Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

Russia Is Attacking The U.S. Justice System; Roger Stone Was Arrested And Indicted On Seven Counts, Including Obstruction Of Justice; Trumps Tweets Yesterday Morning Aimed Squarely At Intelligence Folks After The Threat Assessment Was Given On Tuesday. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 31, 2019 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN: Good morning, and welcome to your New Day. Alyson is off, Erica Hill with me this morning. Cold morning.

ERICA HILL: It is very cold. It actually makes the studio feel warm for a change--

BERMAN: Yes, exactly. All right, the one time the studio feels warm. New evidence this morning that Russia is attacking the U.S. justice system but the president's focus appears to be on how that system is treating his friend.

The FBI's Pre-Dawn arrested Roger Stone which was captured on video exclusively by CNN, this rate (ph) not sitting well with the president. In a new interview with The Daily Caller, the president says he is considering asking the burro to review its use of force policy.

Stone was arrested and indicted on seven counts, including obstruction of justice. The Special Counsel's team believes Stone was a flight risk and was worried he would destroy evidence. But the president seems to think he knows better.

He said, "When you have 29 people and you have armored vehicles, and you had all of the other." Other what, I don't know. "You know many people know Roger, and Roger is not a person they would have to worry about from that standpoint."

ERICA HILL: Meantime, the Justice Department alleging Russia is behind is disinformation campaign, targeting the Mueller investigation. Officials say pro-Russian Twitter accounts stole and spread nonpublic material from the Special Counsel's team as part of an effort to discredit the pro.

The information itself appears to have come from items shared with attorneys for a Russia company accused of interfering in the 2016 election. BERMAN: All right, joining us now is Maggie Haberman, White House correspondent for the New York Times here in the studio. The (inaudible) studio compared to the others--

HILL: Where it's warm. Yes.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, W.H. CORRESPONDENT, NEY TORK TIMES: Yes, happy about that.

BERMAN: So Maggie, this interview with The Daily Caller was interesting. It's interesting the president did it after five days of no public events. And he was pressed in some ways at dawn on the Roger Stone issue.

The exchange went something like the president said, "I'm speaking for a lot of people that were very disappointed to see that go down that way. To see it happen where it was camera, on top of it. That was a very disappointing scene." The Caller asked him if he wants the FBI to review it.

And the president says, "I think that's a good question for you to ask, and it's something I'll think about," which is the type of thing he says when he hasn't thought about it at this point--

HABERMAN: Right.

BERMAN: But he--

HABERMAN: That's right.

BERMAN: -- he wants to agree. It is interesting though that his knee-jerk reaction here is to defend Roger Stone, his friend. And to criticize the manner with which he was arrested.

HABERMAN: In fairness, I don't think he was saying that Roger committed no crimes at all that he's charged with. He was saying that the manner in which this raid went down troubled him. And the president is actually not the only person who has said that. Roger Stone is not the only person who has said that.

We know that the president's ally Lindsey Graham has written a letter to the FBI director, asking for more information about this raid, including how it is that CNN was present for it. So, I mean I think this is something that conservatives across the board are upset about.

I don't think it's a surprise that the president leaned in to it. I agree with your assessment, this is not something that he had previously thought about in terms of trying to get the FBI to look at their policies or review them because of the way he answered.

But I'm not -- I actually thought that what he said about Stone was pretty restraining given the fact that Stone is seen as a potential pressure point for the Mueller investigation, given his duration with the president.

BERMAN: It's interesting. I will say, the president went out of his way to say people who know Roger say he's not the type of guy that would do this. The FBI and the Mueller team say he is exactly the kind of guy that would destroy evidence.

He's the kind of guy they say they have charged him with obstructing justice with lying in an investigation with tampering with other witnesses here. So, it's exactly the kind of thing they were concerned about.

HABERMAN: Right. I mean I think that -- I think at the end of the day, what they are concerned about is the firearm, right? Roger Stone has said he doesn't have a firearm and that he as an expired passport. I have no way of knowing whether that's the case. But it doesn't seem as if they tried to put firearms based on what we have heard.

I think it is not a surprise -- look, I think that Roger Stone egged on the Mueller chain over a very long period of time. He was seen by a lot of people, even his friends as making himself a target.

However, a lot of his friends also believe that there was an excessive display of force that we saw there just given that you're dealing with I think a 66 year old man and his wife is roughly 70.

