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Trump Heads To Wisconsin Rally Days After Calling Milwaukee "Horrible City"; Celtics Dominate Mavs, Win Historic 18th Title; Sen. Richard Blumental (D-CT) On Boeing Whistleblower Coming Forward Ahead Of CEO Capitol Hill Hearing. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:33:58]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Donald Trump is heading to a rally in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. Now, it might be slightly awkward considering he just called Milwaukee, which is hosting the Republican National Convention, a horrible city. And just for the record, Milwaukee is in Wisconsin.

Just nine days to go until the historic CNN debate and the Trump team is launching a new ad campaign to get ready.

CNN's Alayna Treene is with us now on that. Good morning.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, John.

I'm going to start with Donald Trump's visit to Wisconsin today. And you're right, it definitely will probably be a little bit awkward given that just days ago in House Republican meeting, Donald Trump said that the city was horrible. Now, Donald Trump's team has pushed back repeatedly on that comment. A reminder that meeting was behind closed doors, but several sources told CNN that Donald Trump had made that comment.

They say he was referring to crime in the city. Of course, never a good look when your party is hosting a convention in a city that the former president and the presumptive nominee who is going to be nominated is calling the city horrible.

[07:35:03]

Now, Donald Trump will not be in Milwaukee today. He will be in Racine. But look, this is one of the states that Donald Trump has visited the most since becoming the party's presumptive nominee.

And it really underscores how Donald Trump's advisers view the state. When I talk to them, they continuously call it a must-win state for them. And part of the reason is that Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2016. It's part of -- it's one of the states that really helped propel him to the White House. But he lost it to Biden in 2020 by less than a point. So this is a state that both candidates are aggressively campaigning in.

Now, when I talked to Trump's advisers over the last 24 hours, they say his speech today is really going to be focused on the economy. They are heavily targeting the blue-collar workers in this state. So we should expect to hear somewhat of a typical stump speech from the former president, but I am sure crime will also come up again just given that remark from a couple of days ago.

Now, as for how they are preparing for this debate, they are reserving ad time for the first time, really, since Donald Trump has become the presumptive nominee. They are placing their first ad buys around the CNN debate. They are going to have ads on a series of networks, including CNN, in a series of battlegrounds.

I'm going to read you just some of the battlegrounds where they're going to be having these ads. It's going to be in Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Georgia. Again, all of the states we know that Donald Trump's team is really putting the majority of their resources toward.

And I think it's really interesting because we haven't seen, as I mentioned, the Trump campaign itself buying ads that much in the months since he became the presumptive nominee. Whereas, the Biden campaign and Democrats have spent far more money on ads. That number is $92.8 million that Democrats have spent on advertising for the race. Whereas, Republicans have only spent about $34.1 million.

So I think that just shows you how they really see this debate as a good opportunity to try and draw a further contrast between Trump and President Joe Biden -- John.

BERMAN: It's historic, to be sure. The earliest general election debate we have ever seen right here, of course, on CNN.

Alayna Treene, great to see you this morning. Thank you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning, we're learning new details on where longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon will be spending his time behind bars. Sources say instead of a more comfortable prison assignment known as "Club Fed," Bannon will likely serve time in a Connecticut prison that does not have individual cells, but open pods for all of the inmates.

The sentence comes as Bannon has continued to be an active Donald Trump advocate and rebel-rouser on the campaign trail.

Let's bring in CNN's Katelyn Polantz who broke this story. Katelyn, what else are you learning about this? There was a hope that he -- for him, that he would be in this sort of more comfortable, if you will, federal prison.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yeah, Sara. Steve Bannon and his lawyers not only wanted or thought he would be going to a minimal security -- minimum security prison -- a prison camp. So one does that doesn't have major walls where the inmates are protected in a different way; not as -- they're just not as contained there in the way that a prison -- a low security or other prison in the federal system would be.

But Steve Bannon is going to be going to a low security prison in Danbury, Connecticut instead. That's because he has pending charges against him. He's awaiting a trial in New York trying to fight those charges relating to charges about defrauding investors in a foundation that he was taking part in. That case is ongoing. It may mean that he may have to be transferred to another detention facility -- perhaps Rikers Island in New York -- when that trial is ongoing.

But, Sara, this is all coming -- and this news for Steve Bannon that he's going to be going to prison by July 1 in the federal system -- it's all coming at a time when he is ascendant in Donald Trump's political sphere. His lawyers are even in court trying to ask courts, even today -- even this week -- waiting for an answer to see if he will have to go to prison during the election cycle. And they're writing that if he does, it would bar Bannon from serving as a meaningful adviser in the ongoing national campaign.

