President's Roller Coaster Week; Argument over Travel Ban
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: About Benghazi.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.</s>CUOMO: You know, where they - where they felt that, let's just let the process takes its course. How much of fuel for the fire is that right now?</s>BROWNSTEIN: I think it is because I think the best arguments Democrats will have in 2018, particularly in the parts of America that are the most uneasy about President Trump, white collar suburbanites where in those districts outside of big cities where his approval rating is as low today as President Obama's was in the blue collar districts in 2010 before the Democrats were annihilated there, their best argument is that you need a check. You need a legitimate oversight and a policy check as well on a president that still stirs very polarizing emotions. And to the extent that Republicans seem to be seen as simply rolling over or, even worse, trying to covering up. And, obviously, the questions about the - the actions of both intelligence committee chairman, when contacted by the White House to knock down some of the earlier stories fueled (ph) that (ph), this is, I think, going to be, broadly speaking, not specifically about Russia, but broadly, is Congress doing enough to act as a check and balance on a president that many Americans are ambivalent at best about. I think that is the best argument Democrats have in 2018.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Ron, let's look ahead. What is happening with the travel ban? A month ago we had heard that it was of vital national security importance. It had to happen urgently. Then we had heard the revised version -</s>CUOMO: From the White House we heard.</s>CAMEROTA: From the White House.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: Then we had heard that it - it would be announced, the revised plan, last week. Then we heard this week. Then we heard it couldn't be because they didn't want it to eclipse the president's good reviews.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Right.</s>CAMEROTA: So where - where are we with this?</s>BROWNSTEIN: Well, there are kind of mixed signals, right? There is the political argument that you made that they didn't want it to be kind of caught up in what they thought was the positive aftermath, the wake of the speech on Tuesday. But there's also the reality they have to try to craft something that they think is going to be more legally defensible. And, you know, they still have the same basic geography problem of the challenges we'll go through, presumably that district court in Seattle again and then through the Ninth Circuit and potentially to a divided Supreme Court. So they're trying to scale it back in way, for example, exempting current visa holders, that they think will be more legally defensible. But in the interim, they've also suffered a significant blow in that the intelligence - career intelligence professionals at the Department of Homeland Security concluded there was no basis for a geographically targeted ban. And then the administration, of course, rejected that analysis. You can bet when - if this - if and when this is released and it goes back into court, you're going to hear something about that analysis.</s>CUOMO: Well, there were two, right? You had a couple of weeks ago there was a report out that the white House had received a reckoning by security officials that those countries represent no imminent threat to the United States.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right.</s>CUOMO: And then that Homeland Security came out and said that they don't believe that the threat is people who come from abroad radicalized, but that they get here and become radicalized. Those are two basic premises that this ban was based on and they got blown up by their own people.</s>BROWNSTEIN: And, look, you don't want to lose twice, right? I mean you do not want to put this out again, go back into court and have it defeated again. And I think it's certain that it will face another legal challenge, whatever they produce. And, again, they've got this problem of - in the reverse of what President Obama faced on issues like immigration where state Republican attorneys general went through conservative district courts in Texas, through the conservative Fifth Circuit and then ultimately to a tied Supreme Court. Until he has a Supreme Court majority - it's not clear that even with five Republican appointed justices he would have a Supreme Court majority on this. Their legal position is tenuous.</s>CAMEROTA: All right, Ron Brownstein, thank you very much for "The Bottom Line."</s>BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: Have a great weekend.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Have a good weekend. You, too.</s>CAMEROTA: We'll see you next week.</s>CUOMO: All right, so support for President Trump and his promise to crack down on border security is coming from a somewhat unlikely source. We're going to introduce you to some of his least likely cheerleaders.</s>CAMEROTA: But first, do you want to see someone who goes above and beyond become a CNN Hero?</s>CUOMO: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: Here's how.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready to ride?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring it in, girl.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC 360": Every year CNN Heroes honor everyday people doing extraordinary work to change lives.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So proud of you, man.</s>COOPER: We've crossed the globe to tell the stories of these amazing heroes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Go all the way to the end.</s>COOPER: But we can't do it without you. We need you to tell us who you think should be a CNN Hero.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look how far we've come in a week. It's fantastic.</s>COOPER: You can nominate someone in just a few simple steps. Go to cnnheroes.com and fill in the forms, tell us about your hero.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That came (ph) really nicely.</s>COOPER: It's that easy. You can help make your hero a CNN Hero and shine some light on their amazing work.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you.