Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Carol Costello 20170123

Thanks so much for joining me. Just minutes from now, President Trump, hosting Business Leaders and speaking moments ago on a key action hes about to take, signing an executive order that will formally withdraw the United States from the transpacific partnership, the tpp. In offthecuff remarks mr. Trump said its the first step in overhauling americas trade policies. There will be advantages to companies that do indeed make their products here. We are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies. And thats massively. Were trying to get it down to anywhere from 15 to 20 . All right. He said a lot more than that. Of course were covering all the angles of this. I want to begin with cnn chief Business Correspondent christine roman. Tell us what else mr. Trump said this morning. This is his statement to all the people who voted for him who feel that the last 50 years have left them behind. He said were going to buy american and hire american. Now with the Big Companies in the room, he said were going to make things in america again, were going to make our products here, and there will be advantages for companies who make them here. Were going to cut taxes, were going to slash regulations, by, in some cases, he said, 75 . That would make it good for you and good for america to make things again. He threatened a big border tax to Big American Companies that put a plant in another country and ship the goods back to the United States. Listen. If you go to another country and you decide that youre going to close and get rid of 2,000 people or 5,000 people, i tell you, United Technologies was an example, with carrier. And i got involved two years after they announced, so in all fairness, that was tough. But United Technologies was terrific. And they brought back many of those jobs. But if that happens, we are going to be imposing a very major border tax on the product when it comes in. Which i think is fair. Which is fair. Hes telling the Business Community, look, you will build more things in this country, you will hire more workers in this country, and i will make sure there are changes in the tax code and the Regulatory Environment that will help you continue to make money. Carol, he also singled out japan, interestingly, here, he singled out japan and said its too easy for the United States to buy goods from japan and not sell to japan. Very quickly a lot of people in the Business World noted that japan hires people, Japanese Companies like toyota have employees here in this country, they build things in this country too. Its a little more complicated than just a Foreign Company and a foreign market. There are some overlaps that are pretty goiinteresting here. In that meeting were ceos from lockheed martin, ford, these are big players. Somebodys got to pay for those cuts in regulations and tax breaks. Well have to talk more about how you pay for big tax cuts for companies. This is a very interesting conversation and it does affect our economy. Lets get to cnns athena jones because mr. Trump has more on his plate today, hi, athena. Reporter hi, carol. Hes set to sign more executive orders. The first will withdraw the u. S. From the transpacific partnership, the tpp trade deal that was so important to the Obama Administration but that trump ran on pulling out of. Hes also expected to sign an order reinstatedi ininstating m policy, a rule on abortion that former president barack obama got rid of, a rule that any ngo that receives federal funds is not allowed to perform or promote abortion services. Another executive order we expect him to sign, a fiveyear lobbying ban for anyone that works in the administration. This is something that President Trump talked about doing in his first 100 days. So several of these first actions hes been taking are designed to show that hes keeping his promises to the people who put him into office. Now, later tonight hes going to meet with congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle. Perhaps hell begin talking about some of these warnings and promises hes making right now to these Business Leaders, because congress is going to have a say on whether theyre going to impose a border tax and tax cuts and the like. And later on today, we also expect to hear from press secretary sean spicer. Hell have his first press briefing for the first time here in the Brady Press Briefing room here in the white house. Carol . Athena jones reporting live from the white house, thanks so much. Well bring back christine, and also ron brownstein, and Patricia Murphy is also here. Christine, i want to go back to you for just a second. Mr. Trump, President Trump said this morning that he plans to cut 75 of regulations, right . He said that hell provide massive tax breaks to companies if they build factories within the United States. And he also said that if Companies Move their factories to other countries, he will fine them, in essence, by imposing tariffs on their products. So in the end, when all is said and done, if all of that is accomplished, and thats a big if, right, what will that mean to american taxpayers . I think a lot of people are concerned there could be higher prices for american consumers, especially if you get into a situation where Different Countries are slapping 35 tariffs on different goods. Thats one thing. The other part of it is in this discussion about tax reform, if you take the Companies Share of what they put into the national treasury, if you cut that dramatically, who fills that in . Where does that money come from . What you would hear from the president s team is that theyre going to grow the economy so much, were