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Inside Politics
Biden Apologizes for Comments on Segregationist Senators; Trump Sticks to Script, Praises Military in July 4 Speech; Kamala Harris Seizing the 2020 Spotlight. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired July 07, 2019 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:00:31] NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): a front- runner on the defensive.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's so easy to go back and go back 30, 40, 50 years and take it completely out of context.
HENDERSON: A challenger on the rise.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has yet to agree that his position on this, which was to work with segregationists and oppose busing, was wrong. Period.
HENDERSON: And a very, very late apology.
BIDEN: I regret it.
HENDERSON: Plus, Trump seizes the spotlight on Independence Day.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our nation is stronger today than it ever was before.
HENDERSON: And he claims he deserves a new title -- recruiter in chief.
And the growing crisis at the border.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): There's abuse in these facilities. There's abuse. This is them on their best behavior.
TRUMP: They are running it beautifully, and they're doing a phenomenal job.
HENDERSON: INSIDE POLITICS, the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters, now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENDERSON: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Nia-Malika Henderson. John King is off today.
We begin this Sunday with the 2020 campaign and Joe Biden's effort to turn the page. In the weeks since the first debate, he has faced intense criticism from his 2020 rivals and growing fears his front- runner says it at risk. Speaking in South Carolina yesterday, Biden forcefully pushed back against his critics while also doing what his supporters wanted him to do sooner -- apologize for his comments seeming to praise segregationist senators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I chose to work within the system, to make it better, to get things done for the least among us. Was a wrong to do that? I don't think so.
Now, was I wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again? Well, yes, I was. I regret it. And I'm sorry for any of the pain or misconception that may have caused anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Biden also defended his civil rights record from the 1994 crime bill to his position on busing, the focus of his debate stage fireworks with Senator Kamala Harris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'm going to let my record and my character stand for itself and not be distorted or smeared. I know those speaking the issue today or saying what I said back then. But the better answer is to get to the root cause of segregation. I don't believe a child should have to get on a bus to attend a good school. There should be first- rate schools of quality in every neighborhood in this nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Biden's message to his 2020 competitors boiled down to this. It's time to move beyond focusing on his past and instead make the election about Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: America, in 2019, is a very, very different place than the 1970s. And that's a good thing. And, yes, I've changed also. I'm not the same person that I was at age 29.
And I know that many want this campaign to be about my past, my past, not theirs. My past. I get it. That's the game. But this isn't a game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Joining us now with the reporting and their insights, Julie Pace of "The Associated Press", Rachael Bade of "The Washington Post", Jackie Kucinich of "The Daily Beast", and Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times".
A busy week out on the campaign trail, busy weekend. You saw Joe Biden down in South Carolina speaking directly to an African-American audience making an apology. Some people might say it was sort of a non-apology apology.
But do you think, Jonathan, that this is enough to turn the page for what had been a series of tough days for Biden.
JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I thought it was an excellent speech and one he probably should have given earlier. It was I think important to address his comments from last month about working with Eastland and Talmadge like he did. But I think it was also important for him to recognize and to voters that this election is about the future.
Look, it's the oldest maxim in politics. Keep it about the future.
[08:05:00] And he's got to make it about the future, not about his past. And I think it's also important that he kind of did that bit there about all of his opponents want to make it about his past.
HENDERSON: But he also wants to make it about his past, too, right? I mean, that's the problem.
MARTIN: By the way, not just his past in the Senate.
HENDERSON: Yes.
MARTIN: But ignoring his time as vice president.
HENDERSON: Right.
MARTIN: It was important what he said yesterday, they want to focus my life before '08 instead of the last eight years, because obviously that's not helpful for their campaigns. And I think the more he elevates his time as vice president, the more helpful it is in terms of connecting with Democratic audiences.
But he is never going to win this nomination. He's not talking about the future instead of the past, whether or not it's working for Obama or working in the Senate in the '70s.
HENDERSON: Yes, and you saw Cory Booker who had been critical of the vice president's comments. Here's what he had to say about Biden's regrets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm frustrated it took so long but I'm grateful for him doing this. You can't have a leader who can't say I made a mistake. I apologize.
