CNN Defends ObamaCare, Baits Guests to Attack Republicans

CNN has gone all out in defense of ObamaCare and has attacked any Republican measure to amend it. On Wednesday's New Day, virtually the entirety of the show was spent trashing Republicans. Co-host Alisyn Camerota asked these questions to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson:

So you want to see them fix Obamacare rather than the vote they're having early next week to repeal it?

So it turns out President Trump met a second time with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There was no U.S. official with him and there was no record of what they discussed in this reportedly hour-long conversation at a G-20 dinner. Is that OK?And what is the way forward on health care? Are the Democrats in control as President Trump suggests? Let's discuss with Democratic senator and former governor of West Virginia, Joe Manchin. He is a member of the Senate Intel Committee. Senator, always good to see you.

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Do you have a larger concern about transparency and the simple fact of unknown when it comes to either President Trump or the people around him and any potential conflicts of interests or financial obligations to Russian-sourced money?

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Sure. Sure. And what do you make of the fact that the former head of government ethics says, you know, that Trump's lawyer didn't want him to sign his disclosure form certifying that it was accurate? And that we now know that people in this meeting with Don Jr., one of them was looked at by members of the Senate for moving money, over $1 billion, into different corporations. And they seemed, at a best read, to want to work Don Jr. about Putin's money being tied up in sanctions revolving around the Magnitsky Act. All of these circumstantial things, do they matter or is it just smoke? 

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 And to the simple proposition of, you've had a long time, you've found no collusion, cut it out, this is all politics.

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The president meeting with the Republicans today. He suggested yesterday that they should just let ObamaCare fail on its own and then put it in your lap, the Democrats, to come to them and beg them to save it.

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The president seems to be washing his hands of all of you down here. He just tweeted, "I'm going to be having lunch at the White House today with Republican senators concerning health care. They must," all caps, "keep their promise to America." What about the president's promise to America? 

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And the ACA has changed the reality for a lot of lower income people getting health care in your state also. I mean that goes to the fact premise that the ACA is dying. It's in a death spiral. It will fail. The numbers don't support that. It's got trouble. You guys have to make fixes to it. But the idea that it's dying, that's disingenuous, is it not? 

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It's as if CNN is incapable of behaving like objective journalists. Of course, this is the same show that argued President Trump would hypothetically approve the sale of uranium to Russia instead of covering the news. Once again, their job is not to advocate. They should be challenging both sides. A devil's advocate if you will.

Below is the more complete transcript:

8:21 AM ET

ALISYN CAMEROTA: The President's latest plan for Obamacare -- to let it fail. The Senate Republicans are moving forward with a plan to repeal Obamacare without a replacement. What does this mean on the state level? How are governors responding to everything that's transpired? Joining us to discuss is the Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson. Good morning, Governor. 

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON: Hey, good morning. Great to be with you. 

CAMEROTA: Great to have you. From where you sit, how do you think Congress and the White House botched this so badly? 

HUTCHINSON: Well, that's hard to say. That's a little bit of a process question. But we've been pushing that they listen to the governors, because we've got the greatest level of experience in actually what's happening in our states. We've encouraged them for a number of months to make some changes in the Senate bill. Many of them were adopted, but in the end, it was hard to bring people together. The message that I have is they need to continue their path of reform, though, and not give up. 

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that. Because there seems -- it seems as though certainly the president is ready to wash his hands of this. It seems as though he's reached a dead end. Let me play for you what President Trump said about this yesterday. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We'll just let Obamacare fail. We're not going to own it. I'm not going to own it. I can tell you the Republicans are not going to own it. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Is that the answer, Governor? Wash his hands of it and let Obamacare do whatever Obamacare is going to do and walk away? 

HUTCHINSON: The people always hold political leaders accountable. And so we have a responsibility, when we see problems, address them. When we see a system that's not working well, that's not affordable, they expect us to do something about it. It's hard for them to understand the complexities, the vote, why people can't come together on this, but you got to figure out a way to do it. And so it's not sufficient to say we're going to wash our hands of this. We've got to engage in it. And we're going to continue in Arkansas that path of reform we're already started on because it's a cost to the states as well, and we don't want to make the Medicaid expansion portion an entitlement program. We want to reform it into a means and a safety net to help people move up the economic ladder. 

CAMEROTA: Yes. Look, I know that you're looking for a work requirement for Medicaid. But back to the president. What would you say to the president? I mean, if you think that it's not satisfactory to let it fail, and to leave people on the hook, why is the president using that tactic? 

HUTCHINSON: Well, I think he's trying to drive the message that he's frustrated that Senate was not able to come together on this. But I'll let him speak to that. More importantly, it's the Senate -- and this is where I hope they do not give up. That they might have to let the dust settle here But, you know, if there's ten things we want to do, and you can bring four things to accomplish and reach consensus on it, let's go for those four things to fix what we have. Because right now we've got a cost problem for the federal government. We've got an access of insurance availability in multiple states. So you just can't let this continue. You've got to work together. And I am hopeful that they will do that. 

