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8000 Starbucks Stores Shut Down for Anti-Bias Training; Kim's Former Spy Chief Heading to U.S. For Talks About A Summit; Trump People Defend Separating Children from Parents at The Border; Giuliani Booed at Yankee Stadium. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 29, 2018 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: So, amid all this breaking news by ABC, right now thousands of Starbucks employees are getting racial bias training, the company shutting down all its stores this afternoon to focus on diversity and inclusion, following a national outcry on a racial indent in a store in Philadelphia. You've all seen the video capturing the arrest of these two black men sitting inside doing nothing but sitting inside the Starbucks waiting on a friend to show up.

A Starbucks manager called the police within minutes of their arrival accusing them of trespassing, after one of them asked to use the men's room without having purchased anything. The men were in charge and Starbucks settled the case with both of them. And what came out of that was today's training session.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD SCHULTZ, STARBUCKS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER: What we are doing today is historic, there is no company that has ever done anything quite like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much will this cost Starbucks?

SCHULTZ: Tens of millions of dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tens of millions.

SCHULTZ: It's interesting, I got a call from an institutional shareholder complaining that this was an expense that Starbucks shouldn't make, and what I said was, no, this is not an expense, this is an investment in our people and our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now Alexis McGill Johnson, Executive Director and cofounder of Perception Institute, a company that specializes in identifying bias and designing solutions to combat this. And so, Starbucks just called on McGill Johnson to help with today's training. How did you get involved? Let's just start there.

ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND COFOUNDER OF PERCEPTION INSTITUTE: Thank you so much for having me, we actually got a call initially from Cherilyn Eiffel and Heather McGee, two advisers to the Starbucks family and they had begun a process with working with a design firm called SYPartners that specializes in creating these amazing human transformation experiences. So, we sat down with SYPartners and immediately clicked on what the opportunity was to really take this huge scale approach and really educate and begin the awareness around what bias is, how it lives and how to think about it and we ended up co-creating a curriculum in short order.

BALDWIN: Some folks are saying what can you get done in four-hour sessions? You said you can start a conversation in four hours.

[15:35:00] MCGILL JOHNSON: I think that's a fair question. None of us expect that people can walk out after four hours and be completely unbiased. We taken cues of information about how we should navigate people every single day and so it's really hard to turn that automatic process of our brains off, but we can start a conversation about what bias is, how it operates, how our brains operate and how it actually impacts the work that we do, that a Starbucks partner would do.

BALDWIN: And as we talk about bias and incidents at Starbucks in the past and hopefully making it better for everyone, Roseanne.

MCGILL JOHNSON: Yes.

BALDWIN: This lands on the same day. Are you surprised that ABC did the right thing?

MCGILL JOHNSON: I am not surprised. I actually think this sets the right tone. I think what Roseanne did, anyone can make a mistake, but what Roseanne did was beyond that. She went into dehumanizing language about Valerie Jarrett. You can see by research on young children being dehumanized by police officers how it affects them, and we can stop it.

BALDWIN: As the administration takes heat for separating families and children at the border, I'll speak with Cindy Garcia, whose husband was deported to Mexico in January. Hear what she thinks next.

[15:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Right now, Kim Jong-un's former top spy, the one suspected of masterminding the Sony hack is making his way to New York. The President calls the visit by Kim Yong-chol who is also the current vice chair of the ruling party, a quote unquote, solid response to his letter last week canceling the summer with Kim Jong-un. It is also a solid indication along with meetings underway both in the DMZ and in Singapore that the summit host nation, that a Trump/Kim meeting is back on potentially as soon as June 12th, which was the original date and two weeks from today. Let me bring in David Priess, former CIA intelligence officer. David, let's just start with the significance of this top spy coming to the U.S.

DAVID PRIESS, FORMER CIA INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: it is clearly someone that the leader of North Korea trusts for a couple of reasons. One, he's been around for decades and if you survive for decades in that environment you are doing it because you are trusted. Secondly, he's out of the country. He's going to New York. He's traveling. This is something most North Korean diplomats don't do without minders. If he's being let out of the country to negotiate the details of how this is going to come together if it will that means he does have the ear of Kim back in North Korea. And he is going to be able to make the plans on his behalf and have something behind it stand up.

