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New Day Sunday

Erupting Volcano Sends Lava Bombs Flying into Homes; Harry & Meghan Delay Honeymoon to Begin Royal Duties; NYT Reveals Details of Second Trump Tower Meeting; Prize-Winning Cartoonist on Satire in the Trump Era; First Lady Released from Hospital After Kidney Procedure. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 20, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The power of our earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This lava bomb came and hit right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of these fissures are interconnected and spread out many directions across the southeast section of the island.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This might all disappear. This area here might all disappear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's man versus Mother Nature.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.

The breaking news: the stunning pictures out of Hawaii where the erupting volcano, as you heard there, lava bombs and blasting dozens of feet into the air. We are live there in just a few minutes.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We can show you more of what's happening there.

Also, after a royal wedding that's really captivated the world. The newly weds are set to return to Kensington Palace this morning.

BLACKWELL: And later this hour, Mike Luckovich has won Pulitzer Prizes for cartoons like this one. We ask him how the Trump presidency is challenging his craft in political satire.

But, first, we're starting with this breaking news. The live and terrifying scene in Hawaii this morning. The lava spewing into the air, chunks of the flying debris and explosions that sound like jet engines.

PAUL: In fact, just moments ago, we got news that the streams of lava have reached the Pacific Ocean. Not only closing down part of a main evacuation route, but potentially creating another hazardous health situation there. CNN's Scott McLean in Pahoa, Hawaii.

Scott, it looks like things are much worse, quite frankly, than they were when we saw you last hour. Help us understand what is going on.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, we've actually moved locations, Christi, and let me show you. You mentioned those lava flows that have actually reached the Pacific Ocean. I'll show you where they are coming from.

So, these are several fissures that have sort of morphed into one and it looks like giant water fountains but as we know, this isn't water. It's not water that glows in the dark. It molten lava coming out of the ground.

It's amazing to see just how much of it that there is. You also hear the explosions in the background and that is from a separate fissure which is maybe half a mile away from where we are that continues to explode and erupt more violently.

We are not seeing that here. But these -- with the lava, it is sort of turning into this fast flowing stream of lava. You can see it there moving along. And just to give you an idea of how much lava has filled in here over the last 48 hours, we were actually doing a live shot there yesterday and where our shot would have been, would have been somewhere buried amongst the lava right now.

So, it is really filled in a big area. In fact, this used to go into a valley. It now, you know, when this is all said and done, it will be a little bit of a hill rather than a valley. So, people here, they are concerned about the lava flow, homes being cut off from help as that lava flow reaches the ocean and cuts off roads. They are also, of course, worried about the fissures that are erupting much more violently and sending lava into people's homes.

There are homes nearby that fissure that I showed you last hour, Christi and Victor, and people there are trying to protect them, other people just gathering what they can and trying to get out. As that lava flow continues to move and just hopefully and just hoping I should say that it doesn't divert and reach their home.

BLACKWELL: Scott, did I hear you right, that where you were just an hour ago is now under lava?

MCLEAN: No. So, where we were live just 48 hours ago --

BLACKWELL: Oh, 48 hours ago, all right.

MCLEAN: -- is under lava now.

We are talking about it's probably some 10, 12 feet worth of lava and we would have been buried by, you know, several, maybe 50 yards in, at least from what we can tell from this vantage point. I can try to show you here. It's a little bit dark but if you see where some of those hills come up where the lava flow is, you can actually see, there is some methane gas burning there. At least from my estimation, my very rough estimation, where we were doing our live shots just 48 hours ago would be have that imagine an methane mass is burning there.

So, obviously, had we have stayed, we would have been in a lot of trouble. So, people have sort of watching this come and go and ebb and flow and burnt the brush. The other thing I should point out, Victor, is that as this lava moves along, it will burn brush. And in fact, there's evacuation in another neighborhood I should say earlier today just because those brush fires had gotten out of control, and they wanted to make sure that people were out of their homes and they had an escape route if things were to get any worse.

PAUL: All right. It's so remarkable to me how fast the lava is moving too.

[07:05:02] Can we get -- can we get -- Scott, thank you so much.

