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Trump Talks To Leaders In Europe, Asia, Mideast; Trump Tweets Video Of Him Hitting "CNN"; Interview with Rep. Ted Yoho; Interview with Rep. Ted Lieu; Christie on Closed Beach in New Jersey; New Jersey Government Shutdown; Trump and Putin at G-20 Summit; Trump Tweets Video. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 03, 2017 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:08] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer. It is 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London and 9:00 p.m. in Mosul. Wherever you're watching around the world, thank you so much for joining us.

Up first, President Trump getting set for his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany this week. President Trump has been working the phones, he's been chatting up world leaders in Europe, Asia and the Middle East ahead of the summit and he will return to the White House this evening after a visit to his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.

CNN White House Reporter Kaitlan Collins is joining us live now from nearby Bridgewater, New Jersey. And Kaitlan, tell us, is the president expected to bring up Russia's meddling in the U.S. election when he does meets with President Putin?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, that's a great question, Brianna. And that's certainly what everyone has been thinking this week leading up to this G20 summit in Germany. However, CNN is being told that there is little expectations among the president's national security team that he'll confront to and over Russian hacking in the 2016 presidential election. They're not expecting him to say that. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters last week that no format or agenda for this meeting has been set. And knowing the president, he could change his mind and decide to bring it up at the last minute.

But right now there's little expectation that he will. Instead we're hearing from the administration officials that the president will focus on two things that his administration thinks are very urgent. And that is Ukraine and Syria. As you know, Brianna, Syria has been at the top of the president's agenda throughout of his presidency in April after the Assad regime conducted a chemical weapons attack on its people, the president sent 59 Tomahawk missiles to a Syrian airbase. So we're expecting him to confront who and over the Russian support for the Assad regime in Syria. KEILAR: All right. And then he's been on the phone, he's been talking with all of these world leaders over the past couple of days. Who are some of the folks that he is talking with and what are some of the issues that he wants to get at with them?

COLLINS: Well, as you know, the president has been very active on Twitter this weekend and though, most of those tweets focused on the media and attacking the media. He's resumed his presidential duties since Sunday night. He's been on the phone with several Gulf State leaders, the president of China, the prime minister of Japan. This morning he spoke with Germany and Italy. We haven't gotten read out to the calls with Germany and Italy yet but we do know that last night he spoke with Japan and China about the rising threat in North Korea and their nuclear missile program. He reiterated that he really wants to increase pressure on them and then he spoke with Gulf State leaders about the ongoing dispute in Qatar.

KEILAR: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much for updating us live for us from Bridgewater, New Jersey.

I want to get more now on President Trump's foreign policy and his upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin. We have Republican Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida. He is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee joining us from Jacksonville.

So, Congressman, it's great that you could be with us as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I wonder -- you heard the report from Kaitlan and there's this expectation that President Trump is not going to bring up the topic of Russian meddling in the U.S. election with Putin. What do you think about that?

REP. TED YOHO (R), FLORIDA: I think that's probably exactly right. I think they'll focus on Syria and the Ukraine and some of the other issues going around the country but I think if it does come up, I think you'd be rather blunt (INAUDIBLE) straightforward as he always is and that's something we can count on.

KEILAR: Should he bring it up?

YOHO: Should he? No. I don't think this is a beginning meeting with him and Vladimir Putin. The first time these two world leaders have met personally. And I think it sets the stage for the next three and a half years of President Trump's agenda. And we've got a lot to build on and we look forward to making that a stronger relationship.

KEILAR: How is that a sign of strength to not bring up the difficult topics with Russia?

YOHO: I think you'll see your secretary of state and national security advisors, I think, that's a better venue for that to be brought up with strong diplomacy. I think President Trump should focus on Syria, what we're going to to do when we get out of there with ISIS and Ukraine so that there's no more advancement from China going into -- or I mean, Russia going into Crimea.

KEILAR: Doesn't the buck stop with the president on this issue though?

YOHO: Yes, it does. It always does. And we should keep that in mind the past presidency.