BALDWIN: It was last Thursday when the president wrote that single page letter to Kim, cancelling the summit. You have less than 48 hours later, Kim was meeting with the South Korea President meeting apparently trying to keep the summit alive. And it is Trump who cites this letter for bringing the North Koreans back to the table. You think he is right?

PRIESS: It's an interesting argument. It's like a doctor looking at a patient in saying this patient is on life support let's just end it now, pulling the plug, walking away, and then being surprised later on when another team of doctors has come in and revived the patient. And then taking credit for reviving the patient.

The logic doesn't quite add up. But let's be honest here this is a good thing. When the North Koreans are talking that's better when there is nothing going on. The issue here is the expectations. Condoleezza Rice who got burned by North Korea back from the joint statement in 2005 so she knows what she's talking about. She has said with the North Koreans you're much better off under promising and over delivering. The danger we are running him to here with the expectations for this summit are that we are overpromising and it's going to be hard to deliver on what people now expect to come out of it.

BALDWIN: Here's my real question on the substance. Let's say this thing happens and let's say June 12th or some soon date they sit there in Singapore. What is the end goal for the U.S.? What would be considered a win that Trump can take and walk away and say I was able to achieve X. What is X?

PRIESS: X is something that is beyond a vague commitment. Because we've been down that road before. Back in 2005, the United States --

BALDWIN: Vague commitment to denuclearization.

PRIESS: A commitment with verifiable steps put into place and quickly. Without those verifiable steps being put into place, then it's just a promise. This is what happened 13 years ago when the United States said we will not attack conventionally, we will not attack with nuclear weapons and North Korea said we'll get rid of all nuclear weapons but there was nothing immediately verifiable on the ground to hold their feet to the fire.

[15:45:00] Without that coming out of the summit, then it's something both sides can wave around and say we have brought peace in our time but that doesn't change anything on the ground without verifiable steps and monitoring that go way beyond anything we've done before.

BALDWIN: David Priess, thank you very much. A top official is pushing back against reports that nearly 1,500 immigration children are lost. Instead, the Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services explained this way, Eric Hargan says the children's so-called sponsor homes quote, does not answer the phone after we make the call after 30 days. I call that he insists is voluntary and not required for his agency to do. His statement comes after some renewed scrutiny that some children are being separated from their parents at the border. It is a policy the Trump administration defended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SESSIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: If you are struggling a child, we will prosecute you and that child may be separated from you as required by law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But to truly understand the gravity with what is happening with families being separated, I wanted to revisit a family who made national headlines back in January, the country watch this heartbreaking goodbye, the Garcia family clutching on to their father and husband, Jorge, brought to this country when he was just 10 years old. The video ends as ICE agents escort him bound for a plane to Mexico.

With me now Jorge's wife of 15 years, Cindy. Thank you so much for taking a minute with us. You have laid eyes on Jorge since he left new January?

CINDY GARCIA, WIFE OF DEPORTED HUSBAND, JORGE GARCIA: Yes, we were down in Mexico for two and a half months in April, and we were glad that we were able to go and see him.

BALDWIN: And how is he doing?

GARCIA: He lost 30 pounds. He looks different than what he did living here in the U.S. the Mexico life has taken a toll on him.

BALDWIN: I was reading, listen, a lot of people would be furious about what the government has done, maybe express their ire toward the President, but I read that you're not mad at the government, you understand the laws. Can you explain that to me a little bit? And tell me also what has ICE said to you?

GARCIA: Yes, I am not upset at our government due to the fact that I am a U.S. citizen and that our laws come first. Our laws are just broken and need to be fixed but I can't be mad at Trump for doing his job because that is his job to protect us as U.S. citizens from criminals. The only thing is my husband was not a criminal. Those are the laws that need to be fixed because they're broken, for the children brought here as children, doing the right thing and have never committed a crime, we need to fix a pathway of citizenship for them. For the criminals who are here illegally, they need to go back.

BALDWIN: Is the White House giving you any glimmer of hope this will be resolved with your husband?

GARCIA: No, at this time I have not had any news from the White House. We are trying to get our appointment to see if we get our decision. We're hoping for good news with we go down there but it's all up to them. And all we can do is just pray that everything goes well in our case because there should be nothing against us. The only crime that he committed was coming here at 10 years old into the country, but he was a child at that time.

BALDWIN: Cindy Garcia, let's stay in close contact with you. Thank you so very much.

GARCIA: Thank you for having me on.