Can we just stay on that shot there for a moment while we bring in CNN's Allison Chinchar?

BLACKWELL: Yes, just get in tight over Scott's left shoulder there on those geysers of lava there.

Allison, first, as we look at these amazing pictures that are coming out of Pahoa, what are we hearing? Can you explain what the jet engine sound is?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you often volcanologist talk about that this is the earth breathing basically, it's the fissures, those cracks on the earth opening, and as that lava spewing out of it, the intake, the air flow going in and out, you're basically hearing mother nature breathing.

Now, I would like to point out, watching Scott's live shot, I was even impressed and I have seen hundreds of videos of lava. That is incredibly fast-moving. I mean, it literally looks like a river behind him and I want to talk about that because that is actually key.

That's why we now that that one lava flow has made it into the ocean because the consistency of the lava is now changing. Prior, it had been slow running almost like pudding if you will. Now, it is runnier, but that's allowing it to move faster. So, fissure 17 and 18 would be up on my top screen right here. That's basically where Scott is located.

Further south is fissure 20 and 22. They came together and started flowing towards the Pacific Ocean. They have now entered the Pacific Ocean. You would think this is great, it takes it off land and away from people. The problem that also creates something called laze, OK?

Here's what it is. It's when that lava reaches the ocean, but it mixes with the salt water and creates steam and the steam is made of hydrochloric acid gas and tiny glass particles. Again, you want to be absolutely nowhere near where that is going to be located, OK? That is the concern on the east rift soon. The fissures, the lava flows, things like that.

But we also have the concern for the summit of Kilauea. I would like to point out, we have not only one but now two explosive eruptions have taken place the last 24 hours at the summit. Not only does mean you have the lava and the toxic gas going into the atmosphere.

But take a look at this image. Did you see this? This is from the Hawaii volcano's observatory. You can literally see the ash in this photo coming down incredibly thick throughout much of this area.

Now, here's the other thing that poses a problem. Again, we talk about it. When the volcano erupts, it sends lava, it sends those toxic gases into the air but also the ash.

The main concern here is inhalation for people. This could be incredibly toxic and deadly in high doses. But, also, some of the things that the airports on the big island have been keeping a close eye on, is the airplanes because the ash can be a big deal for airplanes as well.

Here's why. As that ash goes inside of those engines, it melts but you have so much air flow coming in that it also then rapidly cools down. It becomes sticky and sticks to the inside of that engine. But then, unfortunately, Victor and Christi, that disrupts the air flow.

So that is why they are paying very close attention to whether or not they will need to, at some point, cancel or delay and divert flights out of the Hilo Airport.

PAUL: Yes, I mean, these pictures are just -- they are breathtaking and they're frightening all at the same time. It is something.

Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for the breakdown there.

CHINCHAR: Thanks you.

PAUL: And we'll keep you posted as Scott is there and we will have him with us throughout the morning.

Also this morning, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is attending a church service in Santa Fe, Texas, where eight students and two teachers were killed there in Santa Fe. There are five of the ten victims you see there.

BLACKWELL: We are getting new information how students sheltered in closets next to the bodies of dead classmates as that teenager fired shots and taunted them from outside. One victim's mother says she thinks that one of the shotgun shells was for her daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADIE BAZE, DUAGHTER SHANA FISHER KILLED IN SHOOTING: My daughter was going up to my mother, telling my mom for the past four months and my brother that he had been making advances on her and that she finally stood up to him because her younger sister was being bullied in school and she was showing her, look, this is what you do. You got to stand up to him and let him know, no, it's not right. And this is the outcome. You know? I don't -- I don't know what else to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, according to official documents, the shooter said he acted alone and spared people he liked because he wanted his story told.

All right. Changing to politics now. We got new details about a second meeting at Trump Tower between the president's son and a group of foreigners offering to help Donald Trump get elected.

[07:10:01] PAUL: Also, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. Yes, it's over but the celebration is not for the new duke and duchess of Sussex.

CNN's Anna Stewart is in Windsor.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No wedding blues here, Christi! The party keeps going and I'll take you to the street party and there is (INAUDIBLE) and analysis of yesterday's highlights.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

[07:15:10] PAUL: Just a view of the highlights from the royal wedding of Britain's Prince Harry to American actress Meghan Markle now known as the duchess of Sussex. This morning, the newlyweds are expected to make their way back to London. They're not preparing for honeymoon, though, we should point out.