going to have so many new workers who will be paying taxes on their own earnings, that this is going stimulative, its going to be growth, we wont have to worry about a tax shortfall. But you know people on the house ways and means committee, you know paul ryan who is a budget hawk, there will be a lot of discussions about how you pay for dramatically cutting taxes for american businesses. In the last hour i talked to a congressman from illinois. He said some of these ideas that trump has could take two years to accomplish. And republicans arent you know, theyre excited about many of his proposals, but there are certain proposals theyre not so into. Yeah, and i think that that is going to be the really important dynamic going forward, is how much can donald trump do on his own and how much does he need congress, even Republican Leaders in congress who may not be entirely on board with a lot of these promises hes making. It was so interesting to hear what he said to those Business Leaders, were going to cut taxes, were going to cut regulations, Republican Leaders will love that. Then he said were going to have these jobs in the country, were going to slap tariffs on anything that isnt made in this country. Then youre really running into big problems with the Republican Leadership. How is he going to thread that needle . Its very unclear. We know what he wants to do but i think hell find out very quickly theres very little he can do on some of these things without having congress to support him and pass these laws. So ron, you know, i grew up in the rust belt, i can hear the people who live in my old neighborhoods rejoicing and saying it is about time somebody stood up to these companies and said, you know what, build your darn factories in america, buy america. Weve been preaching that for a long time, and finally we have a president who will do that. On the other hand, you cant cut taxes for everyone including big business, right, because there is a price to pay, youve got to make up those tax dollars. I think that is the core political kind of positioning gamble that donald trump represents. I mean, on the one hand, he is pursuing the most procorporate agenda since ronald reagan, an administration i covered. Talking about massively rolling back regulation, massively cutting taxes for businesses and individuals, and increasing the deficit. On the other hand there is this pit in the cherry for the Business Community, he is going to hector them individually and potential impose a significant tariff on anyone who moves jobs overseas. That i think is going to be very popular political positioning for him with his core vote of these particularly Blue Collar Workers who feel theyve been hurt by globalization. Underscoring christines point from before, donald trump was elected by people who felt they were left behind in a changing economy. Hillary clinton, the county she won account for twothirds of all the economic output in the country. The people who feel as though the way the economy is evolving is working, by and large rejected trump in those communities. He did best in the places that feel left behind. This is a message that will underscore and widen that divide. Thats an interesting point, such an interesting point, christine. Even if you look at the companies who were involved today, theyre not exactly doing poorly in this economy. Theyre making lots and lots of money. This economy is doing well. And one of the big concerns is, you know, when companies do really well, do they build factories here . Sometimes. Do they give shareholders more money in terms of stock buybacks and dividends . Usually. So no one has ever in my career covering business, no leader has ever stood up and said, this isnt fair, this isnt fair that you think of American Workers as, you know, units of labor and not as citizens. And donald trump honestly is the first person ive heard stand up, a politician stand up there with those Big Companies and say, im threatening you that if you dont start thinking of people as people and not units of labor, im going to make things more difficult for you. Here is a fear that i have, being from that part of the country, patricia. Okay, so lets say, i dont know, some company decides to build more factories in the United States. But what if they decide to maybe, you know, automate that company and not hire actual bodies to work in the factories. What happens then . Theyre business people, right . Theyre capitalists, they want to make money. Theyre also going to have to understand or have a plan for what theyre going to do if donald trump lashes out against them. Ive talked to a number of Business Leaders who say this is an entirely different dynamic, not only does donald trump have an agenda that really upsets the apple cart, so outside the norm of what any typical republican or democrat would do, but what happens if a business gets on donalds radar for not doing what he wants. Politically they could work for donald trump, the people he promised in his inauguration you will never be forgotten again, this is him sending a signal i have not forgotten about you, i am with you. The ultimate test will be the results. Does it make these peoples lives better. That will start to become clear a couple of years from now. But right now, the supporters who put them there, this is what they want him to be saying. The other thing, republicans in congress, ron, they dont like big budget deficits, right . Well, theyve been willing to accept them for tax cuts in the fa past. The fact is under george w. Bush, we were heading towards surpluses, Alan Greenspan was worried we might be paying down the federal deficit too fast, and they undertook major