CAMEROTA: So you want to see them fix Obamacare rather than the vote they're having early next week to repeal it?

HUTCHINSON: Well, I've always advocated that you need to repeal it because it's a bad system. Let's start over. But if you can't get anything done, then obviously you've to reform it because it's not -- it's too costly. Again, there's not enough access. And so whatever you've got to do to set up a process that you can get the votes to change the status quo, that's what governing is about. I applaud our senators that have worked hard for good changes but it fell apart on the left and right. Hopefully, they'll get back to the table and not give up, just like in Arkansas. We're going to continue to work on this. Many of the states, if you don't do anything, the states will continue to ask for waivers on the exchange, waivers from the federal government, to innovate in the states. And that's OK. But there's a better solution to have a national fix. And that's what Congress obviously needs to address while we continue to look at the states by state as to what works for our citizens. 

CAMEROTA: Right, but just so I understand, you would be in favor of the vote early next week repealing it with no plan in place? 

HUTCHINSON: No, I've always said you need to have a direction as to where we're going. I want to be able to know we don't need to create more uncertainty. Now, if they do a vote next week to repeal it, that's a good thing as long as there's a path to get to a replacement that people have confidence in. Right now, I've said that we shouldn't go anywhere without a replacement plan because there's too much uncertainty in our healthcare system. And we've got to create some certainty and confidence in where we're going. 

CAMEROTA: OK, understood. Governor Asa Hutchinson, thank you very much for your perspective. You are obviously on the front lines, as are all of the governors. Thanks so much for being here. 

HUTCHINSON: Thank you. 

CAMEROTA: Chris.

CUOMO: All right, so what is the way forward? President Trump is meeting with all of the Republican senators today to kind of figure out where their heads are and what comes next. But all of this effort for policy has a cloud over it, and that's the Russia investigation. In fact, the White House is defending the second undisclosed meeting with the president and Vladimir Putin that took place at a G20 dinner. What does that mean, this meeting? And what is the way forward for the Democrats on health care? We have a member of the Senate Intel Committee, a Democrat senator, next. 

[Commercial]

CHRIS CUOMO: So it turns out President Trump met a second time with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There was no U.S. official with him and there was no record of what they discussed in this reportedly hour-long conversation at a G-20 dinner? Is that OK? And what is the way forward on health care? Are the Democrats in control as President Trump suggests? Let's discuss with Democratic senator and former governor of West Virginia, Joe Manchin. He is a member of the Senate Intel Committee. Senator, always good to see you. 

SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Good to be with you, Chris. 

CUOMO: The second meeting with Putin, we didn't know about it for a number of days. Do you have any concerns about this meeting? 

MANCHIN: Absolutely. It's very concerning and it's something that we should know about. (INAUDIBLE) for any (INAUDIBLE) from our side, from the American side, is extremely troubling. And, you know, it's a concern. It most certainly is. But, you know, this process is going to continue. Robert Mueller is going to do his investigation on everything. And I think we all have a bipartisan respect for Robert Mueller and doing his job and we ought to see what his findings are. 

CUOMO: Do you have a larger concern about transparency and the simple fact of unknown when it comes to either President Trump or the people around him and any potential conflicts of interests or financial obligations to Russian-sourced money? 

MANCHIN: Well, let's talk about transparency first. Transparency in the public sector is much different than transparency in the private sector. When you're in the public sector, you have to gain the trust of the constituents and your people and everybody you represent. Those that are for you and those that are against you. They don't have to agree with you, but they have to respect how you come to your decision. And in a transparent way, it makes it easier to respect that. That's what you build up in the public trust. And that's what's missing. And I think it's what we need to be working on. All of us have to be cognizant of that. And I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that everything that we do is in the open. And on intelligence committees, you - as you understand completely, Chris, there are certain things that we can't have open meetings because of people that we want to make sure that we protect. 

CUOMO: Sure. Sure. And what do you make of the fact that the former head of government ethics says, you know, that Trump's lawyer didn't want him to sign his disclosure form certifying that it was accurate. And that we now know that people in this meeting with Don Jr., one of them was looked at by members of the Senate for moving money, over $1 billion, into different corporations. And they seemed, at a best read, to want to work Don Jr. about Putin's money being tied up in sanctions revolving around the Magnitsky Act. All of these circumstantial things, do they matter or is it just smoke? 

