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Government Reveals Plan to Eventually Reunite Families; White House Press Secretary Booted from Restaurant; Two African Leaders Escape Harm In Separate Blasts; Health Officials: Mosquito Control Programs Need Improvement; NASA's Plan to Stop Asteroids From Hitting Earth. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired June 24, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: "Game of Thrones" actors Kit Harington and Rose Leslie tie the knot. The couple got married in Scotland yesterday. They met on a set of the HBO series which is set to air its final season next year.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Harington plays John Snow and Leslie played a courageous warrior and Snow's on-screen love interest in the earlier seasons.

PAUL: Congratulations to them!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She put her little hand on the window and, you know, I saw a baby. Like a little toddler there.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they see any weakness, they will come by the millions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the response of an ignorant, uninformed president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This president calls those little girls, calls them MS-13, calls them criminals, wants Americans to believe that the hundreds of people that we saw in this facility behind us are a danger.

TRUMP: It's brutal dealing with the Democrats. They don't want to do nothing. I don't think being weak on the border, being pathetically weak on the border, I don't think that's a good issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

PAUL: Good morning to you, 7:01 is the time right now. And there is a sign of progress in the immigration battle this morning. Now, there are new questions for the thousands of families separated at the border. But it seems like there is a plan. BLACKWELL: So, here's the good news. This is for the parents that

for the first time, the government has detailed how they will be reunited with their children. But these reunions will not happen quickly. In fact, there is no real time line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: You're seeing the emotions and anger just boiling over at the U.S./Mexico border yesterday. Protesters were shouting at the border patrol officers. They physically blocked a bus from leaving a migrant detention center as well.

BLACKWELL: President Trump was in Nevada to rally Republicans and he claims that immigration will help them win in November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But if we did that, everybody come -- if we did that, you would have -- you're right -- the word is overrun. We will have millions and millions of people pouring through our country with all of the problems that would cause with crimes and schools. You would have millions.

All I have to do is say, yes, we want to take care of everybody. We want everybody to come. Do what you want to do. Even if they saw weakness -- if they see any weakness they will come by the millions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So, CNN's Lauren Fox is joining us live from Washington.

Lauren, first and foremost, break down this plan for us. What does it really mean at the end of the day for these families?

LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Still a lot of questions how long it is going to take to reunify a lot of these families. Already, the DHS have told us there are 500 reunifications, but there are still more than 2,000 children in HHS custody, excuse me.

One of the key things to remember here is that there are a few options is how this would play out. Families would remain separated while parents go through deportation proceedings. But after those proceedings are finished, a few things can happen. Either the judge will decide that the family needs to be deported and parents can choose to be deported with or without their children. Both scenarios are possible.

The other option is that if a judge deems that someone might have an asylum case or is eligible to stay in the United States, to continue moving on with their immigration proceedings, they can apply to be sponsors for their children. That's through HHS, and that process can take several weeks. So, a lot of questions about how long this process would take and how long families will continue to be divided along the border.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, we know Republicans, Lauren, are negotiating this weekend on an immigration bill compromised. Any indication that any of these bills have the support the past, especially considered what the president tweeted at the end of the week, telling Republicans to stop wasting their time on immigration legislation.

FOX: Right. House Republicans last week were hoping to vote on their own compromise bill that would have provided the president with about $25 billion in border security, including money for his border wall, as well as a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and a more permanent plan to keep families together at the southern border.

But that plan ran into problems last week. The votes just weren't there and lawmakers met multiple times during the week. At the end, they decided they wanted to continue negotiating over the weekend. But there's not a lot of indication that they're going to get any closer to passing this bill next week. House leadership aides and members have been telling CNN for days, that there are just too many problems with this bill. Republicans deeply divided on the issue of immigration and it's not likely that anything is going to change any time soon.

PAUL: All right. Lauren Fox, we appreciate the update. Thank you.

[07:05:00] FOX: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Joining me now is Andrew Selee, president of the migration policy institute.

Andrew, good morning to you.

ANDREW SELEE, PRESIDENT, MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTION: Good morning. Good to be with you.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, I've got the fact sheet of zero tolerance policy, the prosecution of family reunification here, I've read the whole thing. It's a few pages long.

Does this offer the clarity that some of the immigration rights community and these families need to know when they will get their families reunited, when they'll get their children back?

