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Southeast Braces for Rain; Next Chief of Staff; Chargers Stun Chiefs; Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 14, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:01] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate has passed two resolutions rebuking President Trump's response to Saudi Arabia over the murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The first condemns Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for Khashoggi's killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. President Trump refuses to accept the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that the crown prince ordered that murder. Another resolution passed calls for the end to America's support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. A new CNN poll shows that a majority of Americans agree with Congress in saying the Trump administration's response to the Khashoggi murder has not been tough enough.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Department of Homeland Security is now offering condolences to the family of a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who died in Border Patrol custody. "The Washington Post" says that Border Patrol records show she and her father were part of a large group of migrants who approached agents in a New Mexico desert last Thursday. Border officials told the post that hours after being taken into custody with her father, the girl started having seizures and was airlifted to a Texas hospital. They also say she reportedly had not eaten or consumed water for several days. DHS tells CNN the girl went into cardiac arrest and was revived but died less than 24 hours later.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, what a horrible, horrible story.

BERMAN: It really gets to how much these families are willing to risk to get to this country. They're willing to walk across the desert without food and water to do it.

CAMEROTA: We have Senator Jeff Merkley coming up. He is at the border today. Even before this, he was going down to figure out how children are being treated in U.S. custody because, as you know, there were those family separations. Some kids have still not been reunited with their parents, so this just adds to the picture of chaos and tragedy that's happening there.

All right, there's heavy rain moving into the southeast. The U.S. -- southeast U.S. It's setting the stage for another weekend of potential flooding.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has our forecast.

How's it looking, Chad? CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the good news is, Alisyn, you

don't have to shovel this. The bad news is, there may be too much for some of these drainage ditches to handle, even while the leaves in the ditches as well and still some snow on the ground in the Carolinas.

[06:35:03] This weather's brought to you by Jared, dare to be devoted.

So here's the rain. It's going to even be severe across parts of Florida today. That front's going to be right over Jacksonville, Tampa. Get ready for that.

Now, there is still some strong weather in Arkansas right now. That will continue throughout the day. But by later on today and into tomorrow, the rain spreads to the north. And at least it spreads out a little bit. It's not just in one spot. So by Sunday we could even see some light snow in the Poconos, maybe in up towards the Berkshires as well. But that's the story, kind of a quick-moving storm rather than the other like Harvey that just sits there and does nothing for days and days and days.

So, yes, one to two inches of rainfall in some spots. But for today, New York City, all the way to 50. Some showers tomorrow, 49.

John.

BERMAN: Chad, thank you very much.

I want to show you a picture. Why are these guys the happiest men in Washington? My producer noted that John Kelly there is cheesing hard, which is -- which is something that cool people say. They're happy because they won't be the president's next chief of staff. But we know some names who could be in the running for that job. That's next.

Did I get it right, cheesing hard?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:14] CAMEROTA: Sometimes a picture says a thousand words. Former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus tweeted out this photo with outgoing Chief of Staff John Kelly at a White House Christmas party last night. They look happy.

BERMAN: Cheesing hard I think is the phrase.

CAMEROTA: They are cheesing really hard.

And you know what's interesting is that John Kelly is not a man who's gives to cheesing hard.

BERMAN: No, I don't think he's ever cheesed hard in his life.

CAMEROTA: No, I don't think so.

So, who will be the lucky guy to replace General Kelly?

Let's bring in CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip, and CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson.

So, Abby, we just can't -- this photo is great. Has anybody ever looked more deliberated?

So John Kelly, I mean, again, his demeanor is not one usually of ebullience, but he looks very happy to be at this Christmas party. Why do you think he's so happy?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: All of a sudden these two men have so much in common. Reince Priebus, who was actually -- to be fair, John Kelly is getting a far more graceful exit than Reince Priebus did. When Reince Priebus was fired, he was basically fired by tweet while the president was on an airplane. So, I think, in some respects, I think they get how each other feel. And I think a lot of people thought that John Kelly would have an easier time, and it turns out he didn't.

But now everybody is happy and they're at the White House Christmas party and they're having a great time because this is no longer their problem, especially now that we're about to head into unimaginably the -- probably the worst period of time for this White House. It is only going to get more difficult from here for the next person who has that job. And these two men are pretty happy to just be watching from the sidelines, I think.

BERMAN: So there is this search for the next chief of staff. Mark Meadows was just voted off the island, right? He's not going to get the job.

