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Guatemala Volcano Death Toll Climbs To 69 as New Explosion Hampers Rescue Efforts; New Apple Tool Will Track Time Spent On Devices; Howard Schultz Stepping down At Starbucks; Facebook Under Fire Again; Trump-Kim Talks to Be Meet and Greet; Russia Investigation; Trump Cancels White House Visit for NFL Champs; Protests Rock Jordan. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired June 05, 2018 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The search is on for survivors after a deadly volcano in Guatemala. Why scientists say the worst of this disaster may still be yet to come.
Plus --
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CHURCH (voice-over): The appointment of a new prime minister in Jordan hasn't done much to calm angry protests against the government. We'll tell you why they're so upset.
And Apple's CEO sits down with CNN for an exclusive interview as his company's worth nears the trillion-dollar mark.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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CHURCH: The Fuego volcano in Guatemala caught entire villages by surprise when it erupted Sunday, burying many families in or around their homes; 69 people have been confirmed dead. But the death toll is expected to rise. Many were not able to escape these huge torrents of burning rocks, volcanic ash and hot gas. We get the details now from CNN's Michael Holmes.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fleeing for their lives, many on foot, residents living near Guatemala's volcano of fire say they were caught off guard. In one village, a woman covered in ash tells emergency workers she ran, as lava poured into cornfields.
In another nearby town, a distraught mother tells of her escape and her desperate search for her children. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I left home and walked
along the alley to go to the shops when I suddenly realized the lava was coming down and seeping through the plots of land, the highway and down next to the water tank.
It came down into the alley and up. It came right up to us. We managed to escape through the San Miguel estate. I only managed to find two children alive last night but my two female daughters, my grandson and my son are missing, together with my entire family.
HOLMES (voice-over): Amateur video show people racing away from what's called pyroclastic material, a flow of ash and lava particles and vapor. Such clouds are often extremely hot and they move extremely quickly, sometimes as fast as a commercial airliner.
And they can reach for kilometers away from the volcano. Emergency workers face a roadblock of steaming lava and debris, carefully skirting the flow as they search for survivors and victims.
Rescuers worked into the night recovering some people with severe injuries and a number of bodies of those who were not able to outrun the deadly eruption, ,sometimes using heavy construction equipment to clear the debris.
With daylight, they carefully sift through steaming debris, hoping to recover the bodies of some of those who did not escape, all the while being threatened with more activity from the volcano, working under difficult and dangerous conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The challenge we've faced is that the volcano has been active. And also working with this kind of material, which is extremely hot. That makes the work of rescuers even more difficult because we are talking about temperatures of about 30 degrees Celsius still felt on the ground while we work.
HOLMES (voice-over): But more volcanic activity on Monday sends people fleeing again. Residents run down the street, shouting, "The lava is coming." Emergency workers also forced to evacuate the area.
Thousands have now been displaced from this area, emergency shelters set up, where authorities are working to help people find loved ones. Rescuers will have to continue to search for the missing and the dead, as experts say the threat from the volcano of fire continues -- Michael Holmes, CNN.
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CHURCH: So let's get more now from Dr. Erik Klemetti, he is an associate professor and chair of geosciences at Denison University.
Thank you so much for being with us.
ERIK KLEMETTI, DENISON UNIVERSITY: Thank you.
CHURCH: Many dozens of people have been killed by the eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano, many more are still missing and the danger isn't over yet, with more eruptions likely.
We understand. What's your biggest concern at this time as you watch what's happening there?
KLEMETTI: Well, at this point, the eruption produced a number of these pyroclastic flows that filled the valleys with all sorts of volcanic debris, ash and rocks and other things. So there's two things, one is that if we have rain, you're going to produce mud flows --
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KLEMETTI: -- that can endanger people quite easily. And then if these explosions continue, we could see more of these types of hot ash flows, the pyroclastic flows, coming down the valleys again. Hopefully they can get people out of harm's way.
CHURCH: Most definitely.
Some people are comparing this eruption to Pompeii in Italy, where a whole Roman city was buried after the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
Do you see those parallels?
And why don't we have any way of knowing when something like this is going to happen?
KLEMETTI: They're definitely broadly similar. They have the same sort of volcanic eruption causing the disaster in both cases, where you had hot ash and debris coming out of the volcano, roaring down the side of the volcano at hundreds of kilometers an hour, burying everything in its path.
In that case, they're pretty similar. It's really -- the trick with understanding when a volcano is going to erupt has a lot to do with the signs it's giving, earthquakes, gases being released. And then trying to figure out how big that eruption is going to be is an even bigger challenge.
