the president tweets that there should be retribution, someone should look into this. Obviously the reason nothing happens is that there is no comedy police and we do have a First Amendment.

CAMEROTA: Yet.

AVLON: But what is he trying to communicate? I mean what does he think is out there that can be done to address his grievances?

STELTER: Right, it's us versus them. And I think maybe, you know, the only thing that does exist in this case is the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, which does grant licenses to NBC's local television stations pretty much every time. They just get renewed automatically every eight years. So conceivably any president could try to meddle in that. Nixon tried to do that, you know, four decades ago. That's really the only option he has other than tweeting and angrily tweeting.

Baldwin shot back last night and said, is this a threat?

AVLON: Yes.

STELTER: You know, I'm one of the enemies of the people now? Does this constitute a threat to my family's safety? So now they're going back and forth. Again, part of that twisted relationship.

But the reality is, there is nothing the president can do and there's Baldwin's tweet saying -- let me --

CAMEROTA: I'll read it. Yes, he says, I wonder if a sitting president exhorting his followers that my role in a TV comedy qualifies me as an enemy of the people constitutes a threat to my safety and that of my family. It doesn't sound like he's laughing. I mean I hear you that it helps

Alec Baldwin's brand, I guess, or the act. But to be on the receiving end of the president saying nasty things is not always great. It's not always a great feeling, as you know probably.

STELTER: It is deeply uncomfortable for people. Whether you're a celebrity like Alec Baldwin or not.

We come back and forth often with President Trump about whether there's these authoritarian impulses to try to control the media versus a kind of insecurity or even incompetence. He's just venting. He's just complaining. Nobody takes it seriously. And that's the strange place we're in now two years into the presidency, right, that he says these things that are outrageous and inappropriate and yet we shrug it off because he never does anything about it. That's not a healthy place to be for a country.

AVLON: Well, and that's a sign of normalization. And given that it's Presidents' Day, you know, you've got to search long and hard for anything resembling a precedent for this. I mean maybe Richard Nixon venting (INAUDIBLE) about the Smothers Brothers and allegedly getting the show canceled back in the day through some of his allies.

STELTER: That's -- yes.

AVLON: But it's ironic. You know, when he talks about these actions against media companies, and one country in the world where that certainly does happen, and it's the one he's giving the speech about later today, Venezuela. You know, so it does strike, I think, the reality of the fact that we've almost come to shrug these things off. The president of the United States going after a satirical show, going after an actor.

STELTER: I like what Chuck Schumer said in response to "SNL," you know, because Schumer and Pelosi were parodied on Saturday night as well. And, you know, Schumer offered an alternative way to respond. Here he is saying, you know, he enjoyed the spoof. He actually linked to it. He liked it so much he linked to it. But he said, actually, I don't use a smartphone, I use a flip phone.

That's kind of what we're used to from politicians. That's how politicians in the past have usually reacted to "SNL."

[08:55:01] CAMEROTA: Well, yes, but the problem is -- and this is one of the very unique things about President Trump, he's humorless. He is humor impaired. This is not an original thought today. He is -- has never been captured laughing on any camera of any kind. He doesn't -- has never made a joke, at least not a funny one. He doesn't -- he's humor impaired. And so -- I mean name a time --

AVLON: Humor impaired.

CAMEROTA: He's massively humor impaired. So he doesn't -- I don't know if he thinks -- he can't think like Chuck Schumer is to go back with a quip and say something funny and self-deprecating. Impossible.

STELTER: Ah, I see what you're saying. I see.

AVLON: And, actually, the few times I have seen him make a scripted self-deprecating joke --

STELTER: Yes. Yes.

AVLON: It's been very effective. Self-deprecating humor is very effective for politicians.

STELTER: Definitely.

CAMEROTA: For sure.

AVLON: But because he's sort of humor deficient, certainly that's not happening off the cuff.

STELTER: You would think he would want to go in on "SNL," be in on the joke.

AVLON: He was (ph).

STELTER: Be part of the joke.

CAMEROTA: That's the antidote.

STELTER: After all, he did do that before becoming president. But maybe something changed along the way. And I think the one that's benefiting here is Alec Baldwin. He's the one that's benefitting because his impersonation gets new life whenever the president complains about it.

AVLON: Or maybe increased awareness of the First Amendment.

STELTER: That too. That's a good thing too.

AVLON: Thank you, Brian.

STELTER: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Brian, thank you very much.

All right, protests against the national emergency are set to begin across the country. And "NEWSROOM" will pick up after this very quick break.

Have a great President's Day.

AVLON: Happy President's Day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:03] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, top of the hour. Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow. And welcome to a special holiday edition of NEWSROOM. I'm glad you're with us.

END