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Booker Raises $5 Million in 1st Quarter, Tails 2020 Leaders; 3 Churches in Louisiana Parish Suspiciously Burned in 10 Days; Women in the World Summit Founder Talks Nielsen's Exit Leaving 2 Women in Trump's Cabinet; Netanyahu Vows to Annex West Bank Settlements If Re- Elected; American Airlines Extends 737 MAX Flight Cancellations. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired April 8, 2019 - 11:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:31:33] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Five million dollars sounds like a lot of money, it is a lot of money, but how much is it when you're running for president? That's the question today for Senator Cory Booker after his campaign announced they raised over $5 million in the two months since he launched his presidential bid. How does that stack up? Take a look. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, Pete Buttigieg, all outraising Booker at this point. What does it mean, though?

Joining me now is CNN political reporter, Arlette Saenz.

Arlette, there's a quote from Booker, I think it was before the numbers came out, that was telling, where he says the following, "I think this election is not going to be decided by money."

What are you hearing?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Cory Booker yesterday said that he feels incredible and that they surpassed the goal that they had set for themselves. But these figures certainly lag behind those numbers that other Democratic presidential candidates have posted. You have Bernie Sanders and Beto O'Rourke, who raised more in their first 24 hours than Cory Booker did in his entire first quarter. Kamala Harris, who entered the race a few weeks before Cory Booker, raised more than double what Cory Booker raised.

So while this $5 million figure shows, yes, Cory Booker can keep the lights on, run a campaign with this money, he's just not the fundraising heavyweight that others in the race are, particularly in the area of grassroots fundraising, which right now is seen as a metric of enthusiasm. Booker is not the last one to announce his numbers. We'll be hearing from more candidates over the next week.

BOLDUAN: And still, always the caveat we add with these segments, it's still early and still a long way to go. Still an important measure to be taken, nonetheless.

Good to see you, Arlette. Thank you so much. SAENZ: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: I want to turn to a disturbing story out of Louisiana. Three historically black churches in the same rural parish burned to the ground over the past two weeks. Authorities do not think these fires were accidental. Now the governor is asking for the public's help to try to find out who might be targeting black churches and why.

CNN's Athena Jones is here with more.

Athena, what else are you learning?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know these are three black churches in St. Landry Parish in south central Louisiana, in the heart of what you call Cajun or creole country, about 30 miles north of Lafayette. There were fires set in the middle of the night, so there were no injuries. But all of them taking place under suspicious circumstances. The fire marshal saying suspicious elements were found at each fire. And so that's going to be thoroughly investigated.

We know the FBI and officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are helping with this investigation. They have had an increased law enforcement presence at churches just yesterday, this past Sunday.

This is, of course, very concerning to this area. It's not clear that this was racially motivated but these are three black churches and we know the importance that the black churches had to the black community, especially during the civil rights movement. But ever since as well. We had various instances of these churches being targeted. You'll go all the way back to 1963 with the Birmingham church bombing of the four little girls, and recently, in 2015, the Charleston church shooting in Charleston that was a hate crime. We don't yet know how these are linked, but they appear to be suspicious.

We did hear from a pastor from a Greater Union Baptist Church, one of the churches in Appaloosa. His name is Harry Richard. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. HARRY RICHARD, PASTOR, GREATER UNION BAPTIST CHURCH: Quite naturally, something like this would shake us up. It's natural. I'm very concerned. But I'm very optimistic because God -- our faith is in God. And no matter what happens, I feel like this is his plan.

This is God's plan. He allowed it. And I believe he brought me here. He's going to bring me through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:35:24] JONES: Now, some extended family members I have spoken to in the area say they don't know what comes next. They're very, very concerned. The fire marshal --

(CROSSTALK) BOLDUAN: -- fear while they're trying to figure out what has done this.

JONES: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: The fear of what's next.

JONES: The fire marshal saying it's imperative for the citizens of this community to help figure out who caused these, who set these.

BOLDUAN: That's why they're putting out a call for help. These were set in the middle of the night. We'll keep following it.

Thanks, Athena. Good to see you.

JONES: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

Coming up for us, now that DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is out, only two women remain in Trump's cabinet. Does the White House have a diversity problem? Further diversity problem? We'll talk about that and much more with the founder of the Women in the World Summit. Tina Brown, joining me next.

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[11:40:37] BOLDUAN: This week marks the tenth annual Women in the World Summit, a global gathering highlighting the work of women leaders in really every industry across the world. With a record number of women in Congress, six women vying for the White House, more women standing up, linking arms and demanding their voices be heard than ever before, is this year mission accomplished, I say facetiously?

