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President Obama Talks Immigration in Texas; Governor Perry Reacts to Immigration Meeting; Dramatic Testimony from Donald Sterling

Aired July 10, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome once again to NEW DAY, everyone. It's Thursday, July 10th, 8:00 in the East.

John Berman is here. Chris is off.

We begin with the urgent crisis unfolding on the U.S./Mexico border with the future of tens of thousands of kids in the balance. President Obama's urging Congress to take swift action on his $3.7 billion request, also telling critics who are pressing him to visit the border that, quote, "This isn't theater."

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will push the president's plan during a Senate hearing today. All of this following President Obama's meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Senior white house correspondent Jim Acosta is following it all for us.

So, Jim, where do we go from here?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Kate, that's right, with this meeting with Republican Governor Rick Perry behind him, President Obama will spend one more day down in Texas, but without a trip down to the border.

This as the president will be heading back to Washington later today with his border plan very much up in the air.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): For President Obama and Texas Governor Rick Perry, the showdown was more of a sit-down, chatting in private on Marine One, and at different ends of a roundtable discussion in Dallas at the crisis on the border.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just had a good meeting with Governor Perry.

ACOSTA: The president later told reporters his beef is not with Perry. It's with Congress, over his nearly $4 billion request to deal with the emergency.

OBAMA: Are folks more interested in politics or are they more interested in solving the problem? If they're interested in solving the problem, then this can be solved.

ACOSTA: Perry was less charitable, releasing a statement calling for the National Guard and more drones on the border, adding, the crisis "has been created by bad public policy, in particular the failure to secure the border."

Back in Washington, critics from both parties slammed the president's decision to attend fundraisers in Texas.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: He's visiting Democratic fat-cats to collect checks --

ACOSTA: Instead of traveling to the border.

REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ (D), ILLINOIS: It does bother me. I wish the president of the United States were going down and visiting the children and visiting the site.

ACOSTA: The president wasn't budging.

OBAMA: This isn't theater. This is a problem. I'm not interested in photo ops. I'm interested in solving a problem.

ACOSTA: But White House officials are worried critics just might kill the border bill.

SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: The president just asked for $3.7 billion. For less than $20 million, we can fly them all back first class.

So, think about how stupid our policy is.

ACOSTA: As the president told Perry, he won't use an executive action this time around.

OBAMA: And I had to remind him, I'm getting sued right now by Mr. Boehner apparently for going ahead and acting instead of going through Congress.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: The White House is also seeking new legal authorities for the administration to speed up deportations for the children coming in from Central America. A bipartisan bill designed to do that will be introduced later on today.

And as you mentioned, Kate and John, there are various senior administration officials testifying on the crisis on Capitol Hill later today. I've been told by a White House official they are expected to warn Congress that unless they get that emergency funding for the border, they could run out of space for all of those children who are coming in from south of the border -- John, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Jim, you point out they're introducing legislation but especially these days, that is a far way from getting the president to sign something.

ACOSTA: Doesn't mean it will pass.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right.

ACOSTA: That's right.

BOLDUAN: Jim Acosta at the White House, thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: You bet.

BOLDUAN: I had a chance to speak with Governor Rick Perry after he met with the president. Here's a bit of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: You meet with the president after quite a bit of fan fare. He leaves the meeting saying that some of what you said he thinks makes quite a bit of sense. How would you describe the meeting? Are you guys on the same page?

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I certainly think what I said made a lot of sense. So -- and I don't know whether we're on the same page or not. The president said philosophically agreed with the things that I talked about, because I said we need to secure the border. You need to put these National Guard troops on there. We need to change these policies that are enticing people to come to the United States and these policies that I'm talking about are where that if you're from one of the Central American countries rather than from Mexico, you're treated differently.

These incentives, if you will, that if you come into the United States, you can be safe.

Stop those policies and secure the border. At that particular point in time, it staunches substantially the flow of individuals. Then, the United States Border Patrol can get back to what they're supposed to do, which is being on guard for those either drug dealers or those with terrorist ties back that are penetrating or attempting to penetrate our border.

