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At This Hour

Video Shows Trump Saluting North Korean General; Trump Foundation Responds to Lawsuit Filed by New York Attorney General; Congress Returns to Baseball Field One Year after Shooting; Interview with Rep. Joe Barton. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired June 14, 2018 - 11:30   ET

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

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[11:34:09] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: North Korean state media is just releasing never-before-seen footage from the Trump/Kim summit in Singapore. Look at this. President Trump saluting a North Korean general. This video is being used as propaganda by the North Koreans.

Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is joining me now.

Barbara, any reaction from the Pentagon about this?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, they're looking at this perhaps through military eyes here. The president of the United States, there's no rules or regulations about who or when he salutes to anybody else in uniform. This is a protocol decision for the president to make. Our Jeff Zeleny, at the White House, has been told the president was briefed on all of these possibilities. And he clearly chose to return the salute from the North Korean general. This gives the North Koreans a very critical image that they can show their own people of the president of the United States making a gesture of military respect to the North Korean regime. Whether it was intentional or not, that is the result of what has happened.

Again, it is a question of custom. A president of the United States often salutes American armed forces and may salute the forces, as happened, of U.S. allies. The most usual thing here is that he's saluting an adversary, a nation considered a state sponsor of terrorism. And he made a protocol decision to go ahead and do it, he wanted that deal with Kim Jong-Un -- Kate?

[11:35:38] BOLDUAN: Let's talk about that deal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in China today, Barbara trying to -- working on explaining what happened in Singapore. What are you hearing about it?

STARR: Here at the Pentagon, what they're waiting for is that decision to go ahead and suspend the so-called war games that President Trump talked about in Singapore. What we're seeing right now is, deep inside the Pentagon, military planners are looking at how to carry out the president's intent on all of this. Once again, the president makes big picture statements, he wants to suspend war games, wants to continue with some kind of readiness training. What the military now has to figure out what all of that means and how to carry out these big-picture statements from the president. It is very likely, we're told, that they will issue a statement about suspending planning for the big exercise already scheduled for August and then try and figure out what other kinds of training they can do and still meet Mr. Trump's intent.

The key question here is the U.S. military trains all the time. And the U.S. has a security commitment for the protection of South Korea. Those two things haven't changed. They have to figure out now how to make it all work and work under the umbrella of the terms that the president has set -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Trying to figure all of that out in real time.

Barbara, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

STARR: Sure.

BOLDUAN: We continue to follow breaking news. New York attorney general filing suit moments ago against Donald Trump and his family for violating federal and state charities laws. This goes back to a big conversation, a lot of reporting that was happening during the election, what the president was doing, was he telling the truth about the money going in and out of his family's charity. The president calls the lawsuit ridiculous. The Trump Foundation is now responding.

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[11:42:48] BOLDUAN: We're following breaking news. The New York attorney general filing suit moments ago against Donald Trump and his family for the Trump family charity. Accusing them all of violating federal and state charities laws. And now the Trump family is responding.

Jean Casarez is back here with me.

Jean, what are you learning?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is an extremely serious allegation in this complaint. We just heard back from the Trump Foundation in a scathing response.

But, first of all, filed just less than an hour ago, a 41-page civil complaint alleging that the Donald J. Trump Foundation was actually an empty shell, that the purpose was to benefit Donald J. Trump personally and his businesses. The complaint talks about the willful conduct, that there was no oversight of this charitable foundation at all, that it was solely in the hands of President Trump, Donald J. Trump himself.

Now, the foundation has responded, saying, quote, "This is politics at its very worst. The foundation has donated over $19 million to worthy charitable causes, more than it ever received. The president himself or through his companies has contributed more than $8 million. The reason the foundation was able to donate more than it took in is because it had little to no expenses. This is unheard of for a charitable foundation." It goes on to say that the foundation announced more than a year and a

half ago its intention to dissolve, which it has done, they say. And it was a campaign promise of now President Trump.

[11:44:25] BOLDUAN: Now the courts will be taking a look at it all.

Jean, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Coming up, talk about a comeback. One year after horrific shooting at a congressional baseball practice, members of Congress are ready to play ball once again. The captain of last year's Republican team, Texas Congressman Joe Barton, he joins me next.

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BOLDUAN: A nonprofit in New York City is taking a stand against violent attacks against trans gender people. Today's "Impact Your World" shows us how the Anti-Violence Project is providing help and hope.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been physically attacked. It is a cost for you to be an apologetic self in this country.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zakariya Fry, Felicia Mitchell, Karla Patricia Flores, these are a few of the people murdered in 2018. More than one in four trans people have been assaulted because of their identity.

