Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 20190430

The sounds of gunfire. So our journalist stefano is live in caracas. And stefano, tell me what is happening now and why the u. S. Is so invested in this outcome . Reporter brooke, happening now, it is tense when everybody is trying to understand whether these military uprising will be successful essentially the question hanging over the sky here in caracas is how many military units join the forces with juan guaido who has the crucial support of the white house, the u. S. Government and many other countries in the international community. More than 50 states do recognize juan guaido as the effective legitimate acting president of venezuela and do not recognize em embattled Nicolas Maduro as president. The clashes have turned violent and weve been here for hours, live shot and ammunition being fired around the military air base that is just at the end of the road. About me from where im standing is the key military air base around which the clashes took are taking place here in caracas. These are some of the ammunition, 7. 2 millimeters that the Security Forces are fighting and in the support of the United States, your question, brooke, is that for decades the United States has been the number one economic partner of the of venezuela. Oil diplomacy in particular. The professor of Nicolas Maduro has been time and time again from the u. S. And closing alliances with russia, china, iran, turkey, countries that the u. S. Doesnt want to be seen active in latin american in the western hemisphere and that is why it is such a delicate story because it is not only about the economic collapse of the people and about the hundreds of thousands of protesters that have taken to the streets of caracas for many months but has strong and real and serious geopolitical repercussions around the world with russia, iran, turkey, all with vested interest here in caracas, brooke. Stefano, thank you. And well stay close to you and you and your crew, thank you for being in caracas. I turn to washington where President Trump played host once again to as he referred to them as check a as chuck and nancy to try to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure and they said it was productive and filled with good will and focused on delivering for the american people. Infrastructure has never been a partisan issue and we hope to go forward in a nonpartisan way for the future. We agreed on a number, which was very, very good. 2 trillion for infrastructure. Originally we started lower, even the president was eager to push it up to 2 trillion. Kaitlan collins is at the white house and we heard the two words we agreed. That is such a rarity. I saw you asking questions of the two of them. They agreed to meet again in a couple of weeks, so what should we expect between now and then . Reporter well that is going to be the big question. That next meeting coming up, which is going to deal with how theyre going to pay for this pretty ambitious project. That 2 trillion and chuck said the president wanted to push it up to 2 trillion and as they see what the price will be. And they want to hear the president s ideas will be but republicans are already sounding skeptical about what democrats want to do in order to pay for this project. So keep an eye on that, whether or not they could not only agree like today but if theyre going to agree on how they pay for it. Now, brooke, it wasnt that long ago when the president in his speech at the state of the union said he would not be able to work with democrats if they were investigating him aggressively. He said they werent going to have any legislative accomplishments if that was the case but today democrats said the overright request coming from capitol hill did not come up during the meeting in the white house with President Trump. However there was one person who wasnt in that meeting, that is Mick Mulvaney who was across the country at a political or a financial conference and he sounded doubtful that anything productive could happen if democrats are investigating the president. If im suing you on one deal, are you likely to do another deal with me at the same time . Probably not. That is human nature. So youre right, to have an impeachment hearing on monday and then talk infrastructure on tuesday, that is not how the world works, let alone washington, d. C. Reporter so you hear the doubt there in the chief of staff voice. Whether or not that is the point Going Forward or they could come to some kind of agreement while the investigations are still going on, because the democrats make clear they will still go on, that is a whole other question. Got it, katelin, thank you. And i have with me mark preston and well get to the polls in a second. But first, i want to talk about what we just saw today. Sheer trump agreeing to the 2 trillion and no talk of all of the administration stonewalling of house subpoenas. What is this . Washington warm and fuzzy moment or what . It is a really nice rainbow now that connects the u. S. Capitol down to the white house. Listen, what we saw happen today is we saw politicians having to actually address some need. When you talk about things that need to get done here in the United States, infrastructure is something we need to get done and and we all drive on the roads and the job creation and big business and the unions are behind it. So the democrats who went in today hoping to get as much as possible