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Trump Insults Rex Tillerson; Migrant Died in U.S. Custody Last Year; Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) is Interviewed about Troops to the Middle East; Trump to Announce Aid Package to Farmers. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 23, 2019 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[09:30:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Wall Street. We're waiting to see how the market reacts to some pretty significant news out of the Trump administration. The White House just announced this morning it will provide $16 billion in aid for farmers. This is the second aid package for farmers. The first one was $12 billion.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Because they're paying a lot of money. You know, they're hurting from the trade war.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: But a lot of these farmers don't want a bailout --

SCIUTTO: No.

HARLOW: They want a solution to the trade war.

SCIUTTO: Right. Right.

HARLOW: All right, so you've got, wow, the Dow off 235 points here at the open. I mean investors are getting a feeling and a correct sense that this trade war is going to be protracted. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about this bailout for farmers in a little bit with our colleague Cristina Alesci. She'll join us on that in just a little while.

SCIUTTO: Well, there's a lot of other news this morning. The former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says that Vladimir Putin was far more prepared than President Trump for their first meeting in Hamburg, Germany, putting the U.S. at a diplomatic disadvantage.

HARLOW: This is according to a congressional aide with knowledge of Tillerson's meeting, closed door meeting, with the ranking member and the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

President Trump, this morning, not mincing words, in a tweet he just called the man he hired to be his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, quote, dumb as a rock, and says he was, quote, ill prepared and ill equipped to be secretary of state.

Our colleague, senior diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kosinski, is following the latest.

I mean that is bizarre, but he hired the guy and now he's saying he was ill prepared.

SCIUTTO: It was his choice.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and is it -- can you say that it's surprising at all?

SCIUTTO: No.

HARLOW: No.

KOSINSKI: And we've heard -- we've heard this from him in relation to Tillerson before, too. Believe it or not, this is -- this is now the second time at least that President Trump has called Rex Tillerson, the former head of Exxon, dumb as a rock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He, meaning Rex Tillerson, was guided by, quote, American values, such as democracy and freedom, but that he could not offer the same assessment for the president.

What do you make of that comment?

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: It's pretty outrageous. And it probably explains why Rex Tillerson's no longer the secretary of state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Yes, so there is Tillerson's -- the guy who took over for him, Pompeo, defending what the president has said. Again, no surprise there.

But Tillerson, you know, he spent seven hours, seven hours on The Hill with a bipartisan group, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and told them about his time dealing with President Trump in these meetings that lawmakers have wanted to get the notes on. In particular, Trump's meetings with Vladimir Putin.

So what comes out of this meeting, we just get a small taste of the kinds of things that Tillerson shared. Of course, you know, not only some of these lawmakers, but members of the public would love to get those transcripts, or at least the notes of what happened in these meetings. The White House and the State Department have been the opposite of forthcoming on these meetings, in particular, again, with Vladimir Putin. So this is one way that they were able to -- you know, Tillerson being in these meetings, this was one way that they were able to at least get a sense of what went on in there.

SCIUTTO: Right. But you're saying as well that he -- Tillerson said that Jared Kushner did not consult with the State Department prior and that he, his naivety, put him at risk of being outmaneuvered as well. So it's not just the president but his -- one of his senior advisers, who he's put in charge of a lot of stuff, including Middle East peace plan, did not do his homework.

HARLOW: Peace.

KOSINSKI: Right. And, you know, we knew for a long time that there was tension between the State Department and members of the president's staff because, as we all see to this day, I mean, Kushner does his one thing. He communicates with world leaders. He sort of runs his own division of foreign affairs. And he has a big portfolio. So we know that that caused tension between him and Rex Tillerson. And Tillerson also chafed at some of the things Ivanka Trump was doing at the time.

So, you know, it's interesting that that came out in this meeting. And you can imagine in seven hours' time all of the questions that these lawmakers have for Tillerson.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

KOSINSKI: And Tillerson has been -- he's been keeping such a low profile and that's Tillerson's style since he's been out of office. But the very few times that we've heard from Tillerson, he's been very subtly critical of President Trump.

SCIUTTO: Right.

KOSINSKI: Sometimes in the answers he gives and many times in the things that he declines to say.

SCIUTTO: Yes, beyond --

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And beyond the tension, it's about what are the qualifications for these people to have these positions.

Michelle Kosinski, thanks very much.

KOSINSKI: Exactly.

HARLOW: All right, sad news for you this morning. We've just learned about the death of a sixth migrant child, this a ten-year-old, while in the care of the U.S. government. We'll tell you more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:39:07] HARLOW: All right, welcome back.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan is facing a second day of grilling on Capitol Hill today. This time from the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

SCIUTTO: During yesterday's testimony before a House panel, McAleenan said that he was aware of concerns surrounding shifting TSA resources to the southern border. He told the committee that moving personnel won't put the travel public at risk or reduce security. How is that true? Well, we're now learning that a sixth migrant child has died while in

the care of the Department of Health and Human Services. This was a ten-year-old girl. She died last year, but for some reason we're only learning about that death of a child now.

