Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20170328

Calling for him to step aside. Lets go right to cnns evan perez. What do you have . Well, theres been a lot of twists and turns in this story in the last 24 hours and of course towards the end of the day in an interview with phil mattingly, a top democrat said one or suggested one reason why the chairman of that committee should step aside from this is the communications hes talking about, the intelligence reports he might be talking about may include his own name. You know he served on the trump transition as a member of as an advisor, Donald Trumps transition to the now president. And so devin nunes might be conflicted according to adam schiff in his handling of the investigation earlier in the day nunes began the day by essentially outing his source as someone he met with at the white house. That was an unusual Statement Today from him. And we still dont know know what intelligence reports hes talking about. One intelligence one republican the hill who talked to gloria tonight says one of the things he might be talking about is simply capturing foreign diplomats in their interactions with the trump team. And he says hes done nothing wrong despite those calls. And previously undisclosed meeting that took place between Jared Kushner and a russian banker. What do you know . Thats right. This is a bank called veb. Its a very closely tied to the kremlin and the russian government. And Jared Kushner met with the chief of that bank. His name is sergei gorcov. He met with him according to the white house this was a routine part of him serving as essentially the top conduit for meet shz with foreign officials during the trump transition. We have seen a statement provided by the New York Times and they say that they met with kushner in his capacity as a developer, as the president of his own Development Team in new york. So the question is what which story is it . We know the white house has had trouble explaining all these meetings with russian officials. Weve even tried to get to the bottom of this in the past week and theyve sort of been very reluctant to provide all this information. But this could pose a new legal problem for Jared Kushner, don. Simply because if hes using a transition meeting, an official government meeting for his own business purposes, that could raise some legal questions for him and for the white house. I want to bring in now bill crystal, the editor at large of the weakly standard. Betsy mccoy, the former republican and good evening to all of you. Whats your reaction . First of all, i think itser shameful the effort on the part of the Democratic Party to taint, to smear devin nunes, a person of great integrity who was done something very import ntd for this country. Not just for the Trump Administration or the republican party. He is unmasking the he is disclosing the efforts of the permanent establishment in washington to taint, to undermine the effectiveness of the Trump Administration. And im very glad he did it, and i wish he had done it before last monday. You have no problem with him going to the white house first . I dont. In that role, first and foremost is to notify your colleagues in your committee. Democrats and republicans. Because the evidence doesnt change no matter who you take it to. Absolutely. And at the very beginning he would brief the committee and have a press conference. Otherwise hes going to be bum barded by every reporter in town but the fact he went from a press conference to the white house and his colleagues, i understand their frustration. And hes actually apologized to them for having side stepped and gone instead to President Trump. Perception matters and it matters because were talking about something that is the pillar of our democracy. The integrity of our elections. If i were a trump supporter i would want an investigation that is above board in every aspect so they can finally get this monkey off their back. I think its time for republican voices to raise the question about his ability to conduct a full and fair investigation because americans watching this are going to wonder if republicans who are in charge are capable of doing this and if theyre not, theyre going to take it out in the ballot box, maybe not against nunes but certainly republicans in tight districts. President trump could do it tomorrow. He could appoint any two former attorney generals and say have access to all the documents. If theres no problem here writhey make it all public. I dont understand it. Why dont they tell us everything . Why do you find out one thing after another . The reason theyre not telling you is because they dont want you to know everything because there might be problems there otherwise this is pretty easy to handle. Is this really a tough challenge . If theres nothing to hide hire two people to look into it and no problem. Nothing was done that was wrong. Kushner is fine. He can meet with this guy under sanctions in his capacity as a businessman and representative of the white house, theres no problem with that in america. Were used to having people do both things at once, right . I mean thats why this meeting wasnt made public. This is a problem. Steve hall is on the retired chief of cia russian operations. He says this whole masking thing is a ruse. Totally. I do not believe its a rouse. Its ludicrous. What was leaked . Its an inappropriate method by which the establishment in washington attempts to discredit members of the Trump Administration. What has been leaked . Look otwhat they did to Michael Flynn . Nunes says this has nothing to do with russia. You are saying Intelligence Officers let me finish. Intelligence officers in the cia, the nsa, people who have worked 20, 30, 40 years for this country are doing the Obama Administrations bidding. And its true in the Justice Department. We saw early on that high ranking members of the Justice Department were disloyal to the new president and spoke against his policies. Spoke against his policies. What a horror instructing their underlings to defy the president. This is such a side show from the real issue. How did this begin . Did russia interfere with our elections . That is a concern everyone youre saying the phrase you dont believe russia interfered with our elections . Yes, because its an incorrect phrase. Did russia tamper with our ballot boxes, with our Voting Machines . So interfering with Public Opinion is fine. Stealing emails and releasing them strategically is fine for a foreign power. Thats not the same as tampering with an election. How is that not the same . Because interfering with Public Opinion is very different than tampering with how the votes are counted. Or how the votes are lets make this zngz. If they had interfered or tampered with the voting booths, we would have a measurable metric of what they have done. What the result and the influence they did wield and with the cyber hacking, we cannot measure. Foreign governments did not attempt to influence Public Opinion. Does that mean we should allow it . Does that mean we should allow our democracy to be threatened . Im objecting to the phrase influencing Public Opinion. It has nothing to do with tampering with the election. How does that have nothing to do with tampering with the election . Donald trump said release these emails. And it undermined a credibility of a president ial candidate. Why did he quote from these emails . I think he quite correctly understood that this is just craziness to attribute the outcome of an election to the releasing of a bunch of emails. Thats ridiculous. Do you think it was appropriate to site those emails, it was a great thing they released them . Its irrelevant to the outcome of the election. Donald trump thought it was very helpful. When you say tampering with an election or that is the bottom line. Theres an illegitimate outcome. The truth is we are never going to know that the influence wielded by russia had on the election. Well never know if donald trump won or would have lost. I frankly accept that. What i dont accept is that we, as americans are not going to vigorously investigate to the last dam thing what happened so that we dont allow it to happen again. Let me get this in. I dont even have to say remember the old phrase dont touch that dial. I dont think you will because were coming right back. Im only in my 60s. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i got a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan. [ male announcer ] if youre eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. Call now and find out about an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, it could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call now to request your free decision guide. Ive been with my doctor for 12 years. Now i know ill be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. See why millions of people have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans endorsed by aarp. Dont wait. Call now. How bad was the Health Care Loss for the white house . Was it like hitting a pot hole or driving off a cliff . Joining me now New York Times Robert Draper whose new article is called trump versus congress. The Washington Post contributor join me as well. Thank you both so much for joining us. Robert, you first. You wrote an indepth article on where the president and his advisors find themselves after the epic defeat of the Health Care Bill on friday. Is health care dead and whats the impact on the rest of his agenda you think . Its a dead for the moment. Thats for sure, don. The influence of factors. A House Republican conference that has no experience in getting to yes. Republicans as a whole not really ever forming a consensus on what they wanted an alternative to obamacare to be and obamacare changed the paradigm by adding 10s of millions of people to the rolls and the prospect of them going off the rolls turned up the tension and left a lot of people at sorts as to precisely whats going to happen. I think they have to abandoned it for the moment. The president has said over and over he wants a win. He didnt get it here. He thinks tax reform will be that win for him and theres a report theyll do tax reform and infrastructure at the same time. I think they need to master the art of the deal with one thing at a time. And if he goes back to it and loses again, that would not look pretty. He says hell work with democrats on healthcare. Is that likely . I think that donald trump has created an atmosphere in washington of hunger games. Someone is going to have to die every week and he may ultimately be the one who shoots himself in the foot and head. If you look at the people around him or people who have stuck by him, everyone steams to be getting hurt. It just keeps rubbing off. People who try to help him and theres paul ryan who is ended up practically losing his reputation because of his involvement with health care and Reince Priebus is probably on his way out if you read the inside white house gossip. Gary cohen is probably on his way out. Bannon is strong. Jared kushner may be one of the people who has to die if things do not go