So, I'm sorry we had to go through all this. I'm sorry at one point he tried to shift blame to me. But this, I'm grateful. I just want to say thank you. We need to extend grace to each other. I'm never going to not accept somebody I respect and admire who finally has come to terms with this and has apologized.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Jackie, classic Cory Booker there talking about grace.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Grace.
HENDERSON: Grace.
Do you feel like the other campaigns will extend the same grace, or will they make an issue of the fact that Joe Biden really hasn't apologized for the substance of his work with the segregationists, really, which was opposing busing and school integration?
KUCINICH: It's not only that, Cory Booker has taken issue with Joe Biden's work with the crime bill. There are people who are still in jail because of those policies, and make the mistake.
And the idea that you can't examine Joe Biden's record as a legislator, as a valid point of contrast between -- that's just how campaign works. It's not his personal life. It's his legislative record. Yes, his term as vice president should absolutely be a part of that. The idea that it is not fair game and it's unfair, doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
HENDERSON: And he certainly wants to make the eight years under Obama as the centerpiece. He did that I think most strongly in that speech with this line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: When I talk about the Obama years, my opponents talk about it as ancient history. When others talk about something I said in the '70s, they talk about it like he it's yesterday. Kind of strange, isn't it?
It was the honor of my lifetime to serve with a man who I believe is a great president, historic figure and most important to me, a close friend. I will take his judgment about my record, my character, my ability to handle the job over anyone else's.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: And, Julie Pace, we have seen him others try to wrap himself in the mantle of Obama, people in 2010, people in 2014, obviously, Clinton in 2016. It didn't work for Clinton in 2016.
Why does Joe Biden think this is a good strategy?
JULIE PACE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I think the reason is Joe Biden actually does have a stronger claim than any of those other people. Obama advisers will tell you that. They will say, look, he was central to a lot of what Obama did. If you like Obamacare, that is -- Joe Biden has a piece of that legacy.
And also for Biden, those eight years as vice president changed the story of Joe Biden. Before then he was, you know, a lawmaker with a pretty up and down record, mostly known for gaffes, for failed presidential campaigns. He exited those eight years as really a beloved elder statesman in the party. HENDERSON: Yes.
PACE: So, he hasn't said it beyond the policy record to try to remind people of the warm feelings they had for them and also on a practical level, Barack Obama is the most popular figure in --
(CROSSTALK)
PACE: -- African-American voters, any coat tails that Joe Biden or anyone else can ride in this primary will be to their benefit.
HENDERSON: Yes. And you saw Biden essentially reflecting on that moment he had in the Harris debate saying he wasn't really prepared for his record to come particularly from Kamala Harris. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I was prepared for them to come after me, but I wasn't prepared for the person coming at me the way she did. She knew Beau. She knows me.
I don't -- anyway, I -- but here's the deal. What I do know, and it's good and bad news. The American people think they know me and they know me.
The idea that I would be intimidated by Donald Trump, he's the bully that I knew my whole life, he's the bully that I have always stood up to. He is the bully who used to make fun of me when I was kid for stuttering and I'd smack him in the mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: And that is the key to his candidacy, right, that he's the one that can take on Donald Trump on a debate stage. He even referenced this idea that Donald Trump wouldn't walk behind me the way he walked behind Hillary Clinton in 2016, Rachael.
RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, yes, two thoughts. The first one being if he wasn't ready for that attack, I mean, that's absolutely foolish. He needs to be ready -- he's the front-runner.
HENDERSON: He's the frontrunner, right.
BADE: He's the top target. And he's not prepared for that, his polls will continue to drop. There will be other instances where they will go after him.
The second thing, talking about Trump and sort of pivoting going after the president, I mean, he's talking about his electability. And that's sort of his greatest strength right now. When you look at polls that match up Democratic contenders for 2020 and the president, he continuously is one of the only ones who can beat the president and by a lot larger margin than other Democrats can.
I think we just had a "Washington Post" poll, and I know we will talk about this in the show later, he was, what, 23 points ahead of Trump when it came to moderates. Seven-point ahead when it came to independents.
HENDERSON: Yes.