BOLDUAN: You have requested that he still come down to the border. You're saying it's important to see. He says that he doesn't want to be part of theater, that he's not interested in photo-ops.

PERRY: That's not theater.

BOLDUAN: So, he's basically saying that's what that would be.

PERRY: It's not theater. The American people expect to see their president when there is a disaster. He showed up at Sandy. Why can't he show up on the border of Texas?

BOLDUAN: Do you really honestly believe, as you said in the interview last month, that the administration might be in on this somehow? I mean, you're suggesting there's some kind of conspiracy here.

PERRY: No, what I'm suggesting is that this administration and their words and their actions or the lack thereof are part of the problem. I think you're putting the words of conspiracy in my mouth, which I did not say.

BOLDUAN: No, you actually did say the word "I hate to be conspiratorial but --"

PERRY: And I hate to be conspiratorial. I hate to be conspiratorial. I did not say I was.

BOLDUAN: "How can you move that many people from central America across Mexico, and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort?"

PERRY: I don't know, I don't know.

BOLDUAN: I'm just asking, Governor, because words do matter. You know that.

PERRY: I don't know, and there is -- I totally understand, but the real issue here rather than getting into semantics battle is whether or not this president is going to lead this country.

BOLDUAN: Can you work hand in hand with a president that you criticized so harshly on an issue that is so important to you? Can you get past the politics?

PERRY: I did today. So I suspect we will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Let's talk more about this. Let's bring Ruben Navarrette, CNN contributor and a columnist for "The Daily Beast."

Ruben, thanks for coming back. A lot to talk about, a lot has happened since yesterday morning.

So, you have Rick Perry --

RUBEN NAVARRETTE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That's right.

BOLDUAN: -- one of the harshest critics of President Obama, especially on his handling of the issue and other Republicans critical as well. Following the president coming out to speak yesterday, John Cornyn, a key senator from Texas, he said this, Ruben, "Texans do not need a lecture from a man who refuses to even see the crisis firsthand. President Obama can fundraise and issue statements. Texans will work to solve the problem."

It makes me wonder -- what happens next, Ruben?

NAVARRETTE: Right, I think that's a fair statement by Senator Cornyn and it's -- although at the end of the day, Texas is going to need the United States government and the additional funding to be able to solve the problem. So, again, you sort of have mixed messages coming out of the Lone Star State.

But I think what happened yesterday in Dallas was not really a showdown or even a sit-down as Jim Acosta said, but it was a show, not a showdown but a show. And I find it interesting that the president said he didn't want to be part of theater by going down to the border, but in fact he held this major performance up in Dallas, where he and Rick Perry met for 15 minutes at Love Field, the airport in Dallas, 15 minutes, 500 miles from the border.

This was really a fraud perpetuated by both men on those of us who would like to see more leadership on this issue. You have this major crisis as we've been reporting for several weeks now down on the border and it really requires that our elected officials bring their A-game, people on both parties bring their A-game. This wasn't it.

BOLDUAN: I'm getting the sense one thing that's become clear after yesterday and my conversation with the governor and hearing from other Republicans that no one wants to jump first and take a step here.

I want to get your take on one thing that Governor Perry said to me in terms what have his prescription is, where things need to go. He says that the president should move first, that first you need to put national guardsmen at the border, especially the Texas border -- for obviously his state. And then, once you secure the border, you stop the surge, and then you can deal with the humanitarian crisis of the kids here.

Is that a viable prescription?

NAVARRETTE: Right. Yes, it is. There should be National Guard troops on the border and not just along the Texas border, but you have four border states, it would be good to put some amount of National Guard troops on those borders as well in Arizona, New Mexico, and California and here's why. People always have the image and I fall prey to this as well that when we say National Guard troops on the border you're going to have soldiers with guns on the border fending off a, quote, "invasion." This isn't an invasion and not what would happen.

