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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Historic Summit in Singapore; U.S. President Lashes Out at G7 Allies; Memorial for Anthony Bourdain in Manhattan; NYC Pizza Delivery Man Granted Deportation Stay; House Explodes in Cleveland, Ohio Suburb. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 11, 2018 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a one-time shot and I think it's going to work out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START SHOW CO-HOST: An optimistic President Trump as he prepares to make history. Can the self-proclaimed greatest deal maker bring peace to the Korean Peninsula? We are live in Singapore.

DAVE BRIGGS, EARLY START SHOW CO-HOST: And President Trump digging in his heels and crossing his arms on trade after a rocky weekend at the G7. Why he is isolated himself from U.S. allies and how the world is reacting. Boy did that photo speak a thousand words. It was the photo to sum up U.S. relations with our allies. Good morning everyone. Welcome to "Early Start." I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, June 11th, 4:00 a.m. in the east, 4:00 p.m. in Singapore. You know, Donald Trump was elected to disrupt and to change the status quo and this weekend he did.

BRIGGS: He did that indeed.

ROMANS: Absolutely did, threw out the playbook and writing his own rules here on the global stage. And now, President Trump is getting ready to do something no sitting U.S. president has ever done. In just hours, he will meet face to face with the leader of North Korea. It is late afternoon in Singapore. It has been a very busy day there.

President Trump met with Singapore's prime minister and other government officials for a working lunch. The president is joined by top aides and members of his cabinet including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Adviser John Bolton.

BRIGGS: President Trump insisting this is a one time shot for Kim Jong-un to achieve peace and prosperity for his people. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think within the first minute I'll know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How?

TRUMP: Just my touch, my feel. That's what. That's what I do. I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not in my opinion something positive will happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: North Korean state media reporting Kim is open to discussing denuclearization and durable peacekeeping on the Korean peninsula. For the latest, let's go live to CNN's Paula Hancocks in Singapore, the location of these talks. She will set the table for us. Hi there, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Dave. Well, it is just a day away and we are seeing an absolute flurry of diplomatic activity, the last-minute negotiations to try and make sure there is some kind of an agenda that is hammered out before these two leaders sit down to that historic meeting. The U.S. ambassador Sung Kim has been meeting with his North Korean counterpart once again this morning.

They have been meeting for weeks at the DMZ talking about what exactly they want to get out of this summit. But we heard from the North Koreans, they have said through KCNA, through the main anchorwoman who comes out for very important moments that this is a historic foreign tour. Announcing the fact that Kim Jong-un is coming to Singapore to talk to the U.S. President ahead of time. So clearly they are hoping it can be successful.

But talking about how they are going to establish new relations between the U.S. and North Korea, they are going to build a permanent and durable peacekeeping mechanism and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. So we are getting some very specific details there from North Korean media about exactly what Kim Jong-un is intending to talk about.

Now, as you can imagine, there have been a number of media scrums (ph) around this city state, most of them following the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. You can see the lines of people certainly when he came from the airport to the St. Regis Hotel taking photos of him, some even waving at him as he was driving past. A few less following the U.S. President, but certainly a lot following the North Korean leader, Dave.

BRIGGS: Quite an image of those body guards taking a jog there. Less than 17 hours away from the summit. Paula Hancocks, live for us there in Singapore. Thanks.

ROMANS: So, after months of negotiations, posturing and preparation, the White House has less than a day to nail down the president's strategy. What will it be? We hope to find out more in less than an hour when the White House is set to hold a briefing. CNN White House reporter Jeremy Diamond, live in Singapore with the latest. So, sometime the next hour, we will hear from a senior administration official to sort of layout where we stand right now. The president sounded optimistic on his way to this trip. What is the deliverable I guess for the White House here, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That is right. First of all, we can now report that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will indeed be the senior administration official who will brief the Press Corps here about this summit that President Trump is set to have tomorrow with Kim Jong-un. But before he does that, we have now learned from a senior administration official that President Trump and Kim Jong-un will indeed meet one-on-one tomorrow with only translators at their sides.

To kick off this historic summit, first they will meet -- they will shake hands before the cameras and then they will go into a room, just the two of them with translators, and they will begin to hash out a potential agreement that they hope to achieve, begin those discussions.

[04:05:02] Remember, President Trump said that he believes it will be within the first minute that he will be able to know whether or not Kim Jong-un is serious. And it appears that first minute will now be simply between those two men, not with any other senior U.S. officials around them. The president today meeting with the Singaporean prime minister, said that he believes that the summit could work out very nicely.

And that comes as senior U.S. officials were still working to hash out details with the North Korean delegation today in Singapore. They were discussing what could potentially be an agreement that the U.S. president and North Korean leader could reach. And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says those discussions, which were led by the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, were both substantive and detailed.

ROMANS: All right, Jeremy Diamond, we will talk to you again very, very soon. We look forward to that briefing now we'd know from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo next hour. Thank you, sir.