HARLOW: That raises so many questions that he will certainly be asked today.

This young girl did have a history of medical problems before she was taken into U.S. custody.

Let's go to our colleague Nick Valencia. He is live in McAllen, Texas, with more.

How did she die? And if it was last year, why are we only learning about this this morning?

[09:40:05] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy.

According to an HHS spokesman, that they had a statement ready to go to announce the death of this ten-year-old, but because of reporting requirements, they say they're not obligated to tell the media.

It begs the question, of course, just how many other child migrants or minors, if any, have died in U.S. custody? It's a question that we're working on getting answers to today.

But that ten-year-old arrived in HHS custody in March of 2018. She had, as you mentioned, a series and a history of health problems, including heart defects. She had surgery while in U.S. custody, and because of complications of that, slipped into a coma. And it was in September on the 29th that she died because of respiratory distress.

Now, her death is different from the other five that we've previously reported on in that the government says that she arrived with medical conditions, medical problems, a history of them. She joins a list, though, of six child migrants, minors, that have all died in U.S. custody. It was first that we reported a seven and eight-year-old that died within weeks of each other, a 16-year-old died as well last month, a two-year-old that was in U.S. custody died in a hospital as well as another 16-year-old who was found unresponsive on Monday.

Jim. Poppy.

HARLOW: You know, I'm so glad you're there, Nick, and I'm so glad you've been on this sorry and continue to be. And you raise such a good point, right, if there's no requirement to tell the public, then how many could there have been?

But also you've got dozens of flu cases reported at the McAllen, Texas, facility where you are. We're hearing that they have begun normal operations again. Is that right?

VALENCIA: That's right. We were here last night and we saw buses arrive, normal operations according to a CBP official that I spoke to this morning. They are, however, still concerned a little bit about the medical conditions inside, the safety of those agents. It's another thing that we're trying to get an answer on, if any agents have contracted the flu or any sickness because of what's happening inside this facility behind me.

But they were briefly shutting down the intake yesterday. Less than 24 hours after they stopped taking in migrants, they reopened this facility. We understand it is back to normal today. But activists here locally and nationally asking the question, what kind of conditions are these migrants being housed in that you saw 32 migrants contract the flu?

HARLOW: Right.

VALENCIA: Questions that we are trying to work to get answers to this morning.

Poppy.

HARLOW: OK.

SCIUTTO: You take them into custody. You have a responsibility for their health and welfare.

Nick Valencia, thanks very much.

Any time now, the Pentagon is set to brief top Trump officials about a plan that could send, you're hearing this right, thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East. We'll have the details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:46:52] SCIUTTO: Happening this morning, Pentagon officials are set to begin briefing President Trump's national security team on a plan that could send thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East. This amid, of course, rising tensions with Iran. The plan was first reported by our colleague, CNN's Barbara Starr.

Joining me now to discuss this and many other issues in the news, Senator John Barrasso of the great state of Wyoming. He serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks very much for taking the time this morning.

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you this, would you support and do you see a necessity for sending, deploying thousands more U.S. troops to the region now to respond to the threat to Iraq?

BARRASSO: Well, the threat is real, it's credible, it is increasing. I think it's important to show from a standpoint of our strength that we are ready to act, if necessary. But I view this much more as a deterrence so that Iran doesn't do something that I would think would be dumb or stupid. If you have the ability to deter, you have to, one, show that you have the capacity to do it, and that you are committed and willing to use that. But I don't think this is anybody's willing -- or interest in going to war. It's not something that I would want for the United States or for Iran.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this because there have been some contradictory messages coming from the Trump administration on the nature and immediacy of the threat from Iran because as you're well familiar, a couple weeks ago the administration talked about new intelligence. They deployed an entirely new carrier group, a second carrier group to the region. But then the president said something earlier this week that seemed to contradict the earlier readings of the intelligence, I'm going to play that sound. I want to get your reaction.

BARRASSO: OK.

SCIUTTO: Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think Iran would be making a very big mistake if they did anything. If they do something, it will be met with great force. But we have no indication that they will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: No indication that they will. His advisers had said there was very strong indication that they would attack. Help explain to me and folks listening what the intelligence actually shows here.

BARRASSO: Well, the briefing that we had was a classified briefing, but we know Iran has been killing Americans for 40 years and they continue to ramp things up and then quiet things down. We want them to understand clearly that either we are ready to talk or we are ready to act. We would prefer to talk than to act. The president has been very clear on that as well. You can proceed diplomatically, politically, militarily. The sanctions really are biting Iran and their proxies. It's hitting Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, they are feeling the impact of the sanctions that are now in place, specifically on oil and on metals.

SCIUTTO: As you've -- as you know, some of your Democratic colleagues, who have received the same briefing as you and your Republican colleagues have, have come out of that meeting with a very different read of the intelligence, saying, yes, Iran is a threat, no question, but there's no marked difference today requiring new military action, for instance, the deployment of thousands more troops. And I just wonder if you're concerned that the intelligence is being politicized here. We saw the dangerousness of that in the run-up to the Iraq invasion. You know, the American people need to know the facts, they don't need to know a partisan interpretation of those facts.

