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President Trump Adding His Two Cents To The British Political Debate; Five Percent Tariff In Mexico To Take Effect In Six Days; 59 Democrats Now Calling For Impeachment Inquiry Against Trump. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired June 4, 2019 - 14:00   ET

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


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN. Thank you for joining me. President Trump is once again adding his two cents to the British political debate, praising Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson as a potential Prime Minister while standing next to the woman who Johnson has repeatedly criticized for her handling of Brexit, a woman who technically still has the job.

Still Trump offered high praise for outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May as the two held their final joint news conference today and did Prime Minister May return the positive vibes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Prime Minister May, it's been a true honor. I have greatly enjoyed working with you. You are a tremendous professional and a person that loves your country dearly. Thank you very much, really an honor.

THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: For the past two and a half years, the President and I have had the duty and privilege of being the latest guardians of this precious and profound friendship between our countries. As with our predecessors, when we have faced threats to the security of our citizens and our allies, we have stood together and acted together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But out on the streets of London, the mood was anything but friendly. As protestors played trumpets, blew whistles, and chanted "Dump Trump," in opposition to his State Visit.

For his part, the President claimed, he never saw them, and there's a very good reason for that. The police there blocked protesters from marching past 10 Downing Street. But it wasn't just U.K. politics that the President had his mind on, there was also the recent tariff threat against Mexico.

Just a reminder, the tariff which would go into effect in just six days would slap a five percent penalty on everything from food, to cars, and then increase by five percent every month until hitting that max of 25 percent in October.

So, to our White House correspondent Abby Phillip we go. She is live in London. So, Abby we're hearing behind the scenes that Republicans are trying to find a way to block those tariffs in Mexico.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brooke. We have to first start by letting everybody know that tariffs are typically not something that Republicans are in favor of.

Typically, they are for free trade. And so, President Trump now is starting to veer toward tariffs on a number of different fronts. It is becoming increasingly alarming to Capitol Hill Republicans and not only that, but in this case, he is using tariffs as a threat against Mexico in order to deal with a completely separate problem, which is immigration.

But when President Trump was asked about that possibility today at a press conference in London, he was pretty dismissive of the idea that Republicans might be able to stop him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This will take effect next week at five percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think of Republicans who say that they may take action to block you imposing those tariffs?

TRUMP: No, I don't think they will do that. I think if they do it, it's foolish. There's nothing more important than borders, but I think it's more likely that the tariffs go on and we'll probably be talking during the time that the tariffs are on and they're going to be paid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So, the tariffs are expected to go into place in just a few days at five percent and then they will increase five percent every month until Mexico acts in a way that President Trump thinks is appropriate. However, he has not specified exactly what that is.

The problem for a lot of Republican Senators is this idea that the President is using emergency authorities to impose tariffs for non- economic issues and that's why they've been deliberating some kind of resolution of disapproval that could stop him.

But President Trump seems pretty clear today that he thinks the tariffs are an appropriate measure to take. And he also thinks that there is an economic benefit.

He says companies are going to come from Mexico back to the United States and that Mexico is going to stop taking advantage of the United States. So we'll see how this all works out. But it seems that President Trump is pretty set on the idea that these tariffs are going into place. And what Mexico has been doing over the last several days, which has been to take some steps to increase enforcement.

That's not enough in President Trump's view but he just hasn't said exactly what will be enough to prevent him from taking those steps, which really, as you pointed out, could affect pretty much every single American products all across the board that are that come from Mexico -- one of our largest trading partners -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Cars, parts, you name it. Abby Phillip, thank you very much, in London. And while the President is talking tough on Mexico, his outlook is much rosier when it comes to trade with the U.K.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As the U.K. makes preparations to exit the European Union, the United States is committed to a phenomenal trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K. There is tremendous potential in that trade deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then on the issue of Brexit, Trump heaped praise on Prime Minister Theresa May, after previously saying, she didn't listen to his advice and how to handle it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAY: I still believe -- I personally believe that it is in the best interest of the U.K. to leave the European Union with a deal. And I seem to remember the President suggested that I sue the European Union, which we didn't do.

[14:05:08] MAY: We went into negotiations and we came out with a good deal.

