Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20181031

Two funerals were held today, one for dr. Jerry rabinowitz and then the brothers cecil and david rosenenthal. Also today President Trumps visit and the protest that met him here. It was unprecedented for a president of the United States not to be welcomed by everybody at a moment like this. And although it will be a focus tonight, it will neither be the sole focus nor the thing that we look at first. Which is why we begin tonight and its really our privilege to with a closer look at how friends and neighbors, celebrities, even total strangers expressed their love and their appreciation for two very special individuals. Ga ga gary tuchman joins us now. You went to the funerals for david and cecil. Its amazing the outpouring of people that went. I mean filling up the synagogue for them. David and cecil were loved. Cecil 59, david 54, belonged to the synagogue. Loved going here. A mile from here, more than 1,000 seats, every seat full. And more than 150 people standing in the back and standing on the sides. I heard more than 100 members past and present of the steelers came. And that is remarkable. The steelers are very Important Institution in this city. And more than 100 former players and current players came in for the viewing where the caskets were in front. And the ownership, art rooney ii came in also. These are important people in the community. They wanted to pay respects. Its important to mention, these two brothers were mentally disabled. They could not read. They could not write. They could talk. And they joked. And they had fun. And everyone loved them. Cecil was an usher. Everyone saw them everyone saw him the unofficial greeters, apparently. Right. During the eulogy today, their sister and brotherinlaw spoke. And the brotherinlaw said that cecil could have been the mayor of Squirrel Hill if he wanted to be. Thats how popular he was. But during the eulogy, the sister and brotherinlaw said they were kind. They were thoughtful. They were gentle giants. They were big guys. But they were nonjudgemental. And they were very innocent. And that is the important thing. They just loved life and never knew there were any problems. And thats the tragic irony here, the sad thing. These men who were so innocent and so vulnerable and this building behind us, someone so violent ended their lives in this building they loved so much. Its so hurtful and so sad. When i hear you say that, i you know, i can only imagine what was going through their minds when this person came in, the astonishment they must have felt since they were really felt nothing but compassion. And thats when we talk to everyone who is inside, the same thing they said. They couldnt imagine this could happen to such two fine and nice and innocent men. And we talked to so many people as they came out, so many people said they were these brothers friends. I want you to listen and our viewers to hear what some of the friends told us. The heart of Squirrel Hill is forbes and murray. We should change the names of the streets. One being cecil and one being david. If we cant do that, then there should be a park. Okay, that for cecil and david. Their memory should be continued forever. I dont have any recollections of being at the tree of life and cecil not being there. He was there before you got there. Before i got there. He was usually the one to open the door for me and many i family. And he was the one to reserve my seat for me and my family when we sat in the back with the rabbis family. And if i happened to step out for more than a couple minutes, he would chase me down. Ander me back and usher me back to my seat. What was beautiful about the service, anderson in the synagogue, it wasnt just jews. It was christians. It was muslims. It was atheists, it was everybody. It was black, brown, white. The whole Community Came out. Everyone loved these two men. Im so glad you were able to be there and tell us about it, gary. Thank you very much. There will certainly be missed as will dr. Rabinowitz. His funeral at the jcc a few blocks from here drew so many people. They overflowed the building and stretched down the block. He was like the rosenthals, a pillar of the congregation and fixture in this community. Someone who showed such compassion and humanity toward hiv aids patients in a time when compassion was often eclipsed by caution. Were talking about the late 1980s. If not just caution, outright fear. When others sh rarank away from patients in need, he embraced them. Later youre going to hear from one of his patients later in the program. More right now on the president s visit and the way it was received by many people here. Bluntly put mshgs d, many did t want him to come. Not a single party accompanied him. He was greeted at the airport by an International Guard colonel as well as the colonels wife. He was met here at tree of life by the sound of protesters marching just a few blocks away. They were kept away from the immediate area. Our Kaitlyn Collins is here with details of his visit. There were certainly questions about what would happen, where would the president go today. We really didnt know up until the last minute where exactly he was going to go. Did the white house, i mean it was a bit of a scramble. Even the city of pittsburgh, the mayor was not aware of the president s plans to come were official until the press secretary announced it yesterday during the White House Press briefing. The