BLACKWELL: True.

CNN's Max Foster is there in Windsor.

So, why are they holding off on the honeymoon, Max?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE)

You don't want to (INAUDIBLE) a plane, dehydrate. We don't know much about the party. They deliberately made this a very private affair and the only thing a few leaks in the Britain tabloids and some people went up to London afterwards and carried on. Who knows? They might not have been to bed yet. So, we'll check there. The bags under their eyes as they head back to Kensington palace today.

But they are the next engagement really is on Tuesday. Buckingham Palace and garden party and supporting his father and their charitable work, a big message there that can put their royal careers, their public work ahead of the honeymoon. I think that's a deliberate message. They are going to throw themselves into the public world.

We have seen that already with Meghan Markle who is on a huge amount of visits before the wedding to know the U.K. and I think next an international step and come to the United States even for an event in the summer. And then off to the commonwealth as well. So, they are going to throw themselves into work, I'm sure there will be a honeymoon. We don't know where or when. I think they want to keep that a bit quiet.

PAUL: Understandably so, yes. I want to ask you about something that people noticed yesterday. This empty chair in St. George's Chapel there and speculation that was in honor of Princess Diana. Are you hearing anything about that, Max?

FOSTER: I don't know. There was so much symbolism there. They wouldn't really confirm any of the Diana references. We just had to read into it what we would. I think this is what is interesting here.

When I asked people close to the couple, you know, is Meghan Markle saying something in the ceremony about diversity, about feminism, is Harry saying things about Diana? And they said, you just have to look what they are doing here. All that I could be told they wanted to do things in their own way. And whether there is symbolism that people want to take out of that they can do that.

But inevitably, so many Diana references there and Harry desperately misses her. Then he only started talking about it with William the last couple of years. He's still coming to terms with what happened to him, and I think probably the chair was symbolic of that, but we will never have it confirmed because I think that was between Harry and Diana.

BLACKWELL: Max, I got to ask you about this American bishop from Chicago who is getting some mixed reviews and mixed responses we saw there. You know, having gone to black churches my whole life, 13 minutes is how long he spoke. People have spoken 13 minutes after I sneezed in church.

So this didn't seem very long to me. What was the reaction there?

FOSTER: You know, you're probably referencing the giggling in the church.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

FOSTER: But I think what I will say is, today, I think that choir was, obviously, a big headline in the United States. It's also a big headline here and I think in a really positive way. People were very surprised to see that in an English church.

You know we knew that it was going to happen, but seeing it was a real moment for people here and really embraced as well. I mean, these church services, high church services are desperately boring and this was a flash of light and people loved it. When you're talking about the giggling, and I've spoken to a couple of people who were close to the people in the church, it was on Harry's side but in reference to a joke the bishop said, you know, you all need to get married and it was in response to the joke, I think, to be fair to them.

But people are taking the giggles out of context to say they were giggling at him, you know, and suggesting that was the serious part of the address. I don't think actually that was the case.

PAUL: All right. Thank you for the clarity, Max Foster. Very good point to make. Good to see you.

FOSTER: One question for you, by the way. Can I ask you a quick question?

PAUL: Yes.

FOSTER: We lost Anna Stewart and we keep seeing her, you know, eating cakes and drinking tea and we think she has gone AWOL again. Can you find her for us?

[07:20:00] PAUL: You are so go at transitions, Max. So good. He knows where we are going next. We have found Anna.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: And she might have, you know --

STEWART: He is just jealous.

PAUL: -- a little bit of tea or cake.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the celebration is not over because I don't see any cake in your hand there, but I'm sure there is cake all around there. People are still celebrating.

Anna, what are you seeing where you are?

STEWART: (INAUDIBLE) cake yet, but I will certainly be talking. And you know what? Max is a little bit jealous. I was really worried that wedding blues would hit the entire nation today and possibly a bit of a hangover as well, but it's not yet and it's not here around Windsor. We are just steps away from the Windsor Castle.