And at the same time, he has also been out there speaking at the same event as Donald Trump over the weekend -- a right-wing event. And he had much to say about others -- the people who were against Donald Trump, saying that senior members of the Justice Department -- Jack Smith -- they may have some sort of retribution or revenge.

Here's a little bit more of what Steve Bannon had to say.

[07:40:00]

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STEVE BANNON, TRUMP ALLY: And we're coming after Lisa Monaco, Merrick Garland, the senior members of DOJ that prosecuted President Trump, Jack Smith. And this is not about vengeance. This is not about revenge. This is not about retribution. This is about saving this republic. We're going to use the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So, Steve Bannon now waiting to see if any judges find reason under the law to hold off him going to prison. But right now, July 1 is the report date for him -- Sara.

SIDNER: And you could -- just a fact-check. He's saying it's not about revenge and retribution, but then he says we're coming after them. Clearly, that is what it is about. We will see what happens here -- July, August, September, October. That would put him, if he goes to jail, right before the actual election. We will wait and see what happens.

Thank you so much for your reporting, Katelyn Polantz. Great reporting for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right. With us now, Republican strategist and former RNC communications director, Doug Heye. And Democratic strategist and consultant, Simon Rosenberg.

And Doug and I were just talking. You were heavily involved with planning Republican conventions in 1996 in San Diego, two --

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR: Not heavily involved in '96. I was too young for that. But 2008 and '12, a lot of work on those.

BERMAN: So you were a player in conventions. Can you think of a worse thing to say about a convention city -- a host city -- if you are the nominee than it's a horrible city?

HEYE: Let me give you a very equivocal answer. Yes and no. Look, that's a terrible thing to say. You don't want your candidate saying that. Obviously, it causes you to go on defense and explain a lot. But we also know there's an old Frank Sinatra song, "I've Heard That Song Before." Donald Trump says something crazy, everybody clutches their pearls, and it turns out that it doesn't matter really that much on Election Day.

Go back to that Friday afternoon in October when the "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD" tape came out in 2016. It was huge news. It was a terrible statement. It didn't affect his electability at all.

BERMAN: I get it and I'm not calling this "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD." But, Simon, literally, the reason you go to a city for a convention is to shore up votes in that city/state. I mean, you are targeting something specific 95 percent of the time when you pick a convention city.

SIMON ROSENBERG, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND CONSULTANT: Yeah. I mean, it's not very Midwest nice, you know, John. I mean, this is -- you know, this is a part of the country where people are very civil with one another and are respectful to each other. And I think this was a huge insult to the people of Wisconsin and -- because it was --

And look, Donald Trump had a bad week last week. I mean, he not only stumbled with this Milwaukee comment, which was just jaw-dropping and kind of unbelievable, but he came out of the CEO meeting with CEOs saying that he couldn't complete a sentence and his thoughts were unclear. And there was huge doubts raised.

Donald Trump is not a good candidate. He is struggling in this election in my view, and his performance on the stump -- and we're going to see next week on CNN, right? I mean, we're going to see here in the debate on Thursday night is that when he goes out and speaks in public he does damage to the campaign. They've got to be very worried about what's going to happen today.

HEYE: Look, keep in mind also, John, that there are -- you know, in every state, there are people who are outside of that capital who look at that city and don't like it. So if I'm a rural Wisconsin voter, I'm more likely than not to agree with Trump on this.

BERMAN: I get that rural --

HEYE: Still, not a great statement.

BERMAN: -- have been split, but Wisconsin -- it doesn't really -- I can see that maybe when, you know, the college town, like ah, we don't like what's going on in Madison. But Milwaukee is a little bit of a different type of place. It's a little bit swingier, especially on the outskirts there.

HEYE: Um-hum.

BERMAN: I'm not sure you want to be trashing it, but we'll leave that there.

What Simon --

HEYE: Want to be, no. But is this damaging? I don't think so.

BERMAN: Simon just said something interesting there, which is that --

HEYE: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- what both campaigns are doing is something unusual --

HEYE: Um-hum.

BERMAN: -- which is they are lowering expectations for the other candidate.

HEYE: Yeah.

BERMAN: I'm not used to this before a debate.

HEYE: Yeah.

BERMAN: Usually what happens before a debate is that you would come here as a Republican and tell me that --

HEYE: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- Joe Biden is the best debater since Cisero.

HEYE: Yeah.

BERMAN: And Simon would be here saying that Donald Trump is Daniel Webster.

HEYE: Um-hum.

BERMAN: The opposite is happening and both parties are lowering expectations about the other candidate as much as possible.

HEYE: It defies gravity. It defies logic. As we've seen so much in our politics this happens a lot.

Look, I think what we're going to see next Thursday is really -- this is about all the marbles because we're going to learn --

BERMAN: Yeah.

