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Kim Jong-un Briefs Chinese President on Trump Summit; FOX Talent and Artists Speak Out Against FOX News; Investigating Puerto Rico's Death Toll After Hurricane Maria. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired June 19, 2018 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:30:00] ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: -- don't know where all that tough talk is going to end. The latest skirmish happening on Friday when President Trump vowed to slap a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese exports. Something that he said would take effect on July 6th.
China vowing to retaliate and throw tariffs on some tough American exports like soybeans and pork and crude oil and cars. Well, the Trump administration coming out last night saying if China retaliates, we're going to up the ante. Trump promising a tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. That's spooking the market, sending the Dow down as I said over 400 points.
One thing to keep in mind, Poppy, right now, as I said, this is just a war of words. None of these tariffs except those on steel and aluminum have actually been implemented. So a lot of this is based on what ifs, it is those what ifs that are really undercutting confidence in the market and the big worry is if these tariffs take effect, they could really take a big bite of economic growth out of economic growth here in the U.S. -- Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Alison, thank you very much.
Just one week after his summit with President Trump, North Korea's Kim Jong-un is in China today meeting with President Xi Jinping. According to Chinese state media the Chinese leader is praising Kim for how he handled the sit-down with Mr. Trump.
Our Matt Rivers is in Beijing.
This is extraordinary in the amount of meetings the two have had. This is the third meeting between Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un in Beijing in as many months.
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think, Poppy, if you ask most experts on this topic, six months ago would by June, the middle of June, we have seen these two men meet in China three separate times, I think you would have gotten a resounding no from most experts and yet here we are.
Kim Jong-un making a relatively surprising visit here to meet with Xi Jinping to talk about that summit, to brief Xi Jinping about the summit, to talk about what was said between Donald Trump and Kim Jong- un, maybe what didn't make it into the statement, maybe how North Korea actually views the definition of denuclearization.
But what's clear is that China will have a role in these negotiations moving forward. And at the same time these two men are meeting, despite President Trump last Friday saying that he actually planned to talk to North Korea, to Kim Jong-un over the weekend, that call never happened.
HARLOW: We're also learning, Matt, a little bit more about how Americans are feeling overall in the days following the summit between the two leaders, right?
RIVERS: Yes, we're getting some new polling out from CNN this morning that asked a couple of different questions. One of them being, how do Americans think Donald Trump is handling the North Korea situation. 48 percent of people say they approve, 40 percent said they disapprove. That approval number actually down five points since May.
Another question respondents were asked, was the outcome of the Trump meeting with Kim Jong-un, what is it? How is it viewed? And 38 percent say it's a major achievement. 29 percent say it's a minor achievement. 27 percent say no achievement at all. But, you know, like we were talking about, Poppy, it's going to take a long time, I think, to comprehensively understand if this summit is a success because by Donald Trump's measure, only complete verifiable, irreversible denuclearization is the success way down the road and yet that's going to be way down the road.
So we just don't have an idea yet of exactly how successful this summit can be, just given how difficult this situation is.
HARLOW: Matt Rivers, thank you very much. Live for us in Beijing, appreciate the reporting.
Ahead for us, they work for FOX, but some of Hollywood's biggest names are slamming its news decision for the coverage of families separated at the border.
Brian Stelter is with me next on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:37:47] HARLOW: Movie director and producer Judd Apatow had enough of the way that FOX News defends the White House's separation of families at the border. He's calling on those who work for FOX to speak out against the news division's coverage. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: This is one of those moments that tells you everything about a ruling class. They care far more about foreigners than about their own people.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: No one likes the idea of separating any child from any parent. But this issue has been in the hands of Congress and right now the whole issue can be fixed, every law can be changed, and if they did their job, it would happen. LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: So since more illegal immigrants are
rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents and temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: So in a series of scathing tweets slamming FOX News, here is what Apatow writes in part, "If every FOX star and show runner said this policy was evil and protested to the Murdoch family, it would make a huge difference in this national debate."