HILL: Although, he did go on to say afterwards that they were extremely courteous, the FBI agents. And I should point out too, a number of our own CNN law enforcement folks who are former FBI special agents and what have you have said, listen, let me lay it out for you. Here's what's normal in what we see here. And--

[07:05:00]

HABERMAN: Right.

HILL: -- we will hear more of that, right?

BERMAN: Right.

HABERMAN: That's right.

HILL: As we -- if we ultimately do hear from them--

HABERMAN: That's a great idea (ph).

HILL: -- that's a way of asking. The other thing that's fascinating is that we haven't seen the president. Today will be day six that he has no public event. He's been tweeting as we know.

HABERMAN: Right.

HILL: A lot of those tweets yesterday morning aimed squarely at intelligence folks after the threat assessment was given on Tuesday. And Dan Coats were told he's seething specifically at Dan Coats, which is not all that surprising to you.

HABERMAN: No. Look, I think that it's always important to remember context in terms of what people have said about the president previously when he gets upset. So remember there was that Aspin institute event, I think it was 2017, they all feel like one big long year right now.

HILL: Yes they do.

HABERMAN: We're in 2019, just for anyone who's keeping track. But he was asked a question about the president inviting Vladimir Putin to the White House, which Coats had not been aware of until he was asked it on stage. And I think he did a, say that again. And then he said that'll be interesting.

And he looked in to the crowd for his laugh and he was given his laugh. And there are very few things that make this president as angry as the perception that people are laughing at him. And I think he thought that Coats was playing to the anti-Trump crowd in that room.

So, it s not a surprise to me anyway that he is who the president wants to single out. But I do think that you are seeing repetitively the intelligence chiefs in this country separating from the president on where the president either wants things to be or sees things.

The Intel community is not -- is not always right, obviously. But I think that they consider -- members of them consider some of what the president is doing to be dangerous in terms of his language about North Korea, in terms of telling the public about a potential threat.

I think that's at least some of why you're seeing what you're seeing. But I think no matter how nuance that is delivered, and then remember this is testimony before congress. So, it needs--

HILL: Yes.

HABERMAN: -- to be truthful. The president is going to hear it as a slap back at him.

BERMAN: A testimony before congress. And I think as far as the presidents concerned, testimony on T.V.--

HABERMAN: That's right.

BERMAN: -- which is the part that he probably disliked the most.

HABERMAN: Sure. I just think that -- I think that when you are looking at the world of what people are going to say when they are testifying before congress, it's not going to be talking points quite the same way. And I think sometimes the west wing doesn't see that.

BERMAN: We don't know if Dan Coats delivered the daily intelligence briefing yesterday--

HABERMAN: Right.

BERMAN: -- which would be the day after he said--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- what he said before congress. We don't know if he's going to do it today. But there's been so much back and forth now really I just think forth from the president. Dan Coats--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- is testifying here.

HABERMAN: Right.

BERMAN: But is there a relationship here? Is this reliably (ph) broken?

HABERMAN: I think -- I don't know if it's broken. But I don't think it's warm and positive. And I don't think it has been since the incident that I talked about. Remember after that incident, we also heard a lot of he might fire Dan Coats. And then he decided it was a bad idea.

So soon after Comey being fired, it was a bad idea while the Mueller probe was going on. I could certainly see this as part of a shuffle once the Mueller report is in. I don't think that they have a particularly close relationship, no.

HILL: It's fascinating too because Donald Trump pushing back at the intelligence community as a whole is not new either, I mean as you pointed out. But--

BERMAN: Yes.

HILL: -- we've been watching this for the last couple of years--

HABERMAN: Right.

HILL: -- which raises so many other questions about obviously the U.S. standing on a world stage with both allied and adversaries.

HABERMAN: That's right.

HILL: But the fact that he's continuing to push back. I mean, is it your sense if there is any change at all in the west wing to try to maybe get the president to really listen to the facts on these things. Or has that ship sailed at thus point?

HABERMAN: He thinks what he wants. He has always thought what he wants.

HILL: Right.

HABERMAN: I think that -- but it had sailed before he came in to office.

HILL: Yes.

HABERMAN: And I think that's--

BERMAN: Yes.

HABERMAN: -- the problem that people are having trouble accepting is that this is who he is. This is who he was during the campaign. A lot of what he is saying now is stuff he said during the campaign. And people should not be surprised. There is -- we've talked about this here.

There is that constant question of I will get asked, you guys will get asked. Doesn't anyone tell him X (ph)? They do tell him. And he either doesn't accept it or he doesn't believe. Or he thinks that what he experiences is what's the actual information. What it is doing to something you hinted at, it is creating a divide.

