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CNN NEWSROOM

Interview With Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan, Conditions in Migrant Holding Facilities; Trump Make Inaccurate Comments on New York, 2016 Debates and More; Trump Unveils Independence Day Plans Amid Criticism; Total Solar Eclipse Underway Over South America. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 2, 2019 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: -- today. He said that he would use executive action if he were to be elected. He would use executive action to overhaul the nation's immigration system. Including shutting down detention centers with inhumane conditions and create new standards for immigrant facilities operated by DHS and shut down those that don't meet those standards. Do you support his plan?

REP. NANETTE DIAZ BARRAGAN (D-CA): Well I support having humanitarian standards at the border, and that hasn't happened yet. One of my colleagues, Congressman Raul Ruiz has a bill that would do that, humanitarian standards at the border. And he is a physician. He has worked in refugee places before. We need to look at bills like that, and we need to get them passed. You know, in the last supplemental Bill we had, there were no oversite provisions. There were no additional standards that were put in. And that is what we need to do. We cannot continue to right a blank check without implementing humanitarian standards. And if they're not following them, we need to shut them down.

BALDWIN: I know you are a no vote. You did not support the $4.6 billion border bill and it sounds like it wasn't going far enough for you. You are -- the reality is, you're in a divided Congress. You and your colleagues have to work with Republicans. Does voting no on financial aid ultimately make things worse for people who desperately need the help?

BARRAGAN: Well, actually, I voted yes for the House version which has those accountable provisions.

BALDWIN: Initially.

BARRAGAN: Which had a provision that said we could go in. We need to be able to go in unannounced. We're seeing why we need to be able to go in unannounced. And so, we should be able to work together. Democrats and Republicans to provide the funding they need at the border, when it's needed. But we can't do it without some guardrails, some provisions. And so, I was willing, ready and able and I did support the House version of that --

BALDWIN: But you were a no vote on the Senate version.

BARRAGAN: I was a no vote on the Senate version. Again, it was a blank check, no accountability provisions at all.

BALDWIN: OK.

BARRAGAN: And it's not going to fix the problem at the border. It's certainly not going to fix images of these children who are dying.

BALDWIN: It needs fixing. We all -- we're all on the side of right on that one. Nanette Diaz Barragan, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the trip down there and reporting back to us.

Coming up next, President Trump taking some heat for this year's elaborate fourth of July celebration, details on why the tanks and the flyovers and the Presidential speech is just so unusual this year.

And President Trump making a series of claims in the last 24 hours about his Twitter accounts, debates and how he might clean up America's cities. We'll fact check it all for you ahead.

[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: President Trump does a lot of complaining on Twitter and now he's going after Twitter itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You look at Twitter, I have millions and millions of people on Twitter, and it's, you know, it's a very good arm for me. It's great social media. But they don't treat me right, and I know for a fact. I mean, a lot of people try to follow me and it's very hard. I have so many people coming up, they say, sir, it's so hard, they make it hard to follow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This is just one of a series of recent comments that he's made both online and on camera, the demand setting the record straight. So CNN's Daniel Dale is the man for the job. He is our alpha resident expert on tracking the President's untruths. So Daniel, we got a couple claims to get through. But talk to us about what we just heard the President say about Twitter.

DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: It's not hard to follow the President or anyone else on Twitter. You just click a button. What did happen was last year, Twitter purged fake accounts and bots from lots of people, including myself and other reporters and other regular people. The President lost a few hundred thousand followers in that purge. So if you want to complain about that, that's fair enough, but there was no evidence that it's difficult to follow him. And I will note quickly that one of the tell-tale signs that he's about to make a false claim, is if he tells a story in which someone calls him sir. So note the sir there and note the sir in future stories.

BALDWIN: Sir equals untruth. Tall tales.

Here's another one. I have the President this today. As most people are awake, according to the polls, I won every debate

including the three with crooked Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that in the first debate, they modulated the sound on me and got caught. The crew looks somewhat easier than crooked. But you never know?

BALDWIN: Did he win every debate, Daniel?

DALE: No. So according to scientific polls like the ones connected by CNN and many other news outlets, he lost every debate. These are the polls with random samples, margins of error and so on. So CNN had him losing the first debate very badly, like Hillary Clinton was in the 60s, on the second debate, Hillary Clinton was in the 50s and in the third debate she was at 52. What Trump did win were junk polls that websites do to increase reader engagement. So those are the ones where you can just go and click. You know, who do you think won the debate? And so, you can just flood those sites with thousands of your followers and win those polls. And so, we're talking about scientific polls, the real polls, no he did not win.