were happy to hear President Trump saying he wanted the number 2 trillion and were learning from Phil Mattingly the reason he came up with that number is it is a good round number and sounded better than what they were talking about and which is insane to think that is how were making policy but that is how we get to the number. But as Mick Mulvaney said, the proof is in the pudding. Will we see the folks get together and that remains to be seen. How do republicans feel about this good and round number . How will they react when they hear 2 trillion on infrastructure because trump is the head of the Republican Party and is he about to convince them we need to spend 2 trillion on infrastructure. Reporter and theyll say look at our soaring dead and this is saddling this on the back of our kids and if we are getting to the 2 trillion, what is the pay go. Meaning what do we take away that we have currently paid for in our current budget to take to pay for this. It is like stealing from peter to pay paul and that is why infrastructure could not make it through even though it has such large bipartisan support because of the other things around it, brooke. 2020 cnn polls are out, what are your takeaways. Joe biden is soaring high. Not to be unexpected necessarily. Of course he is the Vice President and name recognition means a lot. But if you look down, look at the gap joe biden and Bernie Sanders. But think of the narrative that well weave here. What are the democrats looking for in a candidate 46 want a chance to beat donald trump. That is the most important quality they see in picking a nominee but the rest of the numbers, you have to ask yourself, brooke, you go to win before you can get Everything Else done. So 46 of americans believe that,but moving on, where are candidates . We show joe biden leading the pack. But only about less than four in ten say there is certainly going to vote for the person that theyre supporting right now. So while joe biden has such great support right now, this race is really wide open and look at this last graphic right here. This shows you how early we are in this is what people want to know and who they want to learn information about. Kamala harris and Elizabeth Warren and joe biden and beto orourke. This gives you an idea of where democrats are looking right now when they are looking for the next leader. Interesting. And you could read about it at cnn. Com for all of the numbers and mark preston, thank you so much. Thanks, brooke. Coming up next on cnn, as medicare for all gets the first big hearing on capitol hill, there is still a lot we dont know about the plan so well ask Bernie Sanders about that and the new polls when he joins me live next. Plus the president and his kids suing Deutsche Bank, his biggest lender for complying with subpoenas and a cnn exclusive, the company at the heart of 97,000 drug hike price allegedly doctors to boost sales. Yes, i said 97,000 . Youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. No matter when you retire, your income doesnt have to. See how lincoln can help ensure you still have income every month of your retirement, guaranteed, at lincolnfinancial. Com. We need a solution. Ut their phones down. Introducing. Smartdogs. The first dogs trained to train humans. Stopping drivers from liking. Selfieing. And whatever this is. Available to the public. Never. Smartdogs are not the answer. But geico has a simple tip. Turn on do not disturb while driving mode. Brought to you by geico. 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Do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. Stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. Tell your doctor if you have Diabetic Retinopathy or vision changes. Taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. I discovered the potential with ozempic®. Oh oh oh ozempic® ask your Healthcare Provider today about onceweekly ozempic®. Welcome back. Youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. Today a milestone for House Democrats holding the first formal hearing. The bill introduced this year would roll out a singlepayer system over two years and the topic has divided a number of democrats and some prefer to shore up obamacare instead. And joining me, Bernie Sanders, he updated a version of the medicare for all plan and one that received support from several rivals for the 2020 president ial nomination. So senator sanders, welcome back. Nice to see you. Good to be with you, brooke. So first tell me why upending the u. S. Health care system all at once is better than doing it incrementally. Well were not quite doing that. What were doing is expanding medicare, which is a very Popular Program for seniors, 65 or older, over a fouryear period. And the first year it would go down to 55 and the next year and then 45 and then 35 and cover all americans. And we expand Medicare Coverage for elderly people by including dental care which is a serious problem and hearing aids and eyeglasses. Those are some of the benefits that medicare doesnt cover. As to answer your question as to why, the answer is that we today are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right. You have 34 million without any Health Insurance and more with underinsured with high deductible and copayments and at the end of that were spending twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country. On the if i could jump in. The 34 million point, so youre willing to extend Health Insurance