KEILAR: Then shouldn't he talk about it? I mean, if the buck stops with him, shouldn't he be the one addressing it?

YOHO: Well, you know, it's going under investigation right now. Let all the investigation come out and let's have a national policy of what we're going to do. And certainly we don't want any country meddling in our democratic process just for our country. And so we want to make sure that's adhere to, but I think more importantly is, you know, we need to look at why we have people breaking into our system. I think we need to put more money and emphasis on research and development so we don't have to worry about it hacking in because countries are going to continue to do this for the next 50 to 100 years.

[13:05:10] As long as there's competing countries, there's going to be things that are done like this. So, we should really focus on research and develop to where we don't have to worry about people hacking in because we know they're going to continue to do it.

KEILAR: So administration officials are saying that the president has asked his staff to prepare options for future dealings with Russia. This includes some types of sanctions relief, the potential return of two of these properties that the -- in the United States to Russian control. Is this something the president should be considering as this ongoing investigation continues into Russia's role in meddling in the U.S. election?

YOHO: Again, I think any country that meddles in fact we're putting in a cyber-security bill out of our office that deals with this specifically to go after any country.

KEILAR: But this issue -- this issue, Congressman of asking for options from your staff, which includes giving things back to the Russians, how does that send a signal to Russia that this is not OK what you did?

YOHO: I have to look at to see what you're talking about. I haven't read that report or what they're looking to give back. I do know that we're talking about more sanctions. Putting more pressure on their banking system. You know, we've got the prize banking system in the world. Everybody has to do business through our banking system. And if we start sanctioning countries as we did with China on the Dandong Bank for funneling money to North Korea. It has a very powerful signal that it sent to that country. And we can do the same thing with Russia on interference with our elections. And the thing we want to make sure is that we stay ahead of the curve on research and development. So that just doesn't happen.

KEILAR: OK. Well, just to be clear, I mean, he's looking for options for sanctions relief. I do want to move on and talk to you about a tweet the president put out. It's raising some concerns. It's a video that's edited. It shows the president beating up a WWE wrestler with a CNN logo on his face. And -- I mean, you've heard some of your fellow republicans that the tweets have gone too far. What do you think of this kind of behavior? Is it demeaning to the presidency?

YOHO: Oh, I just lost my earpiece. Hang on.

KEILAR: You did not. Come on.

YOHO: I got it back.

KEILAR: All right.

YOHO: Is it demeaning to the presidency? It's not something I would do but, you know, he has a style and I think his style has been very effective. And I don't know if he's talking about CNN because of the three producers that have left. Maybe that's something that was a part of this. I do not know but I want to leave this debate between CNN and President Trump and let him handle this. He is the president of the United States and I think he'll do all right.

KEILAR: So you think this may be part of his effective strategy in dealing with the media. All right. Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida, thank you so much sir.

YOHO. You bet you. Have a great day and a happy Independence Day.

KEILAR: All right. Thank you so much. You too as well.

And I want to get now from -- some more from the other side of the aisle. Joining me from Los Angeles is California Congressman Ted Lieu. He's a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.

And as you know, sir, the president is leaving for Europe on Wednesday, this is a trip that includes the G20 summit in Germany and the president's first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Huge stakes here. An administration official say that Trump is going to talk about Syria and Ukraine but then he might not bring up this issue -- this big issue of Russian meddling in the U.S. Election. What are your thoughts on that?

REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: President Trump absolutely needs to bring up the issue of Russian meddling in the U.S. elections. If he doesn't, it sends a signal of weakness to Vladimir Putin and it sends a message that the U.S. somehow condones what Russia did last year and that's completely not acceptable.

KEILAR: And you just heard what Congressman Yoho said. Can you respond to that? Because he's saying that there is this consideration of sanctions but we're hearing that the president is having his staff look at options for reducing sanctions, returning these two facilities back to Russian control that were taken away by the Obama administration. What's your reaction to that?