The people -- other countries like Russia can see. And can try to rush in to fill the breech in as the U.S. is retreating from the world stage--

HILL: To try to exploit that--

HABERMAN: Yes.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: I mean, the intelligence community is literally telling him--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- and he's choosing not to believe, Vladimir Putin telling him something else in private.

HABERMAN: Right.

HILL: Why would he lie?

BERMAN: With knowing he was president -- that he was president.

HILL: Why would he lie?

HABERMAN: Right. But in the president's perception, the way he is going to hear it is they are trying to use certainly an act as if they are president. And that--

HILL: Right.

HABERMAN: -- is what we are seeing over and over again.

BERMAN: Five days in a row up through yesterday, the president had no public events.

HABERMAN: Right.

BERMAN: Today is the sixth. We want to clear whether he'll open up some of the events today--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: What do you think they haven't had him out there. Friday was the day Roger Stone was arrested. Obviously, Friday was also the day the shutdown ended. He was-- HABERMAN: That was big (ph).

BERMAN: He was cornered in the shutdown.

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: So, why no appearances since then?

HABERMAN: Because I think they don't really know what they want to say. And I think that they're lingering in this limbo where the president is inclined to lean toward declaring a national emergency. And others around him are telling him that this is a very bad idea, including Jared Kushner who he had made a major point person who had steered him away from it.

[07:10:00]

And who I think had and among the people saying to him you got to get the government reopened again. This is not -- this is not a win. This is very hard to spend, right? I mean what is the victory here that you're pointing toward?

And so, I think that they are regrouping. I think that this is not a White House that does long-term planning. So, I think that you are just seeing them kind of waiting and seeing what each day brings.

BERMAN: So, the president -- and we don't make it a business to read every one of his tweets out loud. But this gets to something that you have discussed before. Well, he's tweeting about the books. And you know--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: You've been reporting. He actually is--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- moderately obsessed with the books written about him by Cliff Sims at least. President writes, "So great to watch and listen to all these people who write books and talk about my presidential campaign and so many other things related to winning, and how I should be doing "IT".

As I take it all in, I then sit back, look around and say gee, I'm in the White House and they're not." I actually thinking you can -- I'll let you answer this. He's not talking about Cliff Sims here--

HABERMAN: I think he's talking about Chris Christie.

BERMAN: I think he's talking about Chris Christie.

HABERMAN: I mean that is the only one that I can -- I can think that is. I have heard that he's actually not upset with Chris Christie's book. And Chris Christie's book, in reality actually both books aim to pretty nuanced picture of the president. I mean, the Cliff Sims book got written up in some media accounts as Fire and Fury, the sequel.

And it really isn't. But the president is going to see some of these even mild criticisms or anecdotes that he would rather not have out there as lines of attack. The Christie book is a book essentially describing lost opportunities, right?

And its lost opportunities from the transition that was thrown out which Christie was in charge of. But yes, Cliff Sims did not run for president. So, it's hard to look at that--

HILL: Right.

HABERMAN: -- tweet as being about him.

HILL: Which this would be the first reference to the Christie book too, because--

BERMAN: Yes.

HABERMAN: That is true.

HILL: -- since there have been several which likely help sales but Chris Christie, not so much.

BERMAN: I would actually -- I actually think he's talking about Christie's interviews here. Like--

HABERMAN: I do too.

BERMAN: -- my (inaudible) parsing of this--

HABERMAN: When he was on -- he was on (inaudible) last night.

HILL: Right.

HABERMAN: That that might--

BERMAN: It might be it.

HABERMAN: I suspect that that gets piped in--

BERMAN: In cold air where Christie told--

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- told Goldberg (ph) the president blew it on the shutdown.

HABERMAN: Right. I mean I think that -- I think that is there. And that speaks to the how I should have done--

HILL: Right.

HABERMAN: -- a piece of that tweet. But it's interesting that he's not naming him.

BERMAN: All right, the president's book club this morning. Thank you very much. Maggie Haberman--

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: -- appreciate you being here. We're going to read The Health (ph) next week. The president's going to read The Health (ph). All right, millions of people across America are waking up to historic and brutally cold temperatures. The Bridges of Madison County, I'm thinking of what other books he can read.

The polar plunge has shattered record lows all over the map. There have been ten weather related deaths so far. Our Ryan Young is live in Chicago on Lake Michigan. You can see the steam, Ryan, rising off the water.

