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Trump/Putin Meeting Ends; Options to Calm North Korea Tensions; ISIS Losing Ground in Syria. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 07, 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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[13:00:11] JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello. I'm Jim Sciutto in for Wolf Blitzer. It is 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Hamburg, Germany, 8:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you are watching from around the world, thank you for joining us.

The highly anticipated meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has just ended after more than two hours. Keep in mind, the meeting was supposed to go for just around 40 minutes. We expect administration officials to brief the media sometime this hour, we're going to bring you the information from that briefing soon as we get it. Both presidents, Trump and Putin spoke to reporters before their private meeting and here's what President Trump had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. We appreciate it. President Putin and I have been discussing various things and I think it's going very well, that's a very, very good talks. We're going to have a talk now and obviously that will continue, but we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia and the United States and for everybody concerned. And it's an honor to be with you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: An honor to be with you, he says. Afterwards a CNN Producer did shout a question about election meddling but neither Putin nor Trump answered. Along with this highly anticipated meeting, we're also following growing protests outside the G20 summit. We're told dozens of people have now been arrested. More than 150 officers have been hurt. But first now, reaction to the meeting between Trump and Putin. Our Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is live in Hamburg. Senior International Correspondents Matthew Chance is live in Moscow. Jeff Zeleny, this is much longer a meeting than expected or officials there telling you why it went so much longer?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is much longer, Jim. The meeting was originally scheduled for about 35 to 45 minutes and indeed went on 2 hours and 16 minutes, but important to keep in mind with consecutive translation, that means the English is translated into a Russian, and the Russian translated into English, that means the meeting is about probably only an hour worth of substance or so. But still, a long meeting and so much to talk about, of course.

We are going to be getting a briefing. I'm told from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and perhaps other administration officials here on the grounds of the G20 meeting. I'll be walking back into that briefing as soon as we finish up here, Jim. But we do believe that Syria was a major topic obviously of this meeting. We do believe that that is one of the deliverables that could come out of this meeting. The U.S. is not confirming exactly what was said in there but, Jim, the question obviously is, if the elephant in the room essentially, the meddling in the election in 2016, if that came up at all.

That obviously is our question for the Secretary of State as well as other things. But this is the beginning of a new relationship. Of course, it's the fourth American president that Vladimir Putin has now contended with during his time. The beginning of one with Donald Trump. So, we'll get a readout of that meeting shortly and report back to you what they say in there. But now the president has just left the grounds of the G20. They'll be taking some down time before going out to an evening event. But certainly, that meeting, that handshake is overshadowing most things here at the G20. Jim?

SCIUTTO: Thanks very much, Jeff Zeleny. We have pictures now of Donald Trump and the first lady Melania Trump arriving at the dinner for the G20 summit. Those are the live pictures you see there right now. Matthew Chance, he's in Russia right now. We know Matthew Chance that Russia actually have been pushing for a one-on-one meeting with Trump. Even a longer, perhaps a more formal meeting. The fact that this one went longer, it's private, would that be seen as something of a victory for Vladimir Putin?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think so, because, you know, there was a pretty low expectations here in Russia and in the kremlin about what this first face-to-face meeting could achieve. They were saying, look, you know, the state media was saying, look, if they disagree to meet again, it would be considered a success. You know, they're very apprehensive about what Donald Trump can deliver in terms of, you know, meeting Russia's interests on various issues. So they were trying to play down the significance of the meeting saying it's just the first step in what's going to be a long relationship.

So, we're just having some breaking news is coming to us from the Russian State Media, TASS and they're quoting Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, talking about what was discussed with that 2-hour, 20-minute-almost 2-hour, 20-minute meeting with Donald Trump. According to Putin, this on the TASS News Agency, they discussed the situation in Syria, in Ukraine as well as countering terrorism and cybercrime. So those are the issues that according to the state media in Russia, the TASS News Agency were discussed apparently in some detail for 2 hours, 20 minutes, before Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in their first face-to-face meeting, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Interesting. Cybercrime by the Russian definition, could that be interpreted as including election meddling?