SELEE: Oh, I haven't had a chance to read the full fact sheet, but from what we know of it major questions there. Look. It's positive about reunifying families and trying to fix this, put the genie back into the bottle. But it's hard to do.

And one of the reason is the children were classified when they were separated from their parents as an accompanied minors and they enter, they get a different case number, they go to Health and Human Services, but also into immigration courts while their parents are still with DHS custody and they have a process they have to follow as unaccompanied minors. And so, the real question is going to be, can they either speed up the process for the children so they're reunited with the parents or can they stay the deportation of the parents if they decided on deporting the parents, stay that deportation so that they can wait for their children before being deported together.

There is a lot of unanswered questions and there's a lot of interagency coordination that needs to be done to make this happen and find out who's responsible for making it happen.

BLACKWELL: So, we are talking now about -- and I'm glad you offered that clarity that after some legislation a few years ago that even if these children come in with a parent, they are considered UACs, unaccompanied alien children or unaccompanied minors, right? So, they've got their own parallel track with the parent, am I right that so far?

SELEE: That's right, because what they did in separating the children out was saying, because they were putting the parents in criminal proceedings, they said these minors are no long accompanied. Usually they would be in a family process. But in this case with zero tolerance, they put -- they declared that they were unaccompanied minors because the parents were now in the judicial system and so, now, it's hard to put them back and reunite them because they have acquired a different set of rights there.

BLACKWELL: So, it says that these children will be reunited with their parents once the deportation proceedings for the parent are completed. How long does that take?

SELEE: The deportation proceedings for the parent could be fairly quick, could be within a few weeks. But the children are now entitled to an immigration hearing of their own to make sure that they will not be subject to violence if they are returned. There's a higher standard of proof.

This is what Congress approved in 2008. Bipartisan, this was really a consensus issue that came out of Congress, was signed by President Bush, really bipartisan support is the idea that children should vale are much more due process to make sure they won't be subject to violence on returning home and right now the backlog is a little over 700 days and two years to get an immigration hearing.

Now, could they speed that up? Probably. But they would actually have to make an effort to create a category that sped up in that process.

BLACKWELL: And that would take a new process, right? You'd have to get someone to oversee and to manage the interaction all of these agencies and sub departments I guess.

SELEE: Yes, very much so. I mean, this is a big coordination process. It is doable. If the administration is committed to this, and we hope they are, that it really is doable.

But it will take some give-and-take on all sides and some real coordination. So, we do hope that this is something that they are going to make a commitment to. Clearly, there was, you know, widespread sentiment in the United States that, you know, across the public, across political leaders, that separating families was not something we wanted to do and the administrations recognize this and hopefully, they'll fall through on that.

BLACKWELL: All right. Andrew Selee, thank you so much for being with us and helping us understand this this morning.

SELEE: Great to join us.

BLACKWELL: All right. Later this morning, Senators Ron Johnson and Bernie Sanders join Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION". That's at 9:00 Eastern.

PAUL: Well, the owner of a Virginia restaurant says some of her gay employees were uncomfortable when Sarah Huckabee Sanders came in. So, that owner asked Sanders to leave. Its' what Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted afterwards that could be problematic for her.

BLACKWELL: Plus, NASA says it has a plan to find asteroids before they come anywhere close to hitting earth.

PAUL: Also, health experts warn that counties across the country are not doing enough to kill mosquitoes. These mosquitoes that are carrying deadly diseases. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen is going to talk to us about why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:13:30] PAUL: (AUDIO GAP) past the hour right now.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says she was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant because she works for President Trump. Her tweet yesterday says: Last night, I was told by the owner of the Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia, to leave because I work for the president and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with respectfully and will continue to do so, unquote.

Now, the owner of the Red Hen told "The Washington Post" she tries not to have politics in her restaurants but some of her gay staff were uncomfortable. Sanders tweet from her White House account is what could be problematic here, we understand.

CNN political analyst Amie Parnes is joining us now.

So, Amie, first of all, let's go back to the initial incident at hand. Walk us through what happened.

AMIE PARNES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, I hear that Sarah Huckabee Sanders went to this restaurant and the last to arrive. She was meeting a group of friends. The reservation was under her husband's name, according to "The Washington Post." and she sits down and her -- the party has already started eating. They are eating a cheese platter. And then she is asked to leave.

