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U.S. Secretary of State in Japan; Netherlands Election; French Presidential Vote Begins April 23; Trump Suffers Second Defeat on Travel Ban. Aired 7-7:30a ET
Aired March 16, 2017 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to NEWS STREAM.
The U.S. secretary of state begins his trip to Asia begins with the pledge to change how Washington handles North Korea, calling previous diplomatic
efforts "a failure."
The Dutch prime minister claims victory over far right populism after his party finishes far ahead of anti-immigrant candidate Geert Wilders.
And two federal judges temporarily block President Trump's new travel ban against immigrants from six countries.
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STOUT: America's top diplomat kicks off his first trip to Asia with the message about North Korea, it's time for a brand new approach when it comes
to dealing with an increasingly hostile Pyongyang. It is the most pressing issue facing Japan.
The first leg of Rex Tillerson's three-country tour, he's been meeting with the Japanese prime minister, assuring Tokyo that Washington has its back.
And he was critical of past efforts to rein in North Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REX TILLERSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The diplomatic and other efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to a point of denuclearization
have failed. So we have 20 years of failed approach.
And that includes a period in which the United States provided $1.35 billion in assistance to North Korea as an encouragement to take a
different pathway. That encouragement has been met with further development of nuclear capabilities, more missile launches, including those
of the recent February 11th and March the 5th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: North Korea will remain on the agenda as Tillerson continues his tour. When he arrives in South Korea, he will look for assurances from
Seoul, now in political transition.
Former president Park Geun-hye was removed from office just days after the U.S. began delivering an anti-missile system there.
But the biggest challenge lies in China. Washington and Beijing do not see eye-to-eye on how to deal with North Korea. We'll take you to Beijing in
just a moment. But first let's start in Tokyo. Will Ripley is standing by. He joins us live.
And, Will, in Japan, Rex Tillerson says diplomatic efforts to denuclearize North Korea have failed.
So what's the path forward?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the thing, Kristie. He certainly didn't shy away from criticizing the previous three
administrations, both Democratic and Republican, but he didn't offer any specifics, even when pressed on specifics by reporters at the press
conference which happened in this building behind me.
There is information coming out of the State Department that perhaps Rex Tillerson will be expanding from a regional approach dealing with North
Korea. So Japan, South Korea, the United States working together to perhaps a more global approach; the Iran model, it has been likened to,
which of course there would be a lot of questions about that, considering candidate Trump's fierce criticism of the Iran deal when he was running for
president.
Also no specifics from Secretary Tillerson about whether the United States would sanction Chinese companies that do business with North Korea. That
information also being leaked out of the State Department. No specifics from the secretary.
But he did say that a fresh approach is needed, talking about the 20 years of failures, that more than $1 billion of U.S. food and energy aid given to
North Korea during that period of time.
And so you get the impression, Kristie, from this new administration that they are going to try to take a different approach but we don't know yet
what that strategy will be precisely.
STOUT: And the U.S. commitment to Japan, today, it was Rex Tillerson's turn to provide reassurances to Japan for that strong and enduring
friendship.
From the Japanese side, how important is it for Japan to hear that message again from a senior Trump official?
RIPLEY: Absolutely important, Kristie, to get those reassurances. That was probably the number one thing that Japan was hoping to gain from
Secretary Tillerson's visit.
It was pointed out publicly a number of different times -- the prime minister mentioned it, Shinzo Abe; the foreign minister, Funukushita (ph),
talked about the significance of Secretary Tillerson choosing Japan as his first stop.
So this continued reassurance from the United States' side that, despite all of that rhetoric during the campaign that the Trump administration is
committed to remaining engaged in --
[07:05:00]
RIPLEY: -- Asia with the U.S.-Japan alliance being the cornerstone, in their words, of peace and stability in this region.
Secretary Tillerson also pointed to the importance of cooperation between Japan and South Korea, which is a tricky situation right now diplomatically
because Japan and Tokyo and Seoul are still at odds over a number of historical and territorial disputes, the biggest of which would be the
comfort women issue. That came up during the press conference as well.
