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Puerto Rico Governor: I Will Not Run for Re-election Next Year; CNN Rides Along with ICE Agents in California; House Dems Involved in Intense Preps for Mueller Hearings; Celebrities Shell Out Cash for 2020 Democratic Candidates; Dozens Arrested in Hawaii in Telescope Protest. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 21, 2019 - 19:00   ET

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


[19:00:07] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

We are still following breaking news in Puerto Rico where embattled Governor Ricardo Rossello says he will not run for re-election, but he is still refusing to step down despite a firestorm over disparaging chatroom messages between him and other members of his inner circle. Rossello is now 2-1/2 years into a four-year term. People have been protesting all week in San Juan.

And that is where we find CNN's Leyla Santiago. And, Leyla, describe the scene there tonight.

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, you know, one would think for a crowd that, for days, has been wanting to hear the word "resignation," they might be happy, but it is the exact opposite. Because they're saying Rossello's announcement where he will resign as the president of his political party and he will not run for re- election was not enough. So, what does that mean? That means the demands for resignation among the protesters continue.

Let me show you behind me. You can see that people are still gathered in front of La Fortaleza, that's the Governor's mansion, still calling for his resignation. In fact, the moment that this crowd heard what his announcement was, they said over the megaphone, the woman said, we will give you until 11:59 p.m. and if you have not resigned, we are going to turn this island upside-down. That was the reaction here.

I can tell you, in old San Juan, I watched as people were just sort of glued to their phones, watching Facebook Live, hoping to hear the Governor resign. Of course, he did not do that. He is holding on to his power here on the island.

Next impact will be tomorrow where major protests are expected. They're actually expected to shut down one of the major highways on this island and march as thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people come together to call for his resignation.

Tomorrow will be a big day. We already know these protesters are getting ready for it. Police are getting ready for it. And a lot of eyes are now on the legislature to see if they will call for impeachment. CABRERA: OK, Leyla Santiago in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Keep us

updated on what's going on there. Thank you, Leyla.

Now to a CNN exclusive, we've heard a lot about that wave of arrests targeting undocumented immigrants that was threatened by President Trump. Well, there's no evidence that the raids materialized. At least not yet.

And our Paul Vercammen was told everything involving ICE and their arrests and removal operations is routine right now in southern California. So, to show you the anatomy of a typical day for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Paul caught up with ICE agents before the sun came up this morning.

And, Paul, you were actually there when ICE agents made some arrests?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Ana. And what they told us, this has nothing to do with any threatened raids and that they didn't do anything special for us because the cameras were rolling; and what we saw is they had targeted four individuals, one of them was too far away and time had lapsed.

So, then they went ahead and they arrested three of their targets, all of them as they say, had criminal records. It started off with a man arrested a little after sun-up on the streets. In this particular instance, they said the suspect had been removed at least six times before. And when we found that suspect, he was arrested almost with a sense of resignation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMON AVALOS, DETAINED BY IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AGENTS: I talked to them, the exact situation I'm in. Get information, you know, to make sure that they have an opportunity to become a citizen. Do that. That was my biggest mistake, not being able to -- not having anybody to tell me that that's the route that I had to take and just try to become a citizen and follow the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And as the operation continued, we were inside a detention facility, not the type at the border but one in downtown Los Angeles. And they brought in a woman, a mother of three, they say had been convicted of drug charges. She is a legal resident with a green card. And she will go before a judge at some point, but she was obviously dejected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YESSENIA GONZALEZ, DETAINED BY IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AGENTS: I have three kids born here, 10, 7, and 14. And they go to school, I go to work. You know, regular life.

VERCAMMEN: In light of your separation from your family, if you could, you know, talk to the judge or anybody right now, what would you tell them? GONZALEZ: That my kids need me. They need me. Like, I provide for

them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:05:01] VERCAMMEN: And she says, going forward, those children will go to their fathers, plural.

Now, the ICE agent in charge of all this -- this is the deputy -- this is the field director in the Los Angeles sector -- he told us exactly why they arrested this woman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID A. MARIN, FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: However, she's been convicted of narcotic trafficking crimes that make her subject to removal.

VERCAMMEN: She's in tears. She has three children. What is it like for you when you know that a family could be divided, separated?

MARIN: So that's where the human element comes in, right? Our officers, they're human beings, too, and they understand that. But we have a job to do, and we do it professionally and we do it with compassion.