president came and made the first stop the tree of life. He went inside just to the entrance with the rabbi and the first lady. Still a crime scene. The fbi agents still inside there today. They couldnt go very far. They just went to the entrance. While there, a private ceremony. No cameras or any reporters in there. They lit a candle for each of the 11 victims from saturdays shooting. Then they came outside where all the cameras were waiting in this make shift memorial that community put so lovingly the flowers and balloons. Each one bearing a name of the victims and put stones on each one of them. The first lady put white roses on them. It seemed like the rabbi was also kind of telling them about each of the people. Thats what it seemed like at each star. It d they would go to each star and linger for a few minutes. It did seem, they were in private conversation. We couldnt hear them. And we should note the rabbi who survived that attack is one of the only people that was welcoming the president and said he did welcome him here to come now, not in general, some others said he was welcome to come in a week from now after the dead were buried. He was the one of the very few in this community who welcomed President Trump now. They then went to the hospital. They went to upmc. The hospital nearby where a lot of the victim were treated. And the president was there visiting with them. He visited not only with the medical staff who treated the patients but also with the Police Officers who ran into the synagogue who synagogue when a lot of other people were wounded. Some of them were wounded. One is still in the intensive care unit. The white house did note that. He spent over 80 minutes there visiting with them before finally leaving and going back to washington. It is startling that a number of elected officials were invited by the white house to accompany the president flying here and they chose not to. A lot declined. It wasnt just elected officials locally. Whether the president goes somewhere, flying with him on air force one are the elected officials representing the state and greeting him at the airport are the local officials. None of that happened today. It was a member of the military there greeting the president and first lady and members of his administration. But that was it. Thats a really rare thing. I dont think weve ever seen that in any trip the president has taken domestically since he took office so far. But that was the only person to greet the president today and no elected officials were traveling with him. All right. Kaitlyn collins, thank you very much. The Pittsburgh Police Department Today gave a status report on the officers who were hurt or wounded during the shooting. Kaitlyn was just talking about that. One was shot in the hand. Another suffered a graze wound to the head. Boenl ha both have been released. Two others remain hospitalized to their great good fortune pittsburgh is home to the finest medical care in the planet. With me now one of the professionals who makes it possible, dr. Donald kneely who chairs the department of medicine at the university of Pittsburgh Medical School and the university of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Pittsburgh City councilwoman erica strasberger. I know its been very busy couple days for both of you and a very trying couple days. Can you just talk a little bit about the people who are still hospitalized, how theyre doing . There are three people still at upmc presbyterian. Theyre improving. Theyre no longer using assisted ventilation and showing signs of recovery. There is a third person that is also in the hospital, not intensive care, again showing signs of recovery. I visit one person at the hospital yesterday and met with her family. And it was so extraordinary just to, i mean, she seemed in great her mother was killed. Her mother is 97 years oled. The entire family is there. Really an incredible moment between an injured person and their family members but the outpouring of support from almost every direction really is palpable when you visit with the family. What do you want people to know about this community and whats going to happen moving forward . How this Community Moves forward . Well, as you can see from the past couple of days, this is a community of neighbors helping neighbors. Thats what weve seen. And neighbors wanting to be together right now. Finding solace with one another. I think there the sadness and the grief is soon going to turn into a call for action of some sort. I know for me as an elected official, i feel a responsibility for my constituents. And i also understand it was jeffrey rabbi asked for people to lead with compassion and love. You were there when the president visited today. Can you tell me about the visit . We had had a room set up adjacent to the hospital care areas where four different patients and their families and friends were collected along with the medical staff. The president visited with each individual patient and their family members and then with not only the medical staff from the hospital but the Police Officers from the scene, ems providers and medical director for the city and the Public Safety director. So he listened to what their stories were about the event and the recovery. And interacted with each. How long would it have gone on for . In that session with the four families, it was a half hour, maybe 40 minutes and spent a considerable amount of time with each group of people