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President Trump Holds Press Conference at G20; President Trump Invites Kim Jong-un to Meet in Korean DMZ; President Trump Announces Trade Negotiations with China Back on Track; President Trump Makes Light of Russian Interference in U.S. Election During Meeting with Russian President Putin; Chief Justice John Roberts Swing Vote in Two Supreme Court Rulings; Democratic Presidential Candidate Julian Castro Interviewed on Being Denied Entrance to Border Patrol Facility and Immigration Policy; Advances of Gay Rights to Marriage Equality Profiled; Democratic Candidates' Support for Universal Health Care Examined; Advocate for 9/11 First Responders Luis Alvarez Dies. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired June 29, 2019 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:17] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

So right now President Donald Trump is in South Korea, and all eyes are on the DMZ to see if North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un will take President Trump up on his offer for a quick meeting. This wouldn't be your typically meeting of two world leaders with a formal invite and weeks of preparation. The president actually initiated the whole thing, very casually in fact, on Twitter, writing "If Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello." Before leaving the G20 Summit President Trump talked about his hopes for this trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand that we may be meeting with Chairman Kim. And we'll find out. We spoke with the people. Kim Jong-un was very receptive. He responded. And so we'll see. Because tomorrow we're going to the DMZ, I said, while I'm there I'll shake his hand. We get along. There's been no nuclear tests, there's been no long-range ballistic tests. He gave us back our hostages, which was great. And a lot of good things are happening over there. So I let him know we'll be there, and we'll see. I can't tell you exactly, but they did respond very favorably.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us how you see all this unfolding, and if you do meet Kim Jong-un at the DMZ tomorrow, would you step across the border into North Korea?

TRUMP: Sure, I would. I would feel very comfortable doing that. I would have no problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think it's possible that there will be a third one on one summit with Chairman Kim? TRUMP: Oh, sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within this year?

TRUMP: It might happen tomorrow. We won't call it a summit. We'll call it a handshake if it does happen. I don't know that it will, but it could happen. I know I think he would like to do it and I wouldn't mind doing it at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Still sounds pretty optimistic there. Let's check in with CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip in Seoul. So what are you hearing about officials about whether this really is possible?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is possible. Anything is possible. And I think for some time, as President Trump had planned this trip to South Korea, a lot of people speculated, would he try to go to the DMZ as past presidents have. And if he was there, would he also try to also meet with Kim. It turns out that President Trump has wanted this meeting, but his decision to announce it on Twitter is unconventional to say the least. And, in fact, our sources indicate that it might have caught some of his own officials by surprise.

But the North Koreans, according to President Trump, have responded, acknowledging the invitation. The question is will Kim Jong-un show up, will he take the chance and create what could be an incredibly historic photo opportunity if they do meet at the DMZ and if, as President Trump says, he steps over into North Korean territory, becoming the first U.S. president to do that.

So this is potentially a high stakes meeting. But in addition to the lack of forward planning, the lack of months of planning going into a meeting like this, there is also apparently no agenda besides President Trump staring Kim Jong-un in the face, into the eyes, the two potentially shaking hands. And in President Trump's view, this could be an opportunity for him to restart this relationship that has been stalled for months and months.

After that last summit where President Trump walked out of the summit without any kind of a grand bargain with Kim, things have not really been going anywhere at all. So President Trump is trying to appeal to Kim's sense that they have a personal relationship that can see this deal all the way through to the finish line. That's what President Trump is trying to do by making this very possible overture and really raising the stakes for Kim. Everyone now knows that this invitation is out there, and there is a big question about whether Kim shows up. but I think President Trump has made the pressure as high as he can possibly make it, encouraging Kim to come back to the table on this one, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Abby Phillip, thank you so much.

President Trump also says trade talks with China are back on track, and he's agreed not to impose new tariffs. This truce is good news for many American farmers and businesses who fear an escalating trade war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I promise that for at least the time being, we're not going to be lifting tariffs on China. We won't be adding an additional tremendous amount of -- we have I guess $350 billion left which could be taxed or could be tariffed, and we're not doing that.