Joining me now is Tina Brown. She's the founder of Women in the World and former editor of "Vanity Fair," the "New Yorker," and the "Daily Beast."

It's great to have you here.

TINA BROWN, FOUNDER, WOMEN OF THE WORLD SUMMIT: Good to be here.

BOLDUAN: So 10 years on, what's the report card? What's changed? What remains the same?

BROWN: We are in the middle of a great search. There's no doubt about that. Since the Clinton loss, Trump came in, #metoo, all of that, there's actually now a big surge. We just saw Lori Lightfoot win in Chicago, first woman, first black woman, first gay woman. Things are really changing, which is fantastic. Plus, you mentioned the great surge in Congress.

But there's also still, though, an ongoing fight. You have to keep on with the vigilance. That's really what Women in the World has done since 2009. I mean, we have really been out there talking about sexual harassment, about the fact there are so few women on boards. The fact that the CEOs in the Fortune 500 have actually gone down, as a matter of fact, this last year. It's not all as rosy as it seems.

BOLDUAN: Right.

BROWN: And I actually think -- I mean, our theme this year is "Can a Woman Save the World?" I kind of really think that is what we're talking about now because we have seen such a lot of kind of masculine mayhem and crazy, macho malfeasance in the last year or so with all the kind of second wave of #metoo stuff, with Robert Kraft, and all of these guys.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BROWN: And then, of course, you know, Trump cabinet only has two women in it.

BOLDUAN: That's what I was going to ask you. With Kirstjen Nielsen now pushed out, let's be honest, there's only two women left in the Trump cabinet. What does that mean to you? What does that tell you?

BROWN: I think it's pitiful. We're looking at a cabinet that looks like 1962. You look at all these white men of a certain age. That's what we saw in the cabinet hearings that was so stunning. All of those white men on the Judiciary, on the Republican Senate Judiciary, and they had to rent a woman to ask the questions of Christine Blasey Ford.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: This doesn't look anything like America. That is the truth.

BOLDUAN: And to your point, you talk about the theme of "Can Women Save the World," your opinion piece that you wrote, maybe a preamble to exactly this theme. For our viewers, it's titled, "What Happens When Women Stop Leading like Men." I want to read a part that stuck out to me. You wrote, "It's past time for women to stop trying to cram themselves into outdated NASA space suits designed for an alien masculine physique. In drawing on women's wisdom without apology and pushing that wisdom forward into positions of power, we can soothe our world and maybe even save it."

But what is it that you're seeing in some women leaders right now that gives you this hope?

BROWN: Well, look at the prime minister of New Zealand, for instance. Jacinda Ardern. She was a young woman, world leader who was famous simply really for having a baby in office. Then the massacre happened at the Christchurch mosque, and in this instinctive way that had a terrific womanly empathy, she donned the hijab and said, you know, spoke her solidarity with the Muslims. It was a remarkable moment. Women across New Zealand followed suit. We saw Arab countries projecting her image on monuments. I think it was a uniquely female moment.

BOLDUAN: Do you see those qualities in the women running for president right now?

BROWN: What I like about the women running for president, they're all so different. That's a huge step up right there.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Hillary Clinton.

BROWN: Exactly. Hillary Clinton said to me, in my podcast recently, she said, they have one up on me in that there's more of them, and therefore, they're not supposed to carry the entire burden of gender. Don't forget, Hillary, particularly in 2008, was so anxious to show she was a commander-in-chief, she really wanted -

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: -- the whole emphasis was, no, no, I'm not womanly, I'm a commander-in-chief.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: In '08 --

BROWN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- she ran away from it.

BROWN: She ran away from it. I actually think that women don't have to run away from it anymore. We're seeing, in somebody, for instance, like Nancy Pelosi, you know, she has this masculine mind, but at the same time, muscular mind, not masculine but a muscular mind, but she has this kind of womanly ability to kind of almost be maternal or grand maternal -- she has grandchildren --

(CROSSTALK)

[11:45:05] BROWN: -- with her caucus, and against the Republicans. She just simply says calm down, all of you, which is very much a kind of woman's role at home.

BOLDUAN: I do want to ask you about not a woman, a man, Joe Biden. I heard you last week say that you applaud his accomplishments but you think maybe time is up for Joe Biden. And you say maybe now is not -- he shouldn't run. Time has passed for him. After answering to several women, saying that they were uncomfortable in how he had touched them over time, he said he regretted it. But then on Friday, he made a joke about it. Let me play it for our viewers. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want you to know, I had permission to hug Lonnie.

He gave me permission to touch him.

(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Where are you on this? I mean, is it --

BROWN: Well, the audience laughed.

BOLDUAN: Right.

