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CNN NEWSROOM
Mueller Requested Cohen Warrant Six Weeks After Beginning Investigation; FDA Approves First Drug to Treat Postpartum Depression; President Trump to Visit Ohio Tank Manufacturing Plant Today; Voice Recorders Indicate Lion Air Pilots Searched Manual as Boeing 737 MAX Nose-Dived. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired March 20, 2019 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: And that's what sort of started this crisis in Cohen's life. The other thing that was so striking is that Cohen -- Mueller only took office in the middle of May. But it shows how fast he worked.
In early July, he was already getting a search warrant for Michael Cohen's phones. I mean --
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Yes.
TOOBIN: -- most prosecutors, they can't even hire a staff and get office space in six weeks. And Mueller was already onto Michael Cohen.
And, again, you know, the 20 pages that were blacked out about --
HARLOW: Yes.
TOOBIN: -- the Trump investigation, the illegal campaign contribution stuff, that suggests that there's a lot about that story we don't know, even though Cohen himself has pleaded guilty in that case.
HARLOW: It'll be so interesting. I'm sure the media will demand and try to see what's in that redacted part, obviously, after that part of the investigation is closed and --
TOOBIN: I will demand.
HARLOW: You will demand.
TOOBIN: I will -- a lot of good that will do, but --
HARLOW: CNN will demand.
TOOBIN: -- you know, we'll try.
HARLOW: Yes. No, that'll be fascinating to see, whenever that time comes. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you, my friend.
TOOBIN: See you. HARLOW: All right. Wait for this story. A potential cure for
something that affects hundreds of thousands of new mothers, a brand- new drug to treat postpartum depression. Just approved by the FDA and it could give relief within hours.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:36:03] HARLOW: All right. This morning, a very important medical breakthrough. The FDA has approved the first-ever drug to treat postpartum depression in mothers. It is serious. It affects about one in nine new moms. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is here with details.
This is remarkable. What is it?
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's -- the drug is called Zulresso. It works totally differently than most of the antidepressants out there, seemingly. And I've got to tell you, since I've been doing this job, we've done stories on postpartum depression. The fact that there was no specific medication to treat postpartum depression was always remarkable to me.
HARLOW: Yes.
GUPTA: So it's taken this long to actually get there. But it's an IV drug, Poppy. So this is not a pill. It's an IV that requires you to receive the IV for 60 hours, so two and a half days.
TEXT: Zulresso (brexanolone): Administered as a single 60-hour IV drip; Side effects include headache, dizziness, excessive sleepiness; Will cost $20,000 - $35,000 per treatment; Expected to be available in June
GUPTA: There's some significant side effects, which is what they've really been looking at, to get this approved. Headache, dizziness, excessive sleepiness, even possibly passing out, which is why this needs to be administered in a clinical setting.
HARLOW: Right.
GUPTA: Take a look at that price tag, too.
HARLOW: Yes.
GUPTA: $34,000 for a single dose. That doesn't even count the time in the hospital or clinic.
HARLOW: Will insurance cover that? And how do you prove to insurance you need it?
GUPTA: Right. So the -- when the FDA approves something like this, then this negotiation and discussions with the insurance companies happen. What the pharmaceutical company says is, "Look, there will be discounts available. We will work with patients to make sure they get it." You're talking about hundreds of thousands of women who likely have postpartum depression. And, you know, 30, 40 percent of them may actually, you know, meet the indications for a medication like this.
HARLOW: Can we just talk about how a new mom that might be watching this right now --
GUPTA: Yes.
HARLOW: -- can differentiate between the baby blues and postpartum depression? And if they should seek this treatment.
GUPTA: Yes. Well, so, you know, the baby blues -- which is kind of a euphemism, right? Because it is a pretty serious -- even that's a serious thing -- is common. It happens in almost all women who have a baby.
You have a sudden change in hormone levels right at the time of delivery. Hormone levels drop tenfold in some women. But it typically lasts just a few days, three to give days. Symptoms aren't as severe.
TEXT: Postpartum depression, if symptoms last for more than two weeks: Feeling sad, hopeless or overwhelmed; Feeling worthless, guilty or like a bad mother; Not having any interest in the baby; Having thoughts of hurting yourself or the baby
GUPTA: With postpartum depression, it'll last longer. It's more severe. And one of the things that always stuck (ph) out to me was that, you know, you don't want -- you don't feel like you have an interest in taking care of your child. You don't have -- feel like you have interest in taking care of yourself --
HARLOW: Or connected. I mean, I've watched my friends go through this and it's heartbreaking.