BADE: And that's the thing he needs to keep talking about, because that's the thing people want first in a Democratic candidate, one that can beat Trump
HENDERSON: Right. We saw him talking about in that interview with Chris Cuomo basically saying of the Democratic Party isn't the party of AOC. It's the party of centrist. That is what he is banking on, if he can own the moderate lane.
MARTIN: Well, it's the lesson of the 2018 midterms too. How the Democrats took back the House was with moderates running and a lot of sort of purple-to-red districts around the country. I think that's the case he is going to make.
Look, I think Biden will talk much more about Trump than his Democratic rivals in the future. What happened yesterday was a concession to the political reality post that he had to say something. But I think turning away from what he did yesterday, I think he will focus much more on Trump.
And to your point, Rachel, making the case that he can beat Trump. And also, the party ought not risk, you know, imperiling his chances against Trump by pursuing policy says that could put that at risk.
HENDERSON: Like on health care, like on immigration.
MARTIN: Absolutely. I think on health care especially, elevating Obamacare does two things for him. Reminds folks with he's with Obama. And also, a weapon to say let's not get too far out there on the edge and risk our chances against Trump by talking about taking away folks' private healthcare.
HENDERSON: Yes, and we'll see if he can sort of maintain that kind of discipline. Because a lot of things that got him in trouble are things he just randomly says.
MARTIN: Yes, with more fire coming his way, I'm sure.
HENDERSON: Yes, indeed, and more fire coming everybody's way, particularly, Kamala Harris, I think.
Up next, President Trump takes center stage at a made-or for-TV Fourth of July celebration.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:15:59] HENDERSON: President Trump took center stage this Fourth of July, at a celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial complete with a crowd of supporters, tanks, armored vehicles, and a Blue Angels flyover. It did not however feature an off script president as some of his critics predicted. Trump skipped the usual lines that are favorites at his rallies, instead sticking to a speech full of America's military might and national identity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As long as we stay true to our cause, as long as we remember our great history, as long as we never, ever stop fighting for a better future, then there will be nothing that America cannot do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Trump has wanted a large-scale military display for years, ever since he participated in France's Bastille Day celebration in 2017. Plans for a Veterans Day parade last year were scrapped pause of local opposition and a $90 million price tag.
But Trump finally got his made-for-TV moment and made no time distributing it, tweeting out this campaign style video promptly shared wider by his re-election team. That video fueling concerns from critics that the president was making a national holiday all about himself and shattering yet another norm by using it for political purposes on the taxpayers' dime.
Julie, this didn't up like people predicted, right? We're nervous about this idea sort of using the military as political props as some people thought he would. It was a very different speech. A lot of people liked it. A lot of people liked the flyovers. We heard them here in D.C.
But did it still come off as too Capitol Hill for some?
PACE: There was a lot of consternation over the whole idea of Trump doing this. He did skip to the script. He has done that on occasion. I wouldn't get comfortable with that M.O.
But I do think that the video that you pointed out, what was so striking about it, is that this is the national holiday where people from all over the country gather on the mall, watch fireworks, celebrate the country. That video was all about Trump. So even though in the moment, he was able to stick to the script and not take the political bait in his remarks, what he's promoting out of it is the Trump show.
HENDERSON: Right.
PACE: That is the brand he knows. It is the world that he lives in. And even, you know, in that moment if he sounds like he is going in a different direction, he comes back to that same comfortable place.
MARTIN: It was salesmanship. I mean, what he was doing is salesmanship, and the crafting of that video is aimed at showing voters who maybe didn't like all of his high jinks that he can be presidential at times, right? I think in some ways, doing the speech that he did, was a rebuttal to people who said he couldn't do that kind of thing. Here, I can do presidential. It's a sort of phrase he used to say in the campaign.
I can be presidential. He's trying to show something here by delivering that sort of speech as the kind of best rejoinder to it.
HENDERSON: And you see his poll numbers. You mentioned this, Rachael, in the previous block. Highest approval ratings yet, according to "Washington Post" poll, overall approval is 44 percent. Especially high on the economy, there you see 51 percent. Not as great on other issues like taxes, foreign policy, immigration, health care especially at 38 percent.