to roughly 30 million who currently dont have it. While upending employerbased insurance for more than 100 million. I see you wagging your hand. Yes. But senator sanders those are the hard facts and numbers and why would you want to do that. Lets be clear and this is a talking point from our opponents. The function of the Current Health care system, brooke, is to make enormous profits for the Insurance Companies and the Drug Companies. Last year the top ten Drug Companies for example made 69 billion in profit. While one out of five americans cannot afford the cost of Prescription Drugs when doctors prescribe medicine to them. That is insane. So were going to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs in half, cut the cost of Prescription Drugs in half because that is what the rest of the world is paying. But to answer your question, lets be clear, every single year tens of millions of americans change their Health Insurance program. If you get fired tomorrow, guess what . You have to find a new insurance program. And that is what employers do and people quit jobs every year but lets hope most of us arent getting fired and get to keep our insurance and in that case people like to have that option. Im just saying. You have the option. Actually you dont. It is your employer who determines who your Insurance Company will be. What we are doing the truth is medicare today is most popular Health Insurance program in the country. And all we are doing is expanding it to cover all people and when we do that, we do something that many private insurance policies dont allow. We give you freedom of choice. As to the doctor that you go. Right now if your in a network, you may not be able to go to the doctor you want or pay more. No deductible or copayments and we provide much more expensive benefits to most Insurance Companies so the question that you have to ask or the answer or the Insurance Company we are spending twice as much per capita on health care i hear you on that point, senator. But on the point of price. This comes down to how you pay for it and pass this politically and on the price tag point how could you contain Health Care Cost which health care will spike to that is not the case in other countries. What it will do, lets be fair. When we cut the cost of health care significantly, because right now were not going to see under our plan 20 billion in profits going to five Insurance Companies, or 69 billion in profits going to ten pharmaceutical industry companies. When do you that and you eliminate all of the bureaucracy that currently exists, all of the administrative nightmares, im sure youve been to a doctor and i have been to a doctor, you have to fill out a million forms. Were spending a fortune just billing people in this country. The reason that other countries could do it much more costeffective is their systems are simple. You walk in and you are covered. So the issue is how do you pay for it and that is a good question. Right now youre paying for it in copayments and deductible and your employer is paying for it. If you are a family of four right now selfemployed, youre spending 28,000 a year for insurance. So what we are going to do is do away with private premiums. You wont have to pay premiums to a private Insurance Company. Were cutting your Prescription Drug costs in half. Are your taxes going up . Yeah, they will. But not as much as your premiums are going down. The overwhelming majority of americans will pay less for health care under the medicare for all system than they currently pay. Senator, let me turn the page and the new cnn poll showing you and joe biden as the frontrunner in this current race and my question to you is will your campaign be more about the contrast that youve clearly been drawing with biden or will it be more focused on who can best defeat trump. I think both to be honest, in my view. Donald trump is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country. Hes a pathological liar. Hes a racist, sexist and homophone and xenophobe and this is somebody who should not be president. Ill do everything i can, if im the democratic nominee and i will support and if i lose somebody else, whether it is joe or somebody else, were going to defeat donald trump. But on the other hand, i think what i want to see in the democratic primary is not personal attacks or any of that stuff. What i want to see is an issue where we could campaign and joe and i have different pasts in terms of how we have voted and very different vision for the future and that is something we should be discussing. For example, i voted against the war in iraq. In fact, help leads the opposition to what turned out to be the worst Foreign Policy disaster in the modern history of america. Joe voted for it. I voted against nafta, i voted against permanent normal trade relations with china and two grade agreements that cost us millions of goodpaying jobs and i voted against the deregulation of wall street and joe supported that legislation and i think and many people agree and some dont, led to the wall street collapse of 2008. Senator, let me jump in. Because i hear you on the contrast and is there are a number of them, but the one thing both of you voted for and what joe biden helped write is the 1994 crime bill. Even former president bill clinton who signed it into law said it went too far and expanded mandatory minimums and boosted the prison population and disproportionately impacted africanamericans