George Bush twice before used the National Guard and what they did, they went down, virtually unarmed as backup for the border patrol. So, they fix vehicles, handle clerical work and let the border patrol go into the field and do their job. It makes perfect sense, he ought do it.

BOLDUAN: Ruben, I want to get your take on -- here's what -- listen to what President Obama said talking about the partisan politics in Washington, especially when it comes to this issue. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: If I sponsored a bill declaring apple pie American, it might fall victim to partisan politics. I get that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He says he gets that. We all know that politics in Washington are more partisan, more divided than they ever have been before. But if an issue like this, that everyone calls urgent, everyone says it needs immediate action and everyone calls a humanitarian crisis, that involves tens of thousands of kids, if that can't break through, what's going to?

NAVARRETTE: Yes, it's a very -- it's an important question and a good question. We would hope that it would break through and that for the good of the country, for the good of these kids, for the good of the border states, they can put aside their partisan difference.

But the president is being hypocritical here because if you listened carefully to his comments yesterday afternoon from Dallas, he took jabs at the republicans all through the remarks. If Republicans had only passed the immigration bill, we'd have twice as many border patrol agents. If they could stop playing politics, we'd have a deal by now.

And so, the president typically wants to have it both ways. He wants to pretend he's nonpartisan and then take the partisan swipes at the Republicans.

On the other hand, the Republicans have a dilemma as well, they have a war about to brew, about to start and break out between the border hawks and the spending hawks, and the budget hawks versus the budget hawks. The budget hawks don't want to spend $3.7 billion but the border hawks realize it's necessary.

So, we'll be privy to this. We'll see the GOP sort of devour itself over this issue. Ultimately, I think the border hawks will win. The president will get his funding.

BOLDUAN: And we'll see. The question is, how long will it take? You're also up against a congressional calendar. They're about to be leaving for the August recess, gets you one step closer to midterm elections and as we well know unfortunately, that means little happens.

Ruben Navarrette, great to see you, Ruben. Thank you.

NAVARRETTE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Michaela?

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's look at your headlines at 11 minutes past the hour.

Starting with breaking news: the House side of the U.S. Capitol building has been shut down following a construction incident -- apparently a piece of ceiling fell down overnight, exposing a chemical substance in the work area. There are reports some workers were removing asbestos. CNN has not been able to confirm that. This situation is not considered suspicious. Hazmat crews though are on the scene.

In the Middle East, Israeli officials have suspended a police officer they say was involved in the brutal beating of an American teen in Jerusalem last week captured on tape there. This is a new wave of fire being launched right now near the Gaza Strip. President Obama is defending Israeli airstrikes but is cautioning against a ground attack into Gaza.

Today, Wolf Blitzer will anchor "THE SITUATION ROOM" from Israel. You can tune in starting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

You might recall the U.S. Marine imprisoned for driving to Mexico with three firearms -- well, he is going to stay behind bars for now. Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi was optimistic he'd be freed after Wednesday's hearing. Not so, though. His next court date happens in a few weeks' time. Tahmooressi's defense said there were irregularities with search records of his truck. For his part, he maintains he took a wrong turn on the California side of the border into Tijuana back in March.

Those are your headlines.

Next up on NEW DAY, Donald Sterling getting back on the witness stand, lashing out against the NBA and calling his wife a pig. The latest on the dramatic day in court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New drama this morning in the Sterling family saga. Another day of heated testimony from Donald Sterling in a trial to determine if his wife can sell the Los Angeles Clippers. Mr. Sterling promised to keep fighting the NBA, to keep his team. But he saved the harshest outburst for his wife, Shelly.

Sara Sidner has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Day three in court filled with fiery testimony. Both Donald Sterling and his estranged wife Shelly took the stand. It began with a tender moment. Shelly Sterling approached her husband and they chatted and held hands.

But after her testimony, Donald lashed out as she approached him on her way back to her seat, "Get away from me, you pig," he said, and then muttered, "Shelly, how could you lie?"