This is good for the president. Is it good enough for his re- election?
BADE: Yes. I think it shows there's a possible path to Trump for re- election. I mean, a lot of people have been questioning the Democratic takeover of the House. Is the energy on the left going to mean the end of his tenure in the White House?
And again, this shows people think the economy is doing well, 51 percent approving of the economy. Even those people who said he is not presidential enough. They think they were, what, 6 in 10 said he is not presidential enough. One-fifth of those people said they still approve what he is doing with the economy even though they don't particularly like him.
(CROSSTALK)
KUCINICH: Usually if the economy is this guy a president would be in better standing. The president himself is the one that undermines it by his words and by his policies.
[08:20:03] HENDERSON: Yes, and you see another poll out of the "Washington Post". The person who does best of all, Joe Biden, 53 percent.
Of course, this is hypothetical. It is early. There's whole campaign to run with Trump coming in at 43 percent.
You dig into those numbers, as you said, one of the reasons he's doing well, Biden, is because he does better folks among independents, among moderates, as well as among men, right? So, with Biden, as somebody who's able to sort of hold the Obama coalition together and add to it, particularly among men.
PACE: And I think one of the challenges for Democrats is that these numbers for Trump are in isolation, right? So, stack up Trump on economy and Elizabeth Warren, very liberal economic message. Stack up Trump on health care versus Democrats who are calling for blowing up the private insurance system.
We don't really know what that is going to look like. That's what Republicans and the Trump campaign are banking on. His numbers don't look amazing given how strong the economy is. But you start stacking them up against the reality of a Democratic party moving to the left, they think he will be on pretty solid ground in these kinds of situations.
HENDERSON: And this is why you have Joe Biden trying to hold the line.
KUCINICH: I think you are going to see even more as we get into more of these debates. They are trying to bring voters along to see that person next to Trump on the debate stage like they are currently seeing Biden.
HENDERSON: Yes. We'll see. It's still early.
KUCINICH: Next, we turn back to the presidential race where Kamala Harris is seizing the 2020 spotlight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fight of black women has always been fueled and grounded in faith and in the belief of what is possible. And that's why Sojourner spoke. It's why May flew. It's why Rosa and Claudette sat. It is why Maya wrote. It is why Fanny organized. It is why Shirley ran. And why I stand here as a candidate for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:25:32] HENDERSON: It is seeming more and more possible in 2020 a female Democratic presidential nominee after Senator Kamala Harris's standout debate performance and Senator Elizabeth Warren's steady rise.
In the past month, former Vice President Biden has gone down 10 points in CNN's Democratic horserace polling, while Harris has gone up 9 points. Warren has also risen by eight points, while her rival for the liberal left, Senator Bernie Sanders, has gone down by 4 points.
In Harris's Iowa wing this weekend, the self-styled prosecutor in chief took on President Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I prosecuted the big banks when they preyed on homeowners. I've prosecuted the pharmaceutical companies. I know predators. And we have a predator living in the White House.
He has predatory instincts and a predatory nature. Predators are cowards. And we don't need a predator in the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: And she also said that voters that want a woman in the White House should be excited in 2020.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: We are going to win this, guys. We're going to win this. It will not be easy. It will not be easy. It will not be easy.
But let's just be really clear. This is not 2016, this is 2020. And people are woke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: People are woke, Jackie.
Sure, I think she's right. There are racial issues in the Democratic primary. They are certainly woke. But I also think you've got voters who are also woke to another reality, which is that a lot of general election voters might not be comfortable with a woman president voting for a black woman. White voters might be uncomfortable with that.
And that's why you see hesitance with people rallying around Warren and Harris.
KUCINICH: Which is why you see her taking it to Trump. It is very, very strong language. You know, it is one of the reasons, just in terms of the primary -- one of the reasons she went after Joe Biden was because of black voters. She's also targeted black women voters with maternal mortality plan. At the Essence Festival yesterday, she rolled out $100 billion in black home ownership investment as one of her potential policies.
But the way she is going at Trump is to show she is Trump enough and voters should dispel their potential uncomfortableness for voting for a woman again.