LIEU: Well, let's just first start with General McMaster's quote that CNN reported where he said that there's no specific agenda and the president is just going to talk about whatever comes to his mind. That is foreign policy malpractice. The president needs to walk in with a very specific list of demands, specific U.S. objectives and know what constitutes a win. He should not give up stuff to the Russians.

KEILAR: Well, he's saying as well, though, that he will talk specifically about Ukraine, about Syria. Talking about those things and not talking about the other issue of Russian meddling while seeking potential relief for Russia from some of these sanctions? Can you speak to that?

LIEU: That again sends a message that U.S. somehow condones Vladimir Putin's hostile attack last year on American democracy. That is not acceptable. When in terms of agenda, I am pleased if Donald Trump will talk about Syria and Ukraine.

[13:10:13] He also needs to talk about Russia funding Iran's military. Russia needs to stop doing that. And he needs to get Russia to cooperate more on the issue of North Korea.

KEILAR: Congressman Yoho was leaving the president's recent use of social media, which has been, I guess, more involved lately, I guess you could say, to the president and sort of passing on that question, but you've been critical of the president especially on Twitter. I want your take on these -- on recent tweets including the president posting a photo shop video of him knocking down CNN at WrestleMania.

LIEU: Donald trump has had a series of highly disturbing tweets but his tweet yesterday morning was beyond inappropriate. It was suggesting violence against journalists and that's going to increase the risk of harm to journalists. The president of the United States should never be inciting violence against any human being.

KEILAR: And I have to ask you about this, because I checked out your Facebook live from last week where you talked about the health care bill and the thing that struck me was really what you were wearing. I think we actually have a picture of that, what you were wearing as you talked to people. You're wearing a Trump/Putin 2016 t-shirt and you've tweeted about the president, you've called him dumb as a rock. Other things that I think folks would say and that's not exactly taking the high road and I think it might fit in to the category of some of the immature discourse that we've seen. I mean, as you-- as you lob these criticisms at Donald Trump, is this the kind of behavior that helps add to the maturity of discourse?

LIEU: I use the phrase dumb as a rock because the president uses it and I'm throwing it back at him to show how ridiculously that sounds. And I'm glad you're highlighting it because the president of the United States should never be using that phrase. And whenever he uses ridiculous phrases, I'm going to use it right back because it does highlight really that the president is being --

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KEILAR: But that's what he does. He says he's quoting other people and then -- and then speak to this shirt. I mean, he doesn't think that he says, that's someone else's words. I mean -- and you wore this t-shirt. Can you speak tore that for me? LIEU: Of course. If the president of the United States does not

bring up that Russia meddled in U.S. elections, then I believe that that t-shirt is accurate.

KEILAR: Did you know that at the time you are wore that -- that was last week.

LIEU: I have seen enough stories that the president of the United States still thinks that Russia may not have meddled in U.S. elections last year for me to wear that t-shirt, because it suggests that he has this really strange and a bizarre relationship with Russia and he needs to understand, Russia is not an ally of United States.

KEILAR: Is there -- is there a more mature way to get that point across?

LIEU: Certainly. I have very mature tweets but I also use satire because I believe humor and satire can point out truth in a different way than other forms and that's why sometimes I do it and also it's just too dark if you're not funny sometimes.

KEILAR: You -- it was -- it was very surprising. I will say when I looked at that. That is what stood out to me. All right. Congressman Ted Lieu, thank you so much for being with us. And coming up. Caught red-handed. Photos of Chris Christie and his family hanging out on a sunny beach, they're stirring quite a storm for a very unpopular governor. We'll talk to his spokesperson, next.

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[13:17:20] KEILAR: New jersey Governor Chris Christie is fending off criticism today over his beach vacation. Photos captured him on the beach with family and friends, capturing just them, as you can see. It seems normal enough, until you realize that the Christie family was on a state beach. A beach like other state beaches and parks that the governor ordered shut down last week because of a budget impasse.

Joining me now from Philadelphia is the governor's spokesman, Brian Murray.

Brian, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today.

