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NEW DAY SUNDAY

Israel's Netanyahu to Call Trump Today; Trump: I Have a Running War with the Media; More Than 1 Million Marched Against Trump in U.S.; Trump on Supreme Court Pick: "Within Next 2 Weeks". Aired 7-8a ET

Aired January 22, 2017 - 07:00   ET

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


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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:00:30] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a running war with the media.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen a president that unhinged --

TRUMP: They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth.

RICK SANTORUM (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is the most effective when he sticks to the script.

TRUMP: They sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: If Donald Trump feels like he has been attacked, then he is going to do something to try and attack you back.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of his main gripes about the news media was our reporting about his crowd size.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I can't think of anything more important to the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you on a Sunday. Coming to you live from Washington, D.C. I promise you that sun is coming up.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The sun still isn't up. We have been here for three hours and it's still not up. PAUL: It's getting a little lighter. Just a little bit. There's a

big fog out there and that's part of the reason. But we are so grateful to have your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

And President Trump getting ready to talk to two international leaders this week. Today is Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and on that call, they will discuss Iran. And then, on Friday, British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with President Trump to discuss building the special relationship between the two companies.

Now, this comes as the president still looks to put together this cabinet, to put it in place. So far, only two members have been confirmed. Historically, that is a low number for this point in the administration.

PAUL: But as we look ahead tomorrow for approval, right here on Capitol, Congressman Mike Pompeo, nominee for CIA director and Trump's full first day of his presidency, more than a million people were in Washington. They were marching, not just here but in cities around the world, in solidarity not just for women's rights, but for many other rights as well.

So, we just heard Donald Trump here, we're going to hear it in a second, lashing out at the media. He's talking to the CIA headquarters and the folks there.

His press secretary, Sean Spicer, had even more to say beyond that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. CNN's White House correspondent Athena Jones joins us now.

And, Athena, this was, let's say, unorthodox, first briefing in that room.

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was certainly in the briefing room, Sean -- Press Secretary Sean Spicer came out and declared an angry statement to the media, but he didn't take any questions. He was talking about some of what President Trump had to say when he delivered a message to the CIA folks at Langley. I believe we have that sound. We'll play some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, I can only say that I am with you 1,000 percent, and the reason you are my first stop is that, as you know, I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth.

(APPLAUSE)

They sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community. And I just want to let you know, the reason you are the number one stop, it is exactly the opposite. Exactly. And they understand that, too.

It looked -- honestly, it looked like a million and a half people, whatever it was, it was, but it went all the way back to the Washington Monument, and I turn on -- by mistake, I get this network, and it showed an empty field, it said, we drew 250,000 people. Now, that's not bad, but that's a lie, and we had 250,000 literally around -- you know, in the bowl that we constructed, that was 250,000 people. The rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.

So, we caught them and we caught them in a beauty, and I think they're going to pay a big price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So, there he is talking to the CIA, standing before the memorial wall memorializing CIA members that died and he's talking about crowd sizes and he's talking about his war with the media, many say it was a missed opportunity. You heard Senator Rick Santorum say that Donald Trump is most effective when he sticks to the script. It's not at all clear that there was any sort of script or preparation ahead of that, that statement yesterday.

[07:05:05] PAUL: All righty. Stay with us.

To talk more about this, we've got a whole group of people to talk about this in just a minute, but we're also talking about what happened with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

BLACKWELL: Yes, let's do fact checking here because he targeted a few items. Let's go through those. First, the crowds at the inauguration, and he started with these ground coverings at the National Mall. Now, Spicer and his team, they were heated when photos were showing these large spaces of white coverings were tweeted out. Here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass in the Mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past, the grass eliminated this visual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: OK. I want to show you side by side here of President Obama's 2013 inauguration compared to President Trump's now. So, if you look at the area we highlighted, there's the same white ground covering there, just in all transparency.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, several reporters recall the covering to be laid there to protect the grass back in 2013, that makes Spicer's claim about the coverings being used for the first time in history false.

PAUL: And next, let's talk about what Spicer -- what claim he made about metal detectors, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: This is also the first time fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the wall, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The fact is, the Secret Service says the secure area for this year's inauguration was larger than in years past, but the extra measures included only fences and bag checks, not metal detectors.

PAUL: So, Spicer's claim that metal detectors deterred crowds, that is also false.