And today, everybody is enjoying tea and cumber sandwiches, I'm sure, and they'll be analyzing the highlights, and all the bits that they love the most, I've been going around here and asking what the favorite bits were, lots of analysis on the dress. Was it a cool glass of water or was it dull?

The American bishop that Max is discussing, people absolutely loved to see him. It was such a refreshing moment in what is as Max said rather a boring part of a service, normally, I think, in U.K. weddings. The aqua marine ring given to Meghan Markle, obviously the duchess of Sussex, late in the evening. So, and plenty to discuss here.

Of course, the locals around here have, you know, had a slightly trying few weeks, I'd say, that have been road closures and all of the potholes are filled and lamp posts painted and trash cans have been replaced with extra secure ones, and there have been 100,000 people on their doorstep so I think a slight party to enjoy the fact it might all be over.

BLACKWELL: All right. Go and get yourself some cake now, Anna.

PAUL: And some tea. BLACKWELL: Yes, Anna Stewart there in Windsor, thanks so much.

PAUL: Thanks, Anna.

So, President Trump, as we switch gears here, is attacking Robert Mueller's Russia investigation again. Next what is he calling the Justice Department to do now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:26:52] PAUL: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. Glad to have you with us here. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.

President Trump has a very busy week ahead. He has talks scheduled with South Korea's president on Tuesday. And North Korea is expected to be dismantling its nuclear site, at least one of them in the middle of the week.

PAUL: And despite having so many important things on his calendar, the president is apparently more worried that an FBI informant allegedly spoke to some of his advisers during the presidential campaigns.

CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood with us now.

Sarah, what are you hearing from Washington this morning? And good morning.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Good morning, Christi.

Well, President Trump and South Korean President Moon are working to prevent their efforts with the North Koreans from falling apart amid threats from Kim Jong-un. That potentially historic summit between Trump and Kim on June 12th is still on for now.

But the future of the meeting has been thrown into a little bit of doubt as the North Koreans object to the suggestion from national security adviser John Bolton they might be treated like Libya. Meanwhile, Trump is consumed with reports about the origins of the Russia investigation, claiming falsely that the FBI planted an informant inside his campaign. U.S. officials have told CNN that an informant who gathered information from some Trump advisers was not embedded in the campaign.

Trump venting his frustration yesterday, tweeted, if the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal. Only the release or review of documents that the House Intelligence Committee, also Senate Judiciary is asking for can give the conclusive answers, drain the swamp.

Now, Christi, it's important to point out that the Justice Department says it's withholding documents related to the informant out of concern for the safety of its source and its ability to recruit future sources. Trump and his allies, however, have accused the FBI of political bias and are pressing to get those documents released anyway -- Christi.

PAUL: All right. Thank you so much, Sara. Appreciate it.

WESTWOOD: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. The Russia probe may be expanding beyond Russia, potentially. There are new reports of other countries allegedly hoping to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Now, according to "The New York Times," Donald Trump Jr. met in just three months before the 2016 election with a man who claimed to represent two Arab princes, an Israeli social media expert, he was also there.

A lawyer for Trump Jr. tells CNN that nothing came from the Trump Tower meeting. But according to one of the reporters who broke the story, the relationship didn't end after the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KIRKPATRICK, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: After Trump is elected, George Nader, working as an adviser for the UAE, pays Mr. Zamel, the Israeli social media manipulator, owes him a lot of money, maybe $2 million according to some reports. Some of that money goes to provide a presentation showing what a big help to the campaign social media was. So, if that campaign -- if that presentation was delivered to the Trump campaign as it seems, then here is an offer to help for the campaign and here is a at all of the help we did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:30:00]

BLACKWELL: All right. Joining me now, Walter Shaub, CNN contributor and former director of the Office of Government Ethics.

Walter, welcome back.

WALTER SHAUB, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So, this is introducing new players here aside from Trump Tower meeting one in June of 2016, I got the August 2016 meeting where you introduced the Emiratis and the Saudis and the Israelis offering to help his campaign. What we don't know from the reporting is, what initially the meeting was pitched as. Your obvious concern for having this meeting or agreeing to meet with these representatives is?