[14:05:04] We're going to work with China on where we left off to see if we can make a deal. China is going to start -- they're going to be consulting with us and they're going to start spending money even during the negotiation to our farmers, our great farmers in the Midwest, I call them the great patriots because that's what they are, they're patriots. And China's going to be buying a tremendous amount of food and agricultural product. And they're going to start that very soon, almost immediately. We're going to give them lists of things we would like them to buy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With me now, White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" Catherine Lucey, and CNN political analyst and publisher for "Inside Elections" Nathan Gonzalez. Good to see you both. So Catherine, you first. How significant is this breakthrough?

CATHERINE LUCEY, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Certainly this is a moment that a lot of people in the business community and agriculture community were looking for. Really the way we should think about this is it's a cease-fire, or it's a pause. The president is agreeing not to do any new tariffs. There are some agreements around sales to Huawei, around agricultural purchases by China. But the next step is the big question, is can they move now into a series of talks that yields a more wide-ranging deal.

If you remember, we were in a similar position at the end of last year when the president went to the previous G20 meeting in Argentina, had threatened tariffs, put things on pause then. And the two sides made a lot of progress towards a deal, but that fell apart this spring.

So yes, I think a lot of people were expecting this, were hoping for this, are pleased seeing the market reactions. But the question now is, how does that work unfold in the coming weeks and months?

WHITFIELD: So Nathan, these trade talks resuming between Trump and Xi, this is obviously an issue farmers here in the U.S. have really been waiting for and they're been wringing their hands over it. So could this hurt the president in the upcoming election if he doesn't seal this deal?

NATHAN GONZALES, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "INSIDE ELECTIONS": I think the president's action on the economy is critical to his reelection effort in 2020. If he loses the direction that Americans think the economy is going, or if he loses the confidence that people have in the economy, then that's what's keeping him afloat right now. And I think what we're seeing, there's a cycle to the president, that

he makes a deal or he imposes tariffs, he makes a decision, he believes it's the best decision ever, but we also learn that there's no permanence. If it's not ticking the economy in the right direction, or it's not the right decision, he'll just pivot and do a 180 and say, well, the tariffs are off and move in a different direction.

And so I think we're going to go through this multiple cycles over the next 18 months before the next election, but he has to maintain this economy or he's going to have a very difficult chance of winning another term.

WHITFIELD: On the world stage, Catherine, the president is tackling a lot of things. And he's also just said that he feels really comfortable stepping over on North Korean soil. Going to the DMZ is one thing, and then actually stepping across. So what kind of potential could this bring?

LUCEY: Well, the president is looking to create a moment here, as he often is. If you remember, his first summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore, he was very pleased by the press coverage he got, the visuals of them shaking hands, of them meeting. So he is looking for a way to sort of send a new message, perhaps kick start another round of talks.

But I think also it's important to remember that whether it's a handshake or a step or if they meet, something like this could be significant for Kim Jong-un as well, who is someone who badly wants recognition and acknowledgement on the world stage.

WHITFIELD: And then ahead of 2020, Nathan, what does this say if the president is able to achieve any or all of those things, going to the DMZ, handshake, footstep, et cetera, any of those things, what message does it send perhaps to his base where he has made the promises that he could create some real progress as it pertains to North Korea? Would this help exemplify any of that?

GONZALES: This feels like a combination of I think maybe he personally likes the Chairman, but also he knows that it's going to create a big news story. As Catherine was talking about, this is going to create a moment that's going to capture news attention and he's going to be the center of attention for that moment.

I think when we fast forward and get into the meat of the 2020 election, he's probably going to contrast that with either -- and he'll say, well, if Hillary Clinton were president we would be at war with North Korea, or whomever he's running against on the Democratic side, we would be at war with them, and look, I'm shaking hands with the leader, and everything is fine.