GUPTA: It is heartbreaking. And I think it can also potentially be dangerous for the lives of the mother and for the baby, which is why there's been so much interest in developing a medication like this.
We don't exactly know how it works, but it seems to work differently than medications that keep serotonin, for example, longer in your brain. This may work more on that hormone problem, the hormone changes that women have --
HARLOW: Yes.
GUPTA: -- after pregnancy.
HARLOW: Look, it's great news that there is help out there in this form for people. Let's see if that price tag can come down, accessibility. That will --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- be like the next challenge on this. GUPTA: You got it. Yes.
HARLOW: Sanjay, thank you very much.
GUPTA: You got it, Poppy. Thank you.
HARLOW: Appreciate it.
All right. You can join Dr. Sanjay Gupta as he journeys around the world to find the secrets behind better living for the mind, the body and the soul. This is a fantastic new original series on CNN, "CHASING LIFE." It premieres Saturday, April 13th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only, right here.
[10:39:17] So the president heads to battleground Ohio today to talk about jobs and manufacturing, just days after a major G.M. plant closed on the other side of the state. We'll take you there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: All right. In just a few hours, the president heads to Ohio where he will tout, no doubt, the economy and low unemployment. The president will tour a building plant where they make big tanks in Lima, Ohio.
Trump's trip comes as his feud with General Motors over the closure of a major auto factory on the other side of the state, in Lordstown, continues.
With me now, Heather Long, economics correspondent for "The Washington Post," and Stephen Moore, former Trump senior economic advisor and author of "Trumponomics."
Good morning to you both.
STEPHEN MOORE, CNN SENIOR ECONOMICS ANALYST: Good morning.
HARLOW: Heather, it's your birthday. Happy birthday. How does it feel to turn --
HEATHER LONG, ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Thanks (ph) --
HARLOW: -- 22 years old?
(LAUGHTER)
LONG: Yes. I'll take 25.
HARLOW: That would be -- yes, OK, 25, 25. But, Heather, the reason I wanted to have you on the show is because you just spent a lot of time in Ohio. And we used to report there together, looking at the situation, particularly around Lordstown, et cetera.
The Trump team is saying that this plant on the other side of the state has been brought back from almost extinction. A, is that true? And, B, you know, is that an economic story of success across Ohio?
[10:44:59] LONG: So that plant that President Trump is visiting today where they build military equipment, has benefitted from President Trump pumping a lot more money, building up that defense budget. No doubt about that.
The problem for President Trump is that while the job picture looks very good across the nation, there are pockets of pain. And in particular, in places where the president has specifically said he will personally intervene. Places like the Carrier factory in Indiana and the G.M. Lordstown factory on the other side of Ohio, it hasn't gone very well.
His track record is not very good at saving those jobs in the places that he personally has said he will help.
HARLOW: Steve Moore, does she have a point?
MOORE: So I was also just in Ohio. I was in the Cleveland area recently. I mean, look. There's -- I think Ohio is really the showcase state for Donald Trump in terms of the economic revival.
Sure, Heather, you're right, there are some plants that are closing. And that's what we call "creative destruction." The auto industry is going through a lot of major changes and it's going to continue over the next decade, as people move into more automated cars and so on.
But, you know, the thing about Ohio that people don't realize is that what's really driven the Ohio economy has been, Ohio is now the epicenter of the natural gas revolution. The shale revolution that's going on in Ohio has completely transformed that state.
You know, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, now, combined, create more -- produce more natural gas than any place in the world. By the way, it's why this Green New Deal is such a dingbat idea. I mean, here we have -- we're producing more energy than ever before and we're going to shut it down.
But, look, I think --
HARLOW: OK.
MOORE: -- if you look at -- one other point. If you -- yes, some plants are closing. But manufacturing is booming in Ohio because energy is so cheap there.
HARLOW: We could spend the entire time debating --
LONG: Yes.
HARLOW: -- the Green New Deal.
MOORE: Yes.
HARLOW: And I actually want to have you back to do that, but --
MOORE: I don't -- I don't want to debate that.
HARLOW: -- but it's about a lot more than just energy production. It's about what's happening to our climate --
MOORE: But it's a big part of it, you know, because --
HARLOW: -- we'll totally get to it -- Stephen Moore --
MOORE: -- you know why? Because they're producing steel with the -- with the pipelines and so on --
LONG: Yes, I --
HARLOW: -- I promise -- I promise we're going to get to it --
MOORE: -- it's a big part of it.