We believe the four current frontrunners, let's put them up on the screen here, this is Trump campaign adviser -- he was deputy campaign manager at the end there, David Bossie, Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, Matt Whitaker, who's now the acting attorney general, and Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, current secretary of energy.

We believe these may be the four leading candidates. There was also a little flurry yesterday, Nia, when people were reporting Jared Kushner. We'll be talking about that. We don't believe that to be the case, but it just shows you the level of sort of guessing going on right now.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. And these are the final four. Chris Christie apparently meeting at the White House at some point to talk about this job. He, in some ways, seems unlikely because of the fact that he put Jared Kushner's father away in jail, and so that seems to be maybe a complicating factor for him.

And I think all of these candidates are probably going to have to get approval, not only from this president, but likely his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well.

David Bossie is someone who has been in the president's kind of inner circle during the campaign, didn't really make it into the White House and wanted to be in the White House. Has been on the outside. Of course, wrote a book with Corey Lewandowski, that just came out a couple of weeks ago.

And he is somebody who certainly knows Washington. He knows how Congress works. He's a bit of a fire brand. So, we'll see. He, in some ways, probably is the one who maybe wants it the most. We'll see about Rick Perry. He kind of has a cushy job in some ways as a cabinet member. And you've seen the other cabinet members who were on the list. People like Mulvaney. People like Mnuchin as well. They basically said they wanted to stay put. So we'll see if that's the case for Rick Perry.

But, my goodness, again, Abby brings up all of the pertinent facts here, which is that this is a White House that is taking on water. It's likely going to take on more water. And it's not a very attractive job to come in and try to steer this ship at this point.

CAMEROTA: But for some people like David Bossie, it might be a very attractive job.

HENDERSON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And I think it's been reported that he's having lunch today, I think, with the president, Abby.

PHILLIP: That's right. Yes, that's right.

CAMEROTA: And so, in terms of the role of chief of staff, it would, I guess, help President Trump -- or he thinks it would to have somebody likeminded like David Bossie. They sort of have the same kind of world view. But does that person also have to interface with Congress? I mean can he just put in a loyalist or would that not work as well?

PHILLIP: It just depends on what the job of chief of staff is going to be in this next period for this White House.

Part of the problem for the two men who had the job previously was that they always tried in some ways to manage Trump or manage the people around him in order to manage Trump. And the president made it clear yesterday he wants someone who is on his page about what needs to happen. Someone who might let Trump be Trump. And that person, you know, that's a sort of David Bossie type of figure. But the problem with a David Bossie type of figure is a real question, do they have the management skills in order to actually manage the White House, which is the principle function of the chief of staff job. It's keeping the trains running, managing the president's time, making sure that the information that needs to get to the most important person in the world gets to him. Does he have those skills? And also, does he have the skills actually to interface with Congress in a productive way, in a policy-making way?

[06:45:23] That being said, I think the fact that the president is looking at someone like him, and others, the fact that he was looking at Nick Ayers in the first place is a sign that he's more interested in turning to politics in this next period. He's going into his re- election. He wants someone who can fight with him, who can brawl with him, who understands what that hand to hand combat is going to look like. And so I think that there are different priorities for President Trump now in this next period than a traditional chief of staff who might be looking more to have the skills to manage a government, manage a West Wing.

BERMAN: I think Bossie, along with Lewandowski, they're literally the authors of the let Trump be Trump notion.

CAMEROTA: Doctrine.

PHILLIP: Right. Exactly.

BERMAN: And, Nia, help us understand why the Jared Kushner notion doesn't really make sense given that Jared is -- Kushner is the type of guy who likes to be in the background?

HENDERSON: Well, he sort of likes to be in the background, but also, you remember, his nickname is kind of the secretary of everything. And, in many ways, why does he -- why would he want the post of chief of staff when he sort of operates in many ways above the chief of staff? This was, I think, a frustration likely for Reince Priebus, likely for John Kelly as well, how do you manage a staff when the president's family members are on there? So if you were Jared Kushner, it's not likely that this is a job you want because you have, in some ways, a bigger portfolio.

BERMAN: It would be a demotion.

HENDERSON: Yes.

BERMAN: Nia-Malika Henderson, Abby Phillip, great to have you here with us. Really appreciate it.

HENDERSON: Thanks.

BERMAN: So, up next, why is there a puppy on the ice with an NHL team?

CAMEROTA: Because it's adorable.

BERMAN: Right. Right. I mean does there have to be a different reason than that? The "Bleacher Report" is next.