Apparently, what has happened is someone from the restaurant has called the owner. The owner has now gotten involved. The owner has arrived at the restaurant and has asked her to leave. The owner says that her party can stay, although the party chooses to leave with her.

[07:15:02] And so, they all leave. And it causes quite a stir, obviously.

PAUL: Well, we just read the tweet from Sarah Sanders.

Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics tweeted about this because he thinks her tweet is problematic. He wrote, Sanders used her official government account to condemn a private business for personal reasons, seeks to coerce business by using her office to get public to pressure it, violates endorsements ban which has an obvious corollary for discouraging patronage, misuse regulation, covers both. He goes on in another tweet to mention coercion endorsement preferential treatment and cites specific edicts there.

Did Sarah Sanders violate an ethics code at the end of the day?

PARNES: A lot of people are making that argument. I mean, I've seen tweets from folks who were White House lawyers. I've heard from people who work in government who have said as much, who've said you can't really use your official White House account to promote or sway in one way or another a business or a company, anything.

So, they say that this is in violation of ethics. The fact she did go on and use her official White House Twitter account and then the fact she did sort of use that account to sway people to not, obviously, eat there. They say is problematic.

PAUL: So I want to read to you something else that Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of the Red Hen said in "The Washington Post." She said, I'm not a huge fan of confrontation. I have a business and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to upheld their moral, which took me back to January when President Trump announced the conscious and religious freedom division at HHS, which officially gives employers the right to decline service to someone if it goes against their morals or ethics.

Ironically, does what happened to Sarah essentially fall into that category?

PARNES: Well, you know it comes on the heels also of the Supreme Court debate in this hearing, this case where the owner of a bakery chose not to make a cake for a gay couple. So a lot of people are saying she is well within -- the owner of this restaurant was well within her right to actually refuse, you know, that this is sort of, you know, the day and age where people can do that, where they can -- you know, this is a very political thing and she was making a political statement by doing that.

I've heard, though, from some Democrats who feel this is un-American, that you can't -- I know a lot of Democrats are very upset about it and they're saying she was well within her right but some people are saying, no, you can't just choose to kick someone out of a restaurant. She is there on her free time. She is not there to protest or make a statement. She is there with her family and friends.

So I think, you know, people see both sides of this.

PAUL: Yes. There is definitely divisions in the way that it's being looked at.

Amie Parnes, thank you for being here. Appreciate it.

PARNES: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: A South Carolina congressional candidate Katie Arrington will undergo another surgery this morning. She was involved in a fatal car accident where a car travel in the wrong direction hit the car she and a friend were riding in. The driver of the other vehicle died.

PAUL: President Trump expressed his condolences via Twitter and Vice President Mike Pence said a few words in South Carolina ahead of the governor's GOP primary there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I express our deepest condolences to the family who loved a loved one in this accident and I now I speak for everyone all across South Carolina and really people all across America when I say that family and Katie, you are in our prayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Arrington's campaign put out a statement saying, quote, she remained humbled, encouraged and deeply moved about the outpouring of support.

BLACKWELL: Protesters frustrated about immigrant children separated from their families confront border patrol officers and stand in the way of a bus to pick up detainees. Will the president's reunification plan ease their concerns?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:23:42] BLACKWELL: This morning, the government has detailed how did reunite immigrant parents and children. This is almost four days now after President Trump ended the family separation policy at the border but these reunions will not happen fast. There is really no detailed time line here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: Let the children free! Let the children free!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And you can see the emotions and the anger that people are feeling at the U.S./Mexico border. Protesters were shouting at border patrol officers. They physically blocked a bus from leaving a migrant detention center.

BLACKWELL: And employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been warned about threats to their personal safety because of the backlash of the current immigration policies.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Department of Justice will prosecute anyone who targets DHS staff.

PAUL: Our Polo Sandoval was at that processing center in McAllen, Texas, when those protests broke out. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are about two miles away from the U.S./Mexico border after these families with accompanying minors are apprehended or they turned themselves in. They are brought here to this facility. We have shown you what it looks like inside, the pictures of some of those holding areas.

What took place today was some of these pro-immigrant groups had gathered just outside, trying to get their message heard, trying to get their message to some of the people inside. Well, that's when one of these transport buses then pulled out from where you see that white vehicle there, and that's when these protest spilled on to the streets, demonstrators blocking the path of this bus.