So, understanding the challenges that there's children, that there's other family members, right, we'll do everything that we can to make sure, again, that that person's treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve. But, again, knowing that, they are criminal aliens, and they have to answer for those crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: Also, that L.A. field director is saying that we're seeing more ICE agents on the streets because, throughout much of California, they can no longer go into jails to arrest people with criminal records, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles for us. Thank you for that look behind the scenes.

Coming up, Mueller's moment. Democrats waited anxiously for the Special Counsel's report on election interference. Now, he'll be taking their questions. But will we learn anything new about the President?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:10:10] CABRERA: Lawmakers are cramming for this week's questioning of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller who will appear before two House committees on Wednesday. Democrats looking to seize the moment to highlight key portions of Mueller's report including five areas where they think the President clearly obstructed justice. CNN's Jessica Schneider has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, Democrats are undergoing intense prep, plotting pointed lines of questioning for former Special Counsel Robert Mueller for the few hours they'll be able to grill him. Democrats want to seize on Mueller's in-person appearance, hoping to shift public perception and hammer home the stark conclusions of the Special Counsel's 448-page report that most Americans haven't read.

ROBERT MUELLER, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Mueller has indicated he will let the report speak for itself, but Democrats aren't deterred. Sources tell CNN, congressional Democrats have been holding mock hearings with senior aides playing Mueller to sharpen their questions ahead of the back-to- back grillings. Lawmakers are also re-reading the report.

MUELLER: The Attorney General is the boss. Absolutely, I would discuss it with the Attorney General.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): And staffers are studying Mueller's past congressional appearances. The Judiciary Committee plans to focus on obstruction of justice while House Intelligence will follow with questions on Russian election interference.

Judiciary Democrats will connect the dots of what Mueller laid out on obstruction focusing on five key episodes -- Trump's direction to White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire the Special Counsel; Trump then telling McGahn to publicly deny that account; Trump's direction to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to tell former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the investigation to exclude Trump and focus only on future campaigns; Trump's follow-up to Lewandowski to tell Sessions Trump would fire him if he didn't meet with Lewandowski; and Trump's alleged witness tampering of Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen and others, encouraging them not to cooperate, dangling pardons, and congratulating Manafort for not flipping.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If you just list those off -- one, two, three, four, five -- you can essentially make it clear to the public and to Congress that Mueller found substantial evidence to charge obstruction.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Republicans plan to press the Special Counsel about whether his team was biased.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL), MINORITY MEMBER, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY: We got a lot of questions about how Robert Mueller's team was assembled.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): And probe why the investigation even started in the first place.

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY: That's the basic questions of understanding a conclusion, you got to understand where it started.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Little has been released about how the Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing, though if past is prologue, he's more than ready.

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Director Mueller will be impeccably prepared. That is part of his strength as a witness.

I remember those sessions. They were kind of legendary. The hallway that led to his office on the seventh floor would be lined on both sides with briefing teams. He is very studious. He is not a verbose and dramatic witness, but he knows his stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER: And Mueller did stress when he spoke at the end of May that the report itself should serve as his testimony. Well, that obviously has not satisfied Democrats, and that's why their staffers are preparing a carefully tailored script to split up questions among members. That's all in an effort to present a cohesive narrative that will illuminate the key details that can really catch the average Americans' ear. But, of course, some Democrats worry that some members could easily veer off the script.

Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

CABRERA: Now, one of the big names who will be grilling Robert Mueller appeared on Fox News today to discuss Wednesday's planned hearing. Here is House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY: We think it's very important for the American people to hear directly what the facts are because this is a president who has violated the law six ways from Sunday. If anyone else had been accused of what the report finds the President had done, they would have been indicted. It's important that -- that we not have a lawless administration and a lawless president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now, Mueller has been clear, he doesn't intend to talk about any juicy investigative details that are not mentioned in his 448-page report.

I want to bring in Kim Wehle. She's a former associate independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation and author of the book, "How to Read the Constitution and Why."

Kim, good to have you with us. What types of questioning strategies would you recommend to get the most out of Mueller's testimony?

KIMBERLY WEHLE, AUTHOR, "HOW TO READ THE CONSTITUTION AND WHY": Well, it sounds like the Democrats are thinking this through in a way that makes sense in terms of breaking up the many issues. Because, as Jessica indicated, 448 pages is a lot. I think that most Americans have just forgotten about it or believe that it kind of amounted to nothing, and that's actually not accurate.