It's hard to get when, it's hard to get how big. So, in this case, I think it was really was something, the size of the eruption was the most unexpected part because Fuego's a fairly active volcano.
CHURCH: So was anyone monitoring this?
Was there any early sign at all that something of this magnitude was going to happen?
KLEMETTI: The Guatemalan Survey has instruments on Fuego, so they know what's going on with it. This is the second time it's actually erupted in 2018. The other eruption was a lot smaller. So they keep tabs on it quite closely.
But like I said, a lot of the signs that might lead to a small eruption and a large eruption could look pretty similar. So I think understanding the scale that this eruption was going to be was the part that was hard for anyone to probably predict, coming into it.
CHURCH: Right, understood.
And why is this volcanic eruption so much more deadly than what we're seeing happening in Hawaii?
Is it just coincidental that these two volcanoes erupted around the same time?
KLEMETTI: Yes, I'll start there. This is -- it's totally a coincidence. And around the planet at any given time there's maybe eight to a dozen volcanoes erupting at the same time. So multiple eruptions like this aren't too uncommon.
The difference is, in Hawaii, you had molten rock, lava flows, that move maybe hundreds of meters per hour, so that you can get out of the way if you're living there.
But these pyroclastic flows on Fuego moved so quickly after the eruption started, that you really need to be getting out of there the minute the eruption happens, otherwise you're going to get caught in its path.
It can take out buildings and bridges and it can do it all really fast and at very high temperatures. So unlike Hawaii, where you have these slow lava flows, Fuego produces these things that move a lot faster.
CHURCH: Yes, incredibly different. In Hawaii, we're watching people slowly as that lava crept towards them, it gave them time to evacuate and to get out of the way. We're not seeing that in Guatemala. It is devastating for people and it was so swift. I think that is what surprised so many people.
Erik Klemetti, thanks so much for joining us, we appreciate it.
KLEMETTI: Thank you.
CHURCH: And things are not quieting down on Hawaii's big island, where the Kilauea volcano has been threatening residents for weeks now. The lava has now destroyed at least 117 homes in the past month and is covering more than 2,000 hectares of land.
There were about 500 earthquakes in the summit area of Kilauea over the weekend and a river of lava has entered the ocean at another bay, sending a dangerous mix of acid and volcanic glass particles into the air.
The Singapore summit between U.S. president Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un is just a week away now. A source tells CNN the June 12th encounter apparently will be more of a meet-and-greet.
And Mr. Trump himself says it's part of a process that could go fast or slow. Many details apparently still need to be worked out. But we do know the two leaders will begin the sitdown at 9:00 in the morning local time in Singapore.
CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins us from Seoul, South Korea, with more on this.
Nic, now that this summit has been downgraded to a meet-and-greet, we're seeing some staff reshuffling going on, just one week ahead of this summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. We've seen the sidelining of U.S. national security adviser --
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CHURCH: -- John Bolton after his reference to the Libya model.
And in North Korea, we reported yesterday that Kim Jong-un had replaced his top three military officials.
What is the backstory to these moves on both sides.
And what does it tell us?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, on the North Korean side, it seems to be more a sort of shoring up of Kim Jong-un's position. The people who are gone are some of the older guard, if you will, even though there had been a significant reshuffling of the military even earlier this year.
But the people brought in to replace them are younger and believed to be more Kim loyalists. They're in positions -- defense chief, chief of the army and chief of the political office for the army -- that would have a potential impact or influence over any sort of new economic cooperation or restarted economic cooperation between North Korea and South Korea.
So there seems to be an element here of perhaps trying to weed out people who were seen as being corrupt. But I think you also have to look at it as well, from Kim Jong-un's perspective, this is a man who doesn't travel very far very often, a man who would be worried -- and we've seen him take out his half-brother with VX nerve agent or have people do that over the past year or so.
So this is a man who would be worried about a potential coup back home while he's out of the country. So perhaps he's shoring up support at home for that.
Bolton seems to be something else. He did say that perhaps Kim Jong- un should get rid of his nuclear weapons in the same way that Moammar Gadhafi did, which is pretty much hand them over and be done.
It didn't work out so well in the end for Moammar Gadhafi; he didn't get the support going down the road from the international community that he thought he was signing up for. So that caused a reaction from Kim Jong-un.
That caused a spat last week, where President Trump said he was going to suspend the summit. The summit is back on; Bolton is out of the way. So it seems he's being kept in the back on this at least. He's a really Iran hawk and the president certainly listens to him there.
But being kept out the way or out of sight at least, perhaps so he doesn't trip things up again so close to the summit.
CHURCH: We've also learned that Kim Jong-un plans to meet with Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad.