tax cuts under bush. The broader issue is, if a democratic president was politicizing individual Investment Decisions of companies and attacking them each time they made a decision to invest somewhere else in the u. S. , you would have Republican Leaders in congress and for that matter the u. S. Chamber of commerce exploding. But right now theyre willing to accept this as the price of getting so much else of what they want, which are the tax cuts and the rollback of federal regulations. Its unclear whether they will accept that forever. One other point, not only could these tariffs mean higher prices for consumers, but we now have, as christine knows, a Global Supply chain. We have products that move back and forth across borders all of the time. If you impose a 35 tariff on every part of a car that is coming in from mexico or somewhere else, it is not clear whether the final assembly of that car will still be economically feasible in the u. S. So its really unclear how this works out in practice. But i agree, it is very powerful political positioning and one that i think would be very hard for a democrat to get away with because youll be having much bigger push back from the Business Community than youre likely to get under donald trump. Thanks to all of you, i have to leave it there. Still to come, sean spicer take two. The First Official Trump Administration press briefing is just a couple of hours from now. Will we hear the term alternative facts . Really qui. It comes in the mail, you pull out the tube and you spit in it, which is something southern girls are taught youre not supposed to do. You seal it and send it back and then you wait for your results. Its that simple. Oh, look weve got fees ew, really . Oh, its our verizon bill look at them. Line access fee, administrative fees, there are even taxes on top of them. Decent people shouldnt have to live like this did i get it . Tmobile ends surprise fees and taxes thats right, with tmobile one, taxes and fees are now included 4 lines, 40 bucks each. All unlimited, all in. Im raph. My name is anne. Im one of the real live attorneys you can talk to through legalzoom. Dont let unanswered legal questions hold you up, because were here, were here, and weve got your back. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. Legal help is here. Wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong insurance company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. And her new mobile wedding business. Tte at first, getting paid was tough. Until she got quickbooks. Now she sends invoices, sees when theyve been viewed and tada, paid twice as fast see how at quickbooksdotcom. Oh, how waso good en house . Did you apply . Oh, ill do it later today. Your credit score must be amazing. My credit score . Credit karma. Its free. Thats great um hm. Just whip bam boom, its done. That apartment is mine credit karma. Give yourself some credit. President trumps inner circle is likely to take more shape today. Sunlen serfaty joins us from capitol hill. Reporter its likely by the end of the day well see President Trump have three of his cabinet nominees in place and confirmed. Movement here, when the senate votes later today on mike pompeo to head the intel community. And that vote was delayed a little bit by democrats over the last few days. But tonight he is expected to pass through. Also the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today taking up a vote on Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, perhaps the most controversial nominee that donald trump has chosen. All eyes in that committee on senator marco rubio, republican, who has not revealed how he will vote yet on Rex Tillerson. But regardless of how he comes down in the end, Republican Leaders have already said that they will bring tillerson before a full committee vote. Youve seen some procedural moves at their disposal. And we already know that senator john mccain over the weekend and senator Lindsey Graham, two key republicans, say they will support tillerson. So this likely paves the way for him to be confirmed. Thank you, sunlen serfaty. Sean spicer will take to the podium today, and yes, you heard it, he will answer reporters questions, after a weekend of controversy after the new administrations, quote, alternative facts. Theres been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold donald trump accountables h. Im here to tell you it goes two ways. The press secretary gave alternative facts. We are not going to sit around and let the media delegitimize the president. With me now is the former Deputy White House press secretary to president bush, a former spokesman for kasich for america, trent duffy. Hi, carol. I wanted to get your title right. Glad to have you here. Sean spicers very first press briefing. I just want to get your thoughts. Well, i think its going to be exciting. Its always this kind of kabuki dance here between the white house and the White House Press corps. Theyre both trying to feel each other out. You have to remember, carol, many of the reporters that are now going to cover the white house covered the Trump Campaign. So there is a little bit of a relationship there. And i think what youre seeing is the Trump Campaign and the Trump Administration, the trump white house, has if he woufelt y the National Press corps, things like this unsubjected dossier, which could be called a pack of lies, and the notion that the president removed the bust of Martin Luther king from the oval office which got out there. Thats why i think you see that the white house is sean spicer and others are really sort of on edge, and thats why theyre sending this message that it is a twoway street. Yes, the White