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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

President Obama, British Prime Minister Hold News Conference. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired April 22, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:09] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. Welcome. I'm Ashleigh Banfield and this is LEGAL VIEW.

But we begin with the breaking news of what you see on your screen in London where at any moment, you're about to hear from President Obama and the British Prime Minister David Cameron. We've got some video from early on as they were heading in to talk front and center on the agenda and it's a big one -- a push to intensify the war on ISIS.

Plus, Britain's very big and upcoming vote on whether or not to leave the European Union and it's a move that could have a lasting impact on Americans here at home. The meeting at 10 Downing Street earlier and when they emerge, some results and the president taking an unusual debate before, though, and weighing on this debate with a pointed op- ed in the local newspaper in London, arguing that the British would be better off staying in the E.U.

Let's listen in.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, and welcome. It's great to welcome President Obama again, on his fifth visit to the United Kingdom.

Barack has been President for more than seven years; I've been Prime Minister for nearly six years. And our two countries have been working together through some of the most difficult and troubled global times.

We faced the aftermath of the banking crisis, the need to revive growth and create jobs in our economies, new threats to our security from Russia in the east to the rise of Islamist terrorists in the south, and, of course, huge global challenges like Ebola and climate change. And through it all, the strong and essential partnership between our nations has never been more important.

When, 70 years ago last month, Winston Churchill first described the special relationship, it was not merely and enduring expression of friendship, it was a way of working together. It was about two nations, kindred spirits who share the same values and, so often, the same approaches to the many issues that we face.

And just as for our predecessors, that has been true for Barack and me, whether we're working to deliver economic security, national security, or new, emerging challenges. And today, we've been discussing all three. On economic security, we've succeeded in getting our economies growing

and creating jobs for our people. The global economy still faces serious challenges, but last year, Britain and the United States were the two fastest-growing major economies in the world.

And we both know just how important trade deals are in driving global growth. So Barack and I remain among the most determined to achieve our vision of a U.S.-EU trade deal. And we're working hard to push this forward because it would add billions to our economies and set the standards for the rest of the world to follow.

On national security, together with our partners in the EU, we've used our economic muscle to avoid the calamity of an Iranian nuclear weapon. We've delivered sanctions against Russia in response to its aggression against Ukraine. We've secured the first-ever global and legally binding deal on climate change, being formally signed today by over 150 governments at the United Nations.

And we've transformed the way that we use our aid, our diplomacy and our military together to make progress on some of the most difficult issues of our time. For example, in East Africa, we've helped to turn around the prospects for Somalia. For instance, thanks to an EU operation, led by Britain, supported by America, its waters are no longer a safe haven for pirates. And in West Africa, British leadership in Europe secured a billion euros to support our efforts in helping the people of the region to defeat the outbreak of Ebola, with Britain taking the lead in Sierra Leone, the United States in Liberia, France in Guinea.

But just as we've made important progress in all these areas, so there are many more that need a lot more work. There's no doubt that the situation in Libya is immensely challenging, but we now finally have a Government of National Accord with whom we can work. While in Syria and Iraq, we are continuing coalition efforts to defeat and degrade Daesh.

More than 25,000 Daesh fighters have now been killed, over 600 in the last month alone. With the total number of Daesh fighters, they're estimated to be at its lowest for about two years. The Iraqi security forces are steadily pushing Daesh out of its territory, this week almost entirely clearing them out of the town of Hit. And in Syria, our partners have liberated the last Kurdish areas in the northeast and cut off the main route between Raqqa and Mosul.

We also discussed efforts to deal with the migration crisis. This doesn't directly affect the United States, and in the UK, we've maintained our borders and we will continue to do so. But we both know the challenge this poses to our friends and our allies, and to the continent of Europe.

[12:05:00] This is the sort of challenge that can only be tackled effectively through international cooperation. NATO is helping to reduce the number of migrants in the Eastern Mediterranean. And Barack and I have discussed how NATO might now contribute to the EU's efforts in the Central Mediterranean, too. We also need to do more to break the business model of the people

smugglers. So, together with our EU partners and the Libyan government, we'll look at whether there's more we can do to strength the Libyan coast guard. Barack and I will be discussing this further when we meet with the leaders of France, Germany and Italy in Hannover on Monday. And this will be another opportunity to show that how working together, collectively, we can better protect ourselves from the threats that we face.

We also covered a number of new and emerging challenges, where it will be more important than ever that we work together with our international partners to identify problems and deal with them rapidly. Just as we've done with Ebola, we now need the same international cooperation on dealing with the Zika virus, on the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, on cybersecurity and on tackling corruption.