Our senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter is here with more.
This is significant but will it move the needle or is this just seen as another Hollywood elite?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Republican data in CNN's recent poll showing Republican support for this policy and a lot of opposition from the rest of the country. I think it's reflected in some of the comments we're seeing from liberal celebrities, from business CEOs, et cetera, you know, this is a case where the divisions are really, really vivid and really, really stark.
I think that FOX sound bite is really important because that's what President Trump is hearing. You know, when he's up at night, watching Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham, he's hearing a full throated defense of what he is doing and what his government is doing. So even as the television networks are filled with these disturbing images and journalists are speaking up for basic human values and family values, the president is receiving support from FOX.
It's so interesting to see some of these Hollywood celebrities who actually work for FOX, who are speaking out against FOX News. There is a division within the house of Murdoch, between West Coast and East Coast.
HARLOW: But then they're still making money off this.
STELTER: For sure. For sure. And Seth McFarlane brought that up.
HARLOW: Right.
STELTER: He's one of those FOX stars, we can put on the screen --
HARLOW: Yes.
STELTER: -- a tweet that he posted as a result of something I would share with Tucker Carlson. So Tucker Carlson went on TV and said don't believe anything you hear on other networks. Seth McFarlane fired back here, saying, he's embarrassed to work for the same company that also has FOX News.
[10:40:03] And we're hearing that from others as well. Overnight Steve Levitan, the creator of "Modern Family," now that's an ABC show but it's produced by FOX. HARLOW: Right.
STELTER: He came out and said, I agree with Seth McFarlane. I've had enough. What FOX is doing is wrong. You see this division inside --
HARLOW: But will they do anything? I mean, it's one thing, Brian, to say something, it's another thing to not work for them and not get paid by them, right?
STELTER: And, yes, you're right about that. I'm not sure what they can do in the short term, given that their shows are under contract and --
HARLOW: Right. Or say if this doesn't --
STELTER: Ask the parent company but --
HARLOW: Doesn't change, I'm not going to sign another contract or I'm going to take my, you know --
STELTER: Right. Take the show elsewhere.
HARLOW: Take the show elsewhere.
STELTER: That would be a drastic step. But we're hearing all sorts of folks propose all sorts of drastic steps as a result of this policy. We're hearing about protests being organized and we're seeing corporate America speak out as well.
Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, weighing in just now, saying this is an inhumane policy. It seems like this is one of those cases where folks want to feel they're on the right side of history and we're hearing a lot of people take positions for that reason, whether you're a Hollywood elite, whether you're a business elite.
At the same time, though, like I said, President Trump is backed up by this pro-Trump media, he has this shelter from the storm that is telling him he's doing the right thing.
HARLOW: And we know what -- I mean, the president consumes a lot of media and he doesn't just consume FOX News.
STELTER: Right. Right.
HARLOW: But he watches us every day and he sees all of this. Do you expect more of an outcry from those big voices in media, not necessarily in just the news media, but in media as a whole, like Apatow, like McFarlane.
STELTER: Right. Well, not just newsmen, entertainment as well.
HARLOW: Yes.
STELTER: This doesn't seem to be one of those cases where it's rejuvenating the so-called resistance and that includes Hollywood types, it includes entertainment types who want to do something, want to say something, want to speak out against Trump. I would argue some of the energy had evaporated in the past few months or dissipated and it's back now in a very strong way.
And that's been noticeable in the last two or three days as there has been a surge of coverage of this issue. Meanwhile, the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" say the president doesn't like this coverage, he's suspicious of it, he's not sure these pictures are really fair.
HARLOW: Yes. Right.
STELTER: So his skepticism --
HARLOW: Or real. Or real.
STELTER: Or real. Right. He's saying that some of the government issued pictures are painting him in an unfair light, showing the worst of what's going on, not the best of what's going on. Look, I think the answer to that is more sunshine, more access.
HARLOW: Yes.
STELTER: We need more information about what is going on in these detention centers. We need to be able to bring our own cameras in and not just rely on government handout photos. We need more sunlight right now.