How's that playing in the U.S. camp?
And what signal does it send ahead of the summit with Mr. Trump?
ROBERTSON: Well, when the White House has been asked, you know, what about this, with Assad, what about the meetings that are planned with President Putin in September this year, according to the Kremlin, Kim Jong-un meeting with President Putin, the answer from the White House has been, well, we're focusing on what doing.
But it does seem to be very clear signaling from the North Korean leadership that he might be coming to the table with President Trump. But this is not a changed man. He's not about to sort of slough off longtime friends and allies. This is a man who is accused of supplying chemical weapons to Bashar al-Assad.
And if there's one thing we've seen President Trump has a firm line on, it is the use of chemical weapons in Syria by Assad. That's when he's taken his most significant international military action during his presidency.
So on this account, it does seem to be -- the message is going to be hard for the White House really to fully ignore -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Right, Nic Robertson joining us from Seoul in South Korea, let's chat again next hour. Many thanks.
The U.S. Justice Department's special counsel wants Paul Manafort to wait in jail for his trial to start next month. Robert Mueller's office accuses the former Trump campaign manager of witness tampering and wants his bail revoked.
Manafort is charged with failing to disclose his lobbying work for a foreign government. He has pleaded not guilty. Manafort's lawyers have not responded to CNN's request for comment.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a political analyst and author of the book, "How President Trump Will Govern," and he joins us now live from Los Angeles.
Great to have you with us.
EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON, POLITICAL ANALYST AND AUTHOR: My pleasure.
CHURCH: A lot to cover, of course. Let's start with this news that Robert Mueller's office accuses former Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, of witness tampering.
What are the ramifications of this development, not only for Manafort himself, of course, but for the president?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I think they're very, very severe. Let's talk about Manafort first. What Robert Mueller has done all along is, he has gone after some of the principals around Trump. And it's very clear what he wants to do. He wants, one, to build a case.
In the larger sense, really, they're just pawns in a bigger game. The name of the game is, Trump, what did he know, when did he know it and what did he do?
But you have to build the case to do that. So Manafort is certainly an important part of that.
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HUTCHINSON: Now it's often been said, can he flip Manafort, namely, keep the pressure on, the charges are there, really ratchet it up to the point where Manafort perhaps will, in fact, flip on him, on Trump, in this case.
Flipping means that he has information that would, in fact, in some way shape or form possibly incriminate Trump. We don't know what he has. We don't know anything that really could come up and develop out of what Mueller has done vis-a-vis Manafort. But nonetheless, the pressure is still on.
CHURCH: And then, of course, on Monday, President Trump tweeted this.
"I have the absolute right to pardon myself. But why would I do that, when I have done nothing wrong?"
Now that tweet had many asking, if the president believes he's actually above the law. The White House wouldn't rule out the possibility that the president might pardon himself at some point and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is the one who first raised this issue over the weekend.
So what does this signal?
And do you think the president believes he is above the law, given he flagged this?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I don't think there's any doubt about it. I don't think he would have said it and tweeted it if he didn't believe it.
What's curious is a couple of things. One, it's been pointed out, as Trump, I am saying that I do have the power to pardon myself but I didn't do anything. The question is, if you didn't do anything, why do you even need to bring up the point, I have the power to pardon myself, if there's nothing to incriminate you?
So it seems a bit of a contradiction. But let's go a little bit further than that. The power to pardon myself. Now when I first heard that, it sounded like not a president speaking but a dictator speaking, not just someone who is above the law but someone who actually is the law. And I think history has shown with a few examples the danger of that.
So I think that if Trump and those around him, Giuliani, think hard about that, these are the kinds of words and that's the kind of expression, the power to pardon myself, I have to tell you, that at some point, can come back to haunt them.
CHURCH: And, of course, we learned over the weekend that Donald Trump's attorneys disclosed that the president dictated a crucial statement on the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Previously they had denied his involvement.
This is what Rudy Giuliani said in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo Monday night.
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RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP ATTORNEY: You can make a mistake and then if you don't -- if you don't -- if you want to, you can say it's a lie. But it was a mistake.
I swear to God, it was a mistake. The guy made a mistake.
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CHURCH: So how is it possible to make such a mistake?
It's either the truth or it isn't. And all we've heard up to this point is that the president was not involved, that the statement was from his son, Don Trump Jr.
So what are we all to make of this?
And why are his attorneys revealing this now?
What might that signal, do you think?
HUTCHINSON: Well, I think a couple of things. Let's go to the meeting itself. Now from day one, Trump has said, I'm not involved with that. I have no direct involvement. That was my son-in-law and of course my son. They were the ones that met at Trump Tower.