Britain is holding a big anticorruption summit here in London next month, which Secretary Kerry will attend. And Barack and I have talked today about some of the things we wanted to achieve. One of the biggest problems is that if you're a country that wants to take action against corruption, you have to go all around the globe to lobby for help. So we'd like to see an international anticorruption coordination center to help law enforcement agencies and investigators work together right across different jurisdictions. And if we get international agreement on this next month, both Britain and America will help contribute to set it up.

All this work we have done together, and at the same time, I think we've got to know each other very well. I'm honored to have Barack as a friend. He's taught me the rules of basketball. He's beaten me at table tennis.

I remember very fondly the barbecue we had in Number 10 Downing Street, serving servicemen and women who serve our countries together here in the United Kingdom.

I've always found Barack someone who gives sage advice. He's a man with a very good heart, and been a very good friend, and always will be a good friend, I know, to the United Kingdom.

Let me finish by saying this: In all the areas we discussed today, our collective power and reach is amplified by Britain's membership of the European Union.

Let me be clear: when it comes to the special relationship between our two countries, there's no greater enthusiast than me. I'm very proud to have the opportunity to be prime minister and to stand outside the White House, listening to this man, my friend, Barack, say that the special relationship between our countries has never been stronger.

But I've never felt constrained in any way in strengthening this relationship by the fact that we're in the European Union. In fact, quite the reverse. We deliver for our people through all the international groups that we're part of. We enhance our security through the membership of NATO. We further our prosperity through the G7 and the G20.

And like those organizations, Britain's membership of the EU gives us a powerful tool to deliver on the prosperity and security that our people need, and to stand up for the values that our countries share. And now I think is a time to stay true to those values and to stick together with our friends and allies in Europe and around the world.

Thank you very much.

Barack?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, David.

And as always, it is wonderful to be here in London, and to meet with my good friend, David Cameron. I confess I've also come back to wish Her Majesty the Queen a very happy 90th birthday.

Earlier today, Michelle and I had the honor to join Her Majesty and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh as their guests at Windsor Castle, where we conveyed the good wishes of the American people.

I have to say I have never been driven by a Duke of Edinburgh before.

(LAUGHTER)

And I can report that it was very smooth riding.

As for Her Majesty, you know, the Queen has been a source of inspiration for me, like so many people around the world. She is truly one of my favorite people. And should we be fortunate enough to reach 90, may we be as vibrant as she is. She's an astonishing person, and a real jewel to the world and not just to the United Kingdom.

The alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom is one of the oldest and one of the strongest that the world has ever known. When the U.S. and the U.K. stand together, we make our countries more secure, we make our people more prosperous, and we make the world safer and better.

[12:10:05] That's one of the reasons why my first overseas visit as president more than seven years ago was here to London, at a time of global crisis. And the one thing I knew, as green as I was as a new president, was that it was absolutely vital that the United States and the United Kingdom, working together in an international forum, tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Our success depended on our ability to coordinate and to be able to leverage our relationship to have an impact on other countries.

I met with David on that visit. He wasn't yet Prime Minister. But just as our nations share a special relationship, David and I have shared an extraordinary partnership. He has proven to be a great friend, and is one of my closest and most trusted partners.

Over the six years or so that our terms have overlapped, we have met or spoken more times than I can count. We've shared our countries' beers with each other -- he vouches for his, I vouch for mine -- taken in a basketball game in America.

David I think you should recall, we were actually partners in that ping-pong game.

(LAUGHTER)

And we lost to some school children.

(LAUGHTER)

I can't remember whether they were eight or 10, but they were decidedly shorter than we were, and they whooped us.

(LAUGHTER)

Samantha and Michelle, our better halves, have become good friends as well. And it's the depth and the breadth of that special relationship that has helped us tackle some of the most daunting challenges of our time.

Around the world, our joint efforts, as David mentioned, have stopped the outbreak of Ebola, kept Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, forged a climate agreement in Paris that hopefully will help to protect our planet for future generations.

And today, on Earth Day, our governments, along with about 170 others, are in New York to sign that agreement. The U.S. is committed to formally joining it this year, which should help it take effect years earlier than anybody expected.

We also discussed the full array of challenges to our shared security. We remain resolute in our efforts to prevent terrorist attacks against our people, and to continue the progress that we've made in rolling back and ultimately defeating ISIL. Our forces, as David mentioned, are systematically degrading ISIL's finances and safe havens, and removing its top leaders from the battlefield. We've got to keep working to improve security and information-sharing across Europe, and to stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of Syria.

We discussed our efforts to resolve political conflicts in the Middle East, from Yemen to Syria to Libya, in order to increase the prospects for stability. In Libya, going forward, we have an opportunity to support a new government and help Libyans root out extremist elements. In Syria, as challenging as it is, we still need to see more progress towards an enduring ceasefire, and we continue to push for greater humanitarian access to the people who need it most.