[14:10:00] So I think that's going to part of his campaign thing, that he's able to keep peace, as long as he's able to do that, but he's able to keep peace where it would be chaos if someone else were in charge. Of course, we don't know if that were to be true, but that's what he's going to paint the contrast as. WHITFIELD: Nathan Gonzales, Catherine Lucey, we'll leave it there for

now. Thanks to both of you, appreciate it.

GONZALES: Thank you.

LUCEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, President Trump brushes off Russian interference in U.S. elections while on that world stage. But he's facing stiff criticism from a former president.

And later, two big decisions in the books for the U.S. Supreme Court. And Chief Justice Roberts finds himself in an unusual situation as the court's swing vote. More coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. President Donald J. Trump addressed election meddling with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit, both in private and in front of the cameras. Here is what President Trump said about it at his news conference later on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We talked about it. We talked about it. You know we've talked about it before. You know he denies it totally, by the way. How many times can you get somebody to deny something? But he has in the past denied it. He's also denied it publicly. But we talked about it. We talked about a lot of other things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Earlier Trump, when doing a photo op with Putin, Trump seemed to mock the entire subject of interference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:15:02] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you tell Russia not to meddle in the 2020 election?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, of course I will. Don't meddle in the election, please. Don't, don't meddle in the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Julia Ioffe is with me now. She's a correspondent for "GQ" magazine. Good to see you. So Trump seemed to make a little light of that there, almost like he's irritated with having to do it over and over again. But what is the message he is sending to a variation of audiences?

JULIA IOFFE, CORRESPONDENT, "GQ" MAGAZINE: So, and I hate to mention a competitor on the air here, but it's the same message he sent in that interview with George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office where he said he would take aid from a foreign country if it were to help his campaign. So -- and I think Putin got the message loud and clear when Trump in that photo op that you just showed jokingly told him not to meddle in the elections, clearly saying I don't care if you do. So I think he's speaking to -- it's the same message he gave the world with that Stephanopoulos interview, which is we'll welcome any help.

WHITFIELD: And then the two of them again kind of joking about fake news. In fact this is it, that moment again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't have the problem in Russia. We have it. You don't have it.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Yes, yes. Yes, we have it. We have the problem.

TRUMP: You still have it?

PUTIN: Yes, the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So that's very unsettling for so many because here they are joking about journalists and their role, and then joking with a leader who has been accused of having journalists killed and imprisoned. So why is there a deafening silence particularly among Republicans? Why is no one speaking up about how inappropriate or uncomfortable it is that the president of the United States would behave in this manner?

IOFFE: I think that we have to talk about the Republican silence on so many other issues when it comes to Trump. Trump is delivering promises that he has made to the Republican Party and his base. And I don't think they really care, it seems like.

But it's not just that Trump said this to Putin who has had journalists killed and imprisoned, and also even more journalists run out of business and out of the profession simply because they simply can't pay the bills. It's also that Trump clearly has an affinity for this kind of person, for this kind of leader. He also said it was a great honor to meet with Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia who is linked to the murder of Saudi journalist and oppositionist Jamal Khashoggi. He said about Kim Jong-un, when he speaks, his people sit up and listen, and that's what I want. I think he would like to run this country, this American country, the way Putin runs Russia, the way Kim Jong-un runs North Korea.

WHITFIELD: And while the president of the United States is abroad, a former president, Jimmy Carter, was asked about the Russian meddling, and assessed things in this manner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, (D) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: There's no doubt that the Russians did interfere in the election. And I think the interference, although not yet quantified, if fully investigated would show that Trump didn't actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because of Russians interfering.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's been trashed within his own party, he's been badly trashed. I felt badly for him because you look over the years, his party has virtually -- he's like a forgotten president. And I understand why they say that. He was not a good president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So this is awkward in an a lot of ways, because often you don't have a former president who would speak in that manner about a sitting president. And then of course you've got the sitting president who isn't necessarily offering any deference or honor to a former president. So what does this say about the climate of things in this country, even when it comes to the highest office of the land?