[13:05:18] CHANCE: I think it could be. Look, we don't know what the Americans said about this. The U.S. side said on this. Maybe this was topic that was raised by Donald Trump himself. Of course, he's been coming under a lot of pressure domestically as you well know, to raise these allegations of Russia meddling allegedly in the -- in the political process in the -- in the democratic process in the United States, in the election that swept him to power. And so perhaps this is the Russian way of acknowledging that that issue may have been addressed but the Russian position has always been the same on this.

They've categorically denied they had any involvement in manipulating the election result and they've often called the United States and Russia to join forces, to fight against the global scourge as they would characterize it of cybercrime. And so, that looks like how the kremlin is spinning this but certainly it does seems that that issue was discussed in some detail between these two figures.

SCIUTTO: Interesting. We'll wait to hear more detail from administration officials. Jeff Zeleny, Matthew Chance in Moscow. Thanks very much. I want to bring in CNN Global Affairs Correspondent, Elisa Labott, CNN Global Affairs Analyst David Miller, and David Rohde joining us as well from Fort Worth, Texas, and CNN Political Analyst David Drucker. Aaron, if I could begin with you. You have a long career as a diplomat in the state department. You've been in principles meetings like this before, this one that supposed to go 30, 40 minutes, it went 2 hours and 16 minutes to be exact. You hear from the Russians a number of topics discussed there. If it goes longer, is that a sign of a good meeting?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN ANALYST: It could be depending on what the announcement is. I doubt if this is a transformational moment in the U.S.-Russian relationship but it is a transactional one, I suspect. And if A.P.'s report are true that there will be a ceasefire announced for Southwestern Syria on Sunday which has been in the work for quite some time. They didn't agree to this at this meeting. This has been developing for months, but it's still a success and it will be interesting to see whether or not Tillerson refers to this agreement or whether they allow others to announce it.

The Israelis and Jordanians are also informally a part of this because it bumps up against important real estate near the Golan Heights. So, it demonstrates, Jim, I think that there is a basis for cooperation. One last point. We're treating this as if it were the seventh game of the World Series in which there was going to be somehow a clear winner and a clear loser. Maybe from a stage management point of view that's true, but I doubt on substance. I suspect both are going to claim success and they may well have some reason to do so.

SCIUTTO: If TASS is correct, Elisa Labott, listing these topics, Syria, Ukraine, counterterrorism, cybercrime. I mean listen, each of these is a difficult issue in its own right. I mean, U.S. accuses Russia of, you know, occupying Eastern Ukraine, stealing Crimea, Syria, even if they had a ceasefire, there's still -- there's still different sides of that war. That's a lot to try to process even in a much longer meeting than expected?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And look, all along President Trump has said, even during the campaign, I want to have a better relationship with Russia. There are a lot of issues that we need to work on. The relationship with the Obama administration wasn't so well. If we had better cooperation maybe we could good some of this business done. Everyone thought this would just be a meeting about atmospherics who got the upper hand in the handshake, whether there was a bear hug. But I mean, look, I think President Trump could come out of this meeting and say, we talked about Syria, we talked about Ukraine, we talked about -- maybe he did raise the election issue, we'll have to see but I think this will make his point that if we have better cooperation with Russia, maybe we can get something done.

I think the test is going to be what happens after this great meeting, this two-hour meeting that they had. You know, Secretary Tillerson has been talking and working with Russian officials on Syria for some weeks. Maybe this meeting is a further data point in the issue of cooperation I think we'll have to see. If it was a great meeting, that's great. If they have this working constructive dialogue that both sides they want to have, that's good, but can President Trump look towards the next meeting with President Putin and say we've been able to get A, B, and C done since our last meeting? That's going to be the real test of whether this relationship is a budding one that's working.