BALDWIN: OK. Trump also tweeted. People are fleeing New York like never before. If they own a business they are twice as likely to flee. And if they're a victim of harassment by the AG of the state like what they're doing in our great NRA, which I think will move quickly to Texas, where they are loved.....

What is he even talking about?

[15:40:00] DALE: There's a lot there. I'll stick to the first part which is about people leaving New York. There are a large number of people leaving New York. In fact, according to a conservative think tank in New York, the Empire Center that followed this issue, New York lost about 1.2 million people to domestic migration -- that's people leaving for other states between 2010 and 2018. But that's not the highest of all time. In the 1970s, when there were big concerns about crime and decay in New York City. The state lost more than 2 million people through that decade. Sometimes 300,000 in a single year. So yes, the numbers are high, but no, this is not the all-time record.

BALDWIN: Like never before is another tell. Speaking of New York.

DALE: It is.

BALDWIN: Yes, Yes. Speaking of New York, it's one of the cities that gets a mention in this bizarre-o exchange with Tucker Carlson, here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT, FOX NEWS: To come to where we are now, Osaka or Tokyo and the cities are clean, there's no graffiti. No one going to the bathroom on the street. You don't see --

TRUMP: It's very nice isn't it?

CARLSON: Very different from our cities. TRUMP: Yes. Well, some of our cities.

CARLSON: Some of our cities but New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles. They've got a major problem --

TRUMP: It's very said.

CARLSON: -- with filth.

TRUMP: It's very sad.

CARLSON: Why is that?

TRUMP: It's a phenomenon that started two years ago, it's disgraceful. I'm going to maybe -- and I'm looking at it very seriously. We're doing some other things, you probably notice. Like some of the great important things that we're doing now. But we're looking at it very seriously, because you can't do that.

You can't have what's happening -- where police officers are getting sick just by walking the beat. I mean there getting actual very sick. Where people are getting sick, where the people living there are living in hell too. Although some of them have mental problems where they don't know they're living that way. In fact, perhaps they like living that way. They can't do that. We cannot ruin our cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Where is that question coming from? Just in general, that conversation?

DALE: This is one of these Trump stories that's so hard to fact check, because it seems like there are nouns missing. Like what is it? What is that? What is a phenomena? What is he thinking very strongly of doing? And so, it's hard to be definitive. It seemed like he was talking about homelessness. In which case you have to ask the question, really, homelessness started two years ago? Of course, this is a problem that's plagued the United States for centuries, you know. And so it's very hard to determine what the President was saying, but we know that he was incorrect in at least some way.

BALDWIN: And then lastly, just on the nation's military. I think I heard him say this before. This is what he said about pay raises for the troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And you no one thing I can mention, you also got very nice pay raises for the last couple years too.

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

You care about it. They care about that. I didn't think you noticed. Yes, you were entitled. You know, it was close to 10 years before you had an increase, 10 years, and we said, it's time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So you hear the roar of the crowd, Daniel, but fact check that for me?

DALE: Well, they roared for their raise, but it's not true that Trump got them their first raise in about 10 years. Members of the military have gotten a raise every year since 1961. There was a brief administrative quark in 1983 but they essentially got a raise that year as well. So for decades, every year, including under Barack Obama, the troops got raises. What is true is that the raise this year, 2.6 percent was the largest in about 10 years. Is the largest since 2010, so nine years.

And so, Trump could have boasted, you know, this is the biggest increase in about a decade. Instead he falsely claimed this is the first increase in about a decade. And this wasn't a one-time slip of the tongue. He's done this before, including in another speech to the troops that time in Iraq. So this is yet another repeat false claim for the President.

BALDWIN: Our favorite human fact check, Mr. Daniel Dale. Thank you very much.

DALE: Thank you.

BALDWIN: For all of that with me. Good to have you on.

Coming up next, new details about President Trump's Fourth of July plans, is he playing politics with America's birthday?

[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: President Trump is taking some heat for his Fourth of July plans after his decision to include tanks, fly overs and a big speech from the Lincoln Memorial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to have a great Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. It'll be like no other. It'll be special. And I hope a lot of people come and it's going to be about this country and it's a salute to America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It is an unprecedented salute that also includes fireworks of course, but there is some backlash. Accusations that this is one giant campaign rally. In fact, award winning singer-songwriter Carol King who is performing wanted to make one thing clear. She tweeting out this cartoon, writing, I am appearing in a capital fourth. A traditional event held annually on the lawn of the capitol. I am not participating in T's political rally.

Chris Cillizza is our CNN politics reporter and editor at large and he's with me. And listen, I understand, highly respect the nation's military and putting it on full display but at the same time, what is happening here?

[15:50:00] CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: Yes, well, first of all, it is important for people who have not been to Washington and don't live in Washington during the Fourth who know this, we've been doing a July Fourth celebration with fireworks, with the capitol, the fourth music, all that sort of stuff for a long time.