BALDWIN: Back to the big story of the day, ABC cancelling "Roseanne" over a racist tweet involving Valerie Jarrett, former President Obama aide. The network calling it abhorrent and repugnant. And now her talent agency has dropped her as well.

[15:50:00] Also breaking news today on Wall Street, the Dow taking a tumble as the White House does an about-face threatening $50 billion worth of new tariffs on China. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00] BALDWIN: President Trump, China trade deals and the first daughter, I need a scorecard to track all of what's going on. Let me just fill you in. This morning Ivanka Trump took the rare move and get back at her critics on twitter after they complained that the slew of trademark approvals for company won from China all the while her father is in trade talks with the Chinese. She ended a series of tweets with this, quote, focus on what is before you, on what you can control and ignore the trolls, she says have a great week.

Let's start there with CNN global economic analyst, Rana Foroohar, good to see you. Listen, let me point out the obvious she works in her father's White House. But here she is she is trying to continue to build her brand with a country that her father is in trade negotiations with. We should be raising ethics questions about this. Should we not?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: We absolutely should. The timing of this is just kind of unbelievable. I mean, you know, to be honest, it goes some way possibly toward explaining this bizarre flip-flop we've been seeing around ZTE, the Chinese tech company that President Trump was trashing to put sanctions on, and then took them off. This has always been an incredibly bizarre thing. The fact that he's now playing nice with ZTE at the same time his daughter really almost at the exact time his daughter is being given preferential treatment by the Chinese is really something to worry about, I think.

BALDWIN: And noted, and also just -- I mean, obviously she faces a lot of criticism. And she rarely responds. Why do you think she chose to hit back here?

FOROOHAR: You know, I think you have to respond to allegations like this. This is something that I would be very surprised if we didn't see more smoke and potentially more fire around. We talked in the show in the past and many times in the last year about how there have been election officials with business interests that they put in trusts. You typically don't see this kind of deal making happening at the same time the President is dealing with a country like China.

The amount of vested interest here and overlap is really unprecedented. However, I will say that the Chinese understand this way of doing business very well. They live in an autocratic country where the children of elected officials are oftentimes the heads of the major businesses. So, to them, it's probably business as usual. And so, they understand how to do the nod, wink, on these kinds of deals.

BALDWIN: Speaking of deals, I know the White House is doing another about face today announcing 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods from China. This is happening after Steve Mnuchin said we were standing down in a standoff. What is going on, and then how does this show China that we, the U.S., have the upper hand?

FOROOHAR: Yes. We don't. And in two words, we don't have the upper hand. The Trump/China strategy is nonsensical. We have given away small things, flip-flopping on ZTE, cutting short-term deals without looking at the bigger picture which is that China has a ten-year plan. They want to be free of U.S. influence around technology and high growth industries by 2025. The U.S. does not have a plan to deal with China. I think the way we've dealt with Beijing has been a disaster in the last few weeks. We've said we're getting tough, now we're not. There's no cohesion. No 360-degree strategy. I think --

BALDWIN: Do you think it's just a Trump move if it's probably not inspired by Mnuchin? 30 seconds.

FOROOHAR: I think this is Trump flip-flopping and taking the advice of the last person in the room with him.

BALDWIN: Rana. Quickly, the Dow is down 400 points before the closing bell. Is that tied to tariffs?

FOROOHAR: I think the Dow is more about Europe. Italy is imploding. Watch that space.

BALDWIN: All right. Rana, thank you very much.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I'll leave you all with this. America's mayor booed on his own turf. Rudy Giuliani celebrated his 74th birthday by attending his very favorite past time, a Yankee's game. The franchise wishing him a happy birthday, and then this happened.

Ouch. Giuliani apparently losing favorable in his own state perhaps as a result of his wild cable TV appearances where he offers an unwavering defense for another New Yorker. For Rudy Giuliani, it had to hurt. Yankee's stadium is Rudy's temple, he sees it as hallowed ground, his home away from home. So, this moment last night, a stark contrast to Giuliani's good old days as Gotham's mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps the biggest Yankee's fan is the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani. Thank you for joining us.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hero to us all, the former mayor of New York City.

GIULIANI: I would note the Yankees won world championships when I was the mayor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go Yankees.

GIULIANI: I can't help it. I mean, I was a Yankee fan before I was the mayor. I was the Yankee fan before I could even remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: My, what a difference a couple decades makes. Thanks for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin in New York. Now "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.