The second thing that came out of that, it had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton, it had nothing to do with the campaign. It had nothing to do with any hanky-panky with Russian operatives. It only was about adoption policy in Russia.
Now since then, we've seen and heard so many contradictions about that meeting and walking back things, attorneys have said something different. Trump has said something different.
At this point in time, we don't know what to believe. Now we have this memo. It turns out now that Trump did have direct involvement in the meeting, probably knew about it and all the particulars of it.
So once again, something like this can be very, very incriminating down the line because what Mueller is trying to do, essentially is sift through everything to see if there's any case that can be made for, number one, lying and, secondly, an obstruction or a collusion charge.
So all of these contradictory things going back and forth really almost paint a pattern of someone you really don't know who to believe. In fact, I'm even saying can he even believe himself?
CHURCH: We'll be watching to see where it all goes. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, thanks so much for your analysis. We appreciate it.
HUTCHINSON: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, President Trump will not be welcoming the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to the White House. He canceled Tuesday's visit, saying they disagree with him, that they should stand for the national anthem.
He also said staying in the locker room during the anthem is just as disrespectful. One Eagles player says not many team members --
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CHURCH: -- wanted to go to the White House but kneeling during the anthem was not a chief concern. An NFL source says no one on the Eagles knelt during the anthem last season but several players raised their fists to protest racial injustice.
There's been a bit of a mystery as to where the U.S. first lady has been, Melania Trump hadn't been seen in public for more than three weeks. Kate Bennett reports that ended Monday.
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KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: First lady Melania Trump on Monday evening made her first appearance in public at an event for Gold Star families at the White House.
Of course, this reception was closed to press out of respect for the military families who were in attendance. The president was there as well. People cared only because no one has seen the first lady for 24 days, since May 10th.
Of course we all recall she had a medical procedure on her kidney on May the 14th in Maryland at a medical hospital. She stayed in the hospital for five more nights after that procedure and she's been somewhat Miami from the cameras ever since then.
Her spokesperson told me that Melania Trump is independent. She cares about her family and her health first. She's not going to step in front of a camera or make a statement simply because what she called the rabid press corps wants her to.
This is from her spokesperson. However, Melania Trump said the same thing in a tweet just last week, saying that she was in the White House, doing well, working on her initiatives and is feeling just fine. But that hasn't stopped the Internet from speculating everything,
crazy conspiracy theories that she's moved away, that she's in hiding, that she doesn't want to come out. However, this is a first lady who's now made an appearance at the White House with her husband in support of military families.
I will expect that even though she's not attending the G7 summit in Canada nor the Singapore summit that she will be making more and more public appearances back at home, as she gets her bearings again and her health recovers and she gets back on a regular public schedule.
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CHURCH: Kate Bennett reporting there.
Many people in Jordan are struggling to make ends meet and they say the resignation of the prime minister is not enough. What protesters plan to do next. That's still to come.
Plus, Apple's CEO sounds off on a possible trade war as the tech giant is poised to become the most valuable company ever. We're back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Jordan's prime minister has stepped down under pressure after the kingdom faced its largest protest in years. But his resignation has done little to address deep economic discontent among Jordanians.
Demonstrators insist the government stop a proposed reform, which would raise income taxes for some workers. King Abdullah has tapped a former World Bank Economist to form a new government. More details now from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More taxes and high energy prices. That's what Jordanians are protesting.
Even an order by King Abdullah to freeze the price hikes was no enough. The demonstrations got bigger. While the latest round of protests began just days ago, they're the result of years of anger and frustration with the economic situation. Jordanians say they're struggling to make ends meet on legal wages.
When it comes to the cost of living, Amman's the most expensive capital in the Arab world, according to the economist intelligence unit. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the past decade or so, we had been under so much stress, so much injustice regarding taxes, every time that are meant short of the money, the fund, or the budget, they come to the people of Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Increasing the taxes, increasing the prices, with no increase in the salaries, this is not a good country that we're going through now.
KARADSHEH: The government says the slowing flow of foreign aid and the refugee crisis have been emptying out, the state coffers. When the government turned to the IMF to bank roll its spending, it came with strings attached. Severe authority measures that have infuriated the population. The controversial income tax of seems to be the final straw for most Jordanians.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a viable option anymore that the pockets of the poor people, of the middle class in Jordan is being targeted on a regular basis every time the government needs money.
KARADSHEH: This is not just about Jordan's economic stability. This tiny desert kingdom's role in the Middle East outsizes its small land mass. It's a U.S. friend in a difficult region where the U.S. has few allies.