SCIUTTO: We -- to remind our viewers, we're going to get a readout from the U.S. side, senior administration officials briefing reporters shortly and we will bring you that read as soon as we have it. But David, right now, what we can work with as the TASS, the official Russian state news agency readout saying that they discussed Syria, Ukraine, counterterror, and cybercrime which certainly caught my eye. But what's your reaction when you hear that list?

DAVID ROHDE, CNN ANALYST: It's a -- it's a significant list and I think that this is, you know, this is a lot of atmospherics. This helps Trump and it helps Putin. Trump said all along, we can get so much out of having a better relationship with Russia. Look at these four major areas, we're going to have a deliverable here. Maybe the ceasefire as Aaron mentioned. And then for Putin, Russia is again, the central player. The big leaders, the most important countries at the G20, Russia and the U.S. You know -- you know, when actually Russia is a very small trading partner in the United States.

[13:10:21] There's many more -- much more powerful countries economically, but Putin, you know, is at the center of the action and for Trump, he says, you know, look American voters, having better relations with Russia is worth it.

SCIUTTO: And people won't say Russia is accountably the size of New Jersey. So, it's a small -- at least by global -- by global standards. David Drucker, Putin -- Trump, rather, would not be the first American president who at the beginning of his term has high hopes of rejiggering, resetting, if I could resurrect that word again, the relationship with Russia. Bush tried it. Obama tried it, and both of them had no success whatsoever.

DAVID DRUCKER, CNN ANALYST: And I think the question going into this meeting and after is whether or not the president learned the lessons of his predecessors. One a democrat, one a republican. Vladimir Putin's interests has always been in asserting Russia's dominance and sort of reasserting Russia's influence over the global sphere. And I think the question is, not so much whether this relationship exists between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump but whether or not it exists on American terms.

Clearly, what Vladimir Putin's goal here is and the reason he always liked Trump over Hillary Clinton, is that he saw Donald Trump as a fellow nationalist who in a sense deferred to a lot of what Russia is trying to do around the world and wouldn't push back as strongly, as past presidents both republican and democrat. And so, I think the question coming out of this meeting is, was it conducted on American terms? Is Russia working as hard to reset the relationship as it has appeared Donald Trump has tried to do?

And let's not forget that one of the areas that the president is still getting a lot of pushback from his party, especially in congress is on the Russia issue. There's a sanctions bill sitting in the house right now supposedly because of the technical snafu. But republicans in congress and we've been hearing this this week are pushing the president to get tough and stay tough on Russia. That is something he's got to have in the back of his mind and the question is whether or not, that's what he communicated to Vladimir Putin in this meeting or whether or not, he went further than the Russian president to try and re-establish ties than the Russian president did from his point of view.

SCIUTTO: David, let me just tell our viewers, what we've been seeing there is the famous class photo for the G20 leaders and their wives just wrapping up there before they go on to their dinner. Their official state dinner at the G20 and a reminder that's in Hamburg, Germany. Elise Labott, I understand you're seeing some headlines coming through again from the Russian State News Agency.

LABOTT: Well, actually, this is actually from the Jordanian news agency, Petra, and this coming to me from a Jordanian source that the minister of information is announcing that an agreement between Jordan and the United States and Russia to put back in place the ceasefire in Southwest Syria near the Jordanian border has been agreed to. It will go into effect Sunday night. That is kind of along the lines of what TASS has been reporting. And that, you know, basically this is along the line of contact that Syrian government forces and other forces in the area have agreed to.

I mean, the United States really not a party to this because they don't have forces along that area but certainly these discussions, this is all coming out of the meeting between President Putin and President Trump and I think you've heard these talks for weeks between U.S., Russian, Jordanian officials. I think now --

SCIUTTO: So now you know what they might be talking about.

LABOTT: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: We're seeing Donald Trump and Melania Trump of course, as he leaves the class photo. Heads into that dinner of G20 leaders. Aaron David Miller, just remind our viewers, if there is a ceasefire indeed in Western Syria, who is ceasing fire?

MILLER: It's the regime and opposition elements. It's clear --

SCIUTTO: U.S-backed opposition or no though?