HEYE: -- if they have all their marbles. And it's why they're trying to play this game. But ultimately, it could backfire for either one of them because if Biden has a good night, it takes away a lot of the arguments that Republicans make, although Biden has to then prove that every week on the stump. Same is true for Donald Trump for exactly what Simon just talked about with the BRT meeting.

BERMAN: Look, the American people are the winner here because they get to see both candidates --

HEYE: Um-hum.

BERMAN: -- for a long period of time without interruptions --

ROSENBERG: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- and that's terrific.

Simon, just very quickly, the immigration policy.

ROSENBERG: Yeah.

BERMAN: President Biden, today, offering legal protections for some half a million spouses of U.S. citizens -- undocumented spouses here, right, two weeks after he cracks down on asylum here.

What's the takeaway for voters? What do you think they take from this?

[07:45:00]

ROSENBERG: Yeah. I mean, I think that this is longstanding policy for the Democrats. I mean, for 20 years, we've tried to reform the broken immigration system and have been blocked repeatedly by Republicans.

It's not just -- and we just saw it just a few weeks ago with the border bill that had been negotiated by Republicans in the Senate. The president negotiated. We thought we had a bipartisan deal to -- which was one of the toughest border bills ever negotiated. We thought we were going to pass it this year because the Republicans tell us this is a major challenge. And then they blocked our ability to move on that aspect of immigration reform.

The other part of immigration reform is making pragmatic steps to -- for people who have been long settled here who work -- many of whom have jobs and are working productively and paying taxes to have legal status and to have, potentially, a path to citizenship and if you're going to be here, be here.

I think this is a pragmatic step. It's deeply within our understanding of what we need to do to address the immigration issue in the country, and I applaud the president for taking this -- these courageous steps.

HEYE: John, it also tells me that Biden has serious political problems with Hispanic voters. Republican candidates up and down the ballot -- congressional, House, Senate, gubernatorial -- they should be investing heavily in Hispanic media on this.

BERMAN: Simon Rosenberg, Doug Heye, who could play Brian Scalabrine in the Celtics movie. HEYE: Well, congratulations to your Celtics.

BERMAN: Thank you. Thank you very much. It's great to see you. It's great to see you both -- appreciate it.

ROSENBERG: See you, guys. Bye-bye.

BERMAN: Look, we were just talking about this historic debate right here on CNN. It is next Thursday night. The earliest general election debate in U.S. history. Dana Bash and Jake Tapper moderate live Thursday, June 27 at 9:00 p.m.

All right -- and I was just talking about Brian Scalabrine, Celtics great, and I am wearing a green tie for a reason. That reason, the Celtics have now won 18 NBA titles. No other team has ever won more than 17, so this is a big deal. This was a great team, and it was a great victory.

CNN's Carolyn Manno gets to share in the joy of it all. Good morning to you.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And if you're not here on Friday, John, we all know why because you've called in sick and you're going to be at the duck boat parade. The streets of Boston are going to be flooded. This is what they've been waiting for. For the first time since 2008, Boston winning the title.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NBA ANNOUNCER: Get ready to raise an 18th banner, Boston! The Celtics are once again the winningest franchise in the history of the NBA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The Celtics simply would not be denied, John. They set the tone from the opening tip against Dallas. They jumped out to this 21- point halftime lead, and it was punctuated by Payton Pritchard's heave from beyond half-court at the buzzer. The Celtics never let up after that.

Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston. He had a game-high 31 points. He had 11 assists, eight boards in the 106-88 win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAYSON TATUM, FORWARD, BOSTON CELTICS: Oh my God. It's a surreal feeling. We did it. We did it! Oh my God, we did it. We've been through a lot as a team over this last couple of years -- over my seven years. What they gonna say now? What they gonna say now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The Celtics, once again, alone at the top of the list of teams with the most NBA titles. Their 18th championship breaking that tie with the Lakers. And it was Jaylen Brown who walked away with top individual honors as he was named Finals MVP after nearly 21 points per game in the series. Brown telling reporters he knew that the team could overcome all of those previous finals disappointments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAYLEN BROWN, 2024 NBA FINALS MVP: I think we learned -- I think we learned from all our mistakes. All of our adversity I think has made us stronger and made us tougher.

And all season you could see it, you know. We started from the jump. We made all the sacrifices. We played both ends of the ball at a high level. We didn't skip any steps. And this was the result.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: John, the Mavs have a perennial MVP candidate in Luka Doncic. It stands to reason that he will get his moment maybe multiple times in a Mavs uniform.

But for now, it's all about Boston. They deserve it. And you can feel how much pressure they were under. They're just happy and relieved to get it off their backs, and they deserve this moment.

BERMAN: As Jayson Tatum says, what they gonna say now? I don't know who I'm happier for, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, or me. I'm going with me.