HARLOW: Brian Stelter, good point. Thank you.
STELTER: Thanks.
HARLOW: Glad you're here.
CNN is learning new information about the death toll in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. We'll have a live report from our Leyla Santiago next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:46:58] HARLOW: Almost nine months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and the number of people who died as a result still largely a mystery. Now with CNN investigation into the death toll on the island is digging up new information, important information, Leyla Santiago joins me now, live from Puerto Rico.
And Leyla, I know you just received this data that you guys had to file a lawsuit to be able to get from the Puerto Rican government. What is it telling you so far?
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, we're still reviewing that data. But we are realizing more and more what the experts are saying, which is if you don't know who died, when, where and how, if there is not some sort of accuracy in the death toll that comes after a natural disaster, there is absolutely no way of possibly preventing that in the future. Furthermore, for these families, as we've been reaching out to them, there is a sense of desire for simple acknowledgement. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANTIAGO (voice-over): It's the first time he's pulling this box out of the shack behind his home. Still wrapped up just as it was delivered. These are the ashes of his uncle, Miguel Angel Maldonado Santana.
(On camera): You think you're holding him right now because of Maria?
GEOVANI LOPEZ, MIGUEL'S NEPHEW: Yes.
SANTIAGO (voice over): Geovani Lopez believes his uncle, a U.S. veteran, died because of this accident and Maria is to blame. A lack of power after the storm, he says, caused Miguel to drive off a wiped out bridge because he couldn't see without the lights at night.
LOPEZ: He just went in the dark and flipped over.
SANTIAGO: He died three weeks later in the hospital. The government's forensics office asked Geovani if his uncle's death was related to Hurricane Maria.
LOPEZ: Common sense. I said yes. I said yes. When he asked me that question, I said, yes.
SANTIAGO (on camera): And what did he say?
LOPEZ: And he typed it. He said, due to the Hurricane Maria. OK. He typed the info.
SANTIAGO (voice over): But still, Miguel's name is not part of the government's official death toll of 64. We only learned of his case after suing the government for all of its death records in the months after Hurricane Maria.
A judge ruled in favor of CNN and the Center for Investigative Journalism, ordering the release of government records, including all causes of death. In it, we found 38 deaths in which doctors indicated the person was a victim of a cataclysmic storm. Some of those are included on the government's official death toll. But we found these six, including Miguel, who were not on the government's official list.
(On camera): No one has called you from the government to ask questions about the cataclysmic storm listed on the death certificate?
LOPEZ: Negative.
SANTIAGO (voice over): The family of Carmen Gonzalez told us the same thing. She's also not on the official list.
Her doctor, Jose Perez Valentin, listed Hurricane Irma and Maria as a contributing factor in her death because she relied on electrical equipment for her health.
[10:50:03] One of the causes, pulmonary embolism, indicating her electric bed may not have been moved enough to prevent blood clots in Carmen's body.
(On camera): He says he wrote Hurricane Irma and Maria because he was convinced that the death was collateral damage from the hurricanes.
(Voice over): But Perez says no one from the government ever followed up to look into adding Carmen to the official death toll. So we went to the governor to ask about what we found.
(On camera): We have found multiple cases in which doctors, forensic pathologists, your own pathologists have said this is storm related, and yet they're not on the government's official death toll. Why?
GOV. RICARDO ROSSELLO, PUERTO RICO: They weren't reconciliated with what forensic science had already done. So that was the reason. They were put to the GW investigation.
SANTIAGO (voice over): The GW investigation, that's a review by George Washington University of Maria's death toll commissioned by Puerto Rico's government. They're expecting the results in July and government officials tell us they flagged Miguel's case. It's under review as part of that investigation. The death toll, they say, will be updated only when it is complete.
LOPEZ: I have my hands tied.
SANTIAGO: But for Geovani, he's tired of waiting, waiting for recognition and for closure.
(On camera): Do you feel like anyone cared?