SHAUB: Yes. Well, it shows the Trump campaign was willing to collude with foreign powers in order to try to win the election. They shouldn't have even had this meeting. I don't care what the pitch was.

And the fact that $2 million changed hands and was paid to somebody who bills himself as a social media manipulator from a foreign country really is deeply concerning. We are talking possible violations of federal election law if it was coordinated with the president. You know, that final link hasn't been established but there is enough

smoke here to justify looking into it. You know, the truth is if any other administration was in power and certainly if Trump's political rival in the last election had won, members of Congress would be howling and summoning people for hearing testimony.

But I think based on what we have seen the past year and a half, we can be pretty confident that not only will the leadership in Congress ignore this, but they'll actively try to run interference for him and continue to try to disrupt the investigation.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you told one of our producers that we are witnessing a betrayal to our country by people in Congress and it is just absolutely disgusting.

SHAUB: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Interesting that this reporting comes after the release of the transcript from Don Jr.'s Senate testimony. No mention of the meeting there. Also, no mention of this in the wrap-up or the report that came from House intelligence, another one of these major developments that comes after that.

Expound on, again, what you're expecting, what you're hoping for from Congress. Is this just going to be another element that is in this larger saga or do you think this is an action item if not for Robert Mueller which it likely is, because we understand that George Nader is cooperating, but from Congress?

SHAUB: Yes. I mean, what I'm examining and what I'm hoping for are two completely different things in this scenario. Again, history is just not going to be kind to a Congress that has put winning over the interest of the country.

They should be deeply concerned with the fact that foreign inter -- you know, foreign interests were trying to influence our election. Any suggestion by anyone that this is even remotely normal is crazy. In fact, the FBI warned the Trump campaign that the Russians may try to have a hand in his campaign shortly after he got nominated. That should have put him on notice that any foreign contacts were of concern and the first thing they should have done when they heard from these people is pick up phone and call the FBI.

Now, it's Congress' job to find out why they didn't do that and Congress should be holding hearings and not the Devin Nunez kind of hearings that are an obvious show to try to cover for the administration, but serious hearings to get to the bottom of this issue. What they ought to do is pretend for themselves for a minute that Hillary Clinton is president and go after Donald Trump with the kind of gusto that not only would we assume they'd go after her with, but that we saw them do.

Turn this into another Benghazi hearing, because the interference of foreign influencers in our election is catastrophic and dangerous to our republic. BLACKWELL: We had a commentator on an earlier hour this morning

suggesting that what this exposes is the underbelly of politics and potentially another campaign might have taken a similar meeting or tried to get the same thing without breaking the law, skirting the law to get as much assistance from foreign governments as possible.

Do you think this is common, or is this as much of an outlier as the reporting would suggest?

SHAUB: This is absolutely an outlier. That is a crazy thing to have said. This is not the underbelly of politics. This is the underbelly of the criminal world. You simply don't do this kind of thing and we have laws on the books.

Now, the truth is the Federal Election Commission has been weak from the start and in its establishment. It's set up with an even number of commissioners on both sides so you have to have at least one party defector to be able to do any kind of meaningful enforcement, but in recent years, it has completely all but ground to a halt in its oversight and that is where there is a gap.

We can't trust the normal institutional mechanisms to go after something so abnormal and why we have a balance of powers.

[07:35:02] Congress is supposed to be a check on the power of executive and it's supposed to be capable of looking into the sitting president's activities as he tried to become the sitting president.

BLACKWELL: All right. Walter Shaub, always good to have you, sir.

SHAUB: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: All right. Today on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER", Jake will be speaking with Senator Mark Warner. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, also sits down with Jake to talk about the Santa Fe school shooting. That's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper" today at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

PAUL: Well, Michael Luckovich has won Pulitzer Prizes for cartoons like this one we're going to show you here. Has the Trump era changed his craft? We're going to ask him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:14] BLACKWELL: After weeks of promises and history-making meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea, North Korea seems to be pulling back from recent breakthroughs.

PAUL: They ended talk with South Korea. They are threatening to cancel the planned summit with President Trump.

