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EARLY START

Federal Court Blocks Travel Ban 2.0;Ryan Won't Say If Health Care Bill Can Pass;Trump Doubles Down On Wiretap Claim; Maryland Halts Trump's Travel Ban. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 16, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to fight this terrible ruling. We're going to take our case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, President Trump promising to push back after his new travel ban was blocked by a federal judge. How will the administration make its case?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House sensing trouble with the Republican health care plan. What's the president saying as the House Speaker acknowledges the bill will have to change to pass the House?

BRIGGS: President Trump doubling down on his claim he was wiretapped by President Obama despite the House Intel chairman offering a much different take.

Welcome back to EARLY START on the beginning of the NCAA Tournament, just about seven hours away. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: But who's counting down? Dave Briggs is counting down.

BRIGGS: Six forty-five, actually. Twelve-fifteen, it starts.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans and the NCAA Tournament will have no impact on my life today. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

BRIGGS: I'll be texting you.

ROMANS: OK. This morning, President Trump vowing to appeal a federal court order that blocked the 2.0 version of his travel ban. At a Tennessee rally, the president declaring he'll go all the way to the Supreme Court to overturn the order by Hawaii federal judge Derrick Watson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A judge has just blocked our executive order on travel and refugees coming into our country from certain countries. The order he blocked was a watered-down version of the first order that was also blocked by another judge and should have never been blocked to start with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That order issued by Watson just hours before the ban was to take effect. The Justice Department also slamming the order in a statement, saying it "strongly disagrees with the federal district court's ruling, which is flawed both in reasoning and in scope."

ROMANS: So why did the courts rule against the Trump administration's travel ban again? In a 43-page ruling, the federal judge in Hawaii made it clear it the new measure did not pass legal muster, citing several examples of Trump surrogates suggesting it was essentially a revamped Muslim ban. Listen to some of President Trump's rhetoric from the campaign trail and how one of his top surrogates later defended it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban. He called me up, he said put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally. And what we did was we focused on instead of religion, danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. So, essentially, this judge taking candidate Trump at his word. Let's bring in CNN justice reporter Laura Jarrett, live for us this morning in Washington. You just heard that sound. How did the judge cite this sort of language as his basis for stopping the ban?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Christine, the judge in this case was squarely focused on Hawaii's constitutional arguments about the executive order disfavoring Muslims over non-Muslims. And the judge looked at statements just like the ones you played and said even if the text of this new executive order doesn't make any expressed reference to religion, I can't ignore those unrebutted statements from President Trump on the campaign trail, and they just betray the idea that this travel ban had a secular purpose.

BRIGGS: All right. So, President Trump, last night in Nashville, promised to continue to fight this all the way. What happens next?

JARRETT: Well, we're waiting to see next moves from the Justice Department in court, but that ruling came out last night and they said it was flawed and they're going to defend it. Trump, obviously, is ready to take it to the Supreme Court so I'd expect to see a pretty quick appeal here.

ROMANS: And something unusual also happened last night. Five judges on the Ninth Circuit -- five judges appointed by Republicans -- they backed the president's travel ban. They got together and they wrote this. "Whatever we, as individuals, may feel about the president or the executive order, the president's decision was well within the powers of the presidency." How could this play if the Ninth Circuit has taken it up again?

JARRETT: Well, this was pretty unusual and actually raised some eyebrows yesterday because there's no pending appeal in the Ninth Circuit. The Justice Department dismissed their case there last week after Trump signed that new travel ban because they think they didn't need it anymore. But now this group of five judges is saying look, even if we disagree with the executive order or don't like our colleagues, last month, were wrong when they declined to reinstate the order because the president has the legal authority to do this. Now, the reason this is important is because these five judges on the Ninth Circuit could later hear a challenge to the travel ban if the Justice Department appeals this to a broader panel -- Christine, Dave.

BRIGGS: All right. So we have the ruling in Hawaii, none yet in Maryland or in Washington State. Are we likely to see one and what type of impact would they have?

[05:35:00] JARRETT: Well, the federal judges are in several states here primed to hear challenges. In Washington State, Judge Robart, the one who originally blocked the ban, also has a case in front of him and they're evaluating these challenges to the new ban. But I imagine they will likely defer their ruling for now in light of the nationwide decision in Hawaii.

ROMANS: All right, Laura Jarrett. Nice to see you bright and early this morning. Thank you. She had a really busy day yesterday.

BRIGGS: She's got another one in store, as well. Let's get some context and some analysis now and bring in "CNN POLITICS" reporter Tal Kopan, live in our Washington bureau.

ROMANS: Morning.

BRIGGS: Good morning to you.

TAL KOPAN, REPORTER, "CNN POLITICS": Morning.

BRIGGS: What are the politics of this? What type of a setback is this for the Trump agenda?