TRUMP: Yes, that's not such a -- I would have sued, but that's okay. I would have sued and settled maybe, but you never know. She's probably a better negotiator than I am. Perhaps you won't be given the credit that you deserve if they did something. But I think you deserve a lot of credit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN Royal commentator, Kate Williams, is a historian and lecturer at the University of London. James Boys is a political analyst, Professor of International Political Studies, and the author of a ton of books, what makes --

Welcome to both of you and, you know, when you think of Trump and Theresa May, and what a difference a year makes, right? He and he insults her when he's there a year ago and now you watch the two of them -- Kate, first to you, and as we would say, it's warm and fuzzies. What did you think of that?

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, very warm and fuzzy. I mean in general, President Trump has been, we might say, on his best behavior during this trip so far and obviously you think he might have possibly patted the Queen but apart from that, he has been surprisingly polite, we found.

But certainly, this was a big sort of -- it was rather a loving -- I felt very emotional, very sort of -- lots and lots of mutual respect, mutual praise, and very interesting because, obviously, Mr. Trump has talked quite a lot about the importance of Brexit, about the importance of just doing it, which Theresa May -- her approach to Brexit was much more cautious and she is now no longer with us, in terms of a Prime Minister, she will be replaced with someone else.

Probably, Boris Johnson, is in the front running for that and Mr. Trump has praised him very highly, has also praised Mr. Nigel Farage who is completely leading the charge for a hard Brexit against the Conservative Party.

So in one hand Mr. Trump was terribly lovey-dovey to an extent with Mrs. May. It was a -- there's a lot of talking about the phenomenal relationship we've had, a lot of talking about the extraordinary relationship we've had, a lot of great words.

But really, there's a difference in the words and the actions. The words might be praising Mrs. May. The words might be praising her approach, in her negotiations, but in terms of his actions he's really throwing his lot in with the hard Brexiteers who want us out of the European Union ASAP.

And certainly, the Queen herself was talking about the importance of institutions and that isn't like the E.U. but the President takes a rather different view.

BALDWIN: Let's jump in on Brexit. James, three years ago, President Obama sparked a sharp criticism when he warned that Brexit would put the U.K. and I'm quoting him, "put the U.K. at the back of the queue in a trade deal with the U.S."

And then you fast forward today, President Trump is saying, Brexit has to happen. How is that being received?

JAMES BOYS, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's interesting isn't it and it's the exact point I was going to raise for the last 24 or 36 hours. We've been hearing all kinds of naysayers suggesting that this is the end of a special relationship because of Donald Trump and yet we have that very warm press conference that Kate rightly refers to, in which Donald Trump gives the ultimate accolade, "Perhaps you're a better negotiator than I am," this from the art of the deal maestro, quite extraordinary.

Donald Trump and Theresa May both wanted, I think, to be moving forward in getting a trade deal struck. Of course, we're in a hiatus at this point. The United Kingdom really can't start moving forward and threshing out any great details until we are out of the European Union.

But when that happens of course, it's remarkable isn't it? We've heard all this idea that Donald Trump doesn't favor great relationship with the United Kingdom and yet of course when you contrast his words with those of Barack Obama, it is quite a stark contrast I think and it's in both people's interests. It's in United States' interests and Great Britain's interests to have this new bilateral trade agreement in place as soon as possible.

BALDWIN: James, just a quick follow up with you on Boris Johnson, a potential next Prime Minister. We know that everyone was watching to see if they would meet publicly. They will not be, Boris declined the meeting with the President, saying he had a pre-planned event. Do you think that was a wise move?

BOYS: Well, it's an interesting move. Certainly, we do know that the President has met with leading lights in the Brexit movement this evening including Nigel Farage, Iain Duncan Smith, as well as others. So, for Boris Johnson to have declined that meeting is remarkable.

Most people, I think, if asked to meet the President would have canceled everything quite frankly.

BALDWIN: Cancelled, yes. Right.

BOYS: So, I think it's possible that what he's done is try to clear the deck so that he can't be accused of being the President's poodle, dare I say it

BALDWIN: President's poodle, I haven't heard that one. Kate, back over to you. There was also this ongoing feud between President Trump and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. This was Trump at today's news conference on that.

[14:10:04] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't think he should be criticizing a representative of the United States that can do so much good for the United Kingdom. We talked about it before. He should be positive not negative. He's a negative force not a positive force.