The New York Anti-Violence Project is working to help.

BEVERLY TILLERY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT: AVP coordinates the national coalition of anti-violence programs, which is a network of about 50 organizations to end all forms of violence that impact the LGBTQ community. We support survivors through a 24-hour bilingual hot line, staff and volunteers are available 24 hours, who can walk people through immediate safety planning. We have legal services here and individual counseling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a hot line on here.

TILLERY: We do outreach and hold safety night, giving people information about how to prevent incidents of violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I started off as a client. I was so empowered by the services they gave me, I wanted to take it around the whole city.

TILLERY: Until people are willing to stand up in some way, the violent acts will continue.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [11:50:42] BOLDUAN: One year ago today, a man opened fire on Republican members of Congress, their family and their security as they practiced for a charity baseball game. Tonight, they take to the field once again. You'll remember House majority whip, Steve Scalise. He was critically injured. Several others were wounded as well in that shooting. After a long road of recovery for many of them, Scalise is scheduled to suit up tonight. He's going to reclaim his position as starting second baseman.

Texas Congressman Joe Barton was the captain of the team last year. He was at that practice when the shooting started. His sons were there as well. That day Congressman Barton thanked officers for saving their lives.

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REP. JOE BARTON, (R), TEXAS: The heroes are the police officers who attacked the shooter, and in doing so, probably saved many, many lives.

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BOLDUAN: Congressman Barton is joining me live right now from the capitol.

Congressman, thank you for coming in.

BARTON: It's my pleasure. We appreciate the story. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: One year ago, I remember you speaking at the press conference. We remember everything that happened. Your sons were there with you when this happened. How are you feeling? How are they feeling today?

BARTON: Well, my youngest son, Jack, is back this year. He's now 12. My oldest son, Brad, couldn't come. He's got the business down in Texas.

But a year ago we were all lucky to be alive and we were thankful for it. We didn't know the condition of Steve Scalise, but we were told that he was stable. We were told that the staff people that were injured were also stable. So we were told that none of our members had been killed, although several had been seriously wounded. So at this time, a year ago, we were just reveling in the fact that we were still alive and very thankful that Officer Bailey and Officer Briner were there to protect Steve Scalise, and also the rest of the baseball team.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, it's game on once again. Democrats won the game singlehandedly. I won't recollect the score for you. What's it looks like this year?

BARTON: We're going to win the game tonight. We have several new players. The Democrats basically have the same lineup, which they don't really need any additional players. They beat us very well last year. We believe we have a chance if we pitch well, catch well, throw well. We believe it will be a competitive game. The Democrats have won eight or nine of the last 10, so we'll give them the nod as the favorite. But we'll be competitive and I think people who come out will enjoy the game. We'll raise a lot of money for charity, in the neighborhood of $800,000. It wouldn't be the upset of the year if we come off with the trophy. The team we have this year is almost the same team that beat the Democrats three years ago or two years ago. So it will be fun. We hope people in the D.C. area come out and watch. I think there are some -- I think Facebook may be streaming it live, so even if you don't live in the D.C. area, there's a chance you can see some of the action.

BOLDUAN: I remember -- and I know you do as well -- the message of unity that came out after everything that happened last year. And I remember Congressman Scalise, when he made that return to the capitol, it was so emotional and it was a moment where it felt like it could have been the beginning of a new chapter, a chapter of more civility. I haven't seen any real signs of that that stuck around very long. Have you?

BARTON: I think it did reignite some civility, reestablished maybe a better term. You don't see it as much in the public because it's such a sound bite system now, but behind the scenes -- I know Mike Doyle, the Democrat manager, and I, are close, personal friends. We've introduced the bill recently to give Medicare recipients the ability to use coupons on their prescription drugs. Under current law, they're not allowed to. That's one concrete example of it. We had a unity prayer at second base that the House chaplain led last year. I thought that was very moving.

I mean, it's -- in public, you may not see it as much, but I think in private, it has helped. We're much more congenial off camera and cooperative, believe it or not.

[11:55:50] BOLDUAN: Believe it or not. And to be fair, it's not just members of Congress. It's from all over the country, in the public, and to the White House, what we could see more of that in public. If we're seeing it in private, great. In public would be great as well.

Congressman, good luck tonight. Play ball.

BARTON: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

BARTON: We appreciate it. God bless America.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir.

Getting underway right now, members of Congress are getting their first look at the highly anticipated inspector general's report on the handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation. What are members of Congress learning? We'll be trying to talk to them as they come out.

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