OK, but any way, let's talk about the Trump one. First of all, these are the tanks that are going to be -- and other military vehicles that are being moved into position. They will be static -- as CNN's Barbara Starr reports -- the main reason they won't move is because the ground, the roads in Washington can't hold them because they're so heavy. But these will be here. You will see these. I don't know if you'll see them flanking Donald Trump at the Lincoln Memorial or not. But you'll see them. He talked about the tanks in particular. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to have planes going overhead, the best fighter jets in the world and other planes too. And we're going to have some tanks stationed outside. And we're going to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks. So we have to put them in certain areas but we have the brand- new Sherman tanks and we have the brand-new Abrams tanks --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CILLIZZA: OK, just one quick fact check. Not to channel Daniel Dale too much from the last segment, but one quick fact check. The Sherman tank was taken offline in 1957. So there won't be any new Sherman tanks. But there will be tanks or maybe old Sherman tanks but there won't be new ones. OK, he mentioned flyover. So the Navy's Blue Angels will be doing a fly over. As will Air Force One, the plane that transports Donald Trump around the world. Now it is not technically called Air Force One if Donald Trump is not on it but you get the general idea.

So we'll have not one but two fly overs as well as the biggest fireworks display in American history according to Donald Trump. One other thing, this you see here, Brooke, by the way, this lists all the different military vehicles that are going to be on display.

One other point. Donald Trump will speak, 6:30 p.m. he is going to give a talk from -- here you see -- the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This is being cast as a nonpolitical event but let me just remind people. George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, all of these people were President on July 4th. All of them were patriots whether they were Republicans or Democrats. None of them chose to make this July Fourth into, if not a political event, remains to be seen, a personal event like Donald Trump has. Ask yourself the question of why.

BALDWIN: Yes. As we sit and ponder that, there is something in D.C. the President Trump -- or will be that he did not ask for. The baby Trump blimp. CILLIZZA: Ah, yes.

BALDWIN: How did that even happen.

CILLIZZA: Well so this is -- they got a permit to -- you have probably seen this balloon. It often accompanies Donald Trump, not with him but running alongside him often at events. This balloon will be here replete with foam. They got a permit that approved it. The thing that you'll see is this is become a fiasco. Right. Because Donald Trump is making it into a big thing. There will be significant counter-protests.

Again, the thing that I just keep coming back to here, Brooke, that I find a little bit frightening is this -- you can't, as I heard Kellyanne Conway make the argument today is, well of course, we're celebrating our independence, are you against our independence and patriotism?

BALDWIN: No.

CILLIZZA: No, right. None of us is against the military. The question is do we want to be a country that parades our military might down our streets or on our streets? We have not been in the past. Why are we now?

BALDWIN: Yes. Chris Cillizza, thank you for all of that.

CILLIZZA: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Upcoming Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.

Coming up here, a new poll bringing more good news for California Senator Kamala Harris. She is surging into second place right behind former Vice President Joe Biden. A deep dive into the results ahead.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK, before we go, breaking news. You are looking live pictures of a total solar eclipse. This is happening right now over South America. The path of totality stretches across parts of Chile and Argentina. So let's geek out. Meteorologist Tom Sater is with me now. This whole thing I'm looking at the article on CNN.com. It could last up to 4 minutes and 3 seconds what are we looking at.

TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is just the beginning. Totality will not occur until local time between the 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. hour. So it is just beginning, when we got to experience it not too long ago. It's a short area of our planet that's really going to enjoy this.

So everybody looking at South America here, this is the path of totality. It is in red. Comes across Chile and Andes mountains and makes his way across Argentina. Buenos Aries, Brooke, is right on this line of totality and unfortunately Santiago is not. They are just to the south. But they'll going to see a partial eclipse. So again, to give you some of the indications of the weather, on a

broad scale, there is a lot of rainfall to the north and quite a bit of activity to the south. So the window for this 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. total eclipse is going to be with them and it's going to cooperate. But again they know all of the rules, the same thing we went through just a couple of years ago when we had our total eclipse.

I do want to mention though, Brooke, the next one is December 26th. It is an annular eclipse which means the moon is not as large so you don't get the total blackout of totality.

BALDWIN: Is that the one we get to see it or do we have to be down in Santiago?

SATER: No, you're going to have to go to Abu Dhabi. OK. Middle East and South Asia. But there is another one coming in a few years. So it will be good for U.S. viewers. This one unfortunately South America.

BALDWIN: OK, Tom Sater, you're the best. Thank you very much for that quick peek at that beautiful image there. I'm Brooke Baldwin, thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.

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