KOPAN: Well, it certainly doesn't look great, you know, for the White House to now be in a second protracted legal battle over the travel ban. I'm not sure it's entirely unexpected, you know. The difficulty with the first version of this was already going to make a second version an uphill climb because you have to prove that it's different than what the courts had decided on before.

And, you know, I don't think Trump coming out to a rally and calling it a watered-down version of the first one is necessarily helping his case either because it basically says, you know, we took the first one and just kind of tried to make it passable, which the courts don't necessarily smile kindly upon either. But, you know, it's certainly not -- it's certainly not a setback for

his agenda in the sense that he can continue to push his policies. There's certainly a lot of wiggle room that the administration can do in terms of processing these applications and refugees and that sort of thing so it's a bit of a black eye. We'll see how he continues to handle the rhetoric he uses to describe the courts, but I think it's still full steam ahead for this White House.

ROMANS: Let's listen -- I mean, you mentioned the president at that national rally yesterday. This gave him a lot of oxygen and a lot of energy in that room as he explained it. Let's listen to President Trump on the travel ban last night in Nashville.

(Video difficulty)

BRIGGS: OK, we --

ROMANS: I promise he was worked up about it. We don't have it. But last night, in general, at that Nashville rally, this is President Trump at his best, when he's loose, when he's, you know, using his hands. When he's -- when he's talking, when he's all fired up. But what did you see last night from the president in Nashville that maybe tells you where he feels -- how he feels about health care? How he feels about some of these setbacks he's had.

KOPAN: Yes, well, you know, like you said, this is sort of when he feels the most juice in front of a crowd, especially an adoring crowd, and that's why we've seen him -- you know, it almost feels like the campaign never ended to a certain extent and we've seen him get on the trail quite a bit.

But, you know, keep in mind, I think what Republican congressional leaders would like him to be doing is using these speeches to put a lot of direct pressure on the lawmakers who are sort of balking at supporting the bill that has been crafted by Republican leadership that is getting some opposition from within the Republican Party. They would like to see Trump coming out there full-throated, telling the American people this is what I want, this is my health care plan. I stand behind it and any lawmaker who opposes me is sort of not on the train.

BRIGGS: Yes.

KOPAN: That's not what we're getting from him, you know. We're getting that this is his health care plan, he likes it, but then he lapses into that traditional Trump style of sort of back and forth, you know, sort of statements saying but it's in negotiation, and trust us, and it will get through Congress. And sending some messages to those conservatives that they can continue to withhold their support in, perhaps, hope of extracting some concessions.

BRIGGS: Yes, you could argue undercutting slightly what Paul Ryan is trying to say that they crafted this bill together with the White House. But Paul Ryan talked about where this bill stands at this moment with Jake Tapper yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: We have consensus and we're fine-tuning our consensus, going to the goal line with our president to get this done. And then it goes over to the Senate and then they start over, over there.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER": You have consensus, so if it came up in the House this afternoon it would pass?

RYAN: Well, it's not coming up this afternoon. It's going through the legislative process. That legislative process has not been finalized. That's -- so that's kind of a -- no offense, that's kind of a goofy question or a faulty premise because this goes through four committees. We've gone through two so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Goofy.

BRIGGS: Yes. Jake doesn't entirely agree with that characterization but our vote count shows about 19 either leaning no, or are no on this bill. What type of changes do you think they'd have to make to get through the House and how is that impact passage in the Senate?

KOPAN: I love that fine-tuning our consensus. What a way to describe the legislative process. I -- you know, look, we've got different concerns between the House and the Senate, between moderates and conservatives, and that's why, you know, Republican leadership in the White House has kind of squeezed on this because you've got conservatives in the House who are really pushing for a much more aggressive bill. They want much less, sort of, leeway for some of the Medicaid expansion that happens.

[05:40:04] Meanwhile, Republican governors are telling lawmakers and the White House that they want more leeway for Medicaid expansion. And, arguably, to pass the Senate -- to get some of those moderate Republicans in the Senate -- it's going to need that provision. You know, there's some concern over tax credits.

And, you know, we haven't even started to get into the defunding Planned Parenthood battle which, you know, shows how controversial some of these provisions with the bill are because that's also going to be a problem in the Senate for some of the moderate Republicans that are there and it's a concern, you know, possibly, for some of the House. So, right now, we're looking at very close to the number that they need to keep that could scuttle this in the House but we're not quite there yet.

ROMANS: In about an hour and 20 minutes we're going to get the president's budget blueprint which would face a battle, of course, but when you look at this it is the wish list of this administration. That wish list is to slash EPA, to cut all kinds of different funding for different federal agencies and build up -- build up the budget. Do you expect a big fight on this?