well in the Intelligence Committee briefing. Of course. You mean all this metaphorically, sally . You know what im talking about, the hunger games. Okay. Just want to put it in the right context. People get alarmed when you say shooting and things. But what im talking is all a metaphor. Somebody has to go. Walk the plank is what im talking about. Thats a better analogy. Thank you. You had flynn and who might be about to rat on trump, who knows. And youve got all these people on both Intelligence Committees in fighting with each other. And i just dont see the atmosphere changing. I think its so toxic and poisonous and people are scrambling away. I just dont see the cooperation coming in any of the other projects that they try to get involved min. Heres what robert gets into in this article. You go into great detail about Stephen Bannon and his pursuit of economic nationalism. Is there any doubt in your mind that bannon is the intellectual driver behind the president s agenda . Theres no doubt and hes achieved a mind meld with the president that goes beyond. Theyre peers. Bannon is successfully financial just as the president is. He works late in the life. He basically has no social life, much like the president himself as far as i know golfing and yelling at you guys on the tv has no known hobbies. I would inject a note of caution to what sally has just said. Sheez i think weve heard this before the 2016 president ial campaign and bodies were thrown over board, pick your metaphor. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Careful. But trump prevailed. I dont think hes going to bend washington to his will, but im not sure washington is going to bend trump to washingtons will. Do you think democrats would work with the president and vice versa . It depends. On a bill like infrastructure, theyre going to be tempted to because there may be goodies. On healthcare . On healthcare, no. Because they say repeal is off the table. Thats right. And unless President Trump says we will go into obamacare and try to fix it as it is, the notion thatd democrats were going to come on board and participate in the repealing of the one great piece of legislation, monumental that the democrats participated in, in the last few years was never a realistic possibility and President Trump is now tweeting to the effect and saying out loud this is all the Democratic Partys fault doesnt really pass the smell test. I do agree with robert that i dont think congress is going to or washington is going to bend trump to its will. Thats never going to happen. But and just dont see i think that trying to sort of create some sort of a youre going to have to have an incredible blender to put these two together. The Trump White House and the washington quote establishment and youre not going to come out with a smoothie. And i dont see the democrats in any mood to do anything to help trump on any level. And it ends up being determining how these people are seen back in their home districts. And if they get any whiff lat that theyre hurting, theyre not going to play. And by the way, don, and sally, i just mentioned that one body we have not spoken about is not just the Democratic Party but the senate. Obamacare repeal and replace failed in the one body that we thought would be the most hospitable to President Trump, the House Republicans. He has yet to deal with democrats and the senate. When he tries to get tax reform and the border adjustment tax through the senate, hes going to find a wall waiting for him. Okay, thank you all. I appreciate it. Im going to get back to my panel now. Please no metaphors. I love those guys but how am i going to clean this one up . So lets talk about i think we talked about this Russian Investigation a lot. Can we talk about unless you had Something Else to add, i want to talk about the president s tweeting and the first thing out of judge geanines mouth is paul ryan must resign. Do you think thats a coincidence . It doesnt take judge janene to interpret what was a debacle for the republican party. You can try to blame it on them all you want but the bottom line is it was republicans who defeated the repeal and its the question is, is it precedent set ing. You had right wing republicans and the Freedom Caucus who both had so many issues with this piece of legislation that together they coalesced to bring it down. Steve bannon went into Freedom Caucus meeting and told them youve got to vote for this. And someone said nobodys told me what to do since i was 18 and i didnt listen to them either. I think theyve learned, some of the opens thatb they can buck the president , buck leadership and win, pay no consequences. Theyre answering to their constituents back home. And when you have a bill with 1 6 of the economy drafted really not with input from the two main facets of the republican party. Those in the tuesday meeting as well as the house Freedom Caucus and it is brought forth and says were going to pass this thing in 18 days without more input and that was frustrating to them. And the Freedom Caucus members were loyal to their people. They were not going to be swayed by bannon or any of the top officials. It demonstrated more than anything they were going to keep their promises to the people in their district. Do you think im going to ask you this can they really work with democrats on a bill for health care . Whats interesting to me is it seems like the Affordable Care act was the best option out of all of the options on the table and its not really on the table because its still here. And were back with my panel. Will he