[07:25:11] PROTESTERS: Let the children free! Let the children free!

SANDOVAL: And I did speak to McAllen's police chief who had to respond out here when things got a little tense. He did tell me that there were no arrests that were made. Yes, some people were asked to get off the road at least, the bus did end going the other direction, we haven't seen any other transport buses make their way in out here again.

Again, remember, the president sign an executive order this week calling for these families to remain together, even in detention. But the question, what about the mothers and fathers who were separated from their children in the moments and weeks after zero tolerance was put in place here so that they can place charges?

We heard from those about 26 legislators who traveled here from across the country trying to see firsthand exactly what it looked like and they described the scenes inside as heartbreaking, seeing women and children in these enclosures, many of them have described them, many people, many critics have described as cages. Lawmakers described those chain link fences that these people are kept in and they also are calling for really immigration legislation. They feel that that is the ultimate fix and, at the same time, they also spoke to some of the border patrol agents who are inside trying to get a handle on all of this. These lawmakers saying this they feel that the people who are handling these crowds are doing the best they can with the guidance that they have.

But, still, a lot of confusion and chaos happening behind the scenes, according to these lawmakers. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Polo, thank you so much.

Joining me now to discuss all of this, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, and CNN political commentator and former senior adviser to the Trump campaign, Jack Kingston.

Good morning to both of you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.

JACK KINGSTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, Maria, let me start with you. The administration has now released this plan on how it will reunite these families. It comes a few days after the executive order. Are you satisfied with what you're reading, what you're learning about the plan?

CARDONA: Well, at least they are realizing that their zero tolerance policy has caused an abomination and they need to fix something that was completely discombobulated and un-American to begin with. But there are three huge problems with this, Victor.

The first one is and, Andrew Selee, who's my friend from the Migration Policy Institute I think started laying this out. The first one is when these separations first started happening, there was really no paper work that were putting the children with the parents and so reunification of the remaining 2,000 kids is going to be incredibly difficult to actually find the parent that goes with the child. And a lot of these children are young, under 2 years old who cannot speak the language that they do understand, it's not English, so that is going to be a huge, huge challenge.

The second one is while that happens, these kids are supposedly going to be put in these military camps. The government is not equipped to take care of these children and we have heard reports from people who've actually worked at these facilities where they say that the staff is not equipped and they have behavioral problems and they've kids have who tried to commit suicide. And so, again, another discombobulated abomination.

And the third problem is, and Andrew talked about this, too, is that for the kids who have their own separate deportation/asylum proceedings, the backlog is huge and when you have the president of the United States saying that hiring additional immigration judges is a waste of time and money, I don't see how that is going to put in place a process that actually works.

BLACKWELL: Jack, to you. Do you think this ends this chaotic period?

KINGSTON: I think it gets there. I think, ultimately, we have to have an immigration debate on the floor without the emotion, one that talks about the asylum laws and ones that talk about a quota and one talks about how you treat refugees, one that talks about how you treat illegal aliens. I think all of that has to be done. Otherwise, we are going to continue to have these dust-ups.

I do want to point out, though, that the government has been handling families and small children for many, many years now and not always doing it well, but it's not like this is brand-new territory, and, you know, there was an "A.P." report about a facility that operated in Virginia under Obama and had all kinds of abuses. But I just want to point out this isn't something brand new.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CARDONA: It is, though, Jack. It is absolutely brand new because zero tolerance policy has never happened.

BLACKWELL: The zero tolerance policy is brand new. Hold on, Jack, because I want to talk -- you talked about having this conversation without the emotion, right? I want you to listen to president Trump last night in Nevada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They want to use the issue -- and I like the issue for election too. Our issue is strong borders, no crime. Their issue is open borders, let MS-13 all over our country.

[07:30:03] That's what's going to happen if you listen to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: You might have been talking about a different type of emotion, but the imagery that the president here is trying to invoke is quite emotional. Do you think that is helpful for this conversation?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And it's alive.

JACK KINGSTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: OK. No. I believe that tamping down the emotion goes on all sides. There's no question about it.

And I think that one of the things I would love to see as a former legislator is regular order where each committee and each subcommittee comes up with their own bipartisan initiatives that move through the process and get to the House floor for a vote and that way, you're going to have some good bipartisan product. That's what we need right now on Capitol Hill and I think that the speaker of the house and the leader of the Senate could make that happen.