So it's clear that the secretary has to use some old-fashioned diplomacy to convince Japan and South Korea, despite the disagreements that they have
over these historical issues, to come together to fight the greater danger, the threat to this region of Pyongyang's growing nuclear missile program.
STOUT: Will Ripley, live for us from Tokyo, thank you.
Now Tillerson will be arriving in Beijing on Saturday. Matt Rivers is there. He joins us now.
And, Matt, ahead of Tillerson's arrival there in the Chinese capital, we've learned that the U.S. is willing to sanction Chinese companies and banks
that do business with North Korea.
So how is China responding to that?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not too thrilled about it, Kristie. What we're hearing from several senior U.S. officials is that
what Secretary Tillerson will tell his Chinese counterparts when he lands here in Beijing on Saturday is that the United States is willing to
increase the financial penalties to or on Chinese businesses and banks that do business with North Korea, that the United States is tired of Chinese
companies, in part, propping up Pyongyang' weapons development program.
That is what we're expecting Secretary Tillerson to express when he comes here to Beijing. But earlier today, we did get the rare opportunity to
actually go on the record with a Chinese policymaker within their foreign policy apparatus.
That's something that the Chinese government rarely allows foreign media access to. But we were able to sit down with the director general at the
Asian Affairs Department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And we asked him specifically about what China's response would be and what his
response is to those anticipated financial penalties.
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DIRECTOR GENERAL, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: We hoping that they will not. It is something that is not fair. And that's not right. That's not
the correct way of dealing things.
RIVERS: If it did happen, would that propose a serious obstacle in China's ability to deal with the United States diplomatically and work together on
this issue?
DIRECTOR GENERAL: Well, secretary is coming in two days' time. And let's see how he will communicate with Chinese colleagues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: That's a shout, definitely dodging that last question, preferring to wait to speak to the secretary of state in person when he arrives here.
But the secretary also plans on discussing with the Chinese how, if any, there is an opportunity to jointly cooperate on North Korea. And China,
for its part, has put forward a pretty specific policy proposal.
It calls it the suspension for suspension proposal. And what they're saying is the United States and South Korea should cease large-scale
military exercises that they engage in annually and in exchange North Korea would stop testing its ballistic missiles.
The Chinese official that we spoke to said that is a win-win for both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIRECTOR GENERAL: (INAUDIBLE) we would like to see America to move first, take (INAUDIBLE) first to show their sincerity and vice versa.
So China's proposal is why not do it at the same time? No secrets, no first or second. There's a parallel. We do it at the same time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: But here's the thing. The United States, when that first -- when that proposal first came out last week, came out very quickly. And a
spokesperson for the State Department said they don't buy into that proposal and the North Koreans today, actually, here at a rare press
conference in Beijing, actually said they don't buy into it, either.
So it's unclear what kind of reception the Chinese are going to get from the secretary of state when he arrives here in Beijing on Saturday when
they put forward that proposal -- Kristie.
STOUT: Well, let's wait and see. Matt Rivers, live in Beijing, thank you.
And this just in to us here at CNN. Britain's Queen Elizabeth has signed the Article 50 bill, allowing the government to formally trigger Brexit.
The British prime minister, Theresa May is expected to invoke that mechanism by the end of the month, notifying the European Union that the
U.K. is leaving the bloc--
Now the far right comes up short in an election that was watched around the world, coming up next, what the Dutch vote could mean for the rest of
Europe.
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STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. You're watching NEWS STREAM.
Many European leaders are expressing relief after Geert Wilders' anti-E.U., anti-immigration Freedom Party came up short in the Dutch election. Now
the People's Party, led by the conservative prime minister, Mark Rutte, won the most seats in parliament.
In a victory speech on Wednesday night, he addressed a cheering crowd, calling the victory a rejection of, quote, "the wrong kind of populism."
Still Wilders' Freedom Party is projected to come in second with some 20 seats. CNN's Hala Gorani is following it all from The Hague. She joins us
now live -- Hala.
