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Dow Drops on Tariff Threats; Migrant Families Hoping for Asylum; Kim Jong-un Meets with China; Testimony in Clinton Email Probe. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired June 19, 2018 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00] ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Intensify. And then on Friday, when President Trump promised to slap China with $50 billion more in tariffs beginning July 6th, and then he upped the ante to -- an additional $200 billion when China promised it would retaliate. So that's why you're seeing the markets spook today. The Dow right now down 300 points at the open because there's concern about where this will end, if this will end, if this will turn into an all-out trade war.

Keep in mind, no tariffs have been implemented, except on steel and aluminum at this point. At this point, it's rhetoric. But the rhetoric alone is really undermining confidence here in the stock market. And you really see it in some of the stock prices for some of the big American companies like Boeing and Caterpillar falling at the opening as well.

Intel taking a big hit as well. Did you know that those intel chips are made here in the U.S., but then they're shipped to China to be tested and assembled and then shipped back here to the U.S. So guess who's going to get hit with those tariffs if they take effect. Yes, Intel. Those chips. That could affect your computer prices.

Oh, and by the way, if those $200 billion in tariffs actually take effect, consumers are likely to feel it in their own pockets. I'm talking about American consumers. Americans are big consumers of Chinese goods. Everything from clothing, to shoes, to makeup. And if those exports from China are taxed, Americans are going to have to dig deeper in their pocketbooks.

As we take another look at the numbers, the Dow down 315 points. If the Dow closes at this level at the end of the day, Poppy, the Dow will be in the red for the year. All of its gains wiped out.

Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alison, on the floor of the exchange, appreciate it.

This is what it looks like when a global trade war is brewing, if not underway.

Heather Long is with me, economics reporter from "The Washington Post." She has written extensively on this.

Heather, thank you for being here.

Alison just gave a really interesting example of Intel chips and what it could cost American consumers. Talk to me about the average American. Why do they care about this? What does this mean for them?

HEATHER LONG, ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT, "THE WASHINGTON POST": If President Trump goes forward with these tariffs, American consumers will feel it. Early estimates are that it could hit the average American family, cost them about $200 to $250 more a year. So that's not nothing if these tariffs do go into effect.

What do we buy a lot of from China? We buy TVs. We buy cell phones. We buy kids sporting equipment. So if these tariffs go into effect, families are going to go to the store and they're going to face higher prices for those items.

You saw last night, right after President Trump announced these additional tariffs, or his intent to do more tariffs --

HARLOW: Yes.

LONG: The retail, the store Federation, was the first to come out and say this was a terrible idea.

HARLOW: So give me a gut check here, Heather, because China comes out this morning and says we will, quote, strike back hard. And you know they will if history is any indication. If this isn't a trade war, what is a trade war?

LONG: It's sure looking a lot like a trade war. As CNN's Alison Kosik was saying, we're not quite there yet. And the only reason I say that is the tariffs have yet to go into effect. That first round of tariffs won't go into effect until early July. So at the moment, we are still in this weird war of words phase. But if these tariffs do go into effect, this additional 200 billion means that half of the imports the United States buys from China would be subject to a tariff. And Trump has threatened to go even higher than that and do almost all of the imports from China, have them be subject to a tariff. That's a scale we haven't seen since the 1930s.

HARLOW: Why do you think the market is reacting this way this morning? I mean the Dow off 300 points so far. You know, the rhetoric we've had from this president on tariffs, on China, even the official announcements the White House has made on implementing these tariffs have not always sparked us off. I mean is this the tariffs combined with the Fed warning of more rapid rate increases? What is this?

LONG: I think there's a real change in what we saw last night from the Trump administration. For the past few weeks, it was just this war of words. It was Trump sort of shaking a stick at China and China shaking its fist back. It was a lot of rhetoric. It was a lot of play and puffing up of chest.

But what we've seen that's different now is that President Trump is implementing tariffs. He's implementing it on our allies, on Canada, on the European Union, and now he's putting the hammer down hard on China.

And the big question is how does this end? At the moment, both sides, both leaders, President Trump and Chinese President Xi, want to be perceived as strong leaders.

HARLOW: Right.

LONG: They're not going to cave right away to each other when there's this kind of threats going on. That doesn't look good for them politically.

HARLOW: Yes. It doesn't.

Heather Long, appreciate the reporting, from "The Washington Post." Thank you. Nice to have you.

LONG: Thank you.

[09:34:47] HARLOW: All right, so ahead for us, just a few feet away from the border. Migrant families wait, hoping their name will be called. Next, our Gary Tuchman on the border talking to mothers who wonder what will happen to their children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

And in the midst of the crisis separating families at the southern border, President Trump says the U.S. will not become a migrant camp. But on the ground, at the border, there are families who have traveled hundreds, thousands of miles, now waiting in line with ever growing fears their children could be taken from them.