LOPEZ: No. They didn't care. They didn't care.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANTIAGO: And Poppy, I've got to tell you that is a sentiment that was echoed over and over as we reached out to those families. We know that there are a lot of people out there who believe Hurricane Maria played a role in the death of a loved one. And they have not yet been accounted for in that official government death toll. And so we need your help. We has established a Web site. It is CNN.com/puertorico. We have a searchable database there. And if you find a loved one there, you can tell us about how that person died and how Hurricane Maria may or may not have been related to that death -- Poppy.
HARLOW: And Leyla, before you go, I mean, as you pore through all of this data, try to get answers from the government as we just saw there, you still think it's going to be weeks, right, until we really see any change if there's going to be one in the official death toll number?
SANTIAGO: Right. From the government's perspective they're still waiting for that GW study which has had quite a few delays. We were expecting to hear from that in May. That didn't happen. Now they're saying possibly July we are expecting to get some data from George Washington University. And the government made it clear to me that until that happens they don't expect to make any changes to that death toll.
HARLOW: Leyla Santiago, reporting for us in San Juan, Puerto Rico, thank you for staying on top of this.
Still ahead England stages this epic World Cup comeback. The "Bleach Report" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:57:36] HARLOW: Soccer fans in England are just wild about Harry. Harry Cain, that is, after he led his epic team to a World Cup comeback.
Lindsay Czarniak has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Good morning.
LINDSAY CZARNIAK, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. Yes, Harry Cain is getting, you could say, the royal treatment, right?
HARLOW: Yes.
CZARNIAK: On the fan base after leading England to a World Cup victory over Tunisia. This is a great story because he's a man who just a few years ago said he actually had doubts if he would make it to the stage.
This "Bleacher Report" presented by Ford, going further so you can.
So if you want to see how elated the English fans are for this win against Tunisia, take a look at this.
All right. So these fans inside the stadium losing their minds after Harry Cain breaks the tie with time about to expire. You can feel the energy. Right? This is the goal that gave England the 2-1 win over Tunisia. It was Cain's second goal of the day. It sent fans into absolute pandemonium. And you can see how excited he was there.
Look at these scenes on the street celebrating like they actually won the World Cup, right? It's been since 1966 since they've actually won the World Cup, but they're certainly feeling good. And their minds were in the right place.
HARLOW: Yes.
CZARNIAK: As they head towards more competition. Cain said, by the way, he has relied on inspirations from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's story, the underdog who rose to become a future hall of famer. Cain has immersed himself in Brady history, his motivational tactics. He's a huge fan. He's such a big fan, Poppy, in fact that he named his dog Brady. Yes, the blond dog there.
HARLOW: There you go.
CZARNIAK: That's Brady. The other one is Wilson after Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. So he's pulling a lot of motivation from the NFL.
From World Cup to the world champions in hockey we go. The Washington Capitals hoisted the Stanley Cup 11 days ago. And now they're looking for a new head coach. Barry Trotz stepped down after the two sides could not agree to terms of a new deal. This news shocked a lot of folks in Washington because everyone there is still basking in the glow of that Stanley Cup win. That includes "Washington Examiner" political reporter Kelly Cohen. Watch her reaction as she was reading a text one of her friends sent about the fact that Trotz had stepped down as head coach. She was as shocked as anyone so nothing like getting a surprise text in the middle of doing your job.
HARLOW: On camera.
CZARNIAK: Right?
HARLOW: In front of the world. My husband was just so excited this weekend about Serbia.
CZARNIAK: Yes.
HARLOW: Yes. He was very excited. You know, he's from there. And he's -- poor guy, I had him like holding both kids at once and trying to watch the game. But there you go.
CZARNIAK: Like they should do anyway.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: On Father's Day. Are you happy?
CZARNIAK: There you go. There you go.
HARLOW: Good to have you here. All right, thanks, Lindsay.
Thank you all for being with us today. I'm Poppy Harlow. "AT THIS HOUR" with Kate Bolduan begins right now.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan.