HENDERSON: And you saw her released some fundraising numbers here. She is lagging behind -- Buttigieg on top of everybody in this with $24 million. And Harris basically half that. She needed that debate moment. She raised $2 million after that debate.
PACE: One thing that strikes me about those fund-raising numbers, Harris, when she launched her campaign, she launched with a lot of fund-raising prowess. She had a big crowd in Oakland, really professional campaign organization around her.
It looked like she had all of those intangibles that you need to go the distance in a Democratic campaign. Those fund-raising numbers, though, showed how much she dropped off. The campaigns said she raised $2 million in a couple of days after the debate, between the end of the debate and the end of the quarter. She's less than half of Buttigieg, about less than half of Biden.
She needed a moment. We were talking about that at the break. She is coming from a position of weakness, not necessarily of strength.
Now, she delivered in that moment, right? She had a plan. She executed on it. And now she's got the momentum. But is she going to have that sort of falloff that we have seen with her?
MARTIN: This is a question about Senator Harris. Can she sustain? What she's done in the past. Whether it's her speech, her performances on Capitol Hill. And that's the question that looms over her.
Now we have a story in the paper today about the rise of Harris and Warren. And it is strike to go talk to people in Iowa for July 4th. This campaign is so nationalized. And Iowans like it in their personal attention. They still watch the same national TV, CNN here.
They are watching all of these debates. And I'll tell you what, you talk to them and person after person I talked to matched her performance in that debate to this end, I can't wait to see what she does on the stage with President Trump.
So, much of Harris' energy is now animated by the specter of her taking it to Trump on the debate stage. And that's a huge factor in this --
0830
[08:29:48] JONATHAN MARTIN, "NEW YORK TIMES": And I'll tell you what, you talk to them and person after person I talk to mention her performance in that debate to this end.
I can't wait to see what she does on the stage with President Trump.
(CROSSTALKING)
JACKIE KUCINICH, THE DAILY BEAST: That's what she wanted.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN HOST: That is exactly what she wanted.
MARTIN: So much of the Harris energy is, you know, animated by the specter of her taking it to Trump on the debate stage. And that is a huge factor in this primary.
Look, we talk a lot about policy, and sort of, you know, moderate versus liberal. For a lot of voters in this primary A, they want to win, and B, they want to win and see Trump be humiliated.
HENDERSON: Yes. And they want to be excited about someone, too.
MARTIN: Correct.
HENDERSON: And I think Harris in that debate gave people who are waiting to be excited about her a reason to be excited about her.
We also talked there about Warren. She has got more plans than anybody combined here. She's probably going to release one soon because that's what she does. I've got a plan for everything. And this is her strength.
You look at this Quinnipiac poll. Who has the best policy ideas? Warren 31 percent, Sanders coming in at 18 percent. It's a strength of hers, but in some ways it's also a weakness, right, because she is on the wrong side of some of these issues particularly if you look at her plan for Medicare for all. A lot of Democratic voters don't want that plan -- 49 percent or something are against it. So how does she sort of square that circle? This sort of being the person with the plan but also being the person with the plans that are turning some voters off? .
RACHAEL BADE, "WASHINGTON POST": Well clearly, her top priority is to win the Democratic primary and that's what she's focusing on right now. Medicare for all, very popular with the base. Again, as you were mentioning, repels the moderates.
I think that it's interesting to watch Warren and Harris, the top two women in this debate, in this primary -- they're slowly gaining on, you know, the top two men, Sanders and -- Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.
I mean you know, Harris is going after Biden's support with black voters. You have Warren slowly sort of inching away. A lot of liberals backing who were Bernie Sanders and so --
KUCINICH: And one who's kind of fading into the background because of --
(CROSSTALKING)
BADE: Exactly, yes. These two women sort of surging on the two top men right now and we'll have to see, you know --
HENDERSON: And Marianne Williamson trying to make some noise as well. She was left out of that "Vogue" feature. She's photoshopped or I think someone else photoshopped her picture in. I think it's is pretty cool. The picture was kind of lame but I like it better now with Marianne Williamson.
They're an interesting figure to have in this race -- Jackie.