work with the democrats on health care . He could do small bite size thing. He has to give up a comprehensive replacement of the tax code. Repeal and replace of obamacare. He can work with moderates to get prescription drugs down. He could say i want money for the defense. He hasnt asked my advice. But if he did, he could do a few things. Americans want the penalty for not having the insurance repealed and they want the employer mandate repealed so employers can hire more people full time. Does it have to be repealed or can they make adjustments . Those two elements must be repealed and the democrats have made it very clear that theyre not i think on the repeal of the entire Affordable Care act. Thats different. Theyre going to have to act soon because in literally five weeks insurers are required to announce whether theyre participating in obamacare for the coming year and what their premiums are going to be and most insurers are running for the hills. Dont you think theyre hurting people at home by saying by the white house being so down on obamacare, dont you think its actually hurting people . They lost enough. In an ideal world youd think we could put partisan aside and fix what both sides need fixing and we dont and if democrats are hearing donald trump say im going to let obamacare collapse on its own, theyre saying you have a 36 approval rating, im going to buy a bag of popcorn and watch you collapse because after this failed attempt, the big problem republicans have is that they now own this ugly baby. Yeah, its a pottery barn rule. You break it, you own it. This exchange between sean hannity, ted copal also took place. We have to give some credit to the American People that theyre somewhat intelligent and know the difference between an opinion show and a news show. Youre cynical. I am cynical. You think im bad for america . Yeah. You do . In the long hall i think you and all these shows thats sad. Its because youre very good at what you do and because you have attracted a significantly more let me finish the sentence. Im listening. With all due respect. You have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts. Im not saying just about sean but there are people who think ideology is more important than fact. And every single night on this program you try to point out what is true and people do not believe the truth, they believe ideology but youve been talking to sean and what does sean say . He said it was a good substantive interview. It was about 45 minutes, and he went away feeling good about it. But seeing the one minute that koppel used, hes trying to point out that opinion hosts and sean will openly admit hes a talk show host, use their opinions to sway people and its not based on fact. Which is not true. They use their opinions and sean says i respect the intelligence of the American People to make up their mind. They know im a host and not a journalist, whereas koppel says hes a journalist and hes supposed to be the journalist and he is the one using his opinions. I give sean some credit for bringing on ted koppel, a newsman and sean could have expected would be critical. It was on ted koppels show. Well, i give him credit for having gone on that show. Because this whole issue of fake news to real news from ted koppel, it was going to come up. I will tell you something. I really hate this cackling hen between the anchors of the different networks. Its bad enough we have to deal with the president of the United States being a cackling hen but joe scar borough, versus hannity, versus cuomo. It just drives me crazy. I will never exactly. Always take the high road. And were all in the same business. I dont say sean hannity has changed anybodys mind. He doesnt make arguments. Its all about reinforcing peoples true believes. So i dont think hes doing any damage. I dont think hes doing any good. But this is like making a argument we shouldnt have marine dowd. The same people who read the editorial page read opinions at night. You have 24 hours. When people hes saying whats bad, dont believe facts. When people believe ideology over facts. Hes talking about people. You want to live in political isolation, fine. If you only want to read things that affirm your believes and watch things that affirm your believes, you can. We dont understand everybody else. Thats why i like being on with you. I watch and Read Everything and i think people should do that as an exercise all the time. If youre conservative, you should watch something you believe to be liberal. Actually they i just im liberal, im conservative, im crazy. Im just like my mother. No, contrauversy. Wrong song. Well be right back. Rough ances through dna i found out that i was only 16 italian. He was 34 eastern european. So i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors we thought was italian was eastern european. This is my ancestor who i didnt know about. He looks a little bit like me, yes. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com tonight the Trump Administration is cracking down, on sanctuary cities and ranking up deportations even undocumented immigrants who have lived in the u. S. For decades is at risk and one of those people, his wife voted for President Trump because she liked the idea of keeping criminals out of the country, never imagining that her husband could be a target. So joining me now is a spokesman for the family. Adam, thank you for joining us. How is the family doing . You know, theyre doing as best they can. Theyre obviously distraught right now. They have a father that is going to be removed from this country any day. Give us a background on this story. Your client has been living in the u. S. Illegally while checking in with immigration officials every year for five years to show he was say staying out of trouble. So why is he being detained now . Quite honestly its the administration. In early february when the administration said that they were going to make individuals with a prior order of removal arb final order of removal a priority as well thats when roberto, like he had been doing the past five years, walked in for his yearly check in and was immediately detained. It wasnt that they went to find him, he voluntarily walked in to their offices. Its per plexing to some people because his wife actually voted for President Trump because she believed his Campaign Promise that hed only removed bad hombres and when we interviewed his wife, she had this to say. I think our president is going to keep all the good people here. Hes not going to tear up families. I dont think he wants to do that. He just wants to keep us safe. Then a couple of days ago she told her local newspaper i wish i didnt vote at all. I did it for the economy. We needed a change. Does she regret voting for President Trump . Absolutely. She only got bits and pieces from what President Trump actually was saying during the candidacy. I think we can all agree this run for president was on the news constantly and only heard a little bit about that and it is saying theyre only going to remove dangerous people. So if she had heard absolutely everything and was listening to your show, she may have voted differently. But she listened to him at his word on a couple of instances and unfortunately his word just he doesnt follow it. Which is part of our last conversation about being informed and out of the bubble. You told our producers that helen feels ashamed. Not that she wishes she hadnt voted for him. Shes ashamed of her vote and her children had been asking her why she did it. What can you tell us about that . What is she saying to them . You know, i think these rr saying she wasnt full y informed that time. She didnt necessarily believe that President Trump was going to start targeting every single illegal immigrant, including the ones that were law abiding, documented, showing up every single year into i. C. E. Immigration offices. She didnt believe that this president was going to start targeting absolutely everyone, especially ones that were contributing to her community. In her mind her husband wasnt really illegal. He was a productive member of the society. If he had been here for so long, why wasnt he able to become legal . So in the year 2000, he had been here roughly two years at that time. Him and helen were trying to take a vacation to niagara falls. They sort of missed their exit started going towards canada. At that time they started to pull a uturn and ins thought that was suspicious, detained him and he was detained for two weeks. Its unclear but it sounds like he didnt have adequate Legal Counsel and he entered into a voluntary deportation order. That voluntary deportation order turned into a final order removal when he didnt leave the country. And he didnt leave the country for very good reasons. He had a then fiance that was pregnant with his first child and she was having a little bit of complications with the pregnancy. He did what any good father would have done and stayed with his wife. Thank you, adam. I appreciate it. Of course. Well be right back. If you have medicare parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what . You could apply for a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan whenever you want. No enrollment window. No waiting to apply. That means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Medicare doesnt cover everything. And like all standardized Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. So dont wait. Call now to request your free decision guide. It could help you find the aarp Medicare Supplement plan that works for you. These types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. Rates are competitive, and theyre the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Remember these plans let you apply all year round. So call today. Because nows the perfect time to learn more. Go long. When President Trump spoke of the people he called bad hombres, he probably didnt mean people like roberto bernstein. I want to bring in everybody in the studio is cracking up because i said bad andres. I didnt even realize i said it until my floor director told me. So you guys heard it. You were cracking up im sure i was like, no, don, no. Hombres. So, peter we just heard from adam, the attorney for that family. Her family doesnt understand why he she voted for him. Im sure the husband doesnt understand why now. What do you think of their case . The government has to make decisions about how they prosecute the law. There are limited resources so when you decide youre going to spend taxpayer money to deport this guy, by all accounts a really upstanding person, beloved by their community, been in the United States a very long time and only made this country better at the same time time youre not going to enforce environmental laws. These are decisions the Trump Administration is making based on its priorities. But look i was interning at an immigration nonprofit when obama was president. I was in a city where people like roberto said to me i was caught up in obama sweep of my house and im being deported. I heard these stories firsthand. They happen in every administration. Im sympathetic to