BRIAN MURRAY, SPOKESMAN FOR GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: You know, looking at what Governor Christie has said about this, he's been pretty flip in his responses to the criticism. Does he understand why many people have a problem with this?

MURRAY: Well let's be clear right from the beginning, 119 miles of New Jersey beaches are wide open. They're packed today. They were packed over the weekend. People are on the boardwalks from Cape May North to Seaside Heights.

KEILAR: But he's on a closed beach.

MURRAY: Tourism is booming. The only - the only beach - KEILAR: Brian, he's in a - he's on a closed beach.

MURRAY: At the governor's residence. And it's one mile of beach of I believe the park is about 11 miles long. That's one state park that's closed.

KEILAR: OK, so you're saying there's no - so there's no problem? You're - you're arguing that there's no problem with this?

MURRAY: No. The residence is for the governor to use whenever the governor wants to. And, again, all other municipal beaches, private beaches from the south to the north of New Jersey are open. So the public has many places to go. This was closed because of the current failure of the legislature to provide a budget for the governor to sign. If we can get a budget, he'll sign it, and we can reopen the parks. We can reopen the beaches.

But, again, I cannot emphasize enough that the beaches are open.

KEILAR: But this was his - I mean but he closures. He chose closures. They're not all open. I mean you know that. He's on one of the ones that was closed. It's pretty obvious.

MURRAY: No, all the beaches are open except Island State Park and -

KEILAR: Except for some of them. All of the beaches cannot be open except for certain parts. I mean that just - that defies logic.

MURRAY: No, not some of them. Only - just two state - two state beaches are closed, along with state parks.

KEILAR: And he's on one of them. But he's on one of them.

MURRAY: Well, he's at the governor's residence. He's at the governor's residence.

KEILAR: OK, so -

MURRAY: And he was on it for 45 minutes.

KEILAR: OK, so - so -

MURRAY: By the way, he also announced - he broadcast for a week, just about every other day that he was going to be at the beach.

KEILAR: But he then said - he then says I didn't get any sun today after this. Why did he said that, I didn't get any sun today, when asked about this, which would lead someone to believe that he wasn't on the beach?

MURRAY: No, he was not asked if he was on the - he wasn't asked if he was on the beach. He was asked, did you get any sun today? Everybody knows he was on the beach.

KEILAR: OK, that aside, he said, I didn't get any sun today.

MURRAY: Everybody knows he was on the beach.

KEILAR: Why would he say that, I didn't get any sun today? Well, that was before the photos came out.

[13:20:00] MURRAY: Because he had 45 minutes on the beach, and then he got back to work.

KEILAR: I mean -

MURRAY: Forty-five minutes with his family. By the way, we're talking about aerial photos of a politician on the beach with his family.

KEILAR: So you're - he wasn't trying to say he wasn't on the beach?

OK. OK, so I will ask you this, because it seems -

MURRAY: Some scandal.

KEILAR: I mean this just seems pretty clear. You've got Republicans, I think, who don't understand why he would do this. He's struggling with popularity in New Jersey. Is he just trying to lean into that? I mean what is - what is the strategy here?

MURRAY: The strategy is to get a budget before the governor to sign it so that we can end this shutdown. The governor announced a week before that he was going to be at this governor's residence, which is open for him to use, and that he was going to join his family on Friday night, Saturday night and I believe last night. Yes, he announced also last night he would be joining - rejoining his family where they had planned this vacation time weeks ahead of time and it's the governor's residence.

KEILAR: OK.

MURRAY: Provided to everyone governor, by the way, that preceded Chris Christie.

KEILAR: So - so there's - and he's - he's made that clear. He's made that clear. So the government shutdown, and these were his choices for closures. I want to read something he said in 2013 as their -

MURRAY: No, it wasn't - no, there were - excuse me. Brianna, these - these choices for closure, the way it works is, there is no budget. There is no way to fund state operation.

KEILAR: I got you. So this is my question. Back in 2013, amid a government shut -

MURRAY: OK. So non-essential services were cut.