HARLOW: -- but it's not this conversation.
LONG: Yes.
HARLOW: Here's --
MOORE: OK.
HARLOW: -- here's my question for you, Stephen Moore.
MOORE: Yes.
HARLOW: As much as you like the president and his economic policies, I know that. You advised him on all things economy. You wrote a book about it. I don't --
MOORE: He doesn't always take my advice, by the way.
HARLOW: -- I know, I know. Look at the tariffs.
LONG: Poppy?
HARLOW: I have a hard time -- just quickly, Stephen, to you on this -- believing that you are in favor of the president demanding and dictating what a private corporation --
MOORE: No. I'm not in favor of that.
HARLOW: -- like General Motors should do, right?
MOORE: No. I think it's wrong. I think the -- I mean, the president knows I don't like that idea. I don't think that any president or any politician should tell a company where they should build a plant or where they should shut down a plant, or how much -- you know, how many workers they should hire. That should be, you know, the companies themselves.
And I think it is inappropriate for the president to intervene in that way. It's kind of corporate welfare. I don't like that approach. HARLOW: All right -- Heather.
LONG: And, Steve, yes, you also have to make the point, some of the president's policies are hurting Ohio. On the auto sector, it has been very clear that his steel and aluminum tariffs, G.M. and Ford have both lost a billion dollars each from those tariffs. And that's having some impact in places like the G.M. factory in Lordstown.
The president's push to build that wall on the southern border also may mean that some money that was meant for an airport in Toledo, Ohio, not far from where he's visiting in Lima today, that money would not happen because some of that would be repurposed, potentially, to go for the border wall.
So that's why there's some tension in Ohio. And that's why some of the president's poll numbers there have been slipping.
HARLOW: I mean, Steve Moore, I read your op-ed --
MOORE: You know, look. Heather, it's a fair --
HARLOW: -- Steve Moore, I read your op-ed from a week ago --
MOORE: You did?
HARLOW: -- and you said -- let me pull it on the -- I did, I did. I always read your stuff. Here's what you said.
TEXT: What is peculiar about President Trump's proposed 25 percent auto tariff is that even most of the domestic car industry producers don't want it.
HARLOW: "What is peculiar about President Trump's proposed 25 percent auto tariff is that even most of the --
MOORE: Yes.
HARLOW: -- "domestic industry producers don't want it." Is he misguided here on tariffs? And, you know, the Midwest and those producers?
MOORE: I agree with Trump on China. I think he -- I am totally in favor of getting tough with China. I think he's going to deliver a big trade deal sometime in the next month or two, which will be very positive for the economy because it will mean China will build (ph) more of our stuff.
And, Heather and Poppy --
HARLOW: But on this -- on this.
MOORE: -- that means more jobs for Americans.
But I do not like the steel tariffs. I think the steel tariffs -- I mean, Heather, you make a good point. That, you know, when you raise the price of steel, here in the United States, it makes it more expensive to build cars here.
But, look, you -- the big picture is, Ohio, the job market in Ohio today is better than it's been in 50 years. I mean, there's no question about it. And you talk to people, there's a new spring in the step of people who live in Ohio.
And the reason I brought up the shale revolution is, so many -- look, Youngstown, Ohio is building steel plants again for the first time in, you know, half a century because of this, you know, the epicenter of it is this energy production. And it reverberates throughout the whole Ohio-Pennsylvania-West Virginia economies.
[10:50:01] HARLOW: Heather, thank you.
Stephen Moore, thank you. We have to leave it there.
MOORE: OK.
HARLOW: We're going to have you both back on. We're going to debate the Green New Deal --
LONG: Yes.
HARLOW: -- and, Heather, Steve baked you a cake and I hear he's running it over to "The Washington Post" right now, so.
MOORE: Thanks.
LONG: Excellent.
HARLOW: You guys have fun. Have a good one. Thanks very much.
To very serious news in Nebraska and all that flooding we've been seeing. A state agriculture officials says she expects the agriculture community to lose more than $800 million in the wake of these devastating floods. The governor has signed an expedited request for federal aid.
And new images -- look at these images -- and we also have these new NASA satellite images that reveal the extent of the flooding taking place. On the left, an image taken from high above Omaha last March. On the right, that's the same area on Sunday. You see all of that flooding. Our Stephanie Elam is in Dodge County, Nebraska this morning.
Steph, how is it looking?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, when you take a look at that number you just gave for the livestock and crops, and the losses here in Nebraska, that $800 million, that doesn't even include infrastructure. And that's a huge part of what Nebraskans here are dealing with.