He's a good hockey player.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:57] BERMAN: So, the Chargers last night, they shocked the Chiefs with a gutsy play call to win the game.

Andy Scholes with the "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. You know, this is as big as a regular season matchup gets in the NFL. You had the ten-win Chargers taking on the 11-win Chiefs. And Los Angeles was trailing this entire game, down by 14 in the fourth quarter with just five minutes left. Philip Rivers leads them on the comeback. It's Mike Williams for the touchdown with just four seconds on the clock. And instead of kicking the extra point to tie it, the Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn goes for the wins and Rivers finds Williams wide open for the two-point conversion. Chargers just shocked the Chiefs with a comeback 29-28 win, snapping a nine-game losing streak to Kansas City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP RIVERS, CHARGERS QUARTERBACK: This team just kept fighting. They want to (INAUDIBLE) Coach Lynn to go for two. He said, to heck with it, let's just win it now.

Anthony LYNN, CHARGERS HEAD COACH: We didn't come here to tie. We came here to win. And so, to me, it was a no-brainer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, what makes everything in life better? A puppy, of course. Check this out. After practice yesterday, the St. Louis Blues welcomed five month old Barkley to the ice. The Labrador retriever puppy was adopted by the Blues front office from an organization that trains and gets service dogs socially ready for a forever home. And as you can see, he's pretty good out there on the ice, chasing that puck around. He even did some work with the stick, Alisyn.

And you know what makes everything better, like I said, is a puppy. So I think NEW DAY should have a puppy, right?

CAMEROTA: Well, I agree with that, Andy. I also think that I would like sports a lot more if there was always a puppy on the field.

SCHOLES: Always a puppy at the end. I try my best in end every segment with a puppy.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

SCHOLES: Can't always find them.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

OK, I'm going to start maybe -- we need like a hypo allergenic puppy here.

BERMAN: Yes, a labradoodle.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: Those aren't real dogs.

CAMEROTA: I know.

All right, meanwhile, Michael Cohen is speaking out this morning. This is the first time that we are hearing from him since he was sentenced. What does he say about what he did for President Trump?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:09] CAMEROTA: President Trump's legal troubles are funny to some people. Here are your late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Trump's inaugural team has failed to account for much of the $103 million they claim they spent on the inauguration. At this point I think the only remaining law Donald Trump hasn't broken is gravity, but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump could be an unindicted co-conspirator on this.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": I think we might have to update the presidential seal.

KIMMEL: Well, the president's not in a festive mood right now. He has reportedly cancelled the traditional White House holiday party for members of the press. I know I was disappointed, too. Not only did he cancel the press party, he's also very close to canceling the Republican Party as a whole.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": The fashion brand behind the red coat that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wore after meeting with President Trump announced that the coat will be added to their 2019 collection, while Chuck Schumer's glasses will be added to the CVS reader's carousel.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": In a new interview, Donald Trump Junior says that his dad is a re-gifter. So when Robert Mueller gives the president a subpoena, he's just going to re-gift it to Donald Junior. So the other thing (ph) when that happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: If they thought all this was funny last night, wait until tonight with all the news coming out this morning.

CAMEROTA: The re-gifting thing is a funny story. The president re- gifts even things that are monogrammed.

BERMAN: Is there a problem with that?

CAMEROTA: No.

BERMAN: Do I have to reconsider what I'm getting you?

CAMEROTA: For me, yes. When I see the "JB," I'm going to know where that originated.

BERMAN: Yes, you don't like the "JB"? That -- oh, I've got to reconsider.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much to our international viewers for watching. For you CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, Michael Cohen is breaking his silence. Let's get right to the breaking news.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BERMAN: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. And we do have breaking news. Michael Cohen, President Trump's one-time lawyer, one- time fixer, one-time right-hand man, now a convicted felon, is breaking his silence. His first public statement after being sentenced to three years in prison. In a brand-new interview, Cohen says the president directed him to make illegal hush money payments to two women who allege they had affairs with Mr. Trump and he did it to silence them before the 2016 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FORMER LAWYER: I will not be the villain of his story.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: He's saying very clearly that he never directed you to do anything wrong. Is that true?

[06:59:36] COHEN: I don't think there's anybody that believes that. First of all, nothing at the Trump Organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump. He directed me, as I said in my allocution, and I said as well in the plea, he directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters, including the one with McDougal, which was really between him and David Pecker, and then David Pecker's counsel. I just reviewed the documents in order to protect him.