and hispanics and my question is do you regret that vote . Let me give you my answer. Go to youtube and find out what i said well im looking at you now, senator, tell me i voted for that bill because it included the violence against womens act and it included a ban on assault weapons. And brooke, you would be asking me today, senator, why did you not vote for a ban on assault weapons im asking you today if you regret your vote . Sometimes you have legislative which includes very good stuff and very bad stuff. That legislative included very bad stuff. I had to make the choice whether i voted to ban assault weapons, something that i promised the people of vermont i would, and i also had to vote to make sure that we had a violence against women provision in there. If you see what i said on the floor at that time, i talked about mass incarceration and talked about capital punishment. So sometimes in the real world, in the congress, you got big pieces of legislation that have bad stuff and god knows that legislation had bad stuff. And right now im one of the leaders in the fight for criminal Justice Reform so we dont have more people in jail than any other major country on earth. Speaking of jail, speaking of incarceration, i read your opinion piece today. You wrote this opinion piece, usa today, on why you think felons deserve the right to vote and you point out and in the middle part of the piece that over 4. 5 million americans disproportionately people of color have lost the right to vote because theyve served time. And so senator, on this issue, only 28 of democrats or democratic leaners say this is very important to them that the candidate they support take this position and i want to ask you why is this so important to you and your campaign . Well, brooke, i think you know how politics works. I was asked that in a question. In fact i didnt come up with it. I asked the question and i gave an answer. And i think we should do what canada does and what israel does with many countries around the world do is to separate. If somebody commits a serious crime they go to jail and if they are violent they may spend the rest of their lives in jail. That is the way it is. You pay a price when you commit a crime. But i believe at a time when the Republican Party and donald trump are working overtime to suppress the vote, to make it harder for people of color and poor people, young people to vote, we have got to make it clear if you are an american citizen and even if you do something bad, we cant take away the right to vote whether you are in jail or left jail. Clearly what republicans are doing is trying to deny people of color the right to vote and this is an issue i think we have to address head on. Even democrats disagree with you. Im sure you saw what cory booker said. But let me say this. Four years ago people disagreed on me for medicare for all and raising the minimum wage to 15 an hour, criminal Justice Reform and spending a trillion dollars on rebuilding infrastructure and people disagreed with me. And they will disagree with me now. But ill tell you what i think, fur a citizen of this country you have the right to vote and i will oppose all efforts to try to deny americans the right to participate in our democracy. Okay. Last week you were at she the people and asked what you would do to fight white supremacist violence and during your response you were booed and part of the criticism is you didnt answer the question and you gave an answer that many had heard before that marching with dr. King in washington and would you like to respond to that criticism and look, if you check out some people booed but if you listen to the response when i walked on and off, it is a fairly strong response. And my view is obviously that we have got to do everything that we can to make sure that we end the racism, institutional racism that exists in every form of life and women today who are black experience 2. 5 times the rate of infant mortality than white women do and we have red lining that continues to exist in communities all over this country and blacks get rejected and blacks who had the same kind of background as whites get rejected from job applications more. That is called institutional racism and there is nobody stronger in opposing that. So we have got to move toward a quarter as dr. King mentioned, we judge people on their character and who they are and not by the color of their skin. Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Take care. Thank you. The world is watching. Right now venezuela clashing erupting in the middle of an uprising against the government. Why the u. S. Is so invested in this outcome and what President Trump has to say about it. Plus Donald Trumps team sues Deutsche Bank and capital one. Can he stop them from turning over financial records to congress . Did you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes . Using multiple cleaners on grease can be expensive, and sometimes ineffective. For better value, tackle grease with dawn ultra. Dawn is for more than just dishes. It provides 3x more grease cleaning power per drop, which cuts through tough kitchen messes, pretreats laundry stains, and even tackles grease buildup on car rims. Tackle tough greasy messes around your home, and save money with dawn ultra. Brand power. Helping you better. Pardon the interruption but this is big now at tmobile buy any Samsung Galaxy s10 and get a galaxy s10e free hmm. Exactly. And doug. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Oh. Well, we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize car insurance, because no two people are alike, so. Limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. [ loud crash ] yeah. Hell figure it out. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty the president and his three oldest children are suing two of the banks that helped build their family empire. Attorneys for the trump team filed suit against Deutsche Bank and capital one in an attempt to block his business records. One of the banks is cooperating in a separate investigation. Just last week Deutsche Bank provided financial records to the new york States Attorney Office but today the president s attorneys are trying to circumvent anything the banks would provide to congress saying, quote, the subpoenas were issued to har pass President Donald Trump and to rummage through his personal finances and his businesses and the private information of the president and his family. No grounds exist to establish any purpose other than a political one. Melissa murray is a professor at the nyu school of law. Nice to see you and have you on. So the suit claims that subpoenas arent valid because they violate banking privacy law. Do they have an argument . Well, again, congress has pretty broad discretion on what it can subpoena for information to aid in an investigation and all it has to be is relevant to that investigative purpose. And so anything could legally be relevant since we dont know what the nature of the subpoenas are and indeed the trump team doesnt know what the nature of the subpoenas are, what they are getting is only disclosed to them by the bank themselves. It is a wide and broad standard. And another federal court has already determined that congress has broad powers and what relevance is again a broad standard. Our correspondent up on capitol hill manu raju talked to the chairs that filed the subpoenas. Listen to this. Deutsche bank is willing to cooperate. But apparently mr. Trump and others around him are concerned about what those bank records would show. We have representation from deutsche and capital one they will cooperate with us. So he can file his lawsuits. They need a subpoena in order to do what they need to do to give us the documents. Theyve said they will cooperate. So so far his lawsuits arent doing any good. Now we know that trumps m. O. As a private business man was being litigious and run down the clock and get the deals done but this is a different ball game with congress. It is a different ball game because congress is a different foe but it is the same strategy. They want to give fuel to the investigations that may lead to an impeachment and what trump is doing right now is filing the lawsuits to slow them down and take the winds out of congresss sails and lead to but will that work . It depends on the court. The courts are the last clear hope and weve seen a federal court say that congress has broad discretion in this particular arena. But more likely it will be a series of negotiations one second. Sean bolton is speaking military regime that in turn is controlled by cubans and other forces. This is obviously a very serious situation. The president has been monitoring it minute by minute throughout the day. As have his advisers. We see this now as a potentially dispositive moment in the efforts of the venezuelan people to regain their freedom which we fully support. There have been a lot of speculation comment in the media about what is happening in venezuela. We think it is still very important for key figures in the regime who have been talking to the opposition over the last three months to make good on their commitments to achieve the peaceful transfer of power from the maduro league to interim president juan guaido. Figures like defend minister Vladimir Padrino and Miguel Moreno and the commander of the president ial guard, Rafael Hernandez dalla and all agree that maduro had to go. They need to be able to act this afternoon. Or this evening to help bring other military forces to the side of the interim president. The cubans, we believe, have played a very significant role in propping maduro up today, possibly with help from the russians. That is the speculation certainly in caracas. We think this demonstrates why we need venezuela ruled by the people of venezuela and not by external forces. That is what were looking at and i would be happy to answer any questions. [ inaudible question ]. Well juan guaido is out on the streets of caracas now and rallying the people, hes called for the people to come out and they are in creasingly on the streets as many of you know, there were mass demonstrations planned for tomorrow. The circumstances of what is happened today in caracas have called people out all over the country. So guaido is behaving in the same courageous way he and other figures in the opposition have these last three months. We know that over 40 people have been killed by the maduro regime in the course of the protests. This is an act of bravery by guaido and others really for the freedom of the venezuelan people. Ambassador, given what youve seen on the ground so far today and the degree of loyalty that maduro still seems to enjoy with the elements of the venz the Venezuelan Military, what is the likely this will work. I think it is fear of the 20 to 25,000 cuban Security Forces in the country. And i think it is fear of the consequences