KUCINICH: You know, one of the complaints I heard, with all due respect to Williamson, is that there were some contenders that were left out of the debates. And yet you had Marianne Williamson in there. And maybe (INAUDIBLE) she has been a serious candidate. So, you know, we will have to see where she goes.
HENDERSON: But people search for her, right? .
(CROSSTALKING)
KUCINICH: She has her constituency.
MARTIN: She's online.
BADE: We have a whole tech team with one of my teams.
MARTIN: Just curiosity.
(CROSSTALKING)
BADE: People commenting on something she said.
HENDERSON: She's very popular online.
MARTIN: One follow up point on Harris and Warren though, talking about what they're doing to Biden and Sanders. But they're also starting to eat into the support of the other.
I've got this in Iowa over and over again, people are now choosing between Harris and Warren. Some folks mentioned Booker.
HENDERSON: And Buttigieg is sort of in that circle of voters - -
MARTIN: Yes.
For a lot of women, especially college-educated women in Iowa, man, that is looking like Harris and Warren right now. And for a lot of people it's agonizing choosing between the two of them. They love the Warren plan but the specter of how Harris taking on Trump in that debate -- awfully tempting.
HENDERSON: And it rekindled that feeling they had in 2016 -- wanting to see a woman president. But also the sort of the flip side of that -- the agony on election night when Hillary Clinton didn't win.
(CROSSTALKING)
HENDERSON: Our political radar is next including a major diplomatic embarrassment for the Trump administration.
[08:33:29] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HENDERSON: It's time for a quick look at what's on the "Political Radar" this Sunday morning starting with some troubling new news from Iran.
They have just announced they're enriching uranium beyond the agreed limits in the 2015 nuclear deal, the one President Trump pulled out of. It is another step to producing material for nuclear weapons.
Also, on the radar, a very unflattering look at what the Brits really think about President Trump. In a leak of previously secret diplomatic cables published in the "Daily Mail", the United Kingdom's ambassador to the U.S. describes Trump as, among other things, inept, insecure, and incompetent.
And seven 2020 candidates are in New Orleans this weekend making their pitch to African-American women voters at the 25th anniversary of the Essence Fest.
Kamala Harris making a big, big splash unveiling a $100 billion plan to invest in black home ownership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must right that wrong and after generations of discrimination give black families a real shot at home ownership. I will remove the barriers that black Americans face when they go to qualify for a home loan. I will strengthen anti-discrimination lending laws and implement stricter enforcement. And I'll invest, through the federal government, $100 billion to put home ownership within the reach for those who live in red-lined communities. And it would help up to four million families with down payments and closing costs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Up next, the crisis facing U.S. Customs and Border Patrol as new reports show worsening conditions for migrants at the southern border.
[08:38:20] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HENDERSON: As the crisis at the border intensifies, so does the scrutiny of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A second secret Facebook group has come to light showing some agents actively sharing vulgar and derogatory posts.
That as a new government watch dog report this week included photos of the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at some of the border holding facilities for migrants spurring Congress to schedule new hearings this week.
The President, however, is telling a very, very different story in defiant defense of both the facilities and CBP.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But people come in illegally, and then it's crowded. And I have seen some of those places and they are run beautifully. They are clean. They are good. They do a great job.
(CROSSTALKING)
TRUMP: Border Patrol did not train to be doctors and nurses and janitors. That's not what they're trained to be. They're trained to be border patrol, and that's what they're doing. And they're doing a phenomenal job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENDERSON: Joining us and just back from El Paso, is CNN immigration reporter Priscilla Alvarez. You were just down there. You weren't inside the facilities. You were on the outside.
What is CBP doing to fix this problem? An image problem -- right, with the facilities and this Facebook problem.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN IMMIGRATION REPORTER: Right. So actually, the first report that came out about this came against the back drop of members of Congress, some of whom were actually mentioned in these Facebook groups visiting the CBP facilities. And what has happened over the last week is that leadership, DHS leadership has come out against these posts. They have said repeatedly that those that are found to have participated in some way will be held accountable. Customs and Border Protection also said that they opened up a Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation. So they sent and uploaded it to them. And they are looking also at it internally.