MILLER: No. U.S.-backed opposition. It's going to -- clearly, it's open season on the Jihadist. And the question really is, is this the beginning of a broader alignment of Russian/American interests towards safe zones or de-escalation zones which is already under discussion in a star between the Russians, the Iranians and the Turks. So this is one area where in fact it is a bit of a surprise. This one -- I think before we start popping the champagne corks though, there are couple things we have to realize. U.S./Russian relations are not in alignment, almost across the board on so many issues.

And number two, Mr. Putin still needs Washington as a sort of adversary in order to legitimize and justify his own foreign policy. So this is -- this is a hopeful first step, but I suspect many bumps in the road.

SCIUTTO: And then some of those enlisted, Ukraine certainly enormous disagreements there and you might even mention cyberattacks and election meddling as well. Elisa Labott, David Drucker, Aaron David Miller, thanks very much. David Rohde, please stay with me. Coming up. As world leaders meet in Hamburg, the threat posed by North Korea looms. We discuss what options are on the table with the former U.S. ambassador to China and, as well, a CNN exclusive report from inside Raqqa, where U.S.-backed rebels are making gains against ISIS inside the de facto capital of their self-declared caliphate.

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SCIUTTO: While the meeting between President Trump and Russian President Putin has dominated the headlines, understandably, at the G- 20, the issue of North Korea's nuclear program certainly a major talking point among leaders. Every option from military action to diplomacy has complicated ramifications.

Let's welcome former U.S. ambassador to China, as well as the former Democratic senator from Montana, Max Baucus.

Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for joining us today.

MAX BAUCUS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: You bet, Jim.

SCIUTTO: As you know, and our viewers may remember, earlier this week North Korea, with a very momentous test of what appears to be to the U.S. a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a step forward certainly in North Korean capabilities. This was an issue that was central to your stint in China as ambassador there. How concerning was this launch, was this test to you?

BAUCUS: Well, it's quite concerning. I attended many meetings, President Obama, with President Xi, Secretary Kerry, and top Chinese officials discussing and U.S. advocating China to step up the pressure on Kim Jong-un to get him to stop doing all of this. And none of it worked. Just lots of words, lots of words, but none of it really worked. So I'm not surprised that Kim Jong-un has done so well.

I, frankly, think he's done a pretty good job, Kim. He's - he's built this missile. He's got nuclear capability. The rest of the world, you know, blathers, complains, but he still goes right ahead. And we've got a big question facing us, do we change gears as we deal with Kim Jong-un, and I think we have to.

SCIUTTO: The Trump administration policy for a time depended on Chinese pressure. President Trump tweeted about that frequently. But just in the last few days essentially said that he's done, that China hasn't come through. We're going to have to take care of this on our own. Is it possible for the U.S. to successfully pressure North Korea without China?

BAUCUS: Well, when I heard President Trump talk about China helping us and China saying that it wants to work with the U.S., I just rolled my eyes and smiled. I've heard this song many - I've been to this rodeo. I didn't expect any progress whatsoever.

No, I think China is central to a solution in North Korea because it's on North Korea's border, such a big country. But it may mean that the United States has to change gears here and do something different. That is, regarding Kim Jong-un, not totally as a nut, but maybe as a rational figure. That is he's very rationally amassing power here. Not that he's - he's not going to push the button, because he's not erratic, rather he's building all this up to get pressure on the rest of the world so that he can get maybe - get rid of that armistice, get a

peace treaty, get some food aid into North Korea or whatever. And I think that we have to begin to talk to him - to Kim Jong-un. Start back-channeling, start indirectly, start with other countries.

[13:20:23] But I think what we've been doing is not working. We have to find some way to - to adopt a policy where we can manage Kim Jong- un's nuclear arsenal. We're not going to be able to eradicate it, get rid of it. There's no good military option. Diplomatically he's not going to give it up. We have to manage his having the - nuclear and missile capability in a way that's a lot more stable than it's been thus far.