[09:50:08] BARRASSO: Yes. I don't think that anything that we saw was partisan. I think some of the Democrats have been saying, well, who started it, and they say that when we put in place the sanctions, when the Trump administration put sanctions in place, that increased the pressure on Iran. Well, it has increased the pressure on Iran. And, you know, Iran is playing to different audiences. They're playing to their audiences at home, the hardliners. They're also playing to Europe. They're trying to say to Europe, hey, look, stick with us. Let us sell oil and sell products to you. So they're playing to different audiences. To me, the threats are real. And the reason to put the sanctions in place is to change the behavior in Iran and it's been 40 years of bad behavior.

SCIUTTO: The focus, of course, has been on Iran's nuclear program. And though the president did not like the nuclear deal, U.S. intelligence assessments indicated that Iran was and is abiding by the deal. It put Iran's nuclear program under check.

I just wonder what the goal then is of the president's policy here by further restricting Iran, when the program is arguably under control, at least for now. I mean is the goal to add something to that deal regarding other behaviors in the Middle East, but what happens if you end up blowing up the deal and the nuclear program becomes more of a threat rather than less of a threat?

BARRASSO: Well, Iran with a nuclear weapon, you know, makes the world less safe and less stable and less secure. To me, that's part of the bad behavior on Iran. I thought the Iran nuclear deal was so weak that it didn't prevent a weapon. It provided a path to a nuclear weapon over a number of years.

But they're also continuing to develop rocketry, missiles, and they're also funding terrorism through these bad acting groups, the terrorists in that part of the world. And we're trying to make sure they don't have money to do that. And Hezbollah, right now, are finding out they're not getting paid. They're being called back from the battlefield, if you will. So the sanctions are biting, punishing the bad actors that in the past Iran got a lot of cash, as you know, from that Iran deal, the nuclear deal, and that was used to actually pay for --

SCIUTTO: Unfrozen assets. Yes, unfrozen Iranian assets.

BARRASSO: Yes, the unfroze -- well, both.

SCIUTTO: I'm just wondering --

BARRASSO: And the pallets of cash -- pallets of cash as well that went to fund terrorists.

SCIUTTO: As we get -- as the Trump administration is trying to get North Korea to make a deal on its nuclear program, are you concerned at all that the North Koreans might look at Iran and say, well, the U.S. made a nuclear deal with Iran, Iran followed that deal, restricted its nuclear program, shifted -- shipped 98 percent of its enriched uranium out of the country, and now the U.S. is reneging on the deal. If you were North Korea, would you look at the Trump administration and say, this is an administration I can make a deal with?

BARRASSO: Well, one thing is very clear, whatever the United States does, people all around the world watch. And it's not just North Korea. It's also Assad. It's also Vladimir Putin. It's also China. People watch the United States. And we have people around the world who, in a very dangerous world, where you have leaders like Putin, cunning, opportunistic, aggressive, like North Korea, looking for any opportunities they can use. The president has been very strong, in my opinion, showing United States resolve, don't want to use the power, but we have the capacity and the commitment to use it if needed and the president strongly communicates that we'll do that if necessary.

SCIUTTO: Senator Barrasso, good to have you on the program. Hope to have you back again soon.

BARRASSO: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Yes, a really important voice and important topic to hear from him on.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: OK, CNN, Monday night, presents a comedy special. It's bigger than both sides. "Colin Quinn, Red State Blue State." This premieres Memorial Day, 9:00 Eastern, right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:58:50] HARLOW: All right, so American farmers are about to get another big dose of relief. A bailout, essentially, from the federal government. Later this morning, the Trump administration will announce a $16 billion aid package for U.S. farmers.

SCIUTTO: Yes, taxpayer money. You're paying for it. This might sound familiar. The agriculture secretary, Sunny Purdue, has told Fox Business that China will pay for it. That's not true.

CNN business correspondent Cristina Alesci joins us now.

Cristina, false, false, 1,000 percent false, and yet repeated by the administration.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, because they want to sell this aid package. But, you're right, importers in the U.S., U.S. businesses, pay the tariffs. And what Purdue is suggesting is that that revenue will go to help basically offset losses for farmers.

HARLOW: Farmers.

ALESCI: So not only is it not true that China is paying for these tariffs, but we don't even know if it's enough to make farmers whole, the $16 billion, on top of the $12 billion that was given out last year to help farmers.

And the administration also likes to sell this as something easy, right? I think Trump was out there saying farmers can sell for less and make as much money until it's straightened out. But the fact is that farmers don't even know whether or not to plant crops. This is an historic amount --

HARLOW: They don't want -- they don't want a bailout.

ALESCI: Exactly.

[10:00:01] HARLOW: They want a solution.

ALESCI: They want a solution. They want to be able to be competitive in the marketplace and get their marking share back. That is consistently what we've heard from