And if you look at what he said, he hurts the people of this great country and I think he should actually focus on his job. He would be a lot better if he did that. He could straighten out some of the problems that he has and probably some of the problems that he's caused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Prior to those comments, Mayor Khan had this to say about Trump when he talked to our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: You know, this is sort of how you're going to expect from an 11-year-old, you know, but it's for him to decide, how he behaves. It's not for me to respond and alike, but I think it's, you know, beneath me to do childish tweets and name- calling.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Were you surprised? Were you offended?

KHAN: I'm not offended in the slightest. People tell me, nothing this President does should surprise you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: So, Kate you have the U.S. President going after the London

Mayor. But doesn't this all in the end elevate Mayor Khan? Is this something that he actually is enjoying?

WILLIAMS: I think, certainly, it has put him onto a bigger world stage. But really, there's been a long history of animosity between President Trump and Mayor Khan. There really has been a long history of disagreement, a long history of argument, and certainly, I think, Mr. Trump does blame Mr. Khan for the fact that the Trump blimp balloon -- the giant balloon in the shape of a baby Trump was allowed to fly over London.

So, really I think, we've seen Mr. Trump do his best, I think, to be on his best behavior in terms of tweets, in terms of what he said. He even suggested that he didn't really say what he said, what he's supposed to say about Meghan Markle. But the only person he's really going all guns blazing on is Mayor Khan.

He's certainly someone who I think that Trump feels he can do because other people in the government are people might have more power. We really don't know at the moment who is going to be Prime Minister next so he doesn't know who he can offend and who he can't defend.

But I think -- there is -- it's a difficult relationship between the two of them and certainly the main debate I think at the moment has been the discussion of the trade deal, you were talking about, of where their National Health Service will fit into that. Because obviously, both Mr. Trump and the American Ambassador Mr. Howell sniffs that the NHS should be on the table. Various ministers have disagreed with this.

So there are disagreements and I am surprised that Mr. Khan hasn't waded into the NHS discussion as well. But certainly, it's not -- there's no love lost between the two of them and I don't expect there's going to be any particular meeting between the two of them when they get on terribly well.

BALDWIN: Sure, you mentioned the baby Trump blimp. We'll be talking to one of the protesters behind that thing, coming up in a little bit. James and Kate, for now, thank you very much for coming on.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Back here at home with just a couple of weeks until the first Democratic primary debate, a new CNN poll released this morning shows Joe Biden still holding his lead as the clear front-runner. He is down just a smidge, seven points since he first launched his campaign in April. Senators Bernie Sanders is at 18 percent, Kamala Harris at eight, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former Congressman Beto O'Rourke rounding out the top six.

Now moments ago, Joe Biden responded after some of his rivals slammed his decision to skip a party convention in California just over this past weekend. So we go straight Arlette Saenz, she's our CNN political reporter who covers all things Joe Biden, you are there in Berlin, New Hampshire what did the former Vice President just tell you?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Brooke. Over the weekend we had these Democratic contenders out in California and Joe Biden wasn't there but he was very much on their minds. Several of them taking veiled swipes at the former Vice President, either for not attending those events or for his approach to politics so far.

And as he was finishing his event here in Berlin, New Hampshire, I caught up with him on the rope line and asked him about some of that criticism. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEANZ: What do you think of those Democrats who took swipes of you in California over the weekend?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: See you around.

SEANZ: There was -- specifically they responded to the things you've said. Bernie Sanders said you can't go back to the past. Elizabeth Warren saying something --

BIDEN: Who's going back to the past? Look, I understand. I don't blame them. They got -- they're good folks but as I said, see you around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEANZ: Now, Biden has largely refrained from engaging with his Democratic rivals. Saying that he's going to save that for the debates just a month away.

But one thing Biden did talk about here with voters, what he said that he's not trying to go back to the past that he's trying to avoid a terrible future. And he once again stressed the importance of consensus and returning to bipartisan cooperation. That's something that some of his rivals have kind of challenged him on over the past few weeks.

[14:15:08] SEANZ: Now, Biden was here in Berlin as he unveiled his climate change plan which he has faced some criticism in recent weeks from candidates, saying that he might not be progressive or go far enough with his plan. Biden laying that out here for voters today and we'll see if the plan satisfies some of his critics -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Great. Arlette, thank you very much. She is one of the people closest to the President who has seen everything and now the White House is telling Hope Hicks to defy a subpoena.