The judge admonished him, saying his comments were disturbing.

ADAM STREISAND, ATTORNEY: It was a shameful display by a seriously demented tyrant.

BOBBY SAMINI, STERLING ATTORNEY: I know that Donald felt, you know, very upset by watching her testimony. I think he felt betrayed by it.

SIDNER: Betrayed because he thought his wife Shelly deceived him about why she had hired doctors to examine him. "I trusted her. I believed her. I never thought that a woman would not stand by her husband," Donald testified.

Shelly Sterling testified, "He's getting more forgetful. He gets mad for no particular reason. He's just not the same person that he used to be," she said.

Donald didn't agree, saying he is still the man in charge, and his wife could never run all his corporations, including the trust that owns the Clippers. "To say someone else can take over is ludicrous," he testified.

Sterling also blasted the NBA. He called it a joke, the worst corporation in America, and then made this promise. "I will never, ever, ever sell this team, and until I die, I will be suing the NBA," he said.

SAMINI: He's not afraid of the NBA. He will make it his, you know, crusade to set the record straight with the NBA.

SIDNER (on camera): Speaking of the NBA, the judge says he does not think the case will be over by the deadline set by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who wants to buy the team, but Ballmer's attorneys told us they are willing to go into overtime to get this deal done.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Sara, thank you very much.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, a bipartisan effort to reform the criminal justice system. Two senators reach across the aisle to help non- violent offenders rebuild their lives. We're talking bipartisan effort here. We're going to talk to Senator Rand Paul about this live.

BERMAN: And 50 years ago, Beatlemania changed this country forever. We take a look at the legacy of the British invasion live here with the sister of George Harrison.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles!

(APPLAUSE AND CHEERS)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Those five words introduced America to the Beatles. Tonight, CNN's original series "The '60s" looks back at how the Fab Four kicked off an era known as the British invasion that forever changed American culture and music.

Joining us now, Louise Harrison, imagine this, she's the older brother (sic) of Beatle George Harrison, author of the book that's so brilliantly titled, Louise, "My Kid Brother's Band AKA The Beatles." Imagine having a Beatle for a little brother.

Such a delight to have you. Fans have been wanting you to publish this book for so long. You say you wrote the book because you wanted to tell the truth about the Beatles. What do you mean?

LOUISE HARRISON, GEORGE HARRISON'S SISTER: Which was much less interesting than all of the weird stories that have been out there them forever, you know?

BOLDUAN: What are the myths? What are the myths?

HARRISON: Well, the first one was George being the quiet Beatle.

BOLDUAN: That was well-known nickname.

BERMAN: Why was he known as the quiet Beatle?

HARRISON: Because if you look at the pictures they gave you, the day before "The Ed Sullivan Show" pictures of George and I, and you can see on his face how ill he was. He had strep throat, his temperature was 104 degrees. When the doctor from the Plaza Hotel said, "We need to put this young man in hospital, he's very, very ill", and the manager Brian Epstein just about a heart attack, they almost needed to take him to hospital.

Anyway, I was there with them and they said, OK, move her into the bedroom, give her the medications to take care of him and we'll have him on his feet by Sunday night.

PEREIRA: He was quiet because he wasn't feeling well, he was so sick.

HARRISON: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: That's fascinating.

HARRISON: And the doctor said to him, "Try to save your voice. Don't say anything."

BERMAN: You saved the Beatles. I mean, basically, the appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

HARRISON: I wouldn't put it --

BOLDUAN: We'll put it that way.

BERMAN: Give credit where credit is due. You nursed him back to help, they broke through really, just exploded on the American scene with the show. and changed the course of the world forever. Congratulations.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRISON: But it was a long haul, though, getting that to happen, because back in '63, I had moved into this country in March, and my mom started sending me all of the singles that were coming out, and where the title of my book comes from, I was going to the radio stations and saying, "This is my kid brother's band and they're number one in England. Maybe you should be playing them here."