[09:40:14] Our Gary Tuchman spoke with those families.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the border town of Nogales, Mexico, the other side of this gate is the United States. And right next to the gate, sitting on the ground, are migrant families living and sleeping outside, hoping to be allow to proceed just a few more feet into America.

Amalia (ph) is from Guatemala. Her son Kevin (ph) is seven and Ubare (ph) is three.

TUCHMAN (on camera): What do you want to do in the United States?

TUCHMAN (voice over): The 29-year-old mother says, I want to go protect my children and have a better life for them. Amalia says she fears for her life in Guatemala because of gang violence.

As other people will passports and documents pass through the gate, these migrant families wait and hope for what is known as a credible fear interview with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They say only one person has been called in for an interview all day. Aluisa (ph) is from southern Mexico and has three children with her.

The 46-year-old says, I'm scared. My kids are all I have in my life. I live for them. I'm scared for them. But half the mothers here heard about the children who have been separated from their parents after crossing in to the United States. Each mother we talked with said they heard nothing about it weeks ago when they left their towns.

Miriam (ph) came from Guatemala with her two-year-old son Franco (ph). The 23-year-old says, I am scared. I'm hearing rumors now they could take my child away.

Amalia says, there have been people telling me they're going to take our kids away, but I'm not sure.

So why are these women willing to take such a risk?

Amalia says, because if I go back, they're going to kill me, so this is the better option.

The U.S. government claims children will not be taken away from parents who turn themselves in at legal ports of entry. Many others, including the ACLU, and immigrant advocacy groups dispute that claim.

But what definitely does not bode well for any of these women we talked with is the recent decision by the Trump administration to overturn asylum protection for domestic violence and gang violence victims. I asked the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer on the other side of the gate this question.

TUCHMAN (on camera): And when do you start letting the migrants in for their interviews?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, we need to make sure we have enough assets to do it. My supervisors are working here. If you want you can go and ask a supervisor.

TUCHMAN: OK.

TUCHMAN (voice over): We did. The supervisor said they were not permitted to comment out of this office. The migrants here who have been provided food, water and diapers by volunteers say they don't want to lose their place in line, so they're not leaving.

Miriam says she will not allow anybody to take her toddler away. What's happening now will not deter her, she says. And if she gets sent back to Guatemala, I will come back, Miriam says. I want to be in the United States. I will come back again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Poppy, those three mothers I interviewed have now been camping out outside the port of entry for three consecutive nights. Monday night, Sunday night, and Saturday night. The migrants tell us that during the day on Monday, not one person in that line got called in for an interview. And as I said in the story, the day before, one person got called in. The DHS secretary has said that people who want to do this legitimately should go to official port of entries for interviews, but at that port of entry, it's slow going at best.

Poppy.

HARLOW: Such important reporting.

Gary Tuchman, thank you very, very much.

All right, next for us, Kim Jong-un's surprise visit to China just days after meeting with President Trump. What will this all mean for negotiations that are ongoing between the U.S. and North Korea?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:48:36] HARLOW: Fresh off his summit with President Trump, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un is in China right now. This is his third trip there in so many months. He's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping today. All of this is happening as China's threatening to strike back at $200 billion in additional sanctions from the White House.

Our Matt Rivers is live for us this morning in Beijing.

So, what we've learned, Matt, just first about this meeting, is that Kim was at least planning to brief President Xi about the meeting with President Trump, right?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right. This is the third time he's been here since March. It's kind of amazing that we have seen this play out before given that six months ago Kim Jong-un had never left North Korea as its leader.

But, yes, coming here, briefing Xi Jinping about that summit, presumably talking about the conversation that he and Donald Trump had, what didn't make it into the statement, maybe they're going to bring up what exactly North Korea thinks about denuclearization. So all those things expected to be on the agenda. And, of course, expect China to push its own interests as well to make sure that those interests are represented at negotiations moving forward.

HARLOW: We're also learning a little bit more about how Americans feel overall about how the Trump administration is handling the North Korea situation since the summit. The new polling shows us that its actually fallen five points in terms of favorability.

RIVERS: Yes, that's right, Poppy. We came out with a new poll. CNN's got a new poll out this morning. One of the questions asked was, how Americans think Trump is handling the North Korea situation right now. Forty-eight percent approve, 40 percent disapprove. But that approval number, 5 percent less, as you mentioned, in May.