House Press corps does have the it is a twoway street. But we do expect our president , our president of the United States, to tell us the truth, and not to get into petty arguments over crowd size. Well, thats true. And theyre going to have to decide what they choose to make issues and what they dont. I think youre seeing this morning, carol, hes meeting with business people, hes getting back on his positive agenda. I think what youre seeing there is theyre trying to move past this. Youre right, it was kind of a petty, silly argument. You cant judge support for a president by who turns up at the inauguration. We just heard in your previous segment that most lowincome americans supported donald trump. Theyre not going to get on a plane from wisconsin and plunk down 3,000 to come. Youre from the rust belt, im from ohio. And Kellyanne Conway comes up with this alternative facts thing, what . Its a side show, it was bound to happen. The White House Press corps loves nothing more than catching white house suppopokespeople ha to eat their words, and the white house loves to catch the press corps putting out information that is absolutely inaccurate. Lets go back to the mlk bust. It was corrected by the media. As far as this dossier, you know, that the intelligence officials put together, we at cnn tried to do that very responsibly, and we did, and explained our reasons for it. Understood, all of that. But when you have the president s spokesperson and just say, you know, even though we can see it with our own eyes and we have official figures from, you know, metro and washington, dc and crowd scientists who determine how many people show up, all of those people are still lying and were going to give you an alternative fact. Thats disturbing, isnt it . Well, look. I think youre going to see him address that firsthand today in his Opening Statement and try to put it past him. If he decides to do a mea culpa, thats up to him, and thats up to his white house and his bosses. But i do think that everybody he obligation to tell the American People whats what and to agree on the facts, i dont disagree with you at all, carol. I think theres reason you see a defensive posture when it comes to the White House Press corps. Thats happened on both sides, whether its a democrat in the white house or a republican. Its a fairly competitive nature between the White House Press corps and the white house itself. Thats always been the case. I think thats a healthy part of our democracy. Okay. Youre right. It is healthy. Its healthy to have that i dont know if i can call it contentious, but you want to push back and you want the administration to push back too because that provides a healthy discussion, a healthy argument. It just has to stay healthy and not devolve into something unhealthy for the nation, because the nation really does have to trust what the president of the United States says. Well, i think thats right. And in past administrations, you had things like that statement is no longer operative with the clinton gore administration. Its happened on both sides. It will continue to happen. But i think youre going to see a new fresh foot today with sean spicer at the white house podium. Theyve all decided to move past this and get back to their agenda, which is more jobs, more Economic Growth and a Brighter Future for the u. S. Trent duffy, thank you for joining us this morning. The sean spicer presser will happen at 1 30 eastern time and of course well carry it on cnn. Signed, sealed, and delivered. President trump set to deliver more executive orders. Drugfree aleve direct therapy. A high intensity tens device that uses technology once only in doctors offices. For deep penetrating relief at the source. Aleve direct therapy. Only at t offers you all your live channels and dvr on your devices, datafree. Its entertainment. Your way. Anything with a screen is a tv. Stream 130 live channels, plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. You can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. Only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. Download the xfinity tv app today. And good morning, im carol costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Say so long to the transpacific partnership. President trump is set to sign executive orders unraveling americas trade deals. Sources tell us hes sign an executive order imposing a fiveyear lobbying ban on members of his administration and is expected to imposes an abortion ban in certain circumstances. Our manu raju has more. Reporter Rex Tillerson will get confirmed as secretary of state. Republicans including marco rubio now saying that they will support Rex Tillersons nomination for that top diplomatic job in Donald Trumps administration. Marco rubio, who had significant concerns about tillerson at the confirmation hearings and actually had a pretty sharp line of questioning with Rex Tillerson, not saying whether or not he would vote for mr. Tillerson, now announcing in a Facebook Post moments ago that he will indeed support tillerson. Ill read from some of this rather lengthy post. He says he believes that the president is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the cabinet. He said that he calls him he says he has no doubts about mr. Tillersons qualifications and patriotism. He says at this time in our nations history it doesnt make sense to delay this for any longer. He says he still has some significant reservations about the nomination. He said despite those reservations, he is going to support mr. Tillerson. Now, carol, in the last week or so, last week, rubio did meet with Rex Tillerson. I am told, in addition with Reince Priebus and Vice President mike