them. There are a lot of good immigrants in this country. Roberto is one of them. We also have to be sympathetic to people on the other side of the story like kate. There are sympathetic stories on both sides, and we have to fine a pallose of compromise who takes into the account the innocent person who wants to work here and a person who loses their life to the hands of an immigrant. I think we need a humane immigration policy. We do not currently have that. The Obama Administration has deported a lot of people, actually more people than any other president in u. S. History. But were talk about the Trump Administration here, and donald trump and his administration and seemingly targeted anybody that is an immigrant that has not come here, quoteunquote, legally. And to be frank if yall had to pass a test for citizenship right now, we probably wouldnt pass either. We need a humane immigration policy that folks coming here paying taxes, these are mothers, fathers, daughters, and uncles, that is currently not what we have. Its problematic just how big this issue is. There are some people out there that have to be targeted with those enforcement measures. But this is mbd whos emblem attic of the kind of person whooept in this country. Some who helps grow our economy. And that is the challenge i think that the Trump Administration is going to face. Theyre only 60 plus days in, but theyre going to face this for the next four, possibly eight years. And the decisions that they make on a daily basis related to enforcement are much more complex than just trying to draw contrast on a campaign trail. Wow, i think theres a lot of agreement. This panel usually disagrees. Its fair. I do think someone who owns a business whos a productive member of society,thies are the types of immigrants you want. Absolutely. And there seems to be that realization, trumps primary candidate i just wonder if theyre going to think twice now. Theres a larger question. If you look at most of the people crossing the southern border into the United States now, a very large number of them are refugees fleeing the violence in south america. This is an astonishing kind of moral failure by the president. I want to move on now because theres so much to discuss. This is President Trump talking about the former president obama golfing. Obama, it was reported today played 250 rounds of golf. He played more golf last year than tiger woods. This guy plays more golf than people on the pga tour. Golf, golf, golf, more, more. Learning how to hit, learning how to hit the drive, oh, i want more. I like golf, but i dont know have time. I wouldnt leave the white house very much because like Little Things where these little trips, they cost you a fortune. If i were in the white house, i dont think id ever see i just want to stay in the white house and make great deals. Whos going to leave . Okay, that was President Trump when he was campaigning talking about president obama playing golf. That was in 2011 and 2016. President trump has tweeted 26 times about president obama playing golf too much. Trump paid for golf. We paid for obamas travel so, then we pay for his golf. I dont have to read them. However, since taking office the president has visited his golf course 13 times. How is this not completely hypocritical . Every party usesivationing and golfing as a hit against the other party. You dont think its hypocritical . A little. You dont have an issue with him golfing . I do think theres a difference with president bush who took time versus president obama who you said things that benefit obama, work outside the golf course. And then you said president is annoyed. He just left the golf course is counting down the minutes until he can go back, president ialdebate. You tweeted about it. And ill tell you why. You had president obama who after the beheading of daniel pearl spoke to how upset he was about that and then rushed off to a golf game. I think when were in a state of war, when were in a state of mourning, you should take time off of golf. Hold on. Theres somebody you can find anywhere in america right now, guess what, donald trump has still been at the golf course. I think we should all agree this is contradictory. When it happens to him, all of a sudden it doesnt apply to him. Its not just donald trump. The answer to the question is it being hypocritical, the answer is absolutely yes. I crit cans president obama on the economy, healthcare, National Foreign policy. I never even once criticized him for playing golf. Why . I love to play golf. I know its relaxing, something you do with friends, something you can do with people you work with. And we knew eventually this was going to happen. Were going to have another president who likes to play golf, and it does look hypocritical. President trump would be well served to say i was wrong, and im going to play golf. Sean spicer said in 2012 about president obama wish i could go on the golf course, but have to work. Wish i could be president. I mean if you think about the kind of things President Trump has said, were really kind of scratching the surface here. Were done. I dont play golf. You probably shouldnt do it after an american citizen is beheaded like president obama did. Oh, my, god. Snap. Well be back. Blemat will the chair of the intel House Committee recuse himself. Revelation of a private meeting before the president. A top trump aide and russian official, this time it is trumps soninlaw. Questions about why he met with a banker appointed by vladimir putin. And we have details on the president s next executive order