[09:50:10] And another question respondents were asked, is the outcome of the Trump meeting with Kim Jong-un, is it a major achievement, minor achievement, or no achievement at all? A major achievement, 38 percent, minor achievement, 29 percent, no achievement at all, 27 percent. But I think, you know, part of the takeaway from all of this is

whether you think it's a good idea that Kim Jong-un and Trump had that meeting. Whether you think it's a bad idea, it's going to take a very long time to see how this plays out.

HARLOW: Right.

RIVERS: The negotiations are nowhere near done.

HARLOW: And, by the way, the trade fight, also known as almost a trade war with China right now between China and the White House, I mean the impact of that, many say, will it be felt on the negotiations -- I think we lost -- there we go. Matt, you're back.

What's the read there on will that impact how China is playing a hand in the U.S. negotiating with North Korea? Does it make less China less likely to help?

RIVERS: Yes. I mean nothing happens in a vacuum, right, Poppy?

HARLOW: Right.

RIVERS: I mean China officially will tell you, no, they separate issues of national security and trade, but nothing happens in a vacuum. And if China wanted to, it could very well, you know, easily stop enforcing these sanctions as much as we have seen them do.

So, you know, I've been to that border multiple times where trade flows back and forth. And you can feel the effects. When China really clamps down on those sanctions, you see the trucks stop going across that bridge, across the North Korea-China border. And even under sanctions, there's a lot of ways for China to allow the people along the border area, who have decades of business experience dealing with one another, to ramp that business back up.

So if China wants to, it could easily go to the United States and say, look, this trade war thing, we don't like it. And as a result, we're going to let our people trade more with the North Koreans and that won't help that situation.

HARLOW: Matt Rivers in Beijing, appreciate the reporting on all of those fronts. Thank you very much.

Ahead for us in just moments, the top Justice Department watchdog back on Capitol Hill today. Lawmakers set to grill him once again about his report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:13] HARLOW: Moments from now, the Justice Department's watchdog will be back on Capitol Hill facing a grilling again by lawmakers on his report about the FBI's handling of the Clinton e-mail probe. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz will testify before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. This comes just days after the release of that internal Justice Department report that faulted the FBI and the DOJ for how it handled the probe.

Horowitz, along with FBI Director Christopher Wray, went before lawmakers yesterday in the Senate. They insisted that while mistakes in judgment were made, political bias did not impact the outcome of the investigation.

Our senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill with more.

So, he's facing different committees today. I mean where is he likely -- most likely to be pressed the hardest after yesterday?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, after yesterday was very clear that the inspector general wanted to stay within the confines of his report. He really did not stray too much into the Mueller investigation with -- his investigation did not look at, or whether or not anything dealing with really Russia, it was his report, 500 pages or so, really dealt with the Clinton e-mail investigation and missteps that occurred along the way. Things that James Comey did by announcing the results of the findings early by renouncing, reopening that investigation just days before the election came under harsh criticism.

But also some concerns about the conduct of some of the people within the FBI, within -- who were involved with that Clinton investigation. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, making clear that he was not happy with the way the FBI conducted that investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL HOROWITZ, INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: We found that the inappropriate political messages we uncovered cast a cloud over the midyear investigation, sewed doubt about the credibility of the FBI's handling of it and impacted the reputation of the FBI. We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected those specific decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now also you recall, Poppy, that the president, after this report came out, said he was, quote, totally exonerated from this report. But yesterday it was pretty clear from this hearing that he was not totally exonerated because the investigation did not look into issues of Russia collusion or the obstruction of justice, which is central to Robert Mueller's investigation. This is how the inspector general responded when asked about that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: But there's nothing in the report that says it exonerates the president from any question of collusion with the Russians. It says nothing one way or the other, is that correct? MICHAEL HOROWITZ, INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: We did not

look into collusion questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So expect more of that today before the two House committees. Many members are going to push him on a range of issues, try to get him to go beyond what he said in that report. But the inspector general really going to try to showcase what they found, which were missteps, misconduct within that Clinton investigation. Even if they said -- he said the overall findings would not have -- no change by any political bias, but clear concerns about the way it was conducted, Poppy.

HARLOW: Manu, before you go, the president just wrote about this three, four minutes ago. Let me read it to you. He seems to be quoting something from yesterday's testimony. I can't think of something more concerning than law enforcement officer suggesting that they're going to use their powers to affect an election, end quote. And then he says, Inspector General Horowitz, on what was going on with numerous people regarding my election, a rigged witch hunt.

Can you fact check that for us?

[09:59:51] RAJU: Well, the ultimate decision that was -- ultimate finding from the inspector general was that the -- there was no political bias that affected the outcome of this investigation. While people may have had their own political biases, the inspector general did not say that this was impact -- this was the end result of the investigation had anything to do with anyone's own personal feeling. So the president --