BROWN: I just think that it's a mine field right now of sort of liberal parties and flash mobs that go off.

BOLDUAN: Right. Is it Joe Biden doesn't get it, or is it people -- the pendulum swings too far and Joe Biden is trying to make a joke?

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I personally think that it almost doesn't matter which is so. The fact is, it is. It is like that now. This is the terrain in which any candidate has launched himself. And if you're not nimble with that, if it's not your language, if it's not your cultural ease, it's going to get very difficult for you to not keep on falling afoul of it. I really think that.

BOLDUAN: It's a really interesting way of putting it.

Great to see you, Tina.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: The summit is going to be wonderful. Oprah, we have, Brie Larson.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Womenintheworld.com is how you get it.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Tina. We really appreciate it.

BROWN: All right. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: We'll be right back.

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[11:51:12] BOLDUAN: It's decision time for Israel. Tomorrow, voters are heading to the polls in what could be the most consequential election in Israel's history. Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing his biggest challenge. And he's embroiled in a corruption scandal, huge corruption scandal, marking the first time a sitting Israeli leader has come so close to criminal charges. And in the face of this, Netanyahu is upping the ante, shocking voters in announcing that he's promising to extend Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank if he's re-elected, a position that he's long avoided in the past, and it's a pledge sure to complicate any attempts at peace talks with Palestinians, it will complicate them even further. So what does this mean now?

CNN's Oren Liebermann has been following all of this for us.

Oren, what are you hearing there right now?

OREN LIBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a sharp move to the right just before the elections. We saw him do it in 2515 when he said there would be no Palestinian state under him on the eve of the elections and now he's going once again, talking about annexing not only the settlement blocks but all of the isolated settlements as well. Netanyahu has been a mainstay of politics and he's has pulled not only his Likud Party but all of Israeli politics to the right. But even this is beyond just about anything said until this point. Netanyahu was in one of the central markets of Jerusalem earlier today. He said he's behind in the polls and he urged everyone to vote for his party, to bring their family and friends or else his right-wing government is in trouble. So that gives you a sense of Netanyahu's strategy here. He's playing the underdog card. Essentially, the votes in the polls show a very tight race here but Netanyahu is trying to play that underdog card, Kate, to make sure all the right-wing votes go to his Likud Party and he's ahead when the polls close tomorrow.

BOLDUAN: A huge moment for Israel.

Great to see you, Oren. Thank you.

Still ahead for us, American Airlines announcing they are going to be cancelling 90 flights a day. Why? That's next?

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[11:57:58] BOLDUAN: If you can believe it, another major setback for Boeing right now. The world's largest airline, American Airlines, says it's now extending flight cancellations for its 737 MAX fleet into June. The U.S. grounded those Boeing jets indefinitely following two deadly crashes Ethiopia and Indonesia, and those crashes were less than five months apart. And a total of 346 people died in those tragedies. The cause is still being investigated.

CNN's business correspondent, Alison Kosik, is joining me now with more.

What does this announcement from American actually mean?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: What American is essentially doing, Kate, is being proactive and getting out ahead of this as much as it can, saying, look, we know that we'll need to cancel the flights up until June 5th so we'll let everybody know now. That works out to about 90 flights every day through June 5th. Thousands of flights total during the next couple of months. It sounds like a lot but it's actually a fraction of what American flies. They fly 7,000 flights a day on average. Originally, though Americans' cancellations were just through April so these cancellations are being extended. In a statement American explained why it's doing this saying, "In an

effort to provide more certainty and avoid last-minute flight disruptions, American has extended cancellations through June 5th. This will result in the cancellation of approximately 90 flights each day based on our current schedule."

This, of course, is happening because of the grounding of those 737 MAX 8 planes. At this point, though, American is saying, look, we're waiting for information from the FAA, from the Department of Transportation and other regulatory bodies before we resume these flights because, as of March 13th, they have been grounded indefinitely after these two fatal crashes.

Now Boeing says it is working on a software update for the MAX 8, but here's the thing, it seems to be lasting a lot longer than first anticipated.

BOLDUAN: That's for sure. As you mentioned, they have been ground since early March.

KOSIK: Right.

BOLDUAN: And now they are cutting production. What -- what -- I mean, it's been hitting Boeing. But how hard is it hitting Boeing?

KOSIK: Right now, its stock is tanking another 4 percent. It's hitting quite hard. You mentioned production has been cut.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

KOSIK: Tomorrow, we're getting orders and deliveries for the first quarter. It's expected to be bad for Boeing.

BOLDUAN: That's a bad situation that they are dealing with.

KOSIK: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And forget Boeing's stock price.

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