KOPAN: Yes. Do I expect a big fight on this, absolutely. I mean, I think anything in Washington, you come with a starting point of expecting a big fight. And certainly, you know, as much as some of this is a Republican wish list, there are also going to be Republicans who take serious issue with parts of this, especially the cuts to the State Department and sort of foreign relations and foreign aid. You've already had Republicans, you know -- some -- sort of the Marco Rubios of the Senate who say, you know, hold on, soft power is important.

And so, you know, keep in mind every year the president submits their budget request. It's sort of what the vision is from the White House but ultimately, Congress has to write it and so they can use it as a starting point. And also keep in mind it's been many years since Congress has actually been able to get all the way through the process. We continue to have these sort of these continuing resolutions --

ROMANS: Yes.

KOPAN: -- on government at the similar levels. So we'll see what Congress does with the president's request.

ROMANS: America first, hard power budget.

BRIGGS: Hard power.

ROMANS: It sounds like a workout. I'm going to do the hard power budget today.

BRIGGS: It does. I'd be up for that workout.

KOPAN: Is that a leg day?

BRIGGS: Marco Rubio says we do budgets here, though.

ROMANS: It's abs -- only abs. OK.

BRIGGS: Tal, thank you.

ROMANS: Thanks, Tal.

KOPAN: Thank you.

BRIGGS: Well, President Trump not backing away from his wiretapping claim. Hear what he said that contradicts the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:35] ROMANS: All right. The Federal Reserve hiking interest rates for the third time in the past 15 months. Here's what it means for your money. Interest rates will tick higher. Things like credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages will likely become more expensive. Savers could benefit. Rock-bottom rates on savings accounts and CD's might slowly move higher but I'm going to tell you something. I think the banks, first, are going to charge more for what they're lending, and then later they'll give you more money for what you're depositing. If you buy a home, don't panic. The Fed does not set mortgage rates.

Those are tied to the 10-year Treasury bill. Those yields had been moving higher in anticipation of the move and then yields dropped because the Fed signaled gradual increases ahead. Mortgage rates hit a 2017 high last week at 4.21 percent for the 30-year fixed rate loan. Most housing analysts tell us they think rates will remain below five percent for the rest of the year.

It's a bigger deal to house hunters in more expensive areas, as they could be priced out as rates rise. For the average homebuyer, the Fed's quarter-point rate increase will cost $57 -- excuse me -- extra per month. That assumes a national average price around $235,000 with a down payment. But, Janet Yellen -- I mean, yesterday -- the Fed chief -- she said the simple message is this. The economy is doing well.

BRIGGS: But it feels like bad news to the consumer to raise rates.

ROMANS: It does when rates start to rise. Right, right, right, but that's a sign --

BRIGGS: Though it's --

ROMANS: -- of strength in the economy. It's meant to champ down inflation to make sure inflation doesn't grow the Fed has to raise rates even more --

BRIGGS: Sure.

ROMANS: -- quickly and that causes a recession, so they're trying to stay on top of it.

BRIGGS: It doesn't always feel that way. Well, with top Republicans turning on him, President Trump is doubling down on this evidence-free claim that he was wiretapped during the campaign by President Obama. Mr. Trump appearing on Fox News hours after the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee called his allegation wrong. The president insisting he has proof that he'll reveal by the end of the month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've been seeing a lot of things. Now, for the most part, I'm not going to discuss it because we have it before the committee and we will be submitting things before the committee very soon that hasn't been submitted as of yet, but it's potentially a very serious situation. Wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wiretapping covers a lot of different things.

BRIGGS: Air quotes, remember.

ROMANS: This came just hours after Devin Nunes, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, made it clear that he considers the president's claims baseless.

All right, 49 minutes past the hour this Thursday morning. Will another billionaire challenge President Trump in 2020? Mark Cuban, he has been rumored to be considering a run for the White House and we ask him about it every time we see him. Keeping the rumor alive. CNN Money Stream, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:45] ROMANS: All right, breaking news. Just moments ago another rebuke of the president's new travel ban. A federal judge in Maryland has temporarily blocked it. The ban is already on hold nationwide because of the Hawaii ruling. This Maryland ruling is another blow to the tweaked, revised travel ban from the Trump administration. We'll have more on this on "NEW DAY" at the top of the hour.

BRIGGS: Alan Dershowitz will join them, as will Laura Jarrett, our justice correspondent.

Meanwhile, Dutch voters appear to be steering clear of the so-called extremist trends running through Europe. While the votes of the parliamentary election are still being hand-counted, some decisions appear clear. The ruling party appears in line for a victory and says the Dutch people have voted against the populist movement. For more on the votes and what it could mean for Europe, let's bring in CNN's Hala Gorani, live in the Netherlands. Why, in a country roughly half the size of California, is the whole world watching?

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, because it was the first big test after the election of Donald Trump in the United States and, also, after that shocking Brexit vote in the United Kingdom last June, the first big test of 2017 and the first of three very important elections on this continent.