Carolyn Manno, thank you so much. Great to see you this morning -- Sara.

SIDNER: John, we're going to -- we're going to pop this and we're going to drink the --

BERMAN: Yessiree.

SIDNER: -- whole thing -- the whole thing.

I noticed the green tie this morning, but don't think that, like, missed me. I see you.

John is going. I don't think he's going to be here Friday. That's the truth. Carolyn called it.

All right, we've got some more good stuff other than John's exciting win because apparently, he played in the game as well.

This morning, a Kansas City man who has lived with ALS for 24 years isn't letting that stop him from fulfilling his lifelong dream. Sixty- six-year-old Mark Johnson is one of the longest-living people with ALS and in April, he was moved to hospice care. And when he was asked about his one wish, he did not hesitate. It was skydiving. Oh, my goodness.

[07:50:14] His family and friends watched him take the plunge. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK JOHNSON, DIAGNOSED WITH ALS: The people I have around me today gave me that hope and courage. Live one day at a time and live it to the fullest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How as that? Great jump.

JOHNSON: My father was an airline pilot. I've always loved to fly. I think it's a sense of freedom -- all of God's creation out there. It's beyond amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What a beautiful moment.

Originally, he was only given two to five years to live. Twenty-four years later he hopes his story will inspire others with ALS to keep reaching for their dreams.

And just lastly to mention, John got his dream. I think -- what is it? Larry Byrd is the last time I remember paying attention to the Celtics. Oh, sorry, John.

All right. Still ahead, security concerns putting a temporary pause on mangos and avocados from Mexico. We'll explain that coming up.

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[07:55:30]

SIDNER: We've got breaking news for you this morning.

A current Boeing employee is accusing the airplane manufacturer of cutting corners. This latest whistleblower came forward hours before Boeing's CEO Dave Calhoun will be grilled on Capitol Hill today. And there are, of course, growing questions over the safety of Boeing's aircraft, which is why he is speaking to those on the Hill.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal chairs the subcommittee holding today's Boeing hearing. He joins me now. Thank you so much, sir, for coming this morning.

We are all very curious about this last-minute whistleblower who has come forward. You, I think, actually spoke to him. What did you learn from him -- from this new whistleblower?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): This whistleblower, Sam Mohawk, is one of a dozen who have come to us in recent months and his allegations are extraordinarily serious.

He is saying that Boeing used non-conforming parts. Those are parts that are defective or damaged, or undocumented and mis-tracked in airplanes -- installing them. And then lying to the FAA about how it was storing those non-conforming parts.

This kind of violation of trust is part of a pattern -- a broken safety culture at Boeing. The company promised it would turn around that safety culture after the two crashes that occurred in 2018 and 2019. There was a deferred prosecution, as you recall, on the condition that Boeing, in effect, improve its performance on safety and reliability.

But as Sam Mohawk reports, the company seems to have continued to put profits and production speed ahead of safety and reliability. And his account of the retaliation against him is particularly chilling -- the pressure that was exerted on him to stay silent. They have a program called "Speak Up." Well, he was told to shut up. And the pressure on him ultimately resulted in threats of termination, and that's one of the reasons why he's coming forward.

SIDNER: Sen. Blumental, I mean, it sounds like you were shaken by what he said -- that these -- using improper parts that really should not be on airplanes and putting profits over people.

What do you expect to do about this? What will you be saying in this meeting and trying to do in the Senate when it comes to Boeing and some of the issues that they have had that we have all seen where planes are falling apart in the sky in some instances?

BLUMENTHAL: You know, ultimately, we should want Boeing to succeed. It's a company that is key to our economy and to aircraft manufacturing. It's one of only two major aircraft manufacturers in the world and it has plants all around the United States employing people. We want those people to continue in those jobs.

I want to help it regain trust by facing the facts. And the facts are very bluntly and deeply alarmingly that Boeing has failed to comply with the conditions that it promised it would after those crashes of 2018 and 2019. And it was spared criminal prosecution on the promise that it would correct course. It needs changes in management.

It needs to show the public that it will, in fact, implement specific actions to stop the use of defective or damaged parts. To come clean with regulators like the FAA. To do quality inspections not by the mechanic who is doing the work next to the guy who is work is supposed to be inspected, but by an independent inspector -- quality inspector, fully trained.

These kinds of measures are key to Boeing's success going forward.

And as chair of the permanent subcommittee on investigations, I'll be producing a report that will insist on accountability and improving Boeing's safety practices. And, in fact, putting safety and reliability ahead of profits or stock price.

SIDNER: And Sen. Blumenthal, you talked about Boeing escaping criminal prosecution. Do you think going forward -- from what you're hearing from this whistleblower in particular and from other whistleblowers -- that this kind of behavior is still happening there?