How do you break this down into a single political cartoon? Well, if you're Mike Luckovich you draw this. Kim Jong-un driving a car, offering President Trump, come and get in for a ride here. I'll speed away before he grabs the door handle. No, go ahead, try it again, try it again. No, I'm taking off. Yet again that is how it works. Well, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist of the "Atlanta

Journal-Constitution", Mike Luckovich, is with us right now.

It must be pretty fascinating, the material you have right now. What strikes you? What makes you go, this is what I have to latch on to?

MIKE LUCKOVICH, EDITORIAL CARTOONIST, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: It's difficult. It's I always tell people, people always say to me, oh, Mike, you have so much material right now. But for me, it's sort of like being married to a nymphomaniac. It's fun at first! And then it becomes a nightmare!

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: I was wondering how you were going to explain that one!

BLACKWELL: Oh, wow!

PAUL: All righty. Welcome to Sunday, people! Welcome to Sunday.

BLACKLWELL: So let me ask you. I'm not going to go nymphomaniac, but to satirize in an era during an administration with the president speaks in bold terms, who literally types in all caps, very stable genius, exclamation points, I imagine makes the job even harder.

LUCKOVICH: It is, because most presidents -- most politicians they are not as -- I don't want to say crazy, but just --

PAUL: Animated?

LUCKOVICH: Animated. So, you know, with the cartoon, you kind of take something that happens, an issue and you kind of raise the absurdity level up with the cartoon. But when the absurdly level is high, it's actually really hard to do a cartoon that kind of makes that point and does it in a funnier way. Like the one that you showed, the car driving.

PAUL: Yes.

LUCKOVICH: You know? When I heard that Kim Jong-un was maybe delaying or pulling out of the summit, that is the first thing that occurred to me, because and my wife still does that to me.

PAUL: My husband does that to me and my kids, so we can all relate to it.

LUCKOVICH: Yes, right. That's what I try to do with my cartoons is find ways of explaining things that people are familiar with and has some humor to it.

PAUL: Do you ever have a moment where you do something and you go, I can't publicize that? There has to be some of those moments.

LUCKOVICH: Yes. I've been doing this long enough that I know there are some boundaries but what I do is, I come up with ideas and then I'll be looking at them and it's like looking at the word, who, W-H-O. If you just look at the word who for an hour, you think what the hell does who mean? So that's when I -- so, when I have an idea and I look at it, I lose my objectivity and I show them to other people and say does this make any sense?

BLACKWELL: Yes, we just have Walter Shaub who made a point about the Don Jr. meeting. He said a congress, during any other administration, during any other time, would have taken some action. You've got one with Nixon standing at the podium saying it doesn't matter if I'm a criminal and you've got obvious members of the current Congress here.

LUCKOVICH: Right.

BLACKWELL: When you take the context of what is happening and try to draw it down to a simple photo, sometimes you have to -- I imagine you pull yourself away from the drawing and just think about the times we are in?

LUCKOVICH: Right, right. It really is -- I keep coming back to the word crazy. The times are so crazy. It's like, yes, you don't have -- you don't have a check on power right now and so, you try -- and there is just a lot of corruption now.

I mean, you look at a guy like Scott Pruitt. He is almost comically, in my opinion, corrupt. I mean, there are 14 investigations on about him. So, how do you -- how do you do a cartoon on that? It's a challenge.

PAUL: Well, you do it very well. A lot of people would say.

BLACKWELL: Two Pulitzers.

LUCKOVICH: And I have a book coming up, a Trump book. It's "A Very Stable Genius" is the title. That will be out in September.

PAUL: All right. We look forward to it.

BLACKWELL: I didn't know that when I brought up that quote but thank you.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Mike Luckovich, good to have you.

All right. Let's talk about this twitter typo that puts the president in the spotlight after he spelled his wife's name wrong in a tweet welcoming her home from the hospital.

[07:45:06] PAUL: The fallout surrounding the first lady, plus an update on her recovery as well. That is coming up. Stay close.

Also, keeping an eye on the breaking news we are watching in Hawaii. Look at these pictures here. Massive explosions. We are still hearing from our CNN live location there. We'll have more for you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: Well, President Trump, well -- a little unfortunate here -- misspelled the first lady's name in a tweet welcoming her home for the hospital.