You know, we have to remember, both parties have a hand in the current situation. There have been plenty of opportunities for both parties to come together and do something and neither one of us have. And so, we all share responsibility on that.

BLACKWELL: Maria?

CARDONA: Let me remind you, Jack, that in 2013, the Senate passed an incredibly strong bipartisan comprehensive immigration plan and John Boehner, who was the speaker, the Republican speaker of the House at the time when it came to his desk, said to President Obama, he would not put it to a vote because he does not --

KINGSTON: OK.

CARDONA: He did not want to pass a bill with majority Democratic support. If that is wanting to solve a problem in a bipartisan way, then we are in a hell of trouble because, today, Speaker Ryan is doing exactly the same thing.

BLACKWELL: Jack, Jack, hold on a second. I want to get to another issue because a limited amount of time and there's a lot going on in addition to this immigration fight.

KINGSTON: We will finish in the green room.

BLACKWELL: OK, now, let me ask you about North Korea because the president, this weekend, had some very kin some very kind words for Kim Jong-un. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a great chemistry together. You know what that means and that happens sometimes and sometimes it doesn't and I really believe he is looking to maybe even beyond trust. He is looking to do something for his country, maybe for his family, for himself. But he is looking to do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, that's what the president is saying about Kim Jong-un. This is what he tweeted after the summit in Singapore. Here's saying there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. That was a tweet on June 13th. And just this weekend, he sent a letter to Congress in which he identified North Korea as an extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy.

Which is it, Jack?

KINGSTON: You know, I think there is a two-step as there always is in diplomatic negotiations. And I think the reason we have come to far with North Korea, frankly, was the president did a lot of threatening and a lot of saber rattling one year ago when many of his critics said, oh, we're going to have war, there's no way out of it.

BLACKWELL: But how far have we come if it's still an extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy according to the president?

KINGSTON: Well, I believe they are still a threat. However, he is absolutely correct, they have quit nuclear testing and they have moved a long way. I think having a chemistry is a good thing. You think back about Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill sitting down for world peace during World War II. You know, there was some chemistry there. There were people there willing to make something happen. Barack Obama and the Castros -- not necessarily anything that brought world peace but I think --

BLACKWELL: Both things cannot be true. You can't both say -- well, you can say whatever you want but not credibly. That North Korea is an extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, right? But also there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. Both cannot be true.

Maria, to you and then we have to wrap it.

CARDONA: Well, this, I think again, underscores how incredibly unfit this president is to lead and the fact he so easily lies to the American people when he talks in such positive terms about where we are with North Korea, this is his version of mission accomplished.

Look, I think it's great they are talking because when we are talking, we are not, you know, nuking each other so has is good. But it is way too early to declare mission accomplished because North Korea, what they have done so far, they have done in the past and then they have pulled back and completely gone against every single thing that they had promised and for the president to say, oh, there are no longer a nuclear threat shows how naive and unfit he is to lead.

KINGSTON: He is not naive. He is a salesman and he is bringing Kim Jong-un to the table, far more than any other president has -- Democrat or Republican.

CARDONA: We have brought North Korea to the table before and they have played us before, so the president is in a position to be played.

KINGSON: Not thus far. I agree with you, the chapter isn't written yet and we're going to see what happens. But we will get there.

BLACKWELL: We'll wrap it here. Jack Kingston, Maria Cardona, always a pleasure.

CARDONA: Thanks so much, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Two African leaders escaped injury on Saturday. This was a pair of explosions and thousands of miles apart.

[07:35:00] Watch this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BLACKWELL: The government of Zimbabwe says the blast at a campaign rally was an assassination attempt on the president. Several people were hurt, including the country's two vice presidents.

An explosion ripped through the Ethiopian capital just as the new prime minister finished speaking to supporters there. He was not hurt. But one person killed and more than 150 hurt. Authorities say six suspects have been arrested.

PAUL: Well, NASA says it has a plan to hopefully stop asteroids from hitting earth. The question is, will this work? We have a former astronaut who has some thoughts on that. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:09] PAUL: Forty minutes past of the hour. So glad to have you with us here. As I've said, 40 minutes past hour.

And one Florida county is taking serious measures to get rid of mosquitoes before they can infect people with life-threatening diseases. Health official say the harsh reality here is that the most counties across the country just are not doing enough to combat the problem to keep these diseases from spreading.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more for us here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you're a mosquito and you value your life, stay away from Lee County in southwest Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is going to start spraying here shortly.