So there is action happening within the Department of Homeland Security to hold these people accountable. Current and former Border Patrol agents as far as we know so far. But it certainly comes at a very difficult time for CBP, which is also overwhelmed in their facilities.
HENDERSON: And it comes obviously as 2020 Democrats are trying to stake out a position on immigration.
Really fascinating op-ed from Jeh Johnson this morning in the "Washington Post". He of course, was the former director of Homeland Security under Obama.
[08:44:50] Here's what he said to say. "We cannot, as some Democratic candidates for president now propose, publicly embrace a policy to not deport those who enter or remain in this country illegally unless they commit a crime. This is tantamount to a public declaration repeated and amplified by smugglers in central mark, that our borders are effectively open to all."
"For the same reason, we cannot formally decriminalize unauthorized entry into this country," talking about Julian Castro, this is his idea. And you've seen -- I think maybe even the majority of 2020 candidates embrace this. Certainly some of the major ones like Kamala Harris as well as Elizabeth Warren, Biden saying no way. He is not going to go that far.
What did you make of this op-ed?
KUCINICH: I mean that is problematic for the Democrats that has embraced this more open border, what Julian Castro has recommended.
But listen, the Obama administration got a lot of criticism.
HENDERSON: Deporter-in-chief, right? That was Obama's nickname.
KUCINICH: Deporter-in-chief. I mean the left-leaning Hispanic community was upset with him pretty much throughout his presidency. So the fact that Jeh Johnson is saying that isn't going the affect perhaps the more progressive branch of the party. But certainly him putting this in writing does create some -- this creates some friction.
HENDERSON: And Julie -- music to the President's ears, right, when he saw those folks on stage basically agree, raise their hand and agree with Julian Castro's idea to decriminalize illegal border crossings.
JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Right. And I think it is clear that the scenes that we see from the border from some of these facilities have been -- will be damaging to Trump if that's where the focus stays.
What Trump wants to do is shift this conversation and point to Democrats who say, hey, we think it's not ok to come across the border. you know, we're not even going to consider that a crime.
That's not going to be broadly popular. And it just shows how this debate over immigration has changed because of Trump. I mean during the Obama years, when the Gang of Eight, a Republican and Democratic group on the hill was talking about immigration, we were talking about things like citizenship, right? Do we do citizenship or legal status? That conversation is gone right now.
BADE: Yes. But it's not just, you know, the argument to decriminalize coming to this country illegally. It's also, remember that moment during the debates where the question was would you give undocumented immigrants free health care?
HENDERSON: Healthcare -- another moment.
(CROSSTALKING)
BADE: And everybody raised their hands. It is defunding ICE. I do think there's an interesting contrast there between the 2020 Democrats and the Democrats in the House who right now are just fighting tooth and nail to try to get the standards of care to make sure a baby migrant gets his or her diaper changed or that people have access to showers, bathe, baths and freshwater.
(CROSSTALKING)
BADE: I mean this is a totally different fight that's happening right now in Congress where Democrats can't even get that done than what we're seeing right now. It is easier to talk heated rhetoric for 2020.
HENDERSON: And quickly Priscilla -- I want you to weigh in here. Those ICE raids, they were postponed. Will they go forward? And if they don't what does this mean for the President's promises to his base?
ALVAREZ: What is unusual here is that we are talking about the raids before they happen. And that was something that happened in June when the President tweeted that those raids were going to happen.
And we first reported in May that they were considering it. That they were going to target migrant families who were ordered removed. And so now we're in that similar discussion. And whether -- when it happens really is going to be the question and whether the President weighs in before it does is the next.
HENDERSON: We'll see. This is an issue that will keep going and some people see it to the President's advantage and Democrats are trying to make it to their advantage. Our reporters share from their notebooks next, including the details about the criminal justice reform plan that Biden was touting in South Carolina this weekend.
[08:48:34] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HENDERSON: Time now for our great reports to share a page from their notebooks to help get you out in front of the biggest stories in the days and weeks ahead. Julie, we're going to start with you.
PACE: So the Democratic primary has mostly focused on domestic policy issues thus far but some of the Democratic candidates are starting to brush up on their foreign policy credentials, well aware that national security issues can really pop to the forefront in a moment's notice.
