Trump Rolls Back ObamaCare Contraceptive Mandate; Body Of 4th U.S. Service Member Found After Ambush; Identities Of U.S. Green Berets Killed In Nigeria Released; Democrats Pressured To Return Weinstein Donations; Officials Only 10 Percent Of Puerto Rico Has Electricity.
TAPPER: Welcome back. In our "WORLD LEAD" today, Nigerian troops have found the body of a missing U.S. Service Member. He went missing during a joint U.S. and Nigerian patrol mission. They were hit by hostile fire on Wednesday. This is the fourth confirmed death from that incident. Two other soldiers were wounded in action. The Pentagon released the identity of the three green berets who were killed that day. Staff Sargent Bryan Black of Washington State. He was 35 years old. Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson of Ohio was 38 years old. And Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright of Georgia was 29 years old. Our thoughts and prayers of course with their families. Let's move to our "POLITICS LEAD" now. And we have our panel with us. And I asked a provocative question that I thought I raised in an anti- abortion pro-life fashion to you Mary Katharine. I'll throw it to you right now. Doesn't the Trump administration allowing more companies to not provide contraceptive coverage because of moral objections or religious objection, doesn't this theoretically mean more unwanted pregnancies and thus more abortions?</s>MARY KATHARINE HAM, SENIOR WRITER, THE FEDERALIST: We're talking about a pretty narrow slice here. Look, a couple of things to consider. Did you think that 2010 America was the handmaid's tale? If not, then we're not living in a handmaid's tale now. We're actually -- we have a more generous mandate than we did back then. This does not roll back the mandate entirely. It gives people with religious objections, you have to balance with these concerns that you're referencing. The chance to not provide this as part of their employment contracts, I don't want to live in America where nuns have to sue for their right to not pay for birth control because that is a moral concern for them.</s>JENNIFER GRANHOLM, FORMER GOVERNOR, MICHIGAN: I mean, that was what the compromise that the Obama administration attempted to work out. But Jake's question was really important, which is if you are conservative, don't you want you want to see fewer abortions, fewer unintended pregnancies. And of course, the way you do that is by making sure that there's access.</s>HAM: There are many ways to -- there are many ways to provide access outside of a blanket government mandate. And another question.</s>GRANHOLM: So why would --</s>HAM: Hold on, hold on, hold on. If it was so important and we were in the handmaid's tale in 2010, why did not Democrats and Obama insist that this was part of the law? By the way, the reason it can be rolled back is because again, it was phone and pen legislation. Why wasn't it in there if it was so very important?</s>GRANHOLM: I mean, that's the whole thing. They negotiated a solution which was a rational solution. Now, this is going to go back to court. But the real issue is why should my employers or why should a women's employer be able to make the decision for her about whether she has access to contraception. I mean, it is a part of health care. There are, I mean. There's 62 million women who are potentially covered. Now not all of that is going to be affected, not all employers --</s>HAM: Not heaven close. There are 52 --</s>GRANHOLM: Wait a second --</s>HAM: Hold on. There are 52 companies that in the wake of the Hobby Lobby decision have applied and said hey this is something we are concerned about.</s>GRANHOLM: Wait, you don't know -- wait, because -- and in the wake of that decision, it was just about people who had a religious mission.</s>HAM: Yes, that's what this was all about too.</s>GRANHOLM: No, no, but entities that specifically had, like religious schools, religious hospitals. This applies to everybody now. So, what is the</s>GRANHOLM: No,</s>HAM: These are the two things we are balancing, these are the two things we're balancing.</s>GRANHOLM: Totally. And that comes out very well --</s>HAM: Contraception isn't -- contraception isn't in the -- in the</s>GRANHOLM: The right to privacy is -- the right to privacy is -- but where does a corporation have the right to claim that? I mean, I can understand if it's an individual person who is the CEO of a company but like does Frito-Lay get to decide whether a woman has access to contraception or not? That is so broad. So I -- personally I'm very glad that the ACLU are bringing suit, and others are bringing suit as well, including the Attorney General of California.</s>HAM: Well, hopefully</s>GRANHOLM: No, no, that's not the point. That's exactly not what it says. That's why the Obama administration --</s>HAM: Except</s>GRANHOLM: No, the Obama administration specifically carved out religious missions. That's why -- I mean, there is a compromise there. You are right about that. And that's what was happening under the Obama administration. But what this does is open it up to any employer at all.</s>HAM: I think --</s>GRANHOLM: And by the way, for every dollar that you spend on contraception, you save $5.8 by the way in Medicaid costs.</s>HAM: Which is -- that's exactly right. Which is why 85 percent of private companies covered this without a mandate. I have moral objection to the mandate. I think a company can decide to compensate you in myriad ways, in any number of ways, including an</s>GRANHOLM: If you have an objection to it, then you don't have to cover yourself by contraception.