that he stopped with. Were you in favor of the president coming today . Or what were your thoughts on that . Really, like i said, my first responsibility is to my constituents. Over the last couple days as the announcement was made that president might be visiting, i heard loud and clear through phone calls and emails that they were my constituents were extremely concerned about his visit. That it would add to the trauma of very raw situation here in Squirrel Hill. And i have to respect that. At the same time, i have to respect that there are members and leaders in the Jewish Community and perhaps some families of the victims who found comfort in his visit. The funerals obviously began today. Three funerals. Its interesting. I talked to one of the leaders of the Muslim Community today who has been behind the fundraising and raised more than i think 150,000 at this point. He was on with a rabbi who had a long relationship with. The bonds, you know, in the wake of Something Like this, often on television you see sort of people of different faiths coming together. They made the point, this isnt something just for tv cameras today. This is a relationship that actually has been going on for years and years in this community. Yeah. I think the multifaith effort that was pulled together for the vigil on sunday is a testament to that. How else would you be able to pull something together in less than a day that showed so many faiths and so many different types of people coming together unless those bonds were already there . I dont want to overstate it. Yes, the bonds are already there. Doctor, we appreciate all your efforts and everybody at the hospital, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Really an honor to go there. Congressman, thank you. We appreciate it. A lot of difficult days and weeks and months ahead. I want to dig deeper now into how this is all unfolding on the national stage. Joining us from for is our cnn political analyst david bergen. With those thinking this is not a good timed visit, do you think that the president was right to come here today . I think he was right to go to pitburg, n pitburg, n pittsburgh, no the today. He did the right thing in wanting to go and comfort families. But the awkwardness started right after the fact that he arrived with his wife alone. He was not met at the airport. He was met with lots and lots of protesters in the streets. He did not apparently he met with the families of those who had been wounded. As far as i can tell. And this may be wrong, but im not sure he met with the families of those who lost their lives. And he left in silence. Our president s when theyve gone to the days like this, you think of barack obama or george w. Bush or clinton, they spoke out and gave meaning to what happened and tried to be healers. They came to be known as the mourners in chief. And it is an important responsibility of president. I wish he come another day when he might have been able to fulfill a lot of those kind of needs for these families. Gloria, cnn is reporting that the president chose to visit today because it was the best day essentially for his schedule since he has a string of Campaign Rallies that start tomorrow and they thought it would be awkward if, you know, he came here and then went straight to a campaign rally. It seems like they didnt consider the idea of maybe cancelling a campaign rally. Im wondering what you make of, you know, him coming here as he did . Well, look this is clearly done because of the president s schedule and because of his convenience. Hes got 11 rallies coming up. And the president wants to get to every one of them. You know, he has been very involved in this campaign. And dont forget they dont want to mix a rally and the kind of a visit he did today. I mean on saturday night he had a rally right after the shooting. And i think there was a lot of agreement that that did not work out so well. Remember, the president said to everyone should i tone down my remarks . Maybe ill tone down my remarks. It just didnt you know, it didnt work. What struck me is also what struck david. Kind of the lonliness of all of this today. The president and his wife walking down alone from air force one, not being greeted with the children. But there wasnt a sense of community we want you there. There was sort of a sense that, you know, the president believed he needed to be there. I do think he needed to go at some point. But there wasnt support from the community. I mean it is stunning. Remember barack obama going to newtown or bill clinton after Oklahoma City. They were wanted and they spoke. And i think maybe it was right that the president did not speak today. And that all of his communication was kept private. Carl, to be fair, the president insisted on visiting pittsburgh today because over the weekend he said he would you know, he would do it long before anyone knew about objections from local officials here. He certainly did keep his promise in terms of what he had previously said he would do. He kept his promise. I think we need to look at this from a different point of view. And that is that the president ial pulpit of donald trump is incendiary device. It has become an ied. He spews division and hate and disunity. And so weve had this horrible slaughter in pittsburgh which is a great opportunity for him to move the other way. He held his rally. He came to pittsburgh. He did not take a moment to say we need self reflection. I need self