RYAN YOUNG, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's unbelievable. The water temperature is warmer than the air above, so it creates this effect. I'm sure we're going to have a beautiful sunrise today.

Sometimes there is a pain in beauty. I think this probably illustrates it just to a certain extent. When you look at the city, it just looks breathtaking. But at the same time, the wind chill here, it's just unbearable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A brutal arctic freeze sweeping over nearly a quarter of the country is bringing the coldest air in a generation to parts of the Midwest.

ROCHELLE DAVENPORT, CROSSING GUARD: It is freezing cold. My face, my toes, everything.

YOUNG: With a low temperature of negative 23, and a wind chill of negative 52. The windy city's temperatures lower than parts of Antarctica and Alaska, causing giant ice rigs to blanket the river. And a wall of ice steam to form along Lake Michigan and across the skyline.

The dangerously cold weather even showing its strength inside.

UNKNOWN MALE: The steam froze around where the leaks are in my front door.

YOUNG: In Minnesota, a wind chill of 65 below zero. These alter marathoners crossing the finish line with their faces fully covered in ice. Police uniforms frozen completely upright to showcase the freezing cold.

Residents in both Minnesota and Michigan being asked to turned down the thermostats to conserve natural gas. Meanwhile, snow squalls ripping through the northeast, bringing near whiteout conditions and winds above the 30 miles per hour in New York and Philadelphia.

This time lapse video showing the squall blowing through New York City, like effect snow creating blizzard like conditions in upstate New York, dropping two to three inches of snow per hour in Buffalo where temperatures dipped to negative 35 below zero. Near Rochester, a 21 vehicle wreck brining this highway to a standstill, a snow squall also to blame for this 27 vehicle pile up near Redding, Pennsylvania.

ROBERT STRAUSE, DRIVER: We couldn't see anything because the snow I being driven perfectly horizontal.

YOUNG: First responders across the country forced to brave the tortuous conditions.

JOSH BUSH, DEPUTY CHIELF MAHAFFEY COMMUNITY FIRE DEPT.: The temperature not only affects the manpower, but also the hose lines freeze up instantly.

[07:15:00]

YOUNG: Firefighters in Indiana covered in ice as they battle this house fire in negative 22 degree weather.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

John and Erica, just think about this. The warming center is still open. Schools are closed. I was actually reading in the paper just a few minutes ago that someone last night decided to pay for 70 hotel rooms for homeless in this area. So, you think about someone doing that, a good Samaritan doing that. It's great to hear.

On the way home last night, I also saw people trying to feed some homeless and try to get them off the street. But not everybody's going inside. And that's one of the things you have to worry about.

It is so cold here sometimes, you just imagine how long it would take for someone to deal with the pain of this exposure, maybe even frostbite. It'd be interesting to see if the hospital bills with mire people coming in over the next few days as well.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. But good to hear those stories as you point out--

BERMAN: Yes.

HILL: -- about the good Samaritans because when you couple that with what we hear about how--

YOUNG: Absolutely.

HILL: How little time it needs for that frostbite to set in. All right, go back inside, my friend. You and the team, thank you. Will democrats agree to any money for President Trump's proposed border wall? We're going to ask a democrat who was in the room for those talks. We'll get his take on day one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00] HILL: Lawmakers have just 15 days now to prevent the next government shutdown. The bipartisan negotiation's over border security funding between 17 members of congress kicking off yesterday.

And so, out of that first meeting, are there signs of hope? Let's ask democratic Congressman, Pete Aguilar who's one of the 17 members who's part of that congressional conference committee.

Sir, good to have you with us. Chuck Fleischmann was just speaking to John Berman a short time ago, and he was optimistic coming out of day one. How are you feeling?

REP. PETE AGUILAR, CALIFORNIA (D): Well, then I'll agree with my colleague and I'll be optimistic as well. Look, I think we heard a lot of similar themes yesterday out of the discussions. And so, we need to pick up on that. Create a little momentum. And work to fashion a solution to avoid another reckless shutdown.

HILL: That is the goal, obviously, avoiding another shutdown. But there is going to have to be some give and take as we know from both sides. How much of the discussion was centered on that on day one on the here's what I'm willing to maybe move a little on?

REP. AGUILAR: Well, I think yesterday was more about opening statements and letting the American public know where we stand on these issues. I think now we'll work behind the scenes and have more public meetings in order to get to that compromise.