pence, discussing a lot of these issues in what one rubio adviser said was a blunt conversation. They discussed a lot of them issues. Rubio submitted another hundred written questions to mr. Tillerson about a range of concerns he had, concerns namely about russia and about mr. Tillersons ties with russia, ties to vladimir putin, whether or not he would take a hard enough line on that country. Those responses did come back, and clearly they have satisfied some level of concern. This comes after republicans like john mccain and Lindsey Graham said that they would vote for mr. Tillerson on the floor of the senate. Those two were holding out up until yesterday. Today in the Foreign Relations committee, with marco rubios support, theyll have enough republican support to pass tillerson, despite democratic opposition. Within a couple of days or weeks mr. Tillerson will be the next secretary of state, carol. Manu raju live from capitol hill, many thanks. A federal Watchdog Group has filed a federal lawsuit accusing donald trump of violating the constitution by accepting foreign payments for his business dealings. According to the group, trump is now getting cash and favors from Foreign Governments through guests and events at his hotels, leases in his buildings, and valuable real estate deals abroad. Ethics lawyers argue that could influence decisions made in the white house. Norman icen is boar chairman for citizens responsibility and ethics in washington, the group filing the lawsuit. Hes a former white house ethics czar and former u. S. Ambassador to the czech republic. Welcome. Thank you, carol. Thank you. So youre filing this lawsuit. You said that mr. Trump is violating the constitution. Hes turning his business interests over to his sons, isnt that enough . Carol, its not enough. The importance of completely making a clean break with his businesses, hes hanging onto his ownership interests, instead of making a clean break, hes departing from what president s for four decades of both parties have done. And here, unlike all the others, there is a constitutional violation involved. By trump hanging onto his businesses, hes transgressing the founders of our countrys principle that no president should get money or any benefits of any kind whatever, thats a quote from the constitution, from Foreign Governments. And hes doing that. So its a constitutional violation. Its going to affect his judgment. On the trade deals we just talked about, when hes getting big sums from these Foreign Governments hes negotiating with, how do we know hes really fighting for american jobs instead of shipping them abroad as too many others have done . We think its important and were fighting it. Trump supporters would say, look, weve never had a president quite like this who has these vast business dealings in this country and outside of the country. So give him a minute, right, so he can work it out, why not give him a minute . Well, carol, even trumps supporters agree, theres strong bipartisan agreement that we need to know more about these details. 75 of americans including most of those who voted for mr. Trump want to see those tax returns. Were going to seek those tax returns in this litigation so we can see for ourselves. Even his supporters are concerned about conflicts. Is that really the main point that youre going after, because if the lawsuit goes forward, the trump team will have to turn over evidence and that could mean his taxes. Is that the real goal here . The goal is to defend the constitution. Its a bipartisan goal. Were a nonpartisan organization. My cochair, the vice chair, is the Bush Administration ethics czar, richard painter. Were not partisan. We join americans in wanting to see this information and defend the constitution. That is the main point. But we have to have the taxes and the other Financial Information in order to defend the constitution. And were going to get them. You heard Kellyanne Conway, mr. Trump is not going to release his tax forms, although she walked that back a little bit. It still appears that mr. Trump is not going to release his tax returns, basically because Kellyanne Conway says nobody cares, he was elected president. Thats what we call thats what we now call alternative facts or spicer facts, facts that are not actually grounded in reality. Poll after poll, carol, 75 of americans including many Trump Supporters want to see these taxes. But he was elected. Well, but it was not a referendum. He was elected despite profound reservations. It was not an authorization to violate the constitution. He said he would drain the swamp. He said he would step away from his businesses. He hasnt done that. And carol, Kellyanne Conway walked that back for a reason. The Judicial Branch, where we are now, are the guardians of the constitution. The constitution is being nakedly violated here. The Judicial Branch is going to step up, and if they order him to release his taxes to us in discovery, hes going to have to do it. This is a case, bipartisan case to defend the constitution and the rule that was so important, no Foreign Government payments to our chief executive, because when those Foreign Government payments come in, american jobs go out. All right. Ive got to leave it there. Norman eisen, thank you for joining me this morning. Still to come, gop lawmakers start to unveil their plan to replace obamacare. How they say it could impact millions of americans. Ing food, with not food, become food . Thankfully at panera, 100 of our food is 100 clean. No artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, or colors. Panera. Food as it should be. Wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong insurance company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Why are you checking your credit score . You dont want to drive old blue forever, do you . [brakes squeak] credit karma, huh . Yep, its free. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Next hour, republican lawmakers are expected to unveil a plan to replace obamacare. Senators cassidy and collins are leading the charges, promising their proposal would give more power to states, individual states, increase Affordable Access to insurance, and cover millions who are currently uninsured. Collins and cassidy will need to get Republican Leadership on board first. With me is Democratic Congressman steve cullen, welcome. Good morning. Good morning. Are you open to this replacement plan . Well, i think if they want to repeal the Affordable Care act, which helps over 20 Million People get insurance and is insurance reform on steroids, they need to have a replacement immediately present. And they dont have a replacement. And it can be improved, theres no question about it. And the wonderful thing is the republicans didnt talk about having National Health care policy at all other than mitt romney in massachusetts back in the 90s. Now since president obama and in the Democratic Congress passed the Affordable Care act, they are now wanting to replace it with something. So the Affordable Care act has caused the republicans to realize america was the only industrialized country in the World Without a Health Policy for all of its people. We will have a Health Policy, i presume, or they will suffer greatly at the polls. Its important that all people have access to health care. So do you believe there will actually be a plan to replace obamacare, or will they make it seem like its a new plan but just fix whats wrong with obamacare . I dont know what theyre going to come up with. Theyre going to have a problem. They say they like, i think all americans like not having preexisting conditions prohibit you from getting insurance. Most americans like not having lifetime caps or yearly caps on your insurance. And women who of course participated in a historic march the other day, cant be discriminated against because of their gender. And children can stay on their Parents Health insurance until age 26. If the republicans like these things and want to continue them, and the American People do, they have to have revenue to do it. It costs money. Its an equation, if you have coverage, you have to have corresponding premiums. And if you dont have a subsidy, which weve had, youve got to find some other method to pay for it. Nothing happens for free. I dont know if the republicans can do that. There is a Certain Group in the Freedom Caucus that wont vote for any additional expense or any additional revenue measures. It will be difficult for republicans to do it. Certainly they cant do it without democratic help. Well see what this new plan specifically entails a little later today. I wanted to talk to you about the huge number of protesters who crowded into the mall, the huge numbers of women marching across the country, so much energy and passion there. And a lot of people are today wondering if that will continue or if it was just a oneoff. What do you think . I think it will continue. I participated in a march in memphis. We had about 9,000 people. I almost i was very emotional about it because i hadnt seen such a turnout since the civil rights days. People were very concerned. They want to express themselves, and they did it well here in memphis. They did it at the National Rights museum where unfortunately dr. King was slain. Republicans are bringing a bill that would threaten women having an opportunity to have an abortion, coverage by even private insurance. Theyll try to do so much to limit womens rights and not take into consideration the health of the woman. One of the first initiatives of this administration apparently is going to be to repeal the violence against women grants. And thats been an important, important provision in federal law to help states protect women who have violence if those things happen, what would you like to see from these people who protested so passionately over the weekend . They need to stay active. They need to protest in washington and other places when these events occur, because i think the president is very concerned about his ratings and his ratings will be going down even more than the 34 who approve him now. They need to write letters to the editor. They need to be involved in social media and try to get the truth out. There are not alternative facts. There are truths, there are lies. Sometimes theres spin. But alternative facts dont exist. No such thing. Sometimes i think were in an alternative universe, a scary situation. But they need to try to put the truth out there on social media and letters to the editor and they need to register as many people to vote as possible. And they need to get involved in ngos that will help people with planned parenthood or aclu or Southern Poverty Law Center and sierra club, who will go to court like the gentlemen right now because of the terrible breaches threatening the emoluments clause of the constitution. Were putting russia and china ahead, were not america first. Im concerned for americas perspective in the International Community where weve been a leader in advocating for human rights and democracy. And we need to continue doing that. I have to leave it there, sir. Congressman steven cohen, thanks for being with us. Samsung says it knows what made their phones explode last year, but some tech experts disagree, coming up. So if ydead battery,t tire, need a tow or lock your keys in the car, geicos emergency roadside assistance is there 24 7. Oh dear, i got a flat tire. Hmmm. Uh. Yeah, can you find a take where its a bit more dramatic on that last line, yeah . Yeah i got it right here. Someone help me i have a flat tire well its good. Good for me. What do you think . Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Seconds can mean the difference between life and death. For partners in health, time is life. We have 18,000 people around the world. The microsoft cloud helps our entire staff stay connected and Work Together in real time to help those that need it. The ability to collaborate changes how we work. What we do together changes how we live. Samsung says it now knows what was causing galaxy note 7 phones to overheat and catch fire. It was the batteries. The company says multiple investigations by their company and several others point to the same conclusion. But other tech experts say not so fast. Cnn tech correspondent samuel burke tells us why. Good morning. Good morning, carol. Keep in mind this is the second time samsung is trying to explain publicly what happened to the illfated note 7. The first time around they said there are two different manufacturers for the batteries, its only a problem with manufacture a, we recalled those. Now samsung has pretty much arrived at the same conclusion, saying that the batteries are at fault. But some experts say that samsung is being much too simplistic. They say that samsung saying the batteries were too big for the phone, but theyre saying samsung then should have made the phones bigger for the batteries. Also that we dont have to charge our phones as often, carol. Now, on the one hand we hear that samsung will release a new phone, but not at the usual time. We dont know when the galaxy s8 is coming out. The good news is 96 of the 3 million note 7s that were sold have been recalled, carol. I would like to know who are the 4 still clinging to these fiery phones. I dont know, theyre not very wise people, though, they need to get rid of those puppies. Samuel burke, thanks so much. A Police Officer from spokane, washington rescued a woman from a burning car and his body camera captures it all. Okay. So its unclear how this fire started. But a woman tells a cnn affiliate it began after the car slipped on an icy patch and then the car just shut down. This woman was actually inside that car. She was the woman that was rescued. She was treated for smoke inhalation. Shes going to be okay. But boy, thats amazing. Up next in the newsroom, were taking you to sundance. Al gore is this. Well explain why, next. Oh, look weve got fees ew, really . Oh, its our verizon bill look at them. Line access fee, administrative fees, there are even taxes on top of them. Decent people shouldnt have to live like this did i get it . Tmobile ends surprise fees and taxes thats right, with tmobile one, taxes and fees are now included 4 lines, 40 bucks each. All unlimited, all in. And theyre absolutely right. They say that its hot. When really, its scorching. And while some may say the desert is desolate. We prefer secluded. What is the desert . Its absolutely what you need right now. Absolutely scottsdale. The search for oscarworthy films begins at sundance. This year films about the environment are taking center stage. Thats where cnn correspondent Stephanie Elam is, from beautiful park city, utah. Good morning. Reporter good morning, carol. The environment here has snow. The last few times weve been here it hasnt been as snowy. One big topic at sundance, the environment. You may remember al gores an Inconvenient Truth debuted ten years ago at sundance. Now hes here with a sequel to the film. He told cnn one of the main differences that hes seen in the ten years thats gone by is hes seen more bipartisan support for the fact that Global Change is actually happening. Thats a big debut that happened here already. Another movie that is also talking about that is a movie called watwater and power a california highest. I talked with the makers of that film. Its taking a look at how the battle for access to water in california has been going on longer than california has been a state. It really gives you the back story, its a fascinating film because it really does show you whats going to happen throughout the world. Most people dont think that what happens in california affects them but because of the agricultural business in california, it does affect the whole country and the world. Outside of what was going on with the films on the documentary side, we also have heard a lot of buzz about a move called mud bound, it got two Standing Ovations and is already getting oscar buzz. If you look at what reviews have been about the film, they were amazing. Youll see mary j. Blige in this film, its about two Farming Families in the 1940s in mississippi. And that is something that is really getting a lot of buzz here, carol. All right. Cant wait. Looks so beautiful there. I envy you, stephanie. Thanks so much. Thanks all of you for joining me today as usual. Im carol costello. Berman and bolduan starts now. Hello, everyone, im kate bolduan. Im john berman. Breaking news about the health of the former president and first lady. Any moment doctors will give an update on george h. W. Bush and barbara bush. Theyve both been hospitalized. Jamie gangel, you have new information about both the former first lady and president. And we have some good information. What the doctors are going to say in their briefing is that barbara bush is going home today, shes going to be discharged. In a fact she may have already snuck out of the hospital. And more good news, former president bush is going to be able to leave the icu. So this is a big step for people who might not remember, he went