</s>TAPPER: I would like to jump --</s>HAM: The nuns do.</s>TAPPER: I would like to jump in with one new subject, if possible. Because I don't think you are going to achieve agreement on this one, call me crazy. Which is Harvey Weinstein who was named in New York Times of having settled at least eight cases with these huge money settlements of sexual harassment. There's apparently -- there are other stories brewing about his horrific alleged abuses of woman. Democrats have been, he's a huge Democratic fundraiser, did a lot of fundraising for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Malia Obama, I think interned at Miramax, his film company. We have now seen prominent Democrats from Senator Chuck Schumer to Elizabeth Warren, giving their campaign donations from him to various charities. And we have seen the Republican National Committee trying to make a big deal of this. Legitimate issue for Democrats to have to address?</s>GRANHOLM: Absolutely. I think that -- Democrats have been on the record really against serial predators. I mean, one might argue we would like to see the Republicans taking a strong stand against what has gone on in the past or even our current Commander in Chief. But let's just say that clearly anybody who is serial sexual predator, we should not on either side be accepting contributions from.</s>TAPPER: You have somebody in mind, Governor?</s>GRANHOLM: Well, I mentioned the current Commander in Chief, but anyway.</s>HAM: Well, it's interesting to me that one of the things in his statements that I think is a tell is, he was saying basically like, I'm going to work on a film about NRA guys and I'm about Trump, and I'm going to be really anti-Trump, and he's basically saying, come on, I'm liberal give me a pass. You shouldn't give him a pass.</s>TAPPER: I don't -- I don't think anybody is, but who knows, we'll see. I think it's more that he's powerful. But Governor and Mary Katharine Ham, thank you so much. And we'll see you both of you on Sunday morning on "STATE OF THE UNION." Today President Trump repeated, "we're doing a great job in Puerto Rico." There is -- on the ground in Puerto Rico is not quite as celebratory. The Puerto Rican government today increased the death toll from the hurricane to 36. Only 10 percent of the island has been connected to power. That is up from five percent but still, it's only 10 percent. Many still in desperate need of safe drinking water. One of our Correspondents who witness firsthand the destruction on Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Maria is Bill Weir. In fact, one of his beats is force of change, natural or not. The CNN original series the "WONDER LIST" with Bill Weir is starting its third season this weekend. It's going to take us some of the most remarkable breathtaking places in the world that are battling these forces. And Bill Weir joins me now. Bill, congrats on the "WONDER LIST" coming back for its third season. You're in Puerto Rico for several days visiting remote parts of the island. What did you see firsthand?</s>BILL WEIR, CNN HOST: They need so much help, Jake. It's hard to -- it's hard to even wrap your head around it on two dimensions watching it on the screen. What's you're missing there is the heat and the smell and the mosquitos now coming up and people sleeping without roofs, the specter of disease which always happens in tropical hurricanes zones like that. According to General Jose Reyes about 8,700 military service men and women on the ground there. For comparison, we had 22,000 on the ground in Haiti. And earthquakes are really hard to predict. And so the response so far, even though the people who are there and doing</s>TAPPER: For the first episode of season three of the "WONDER LIST" you went to Patagonia which spawns both Argentina and Chile, following the story of the late millionaire turned conservationist Doug Tompkins, here is his widow talking about how they settled in Patagonia</s>KRISTINE MCDIVITT TOMPKINS, WIFE OF DOUG TOMPKINS: We were two foreigners buying up huge tracts of land, all pristine forest and not cutting the trees. We were foreigners, border to Argentina to the sea, and we didn't cut the trees. This is some kind of cult, but it was serious. There were death threats. You know, military planes flying over our house. There are all sorts of things quite serious.</s>TAPPER: Bill?</s>WEIR: Yes, that was Kris, the widow of Doug Tompkins. They gave millions of acres to create national parks and the locals resent them to this day. So an interesting fight over the ethics of conservationist in other countries, how we would react if a foreign national try to buy Montana and just how precious these wild spaces are that are left on the planet.</s>TAPPER: It's an amazing show. Bill Weir, thanks so much. Congrats on the new season of the "WONDER LIST" with Bill Weir. It starts tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN. Be sure to tune in to CNN this Sunday morning for "STATE OF THE UNION" my guest will be Senator Chris Murphy and Senator Ron Johnson, you know two of the panelist Mary Katharine and the Governor. It all starts at 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Eastern. That's it for THE LEAD today I'm Jake Tapper. Turning you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Have a great weekend.