BLACKWELL: All right. Last up, just the size of the crowd, here's what Spicer had to say about the media outlets reporting the number of people who attended the swearing in. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPICER: No one had numbers because the National Park Service, which controls the National Mall, does not put any out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And that is accurate, the National Park Service does not provide an official crowd count for the inauguration, and Spicer just said no one had crowd size numbers accurately perfectly, that is absolutely true.

BLACKWELL: All right. We've got a lot to talk about. Let's welcome in our panel now, CNN senior political analyst, Mark Preston, CNN White House correspondent Athena Jones, CNN political commentator David Swerdlick, also assistant editor for "The Washington Post", Jeffrey Lord, CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director, Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, CNN political commentator Paris Dennard, and A. Scott Bolden, former chairman of the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party.

Welcome to all.

PAUL: Take a breath.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: All right. So, let's start here with the visit to Langley. Someone on the president's team thought he had to go there and mend fences. Did he accomplish what he hoped to accomplish there?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, a couple of things. One is that they were hoping that Mike Pompeo would have already been confirmed by the United States Senate, when -- you know, when the trip was going to happen. They decided they continue to go there anyway, afterwards, you know, to express support for Pompeo, who was there as well.

Did he accomplish what he was trying to do yesterday? In his mind, yes. Did he -- in the long run, was it a smart thing that he did? Absolutely not. Was the stage craft preposterous in many ways? Absolutely. It was preposterous.

When he stood there with the stars behind him, and just so our viewers understand what we are talking about here, this is the equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery for the CIA. A lot of those folks, those stars behind here represent CIA agents, and many names we will never know who were killed in the line of action. And to go there and talk about ratings for his inauguration, to talk about his fight with the media, and to talk about, you know, how great things have been for the last couple of days for him was actually -- you know, Athena calls it a missed opportunity, and I agree with her and I would take it further than that.

PAUL: All right. So, Jeffrey, let's talk about that. I remember Lt. General Mark Hertling calling that area hollowed ground. What made Donald Trump to decide to start with this topic?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think this is being vastly overblown. What you just played there, what did you hear when you said this? There was laughter. There was cheering or laughter and applause, and all of this sort of thing. These are CIA employees doing this.

Now, we are saying on the one hand that it was inappropriate to say this, if that's the case, then they should not have been laughing. Look, this is a simple attempt from a boss to communicate with his new employees, to let them get a feel for who he is and how he reacts and how he deals with things.

PAUL: So, do you think he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish?

LORD: Sure, sure, with them. But this larger -- this goes to the larger business of the media narratives and all this kind of thing, and this is the way this town works.

PRESTON: But can I say one thing, though, Jeffrey. He went out there and said -- he initially said, like, listen, the media has created a narrative that is me against the intelligence community, and that narrative is true when he said that that narrative was false. So, it's about the media and him battling. It's about the media just clearly putting out public statements that he has said about the intelligence community, comparing them to Nazi Germany because he wasn't happy with their investigation into the Russian hacking.

LORD: They -- somebody leaked classified -- classified information to the media. That should not happen. He was upset. He should be upset.

Mr. and Mrs. Average America out there are wondering why in the world classified information is being leaked? (CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: And let me bring David.

And, David, you are just joining the conversation. It's important to remind people at home who may not watch every news conference, that Donald Trump called out the intelligence community. He tweeted out intelligence in quotes.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Throughout January, he called the intelligence community. Go back to December 11th, when he went on the Sunday shows and called some of the initial reports about Russian meddling ridiculous, that's a quote, he used the word ridiculous. He could have easily said, I want to wait for all the facts to get in. I'm not going to talk about this in full until I take the oath of office.

He just flatly, it was ridiculous, even though all of the four heads of the intelligence agencies were unanimous in saying that, no, we are on to something, stay tuned. So, to the point that Jeffrey is making, I understand when you say that, look, this is not necessarily what the average person is thinking about day-to-day, but the extent that there was fence-mending needed to between President Trump and the intelligence community, I don't think he really accomplished that.

BLACKWELL: And, Athena, there were those applause that Jeffrey mentioned. There was laughter in the room.

JONES: We've got to clear up what was going on there. I know this from our pool producer who happened to be CNN's White House producer Kevin Liptak, who observed the people in the room who was there. not allowed to shoot the crowd, because we're talking about the CIA, shoot the video of the crowd, I should say, because we're talking about the CIA.

