Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With John Berman And Poppy

CNNW CNN Newsroom With John Berman And Poppy Harlow November 29, 2017

As i am sure you can imagine we are devastating and we are still processing all of this, and i will tell you right now we do not know more than what i just shared with you, but we will be covering this story as reporters, as journalists. I am sure we will learn more details in the hours and days to come and we promise we will share that with you. Hoda, i mean, you know, for the moment all we can say is that we are heartbroken. I am heartbroken for matt. He is my dear, dear friend and partner and he is beloved by many people and i am heartbroken for the colleague that came forward and told her story and for the other women that have stories to tell, and we are grappling with what so many have faced these past few weeks, and how do you reconcile your love for somebody after the revelation they have behaved badly, and i dont know the answer to that. Brian stelter joins me now. Brian, what happened . Nbc received a sexual complaint against matt lauer on monday night. It investigated that complaint on tuesday. On tuesday night before he went to bed lauer was told he was fired and overnight Savannah Guthrie was woken up and told the news. And the chairman addressed this in a memo to staff. On monday night we received a complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace at matt lauer, as a result we decided to terminate his complaint, while its the first complaint in the 20 years he has been at nbc news, and we have reason to believe it may not have been an isolated incident. We are saddened by this turn of events and will face it together as a news organization, and do it in the transparent way. The New York Times and variety magazine had been investigati investigating this, and this dam started to crack and all the allegations against powerful men in hollywood, new york and elsewhere. We dont know the details or substance of the allegations against lauer. I think the New York Times will be publishing a story today. Its a mystery of what nbc learned. We have no comment from lauer, and we have been reaching out to him and his representatives and he has not weighed in yet. I am not going to ask you about what occurred, but matt lauer hosted the macys thanksgiving day parade on thursday. When i watched that broadcast, i was thinking to myself this is an awkward for lauer and his cohost, Savannah Guthrie, they knew this investigation was in the works. Nbc was in a very delicate situation here. They say they never received any formal complaints about lauer but they knew reporters were digging and look into his past, and they kept him on the air until Tuesday Morning but once the complaint was received by the Hr Department it was investigated on tuesday. I think its something that we see is new. In the past eight weeks of the phenomenon, the Tipping Point phenomenon, the allegations against powerful men in many industries, we have not seen a company try to get out ahead of it the way we did today with nbc. I want to talk about that point. Joining me now is cnn legal analyst, areeva martin. What does it tell you that nbc news acted as quickly as it did based on this report that it got, this complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior . What does it tell you about the nature of the claim . It tells me two things. The allegation must be incredibly serious, this goes beyond maybe a casual comment, maybe even beyond some kind of touching, and something very serious in terms of the actions that were alleged in that complaint. And it also tells me that there was corroboration. They were able to corroborate the allegations that were made, so these just werent statements made by one person but in their review of the statements, they were able to talk to other coworkers, other evidence came forward that substantiated the claims that were made. Its a very big deal for a network to fire its most powerful onair talent and arguably matt lauer is just that or was just that for nbc, so that tells me the allegations had to be serious and support for the allegations. Its also possible that he admitted to whatever the woman said happened or cooperated it himself, we just dont know. For a company to make a decision like this, are there legal implications . Does it do it because of the law and legal jeopardy or because of Public Relations or both . I think its both, john. I think the company knows, as we have seen with other companies, there are possible lawsuits and these lawsuits can be very expensive, and you can be looking at a sevenfigure settlement in jury verdicts if the claim can be substantiated and proven in court. Companies know they face legal jeopardy and there are civil lawsuits to follow, and they also know from the barrage of claims that have come forward that this is a Public Relations nightmare. There can be call for advertisers to stop advertising on particular programs, and viewers to stop watching a particular show because one of its main anchors has been accused of Sexual Harassment. The company has to juggle a couple things. The legal liability, plus the Public Relations nightmare. I want to point out one thing, companies dont have to wait for women to come forward. Companies have an affirmative obligation to keep the workplace safe, so if there are innuendos, if theres gossip and talk in the workplace that somebody has been engaged in Inappropriate Conduct that company has a duty to launch its own internal investigation so we dont have to wait or companies dont have to wait for women, in this case, we believe a woman to come forward, and they should be launching their own investigations. Stand by because i have more to ask you. But joining us, Alisyn Camerota of new day. Theres a tv side to this and theres a societal side to this, and society, as much as we love tv, is more important here. And those at the