Plus, the New York's infamous Rikers Island jail maybe getting a new inmate. The President's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, a former deputy warden who's worked on Rikers joins us to give us a peek at what life may be like for this man. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:20:48] BALDWIN: In the latest act of stonewalling House

Democrats, CNN has learned that the Trump administration has directed former White House officials Annie Donaldson and Hope Hicks not to turn over any documents to the House Judiciary Committee relating to their time at the White House.

This committee had issued both women subpoenas setting a deadline for today. CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju was up on Capitol Hill and you tell me first, how are Democrats responding to this latest move?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler told me, earlier today, that if these subpoenas ultimately are not complied with, not just for documents but also for testimony, that those two individuals -- those former officials could also be held in contempt of Congress.

This coming after the House has poised to move next week to hold the former White House Counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress. Also, the Attorney General Bill Barr, as well as other officials could also be punished by this body that these two also could face the same punishment if ultimately don't agree to turn over these records.

Now the White House says that the reason why they have not been turned over is because these are essentially confidential communications that's why they're their time at the White House should not be given over to the Legislative Branch of government. But one aspect could -- there could be some cooperation and that's Hope Hicks' time while serving on the 2016 campaign.

She was a senior aide to then candidate Donald Trump. She has told the committee that she'll provide some documents in relation to her time on the campaign. Will that satisfy Democrats? It's unlikely, but at the moment they're getting some level of cooperation but they have not gotten so far, but nevertheless, Democrats are raising significant concerns but what they're seeing is blanket stonewalling across all of their subpoenas on various requests -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Let's turn the page and talk impeachment. Let me play a clip. This is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she says that she thinks her party is getting restless. Here she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I think that we are getting to a point where we're hearing from a lot of the public that we at least need to open an inquiry and that the time for an inquiry is really upon us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you hear that on your recess at your own district?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, I personally heard it in my home district but I'm also hearing it a lot from a lot of swing district members, I think, are hearing it more. At least the openness to having an inquiry is there and investigating a lot of what we are seeing and what a lot of what has already transpired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Manu, by CNN's count there are 59 House Democrats pushing impeachment. Can you just talk to me about the pressure that must be on Speaker Pelosi right now?

RAJU: Well, it's only going to build that more defiance that they see from the White House to their subpoena requests. There will be more Democrats who will call for an inquiry.

But at the moment, Brooke, Democrats are divided among several camps. Most of them, right now support Speaker Pelosi's position to investigate, to push forward on the court fights, to try to get information hold off on impeachment.

Others say, it's time to open an inquiry and some are saying, let's wait to see if there's more defiance and if there is then let's talk about opening those proceedings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): You know, there's a growing sentiment that it's an intolerable situation.

RAJU: Should you give in if the Speaker should change her mind?

RASKIN: You know, I think everything is on the table at this point and I think that the Speaker is actively hearing all parts of the caucus about which way to go. So the wheels are still spinning.

REP. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): Honestly, we have to wait and see like if Mueller refuses to testify or somehow we can't get him to testify and, you know, if he should still stay with that position, then yes. I think then at that point they're being too cautious. If we get -- he'd agree to -- if he agrees to testify and he'd come to a date, certainly, I think then, we can wait.

RAJU: Do you think it's time to open up an impeachment inferring to the President?

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): Long past time. We need to move forward vigorously.

REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D-MO): I'm not against impeachment, I'm against impatience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, one Congressman, Ruben Gallego who said that let's see what Bob Mueller does. If he does not testify before the House Judiciary Committee then let's talk about opening up an impeachment inquiry and at the moment no development yet from getting Bob Mueller's testimony.

[14:25:00] RAJU: I asked Jerry Nadler about the idea of Mueller testifying in private as a Special Counsel's team has proposed. He said, I want him to testify in public so that seems to be an area of still up for debate and also a question about when in if that testimony will actually occur -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Interesting that that is what is the breaking point for Gallego. Manu Raju, thank you very much for chasing down all those voices for us on Capitol Hill. We appreciate it.

Meantime, an American couple on vacation in Fiji dies from a mysterious illness and now the CDC is involved. We've got details for you on that. Also, prosecutors want the President's former campaign chairman and one of America's most notorious jails. What Paul Manafort's life would be like on Rikers Island.

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