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is one election where losing seats from one election to the next is considered a victory and where the
status quo is considered big news.
The incumbent prime minister was able pretty much to hold on to his leadership position. His party came in first. The far right Geert Wilders
came in second, even though some polls had predicted that perhaps he would become the largest party in the Netherlands. That did not happen.
What exactly took place here in this country in Holland, as the country went to the polls?
The first of several tests here in Europe, electoral tests. We have the French election in April and May and also some very important elections in
Germany.
What of Geert Wilders, what is going through his mind right now?
I have with me the man who literally wrote the book on Geert Wilders, Meindert Fennema. And he wrote --
Thank you for joining us.
-- this book called "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" --
I'm translating from Dutch.
Thanks for being with us.
What do you think is going through Geert Wilders' mind right now because he underperformed?
MEINDERT FENNEMA, AUTHOR: He didn't. He gained four seats. And you have to realize that actually the person who intervened in (INAUDIBLE) in favor
of Rutte was evident (ph) without adding him, Rutte would never have --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: You're talking about the big dispute with --
(CROSSTALK)
GORANI: -- where they didn't allow the foreign minister, so (INAUDIBLE) that played well politically for Mark Rutte.
FENNEMA: Yes. He would -- I think he never would have done it if there hadn't been elections.
GORANI: That being said, though, you're saying he didn't obviously he added seats from the last election but he's lower than he was in 2010,
Geert Wilders. He didn't become the biggest party in Holland.
FENNEMA: No. And that is partly because people now -- by now are getting used to him and they also know that nobody wants to form a cabinet with
him. And he is big but he is no more than 40 percent of the vote.
GORANI: He's by the way, he's anything but anti-establishment. Geert Wilders has been in politics for almost 20 years.
FENNEMA: 27.
GORANI: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
FENNEMA: Right. And when he left the liberal party, nobody seems to remember that, he was the second person in command. If he hadn't left the
party, he would have become a minister.
GORANI: Why is he so hateful?
And I mean hateful of Muslims?
Why does he hate them so much and obsess about them so much?
FENNEMA: He has to be protected 24 hours a day. He went into hiding after the murder of (INAUDIBLE). You have to realize that we had two political
murders. Right? First (INAUDIBLE) was murdered, not by a radical Muslim but --
(CROSSTALK)
FENNEMA: -- but the reason was that Forta (ph) was very anti-Islam. And Forta (ph) was the first who said we have to beware of the Islam and of
Muslims because they hate gay people. I'm gay.
[07:15:00]
FENNEMA: I'm not going to give up my rights just to pacify the masses.
GORANI: Yes. No, I get that but the level of -- it's a fixation. It's what his entire platform is about. He wants to close mosques, ban the
Quran.
By the way, all these things are not doable.
FENNEMA: Why not?
GORANI: -- be honest, to ban, to go in people's homes, snatch their Qurans?
What kind of country would that be?
FENNEMA: If you gave up the rule of law, you can do it.
(CROSSTALK)
FENNEMA: -- doing it.
GORANI: Well, so Geert Wilders' next, last question, what's his big plan now?
He wants to become still the biggest party.
FENNEMA: You have to realize that Wilders is not a nationalist in the traditional sense of the word. He thinks he is the savior of the West and
he wants to warn the whole West, both in the United States and in Europe, against the Islam. That's his mission.
And, in a way, you could say that he's not copying Marine Le Pen but Marine Le Pen is copying him.
GORANI: All right. And we'll see what happens. That's an important election in April. Meindert Fennema, the author of the biography of Geert
Wilders, so successful in 2010, told me you added three chapters on the second edition.
There you have it. Thanks for joining us.
So Kristie, at 2:00 pm local, which is an hour and 45 minutes from now, the main parties are getting together. They're going to try to figure out the
beginning of a long process, how to form a coalition.
Government Geert Wilders won't be part of that. They've already said they won't work with him. But we're expecting potentially the current prime
minister to remain prime minister if, indeed, his party that registered the most seats in parliament is the one that is going to sort of lead these
coalition talks and form a government -- back to you.