I would focus, as Jessica mentioned, for obstruction, on the key elements, but also on why obstruction of justice is a crime, to begin with. Why do we care as a society if people try to muck around with the criminal justice system? And that did happen here.

[19:15:07] And as I explained in the book, it's Congress' core responsibility, prerogative, to do this kind of oversight. This is not an impeachment hearing. This is core oversight to ensure that the office of the presidency doesn't get too powerful. Because when that happens, individual rights are what goes next regardless of political party -- Democrats, Republicans, independents. We need a government that is not too powerful for us to maintain our own freedoms.

CABRERA: Again, let me go over, again, what we know about how lawmakers are preparing. They're doing mock hearings. They're watching Mueller's previous testimonies.

They're coordinating their lines of questioning, so there's not a bunch of overlap because, again, they have a confined amount of time. A number of lawmakers on these committees we know are not trained lawyers. Is there anything else that they aren't doing that could be beneficial?

WEHLE: No, it sounds like. Especially that -- that kind of mock questioning is very helpful, but they have to think about strategy in terms of the primary themes. It's very easy to get caught in the weeds on this narrative.

Number one, Judiciary Committee, what is obstruction? What amounts to obstruction? And I think the key question is, if Mr. Trump had been a private citizen, would Mr. Mueller have actually indicted?

Because I think the report is pretty clear that it was the Justice Department memo that prevented him from doing -- the memo saying you can't indict a president that prevented him from taking that step. So, if he answers that question, I think that's crucial.

The second -- the second issue, of course, has to do with Russian interference, and that's something that is still ongoing. And I would want to know from Mr. Mueller what his concerns are for the 2020 election. What facts did he gather, his team gather, that demonstrates that American and our electoral process is still under siege by an adverse foreign power?

That kind of gets it out of whether Trump is bad or good and into this core question of whether the integrity of our electoral process is in -- is a threat -- is being threatened. And I think that the Mueller report makes that very clear, and it would be very helpful if we could come together around that core issue and not stay in blue versus red camps as we've just increasingly seen in American electoral politics.

CABRERA: Right. And because it seems like the nation is so politically divided, do you think we'll get anything new out of this? And could Mueller's testimony really be a game-changer in the impeachment discussion?

WEHLE: I don't think it's going to change his -- the views of his supporters. I do think it can if it's done deftly and carefully and focusing on some core messages. There should be some repetition because people can't hold multiple pieces of information in their minds.

I do think it could shift some sort of legitimacy to the Congress in this oversight piece. We're so far afield from what the constitution really envisioned, which is each branch checking the other branches. To talk about whether this is even appropriate is so beyond the pale as a matter of core separation of powers that even if the Democrats establish that oversight of the presidency is legitimate, that would be a win for American democracy.

CABRERA: Kim Wehle, good to have you. Thank you. I appreciate your insight and perspective.

WEHLE: Happy to be here, thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: And don't forget, CNN will have special coverage of the Mueller hearings, Wednesday, starting at 8:00 a.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Coming up, playing six degrees of Kevin Bacon with the 2020 presidential candidates. Who's ahead when it comes to courting celebrities in the Hollywood primary?

[19:18:33] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: For Democratic 2020 candidates, the Hollywood primary is heating up. Here is Senator Kamala Harris posing with pop stars Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande last night at a fundraiser in L.A. But who else is picking sides? As celebrities open up their checkbooks, CNN's Dana Bash reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hollywood may have found a new leading man. Campaign finance disclosures out this week reveal that, in the race for celebrity support, 37-year-old South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg may be pulling ahead.

This spring, the Indiana mayor scooped up donations from a star- studded cast of Hollywood royalty including Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael J. Fox, and Kevin bacon. In fact, in Hollywood these days, it's more like six degrees of Mayor Pete.

Another favorite among the celebrity set, their home-state Senator Kamala Harris who scored donations from Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, and former T.V. spy Jennifer Garner.

JENNIFER GARNER, ACTRESS: This is how it's going to be. BASH (voice-over): America's sweetheart Tom Hanks wrote a check to

former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign. He could also offer the former V.P. some advice on debate prep.

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: You never know what you're going to get.

BASH (voice-over): One complication, in this 2020 election cycle, cashing big checks from millionaires could become problematic.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN HOST: You've become kind of a favored candidate of the elite.