reflection. Its time for me to examine what ive been saying from the president ial pulpit. Lets all look at our hearts. Lets all look at whats going on in this country. Lets look at antisemitism. Lets stop calling the other names. He had every opportunity to make this a turning point in his presidency. He resumed his divisive rallies. Thats where hes going. He resumed within hours the language of hate, the language of division. And that is who he and this presidency and his pulpit is. David, i mean its also interesting, you know, the killer here was motivated not only by just a general hate and antisemitism but also this obsession on the caravan and, you know, invaders echoing language that president himself has used. It doesnt seem like the president has stepped back from that if anything hes pushing the gas pedal down further talking about revoking birthright citizenship which well talk about later on in the broadcast. Which is not something he actually can do by fiat. But for him to continue to echo the words of, you know, invaders coming, its certainly not tamping down any rhetoric and continuing to call the media the enemy of the people. Youre absolutely right, anderson. And also sending in 500 troops on the weekend before the elections long before the marchers and the caravan ever reached the border. They dont need to be there this weekend. Thats a ploy. And i do think that in the background everything that was happening today is the fact that many people in pittsburgh, many people around the country, they dont blame donald trump for the particular shooter. They dont hold him directly responsible. But they long for presidency that has a moral chord to it. A president that shows moral leadership. In the background today is a sense that somehow the president s words resentment and hate and stirring up resentments among whites contributed to and led to the door of the synagogue. So i do think we ought to go back and think about, you know, how bill clinton went to Oklahoma City in 1995 and healed. He didnt go after the terrorists. He didnt sort of make a beat the drums to go out and stalk the terrorists all around the country. He tried to heal and it was a turning point in his presidency. He was embattled when he went to Oklahoma City. That ur that turned his presidency around in a positive direction. I have to wonder whether if donald trump had gone through the awkwardness and linked in this way to whats happened whether his words are now going to come back to hount haunt him his presidency for the indefinite future. It also seems, carl, that the president and the white house are very eager to, you know, to move on to be able to continue to focus on the election as he himself, you know, i think was a tweet days ago before this massacre, talking about how, you know, focus on the bombings and other issues took away from the coverage of politics. Look, donald trump is the legitimate president of the United States of america and he has made no attempt to of be the cohesive president of the United States, to reach out to all of the people in this country. And he is back at it with barely a break. After the bombing events of last week, the mail bombs sent out after this slaughter of jews in pittsburgh, he has gone on like business as usual here. This not ought to be a time of business as usual. And it not be a time of business as usual for republicans in washington either. They ought to be speaking out about what this president has done in reaction to the events of the last week. Its very significant that there were no Republican Leaders who wanted to come with this toxic president on air force one at a moment what should have been a time of National Healing because those leaders understand although they were complicit in enabling donald trump to do this and to insight with his message, they were not there today and they need to be speaking out against what donald trump has been saying throughout this campaign. Carl bernstein, david bergen, we want to broaden discussion of words and deeds and climate of violence. Later the president claims he can get around a constitutional amendment with a stroke of the pen. He cant. We know. That well talk about why he is making such a dubious case right now a week before the election. 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They were the sweetest, most lovable people with no hate in them, no hate unlike the shooter who posted antisemitic slurs on social media claiming the president had too much jewish people around him blamed jews for helping Migrant Caravan flz central america. Hate speech is, of course, nothing new. But there does seem to be a renewed sense of emboldening on the part of White Supremacists in charlottesville and beyond. The incidents rose by 57 in 2017. Heres how the mayor of pittsburgh put it when i asked him if the rhetoric that entered public life has had an impact. Words matter. If you take a drop of dye and put it into a glass of water, it turns the color of the water. When you put words of hatred out in a place where those words had been hidden and recognized is words that were not acceptable and ayou allow that to become acceptable, then you allow the next steps to occur. The next steps where there is violence against people walking down the street. The next steps where there is graffiti being written on walls, the next steps where somebody enters into a place that is so sacred where people go to find peace with god and somebody feels that is the way