It maybe the taxes that drove Jordanians to the streets, but now protests he led to the resignation of Jordan's Prime Minister, meeting just one of the demonstrators' demands. If protests continue, the list of grievances could grow longer and more rooted evolving into political demands that the Jordanian leadership may not be able to meet -- Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.
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CHURCH: And here's another look at the political ups and downs. In less than 10 years, Jordan has gone through seven prime ministers. That's almost one a year, a higher turnover rate than most countries around the world.
Let's take a short break. Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the Israeli prime minister is trying to get other world leaders to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. And he's criss-crossing Europe to do it.
Plus, the first populist government in Western Europe will test its powers in just a few hours and its leaders are wasting no time in pushing their agenda. We're back in a moment.
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[02:30:55] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A very warm welcome back to all of you as joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you on the main stories we've been following this hour. At least 69 people were killed after Guatemala's Fuego volcano erupted Sunday with sudden speed and ferocity. It spewed rivers of lava and huge clouds of burning rocks, volcanic ash, and hot gas. The death toll is expected to rise as a number of families are missing. A source tell CNN, the June 12th summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un will be more as a meet and greet, and that the goal is a broad agreement on nuclear disarmament. The details of which could take years to negotiate. The special counsel in the Russia investigation says former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort has been tampering with potential witnesses in his case.
Robert Mueller's office is asking that Manafort's bail and house arrest be revoked and that he weighs that his trial next month in jail. All right. We do want to go back to our top story now, the swift and deadly volcano eruption that engulfed entire villages in Guatemala. Take a look at what really made this eruption so terrifying and deadly with no warning, millions face this menacing volcanic cloud moving so fast toward them that many had no chance to flee in time. And now, mothers and fathers are looking for their children and entire families are missing. Our meteorologist Ivan Cabrera joins us now with more on this devastating volcano. Of course we've seen the death toll rise. We know that many more people are missing and now the weather has a role to play and it won't be a good one.
IVAN CABRERA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The weather is going to be an issue for the folks that are out there. It's just meticulously going through all that ash and found still rescue people because of the rainfall. Let's talk about that because I think we are not quite done. I want to show you -- we've been showing you a lot of the scene course from the ground that you can see it from space. It's a big deal here. Look at the explosion here. A lot of cloud cover around. When you see the paint color there, that is just coming up and that by the way shot 10 kilometers up into the atmosphere and then blew to the east with the prevailing winds. But of course, the flow -- that pyroclastic flow of just incredible temperatures and speed, that's the one that of course kill a lot of people. So let's talk about what is still ongoing as far as the threat as far as what I'm seeing here.
As Rosemary talks to our guest earlier, additional eruptions are possible, right, and additional pyroclastic flows are possible, but it looks like the big event has already occurred but even so they got to get people out of the way in case that does happen again where additional was then this. This hasn't happened yet, lahars, mudflows. This create -- it's created when they essentially the ash that is come down from the volcano mixes with water, but that's the key. Think about it like cement. You mix cement with water, you get yourself some concrete and that is by the way a kind of viscosity that we're talking a mud here, so it's not the initial flow that comes down at 700 kilometers per hour. This is slower but it can be just as deadly because it's also very hot and can flow through riverbeds as they typically do and really just take everything in its path here, so we're going to be monitoring for that very closely over the next few days. We are in the rainy season, OK?
In Guatemala, so it's going to rain today, tomorrow, the next day. It's just a matter of what are the storm setup and how heavy they are, but look at one of the models here indicating some heavy amounts of rain and all will accumulate just in the next 48 hours to bring us about a hundred to a hundred fifty millimeters of rainfall here, so the forecast now looking good on portfolio over the next few days. We'll continue to see that rain and you see this kind of event was kind of like an earthquake. People are so nervous. They hear something rumbling and they run through the streets. I think that's going to be unfortunately the case as well as rescuers hopefully can find some more folks alive in that rumble.
CHURCH: It is terrifying experience to people. Thank you so much. We'll talk again about this next hour. OK. Thanks, Ivan.
[02:35:02] Well, the United States appears to be closer than ever to a full-scale trade war with its allies. British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke with President Trump Monday and called the tariffs unjustified and deeply disappointing. Now, this follows a call with French President Emmanuel Macron which a source described is terrible. Macron called the tariffs illegal and a mistake. And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called them insulting and unacceptable. Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on a globetrotting mission trying to convince Europe's leaders to join the U.S. and pull out of the Iran nuclear deal. He meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris in the coming hour and on Monday he held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. More now from CNN's Atika Shubert.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, when he left Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he had two things to discuss in Europe, Iran and Iran. He was greeted first in Germany by Chancellor Angela Merkel. They had a brief meeting before holding a press conference where they talked about where they agreed on Iran and where they did not.