if adhering to the constitutional mandate of the interim president failed. But i think really now what were seeing is the people of venezuela, this is been building for a long time, if this effort fails they will sink into a dictatorship from which theyre very few possible alternatives. It is a very delicate moment. I want to stress again, the president wants to see a peaceful transfer of power from maduro to guaido. That possibility still exists if enough figures depart from the regime and supposition the opposition and that is what we like to see. We want to see defense minister padrino and the judge of the supreme court, moreno and Rafael Hernandez dalla of the president ial guard. What happens if guaido is not able to take power today . What is the next step. Well i think it is possible this situation could persist. I think the people have shown theyre prepared to protect guaido. We dont see any indication that there is any substantial part of the military that is ready to fire on innocent civilians, their fellow countrymen. We know that the cuban organized thugs, these motorcycle gangs that the cubans have put together are out protecting certain buildings, controlled by maduro. Not the military, but the collectivo and this demonstrates the depth to which the maduro regime is sunk, theyre using cuban thugs to conduct their affairs and why there is such overwhelming public support for guaido. It needs to be translated into a transition of power. Is the u. S. Prepared to use any [ inaudible ] military option to support juan guaido. Let me say two things to be very clear. Number one, we want as our principal objective, a peaceful transfer of power and i will say again as the president said from the outset, that Nicolas Maduro and those supporting him, particularly those not venezuelan should know all options are on the table. Any support other than [ inaudible ]. Say that again. Is the administration providing any other type of support other than [ inaudible ]. Were providing support in a variety of respects. Certainly we have done everything we can to get humanitarian assistance into the country. Were doing a lot of other things. Some of which im not going to talk about. And were certainly working with the lima group, the organization of american states, the over 50 countries that support guaidos legitimacy democratically and let me answer the last part of your question, this is clearly not a coup. We recognize juan guaido as the interim and when they give a order to the department of defense it is not a coup for juan guaido to take comment of the Venezuelan Military. You said all options are on the table still for military action and i have to ask you about a Different Military action that you did advocate. Was that a mistake leaving iraq . As ive said before, ive got a lot of opinions ive expressed over many years in the public space. Those were my opinions. What im speaking about now is the policy of the u. S. Government and ive answered the question on force do you feel that this moment that were in right now is a Building Block or do you think it is the moment, the Tipping Point as to where something needs to help . I think from the perspective of humanitarian crisis that we face in venezuela, i hope this is enough to tip maduro out of power. Because its only when he and his fellow klepto crates who have plundered the venezuelan economy for the last 20 years are removed from power we could put the venezuelan economy back on its feet for the benefit of the people. The sooner maduro is gone the sooner is the possibility of justice and real economic growt can you address, were you surprisedtodays action or were you given a heads up and can you address reports from venezuela that some of the military officials that were support that were supposed to support guaido backed away. We feel very wellinformed about what was going on and the point i was making a moment ago of the minister Vladimir Padrino and hernandez dalla is well nope to the opposition across venezuela. They committed to support ousting maduro and it is time for them now, if the cubans will let them do, to fulfill their commitm and time for the rest of the military to show what their own families believe ought to happen and that is maturo needs to go. My questions, if maduro fire against the people of venezuela and juan guaido, will the United States act in any use kind of military action at this precise moment . As ive said, all options remain on the table. Im simply not going to be more specific than that. But three months ago we said it would be a big mistake for maduro and those supporting him to use support against citizens and we felt strongly that way then and feel that way now. Have you seen video footage of the protests being run over by tanks in the street in venezuela. What is the point of which you think force is enough force for you [ inaudible ]. Were watching very carefully what is happening. As i say, weve been trying to explain to everybody that will listen that we want people to go through what theyve agreed to do in terms of transition of power and dont doubt there are the motorcycle gangs organized by the cubans, i dont doubt there are some in the Venezuelan Military that dont view the lives of their fellow venezuelans highly. We dont know the command structure other than it reports to havana. I saw that film myself. It could be an isolated incident. We dont want to we want to stress as much as we can how closely were