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're trying to reach everybody at every different level.

BASH (voice-over): Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has sworn off, quote, fancy receptions or big-money fundraisers.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not doing fundraisers with multimillionaires.

BASH (voice-over): But Hollywood just can't seem to quit her. Warren still found support from Bette Midler, Amy Schumer, and Scarlett Johannsson. Some celebrities couldn't pick just one candidate like fictional presidential adviser Bradley Whitford.

BRADLEY WHITFORD, ACTOR: I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.

BASH (voice-over): He gave to Buttigieg, Senator Cory Booker, and former HUD Secretary Julian Castro.

The primary race is just getting started, but if one of these Democrats wins in 2020, the future president may need Hollywood's help on a sequel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: That was Dana Bash reporting.

Coming up, the standoff in Hawaii. Protesters blocking access to the state's highest peak, determined to stop construction on what they consider sacred land. We'll get a live report next.

[19:24:42] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: In Hawaii this weekend, people on the big island are turning up in large numbers, angry and emotional. They're protesting plans to build a huge telescope on top of a mountain there. Now, dozens of people have already been arrested, willing to face prosecution to protect a place that native Hawaiians consider sacred.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is tracking this story. Polo, what are you learning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me give you the background on this story here, Ana. What's essentially happening here on Hawaii's big island is this long-awaited showdown between members of the community and those who are seeking to build this telescope on Mauna Kea.

Now, these protesters, who say they prefer to be described as protectors, have actually been blocking the construction from the very beginning on the streets, in the courts, and now creating this large organized camp to essentially block the route to the site where this $1.4 billion observatory is to be built.

Now, for the natives, this dormant volcano is much more than just a patch of land. It is sacred ground. It is a place where they believe that the gods ascended into the heavens. In fact, many of their ancestors are actually buried there, which is why, according to an organizer, they are making this last stand.

I spoke to him a little while ago, Ana. He told me that they've already seen a presence of at least 2,000 people. These are people who are sleeping in cars, some of them even sleeping on hardened lava here, and it certainly has led to a fairly tense moment. In fact, just a few days ago, about 33 of those protesters were arrested, many of them elders, certainly leading to some anger in the community.

Now, we should mention most of them were released almost immediately; however, those tensions still remain, especially because of an emergency proclamation that's still in place. It was issued by Hawaii's Governor David Ige.

[19:29:56] This essentially broadens authorities' power here in the situation, Ana, to potentially move in and begin to forcefully remove some of these peaceful protesters. But we should mention that, at this point, we have not seen that.

[19:30:00] The organizers did tell me that they are expecting this to happen at any point. They are even taking to social media. They are going online to try to gather some bond money, basically a fund- raising operation should authorities decide to finally move in and begin to remove some of these individuals. Nine days now and they said that they are digging in their heels and they not going anywhere. They do not want that telescope, a 14th telescope, on that mountain to be built.

ANA CABRERA CNN HOST: OK. Polo Sandoval, thank you.

SANDOVAL: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, after days of protests, Puerto Rico's governor announces he won't run for reelection, but he is not stepping down as governor. We will go live to San Juan next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:34:44] CABRERA: Breaking news. The governor of Puerto Rico announcing in this Facebook video tonight that he will not step down from office despite growing calls for him to do so. But he says he will not run for reelection, either. Governor Ricardo Rossello has about a year and a half left in his term.

I want to go live to Puerto Rico and CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He is with the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz -- Nick.

[19:35:13] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Quite extraordinary announcement we have just heard, which is really, I think, thrown a grenade into what might potentially happen tomorrow and what could be a million strong protest on Monday.

Mayor, are you concerned about violence tomorrow?

MAYOR CARMEN YULIN CRUZ, SAN JUAN PUERTO RICCO: I'm concerned about violence tonight on the part of the police. We have seen videos of police shooting people with rubber guns on the back, following them, sort of as if they were just aiming and shooting at the people. What the governor has done today is he has added fuel to a fire.

WALSH: So you can see him here literally from the mansion where you are saying earlier he (INAUDIBLE) because his father was also in the same position. What do you think is going through his mind? Is he getting bad advice or is he just cut off from the outside world?