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ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (via translator): Although we have a different opinion as to the usefulness of the JCPOA and its effectiveness. Germany did not cancel this agreement. Together with other European partners, we standby it. But we are at one in saying this issue regional influence of Iran is a very worrying one particularly for the security of the State of Israel.
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SHUBERT: They heard that Chancellor Merkel mentioned the JCPOA that of course is the Iran deal that Germany, France, and the U.K. all say is necessary to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The deal of course offer sanctions relief in exchange for Iran dismantling its nuclear weapons program. But Israel does not like the deal. In fact, Prime Minister Netanyahu has called the deal a disaster. Instead, Israel wants to see a new agreement in which Iran must be forced to give up not only its nuclear weapons program but also its ballistic missiles program, and military influence in the region particularly in Syria.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: And it's important to prevent Iran from getting the nuclear weapon. We commit and I commit again that we will not let that happen.
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SHUBERT: Of course, President Trump has already pulled the U.S. out of the deal threatening sanctions on any European company that continues to do business in Iran. So now, Europe is struggling to find a way to either save the deal or find a feasible alternative before the deal collapses. Atika Shubert, CNN Berlin.
CHURCH: In just a few hours, the Italian Senate is set to vote on whether to approve the first populist government in Western Europe. After months of political uncertainty, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is expected to win a vote of confidence for his government. The leader of the anti-immigrant league party is now the Interior Minister Matteo Salvini wasted no time to call on the European Union to give easily more assistance for receiving refugees from Africa and the Middle East. Salvini says Italy will no longer be, "Europe's refugee camp." And still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM --
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TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: If they're picking up their phone 10 times an hour or 20 times an hour, maybe they could -- maybe they could do it less.
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CHURCH: Apple CEO talked cellphone addiction and other issues facing the tech world. It's a CNN exclusive.
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[02:41:20] CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for same-sex couple. But the highly anticipated decision is not exactly what advocates of religious liberty were hoping for. CNN's Jessica Schneider explains.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Justice Anthony Kennedy just three years after writing the decision that clear the way for gay marriage nationwide, today, coming down in favor of a baker in Colorado who refused to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But the decision was narrow. It only applies to the baker in this case, Jack Phillips and may not affect any future cases. A couple who brought the case and married in 2012 promised a continued fight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today's decision means our fight against discrimination and unfair treatment will continue. We have always believed that in America you should not be turned away from a business open to the public because of who you are.
SCHNEIDER: The couple told CNN after the Supreme Court arguments in December that they first filed their complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission in 2011 to take a stand.
DAVID MULLINS, PLAINTIFF: This case is about more than us and it's not about cakes. It's about the right of gay people to receive equal service.
SCHNEIDER: Baker Jack Phillips was inside his cake shop today. His lawyer spoke on his behalf saying Phillips celebrated the narrow ruling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The court's decision today makes very clear that the government must respect Jack Phillips' belief about marriage. If we want to have freedom for ourselves, we have to ascend it to those with whom we disagree.
SCHNEIDER: The majority of justices focused their criticism on the Colorado Commission's animosity towards the baker's religious beliefs. Justice Kennedy wrote, the commission's hostility was inconsistent with the First Amendment's guarantee that our laws be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion and the opinion acknowledge that the issue is still unsettled when it comes to whether merchants may refuse certain services to gay couples on the basis of religion. The outcome of cases like this in other circumstances must await further elaboration in the court's all in the context of recognizing that these disputes must be resolve with tolerance without undue disrespect to sincere religious beliefs and without subjecting gay persons to indignities when they see goods and service in an open market.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: The baker claimed he was not just an ordinary business person. He was an artist. He was like a painter or a sculptor or a poet and it would violate the First Amendment if he were force to create a cake like a novelist would be force to write a novel.
SCHNEIDER: Jessica Schneider, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Apple is close to becoming the first trillion dollar company. Its market value is currently hovering around $943 billion with a stock price just under $192 a share. Now, if the stock gets over $202, Apple will hit the trillion dollar mark. Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for an exclusive TV interview with our Laurie Segall to talk about trade, privacy, and cellphone addiction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You guys announced tech addiction tool that will almost help us limit our screen time, so what's the thinking behind that?
COOK: Well, you know, we've never been focused on usage as a key parameter. We want people to be incredibly satisfied and empowered by our -- the devices that we share. But we've never wanted people to spend a lot of time on them or all of their time on them. And, you know, it's a personal thing is to how much is too much. We thought a lot about this and we're rolling out great tools to both make people aware of how much time they're spending and the apps that they're spending, you know, but also how many times they picked up their phone, how many notifications they get, who is sending them the notifications.