COHEN: Because there is a good chance you'll wind up dead.

To get rid of mosquitoes in Lee County, Florida, they have a fleet of helicopters. They also have trucks, and boats, and several airplanes.

The goal? Kill the bugs before they infect people with life- threatening diseases.

(on camera): You got a lot of mosquitoes in this trap. And you've got these all over the county.

ERIC JACKSON, LEE COUNTY MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT: Those mosquitoes are capable of spreading disease, so what we want to do is test the mosquitoes and see if they are carriers.

COHEN: All of your helicopters and planes and truck, does that help keep (INAUDIBLE)

JACKSON: Absolutely.

COHEN (voice-over): But not all counties are this effective. A report from the National Association of County and City Health Officials says 84 percent of such programs need improvement and 18 states, every program in the state is falling short.

DR. IRWIN REDLENER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR DISASTER RELIEF, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: We are very far from being ready to do either the surveillance necessary or the controls necessary to keep these kinds of diseases from spreading.

COHEN: Not ready at a time when the Centers for Disease Control says cases of diseases from mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas triple from 2004 to 2016. Experts say most public health departments, unlikely counties, are not well-funded and they warn President Trump is ignoring one 69 reasons why ticks and mosquitoes are so prolific, climate change.

REDLENER: We have to wonder why the president and the administration is not taking this issue more seriously.

COHEN: The White House declined comment on climate change and referred us to the CDC, which makes clear that climate change does increase the number of disease causing mosquitoes and ticks.

In a statement, the White House said that the president does take these diseases seriously and his budget requests more than $95 million to fight them, an increase of $11 million over the previous year.

Some places are taking matters into their own hands like Indian Head Camp in Pennsylvania. They hired a specialty pesticide service for sleep away camps whose business is booming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They eat these little pellets and they won't be able to become adults and bite humans or lay eggs.

COHEN: Making at least this tiny corner of the world as bug-free as possible to protect the children who will be camping here this summer.

Elizabeth Cohen, Lee County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a meteor shower!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This new you're tracking, how big?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's what we call a global killer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Obviously, the movie is there, where NASA sends astronauts to save the planet from being hit by an asteroid. Real life?

Not that exciting apparently, but NASA does have new five-point plan they just revealed to protect the Earth should an asteroid hit.

Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao is back with us.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chao, for coming back. We appreciate it.

As I understand it, based on what I read, this plan -- I mean, it starts in space, essentially. What goes into tracking, first of all, any of these near-earth objects?

LEROY CHIAO, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Right. So, of course, we have satellites and other assets that can, you know, look out into the sky and look for asteroids. However, you know, the question is, how far can you see these things and how many of these things there are you tracking and how many are you actually not able to detect until -- actually it's pretty -- you know, they are fairly close? We have see asteroids that come fairly close to the earth on a constant scale, but again, you know, the last time we really had a cataclysmic collusion was 300 million years ago, you know, back down in the Yucatan peninsula.

So, you know, put it in scale how much do you need to worry about this kind of thing?

PAUL: All right. So, that was my question. Are you confident, though, in the abilities to accurately predict any potential impacts?

CHIAO: Not really. Like I said, you know, we are able to track some objects. We know where certain asteroids are but then again, every now and then, we have seen that we get surprised and it's not easy to figure out and to see all these things.

So, the question is, how much of our resources are we going to put into this and what is it worth? I mean, say, we put a lot of money into satellites to track these asteroids and then we see them, what are we going to do about them?

[07:45:08] PAUL: So --

CHIAO: It's --

PAUL: Now, I want to read something from NASA. They said: Protecting earth from incoming asteroids will be a huge job, but don't expect astronauts to do it. That's something relegated to the movies. It makes a good movie but we do not see in our studies any technique that would require the involvement of astronauts.

They say the key is robotic spacecraft. What do you know about that?

CHIAO: Right. And so, if you do detect an asteroid that will impact the earth, you know, you're not going to send astronauts out to try to take care of it as in the movies. You know, if anything at all, you're going to use some kind of a robotic spacecraft, in anything at all. On the other hand, like I said, how much of our resources are we putting into this? The last cataclysmic collision was a 300 million years ago. Really how is this really at the top of our priority list of things to worry about?