KEILAR: OK. In 2013, looking at a government shutdown in Washington -

MURRAY: Non-essential government services had to be shut down.

KEILAR: The potential for one, he said, quote, "I don't think it's ever good to keep the government closed when your job is to run the government." And then he said that the thing to do - this was at a time when President Obama was in charge - is get everyone in a room, basically take charge and don't let them leave until there's a deal. I mean is he not taking his own advice?

MURRAY: And - every day he tries to convene the legislature and the assembly members don't show up. Every day. You can read our press releases. We've been putting them out just about every night and people aren't - some are showing up, but not the key player. The speaker, in particular, of the assembly.

KEILAR: But this -

MURRAY: So the governor cannot open up government until he has a spending plan. He's provided one. The Democrats have provided another. He is willing to sign that one. Most Democrats are onboard. Only the speaker of the assembly is holding it up. So we have been - we -

KEILAR: But shouldn't be in a room with them instead of on the beach?

MURRAY: He did. Yes, he did get into a room with him and other Democratic leaders and his - the words of the speaker were, we want - I will not discuss this.

KEILAR: It seems like he's holding other people to a standard that he's not holding himself to.

MURRAY: Pardon?

KEILAR: It seems like he's holding others to a standard -

MURRAY: The speaker will not discuss it.

KEILAR: All right. Well, Brian Murray -

MURRAY: He is holding up to his standard. He'd be happy to sign a budget, by the way. If you can convince the speaker of the assembly to send him one, he's happy to sign it.

KEILAR: All right. Well, he's in charge. We'll see if he can manage that.

MURRAY: By the way, all our beaches are open. One hundred and nineteen beaches are open - or 119 miles of beaches are open, 252 beaches.

KEILAR: They're not all open, Brian, but nice try. Well, there's a lot that aren't and we know because there's photos of the governor on one, but we do appreciate you, Brian Murray. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MURRAY: That's true. Thank you.

KEILAR: And I want to bring in my panel now to talk about this. Here with me is CNN political analyst April Ryan. She is the White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks. We have "USA Today" columnist and CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers and Rebecca Berg, CNN political analyst and national political reporter for Real Clear Politics.

OK, well I'm going to - I'm going to let you guys take over while I untie myself from the knots that I'm now in. I guess what I don't understand is, the governor doesn't really seem to care about the perception. So that actually tells us a lot, right, that if he - if he doesn't care, then where is his mind? I mean he's not trying to make up for what's -

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: On the beach.

KEILAR: Well, it is. That's true.

RYAN: On the beach, yes.

KEILAR: But it's very - you know, in any situation like this, a governor who cared about their political future or opinions about them in their state would say, yes, maybe that was the wrong choice. That's not what he's doing.

RYAN: But, Brianna, let me tell you, I listened to your back and forth with Brian, and there were some semantics of this. He said, that's his residence. Well, the president - the - not the president. I keep calling him the president. Governor Christie was on the beach. That was property. The residence is a structure. The residence is one thing, but he was on the beach that was closed.

KEILAR: Yes.

RYAN: That's a different thing. There was big hypocrisy there. Taxpayers are not allowed to go on that beach but the governor is when it is closed to everyone, even though he has a residence (INAUDIBLE).

KEILAR: Well, but they're not going to - they're not even going to cede that. They're not going to cede that. They're going to say sort of, you know -

RYAN: He kept saying residence and I'm like, that is not the residence. That's sand. That's water. That is not the residence.

KEILAR: But - but so - but what does that mean if Chris Christie doesn't care at all what people think about this when it's pretty cut and dry?

REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I know. Now the political honey badger, Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey. If you contrast his approach now with his approach in 2013, as you mentioned, with the federal government shutdown, it is striking how different he sounds. He was saying that congressional leaders needed to take action, take responsibility. Now he's saying, well, you know, it's not up to me. I'm just the governor. And I would chock that up to the fact that Chris Christie is now not looking at running for political office again. In 2013 he was thinking, well, maybe in 2016 I'll run for president, as he did. And then now he's, you know, term limited out. he's not going to be running for office again. What does Chris Christie do in the future? Clearly he is not thinking he's running again. [13:25:40] KEILAR: What does he do?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, I - this is the kind of thing that hurts you even though if you go into the private sector. I mean this is very unseemly, right?