following it and how much we want this peaceful transfer of power to proceed. Ill just take one or two more. Why dont you give protected status im sorry. If you stand with venezuelans, why is the u. S. Giving them temporary protection status. We have that question under review. Our hope is to get a change in the regime in caracas as soon as possible so venezuelans can return and help rebuild their country. We dont want to send anybody back into what is now obviously an even more dangerous situation and that is the policy weve been pursuing. You have or the president spoken with juan guaido and given the influence of the russians here, has the president spoke with or plan to speak with putin or russian counter parts. I would rather not get into those conversations. I could tell you weve made it clear to russia in both public and private statements throughout this that we regard the actions that theyve taken in venezuela as something that we regard with the utmost seriousness. And particularly now when innocent venezuelan civilian lives are on the line, we expect the russians not to interfere in what is happening in vaepz. And if they do is the white house continuing an executive order to protect venezuela from predators . Well we have followed in the Financial Markets all of the consequences of the sanctions weve imposed. Were looking to follow through with more specifics on those right along and so there are a number of steps in preparation. I should also say that we have been planning for what we call the day after the day after maduro for quite sometime. And indeed were thinking of having a briefing on thursday or friday of this week, i think we may speed that up, but we wanted to point out that it is been very much on our mind that we can provide a lot of assistance to the guaido government when it assumes power to try and get the venezuelan economy out of the ditch that maduro has put it in. Those plans were move ago head on and trying to refine them here in the recent days because things might move quickly. Let me take one more question. The administration to labelling the Muslim Brotherhood that is not a question about venezuela. Ill take one venezuela question. Lets say this works, guaido takes power, everything is as the administration would like, will the administration turn its attention to other say russia, turkey, others that are that have been instructed. [ inaudible question ] i say in this em is fear weve called out the tyranny and venezuela, nicaragua and cuba. There is no doubt that cuba in particular has benefited from the authority arian government in venezuela by getting below world market oil prices and that will cease once guaido takes power. But our focus right now as you could well understand for the benefit of the people of venezuela and because of the interest of the United States is on this peaceful transition of power in venezuela. Thank you very much. John bolton speaking at the white house. The National Security adviser would not say whether or not the president President Trump has spoken with juan guaido or even with Vladimir Putin on this ongoing situation. Thousands and thousands of protesters in the capital of caracas. Lets get analysis of what we heard from bolton. With me Eric Farnsworth an expert on venezuela and the Vice President American Society and the council of the americas. Eric, can you just put this in perspective for americans tuning in to wrap their heads around what is going on down there and explain why the u. S. Is so invested in this outcome. Absolutely. The United States supported juan guaido who according to venezuela own constitution is the interim president. The de facto president , Nicolas Maduro, was elected in may of 2018 through a clearly fraudulent process that was not recognized by the international community. So when that term expired in january and guaido became the interim president , that is when the United States and over 50 other countries moved to recognize juan guaido. And so there has been an effort since january of sanctions, of increasing pressure to try to give incentives to the maduro regime to allow guaido to take power and for the maduro people to leave. That was something that was probably flagging in momentum a little bit and so guaido called for some street protests nationwide for tomorrow. But, in fact, there was a rumor going around which may have been true, maybe not, but certainly a rumor that maduro would try to arrest him tomorrow and so they moved up some of the activities to today. This is been building for some time. It is an effort that i think the United States and you just heard clearly supports. But this is a venezuelan effort to restore the venezuela own constitutional process. So it is a really complicated and dangerous time in venezuela. When you hear from ambassador bolton saying with regard to the u. S. Involvement, all options are on the table, what do you take that to me . I think that is a statement of fact. Theyve been clear about that from the beginning. The u. S. President has said that President Trump and many senior officials have as well but that doesnt mean any u. S. Action is imminent. I think the truth of the matter is there is no cast of belly between the venezuela and the United States. I soap you could make an argument about the responsibility to protect citizens who are being threatened in venezuela but that is an International Doctrine which hasnt been fully adopted by the international