top of the industry, which matt lauer is, falls for Something Like this, it tells you something, alisyn. Does this tell you now in this moment that women do feel empowered to come forward and tell their stories . Absolutely. Theres a ground swell of women coming forward. I would rewind the clock back to roger ailes and what happened a year and a half ago. I feel today the same way i did that day, shocked but not surprised. Sometimes you hear about these things, and sometimes you hear there might have been impropriety of some kind but then when it happens its seismic. What happens when somebody as big as Harvey Weinstein, or matt lauer, it does make a ground swell of women that have been harboring secrets feel, you know, maybe i can tell somebody and maybe i can come forward. Still, i think matt lauer is different from all of those people who are huge in and of their own right. Yeah, i do too. Hes a household name. Everything. I cant remember, the time flies so fast, but you did the lead report for cbs news the morning charlie rose left. It was a week ago we covered charlie rose bg let go from cbs news. We launched an internal investigation as soon as the story broke out. We as reporters and news divisions have our own investigative units. We treat this story like any other story but it differs because its somebody we love, and savannah addressed it this morning, and gayle and norah addressed it last week, and feeling for the victims and the women coming forward as well, and i covered the charlie rose story for evening news and for cbs this morning, and i will be covering this news story about matt lauer tonight for evening news as well. We in this industry have to treat these stories the way we would treat any other story. Despite what nancy pelosi said about john conyers, it doesnt matter if they made a lot of money or if they were at the top of their industry, if they engaged in inappropriate behavior, thats what matters. We dont know what matt lauer did, but as we are now in the moment, how do we distinguish between different types of bad behavior . Theres Harvey Weinstein, what he was accused of, which may land him in jail, and on the other side of the spectrum, theres al franken, the touching of bottoms, and george h. W. Bush, touching bought kwruplz in the photos. I think its important that we not try to parse this too thinly. This conduct in the workplace is unlawful. It has been unlawful since 1964, the Civil Rights Act which made Sexual Harassment unlawful. We have to, i think, start with that, that whether its inappropriate touching or groping or in some cases its actually forced intercourse, this is bad behavior and unlawful behavior. When we get to the consequences, of course employers have to weigh does this require discipli disciplinary action such as suspension or does it require the ultimate disciplinary action which is to terminate, and each has to look at their review of the conduct. What is so empowering for the women, and primarily these are women who have been victims, is there is power in numbers. For the first time in probably 25 years since anita hill are feeling the courage and strength to come forward and tell their stories. I think the workplace is going to change as a result of this. I think the murky place that you are talking about, i dont think the touching of somebodys butt is murky, i think the murky place you are alluding to is there are consensual and romantic relationships, and what happens when one of those ends and its the woman who is then sent off somewhere or marginalized or her career hits the dead end and the mans care career thrives. We should talk about that situation and be addressed, because then women feel agrieved, and what are the rules for that . . Thats a corporate thing rather than a legal thing. Do all of the employees really know and are they let in on the policies . I want to bring up something that is the elephant in the room here, and for all the discussion and for as much as we are in the moment, the president of the United States has been accused by 13 women, 12 named, one anonymous of various forms of sexual misconduct, and now we are seeing consequences format lauer and charlie rose and Harvey Weinstein and others, yet, you know, not for donald j. Trump, and i will not show them right now because we dont need to see them, but donald trump is tweeting about matt lauer this morning. I am proud as a cbs news employee that we sent a message with charlie rose let go, that everybody is replaceable and nobody gets a pass even if its your lead anchor, and i am sure that applies to cnn, and nbc proved that, and it sends a message when the president of the United States not only doesnt acknowledge the discussion being had across the country, and what a pivotal time it is to be a president when you have seen a sea change, and he can be participating and leading the discussion, and instead we are reading reports he is denying what he even admitted to with the access Hollywood Tape, so it seems surreal that the leader of the country does not seem to be in lockstep with at least Corporate America at this point. Theres an entire school of thought that because this happened with donald trump and so many accusers came forward and he was elected president that thats one of the things that created the ground weswell and empowered women because they were tired of that. Roy moore could win in alabama. Dont forget about that. Thank you for the discussion. North korea taunting President Trump. President trump sending out antimuslim videos from a far right figure in britain. Its causing major waves there and here as well. What message is he sending . Plus a vote on tax reform could be as soon as the end of the week. Do republicans have the votes . Why do you do it . Its not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. Even love it. And today, you can do things you never could before. Youre developing ai applications on the cloud. Finding