that they will express their hatred with murder. Yes, words matter. I want to focus more on what is happening right now in america. Joining me is nicole hammer who researches hate crimes and jonathan greenblatt. Nicole, you wrote yesterday that the seeds of pittsburgh were sewn in charlottesville. Can you just explain what you meant by that . Sure. So one of the things that was so dominant in charlottesville was and symbols and those things s kind of dropped away from the analysis of what happened in charlottesville shortly thereafter. But i think what pittsburgh shows us is how important and how central antisemitism is to White Supremacy, especially this new type of White Supremacy were seeing in america today. Jonathan, i wonder if you agree with that. About the impact of charlottesville as were showing some of the video of that, you know, tiki torch march by young white men mostly chanting jews will not replace us, chanting blood and soil which former nazi slogan. Has this become more normalized under in the last two years . Its deeply worrysome. The fact of the matter is nicole is right. That rally in charlottesville which was about preserving confederate statues degenerated into the chants of jews will not replace us. With men with torches assembled around the synagogue threatening to burn it down. Antisemitism is at the core of white see prupremacy. Weve seen this increase in antisemitic incidents over the past year. And, you know, to understand the details, were talking about a nearly 90 increase of antisemitic incidences at colleges and universities, almost 100 increase at k12 schools. So the words that we hear, theyre translating and jumping online to offline and showing up in our communities, on our campuses, in our schools. We should be very concerned. Youre hearing of antisemitic incidences in kindergartens and lower schools and middle schools and high schools . The adl has 25 field offices across the United States. Indeed my offices are tracking acts of vandalism and harassment at k12 schools. This is one of the reasons we prioritize antibias education in classrooms. Because kids need to be taught that what you might be hearing even our leaders at the highest level saying is absolutely unacceptable if we want a society that is predicated on respecting tolerance for others. Nicole, manufacture the peop many of the people protesting feel the rhetoric that came out of this administration from the president of the United States, while maybe not directly responsible for what happened here, but certainly has fueled or embolden some people maybe with preexisting ideas or with hate in their heart. Do you believe thats the case that that, you know, as the mayor said that the words matter . Oh, absolutely. I mean, i think that one other lesson out of charlottesville was, you know, it whats a day where everything went wrong in a lot of ways for the outright. But the one thing they took as a victory out of charlottesville were the president s comments. They felt that president could have had their back after charlottesville. That did embolden the White Supremacists. I would say it radicalized them. And helped them not how do you know they felt that . Did you hear that . Is that what people were saying online . Absolutely. They celebrated in both videos and in statements online the president s comments. Anderson, if i can just add on that, you know, the adl were tracking antisemitism in Silicon Valley that we built and indeed the white supremacist. If you read what theyre saying on twitter and on facebook and on these other sites, theyre celebrating the winks, the dog whistles. They let us know in their own words that theyre connecting with them. Jonathan greenblatt, i appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much. Important discussion well continue to have. Coming up, the president is pulling out all the antiimmigrant stops using the military, migrants seeking refuge and misinformation. What impact is it having . Will it work . Well get into that next. Delicious pasta marinara. But birds eye made it from zucchini. Mmm. Mashed potatoes. And rice but made from cauliflower. Looks like i need a fork oh no. giggles birds eye veggie made. So veggie good. Look what shes accomplished. She authored the ban on assault weapons. Pushed the desert protection act through congress, and steered billions of federal dollars to california projects such as subway construction and wildfire restoration. She. Played an Important Role in fighting off. Trumps efforts to kill the Affordable Care act. California news papers endorse Dianne Feinstein for us senate. California values senator Dianne Feinstein with allegations that the president s rhetoric about invaders coming into the country played a role in the horrific events here in pittsburgh, mr. Trump is certainly not apologizing or backing off. Considering that president Just Announced hes immediately sending thousands of troops to the border to allegedly stop a group of migrants, the president calls it an invasion were hundreds miles away from the United States. Some of the troops are expected to arrive a day before people go to the polls. Let me repeat, this main group of migrants who the troops are apparently to stop are walking on foot and are nearly 1,000 miles away from the u. S. Border. Consider now one week from the mid terms, he apparently thinks you also should be afraid of baby whos are born here and become citizens saying he can end birthright citizenship, the 14th