[02:45:15] SEGALL: So tell me about your own tech habits, what did you learn?
COOK: Yes, I -- I've been using in, and I have to tell you, I thought I was fairly disciplined about this, and I was wrong. When I began to get the data, I found I was spending a lot more time than I should.
SEGALL: Like when?
COOK: And -- well, I don't want to give you all the apps, but just too much. And the number of times I picked up the phone were too many.
SEGALL: Do you think that tech companies are in a position right now where they can self-regulate with some of these more sticky issues?
COOK: Generally, for me, I'm not a big fan of regulation. I think self-regulation is the best. But when it's not working, and in some cases, it's not working, you have to ask yourself, so what form of regulation might be good?
SEGALL: What kind do you think isn't working?
COOK: Well, I think the privacy thing has gotten totally out of control. And I think most people are not aware of who is tracking them? How much they're being tracked? And sort of the large amounts of detailed data that are out there about them.
SEGALL: Do we as users just have to re-envision the idea of privacy? Is it a luxury at this point?
COOK: No, to me, and we feel this very deeply, we think privacy is a fundamental human right. So, that is the angle that we look at it. Privacy from an American point of view is one of these key civil liberties that define what it is to be American.
SEGALL: It's a fundamental human right. Do you think the last year has shown that got fundamental human right could be under attack?
COOK: I think it has been under attack.
SEGALL: Just this morning, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a cake in celebration of a same-sex couple. As a leader in the community, as Apple has -- you know, continue to stood for LGBTQ rights, what's your reaction?
COOK: Well, I haven't read the opinion. And so, I reserve the right to read that and deeply understand it before I comment on it. But in terms of the general topic, we believe that everybody should treat everybody else with dignity and respect. And that's how we run our company, that's what we expect of the each other, and that pertains to all communities including the LGBTQ community.
SEGALL: I know that there is this fear of the impact on consumers, and will iPhone prices go up if there's an escalated trade war. (INAUDIBLE) now I know, you said you're optimistic before, are you still optimistic?
COOK: I am. I am very optimistic because no one will win from that. It will be a lose-lose.
SEGALL: Do you think that if that were to occur that iPhone prices could go up?
COOK: I don't think that iPhone will get a tariff on it. Is my belief, based on what I've been told and what I see, I just don't see that.
SEGALL: Are you concerned at all with a lot of the stricter immigration policies? I know you've been outspoken on DACA.
COOK: Yes, I think my view on DACA is the Congress needs to fix DACA. And fix DACA to me means allow everyone to stay in the country, and stop this ridiculous discussion that people brought here as kids shouldn't be allowed to stay here. Then, I think, we should fix the issue where there's huge green card backlogs and people not knowing whether they're going to be able to stay or not.
Look, my view, as a country is -- as a country, we should have a goal of having the smartest people in the world here. That's what is great for America.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well -- OK, well, the longtime head of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, have announced he's stepping down, and he may have his eye on the White House. Schultz tells The New York Times, he's considering a run for the presidency. CNN's Paula Newton has more now on his departure from the coffee chain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Howard Schultz will step down. Step down as Starbucks executive chairman that is effective June 26. Schultz was previously served as Starbucks CEO. You know, his a very outspoken CEO there. He oversaw the company's incredible growth and remained its most prominent executive. Paul La Monica is here, it's incredible to me. Howard Schultz now has three weeks left at the company that he created.
PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I don't think many people saw this coming, even though he has stepped back as the CEO of the company, handing the reins over to Kevin Johnson, a former tech executive with Microsoft.
NEWTON: Yes, they did.
LA MONICA: You know, we wound up having Howard Schultz still will being a very prominent public person to address the controversy with what happened in Philadelphia recently, with the two gentlemen who were asked to leave because they didn't order anything, and it sparked this whole racial backlash.
And now have Myron Ullman, who's going to be -- who's going to be the new executive chairman, former head of J.C. Penney, and (INAUDIBLE) also Mellody Hobson, African-American who is the head of Ariel Investments. Big time investment firm, she's stepping in as vice chairman. Kevin Johnson is not going to be the chairman of Starbucks. They are separating out (INAUDIBLE).
[02:50:11] NEWTON: They are separating that, that roll out. Really interesting, you fear a shareholder going forward. I mean, you've got a big expansion in China hear to worry about. Are you worried that there are safe pairs of hands there to see this through?
LA MONICA: I think that investors probably will be OK with this because we already knew that Schultz was stepping back from the day- to-day operations. And Kevin Johnson seems to be a pretty savvy person with regards to the operational side of things. And they also have the former head of Sam's Club, who is now the COO of the company, as well.