STOUT: All right, Hala Gorani there, really, really appreciate that interview just then, as we attempt to understand the psyche and, as you put
it, the hatefulness that drives Geert Wilders.
Hala Gorani reporting live from The Hague, thank you, Hala.
After the Netherlands, there are more high-stakes elections in Europe this year. The next test for populism will be in France in April. Far right
leader Marine Le Pen is considered a strong contender for the presidency.
And then in September, the continent's economic powerhouse, Germany, will be going to the polls.
The French election is shaping up to be an unpredictable race. Melissa Bell joins us now live from Paris.
Melissa, what does the right wing loss in the Netherlands mean for Marine Le Pen there in France?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been an awful lot of celebration this morning from the mainstream of French politics, at Geert
Wilders loss. But from the National Front, celebration of the fact that -- and I quote from their Twitter account -- "the patriots have progressed in
this election."
So they're not so much looking at the fact that he hasn't achieved what he set out to achieve. More the fact that the populist cause appears to be
making progress.
And yet going back to what we were just hearing there from Hala's guest, I think there's a crucial distinction to be made between a Geert Wilders and
the National Front's Marine Le Pen, although they stand inside the same bloc inside the European Parliament, although they regularly back each
other, although they are both populists, there are some crucial differences.
And as we were just hearing, Geert Wilders has very much positioned himself as a defender of the West against Islam with very strong pronouncements
against Muslims. He wants to do things like ban the sales of the Quran inside Holland.
Now Marine Le Pen has really sought to shed everything that her father stood for on that front, trying to lose any overt connotations for her
party of racisms, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and she appears to have done it quite successfully.
We've been speaking to some of her supporters in the last couple of days to try and understand why you would vote National Front. Why these people --
and that's in five weeks -- are preparing to vote for Marine Le Pen.
And what was interesting was that they said that actually Marine Le Pen was not a vote for racism. Her party was no longer a racist party and that, in
fact, what she represents is true nationalism. And that, in fact, that is the best defense against the divisiveness of racism. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The only way to fight racism is to be proud, to be patriotic, belonging to the national community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking French).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Be French above everything else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there was any chance that the (INAUDIBLE) was racist, anti-Semitic or anything else, I wouldn't be able to company for
Marine Le Pen, you know . I do have Jewish origins partially. Some people in my family were deported during the World War II.
So I'm very sensitive about this issue. I think that it's really the symbolism has Front National has really changed. She -- Marine Le Pen
doesn't accept at all those kind of declarations of racism or anti- Semitism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: So you see --
[07:20:00]
BELL: -- from what those young National Front supporters tell us, Marine Le Pen, who took over from her father back in 2011, has been very
successful at least with them in trying to show that she's about nationalism, she's about making France great again.
That's the sentence that you hear an awful lot from them. It's about leaving the European Union, bringing sovereignty back within France. But
it is no longer, say her supporters, about racism, xenophobia and an anti- Islam position.
Though many of her opponents say, Kristie, that that makes her all the more dangerous.
STOUT: And thank you for drawing that clear distinction between these candidates. It's very easy and it's very tempting to paint these
candidates in the Netherlands to France and elsewhere with the same populist brush. But they have very, very different platforms.
But still, there in France, ahead of the election there, how strong is the anti-immigration sentiment, the anti-E.U. sentiment there in the country?
BELL: It is very much. The anti-E.U. sentiment is extremely strong. Marine Le Pen is really the woman who represents that. And there's been a
shift inside the National Front over the last few years. And the focus has become about leaving the E.U.
There is a strong feeling here in France that the euro has made the cost of living higher, that the French have essentially lost sovereignty. And
there's a good deal of anger about that. I think that's something that's likely to play a lot in her favor over the coming weeks.
As we go into the elections in the other main candidates, the mainstream candidates on the left, on the mainstream left in the center and on the
right, are pro-European.