But in that room was two sections, and one was a group of people who entered a lottery, CIA staffers who entered a lottery in order to be able to come and here the president speak, you would expect people who are willing to go through the trouble to enter a lottery are going to be Donald Trump fans. Those are the people are the people who are applauding and laughing --

LORD: But they are CIA employees.

JONES: But there's another part of that crowd who are the senior staffers, they were not applauding, they were not laughing, they were stone faced, they were stoic. That is what has been described to us. So, it's very, very important for that to be clear to people. If you hear, you look at the tape and you hear the applause, it's important to spell out who was really there.

BLACKWELL: All right. We need to take a break. We'll continue this conversation in a moment.

But I do want to include after the break, we're gong to get to the sentiments to the former CIA Director John Brennan as through his spokesperson, Nick Shapiro, who was deeply saddened and angered by what he saw at the CIA.

All right. We'll take a break. We'll be back.

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[07:16:09] BLACKWELL: All right. Welcome back.

Still with us, Athena Jones, Mark Preston, David Swerdlick, Jeffrey Lord, Maria Cardona, Paris Dennard and A. Scott Bolden.

Let's get back to the comments made by the president yesterday in speaking with the members of the intelligence community. And we heard from the president, I want you now to hear from Nick Shapiro, who is former deputy chief of staff for the former CIA director, John Brennan.

Let's put up his words, "Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self- aggrandizement in front of CIA's memorial wall of agency heroes. That -- he also said, Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.

So, Paris, when you and Jeffrey, when you say that he accomplished what he went there to do, this -- from this former director, he did exactly the opposite, and our Jim Sciutto, chief of national security correspondent, says he has been hearing from members of the intelligence community who are offended by what they saw and heard.

PARIS DENNARD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's two points. One, when President Trump went there, his mission was to let the CIA know that he supports them 1000 percent, as he said, and that this feud that is being presented in the media is by the media, and that he does not believe -- he said the American people that are with him do not believe that that is what he -- they said it's not his thoughts, it's fabricated media narrative.

BLACKWELL: Do you believe that?

DENNARD: Ii believe that when you talk -- when Jeffrey pointed out appropriately that there was laughter and applause after he talked about the media being the most dishonest, and Athena points out, well, let's clarify, let's clarify who's in the room, there were CIA people who came in during a pool, we just --

(CROSSTALK)

DENNARD: So, that feeds into the narrative.

BLACKWELL: Do you believe we invented this feud between the intelligence community --

DENNARD: Yes, and so do the American people believe that --

(CROSSTALK)

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Come on, no they don't.

(CROSSTALK)

DENNARD: Hold on.

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN: He tweeted it!

DENNARD: When you put up graphics to talk about Sean Spicer, false, false, false, that is what -- they see this --

PAUL: Wait a minute, we are just trying to clear the air.

DENNARD: But you can clear the air but you don't have to put up an image of Sean Spicer. This is false. Sean Spicer lied.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: We put up in Sean Spicer what was true as well.

DENNARD: Why are we spending time talking about that --

CARDONA: Because they are lying. Because they are lying.

DENNARD: This is what the average Joe American sees. They see the media attacking the president and creating these narratives. You can report on what happens, but this is what they see. I was out there on the Mall and I see what they said. When they recognized me being on this program, the network, they said --

BLACKWELL: You in the Mall which day, Friday or Saturday?

DENNARD: I was not on the mall out there with the disrespectful people --

(CROSSTALK)

DENNARD: I was out there when those anarchists were lighting things on fire, chaining themselves and saying the most offensive, disgusting things, vile things --

CARDONA: That was not yesterday. Not yesterday.

PAUL: That was Friday.

DENNARD: I am talking about --

(CROSSTALK)

SWERDLICK: What people should and should not be talking about, or covering -- look, yesterday as things were unfolding, I thought, wow, President Trump is making a smart move, he's counter-programming the demonstrations by going to the CIA. He's going to look at the wall of the 117 fallen, pay his respects, shake some hands, say solemn words about the mission that he sees going forward as commander-in-chief, and that would have been strong and that would have changed the whole discussion we are having now.

Instead, he went out there and talked about how big of a crowd he did or did not draw, like he was an act in Madison Square Garden.

(CROSSTALK)

SWERDLICK: Mr. President, it's not about -- you drew best on election day.

[07:20:01] That's what counts. Stop worrying about your crowds and your popular vote.