HILL: The president drawing a red line, as you know, yesterday morning before you even started your meeting saying if you're not talking about walls or border security, then basically there's no reason to be having these meetings.

Tweeting out a short time ago, sort of some conflicting tweets saying now -- first he was talking about renovating existing barriers and fencing. Now, he's saying it's just time to start calling them walls.

Language has become very important in all of this as we know, even your fellow democrats talking about it. I want you to take a listen to what some of them have said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB CASEY, PENNSYLVANIA (D): Well, a barrier, a fence in appropriate places is clearly an ingredient in border security.

REP. DAVID PRICE, NORTH CAROLINA (D): Fencing is different. And a wall should not be confused with border security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So much of what we have been hearing really boils down to semantics. And it boils down to the language, which is confusing sometimes coming from the president because he's going back and forth on walls and border security and fencing. But also when it comes to democrats, we're comfortable talking about money for border security but don't want to talk about including money for a wall. Does that have to be part of the discussion from the democratic side?

REP. AGUILAR: I think that we have said is everything can be on the table for discussion. But clearly this needs to be about the facts. This needs to be evidence based decision on what is effective for border security at the ports of entry and between our ports of entry.

If my colleagues want to talk about added barriers, they are free to do that. I thought Senator Hoeven actually got it right by saying protecting the border is about manpower, technology, and barriers. What I would say is that's fine. 654 miles of barriers, we have that. Now, let's move on to some of those other topics.

HILL: As you look in to moving on, Lamar Alexander saying both speaker Pelosi and the president should stay out of this. They're not the only ones to say that perhaps the president should not be apart of these negotiations.

But can you have these meetings, can you talk about a deal to come together without some influence from the president when we now he has to sign it?

REP. AGUILAR: That's probably a conversation and a question for my republican colleagues. I think everybody in that room wants to come to a conclusion on this. Our job is to be a coequal branch of government and to put that homeland security appreciations bill on the president's desk.

And our hope is if we do that in a bipartisan way, that the president will sign it.

HILL: You know, you've talked about letting the American people know what's happening, what's going on behind the scenes. You're going to continue to get asked this question. I'm going to ask it to you right now. We've talked so much about this $5.7 billion.

How much of that can or cannot be labeled for a quote wall or some sort of border fencing? How much of it can be? I mean is there a number right now for democrats that is acceptable?

REP. AGUILAR: No. What I would say is there isn't a number. This is why we're starting this process. But what I would say is homeland security has billions of dollars that they have not spent that congress allocated in prior years.

Let's spend those dollars and if we're going to allocate a new dollar of tax payer money, let's do it in a smart and effective way. Let's ask folks what is the most effective way to spend that tax dollar? And I think that by in large, the data will tell us, making sure that we invest in our ports of entry and add technology will be the better use of that tax dollar.

HILL: Did anything surprise you abut yesterday's meeting? REP. AGUILAR: I think all 17 of us really want to come to a conclusion on this. And so, I think just all of our colleagues being very cordial and collegial and being focused on getting this done. I think that was the message of the day. And that's what individuals said off camera as well.

[07:25:00]

HILL: And how much pressure do you think there was on both sides from the extreme wings of the two parties?

REP. AGUILAR: Our job is appropriators. Our jobs is to help make this happen and to get this bill across the president's desk. So, there are varied interests. And I would argue that there are folks from across the idea logical spectrum on the democratic side in that room.

And so if we can all come to an agreement, then I hope it's something that the president will sign. And our republican colleagues will agree with.

HILL: All right. Well, we're going to with your optimism, which you said you would use that word as well after Chuck Fleischmann did. And we look forward to hearing more after the next meeting. Thank you.

REP. AGUILAR: Thanks so much.

BERMAN: Is there something about the appropriators where in this meeting they all have to sound like Bob Ross? I mean it's like smooth jazz. They're trying to sooth us all--

HILL: Happy little clouds. Bob Ross, very soothing.

BERMAN: It is. And I think there are 17 Bob Ross' in this meeting right now trying to find a solution for the border wall.

HILL: Here's the other thing that's nice to see honestly for a change, is people talking about we can come together, we can find some compromise.

It's OK to give a little bit and to get somewhere, because I think that also offers some hope for the American people who are fed up government period, not getting anything done. Maybe there's hope for something after this.

BERMAN: Especially when they're discussing it in such soothing tones. All right, the White House, not denying a new report saying President Trump met privately with Russian President Putin again without any aides or a U.S. translator. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END

[07:30:00]