BRIGGS: OK, as President Trump tries to make peace with a long time enemy, he is simultaneously driving away due to America's relationship with its closest allies. Overnight, the president attacking members of the G7 on twitter, complaining about other countries, massive trade surpluses while the U.S. being close to the entire cost of NATO.

The president refusing to sign the G7 communique or official statement once he heard Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say Canada plans to retaliate against Mr. Trump's steel tariffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing, but it is something that we absolutely will do because Canadians, we are polite, we are reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: President Trump calling Trudeau's comments dishonest and weak. And listen to one of the president's top advisers piling on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: He really kind of stabbed us in the back. He really actually, you know what, he did a great disservice to the whole G7.

PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: A special place in hell for the prime minister of Canada. Let's go live to Berlin and bring in CNN international correspondent Atika Shubert. Atika, what is the E.U. response to all of this?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, deeply disappointed, but not surprised, Dave. I mean, considering it is not just trade, but climate change, whatever the international agreement seems to be with his closest allies, President Trump seems pretty intent on either removing himself from it or breaking it. And he is not just singling out Canada for criticism on twitter.

He is attacking Germany especially out of Europe, singling out the fact that they only pay -- that Germany only pays one percent of its GDP on NATO defense. That is an old complaint of his and something he has spoken about many times with Chancellor Merkel, but he's bringing up again on twitter.

Now, why is he singling out Canada and Cermany in particular? What we know from Prime Minister Trudeau's comments that, you know, there was this concern he was making President Trump look weak. In Germany's case, it might be this. This is the main photo splashed across the front pages this morning. And you can see -- I think we have an actual close up of the photo.

Chancellor Angela Merkel looking very stern, leaning over President Trump who looks kind of defiant, but also looks like he is kind of being lectured to, something which we know President Trump hates. And that may be another reason why President Trump has been attacking Germany on twitter because he doesn't want to be put looking in this position just as he goes into talks with Kim Jong-un.

BRIGGS: The body language of that photo is just astounding. You wonder why he'd want to sit there and have the elevated, you know, reverse power complex there. Atika Shubert, live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: It is so interesting, Dave, because that -- how you read that photo depends on what you think about Donald Trump. His supporters saying, look at him. He is standing defiant against the rest of the world. Being lectured by these people who are the status quo, you know, Trump is going to do it his way. And then others are saying, OK, it looks like President Trump is isolated and alone there.

BRIGGS: But what do you make of this?

ROMANS: Yes, and that body language --

BRIGGS: It depends on what you make of this.

ROMANS: It's true. It's true. Anyway, that photo is going to be in a lot of newspapers this morning around the world, no question.

President Trump lashing U.S. trading partners, renewing attacks on NATO spending as Atika just said. Trump has long criticized members for what he says not paying their fair share, tweeting that, the U.S. pays close to the entire cost of NATO, protecting the same countries that rip us off on trade, adding that they pay only a fraction of the cost and laugh.

And also, he singled out Germany for paying one percent slowly of GDP while we pay four percent of a much larger GDP. OK, so here's what you need to know. NATO is based on the idea of collective defense, asking members to spend two percent of their GDP, their Growth Domestic Product on defense. There's no penalty if they don't. It is a guideline here.

[04:10:02] The U.S. does not pay the entire cost of NATO, but out of 28 nations, only four including the U.S. spend at least two percent of their GDP. OK, the U.S. is, you know, giant in the room, right. The U.S. spent $686 billion on defense last year. That is more than double all other NATO countries combined. It's the largest economy in the world by the way, with the largest military spending.

Germany spent about 1.2 percent of GDP on defense, that's about $45 billion. But members that fall below two percent, they are ramping up spending and have been, with the E.U. and Canada on track to meet that target by 2024. Many say because of that cajoling from the president of the United States, they are starting to spend more.

BRIGGS: But what brought this back to the president's attention is what I can't quite figure out?

ROMANS: It is fascinating. It may be that because he is on the front page of the German newspapers looking like he is being lectured by Angela Merkel. It may be that he is trying to tie this altogether that the trade and defense and that the U.S. has the moral authority on all of this and stop complaining.

BRIGGS: Merkel did put that photo out first --

ROMANS: She did.

BRIGGS: -- so perhaps that was a shot back. OK, President Trump refusing to retreat from his call to re-admit Russia into the G7. In fact, he is doubling down. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in. I think it would be good for the world. I think it would be good for Russia. I think it would be good for the United States. I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7. I think the G8 would be better. I think having Russia back in would be a positive thing. We are looking for peace in the world. We are not looking to play games.

(EBD VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: But is Russia looking for peace in the world? Russia was kicked out of four years ago for annexing Crimea. It was the first violation of the European country's borders since World War II. Let's go to live to Moscow and bring in senior international correspondent Matthew Chance. Matthew, exactly what Russia did to get welcome back into that community, but what's reaction there?