BOLDUAN: What'd they say to you?

HARRISON: Well, for the most part, they looked at me like, who let you out of the kitchen, young lady? That was back in those days, you know?

PEREIRA: Absolutely. It seems almost crazy to think of this, but was there a time where you wondered maybe it won't happen for them, maybe they won't get that big break they need?

HARRISON: We weren't even thinking in terms of a big break. We were in terms of getting their records played, you know?

PEREIRA: Look at that now.

HARRISON: Yes.

PEREIRA: Did you ever imagine it would be what it is, and what it was?

HARRISON: Not really. You know, because even years later I was with George and we were watching the films of them come down the steps from the plane --

BOLDUAN: Oh, yes.

BERMAN: Such iconic images.

HARRISON: Yes. And he said to me, "You know, if we had any idea how important that trip was going to be, we probably would have been scared stiff," he said, "but as it was we were jolly little cheeky boys coming along and having fun."

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: At "The Ed Sullivan Show" when you were there and heard the screams, you heard -- did you gather that that was the moment, that was a moment? It still was --

HARRISON: Yes. You know, it took a long time for this all to sink in. And, you know, one of the cute things about it, too, was Ed Sullivan is always known to be kind of stiff. He was having a blast with the Beatles, because they included him as though he was one of the gang.

PEREIRA: Great.

BERMAN: Let's talk about the scene.

HARRISON: Yes.

BERMAN: Was it always fun? You went on tour with them for years really.

HARRISON: It was not actually on tour. What happened was I was accidentally made into a Beatle reporter because --

BERMAN: I'm sure completely objective.

HARRISON: Absolutely. Well, the completely objective one, because I corrected something that had happened, the British ambassador's house the day before -- well, evening before we did the Colosseum show, I corrected that missed story and the next thing was the producer of that radio station said, will you come done and do Beatle reports for us each day because there's so much crazy stuff going about them. You'd be in a position to know the truth.

BOLDUAN: You really kept a low profile for a very, very long time. Why is that?

PEREIRA: Yes, why would you?

HARRISON: Well, my brother, especially after John was killed, my brother said to me, "You know, stay invisible" he said, "because there are so many loonies figure because you're connected to me, at least they get their name in the paper for five minutes," you know?

PEREIRA: So, was this a big decision to talk about it and to start writing this book?

HARRISON: Well, actually it was at the beginning of the '90s that I decided to, and I talked to George about this, I started, I have two grandchildren at that point.

PEREIRA: Congratulations.

HARRISON: And stopped at that.

But I was very, very concerned about the future of the health of the planet, and so I started an environmental organization which was called Drop-In, you know, the idea was that dropping out wasn't really a smart thing to do.

So, at that point, I talked to George and I said look, I'm now older than my mom and dad were when they died. I'm not scared, and I think that maybe my connection to the Beatles could help to get some, you know, some momentum going.

BOLDUAN: Attention, sure.

HARRISON: Because Paul McCartney concert I was talking to a bunch of the fans, he was doing stuff about PETA and Friends of the World, Friends of the Earth, and they were saying, why don't we have a Beatle environmental organization and they asked me to start one, so that's what I did.

PEREIRA: Louise, we could sit and listen to your stories all day. I'm so glad you're writing this book. It is going to be a read we won't be able to put down.

Thank you for joining us to tell us some stories about your kid brother. Thanks for sharing.

HARRISON: OK.

PEREIRA: And we should also point out, CNN's original series "The '60s" airing tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. Tune in, set the DVR and just enjoy.

BOLDUAN: The Beatles craze.

BERMAN: An honor to meet you.

PEREIRA: A real delight.

BERMAN: Next up for us on NEW DAY, changing the criminal justice system. Senator Rand Paul joins us live to talk about rehabilitating non-violent offenders and bipartisanship. Look, there's a Democrat and a Republican sitting together there.

BOLDUAN: No.

BERMAN: What's going on? What's wrong?

PEREIRA: Or what's right?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)