community. So the options here are somewhat limited along those lines. Having said that, it is clear that the United States is willing to take additional steps, focused on tightening sanctions in the Financial Sector as well as increasing humanitarian assistance. Look, over 10 of venezuela on pation is outside of the country as refugees. This is the worst humanitarian crisis the western hemisphere has seen in the modern area and it is a result of Nicolas Maduro and his governance. The worst humanitarian crisis the west has seen in modern times. Eric farnsworth, thank you for your expertise on that. We appreciate it. And well keep a close eye on caracas but i want to talk politics. News out of the Pete Buttigieg campaign, the democratic president ial candidate is releasing ten years of tax returns. Well take a look and talk about what the numbers might mean for the Buttigieg Campaign and an infrastructure package the president wants, democrats want it, hear what happened in the president s meeting that involved Speaker Pelosi and leader schumer and ticktacks and 2 billion project. Wow, before i refinanced i paid so much on my grad school loans. So insane speaking of insane, have i not taken a vacation in 4 years . I should probably do that, and get a new car. How about a road trip . Or tokyo . Well ive got to celebrate, because now im going to be debtfree even sooner. And this is why i sofi. 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In just minutes, a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highlyrated life Insurance Companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. Duncans wife cassie got a 750,000 policy for under 23 a month. Give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. Whistleblowers at a Pharmaceutical Company responsible for one of the largest drug price increases in u. S. History claimed this company mallin crat pharmaceuticals bribed doctors and staff to increase sales in new unsealed documents in what they say is laid bear to sell the drug at all costs. The drug is called hpacthar and used to treat rare infant seizures and now used for Rheumatoid Arthritis and multiple sclerosis and other ailments. In 2000 a vile cost 40. That same bottle now cost patients 39,000. That is an increase of 97,000 . And wayne drash has been digging on this story and broke the whistleblower claims in the article and wayne is a friend, so youre humble, i will tell everyone youve spent five years looking at this drug. Youve read more than 10,000 pages of documents about it and it is personal for you. And ill ask you about that. But, wayne, first tell me what is this Pharmaceutical Company saying about the allegations . Well so those of us that have dealt with the company in the past, they almost always deny any allegations of wrongdoing and so when they got back to me initially on this story when i asked about it, they did not actually deny the allegations which told me i was on to a pretty big story. What they do say is that they try to blame the previous owner of the drug as a company qualified quest corp and well see if that pans out. The Justice Department has intervened in this case when the Justice Department intervened in a whistleblower case, they almost always win. We can read all of the details in your piece online. But i want you to tell me why you have this passion and this love for children and this Incredible Knowledge of seizures and why this is personal for you . Well, you had to ask me that. I do. Youre correct. But i was basically tipped off to this because of the love of my son. And all of the other kids with seizure disorders. We speak up, my son and i, we speak up as much as we can for our rights, our families, the families with disabilities, we take out second mortgages to afford our medications. If we cant afford a second montgomery, we have to file bankruptcy. And that doesnt even have to that doesnt even get into things like trying to get our children better and so, yes, so i was called five years ago by a fellow dad, a fellow epilepsy warrior and told me and he was screaming on the phone, this company i would say in the infantile spasms community, there is a lot of outrage toward them. I made a pledge to that dad five years ago that i would do whatever i could to look into this company and ive spent five years like you say, ive looked at every recording ive looked at every document and so when i was tipped off that to these allegations, it was quite stunning and i really appreciate whoever it was that tipped me because it does reveal stunning allegations. I would you i would say it shouldnt just outrage people in the Epilepsy Community but for all americans. It has been such a controversial drug throughout the medical community for over a decade. People will be outraged. And when they read your piece, i just let me say, i love you wayne drash. And you are an incredible journalist and ive been working with you for years but youre an even more extraordinary and dad. Please go to cnn. Com to read this piece. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. All right. We continue on. You are watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. We begin this hour with breaking news out of venezuela. The months long feud between the countrys president Nicolas Maduro and the man who wants to replace him, juan guaido hitting a fever pitch and the u. S. And russia are watching very closely. Guaido calling on the military to join thousands of protesters