insights hidden in decades of medical documents. And securing millions of iot sensors. So get back to it. And do the best work of your life. All right. New this morning, the president ft United States sent out some flat out antimuslim videos. The videos were originally posted by a british far right group, and it shows attacks carried out by muslims, and phil black joins me now from london. Phil, first explain who originally posted these videos, and what they show and the significance . The group is called britain first. If you talk to members of this group they will tell you they are patriots, that they are proud of britain, what they believe to be its traditional people, values and heritage and they believe all of these things are under threat by, among other things, immigration, but notably the muslim faith. They fear, they say, the islam faction of britain, and this is essentially their political manifesto, and they contested elections on this, and never been elected but more than that they are a selfstyled resistance group, and this is where they get really controversial, take to the streets of mixed cultural area, and muslim occupied neighborhoods, and confront and sometimes very violent and provocative moments. They are controversial here, and exist outside of the political mainstream. The deputy leader of this group, which is who President Trump has been retweeting has been convicted of hate crimes and harassing people on the streets for religious reasons. All of this, its a pretty big deal politically in the country because they are considered to be so controversial. Critics will tell you they are racist, sean yo phobic. This puts the british prime minister, theresa may, in a difficult position. She does not want to offend President Trump, and she has been courting a constructive relationship with the president , and she knows this sort of action by the american president will be deeply unpopular here in this country and its going to be a difficult balance for her to strike as she confronts this publicly and we are waiting for a comment from her or another member of the british government. Joining me, ben ferguson, and a cnn political calm tater and former chief of staff to nancy pelosi. I think we will hear from leaders in britain soon on this. Huh deem, when you saw the president send these videos out, what did you think . It took me a second to realize some of the videos were old, and violence should be condemned anytime, anyplace, anywhere, by anybody. Why did the president send these tweets today . Its something he has to answer. I dont know what he was thinking this morning, very early this morning, actually, when he sent them. The message that he was perhaps sending was, you know, a political message. I hope not but we will have to see what he says, and he moved on with other tweets afterwards. Theres no question, the woman that sends the videos out, shes antimuslim and posts the videos. What does President Trump get out of that . I dont know if it was indosii endorsing her, but many dont like to see the extremist in the community. I look at it. Are you offended by the person that tweeted them out or offended by the video . I think the president , if i would have seen these videos and i would have seen them on my feed and watched them i probably would have tweeted that out and said to myself this is something the world needs to see. We know isis has been throwing gays, and lesbian i will say for the president of the United States, hate crimes in the United States are at a record high. His own Justice Department put out a note, including a rise in antisemitic attacks and antimuslim attacks. I dont think this encourages any type of attacks in this country. I think its exposing the reality that you have a group of muslim extremist in the world that are committing atrocities we should all be trying to stop. The president is not advocating, he is saying if you are an extremist muslim and you are throwing people off rooftops because of their Sexual Orientation or religion, we will find you. Why would you not this exposed . I understand people are focusing on who tweeted it. There are videos that americans and people need to see. This is happening in real time around the world right now and we need to go after the people and thats clearly what the president is saying is these are people that we should go after. Is that the case . I agree with you. But let me be clear, all violence needs to be condemned. The president is the leader of all americans, and a time will come when he has to show this leadership, and condemn all violence, whether its, you know, muslim violence or christian violence, doesnt matter what it is, violence must be condemned. There are reports that came out overnight, mostly from the New York Times and the Washington Post had a little also, where the president is now, again, opening questioning whether the access Hollywood Tape is real. That, of course, the tape where he brags about being able to sexually assault a woman and get away with it because hes a person in power, and hes questioning whether thats real, and hes questioning whether former president Barack Obamas birth certificate is real. Hes saying it behind closed doors to some senators and aides. These are i will explain why later, these are lies, and its not just me saying that its the 2016 version of donald trump who says that also. I think we have the sound here playing what he said about the access Hollywood Tape in 2016. Lets play that. I said it. I was wrong and i apologize. He also has the 2016 version of what he said about President Trumps birth certificate. Lets play that. President barack obama was born in the United States, period. So ben ferguson, either he is lying now by questioning whether these things are true or lying in 2016 when he said that out loud. I dont know who all he has been saying this to, but many of m

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