MATTHEW CHANCE, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, first of all, I mean, it hasn't been welcome back. I mean, Donald Trump is in a G1 on this issue it seems because everyone else in the G7 is absolutely against it seems. Bringing Russia back into the group of industrialized nations, given that there has been no progress on the main reason it was kicked out of the G8 in the first place, the annexation as you say of Crimea.

But there has been a whole host of other things as well, meddling in the U.S. election, the downing of a civilian airliner, the backing of Bashar al-Assad, the recent chemical weapons attack on the streets of Britain against a former spy and his daughter. You know, when you look at rewarding Russia in this way by re-admitting it, there was absolutely no support in that lines (ph).

In terms of what the Russians have responded to this, well they responded to it with some skepticism. Initially, they said look, nobody care about the G8. We focus on other formats they said. And again, you know, I think the certain awareness in Russia about the resistance to this and an awareness that Donald Trump cannot always if ever, deliver on the things he promises about Russia. He promised to make relationship better and of course it has gotten much worse and the sanctions have been ratcheted up, Dave.

BRIGGS: Astounding development there. All right, Matthew Chance, live for us in Moscow. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, 13 minutes past the hour on this historic Monday folks. And this, a pizza delivery man is saved from deportation after he was arrested dropping off food to the New York Army base. Why his attorney says he deserves to stay with his wife and two young daughters in the United States, up next.

[04:15:(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: It's 4:17 eastern time. A federal judge has blocked at least temporarily the deportation of an undocumented New York City pizza delivery man. He was turned over to immigration officials earlier this month by delivering pizza to an army base in Brooklyn. More now from CNN's Polo Sandoval.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, Pablo Villavicencio, the 35-year-old New York area pizza delivery man, who was detained by ICE officers earlier this month and remains in custody. He went to a Brooklyn area Army base to make his delivery. Because he had no Department of Defense identification, he was subjected to an on-site background check in order to gain access to the base, when the system showed that he had an active warrant for his deportation.

ICE was called at the time by military police officers and Villavicencio was detained and he was also nearly deported just a few days ago when his lawyers filed an emergency stay. We are told by his family that Villavicencio had actually filed for a green card back in February and was currently waiting to hear a response from the government when he was detained. The legal team for this gentleman telling me that he does not have a criminal record and also that the 2010 voluntarily deportation order did not come as a result of any sort of law enforcement encounter.

In fact, it was more of an administrative process that was playing out in immigration court. And also important to point out that according to his legal team, this was not the first time that he had made a delivery at that base. We will find out in about a month and a week what a judge decides. Dave and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, thank you so much for that, Polo Sandoval. White House staffers have reportedly been taping pieces of paper back together after President Trump rips them up in order to comply with the Presidential Records Act. According to "Politico," the papers include letters and official documents were required by law to be preserved and sent to the National Archives.

A former records management analyst who was terminated after 30 years of government service says, he had never seen anything like it in previous administrations. He says, quote, I have a letter from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He tore it up. It was the craziest thing ever. He ripped papers into tiny pieces.

BRIGGS: President Trump's habit of deleting his tweets and reposting them slightly altered or without typos has already raised questions about compliance with the law. The White House previously said they have systems in place to preserve all tweets as presidential records. Those will someday be studied by historians, all the president's tweets, not by English professors, of course.

ROMANS: No, of course. It is history. It is the record, the historical record. That's what we have.

All right, a house explodes in the Cleveland suburb killing one person and injuring another.

[04:20:00] The latest we are learning about how it happened, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: The New York City restaurant where Anthony Bourdain rocketed to fame in the 1990s has become the scene of a memorial improvised by his fans. Bourdain died Friday in France at the age of 61. Tributes, messages, cans of beer, flowers and more left outside the Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan.

ROMANS: Bouirdain's original claim to fame was a memoir written while he was executive chef at the restaurant. A behind the scenes look called "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." It turned the one time dishwasher into celebrity chef.

[04:25:01] Bourdain was in France last week working on an episode of his CNN series "Parts Unknown." A friend found him unresponsive in his hotel room. The cause of death is suicide.

BRIGGS: Fire officials in Ohio are investigating the cause of a deadly house explosion in suburban Cleveland on Sunday. One person was killed, another critically injured. The aftermath, as you can see, a stunning scene of destruction. Debris tossed all over the neighborhood. Several nearby homes were heavily damaged in the explosion. The force of the blast knocking down walls and blowing out windows.

ROMANS: Then CDC is advising people to check their fridge or freezer for pre-cut melon following a salmonella outbreak. Officials say at least 60 people had been sickened by eating the melon contaminated by salmonella. It was sold in stores including Costco, Trader Joe's, WalAmrt, Walgreens and Whole Foods in those eight states.

BRIGGS: OK, ahead, it is something many thought we would never see. Final preparations are under way for President Trump's historic summit with Kim Jong-un. We are live in Singapore, next on "Early Start."