SCIUTTO: It's interesting, yesterday I interviewed the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper. He had just returned from South Korea. And he said as well, talks, dialogue, really the only way forward. But I asked him this question and I want to ask you as well, how do you talk with a country that in all previous iterations of talks they've either walked away or cheated on the agreements made in those conversations?

BAUCUS: Well, it's the only thing in life, you've got to try. The only option is to try - keep trying. If something doesn't work, try again. We could try different ways. Talk through other countries. Have clandestine meetings with people in North Korea. Talk more candidly with the Chinese, perhaps talking more clandestinely with the North Koreans. We've just - we've just got to keep trying at it. And that's the - that's life. If something doesn't work, you just keep going at it until you find a solution. SCIUTTO: The South Korea president, newly elected South Korean

president, I should say, said that he sees a role for Russia, for President Putin, to help de-escalate the situation. It was interesting earlier this week, you had Russia and China jointly issue a statement, urged the U.S. to back down, to some degree, remove missile defense from South Korea. Would you see Russia as a positive player in resolving this?

BAUCUS: Yes. I see - Russia, i.e., Putin, as being a very aggressive, very shrewd, very cunning man who's going to look to take advantage of any opportunity he can to advance his own personal country's interests. Same with China. You know, countries act according to their national interests. Sometimes they are friendly relationships among leaders, sometimes not, but that's not terribly relevant. What's relevant is what countries do. It's deeds, not words. And your - and I see Putin seeing an advantage here by joining with China to try to muscle the United States into a disadvantageous position with respect to North Korea. He's playing us.

SCIUTTO: Ambassador Max Baucus, thanks very much for joining us.

BAUCUS: Thanks, Jim. All the best.

SCIUTTO: We're going to be back very soon and I want to give you this update that right now senior administration officials are briefing reporters on that very long meeting between President Trump and President Putin. It went nearly two and a half hours. We're going to have an update on what exactly was discussed. We'll bring it to you as soon as we have it.

As we speak, U.S.-backed rebels are also fighting to retake the group's de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria. CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is on the front line inside Raqqa with this exclusive report.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are now inside the old city walls of Raqqa, the capital of ISIS' self-declared caliphate and the territory in which they will make their final stand in Syria and, really, the Middle East. That wall, a key milestone for coalition forces and the Syrian Kurds and Arabs who now control fully about 200 or 300 meters inside of the old city here.

Down that way 200 meters are ISIS' positions. The forces here don't move around much in the daylight because of the risk of ISIS snipers. Less so in these streets. But it's at night where the majority of the movement forward is, in fact, made. We've seen U.S. forces here not far from these positions, anxious not to be filmed or even noticed, frankly. But we understand it's them calling in the air strikes and often the artillery that's allowing these forces to move forward frankly so quickly.

I've been surprised how little of the city ISIS apparently are in right now. An area probably one and a half to three miles in terms of size. So increasingly small in the terrain that they hold, but as we saw in Mosul in Iraq, civilians apparently held in their midst, unable to flee because of the ISIS snipers. A real impediment for these Syrian, Kurdish and Arab fighters. But, still, the progress here marking potentially the last time that ISIS can say they hold a city in Syria.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, inside the old city of Raqqa, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: That's a remarkable exclusive CNN report. Nick Paton Walsh there inside Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS.

[13:25:05] I also want to bring you an update because as we speak senior administration officials are briefing the media about the Putin/Trump meeting. It went a little more than two hours. And we have this update, they discussed the general state of U.S./Russia relations, but they also discussed this, and this is headline news, that the U.S., Syrian and Jordan are now working to implement a cease- fire in the southern - the southwestern part of Syria, between regime forces and U.S.-backed rebels. We're going to have more details. Please stay with us. We'll be right back after this break.

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[13:30:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SCIUTTO: Breaking news just into CNN. Two major headlines coming out of a momentous really meeting, summit, between Presidents Trump and Putin at the G-20 Summit in Germany.