DENNARD: It's about the dishonest media that he is trying to talk about.

CARDONA: I think that incident made a couple things clear. Number one, he's never going to pivot to be more presidential. Number two, he's going to continue the lie after lie that we heard after 18 months of a presidential campaign that was the most dishonest in modern history. He's going to continue to do that in front of the American people, and what is more pathetic and more shameful and sad, frankly, is he's going to have his spokesperson, Sean Spicer, go out and not just parrot his lies but to continue to lie and lie and lie after that. We know size is very important to the important --

LORD: Wait a second.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: But it is pathetic and I think dangerous when that supersedes the real issues that the American people --

BLACKWELL: Go ahead, Jeffrey.

LORD: Look, look, Barack Obama left the White House the other day with all of these glowing editorials about how wonderful he was and how he great was, how popular he was, et cetera, et cetera.

If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. It was a massive lie. It was a flat out -- it was a flat out lie.

Now, is the legacy here that a big liar left the White House? No, he's a glowing guy. He's terrific. He looked the people right straight in the eye and people lost their health care. I mean, I was reading articles at the time about people who lost family members, they died because they lost their health care because of Obamacare.

CARDONA: Obama paid for that, he paid for that politically.

(CROSSTALK)

LORD: All I'm saying to you, that the media narrative here was what a great guy, and yet he did something that was really bad. And here we have got --

CARDONA: You are messing up the context.

(CROSSTALK)

SWERDLICK: I personally wrote an article criticizing the Obama administration just for that statement.

CARDONA: He paid for that politically.

SWERDLICK: "Washington Post" wrote a glowing article when he left.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: That was four years after what happened --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Scott, go ahead.

BOLDEN: I am only 54 years old, but I can't imagine or remember seeing a political speech, a campaign speech, being made at the CIA. Let alone the wall of honor. It just made it powerfully inappropriate and shameful and that's the bottom line.

BLACKWELL: Mark, as we talk about Sean Spicer and what his role will be and how he will approach his job as press secretary, I mean, he is the new @RealDonaldTrump? I mean, instead of sending out a tweet, you've got a press secretary who can go out, read a statement and walk off the stage.

PRESTON: Yes. You know, I don't think this is so much about Sean Spicer, for full disclosure, I have known him for many, many, many years. When he was hired by Donald Trump, there was a bit of relief among the press corps because there was an understanding he knew how to work with the press.

The bottom line is, when the commander-in-chief, the leader of the free world, was out and told you to do something, you've got to go out and do it. Now, whether Sean Spicer will ever say that that's what happened or not, I doubt he will. You know, it remains to be seen.

But the fact is, what happened yesterday is driven by Donald Trump. It's all about Donald Trump. The campaign was about Donald Trump, of course, as it would be. But now, we are seeing a transfer into this new administration.

So, Victor, to your point, anybody that works for Donald Trump right now is going to be the new @realDonaldTrump.

BLACKWELL: All right. We've got to pause. Thank you, everybody.

David, you're going to be back. We're going to continue this conversation in just a moment. But a lot to talk about in the first 48 hours or so of the Trump administration.

PAUL: Well, not only that, but we mentioned it briefly, the Women's March was full of celebrities and activist and politicians in the streets, not just here in Washington, D.C., but all over the world on Donald Trump's -- President Trump's first day, or one day, I should say, after his inauguration.

What did they really want us to hear? It was about a lot more than just women's rights. Stay close.

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[07:26:44] PAUL: Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

More than a million people were in the streets for the Washington's -- with the Women's March, I should say, in Washington. Massive crowds filled with celebrities and activist and politicians and there were men there as well. It wasn't just women, but they sent a message to the incoming president, Donald Trump, that they will not be silenced and they will not be ignored.

BLACKWELL: And we should say that there were hundreds of thousands here in Washington, but more a million around the country and around the world who were in support of women's rights, but in support of other rights as well.

CNN's Brynn Gingras was there, joins us now.

And we should say it's more than just women's rights, because we saw a lot of signs about a lot of issues.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And that's exactly -- you know, I want to bring up a story where I talked to one of the women. She had gone to four marches in Washington. She was out here when Martin Luther King Jr. gave that speech. She said yesterday was the most important, why? Because there was not one single issue. This was about protecting all of America's values and issues. And I thought was a really important to get everyone involved.