MANCHIN: They matter. First of all, Carl Levin, former Senator Carl Levin from Michigan is one of the most honorable people you're ever going to meet. Respected by everybody in this institution who ever served one day with him. So Carl has been - when he was here, that was his thing and he was on it continuously. He dug into it. He had staff working on it. And he was concerned about an awful lot of this - this dark money moving around and who was responsibility and who was benefiting by it. So that is credible what Carl is telling you. All this other stuff here, again, this is in Robert Mueller's court. I, looking forward, like every other Intel Committee member, of bringing all the people of interest before us so we know what's going on and we can hear from them. They have a right to tell their story also. And with that being said, our Intelligence Committee is working diligently, Chris, putting all the pieces of the puzzle together so we have a clear picture when they do come before us. 

CUOMO: And to the simple proposition of, you've had a long time, you've found no collusion, cut it out, this is all politics. 

MANCHIN: Well, there's no - this is not a witch hunt. I - let me tell you, I've seen witch hunts. I saw the Benghazi witch hunt. I went over and sat into that hearing because you can get a different feeling if you're sitting in a room if people are trying to find answers or if they're just trying to accuse. I can tell you, every meeting I've been in, and intel and any other setting, whether it be Democrats, Republicans, or a combination of both of us in a bipartisan way, no one's accusing anybody. We just want the facts. They're not out there slinging mud. And that's not going to happen. But we will get to the facts. And the facts will give you the decisions that need to be made. 

CUOMO: Another big policy consideration going on in Washington, D.C., healthcare, of course. 

MANCHIN: Yes. Yes.

CUOMO: The president meeting with the Republicans today. He suggested yesterday that they should just let Obamacare fail on its own and then put it in your lap, the Democrats, to come to them and beg them to save it. 

MANCHIN: Well, I don't think that's an answer that we agree on. It's something I don't subscribe to. I was sent here to do a job. I'm not blaming anybody how I got to where I got to or the things that have been handed to me. I've got to fix problems. As a former governor, that's what we did. And there was a group of us met informally. Just a group of governors met informally, bipartisan, just to talk. That hasn't happened since this has been going on for how many months now. And we wanted to see if there's a pathway forward. We all agree there should be an orderly process. There should be regular order. We go through a process of committees. The committees have the hearings. Amendments are placed. We discuss the differences we have. We come to agreement and cohesion where we can. That process has never been allowed to happen up until now. Maybe with the votes and the defeat of the Republican's plan to just repeal, maybe now we can come together and move forward. That's what we're hoping for, Chris. 

CUOMO: The president seems to be washing his hands of all of you down here. He just tweeted, "I'm going to be having lunch at the White House today with Republican senators concerning health care. "They must," all caps, "keep their promise to America." What about the president's promise to America? 

MANCHIN: Well, the only thing I would say, the promise to West Virginia, he won it by a tremendous amount, about 43 percent, he won the state of West Virginia. That was mostly Democrats voting for him. Democrats that were upset with the previous administration that felt that Washington left them behind, didn't care. I know exactly because, you know, coming from West Virginia, born and raised in West Virginia, and it's - these are the greatest people on earth. They'll do anything. They work hard. They'll give you all they have. But they just want government to be their partner. They thought government left them. Well, now, every demographic of my state of West Virginia, Chris, and you know my state, they're hit, whether they're elderly, pre-existing conditions, the poor, the young, everybody. Opioid addiction, they are all be devastated by this piece of legislation that's repealing. So we're saying repair it.

CUOMO: And the ACA has changed the reality for a lot of lower income people getting health care in your state also. I mean that goes to the fact premise that the ACA is dying. It's in a death spiral. It will fail. The numbers don't support that. It's got trouble. You guys have to make fixes to it. But the idea that it's dying, that's disingenuous, is it not? 

MANCHIN: Oh, most certainly. We know it's had problems. We've always identified that. I wasn't there. I was not there when they passed it in 2010. 

CUOMO: Right. MANCHIN: I was head of the Governor's Association for a period of time. We were talking about this. And I said, listen, I think that mandate that you're saying for certain types of insurance, certain types of coverage, and you have to pay this or pay a fine, that's going to be a tough pill for West Virginians to swallow. 

CUOMO: Right.

MANCHIN: We've got to be working on that. But they went ahead with it. They knew that needed - the private market needs to be saved, Chris, and no one's made that effort to save the private market. On the other hand, we gave 20 million people, almost 180,000 West Virginians, the greatest wealth that they could have, which is a health care. And we never gave them one word of instruction of how to use it. I knows there's great savings, but just to be callous to say we're going to throw you off because we have to reduce the cost of this, well, first of all, don't give the taxes back right now until we stabilize the health care markets. And then make sure that people are earning their way to have a good health care, to live a quality of life. Give them a chance. Don't just throw them out. And that's all we've said. So we can come to I think some agreements here. 

CUOMO: Well, we look forward to that. Let us know how we can report and promote the conversation among bipartisan lawmakers to make positive changes for the American people. 

MANCHIN: We'll definitely keep you informed, Chris, and, thank you. 

CUOMO: Senator, thank you.