Ninety-five percent of the state has been affected by this flooding here. And even though the water's starting to recede -- we can get out a lot further than we could -- this whole area was flooded in when we first got to Nebraska.
We've seen some people use those little paddle boats out there, to get around to some of the homes that are still hard to access or can't even get to them by road, finding water that has been about four and a half feet up, with -- inside their homes, inside their cabins.
And that's the situation, here, that you see people are dealing with. This water. And now that the water is receding, sure, that's the good side. But, still, after that, there's all the work that has to be done to rebuild. We've spoken to so many people here. No one remembers a time where the flooding has ever been this bad in Nebraska.
And on top of it, every single person that we've spoken to says they plan on rebuilding here, one man saying to me he has no place else to go. It's a multigenerational town that his family has lived in. And so this is where he says he's going to be, here in Dodge County, this part really getting hit by the flooding here.
HARLOW: Stephanie, I'm so glad you're there, reporting on that for us. Thank you very much for the update.
Ahead for us, new reports that the pilots of that deadly Lion Air crash last October, scoured through a manual on the plane minutes before it went down.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:56:35] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN, the most trusted name in news.
HARLOW: All right. So according to Reuters, the pilots of that Lion Air flight that crashed in October in Indonesia, frantically searched through a handbook minutes before the flight went down, trying to understand why the plane was nose-diving.
This information comes from the cockpit voice recorder.
And, of course, it's all connected -- the question is, is it connected to the recent Ethiopian Airlines crash investigation? Our Tom Foreman has more details.
Tom, good morning.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Same kind of plane, similar behaviors, Poppy. And now this absolutely horrifying idea from Reuters, that as this plane in the air -- the Lion Air crash off Indonesia, as that was happening, that when the crew realized something was wrong, for nine minutes, they wrestled this plane as it tried to dive into the water and they tried to pull it back up. And they flipped through this manual, trying to find any explanation for the behavior.
And there are indications, according to this report, that throughout that time, they never realized that it was actually a control in the plane fighting against them. They just couldn't figure out what was going on. Nine minutes long, Poppy. Just a horrifying idea, that they knew, that whole time, something was wrong. And were simply flipping through a manual trying to figure out what it could possibly be.
HARLOW: Right. And the fact that this was five months-plus, you know, before this doomed Ethiopian airliner went down. You know, you wonder what was reported, what action was taken, et cetera.
Look, you have the FAA in a crisis mode right now, given all of this. And questions about approval, et cetera. The president, Tom, expected to appoint a new FAA head, former Delta executive?
FOREMAN: Yes. This guy, Steve Dixon. And he's got a huge challenge in front of him. Not only is there an investigation from the Department of Transportation -- of the FAA -- on whether or not they have handled this whole rollout of this new jet from Boeing properly, did they let Boeing have too much control over it.
But there's also the overall question, of are they doing enough to take seriously what has happened, now, in the wake of what happened before? I mean, there's an awful lot facing this guy, as he takes over this new job. It's kind of like they say in the movies. If he doesn't know he already has a mess, it'll do until the mess comes along."
HARLOW: And also (ph) --
FOREMAN: And this is a huge, nasty job in D.C. right now.
HARLOW: It's a hugely important job. Why is it that -- that, you know, for most of the president's presidency so far, there has not been an official head of the FAA? That it's just been an acting head.
FOREMAN: I think it's been a lot of what we've seen this administration. They've just had a hard time getting all their ducks in a row about who they want in which roles and who will be approved in those roles and who fits into the Trump framework of what he wants in terms of running this country.
It's a very difficult situation. And I don't see it getting easier right away. I think Steve Dixon has a very hard job in front of him. And as you note, an awfully important job, particularly now when public trust has been shaken so much.
HARLOW: And when do we expect we'll find out something from that investigation of the FAA, Tom, right? Because that -- the question is, did they allow Boeing to do too much checking of this stuff themselves, right?
FOREMAN: Oh, we'll get leaks of things, I'm sure, in fairly short order. But like all of these things, to actually get answers out of this, Poppy, will take months.
HARLOW: Yes.
FOREMAN: I mean, remember, the wreck last fall, we still don't have final answers on that one.
HARLOW: Yes, it's true. All right. Tom Foreman, great reporting. Thanks for staying on this.
FOREMAN: You're welcome.
[10:59:54] HARLOW: Thank you all for being with me. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow. "AT THIS HOUR" starts now.