But as you guys said, it was headlined by celebrities. There are politicians there. And voices were heard globally to send a message to the president, just within his first day of the presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMERICA FERRERA, ACTRESS: The president is not America. We are America.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Marches for women's rights in the United States and around the world on President Trump's first full day in office.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like.

GINGRAS: One of the biggest in Washington where protesters filled Pennsylvania Avenue and then headed for the White House. Some of the protesters there came driven by fear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm afraid of anybody that lacks the empathy to see their neighbor who's different than them and not treat them as equally American as anybody else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to say to Trump that we are not afraid of him, that we are here together.

GINGRAS: On the National Mall, celebrities rallied the crowd.

FERRERA: If we commit to what aligns us, if we stand together steadfast and determined, then we stand a chance at saving the soul of our country.

ASHLEY JUDD, ACTRESS: We are here to be respected. We are here to be nasty. I am nasty like Susan, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Amelia, Rosa, Gloria, Condoleezza, Sonya, Malala, Michelle, Hillary.

MADONNA: Good did not win this election. But good will win in the end.

GINGRAS: Organizers said there was 600 marches across the globe. People gathered at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and in London with the message for the new American president -- your decisions will affect the whole world.

KATE ALLEN, DIR. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL U.K.: I'm here, Amnesty International is here, amongst all of these thousands of other people, because we are concerned about the rights that we fought for, and rights that we have been used to are under attack now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[07:30:01] GINGRAS: So, again, so many different reasons why men, women, children came out yesterday, and also, though, promises being made. Some saying that they're going to continue these protests in their neighborhoods and even within the first 100 days of Trump's administration.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's an important element, now what? What is next?

So, Brynn, thank you so much for that.

We're going to talk with the organizers of the Women's March, the co- founders, and find out, indeed, what is next for this movement.

PAUL: Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Welcome back. So glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.

More than a million people took to the streets across the country to protest Donald Trump, and there were other issues as well a day after the inauguration.

PAUL: Yes, here with us now, the co-founders of this march: Evvie Harmon and Breanne Butler, and CNN contributor J.D. Vance.

Ladies, first of all the, did you anticipate that it would be what it became and what stuck with you most yesterday after you left? E.D.?

EVVIE HARMON, CO-FOUNDER & GLOBAL COORDINATOR, WOMEN'S DAY MARCH: Definitely. I have been in this since the first day, Teresa Shook, and we were on the original Women's March on Washington Facebook invite, and the response was overwhelming. It started to grow exponentially. And within a week, we had several different countries approach us and saying they wanted to support the march on Washington. So, I said, I'm pretty sure we're going to clear a million in Washington and I think this is going to end up being a global movement.

BLACKWELL: Wow. Breanne, right? So, when you tell the story, E.B., of a Facebook invite turning into what we saw yesterday, when you saw it, what went through your mind as you heard the cities that were listed off in participating?

BREANNE BUTLER, CO-FOUNDER/NATIONAL & GLOBAL COORDINATOR, WOMEN'S DAY MARCH: Well, when we -- let's see, what was it, right before Christmas, we were having this influx of countries and cities around the world wanting to go get involved but we were so focused on national. So, we decided to bump up our two state leads and focus more on growing the global effort. And we went from less than 20 cities and we grew it to almost 200.

: Yes, almost 200 cities.

BUTLER: We hit 5 million globally marching yesterday.

PAUL: Six hundred cities when all was said and done.

BUTLER: Including the U.S.

PAUL: There was some pushback, some pushback on social media from people talking about women's issues. Help us understand what your main point was that you wanted to get out there, but it wasn't just about equality for women at the end of the day.

BUTLER: Yes, well, you know, it was so interesting, because you are seeing these various women's issues and other issues just around the world, and why they were marching.

[07:35:04] In South America, they were marching for gender violence. And in India, we saw what happened on New Year's Day and a ton of people wanted to get involved and help in those efforts. You know, Ethiopia, clean water is a huge problem, and that affects women and young girl's education because they are dropping out of school.

There's just so much work to be done, and it was such an honor and just so -- it was so amazing to see all of the women around the world step up and a lot of them, too, really risks their lives to march with us yesterday, especially in the Middle East, and it's just incredible.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about some of the women here in the U.S., J.D., because there has been a cast of being an anti-Trump event, and that it was -- these people that were against the election of the president versus Trump supporters. Is there any overlap from the people you wrote about in "Hillbilly Elegy" and what we saw in so many cities yesterday? J.D. VANCE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think there is and actually I saw a few Trump supporters who are actually marching yesterday. So, I don't think it's right to frame it totally as an oppositional thing.