CRUZ: I think -- I'm concerned about his mental health. And I don't say that lightly because he has been shunted from society. Nobody -- we cannot hear one person that unequivocally says, I want him to stay. Not only because of the chat but because what that represents of who he is and what he thinks of those that are more disadvantaged in Puerto Rico. When the governor of Puerto Rico talks about in a chat don't we have any dead bodies or corpse that we can throw these people so that we can change the subject, that's despicable.

WALSH: What do you think will happen tomorrow? They are going to potentially gridlock an expressway. But will it potentially move toward the governor's mansion? I mean, this a protest, unfortunately, without a leader.

CRUZ: Tonight already a group of people went if front of the governor's mansion and said you have until 11:59 p.m. or else. They didn't say what "or else" was. But when you add that to a police superintendent that has said I will defend democracy, and by that he means the governor, until we shed the last bit, drop of blood.

He is inciting people. There's a lot of people that have never been to a protest before. So they don't really know what to look for in terms of difficult circumstances. And thousands of protests are calm. But, you know, there's always a few that takes things overboard. So we are prepared here at city hall with a makeshift emergency unit with medics and doctors and nurses to take in anybody that see receives tear gas or has a cut in their body or potentially being shot.

WALSH: Mayor, I have to push you on one thing. You did mention democracy. Why is it necessary for a protest crowd here to have him go tomorrow? There's an election. He was democratically elected. Corruption scandals happen in many democracies. People serve out their time. They're replaced at the polls. Why are people pushing, and you don't think it's dangerous to get people on the streets in this volume and demand the immediate departure, that's not democratic, is it?

CRUZ: Well, people are using their voice at the ultimate weapon. That is the ultimate democratic thing that people can do. But there's an impeachment procedure that the governor says that he is going to submit himself to. Nd I think that what he did is he heeded a warning to his party saying if I go down, I'm going to take you all down with me.

WALSH: Is it worth the loss of life or the risk to life?

CRUZ: No. Nothing is worth a loss of life. That's why he needs to quit and leave. I'm 56 years old. I have never seen -- we have never seen in the political history of Puerto Rico something like this.

WALSH: Ana, potentially a very tense night ahead of us and maybe a million people on the streets on Monday ss on Monday a lot o changing minute by minute, frankly.

CABRERA: You're doing great reporting there.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you. Our thanks to mayor Yulin Cruz as well.

Coming up, presidential candidate Julian Castro joins us live. He has called for the Puerto Rican governor to step down. We will get his reaction to tonight's breaking news from that US territory. We will talk to him about the upcoming debates as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:42:44] CABRERA: Breaking news tonight, the governor of Puerto Rico refusing to step down. Instead, governor Ricardo Rossello says he won't run for reelection when his term is up a year and a half from now. There have been calls for him to resign over a text messaging scandal.

Julian Castro was one of the first Democratic Presidential candidates to call for his resignation. He joins us now.

Secretary, first your reaction to the governor refusing to step down, but saying he won't run for reelection.

JULIAN CASTRO (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks for having me, Ana.

You know, Puerto Rico is an island in a tremendous amount of tumult right now as people can see from the images on their screen. And this governor and his failures have seemed to unite the people of Puerto Rico more than I think anything that we have seen in a long time.

This is a mistake for governor Rossello to say he's not going to step down. The corruption in his administration, the chat scandal, the use of force against his own people, all of those point toward the fact that he should resign. And the thing is, he may think that, you know, this is some sort of stopgap measure to say that he is not going to run for re-election, that that might suffice, but he's wrong. And the reason that he's wrong is because he can't possibly be effective anymore.

There comes a time when you're in power when you need to acknowledge that for the benefit of the people that you represent, you need to step aside. And I do not see how he can be effective at all as the governor. And so I hope that he'll do the right thing. We have seen other circumstances where a leader will say something like this. I'm just not going to run for reelection. And then in short order they real the circumstances actually require that step aside. That's what I hope he's going to realize in the days to come.

CABRERA: I want to turn to the President's racist attacks against four U.S. congresswomen. His top adviser, Stephen Miller, saying today the President's tweets weren't racist. Here's his argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: I think the term, racist, Chris, has become a label that is too often deployed by the left, Democrats in this country, simply to try to silence and punish and suppress people they disagree with. Speech that they don't want to hear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:45:05] CABRERA: Secretary Castro, you have said President Trump has shown he is a racist. You've also said quote "everybody knows that the President acts like a white supremacist." What is your reaction to Miller saying that term is overused and it's just a way for Democrats like yourself to silence people who disagree with you?