The other big question that you ask is about immigration. Now she's also toned down her stance there. What she says essentially is that we need to
limit the numbers of immigrants coming into France and to change things like the right of children born to immigrant parents to automatically get
French nationality.
Now these are things that shock much less than they used to. They shock much less than the pronouncements of her father used to and that are
likely, frankly, in today's climate to win her a fair amount of support -- Kristie.
STOUT: Melissa Bell, reporting live for us. Thank you.
Now still ahead right here on the program, new plan, same result. President Trump pushing back after his latest travel ban is blocked, this
time by two federal judges. We'll have his reaction and explain what's next.
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STOUT: Welcome back.
A second federal judge has ruled on the U.S. president's temporary travel ban. That leaves Donald Trump gearing up for a legal fight after his
renewed attempt at restricting travel from nations he considers a security risk is blocked.
Mr. Trump calls the decision "judicial overreach" and could appeal to the Supreme Court. Our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns has the
latest on this developing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't think this was done by a judge for political reasons, do you?
No.
This ruling makes us look weak.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump talking tough in the face of another major blow to one of his key
policy proposals.
TRUMP: This is, in the opinion of many, an unprecedented judicial overreach.
JOHNS (voice-over): A federal judge in Hawaii blocking the administration's revised ban nationwide, just hours before it was scheduled
to take effect, ruling that the state had reasonable grounds to challenge the order as religious discrimination and pointing to the president's own
words --
[07:25:00]
JOHNS (voice-over): -- as proof.
TRUMP: I think Islam hates us.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Is there war between the West and radical Islam?
Or is there war between the West and Islam --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: It's radical but it's very hard to define. It's very hard to separate because you don't know who's who.
JOHNS (voice-over): The judge also citing statements from some of Mr. Trump's top advisers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban. He called me up, he said put a commission together. Show me the right way to
do it legally.
JOHNS (voice-over): And policy adviser Stephen Miller, who argued last month that the new ban would have the same impact as the old one, which was
also blocked by the courts.
STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR POLICY ADVISER: Mostly minor technical differences. Fundamentally, you're going to have the same basic policy
outcome for the country but you're going to respond to a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court.
JOHNS (voice-over): The commander in chief arguing that the Constitution grants him the power to suspend immigration when national security is
concerned.
TRUMP: This is a watered-down version of the first one. I think we ought to go back to the first one and go all the way, which is what I wanted to
do in the first place.
JOHNS (voice-over): The setback comes as President Trump unveils his first budget proposal, calling for a $54 billion increase in defense spending,
offset by massive cuts to the EPA, State Department, Agriculture and Labor Departments.
MICK MULVANEY, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: The president very clearly wants to send a message to our allies and our potential
adversaries that this is a strong power administration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: And that was CNN's Joe Johns reporting.
Fears of widespread famine in Somalia continue to grow with starvation and (INAUDIBLE) illness claiming more than 100 lives in just two days earlier
this month. But the United Nations says it is in a much stronger position to help, compared to the famine of 2011. That crisis saw a quarter of a
million people die from hunger.
The World Food Programme has reached almost 1 million Somalis but it says some 3 million people are at risk. Somalia is one of several countries
threatened by a hunger crisis. People in South Sudan, Yemen and parts of Nigeria risk starvation and the World Food Programme is appealing for
donations.
What kind of impact could a few dollars make?
This right here, this is called Plumpy. It's a vital source of nutrition for malnourished children. Six dollars, $6 U.S. would buy a one-month
supply of these packets. A $50 donation, that would feed two children for three months, effectively restoring them back to health.
There's also this. These are high-energy biscuits, 12 cents a packet. They're handed out in the first hours and days of a crisis and can be the
difference between life and death.
So consider this: $50 stops 80 people from going hungry for a week in an emergency -- $50. That's it, a donation that can make a very real and
significant difference to the now 20 million people who are at risk of starvation.
You can contribute by logging on to wfp.org.
That is NEWS STREAM. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. "WORLD SPORT" with Alex Thomas is coming up. Before that, I'll be back with the headlines.
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