My sense yesterday is that there were two basic groups, this is obviously generalizing. But, you know, there were folks that are generally concerned about one thing or another in the direction of the country, and maybe President Trump's rhetoric on the campaign trail. But there were folks committed to left of center political issues and in the march they came together in a pretty organic thing yesterday.

And the question I think going forward is whether those two groups are able to work together effectively politically. It was a pretty incredible demonstration yesterday, but whether it translates into political action is something that we'll find out.

BLACKWELL: You have taken issue with people saying this is like the new tea party, or the left's tea party because it's -- I remember, you were characterizing it as a sloppy conclusion.

VANCE: Yes, I think it's a little sloppy just because it's a different political moment and a different time and group of people. But what I think is similar is you have -- you have a relatively organic movement and you have people who are not especially political. I heard from a lot of people yesterday, it was the first time they protested everything. But then you have people more ideologically committed. That is very similar to what we saw with the tea party movement where you had folks who were really committed conservatives alongside folks who just didn't care about politics that much. They were just worried about the direction of the country.

PAUL: I want to listen to Scarlett Johansson when she took the stage yesterday. Her tone was different than some of the others we have heard. But let's listen to her real quickly here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, ACTRESS: President Trump, I did not vote for you! That said, I respect that you are our president-elect and I want to be able to support you, but first I ask that you support me. Support my sister. Support my mother. Support my best friend, and all of our girlfriends. Support the men and women here today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: "I respect the fact that you are president and I want to support you."

Is there a space for a lot of these people who are out there today to your point to come together with people of different ideas and different political views?

BUTLER: Absolutely. I mean, our issues are varied in many. If you saw any of the signs yesterday, there was signs about climate change, there were signs about reproductive rights, there was -- every issue, you really saw it on the streets and all around the world. But I think that we all agree is, if we can secure the rights of the

most marginalized group, which women are among the most marginalized, and you look at equal pay, and this is what a white man or white man makes, and then a black woman makes this, a Muslim makes this, an native American woman makes this. If we can secure the rights of that person, then everybody else's rights are secured as well.

BLACKWELL: Now, to accomplish that, Evvie, the question then, what is next? How do you harness all of the energy that was created around the world and do something that will change policy?

HARMON: You just keep going. You never stop. The next thing that we are looking for as far as an action where we hit the streets again is going to be March 8th for International Women's Day?

BLACKWELL: But beyond a march, beyond a rally, are there legislative goals? Is there a plan that is consensus that you have all of these people who are going to be working and pushing in state houses or the building behind us here at the capital?

HARMON: Yes, of course. And you know, if we didn't go after changing legislation, then really what's the point? The only -- you know, the thing is, people have to understand this whole movement is less than 12 weeks old.

[07:40:03] So, we just all need a chance to sort of breathe and really come together as a country and figure out what that is for us and then come together as a world and figure out what that means for us globally. So, these are very important conversations that we already have on the books. So, next week is going to be exciting for the women's march, not just here at home but around the world.

So, we're going to start to figure out exactly what the specific policy platforms are, I guess, we're not for just our country but every other country that's involved, and then hopefully, also a global initiative. And, you know, climate change really being the big one. We are not going to get ahold of climate change if we don't come at it together as a planet.

PAUL: All right. Evvie, Breanne, J.D., thank you all so much.

BUTLER: Thank you.

HARMON: Thank you.

PAUL: It's one of the biggest decisions of his young presidency here, Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick to replace the late Justice Scalia.

BLACKWELL: Next, when he says he will make that choice and the top names on the list.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: So, there are a lot of fights that are coming here in Washington. We've got the fight over repealing Obamacare and then the cabinet nominations, but there's another one looming. PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: That's the, yes, SCOTUS.

PAUL: Yes, the nominee for the Supreme Court. And here's what he said earlier about the timing of his choice. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll be making the decision on who we will put up for justice of the United States Supreme Court, a replacement for the great, great Justice Scalia, that will be probably within two weeks of the 20th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, Donald Trump said this week, the pick will likely come from the list of possible nominees that he put out during the campaign.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and the question now, who are the frontrunners and how fiercely could the pick be opposed by Democrats.

