Lewandowski Mocks Child; Celebrities Criticize Fox.
CAMEROTA: President Trump's former campaign manager is under fire for mocking a story about a child with downs syndrome who was separated from her mother.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I read today about a 10-year-old girl with downs syndrome who was taken from her mother and put in a cage.</s>COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Wha (ph), wha.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I read about a -- a -- did you say wha, wha to a 10-year-old with downs syndrome being taken from her mother?</s>LEWANDOWSKI: What I said is you can pick anything you want.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How dare you. How dare you.</s>LEWANDOWSKI: But the bottom line is very clear, when you cross the border illegally.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How absolutely dare you, sir.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, joining us now is CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. So, Brian, as I have said, truly, if I heard that from a fifth grader, I would tell my son to run away from that child because that child was too mean spirited and toxic to play with. But that's Corey Lewandowski --</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: Who's heart is, for whatever reason, so hardened. Is there getting -- what's the media reaction? And I don't just mean, you know, the mainstream media. It seems like the reaction to what's being said on Fox, what's being said by Corey Lewandowski --</s>STELTER: Right. Right.</s>CAMEROTA: Is having more of a ground swell in all pockets of this?</s>STELTER: It is. It is more than usual. I think what Lewandowski might have been trying to do was condemn argument by anecdote. That would be the most generous possible explanation. He didn't want to hear some random anecdote. But for Christ sakes, it sounds heartless. It sounds cowardly. And I think there are two things about his behavior there that are telling. One is, the depth of the anti-immigrant sentiment. Just how deep and hateful it goes. And then, number two, the lack of a coherent argument, the lack of a coherent, positive argument. We have seen --</s>CAMEROTA: When you have to resort to wha, wha, that's not a a coherent argument.</s>STELTER: Right. We've seen the pro-Trump media struggling the past few days to defend and explain and support this policy. There's a lot of attempts, a lot of incoherent answers, a lot of half-hearted explanations. But we're not seeing a strong defense. And, look, the fact that the White House didn't even hold a press briefing yesterday, another example that they're having a hard time to defend this.</s>BERMAN: It's dehumanizing.</s>STELTER: Right.</s>BERMAN: It's other-izing here.</s>STELTER: Right.</s>BERMAN: And you heard it with Corey Lewandowski. You also heard it with Laura Ingraham, who claimed that these people that we're seeing, these children being kept in cages, are somehow performers. Listen to this.</s>LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST, FOX NEWS: Since more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents and temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps.</s>BERMAN: It was Ann Coulter who called them</s>CAMEROTA: It was Ann Coulter who called them</s>BERMAN: Laura Ingraham was saying that these are summer camps. Both are pretty extraordinary comments.</s>STELTER: And there's been an incredible amount of backlash. And I -- I think that is just as notable as these original gross comments. People are not taking this and just rolling their eyes and moving on. We've seen out in Hollywood a couple of prominent Fox stars. A couple of the creators of big Fox shows say, I don't want to be associated with Fox News anymore. I'm going to take my work in the entertainment realm and take it to a competing studio as a way of holding</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>CAMEROTA: And are they really doing that? Are they threatening it or are they just -- are they really doing it or just threatening it?</s>STELTER: We've got to check again in six months or a year, but I think Steve Levitan's comments, that created "Modern Family," which is produced by Fox, were very strong yesterday. And there's been a groundswell among some of his colleagues. He says here in the tweet, Levitan says, look, a lot of my colleagues feel the same way and they can't speak up, but I can, so I'm going to. Look, I think actions are a lot more important than words, but these words are striking and at least in that case he says he's going to take action.</s>BERMAN: Does it have any impact? I mean, remember, there is a separation between --</s>STELTER: There is.</s>BERMAN: The corporate studios and these other things --</s>STELTER: Right.</s>BERMAN: And Fox News. And ultimately, actually, when they get split up, they'll be a little division, right?</s>STELTER: Well, it's certainly a corporate problem. This is creating a lot of corporate headaches. That was acknowledged to me by sources at Fox last night. So whether this is a business impact a year or two down the line remains to be seen. But I think it is remarkable how pretty much the entire American media, except for Fox, is standing up for basic American values and of human values in this situation. You all had a banner two days ago that said, will President Trump fix this today? Will he end this today? Well, here we are. We haven't seen any action yet. But the press is holding him accountable. At the same time, I think we need to recognize, a lot of Trump supporters hear this and they think the real scandal is that these folks enter the country illegally.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>STELTER: And it's causing further divisions every day.</s>CAMEROTA: Well, listen, just on a human note, I'm always conflicted because, obviously, I worked with Laura Ingraham, I worked with Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter, and so, Laura Ingraham, she's a mom of three, OK? So I feel when she says it's a summer camp, she must not know or have spoken to the people that we had on our show today that said that they're in cages, the kids are in cages, it's overcrowded. There is constant crying. There's no toys. There's no bedding. They sleep with the bright lights on all the time and they don't know where their parents are. They're taken from their parents and the parents aren't told where the kids are going and the kids aren't told where the parents are going to be. That's not summer camp.</s>STELTER: That's terror camp.</s>BERMAN: When you're at camp, you know where your parents are.</s>CAMEROTA: You know where your parents are.</s>STELTER: That's terror camp. That is causing terror in these children's lives. What Laura Ingraham needs to do is go and see these camps.</s>CAMEROTA: For sure.</s>STELTER: Needs to go and visit. We need more reporting. We need to see inside these facilities.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes, with our own eyes. That is -- we need to -- and we need to be able to bring it to the American public, if they'll let our cameras in.</s>STELTER: Yes.</s>BERMAN: Brian Stelter, great to have you with us. Thanks so much.</s>STELTER: Thanks.</s>BERMAN: CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow picks up after a quick break.