CASTRO: You know, this is the same game that these folks play. The President engages in racial priming. In other words, trying to split people by racial and ethnic identity with his language, with saying that these four congresswomen of color should go back home. With basking for 13 second in that chant of "send her back." And then he and his administration pretend like they are not doing anything.

This is his whole strategy. It was his strategy in 2016 with everything that we saw in that first campaign. It's not an accident that he just announced his reelection campaign and already he is up to it again. This is how he thinks he is going to win a narrow electoral college victory in 2020.

So my hope is that Americans will keep their eye on the ball. That we need to move toward leadership that is not trying to divide people but trying to bring Americans together because I know that whatever the color of our skin, whatever our background, we share a lot of common values and love of country and faith and hard work and family and those things that bring us together. And we need leaders that prime that, that rise that, lift that up, not what this President is doing, trying to create the other scapegoat scape-goat, create fear and paranoia.

CABRERA: Immigration has become a very polarizing issue in our country. It's a big part of your campaign. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for a 9/ 9/11-style commission to investigate family separations. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), NEW YORK: We need a commission on child separation because what these commissions are charged with doing, just as the 9/11 commission did when they said what went wrong. In the 9/11 commission they were charged with investigating and making sure they dug up every nook and cranny of what happened and how it happened in our system. And I think that that kind of study is what's going to be required in order to reunify as many children with their parents as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: At that oversight hearing, a little over a week ago, we heard chairman Cummings say there were still 30 children separated from their families. Make the case for or against a 9/11-style commission to investigate.

CASTRO: I think that representative Ocasio-Cortez has a great idea because we need to make sure that, number one, we get to the bottom of what happened, the extent of the cruelty here. And also make sure that those 30 children are reunited with their families. And then secondly, we need to move forward and make sure that this never happens again. And a commission like that I think could be helpful not only in investigating what happened, what went wrong, but also ensuring that we learn the lessons of this so that it never happens again. And, you know, I have proposed in my immigration plan repealing a part of the law, immigration law, that basically allowed for the Trump administration to incarcerate migrant parents then separate them from their little children.

CABRERA: Right.

CASTRO: Because I want to guarantee that no future administration can separate little children from their parents like that.

CABRERA: And on that note, what you are talking about is decriminalizing the border. That it should be civil, not criminal, for somebody who is coming across in between the ports of entry. You have also argued Trump's racist tweets this week make him more vulnerable with moderate voters in states that voted for President Obama but then flipped to Trump in 2016. I'm wondering on this issue now, is Trump actually baiting Democrats into moving further and further left making it harder for your party to pick up moderate voters?

CASTRO: I don't think so. For instance, he talks about making the country great again. Well, if you think about it, during the time he is talking about, I don't know, do you want to talk about the 1940s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, whatever he is referring to, during that whole time the United States had no wall and it used to treat border crossing as a civil matter, not a criminal matter. So we actually used to do it my way, not his way, when he says the country was better than it is today. And I'm perfectly happy to have this argument because I believe that whether people are white or black or Latino or Asian-American, native-American, rich, poor, wherever they live, in a suburb or city or a small town, that it is those values of basic respect for people and understanding that we can have immigration policy that maintains border security but that treats people with common sense and with compassion and gets to the root cause of this challenge with a 21st century marshal plan for Central America.

CABRERA: Right, I know you talked about --

CASTRO: So people can find -- I was just going to say so people can find safety and opportunity at home instead of having to come to the United States.

[19:50:04] CABRERA: I just really quick want to hit on one point, though, because you talked about what it was before what we have today in this criminalization of crossing the border, but we have seen in the last couple of decades we have seen the border arrests dropping from the high in 2000. So I'm trying to understand how you square that's the right answer to solving this crisis of people being held at the border and the surge we are seeing of people coming across the border.

CASTRO: Well, it's very clear that his approach of cruelty, of incarcerate, using this law to incarcerate parents and separate them from their children, it hasn't worked. He said when he came into office that he was going to deter more Central American families from coming here. And instead, Ana, as you know, and your viewers long, we have more people that are coming now than before. So what do we call that? What do we call that?

I mean, I would think that we call it a failure. And they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. And that's exactly what his policy is.

I say that we should say adios to him and his failure and say hello to a policy that actually will work to maintain border security. But to do it with common sense and with compassion and effectiveness, instead of his cruelty. There are some people that, you know, will run away from this issue. I'm going to make the case.