We have to continue to invest in NATO so that we can meet our overseas commitments, from Afghanistan to the Aegean. We have to resolve the conflict in the Ukraine and reassure allies who are rightly concerned about Russian aggression. All NATO allies should aim for the NATO target of spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense -- something that David has made sure happens here in the UK to meet that standard.

We discussed new actions we can take to address the refugee crisis, including with our NATO allies. And because a strong defense relies on more than just military spending but on helping to unleash the potential of others to live freer and more prosperous lives, I want to thank the people of the United Kingdom for their extraordinary generosity as one of the world's foremost donors of humanitarian aid.

We talked about promoting jobs and stronger growth through increased transatlantic trade and investment so that our young people can achieve greater opportunity and prosperity. And, yes, the Prime Minister and I discussed the upcoming referendum here on whether or not the U.K. should remain part of the European Union.

Let me be clear: Ultimately, this is something that the British voters have to decide for themselves. But as part of our special relationship, part of being friends is to be honest and to let you know what I think.

And speaking honestly, the outcome of that decision is a matter of deep interest to the United States because it affects our prospects as well.

[12:15:09] The United States wants a strong United Kingdom as a partner. And the United Kingdom is at its best when it's helping to lead a strong Europe. It leverages U.K. power to be part of the European Union.

As I wrote in the op-ed here today, I don't believe the E.U. moderates British influence in the world. It magnifies it. The E.U. has helped to spread British values and practices across the continent. The single market brings extraordinary economic benefits to the United Kingdom.

And that ends up being good for America, because we're more prosperous when one of our best friends and closest allies has a strong, stable, growing economy. Americans want Britain's influence to grow, including within Europe.

The fact is, in today's world, no nation is immune to the challenges that David and I just discussed. And in today's world, solving them requires collective action. All of us cherish our sovereignty -- my country is pretty vocal about that.

But the U.S. also recognizes that we strengthen our security through our membership in NATO. We strengthen our prosperity through organizations like the G7 and the G20. And I believe the U.K. strengthens both our collective security and prosperity through the E.U.

In the 21st century, the nations that make their presence felt on the world stage aren't the nations that go it alone but the nations that team up to aggregate their power and multiply their influence. And precisely because Britain's values and institutions are so strong and so sound, we want to make sure that that influence is heard, that it's felt, that it influences how other countries think about critical issues. We have confidence that when the U.K. is involved in a problem that they're going to help solve it in the right way. That's why the United States cares about this. For centuries, Europe was marked by war and by violence. The

architecture that our two countries helped build with the EU has provided the foundation for decades of relative peace and prosperity on that continent. What a remarkable legacy -- a legacy born in part out of what took place in this building.

Before we walked out, I happened to see Enigma on display. And that was a reminder of the incredible innovation and collaboration of the allies in World War II and the fact that neither of us could have won that alone. And in the same way, after World War II, we built out the international institutions that, yes, occasionally constrained us, but we willingly allowed those constraints because we understood that by doing so, we were able to institutionalize and internationalize the basic values of rule of law, and freedom, and democracy, that would benefit our citizens as well as people around the world.

I think there's a British poet who once said, "No man is an island" -- even an island as beautiful as this. We're stronger together.

And if we continue to tackle our challenges together, then future generations will look back on ours, just as we look back on the previous generation of English and American citizens who worked so hard to make this world safer and more secure and more prosperous, and they'll say that we did our part and that's important. That's important not just here; that's important in the United States, as well.

Thanks.

CAMERON: Thank you very much.

All right, we've got some questions. We're going to start with a question from the British press. We'll have Chris Ship from ITV.

REPORTER: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. Chris Ship from ITV News.

[12:20:01] Mr. President, you, yourself, acknowledge the controversial timing of your comments on the E.U. referendum and the spirited debate that we're having here. And I think you're right. In the weeks before your arrival here, "Leave" campaigners have said that you're acting hypocritically. America would not accept the loss of sovereignty that we have to accept as part of the E.U. America would not accept the levels of immigration from Mexico that we have to accept from the E.U.

And therefore, in various degrees of politeness, they have said to you that you should really keep your views to yourself.

With that in mind, Mr. President, do you still think it was the right decision to intervene in this debate? And can I ask you this -- truthfully, what happens if the U.K. does decide in June to leave the European Union?

OBAMA: Well, firsts of all, let me repeat -- this is a decision for the people of the United Kingdom to make. I'm not coming here to fix any votes. I'm not casting a vote myself. I'm offering my opinion.

And in democracies, everybody should want more information, not less. And you shouldn't be afraid to hear an argument being made. That's not a threat. That should enhance the debate.