IOFFE: We've been here before. We've which Chief Justice Roberts admonishing the president. But here you're right. You have a former president questioning the very legitimacy of a sitting president. And that's insane. And I think at the same time I think Jimmy Carter got to the very nub of the issue. This is about Trump's legitimacy. Trump feels this very keenly, and I think this is why he won't criticize Putin for it, why he says "no collusion" all the time, because he doesn't want, to understandably, give any power or ammunition to people who question his legitimacy as president.

WHITFIELD: Julia Ioffe, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

IOFFE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, former CIA Director General Michael Hayden sits down with CNN's Don Lemon for the first interview since suffering a stroke last year. He talks about what happened to him and weighs in on the latest controversial comments by President Trump, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:48] WHITFIELD: Two big U.S. Supreme Court decisions this week on the Census and gerrymandering. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts sided with liberals in one big case and conservatives in the other. In denying the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the Census, Roberts joined the liberal justices in a five to four ruling. And in the court's five to four decision saying that federal courts must stay out of partisan gerrymandering disputes, Roberts sided with the conservatives. CNN's Ariane de Vogue covers the U.S. Supreme Court and was watching both of these cases unfold. Ariane, good to see you. So has the chief justice become now the swing vote?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Right, Fred, he has. He is the most important vote on this court right now. Keep in mind, for years he was in the shadow of Justice Anthony Kennedy because Justice Anthony Kennedy was the swing vote. But when Justice Anthony Kennedy retired, he was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh who is further to the right. So really in the first time in his tenure, Roberts plays the big role here in the center.

And as you said, in these two cases it was so interesting to see because he sided with the liberals on that census case, giving at least a temporary blow to President Trump.

[14:25:07] But then in really the case that matters the most, he was solidly with the conservatives. Critics said that they really wanted the courts to step in and set up a standard, Fred, to say when politicians go too far to draw state lines for political gains. And he said, no, I'm slamming the door shut. So he really was key last week in the end of the Supreme Court term.

WHITFIELD: And it's interesting, because this comes after the chief justice really wanted to kind of set the record straight, particularly with the president of the United States, saying we're not justices of Obama or Trump or anyone but instead we are independent. But then I wonder, with these votes, is he now kind of reshaping even his legacy.

DE VOGUE: Well, he has two interests, and sometimes they compete. More than anybody else on this court, he cares about the court as an institution. It bears his name. And he does not like people to think it's just another political branch. And that's because if people think that the Supreme Court is political, they may not listen to the opinions, may not hold on to the opinion.

That's why when these confirmation hearings in the last few years have gotten so political, somebody like John Roberts doesn't like that. He doesn't want to be confused with the political branch. At the same time, Fred, he is a conservative justice. Don't think that just because his vote is the most important that means he's moved to the left. He's not. He has a strong, strong conservative judicial philosophy here.

WHITFIELD: Ariane de Vogue, thank you so much.

DE VOGUE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:29] WHITFIELD: Right now, Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro is at a Texas deposition center in Clint, Texas. That's a facility that has faced intense criticism over reports of deplorable conditions. Demonstrators held a vigil outside last night, singing in Spanish to the kids inside.

I'm joined now by CNN's Natasha Chen, you, too, outside of that detention facility. But has Julian Castro had a chance to go inside, to view, to tour?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, I'm here with Secretary Castro right now. And earlier you and some other state representatives were denied entry. If you can tell us about that, they didn't want you to enter just this moment.

JULIAN CASTRO, (D) PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: Yes, we came here to the Clint facility to see if we could take a tour to look at the conditions of the hundreds of children who are here. I came with three state representatives from Texas, including the state representative who represents this area of Clint. They came out and said that we couldn't go through the facility, that we would not be given a tour.

CHEN: Right. And so I want to ask you about something President Trump said earlier. He said that, referring to the father and daughter who had drowned earlier, he said if they thought it was hard to get in, as in there were a wall, they wouldn't be coming up, so many lives would be saved. What would you say to that?

CASTRO: That this president has made a total failure, a disaster when it comes to the immigration issue. Right now he's saying that a wall would suddenly deter people from coming. Last year what they said was that if we would be cruel enough as Americans to let them separate little children from their parents, that that would deter Central American families from coming. And instead more families are coming.