KEILAR: Yes.

POWERS: This kind of behavior. So that the - yes, I think, at a minimum we can say he's not - he's not running for president, you know, and we know that. But it's also - it's just, you would think you would at least still want to leave office without everybody hating your guts.

KEILAR: Yes.

POWERS: And this is the kind of thing that makes people hate politicians.

KEILAR: OK.

RYAN: And, Brianna, one of the question too is, you know, what is his future in the Republican Party? You know, the president kind of walked away from him during the time of transition. So what is he looking for, for his future? I mean he sat on the beach. He did have his legs and his arms exposed. I mean I'm listening to that -

KEILAR: He got some sun is what you're saying.

RYAN: (INAUDIBLE) he was on the beach.

KEILAR: By my definition, he got sun as well.

RYAN: Yes.

KEILAR: All right, let's talk about the G-20 Summit because I mean this is just such a huge meeting where the president is going to be going face-to-face with Vladimir Putin for the first time. The Kremlin is saying it's running out of patience with the U.S. over expelled diplomats. The compounds that were seized back from Russia, two of them, under President Obama. But now we know that the president has asked for some options, which may include lessening sanctions, may include returning those buildings. You know, but perhaps not mentioning Russia meddling in the election. What is your assessment of this meeting and the success that he's set up for or not going into it?

POWERS: Well, I mean, it seems like it will look obviously to most of the world very bad if he doesn't say anything about Russia meddling in our elections. To his voters, they won't care, right? But, overall, I think it will look very bad. I think it will also be interesting to see because Putin has been at this for a long time, the world stage, right? I mean he knows what he's doing much more than Trump does. And so I think, you know, it will be interesting to see how Trump is - if he gets played by Putin, if he's able to actually be the art of the deal guy that he claims that he is, you know, how he reacts when he's actually face-to-face with him.

KEILAR: I want to talk to you about some of what we've seen from the president on Twitter lately. This morning he said this, "at some point the fake news will be forced to discuss our great jobs numbers, strong economy, success with ISIS, the border and so much else." Of course, this follows the video that he tweeted out this weekend that shows him body slamming someone with the CNN logo as their face. This is it right here. This is what the president tweeted out. Members of the administration are defending the tweets. I mean what do - what do you say to - what do you - what does that say to you?

BERG: Well, it's completely consistent for Donald Trump, that he would blame the media for not talking about the things that he wants us to be talking about, but at the same time not taking any responsibility for his own statements, including his tweets, which are, as Sean Spicer has made clear, official presidential statements. So they expect us - he expects us to just completely ignore the media criticism that he launches at us and then focus only on the great things that his administration is doing. It's a little bit unrealistic.

KEILAR: What do you think, April?

RYAN: Brianna, we're working hard every day to try to cover the economy that he likes to say, it's his economy, 4.3 percent unemployment rate, and then some others say it's a residue from the Obama administration. We try to cover this. But when you have these quote/unquote official tweets, like Sean Spicer says, it takes you off for a moment. You have to deal with this because it is news. You've never seen this, a president of the United States to lower the bar, to actually tweet out something of violence, you know, it is violent. You can say I totally disagree respectfully with the Homeland Security advisers this weekend when he said, you know, he didn't see the violence in it. But it's clear, if you pummel someone, if you body slam them, it's violence.

KEILAR: Yes, it's not - it's not just a joke, as many have (INAUDIBLE) say.

RYAN: It's not a joke.

KEILAR: April, Rebecca, Kirsten, thank you so much. Great panel.

RYAN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, Republicans are back home after delaying a bill to repeal Obamacare. So where do things stand with the party's plan to replace it?

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