NEWTON: Right.
LA MONICA: She's pretty well respected in the retail industry. So, I think that for the most part, people are going to be OK with this. But remember, when Schultz stepped back from Starbucks -- you know, a few years ago, the stock cratered, of course, it was around the same time as the 2008 financial crisis too, but there was a lot of concern about Schultz stepping back. And then, he had to come in and save the company again.
NEWTON: Yes.
LA MONICA: I don't think that's going to happen this time around, but it's always, of course, you have to wonder when the visionary founder is taking a step back, what's next?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, Facebook is under fire again for how it allegedly handles users' personal data. CNNMoney Samuel Burke has more now on the scope of this latest controversy.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNNMONEY BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Facebook is defending how it shares personal data about its users with dozens of smartphone and tablet makers. This New York Times Investigation revealed really the scope of Facebook's data sharing deals over the years with big companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung.
The agreements give some device makers to Facebook users' education history, relationship status, work, religion, even political leanings, as well as upcoming events that Facebook users say they'll attend. Now, Facebook says it gave device makers access to this information only so they could build versions of Facebook that worked on different phones or operating systems. But what Facebook hasn't addressed is why these phone makers would need all that personal data I just listed to build those tools.
A V.P. for Facebook saying in a blog post, "This partner signed agreements that prevented people's Facebook information from being used for any other purpose than to re-create Facebook-like experiences. We are not aware of any abuse by these companies."
But that last line there only highlights the fact that Facebook's policy made user data vulnerable to abuse. Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft haven't immediately responded to requests for comment. But since the Cambridge Analytica scandal erupted, Facebook has been under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators all around the world over its handling of user's data, and the steps it takes to protect their privacy.
Now, the standoff tumbled Facebook stock, but after Mark Zuckerberg survives that series of grilling's from lawmakers in the United States and here in Europe, Facebook stock has since recovered to trade close to its all-time high.
CHURCH: But when it comes to the Russia investigation, Donald Trump's lawyer says. "Our recollection keeps changing." Rudy Giuliani isn't doing much better-remembering names, either. And we will explain that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:54:57] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, sitting down for an interview on live T.V. can be a pretty nerve-racking experience. Some people struggle to get their facts straight, others can't seem to get the name's right. And Jeanne Moos takes a look.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Before you meet the press, it's best to know who you're meeting. But host Chuck Todd has one of those last names that sounds like a first name, leaving Rudy Giuliani flummoxed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it's nice to be with you, Todd. How are you?
CHUCK TODD, HOST, MEET THE PRESS DAILY, MSNBC: I'm OK, let me start by --
GIULIANI: Chris.
TODD: And so, OK.
MOOS: No Chris on the show, either.
GIULIANI: We're not playing baseball. TODD: Fair enough, fair enough.
GIULIANI: Right, yes.
TODD: But we won't did the last names, Giuliani. Right?
GIULIANI: All right.
MOOS: Tweeted one viewer, so his new name is Todd Chris. Nice ring to it, also a nice ring to the name Senator Harry Reid, once blurted out for Wolf Blitzer
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, first of all, Blitz, the first --
MOOS: And how about the Blitz of Tim's? President Obama once launched at Matt Lauer.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, Tim, I think that -- Well, I think what it is, Tim --
Well, Tim, first of all --
MOOS: Finally, Matt couldn't take another Tim.
MATT LAUER, FORMER CONTRIBUTOR, DATELINE NBC: I just want to say, I know you had a very long weekend, so, of I. You're saying Tim, I know, it's Matt Lauer, but I -- believe me, I completely -- I completely understand.
OBAMA: Matt, I'm sorry.
MOOS: But who? Who could call a former president, President Nixon, by another president's name to his face no less? Some rookie reporter that would be me, 34 years ago.
President Reagan. Sorry, President Nixon.
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been called worse than that.
MOOS: You know what's worse? When Osama becomes Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Obama bin Laden is still at large.
OBAMA: I think that was Osama bin Laden.
OBAMA: And it was even worse when a sports anchor intentionally use a female tennis star's name, Chris Evert to goad then, quarterback Jim Everett.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris.
MOOS: A quarterback sacked the host. The subconscious makes some weird links, like between Lincoln and Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For its first president of the United States, President Jefferson William Lincoln!
MOOS: But politicians and anchors tend to answer to anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blitz.
OBAMA: We'll have some first of all --
GIULIANI: Well, nice to be with you, Todd.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
President Reagan. Sorry, President Nixon.
New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Tough stuff there. And thanks for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be right back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Don't go anywhere.
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