The fact is, you're not going to get the deterrence that way. The only way that we're going to stem the flow of people coming is to have a 21st century Marshall Plan for Central America so that we can partner with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, so people can find safety there instead of having to come here.

The mistake the president has made is that he should have started that partnership on January 20th, 2017, as soon as he became president. He has wasted two-and-a-half years bloviating about a wall, fearmongering, scapegoating immigrants, blaming people who are just coming here out of desperation, instead of doing the work of creating those partnerships. If he had done that back then, we would have stemmed the flow already. If I'm elected president, the first thing that I'll do is reach out to those countries so that people can find more safety and opportunity there.

CHEN: I want to ask about deterrence, actually, because in the debate earlier this week and again today you mentioned wanting to repeal section 1325, which decriminalizes crossing the border between ports of entry. Would that not encourage more people to come through illegally if they knew that there would not be a misdemeanor charge?

CASTRO: Not at all. In fact, that's the way that we used to treat these things from 1929 until about 2004. They were treated as a civil matter. Even though we had section 1325 on the books, starting in the late '20s they were treated as a civil, not a criminal matter. And in fact, if you go back 20 years into the '90s, we actually had more people coming at that time than we do now. So this has nothing to do with deterrence. The only way that you're going to address this issue is get to the root cause of the challenge.

The other thing I would say is that sometimes folks say, well, isn't this open borders. Open borders is a right wing talking point. We have 654 miles of fencing. We have thousands of personnel on the border. We have planes. We have helicopters, boats, security cameras, guns all over the border. We also have states like this state that we're in of Texas that spend an extra $800 million on border security themselves, apart from the billions that the federal government spends. Nobody's talking about open borders. What we're talking about is being able to maintain border security but to treat people with common sense and basic compassion instead of this cruelty that this administration has chosen.

CHEN: We are observing a large number of migrants come through. And that is part of the issue we're being told with the lengthy processing time, some of the conditions that are being reported. So I know you and other leaders have said this doesn't work, this is not sustainable, you want this type of facility closed. But what is the fix? With this many people coming in, how do you process everyone?

CASTRO: We need to do several things.

[14:35:00] Number one, we need to honor their asylum claims. The reason that Oscar Martinez and his daughter Valeria ended up trying to cross that river was because this administration is playing games, something called metering. Whereas people used to be allowed at a port of entry to make their claim for asylum, now they're not being allowed to. So they got desperate and tried to cross the river, and they drowned.

Sorry, a little bit of dust here.

But what we need to do is we need to make sure that instead of building facilities like this that cost so much money and these tents behind them, we need to put that money into a process of finding relatives of these children, reuniting families, or placing them with relatives that already live in the United States, or other caregivers, quickly, vetting them and then putting them in those homes, instead of putting them in facilities like this.

And we need an immigration judiciary, a court system that has more judges and more support staff, so they can get through these asylum claims more quickly and people are not waiting for years in limbo. There's so many smart and effective things that we can do to do better on this that also reflect our humanity, not only as Americans but as human beings, more than what we're doing now. It's not rocket science. But the heart of cruelty of this administration will not allow us to get to a more sensible and more humane and effective approach.

CHEN: You're here today, Beto O'Rourke is here tomorrow. Your brother and other members of Congress are here Monday. But some of these reports that we've heard about for the conditions inside were early this week. Do you feel like this influx of politicians is coming a little late and for potentially political purposes?

CASTRO: We're coming to make sure that it doesn't happen again. I served as mayor of San Antonio and then I served as secretary of housing. I know that when you put these government officials on notice, that people are watching across America, and that, including some of their bosses in Congress and others are watching, they're going to be a lot more careful about what they're doing. It also calls for the need to end this detention.

So I'm glad that people are coming here to highlight what's going on. That's the only way we're going to reach the conscience of Americans, because whether you're liberal or conservative, or people of faith, you should recognize that what's happening here is not how children should be treated. And I think highlighting that and making the American people aware of that is necessary to change things.