Particularly because my understanding is that some of the folks on the other side have been ascribing to the United States certain actions we'll take if the U.K. does leave the E.U. So, they say, for example, that, well, we'll just cut our own trade deals with the United States.

So, they're voicing an opinion about what the United States is going to do. I figured you might want to hear it from the President of the United States what I think the United States is going to do.

(LAUGHTER)

And on that matter, for example, I think it's fair to say that maybe some point down the line, there might be a U.K.-U.S. trade agreement, but it's not going to happen anytime soon, because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done. And the U.K. is going to be in the back of the queue -- not because we don't have a special relationship, but because, given the heavy lift on any trade agreement, us having access to a big market with a lot of countries -- rather than trying to do piecemeal trade agreements is hugely inefficient.

Now, to the subject at hand -- obviously, the United States is in a different hemisphere, different circumstances, has different sets of relationships with its neighbors than the UK does.

But I can tell you this: if, right now, I've got access to a massive market where I sell 44 percent of my exports, and now I'm thinking about leaving the organization that gives me access to that market and that is responsible for millions of jobs in my country and responsible for an enormous amount of commerce and upon which a lot of businesses depend, that's not something I'd probably do.

And what I'm trying to describe is a broader principle, which is, in our own ways -- I mean, we don't have a common market in the Americas -- but in all sorts of ways, the United States constrains itself in order to bind everyone under a common set of norms and rules that makes everybody more prosperous.

That's what we built after World War II. The United States and the U.K. designed a set of institutions -- whether it was the United Nations, or the Bretton Woods structure, IMF, World Bank, NATO, across the board.

Now, that, to some degree, constrained our freedom to operate. It meant that occasionally we had to deal with some bureaucracy. It meant that on occasion, we have to persuade other countries, and we don't get 100 percent of what we want in each case.

[12:25:09] But we knew that by doing so, everybody was going to be better off -- partly because the norms and rules that were put in place were reflective of what we believe. If there were -- if there were more free markets around the world, and an orderly financial system, we knew we could operate in that environment. If we had collective defense treaties through NATO, we understood that we could formalize an architecture that would deter aggression, rather than us having, piecemeal, to put together alliances to defeat aggression after it already started. And that principle is what's at stake here.

And the last point I'll make on this -- until I get the next question, I suspect -- is that, as David said, this magnifies the power of the U.K. It doesn't diminish it. On just about every issue, what happens in Europe is going to have an impact here. And what happens in Europe is going to have an impact in the United States.

We just discussed, for example, the refugee and the migration crisis. And I've told my team -- which is sitting right here, so they'll vouch for me -- that we consider it a major national security issue that you have uncontrolled migration into Europe -- not because these folks are coming to the United States, but because if it destabilizes Europe, our largest trading bloc -- trading partner -- it's going to be bad for our economy. If you start seeing divisions in Europe, that weakens NATO. That will have an impact on our collective security.

Now, if, in fact, I want somebody who's smart and commonsense, and tough, and is thinking, as I do, in the conversations about how migration is going to be handled, somebody who also has a sense of compassion, and recognizes that immigration can enhance, when done properly, the assets of a country, and not just diminish them, I want David Cameron in the conversation. Just as I want him in the conversation when we're having discussions about information-sharing and counterterrorism activity.

Because -- precisely because I have confidence in the U.K., and I know that if we're not working effectively with Paris or Brussels, then those attacks are going to migrate to the United States and to London, I want one of my strongest partners in that conversation. So, it enhances the special relationship. It doesn't diminish it.

CAMERON: Let me just make, Chris, one point in response to that. This is our choice; nobody else's -- the sovereign choice of the British people. But as we make that choice, it surely makes sense to listen to what our friends think, to listen to their opinion, to listen to their views. And that's what Barack has been talking about today.

But it's also worth remembering as we make this choice, it's a British choice about the British membership of the European Union. We're not being asked to make a choice about whether we support the German style of membership, or the Italian style of membership.

Britain has a special status in the European Union. We're in the single market; we're not part of the single currency. We're able to travel and live and work in other European countries, but we've maintained our borders, because we're not in the Schengen no-border zone.

And on this vital issue of trade, where Barack has made such a clear statement, we should remember why we are currently negotiating this biggest trade deal in the whole world, and in the whole world's history, between the European Union and the United States -- is because Britain played an absolutely leading part in pushing for those talks to get going. Indeed, we announced them at the G8 in Northern Ireland, when Britain was in the chair of that organization. We set the agenda for what could be an absolutely game-changing trade deal for jobs, for investment, because we were part of this organization.

So I just want to add those important points.

I think we have a U.S. question now.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Justin Sink.

REPORTER: Thanks, Mr. President. Following on that, do you think that between Brexit and the migration issue, European unity is at a crisis point?