Bernie Sanders is considering taking a foreign trip in the next couple of months. Kamala Harris has really built up her foreign policy cadre of advisors with a lot of former high-ranking Obama administration officials. Elizabeth Warren among her many plans has rolled out one to strengthen the U.S. diplomatic corps.
One candidate, of course, who wouldn't mind if national security really moved to the forefront of this campaign, Joe Biden. He comes in with much more experience on foreign policy than any of his other rivals and he really hopes to make that a centerpiece of not just this primary campaign but he hopes a general election campaign.
HENDERSON: And as you said, at any moment it could turn to foreign policy. So we'll see where that goes.
Rachel.
BADE: Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has sort of always been known for her grip on her caucus in the House is sort of seeing some cracks in her armor right now and faces a really tough July ahead.
As we know lawmakers left for the July 4th recess. She had suffered her first major defeat on a border emergency package when she couldn't get centrists and progressives in her party to back a bill in the House and she got railroaded by the Senate GOP version of the bill.
Now, she's facing down timeline, deadlines for defense authorization to basically approve a bunch of programs for the Pentagon. She wants to do a minimum wage increase to $15 and the party is still at war about what to do on immigration and how to sort of address what we're seeing at the border.
And right now, her party is super divided on these issues and yet she needs to get them through or Senator McConnell, the majority leader, will have the upper hand in negotiations going forward. So big test for Pelosi.
HENDERSON: And you look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Twitter feed and you can see those progressives getting much more bold than they were in the past. It will be fascinating to watch.
Jackie.
KUCINICH: So the last couple of months. I've been tracking the willingness of the 2020 contenders to introduce or to say they want executive actions or executive orders to solve some of the nation's most intractable problems.
For example just on Friday Elizabeth Warren introduced one aimed at solving wage disparity for women of color. Most of them have to do with immigration, which is telling. Also abortion, guns, climate change. Amy Klobuchar introduced a package of more than 100 executive orders that she would sign should she get elected.
Most interestingly though, you're seeing members of Congress, former members of Congress introducing these measures that would bypass Congress. So this might be a sign of the times. We don't know how many of these proposals actually could become a thing should these individuals be elected. But it is a sign of a lack of hope that these divisive issues can be solved on a bipartisan basis.
HENDERSON: Yes. It's a (INAUDIBLE) it's how to work with or around Mitch McConnell should he still be the senate majority leader.
Jonathan.
MARTIN: I mentioned Kamala Harris and Warren earlier in the program and how they both kind of surged post Miami. And it sort of strikes, if you look at their similarities and differences and in the last week since these debates, talking to folks at Washington especially, you notice a key difference.
And that is privately, at least, Kamala Harris is seen as more acceptable to the Democratic establishment. You see this in the endorsements that she's getting from members of Congress.
[08:54:56] But more privately, you also hear it from lobbyists in Washington. From fundraisers, they kind of -- I think would be more comfortable with Kamala Harris in a lot of ways, think (ph) or estimate that they can work with potentially.
This is not the kind of thing I think either candidate wants to dwell on at this moment now but you hear it quietly picking up as the Washington and Democratic folks are talking about who in the long-term is a better candidate.
HENDERSON: Yes. They're both rising in the polls but probably for different reasons as you said.
MARTIN: Exactly.
HENDERSON: Look for former vice president Joe Biden to release a criminal justice reform plan in the coming weeks. I'm told that Biden has met with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and Bobby Scott as well as criminal justice activists to develop a plan that a campaign adviser said is research based and will be among the most progressive of all the 2020 candidates. The plan builds on some of the work that Scott has already done in Congress seeking to curtail over-criminalization, reduce recidivism and to create sentencing alternatives.
Biden, of course, has backed away from aspects of his 1994 crime bill and this plan will likely try to serve as a corrective to aspects of that bill. There is internal discussion about how to release the plan either with a speech or by video.
There's also discussion about when to release it. With some pushing for release before the next debate at the end of this month. We'll watch for that.
Up next -- that is it for INSIDE POLITICS. Hope you can catch us week days as well at noon Eastern.
Up next you've got "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER". His guest Michigan Congressman Justin Amash.
Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning.
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