CHEN: I want to ask you one final thing about raids. We've been hearing from President Trump that he is still set on having ICE raids happen, he said sometime after July 4th in some of the major cities across the United States. What would you say to that, what would you tell the cities where these raids are supposed to happen?

CASTRO: I'm glad to see that some of the mayors and state officials in those places have pushed back. I'm glad to see that nonprofits have worked with immigrant communities about knowing your rights if ICE approaches them. But ultimately this president should not go forward with those raids. He's trying to terrorize these immigrant families.

I draw a straight line between stunts like that and the citizenship question that he's proposed for the U.S. Census. He wants to intimidate immigrant families and to chill them from participating in American life. I believe that we need to harness the talent and the ability of all of the people who are here and put undocumented immigrants, as long as they haven't committed a serious crime, on a pathway to citizenship.

CHEN: But do you believe that going through the deportation proceeding for people with no legal standing is actually a stunt? Some would say that that is the process they should go through.

CASTRO: Look, of course we still have deportation proceedings. But the president is obviously using this as a political stunt. And you can tell that because he announced he was going to do it and then he pulled back and said that he's not, just like he said that with 10 minutes to go until we did an air strike on Iran, that he pulled back. He creates a problem, he has political Munchausen's by proxy where he has to create chaos, create a problem, and then try and be the hero that somehow temporarily solves it. This president, he is unfit for office. In 10, 20 years, we're going to look back on this president and say, what in the hell was wrong with that guy?

CHEN: Thank you, Secretary Castro for your time and for coming to talk to us today.

CASTRO: Thank you.

CHEN: Fred, we do know that Representative Hurd did get to go inside the facility earlier, so we're going to find out what his tour experience was like. And I'm sure Secretary Castro is also going to be in touch with him about that.

WHITFIELD: Good job, Natasha Chen, thank you so much. [14:40:00] Coming up, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is back on the

campaign trail, hot off the first presidential debate of the 2020 election. We'll take you to the trail, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Fifty years ago, a series of protests in New York City set off a worldwide movement for gay rights. The Stonewall Riots galvanized the LGBTQ community, sparking social change that we're still seeing today. And then on June 26th, 2015, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling made what many had fought for a reality. Here's CNN's Don Lemon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. History unfolding tonight in New York, the Empire State now the sixth and largest state to legalize same-sex marriage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know pronounce you legally married.

(CHEERS)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And the wedding bells have been ringing all day since then. This hour you're going to be a guest at a gay wedding in New York City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today in this city and in this state, history takes an important step forward.

LEMON: Marriage is a license that the government signs off on. I felt that finally, people who are gay were having the same rights and equal treatment as everybody else, and that's the way it should be.

CROWD: DOMA is dead! DOMA is dead!

[14:45:08] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Defense of Marriage Act which said that the federal government will not recognize any same-sex marriages, that law is out the window.

LEMON: After DOMO was declared unconstitutional, same sex couples across the nation began marrying as state after state struck down marriage bans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delaware makes news tomorrow as it becomes the 11th state plus the District of Columbia where same-sex marriages are legal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight Minnesota proved that love is bigger than government.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won!

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This morning the Supreme Court recognized that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Supporters celebrating a landmark five to four ruling, making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

COOPER: Today history was made, and for generations to come, what happened on this day will change the lives of millions of men and women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the lead plaintiffs Jim Obergefell, sued the state of Ohio for refusing to recognize his out of state marriage with his husband, who passed away in 2013.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my hope that the term "gay marriage" will soon be a thing of the past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been four plus decades in the making.

LEMON: After this tremendous win, there was so much celebration and an immense sense of pride.

Immediately I got sent to Stonewall. I did live shots from Stonewall.

Are you rolling yes, or no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is not a question of whether the court is going to embrace or deny the right to same-sex marriage.

LEMON: What are you doing at Stonewall?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because this is an historic place to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel that my family is fully equal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is such a landmark. And we want the protection, the federal protection.