PAUL: Joining us live to talk about this, Ariane De Vogue, CNN Supreme Court reporter.

So, where -- what is the status here, Ariane? What do we know about how far along he really is into making this choice?

[07:45:00] ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Well, what he said last week is interesting the day before his inauguration. He said he had an idea who the pick was going to be, right? He's had an interesting journey here because it was early in the campaign where the judicial conservatives, they were worried, and they were worried he wouldn't put someone with conservative credentials.

So, he put out this list of 20 people to soothe them. And that was the first time any president has ever done that. And so, at the top of the list has always been William Pryor, a judge out of Alabama, and Judge Diane Sykes, because he himself mentioned them on the campaign trail.

But there is a handful of others and another one is a judge out of Colorado, Neil Gorsuch. He would really please conservatives on religious liberty issues and he's very young. I think he's 49 years old. And that's a key criteria when presidents pick these nominees because, of course, they become their lasting legacies.

BLACKWELL: Yes, for decades possibly if he picks someone in their 40s. We know during the campaign for Republicans who had difficulty supporting Donald Trump, the Supreme Court was the issue they turned to to say that this is why I have to vote for Donald Trump because the alternative with the Clinton pick was something they couldn't -- they couldn't live with.

So, what are the issues this pick has to check off for them? Some of the stances that they have to accomplish?

DE VOGUE: Well, of course, it would be -- what they care so much about is keeping to the conservative principles of limited government, and that's what they wanted this list to really -- that's why they wanted him to stay on this list. And what's interesting about it is that they looked at the Sessions hearings, you remember, a couple weeks ago, and they thought, OK, this might be a dry run for the Supreme Court, and they really wanted to make sure that the Democratic senators went hard on Sessions on some of these issues, and the progressives were a little disappointed.

Coming up now, they are looking at these hearings and are hoping they will be tougher questions for the nominee. And there are two main things that will be different, one, unless he surprises us, we don't think there will be a senator on there. So, there won't be that Senate collegiality, where they might ask softer questions.

But another key issue is Merrick Garland, of course, as the nominee Obama put forward, the Republicans failed to hold hearings for it, that's going to be a big part of these hearings, and they're not going to back down, as you have seen. Senator Schumer has gone really strong on the hearings, and he said, look, I want a mainstream candidate to be put forward.

BLACKWELL: And Schumer even suggesting that he would try to hold the seat open for the entirety of the Trump administration, probably not possible, but at least a goal from the Senate Democratic leader.

Ariane De Vogue, thanks so much.

DE VOGUE: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, Ariane. Appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: All right. Still to come, President Trump attends an inner faith service, the message one Muslim leader hopes was loud and clear. We'll have that for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:36] PAUL: So, we're now full spring into President Donald Trump's first week in office. It includes a slew of first week festivities obviously.

BLACKWELL: Yes. A lot of pomp and circumstance. Yesterday, the president attended an interfaith religious service. Leaders from several religions were present, including Islam. When it was the imam's turn, the Muslim leader used his time in front of the president to read two passages from the Koran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMAM MOHAMED MAGID, EXEC DIRECTOR, ALL DULLES AREA MUSLIM SOCIETY: All humankind will have created you from a single male and female, Adam and Eve, and made you into nations and tribes and communities that you may know each other. Really the most honored of you in the sight of God is the one that's the most righteous of you. And among the signs of God is the creation of heaven and earth and the variation in your languages and your colors, verily in that are signs for those who know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Joining us now, David Swerdlick, CNN political commentator and assistant editor of "The Washington Post", and Bruce Levell, executive of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump.

Good to have you both back on NEW DAY.

BRUCE LEVELL, NATIONAL DIVERSITY COALITION FOR TRUMP: Thanks, Victor, for having me.

BLACKWELL: David, I want to start with you. Initially, that imam was scheduled to deliver the call to prayer, but instead read those two passages from the Koran. Some receiving that trying to send a political message to the president when there are a lot of Muslims in this country who still have concerns about how the president views Islam in their community.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. I see that as the imam taking the opportunity to when he has essentially is face to face with President Trump, trying to get a message across that his faith and his community are there and want to be heard and have a particular message. I thought it was good that they had an interfaith ceremony yesterday. People from the Baha'i, Mormon, Jewish, all faiths were there.