amendment, with an executive order. Which is not true. In an interview on axios, the president said, were the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby and the baby is essentially a citizen. That also is not true. Dozens of countries have the same situation but you dont have to take our word for it. The president cant overturn the 14th amendment or even the word of legal experts coast to coast listen to the republican speaker paul ryan. You cannot end birthright citizenship juan executive order. We didnt like it when obama tried changing immigration laws Via Executive action and as conservatives, you know, we believe in the constitution. You know, the conservative, i believe in the plain text of the constitution and the 14th amendment is pretty clear. Joining us no you is cnn chief White House Correspondent jim acosta. Jim, it seems pretty obvious about why the president is suddenly talking about, you know, an executive order about the 14th amendment. It just seems a week before the midterm its not a coincidence. Its not a coincidence, anderson. It is part of the president s playbook for the mid terms. Hes been advised by people inside and outside the white house to go after this immigration issue. This is an issue of birthright citizenship he brought up before. And when he brought it up before just about everybody in washington reminds him that you cant do it through an executive order. That is unconstitutional. You have to amend the constitution. One of the top adviser was briefly talking to reporters today and said contrary to the facts out there, that this is an untested constitutional question. She said there are aspects of this that could be tested constitutionally and almost at the very same moment this evening her husband George Conway who is a prominent lawyer here in washington was writing an oped saying this is unconstitutional if the president wants to do it. What about sending u. S. Troops to the southern border, again, the caravan of migrants is still hundreds of miles away. I mean when are American Forces expected to arrive and exactly what role are they expected to play . Well, white house hasnt really given us any clear guidance as to what the role of these soldiers will be. They already tried to send National Guard troops down to the border as sort of a show of force. As you mentioned, the migrants are about 1,000 miles away and theyre not going to be here any time soon. So to call this an invasion, it might be the most pathetic invasion of a country in World History if this were actually an invasion. But, of course, its not. We should point out, anderson, that we have been told by sources close to the white house, people inside the white house frankly, well tell you this privately, they see the caravan issue as one of the big ticket items heading into the mid terms. You heard it almost repeated nonstop. I think the president even mentioned this at his rallies, caravan and kavanaugh. They want to run on both of those things. But unless youre really isolated inside an ideological bubble on this issue of immigration, you really cant see this caravan as anything other than a lot of people, a lot of migrants trying to escape countries where in some cases theyre escaping from violence and that you have a lot of women and children trying to come into this country and seek asylum to try to find a better life for themselves. At this point the president is saying thats not going to happen and hes trying to offer the show of force. One other thing we should mention, anderson, the secretary of defense jim mattis had a rare public appearance. He was appearing at the u. S. Institute of peace here in washington. He was asked a whole range of questions on a slew of issues from syria to russia and everything else. He wasnt asked a question about this issue. It doesnt sound very pressing for the defense secretary either. Anderson . All right. Jim acosta, thank you very much. Joining me now, former rnc chief of staff mike shields and Jeffrey Toobin and the author of everything trump touches dies. He says he can change the 14th amendment with a executive order. I want to read, all persons born or naturalized in the United States are subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. He cant change that with an executive order, correct . Well, not only cant he change it with an executive order, even an act of congress couldnt change it because the constitution trumps any other attempt by state or the federal government to do anything. This is a political stunt. I dont know whether it will succeed. But the idea that the president could change birthright citizenship that anyone could change it other than through a constitutional amendment is simply false. So, mike, as a conservative republican, are you okay with the president saying that he can unilaterally change this, the 14th amendment of the constitution . And do you agree with jeff that this is basically just about politics and manipulation before the mid terms . Couple things. Senator graham also lent his voice to the idea this hasnt been tested in what jurisdiction are people under . Are they under the country that theyre from or under the u. S. Jurisdiction . Heres what this real issue is about. Whether or not you have to change it legislatively, this is a legitimate conversation to have. There are 700,000 immigrants in line right now to become lawful immigrants to the United States from africa, latin america, asia, all over the world. And yet, there