The big question -- and you said it, Dave -- would this mean the consecration of the far-right politician Geert Wilders? Anti- immigrant, anti-Islam. He wanted to ban Qurans, he wanted to close mosques, he wanted to take the Netherlands out of the European Union. Would it be his big day? Well, it wasn't because the incumbent prime minister Mark Rutte -- his party got the most number of seats. According to estimates, about 31 out of 150.

[05:55:20] So, Geert Wilders, although he has the second-largest party in this country, did not exceed expectations. In fact, he came in lower than what polls had suggested he might achieve just a few days before this important election.

So looking forward, Dave, and for our viewers in the United States, why is this important? Well, we have a crucial election in France. Marine Le Pen is the far-right leader there. Will she get into the second round? Will she even be elected president? And then, we'll have an important contest as well in Germany in the fall. So those three, big important contests, the first one is done. It looks as though the far-right leader didn't make it. But then we have the next two ones to look forward to and that is going to be very important for the future of this continent and of the European Union. Back to you.

BRIGGS: A fascinating story. France will be an interesting one. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, four minutes to the top of the hour. Let's get a check on CNN Money Stream. The stock market rally back on track thanks to the Federal Reserve. Stock futures pointing solidly higher this morning after the Fed hiked interest rates and signaled more to come. Stock markets in Europe and Asia are rising. Higher rates will boost bank profits.

Those stocks are not the best performers in the Dow this year. They've done well but I want to show you who the real winners are. Apple up more than 20 percent thanks to strong iPhone sales. Visa and Boeing also among the best performers. The most surprising stock, so far, Nike. New shoe lines and better performance against Under Armour have that stock running strong, pun intended.

Billionaire Mark Cuban has been a tough critic of President Trump. He said the president is a poor leader. He blasted his communication skills and he says the recent leaks out of the White House are evidence of the defects. Cuban also supported Hillary Clinton during the election so his criticism comes from that quarter. So how does he feel about running, potentially, against the president in the next election? Here's what he told Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Cuban 2020, is that a possibility at all?

MARK CUBAN, BILLIONAIRE: I mean, I don't want to say no, but it's not my dream to be President of the United States. I mean, would I like to have influence, yes. I love helping entrepreneurs, I love helping create jobs. I like helping to spur industry and I'm good at that. If I can continue to do that I'm happy. But if I think there's a need -- because I think one other significant issue right now, he's technologically illiterate and we're about to go into a period with the machine intelligence -- artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and those things, where we literally are going to see a change in the nature of employment. And so these companies that he's building factories with --

TAPPER: Yes.

CUBAN: -- don't pay attention to the number of jobs he's saying for the factories. Pay attention to the number of jobs there are in those companies two and the three years out. I guarantee you they're going to be 30 and 40 percent lower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Yes, that's actually a common refrain in tech -- you know, tech leaders saying the president is focusing on jobs in the wrong way, completely. Cuban made a lot of money with tech start-ups and is still active in that space. And again, we have this breaking news right now. Another federal judge has blocked the president's new travel ban. So you have Hawaii and now a federal judge in Maryland who have both lined up against that ban that was supposed to start today.

BRIGGS: So now, a two-pronged battle for the Trump administration. The only state that's not yet ruled would be Washington State. A busy day for "NEW DAY." Alan Dershowitz, Laura Jarrett will join them. Thanks for joining us. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to fight this terrible ruling. We're going to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The revised executive order is unconstitutional and unlawful.

TRUMP: Let me tell you something. I think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I see no evidence that his predecessor had wiretapped Trump Tower.

TRUMP: Wiretap covers a lot of different things.

REP. DEVIN NUNES (R), CALIFORNIA: Are you going to take the tweets literally? Then, clearly, the president was wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obamacare's in a death spiral.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: The leadership is weak-kneed.

TRUMP: We're going to have negotiation. The end result is going to be great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no question this is a hard power budget.

TRUMP: Our budget will shrink the bloated federal bureaucracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Thursday, March 16th, 6:00 her in New York. Alisyn is off. Poppy Harlow, once again, it is Thursday, my friend --

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

CUOMO: -- and we've got a lot of news --

HARLOW: Yes. CUOMO: -- once again. Breaking news -- a federal judge in Maryland has now temporarily blocked the 90-day ban on immigration for citizens of six countries. This is the second defeat in court in just a few hours. This will be a significant blow to President Trump's revised travel ban. Mr. Trump calling the ruling a "unprecedented judicial overreach" vowing to appeal to the Supreme Court.

HARLOW: We will see. That's what they said last time. This is all coming as there may be more trouble ahead for the president because the GOP's health care plan is facing more and more opposition. All of this as President Trump unveils his first budget proposal this morning. It would slash billions from federal departments to boost defense spending. There is a lot going on, on day 56 of the Trump presidency.