But my view, stepping back a little bit, Victor, would just simply be that that was not as important I think as ultimately hearing from President Trump himself. I don't think he has done a good enough job of addressing issues of cultural and ethnic diversity.

PAUL: Bruce, there have been some criticisms about the cabinet that he has chosen, that he has nominated thus far and there's not enough diversity in that. Sean Spicer came out, said that it's not about what they look like. It's about what they believe in.

But how do you say that to people who look at that -- look at that list, and there is no Latino? There is one African-American. How do you -- how do you justify that to an American population?

LEVELL: Well, this is the way we look at it, the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. We're the largest diversity coalition, you know, in the history of the GOP forever. We represent all different ethnic backgrounds in DCTrump.com.

But I will you this, though, in terms of wanting the best qualified candidate is what our diversity coalition really, really truly wants. Because you've got to the remember this, too, Christi, you're talking about a job that's being a good steward of the taxpayer money, that's essentially what we're looking, whether it be male, female, or all men, or whatever. That's really what really -- what the focus, is the best qualified that the Trump administration really wants to go, and we're supportive of that, because at the end of the day, I don't want to pay a lot of taxes. I know you don't.

So, we're striving for the best candidate, the best qualified.

BLACKWELL: You said all male, all female, it would be OK. Would you be OK with an all male cabinet, all white cabinet?

LEVELL: I would be OK with once again the fact -- I'm a small businessman and I represent 80 percent of all the debt service of the United States. So, I pay 36 percent, Victor, out of my business. A lot of us small businesses were bleeding.

So, we want really good stewards of the money that the Trump administration is going to go after. That's what we're looking for because what that does it trickles down to small business and other people who have -- who are under a lot of real strong taxation oppression.

BLACKWELL: But a monolithic cabinet would have been OK with you?

LEVELL: Well, like I said, we're very interested in the best qualified people.

PAUL: Are you happy with --

LEVELL: I'm very happy.

(CROSSTALK)

SWERDLICK: I don't disagree with Bruce. I don't think anybody disagrees that people in cabinet posts should be highly qualified, the most qualified. But having diversity and having, people who are -- wait one second, having diversity and having people who are the highest qualified is not mutually exclusive.

[07:55:06] The fact that you have a cabinet where you have not just a high preponderance of white men but also a high preponderance of Goldman Sachs people, it does seem to tilt one direction particularly. It is hard to imagine that out of all the cabinet selections that they came up with, that there wasn't one Latino, the largest minority group in the country who might have, you know, slotted into one of those positions. And I think that's one of the things that people are talking about when they say what's going on with diversity?

LEVELL: Well, you've got to remember, too. We've got 3,500 more jobs, we got about 500, there's many, many more.

But, you know, guys, at the end of the day, you know, this -- it gets back to the basics of really wanting the best qualified and here's the other thing, too. You know, diversity -- let me finish -- I'm going --

(CROSSTALK)

SWERDLICK: Wouldn't some people say that -- that --

LEVELL: Let me finish. SWERDLICK: -- that have no government experience, that would be

another way to say they may not be the most qualified.

BLACKWELL: Quickly.

SWERDLICK: Here's the deal. The diversity coalition, it's to engage all different voices that were traditionally left behind. So, the more you grow and the more you grow your base, the more you get involved in grassroots like from terms of voting for your state rep, state Senate. That's really where that diversity manifests from.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you. As we talk about engagement, let turn this from a different perspective. We saw the backlash that even Steve Harvey himself said was vicious and hurtful after he met with Donald Trump and some of the African-Americans, high-profile, who have met with the now president.

How do we get to a point where we can have these conversations without those who are going, not even endorsing, where they can have the conversation without feeling that backlash?

SWERDLICK: OK. So, I think in the specific case of Steve Harvey, I was disappointed to see a lot of the backlash or all of that backlash. Among other things, I don't think Steve Harvey has to justify himself but he has a philanthropic organization where he does work in the community. He has put on the neighborhood awards where he recognizes entrepreneurs in communities of color.

So, that was a particularly I think distasteful situation.

PAUL: OK.

BLACKWELL: He said it was hurtful and vicious. Hopefully at least there can be a conversation.

LEVELL: We're growing. We're going to get there.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. Bruce Levell --

LEVELL: Thanks.

PAUL: Thank you both so much.

And thank you for sharing your morning with us live from the nation's capital.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts after the break.