LEMON: What does this mean, do you think, for our country today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it means that the Constitution trumps bigotry.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations, Mr. President.

LEMON: The election that following year resulted in a different atmosphere. For starters, a conservative court strengthened opposition within religious groups. Cases that threatened public accommodations, not to mention the obstacles that still exist for LGBTQ couples when it comes to adoption and custody rights.

In spite of so much progress, the fight for true equality isn't over yet. I know that there are going to be challenges to same-sex marriage just as there are challenges to Roe v. Wade. I know that people are going to use religion. Fine, let's have those challenges. And I think in the end it will hold up in the courts. It is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Don Lemon, thank you so much. And we'll be speaking live with James Obergefell tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. eastern in a special program, "Pride and Progress," looking at 50 years since the Stonewall Riots.

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[14:51:49] WHITFIELD: Fresh off the Democratic presidential debate, Senator Bernie Sanders is back on the campaign trail, and marching in a pride parade in New Hampshire today. In addition to fighting for equality for the LGBTQ community, Sanders is also continuing his fight for universal health care.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is live for us in Nashua, where that pride parade is taking place. So Ryan, it seems pretty clear after the debate that the Democratic candidates increasingly support Sanders' vision of Medicare for all?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, I think that's the big distinction that the Sanders campaign is attempting to draw after this debate this week. They want to make sure that Democratic primary voters understand where Bernie stands on health care and where the rest of the Democratic field stands, and at the very least get those fellow Democratic opponents to clearly define where they stand. And that is really zeroed in on this idea of what the future of the private health insurance market is.

And of course, that's something that Kamala Harris has gone back and forth on. Even though she no doubt had a strong debate performance, the Sanders campaign really believes that the next phase of this argument related to health care is one that benefits Bernie Sanders in the grand context of the Democratic primary, because Sanders has been very clear on this from the very beginning. He believes Medicare for all, the legislation that he helped to author and that many of these other Democratic primary opponents have cosponsored, makes it clear that private insurance will ultimately be something that will be in the past.

And while many of the Democratic candidates aren't 100 percent clear on that, they want to make sure Democratic primary voters know that's where Bernie stands. And that's part of the message that he is sending this weekend in New Hampshire. He has a number of events across the Granite State, including marching in the pride parade here in Nashua. We marched with Senator Sanders here at the mile-long trek along main street in New Hampshire. He had a very good reception from the crowd here, including when you take into account that he was the only presidential candidate that participated in this event here today.

So Fred, there is some debate as to whether or not who had the strongest performance in that debate this week. But the Sanders camp wants to make it clear that they saw opportunities for him to take advantage of that debate and then sell that message to the voters in the Democratic primary, and that's exactly what he plans to do this weekend in New Hampshire. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Ryan Nobles, thank you so much, in Nashua, New Hampshire.

And we're back in a moment.

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[14:57:56] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. A former NYPD detective who became an outspoken advocate for 9/11 workers has died. Luis Alvarez spent three months working at ground zero, searching for survivors and looking for the remains of his fellow officers. Over the last several years Alvarez worked with Jon Stewart to help raise awareness over health care issues for first responders and survivors. The cancer that took his life was linked to his work at ground zero. Alvarez was on Capitol Hill just two weeks ago, pleading with lawmakers to replenish the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

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LUIS ALVAREZ: When they get sick, they die. I've been lucky enough to have had 68 rounds of chemo. Yes, you heard me right, 68 rounds. Many others haven't had the opportunity to have five, and some have had none. Their families would love to have time with them, and made mine have time with me, because I have been lucky enough to have the pain and suffering of 69 rounds of chemo and countless other treatments and surgeries. It is my goal, and it is my legacy to see that you do the right thing for all 9/11 responders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Democratic lawmakers, including House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, are calling for their fellow lawmakers to act on that 9/11 victims' fund following Alvarez's death. Chairman Nadler releasing this statement, saying "Detective Alvarez lost his fight against cancer, but his fight for 9/11 responders and survivors continues. It is time for Congress to honor his sacrifice." Detective Alvarez was just 53 years old.

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