are loopholes that allow people to get into the country illegally and have a child and become a citizen. Harry reid when he was in the senate, democrat and hardly a conservative said that birthright citizenship is being abused. We should look at it. Many people brought this up. Its not like its an issue out of left field. Immigration is a defining difference between the two parties. The democratic party, their vice chairman wears a tshirt said were for open borders. Republicans say we have to get even more sort of aggressive about how it is we go about protecting the border. Maybe we look at something that is abused that allows Illegal Immigrants to come in and game the system when there are 7 h 700,000 people waiting in line to be dutiful citizens. We have laws in this country where there are procedures. If you want to change birthright citizenship, help yourself. That is a legitimate argument to have. But you have to have it on the right subject which is a constitutional amendment. Do it as a stunt a week before the election pretending that you as president have the power to change it that, is not legitimate. That is not a legitimate debate to have. I think its demagoguery, its not policy. Rich, do you see this as just a stunt . Yeah. This is absolutely a stunt. This is the president once again doing this performing version of the presidency where he throws out red meat so he can start this next news cycle on fox and elsewhere, pretending this is going to happen. Its no the going to happen. Just like the wall and a whole bunch of other trump things. Its an absolute illusion targeted only to the base only politics of the reddest of the red states. I think what is really dismisser he dismissive here is we have to treat the amendment with reverence and care. If he said im going to get rid of parts of the Second Amendment by executive order, it would have been a sure fire recipe for republicans to go into an absolute fit, lose their minds for months on end and call for immediate impeachment. But donald trump is suggesting the same sort of thing. Its executive fiat which we said during obama over and over again was absolutely against conservative principle but here we are. Out side of the process of how you do this, outside of the process of how we do this ski my two colleagues, do they think that this that birthright citizenship is being abused. Do you believe its ever being abused . Mike hold on. Mike saying outside the process, the whole thing about this right now is the process. The president , as jeff said, i mean, you can have this debate about birthright citizenship and its been had before. But the president announcing that he can do this by executive order, you know is just not true. Right . I think that this is a defining issue between the two parties going into the election as immigration. Right. But you know its just not true. Dont avoid the answer. Right. I dont know if you can constitutionally do this or not. Were talking about the lie that he you dont know that the president cannot do it by executive order, that he cant overturn the 14th amendment by executive order . You dont know that . It doesnt appear so. And when barack obama illegally claimed that dreamers could just become citizens, that was challenged and this administration did not want to challenge it in court. But that was a question of law, not of the constitutional provisions. Right. This is a different order. This is a different order of magnitude, mike. This is the constitution were talking about. Its no the like popping the hood on a car and playing with the spark plugs. This is the big thing. So even the president that is believed to have unlimited executive power in the era of trump does not have that power. If if you feel comfortable with that, if there is a democratic president down the line, you have to sit quietly while they say were going to change a lot of things about the Second Amendment, the first amendment, fourth. I mean this is a bad door to open, mike. Well, it would be challenged in the courts if it its not constitutional. Then it wouldnt be allowed. So im fairly comfortable having thing goes to the courts like the travel ban did and it came back in any form that was allowed to be im sorry . Yeah. You no he this is ridiculous. I mean this is ridiculous that the president is having this discussion. Its purely about just smomethig to throw up a week before the election to stop people talking about 11 murdered jews a block behind me. Its clearly just like bombs being sent to people that the president , you know, singled out and railed against and got stadiums to rail against was not a message the president really wanted to talk about and he tried to change the subject. You are dont believe hes trying to change the subject off of what happened here . No, i dont. I think so much of what happened here is so tragic. Every time we try to turn it back into a partisan fight, people put their jerseys on and ignore the rise of antisemitism is a real thing we should talk about and instead it gets dragged back into a fight. Were talking about birthright citizenship because the president tweeted about it. And one of the issues is immigration. The party have two very different approaches to immigration. Mike shields, i appreciate it. Jeff toobin, rick wilson. I want to check in with chris to see what hes working on. I want to know who the lawyer is in the white house that told the president he can change whats in the 14th amendment by