CABRERA: OK. The former HUD secretary and 2020 candidate Julian Castro, really great to talk to you. We look forward to seeing out night two of the upcoming Democratic debates.

A reminder, you can catch all the candidates in action at the CNN Democratic presidential debate. Two big nights, 20 candidates, July 30th and 31st. live from Detroit only on CNN.

We will be right back award.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:55:26] CABRERA: It was the decade that gave us some of the most iconic fantasy characters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who are you, sir? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dobbie, sir. Dobbie, the house elf.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why so serious?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I fell in love with her, with the forest and with the kind of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My precious!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Tonight's else of the CNN original series "the Movies," explores film in the 2000s including the blockbuster Harry Potter series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When Harry potter came out, it was right after 9/11. And people needed to go escape to a world of wizardry and magic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Hogwarts!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was tremendous anticipation for this film. Of course, we met with Joe Rowling and we were very careful to run everything by her and to be sure we had her blessing. Because she wasn't sure that she wanted to have the movies made at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I took warner brothers' word for it that they would be very true to the book and they did and I'm very happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harry Potter is the idea of this young boy, not only does he think there's anything special about him but he is mistreated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no such thing as magic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then to find out you are the heir of this amazing wizarding family and that you are unique and special and you have this all destiny in front of you. That's every child's fantasy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Curious. Very curious.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: With us now, the host of Turner Classic Movies, Alicia Malone.

Alicia, I may be the only person who hand actually watched the Harry Potter movies. But I know, you know, Harry Potter impacted an entire generation of movie goers. What are other movies during the 2000s set it apart from other decades?

ALICIA MALONE, HOST, TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES: Yes, it really did. Ans when I think about movies from the 2000s, I mean, they have been -- this decade and a bit have been dominated by franchises, cinematic universes, sequels, remakes, these big, big blockbuster films. And it is difficult to divorce these movies from how sophisticated computer technology has become because this has affected movie making in so many ways from special effects to computer animation, performance capture like we saw in "Lord Of The Rings 3D," like we saw in "Avatar." And then the use of the internet, not only for movie marketing but also as the way we now watch movies.

CABRERA: Now in the 2000s, we saw the balance of power sort of shift away from studios and directors to the actors, the movie stars. How does that change the kinds of movies being made?

MALONE: Well, at the beginning of the 2000s, it is too sauce (ph) like Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Will Smith, they all showed that people would go to see movies just because they were in them. So that gave them a tremendous amount of power. It gave them bigger salaries. But more most importantly, it gave them creative control so they could be the center of these movies built around them. And also, they were able to start their own ideas like we saw with George Clooney in "Oceans 11." Although, I do think in the last couple years, that started to shift again. And now it is the franchise like Marvel and "Star Wars" that is the biggest star.

CABRERA: And you think about the franchises, they just keep coming and coming and coming. How do filmmakers (INAUDIBLE) back?

MALONE: Well, firstly, they are easy to market because they have these inbuilt audiences. They are based on popular properties like books and TV shows and even a ride at Disneyland, as we saw with "Pirates of the Caribbean." But once they are inside, I think filmmakers are being really clever with the use of cinematic universe, these interconnected stories with so many characters. Meaning you have to watch all the installments in a series. And also, Marvel is really smart in taking the old way of the cliffhanger and making it into the end cretic sequence. So you have to sit through all the credits, get a little bit of taste of what is to come. And that means you leave the theater already wanting to see the next movie.

CABRERA: Do you have a favorite movie from the 2000s?

MALONE: Yes. I think at the beginning of the decade, it is "Lost in Translation" by Sophia (INAUDIBLE). I think that is such a beautifully told emotional story. One of Bill Murray's best performances. And then more recently, "La La Land" from 2016. That's the film I felt that spoke to me specifically, you know. It is all about the MGM classic musicals that I love. And about a redhead coming to Hollywood trying to make her dreams happen. And it was just a movie that makes my soul happy.

CABRERA: Love that. Love that. "Slumdog Millionaire" is one of my favorites from 2000 so far.

MALONE: Yes.

CABRERA: Alicia Malone, thank you.

MALONE: Thank you.

CABRERA: That does it for me. I'm Ana Cabrera.

Stay tuned for a brand new else of the CNN original series, the movies. First, "the Nineties."