[07:50:06] In a now deleted tweet, he wrote, Melanie is feeling and really well. Twitterverse having heyday with that, though he fixed it within a few minutes, but the first lady is back at the White House after ongoing that procedure for what the White House describes as a benign kidney condition. Her spokeswoman says Melania is resting comfortably. She remains in high spirits.

CNN contributor Kate Andersen Brower with us now.

So, Kate, the thing is the length of her stay raised a lot of questions. Do we know anything more or do you believe we will get anymore clarity about what was going on with the first lady?

KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: (AUDIO GAP) a long amount of time given what we know of the procedure, I would be surprised if her spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham, gives a lot more detail.

I was actually impressed by the amount of detail they gave at the time because the east wing staff, about ten people who work for her and it is very tight knit. Stephanie was in scrubs during the procedure when she talked to reporters. I think that is a sign that they are very protective and it has been like this for every first lady in modern history.

Laura Bush when she had skin cancer removed in 2006, she never told the press. In fact, she got in trouble for not telling the press at the time. I think people are always -- the East Wing staff feels as though the first lady was not elected so we don't necessarily need to go into detail about what private medical issues they have.

PAUL: This came just about a week I think before she unveiled her Be Best platform. Any idea where that is going to go and when she might be in full force with that project?

BROWER: I don't know. I reached out to her spokesperson to try to find out. And I'm not heard back yet this morning. It's early yet.

But I would be surprised if she did anything this week. But again, I don't know. It's interesting that this comes on the heels of one of her most public weeks when she gave her Rose Garden announcement. It was about 11 minutes long. It's the longest we've really heard her speak as first lady.

And so, obviously, this medical issue coming on the heels of that is a surprise. They are just very private, very close knit staff. I would be surprised if we hear much more from them on this.

PAUL: I wanted to ask you, I know she received all kinds of well wishes and people were very concerned about her. What is it about this first lady you think that does resonate with people?

BROWER: Well, her approval ratings are well beyond her husband's. I think the last poll was something like 57 percent approval.

I think people feel that she is warm. She is engaging and kind of staying above the fray. I mean, we saw after this Texas shooting she tweeted out her thoughts and prayers for the families there. She is very careful and measured on Twitter in a way that her husband is not.

So, I think people see the juxtaposition of this married couple who have two completely different approaches. She is taking a really traditional approach of job of first lady. I think people appreciate that about her. I think most people want to give the first lady a pass in some ways because she's not political and she's not overtly political.

PAUL: A very good point. Kate Andersen Brewer, so good to have you here. Thank you.

BROWER: Thanks.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: We are watching very closely breaking news in Hawaii this morning. Look at your screen. The details of this erupting volcano, lava bombs being hurled into the sky. We'll have more of what you are seeing right here in Pahoa, Hawaii, in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, tonight on "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN", we take you to Armenia, a forward thinking country still reckoning with the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN: Genocide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't about revenge. This is about recognition.

BOURDAIN: War.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we lose, we know that we will be destroyed, annihilated.

BOURDAIN: Earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm the generation who literally land off the bed with a candlelight.

BOURDAIN: Armenia has endured a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't some geopolitical conflict on a map. Every family is touched.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day, 100 people leave Armenia.

BOURDAIN: But it remains a place that millions are very, very sentimental about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I myself, I will never leave Armenia. I was born in Armenia and I will die in Armenia.

BOURDAIN: I have been hearing for years, when are you going to Armenia? When are you going to Armenia? When are you going to Armenia? Well, finally, I'm here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Watch "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: All right. Back to the breaking news now, this is in Hawaii, the incredible pictures we have seen this morning. Look at this.

PAUL: And listen to it.

BLACKWELL: Lava bombs being hurled into the sky coming close to homes. We know homes have been lost, not just fumes filling the air. The ongoing lava flow prompted more evacuations.

PAUL: Yes, we've learned one lava flow has now reached the Pacific Ocean after it crossed over highway 137. We are watching to see what that does for a main evacuation route because that is a significant highway there. We will leave you with the pictures and sounds.

Thank you so such for being with us this morning.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts now.