fiat. He said his lawyers told him. I want to know who that lawyer is. I think the white house should produce them. And i think that that party the election is a week away. Youre analyzing it exactly right, youre doing it from the right place. Is the whole party on board with Trumps Campaign of fear and loathing . Are they . We have a congressman on tonight from that party, a young leader, who says it needs to stop. Then were going to put cuomos court in session and were going to bring in the legalities of bringing in the military and changing the 14th amendment. Well give people the facts. Chris, i appreciate it. Ill see you in a couple minutes. All the victims here in pittsburgh touched the lives of others in so many unique ways. Just ahead, im going to talk with a man who knew dr. Jerry rabinowitz very well. He said he really saved his life after he was diagnosed with hiv back in 1989. Well hear from him ahead. Insur, the choice was easy. I switched to geico and saved hundreds. Excuse me. Winner thats a win. But its not the only reason i switched. Hi geico has licensed agents who i can reach 24 7. Great savings and round the Clock Service . Now thats a winwin. Winner. Winner. Yay me oh, hi good luck. Switch to geico®. Its a winwin. Im all about my bed. This mattress is dangerously comfortable. When i get in, i literally say ahh. Meet the leesa mattress. A better place to sleep. The leesa mattress is designed to provide strong support, relieve pressure and optimize airflow to keep you cool. 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Well, i mean, youre right. I lived right down the hill from where youre standing. You know, pittsburgh is a closeknit community. We when those early days of hiv hit, there werent any real treatable medicines that targeted the virus, so we put our ear to the ground, ear to the wall, we called our friends and found out who the doctors were that were keeping us alive the longest. Word of mouth it was dr. Rabinowitz. Hes at the top of the list. Its understatement to say for people who dont realize what being hiv positive meant in 1981, 82, all throughout the early 90s, there were people in the profession who wanted nothing to do who were hiv positive or people who had aids or were scared to, you know, breathe the same air as them. You know, that was a time when you had to hide your Health Record for preexisting conditions from insurance companies. Dr. Rabinowitz had a system, though. He knew to put those hiv notes in a little piece of paper on the side. I cant help but think that maybe if something happened and somebody came knocking on his door, that piece of paper would have gone away. He protected us. I cant imagine the fear that you must have felt in 1989, in graduate school, you get the diagnosis and the fear that you must have felt and how dr. Rabinowitz was able to help you at least combat that fear. I got to be honest with you, there were some dark times. There were some really dark times. And he was always there. He was just such a brilliant yet compassionate man. Hes a family physician in the truest sense of what we define family, as meaning theres so many versions of family. Youre wearing an act up pin. Act up was a group that was instrumental in getting changes in pharmaceutical companies and how drugs were tested and brought to the pipeline, along with an action group that was an offshoot of act up. The other thing about special is he was a very young doctor when he started opening his doors to people who had hiv and aids. Timing is everything. When it was time for him to point me towards a study, if it had been six months sooner, maybe the drugs wouldnt have been available in that study or, you know, it was all about act up, getting it done quick so those drugs could reach could be safely delivered for research protocols. So timing was everything and having a good doctor that whatever little there was in the tool box at the time to treat us, he did it. And just finally, michael, when you heard the news about what happened here on saturday, the reports are that he went to try to help, he went back in to try to help those who might have been wounded. Im just wondering what your first memory of him was, what your thoughts were on saturday when you heard the news. It still hurts. Im never going to see his face. And all those pictures you see of him with the bow tie and his smile, thats what i remember. And he held our hands without rubber gloves and he hugged us and he spent time with us. Hes just hes a brilliant and compassionate doctor. The worlds going to be the worlds at a loss, i think. It also makes me so sad just to hear you point out that he would hold your hand without a rubber glove and to think of all those other young men and others who didnt have their hands held without a rubber glove or a medical professional without a mask on because of the fear and stigma. Michael, thank you very much for being with us and talking about dr. Rabinowitz. Thank you. Thank you for helping us honor him. And we honor him and all the 11 who were killed here. Theres many ways to help the pittsburgh community. The web site and other organizations are on cnn. Com impact. Its been an honor for us to be here, a sad privilege and a painful one, but we feel honored to have been able to bear witness over the last two days here. I want to go back to chris. Cuomo primetime starts right now. Thank you, sananderson, to y and your team for the coverage. Fear and loathing. Thats the theme for the