PAUL: All righty. Thank you so much, Leroy Chiao. Always good to have you with us.

CHIAO: My pleasure. Good to be with you.

PAUL: Thank you.

Victor?

BLACKWELL: Oh, this is hilarious!

Up next --

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: I know!

BLACKWELL: Dude, homey, frittata and symptoms of indigestion. The meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un gets a bad lip reading treatment. Jeanne Moos explains next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:37] PAUL: So, tour operators tell "Reuters" this morning that anti-American souvenirs have been pulled from gift shops on the North Korean side of the demilitarized zone.

BLACKWELL: This is the latest sign of improving relations between the U.S. and North Korea since President Trump met with Kim Jong-un about two weeks ago.

PAUL: So, speaking of which, here is an alternative spin on that summit in Singapore, the way of course only Jeanne Moos can characterize it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know all those moments of the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un that you couldn't quite make out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I touch you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, buddy. Cool beans, homie.

MOOS: These two homies finally got the bad lip reading treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always try to be charming because you never know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, dude, like whatever, text me.

MOOS: BLR inserts nonsensical words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he also mentioned that he wants a little German sheep and he intends to name it Glenn.

MOOS: And boring exchanges like this --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

MOOS: -- are transformed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hooray, I win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the best.

MOOS: No wonder BLR is the best. The producer who wants to remain anonymous has been doing it for several years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And save a pretzel for the gas jets.

MOOS: Giving new meaning to everything from the Trump inauguration --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can be a funny winner (ph), can't you?

MOOS: -- to the debates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I can do this --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wooha, wooha.

MOOS: Actually, Trump was saying this.

TRUMP: Wrong.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: That is absolutely proved --

TRUMP: Wrong --

MOOS: But it isn't just words that the bad lip reader puts into their mouths.

It's gastrointestinal distress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I should have hit the -- never mind.

MOOS: Bad grunt reading is how one commenter described it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, look at the little tiny zucchini.

MOOS: So if you are looking for escape from reality --

TRUMP: We're going right now for signing.

MOOS: -- bad lip reading is so much tastier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have to frittatas.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty weird but cool.

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: I can't recover from that.

BLACKWELL: Word of the day, frittatas.

PAUL: OK. BLACKWELL: Oh, I love BLR.

PAUL: It's the best. Whoo.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: German's dramatic last minute win, you know, World Cup --

PAUL: We'll be right back.

(LAUGHTER)

(COMMERIAL BREAK)

[07:57:43] PAUL: Well, in this week's "Staying Well", did you know working with plants and gardens is helping people cope with mental health challenges?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONY WRIGHT, RETIRED HR EXECUTIVE: I was having severe issues with depression, alcoholism, and they were taking quite a toll in my life. When I was working around plants and things, that cloud lifts. And it's like a ray of sunshine. It was therapy. I didn't know it was therapy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to be planting in this area.

JOEL FLAGLER, HORTICULTURAL THERAPIST: Horticultural therapy uses plants and gardens as part of the healing and rehabilitative process. Horticultural therapists work with a wide range of individuals with a wide range of challenges.

When someone plants a seed, they are the caretaker. And that's an important role for people who are on the receiving end of medical care and to put them in charge of another living thing -- plants reward the individual with change, a new leaf, a new fruit, a new flower.

People and plants share an ancient bond. Working with plants can help restore natural rhythms, feeling like you are part of what's going on in nature can help individuals deal with stress or inner conflict.

WRIGHT: Garden is a great example. It takes what comes. If it rains, that's OK. If the sunlight is out, that's OK. If it's windy, that's OK. Life has a flow, go with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Today's World Cup match puts England against Panama, kicks off n just minutes, but everybody is still talking about Germany last night, or yesterday rather. After a stunning loss to Mexico, Germany's status as the champion is on the line against Sweden. In the beginning, things did not look good and Swedes took an early 1-nil lead.

PAUL: But the Germans firing back with two second half goals. The winning shot, there it is, oh, incredible free kick just seconds before the final whistle. Mexico kept up winning their ways Saturday as well, we want to point, taking a 2-1 win versus South Korea.

Mexico is first in its group and controls its own destiny. Good luck to all there.

And thank you so much for starting your morning with us. We are always grateful to have you with us and we hope you make some great memories today.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts right now.