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South Korean President in Moscow to visit with Putin; Trump and Putin Expected to Meet in July; World Cup 2018; Russian Team Defying Expectations at World Cup; Two Years since the Brexit Vote. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 22, 2018 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR.: You're watching "CNN NEWSROOM," LIVE from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, from zero-tolerance to complete confusion. A day after Donald Trump's rare reversal there is no clear plan on what to do with more than 3,000 children already taken from their parents.
South Korea's president visits Moscow where he's expected to talk nukes and North Korea with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Also, ahead why the fractious relationship between the US and its allies will not be easily repaired even after the Donald Trump leaves office.
Hello, great to have you with us, I'm John Vause, this is "NEWSROOM L.A."
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VAUSE: The only thing we've seen certain (ph) right now about the Trump administration's policy on Undocumented Immigrants is the never- ending uncertainty. Emails obtained by CNN from US Border Protection suggests the president's zero-tolerance policy is effectively on hold. That's in direct contradiction to Mr. Trump's own words on Thursday, insisting a country without borders is no country at all and he continues to blame Democrats for a crisis of his own making.
Meantime first lady Melania Trump made an unannounced visit to a detention facility in South Texas to see firsthand how children are being treated. She also asked officials what she could do to help reunite the children with their moms and dads.
Government officials too are waiting for guidance from the White House on family reunions. More than 2,000 children are being held in detention centers across the country and all this chaos and confusion continues to drag out the agony for parents who just want their kids back. We begin our coverage with CNN's Ed Lavandera.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're going to (ph) have a lot of happy people --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR CNN U.S. BASED IN THE DALLAS BUREAU: The day after President Trump signed an executive order billed as a plan to stop the separation of Undocumented-Immigrant families --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm directing HHS, DHS, and DOJ to work together to keep the illegal immigrant families together during the immigration process and to reunite these previously separated groups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Lavandera: -- Rochelle Garza an Immigration Lawyer in Brownsville, Texas says she's still trying to make sense of it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCHELLE GARZA, IMMIGRATION LAWYER, BROWNSVILLE TEXAS: The order doesn't reunify my client with his daughter, it doesn't -- it doesn't speak to re-unifying any of the parents with their children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Garza represents one Central American father who was separated from his daughter in early June.
More than 2,300 children have been separated from their families since the Trump administration rolled out the zero-tolerance policy in early May.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF SESSIONS, US ATTORNEY GENERAL: If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you and that child may be separated from you as required by law.
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LAVANDERA: The confusion has robbed this group of almost 20 Undocumented Immigrants who were shuttled in and out of the federal courthouse to face the misdemeanor charge of illegal entry. This image has become a daily routine at this courthouse for several weeks now but public defenders told them prosecutors dismissed their cases and the group was taken out of the courthouse. A few hours later with little explanation prosecutors insisted the charges were never dismissed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARLOS GARCIA, AUSTIN IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY, GARCIA & GARCIA ATTORNEYS AT LAW: I think it's a direct result of what's going on with our administration, that they are -- they're changing things on-the-fly --
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LAVANDERA: But Rochelle Garza says the reality on the border is much darker.
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ROCHELLE GARZA, IMMIGRATION LAWYER, BROWNSVILLE TEXAS: The damage is done and all we're trying to do right now is pick up the pieces and see how we can connect these parents with their children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Brownsville, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well joining me now, Political Commentator and host of "The Mo'Kelly Show" Mo'Kelly; Republican Strategist Charles Moran; and the President of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University, Michael Genovese. Thank you guys for coming back.
Mo, first to you, the president actually didn't need to sign that executive order, did he? He didn't need to sign anything he could have used the phone to stop these family reunions and it seems that executive order is something which is now adding into the overall confusion.
MORRIS O'KELLY, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR AND HOST OF "THE MO'KELLY SHOW": But he wants the photo-op and also the executive order makes it looks like he did something to reverse this argument where it's the Democrats fault.
This president wants to be on all sides of the issue, he wants to blame the Democrats for having open borders but also blame the Democrats for this restrictive policy which separates families. This president is seemingly incapable of empathy or humility and I don't understand if you can't be empathetic or show some -- just some sincerity in this moment then when can you.
VAUSE: Tell us why, do you know why an executive order was needed?
CHARLES MORAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The president uses his tools at his disposal. President Obama used the executive order probably a little more often than he should have.
In this situation the president was making it demonstrably clear that I think he was responding through the frustration and the outrage, an executive order is something that can't be trumped easily so I think he wanted to send a very clear signal that he's heard about the policies, he understands the outrage, and the concerns from -- across Americans, the political spectrum and he was -- [01:05:00]
: -- Destined to make sure that that stopped and you know, Melania Trump went out herself to actually be --
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) we'll get to that.
MORAN: -- the president's eyes-and-ears-the-ground so -- it's been taken seriously from the highest levels of the White House.
VAUSE: Michael so was it a you know, an act of seriousness you know, to show how determined the president was to fix this or was it just simply a photo-op?
MICHAEL GENOVESE, PRESIDENT OF THE GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE AT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: It was a good photo-op but it was also a function of -- this is a power the president has, it makes it look powerful, he can get it done quickly and if you listen to his commentary, he used the word "strong" about eight times, "this is going to show strength," "I'm going to be strong," "we're going to be strong," "it's a strong policy," he's afraid that he appears weak so he has to try to overcompensate.
VAUSE: Wow, with that in mind after days of chaos and confusion the president was very strong about who was to be blamed for all of this, he knows where the-buck-stops.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Democrats are causing tremendous damage and destruction and lives by not doing something about this and they know that. They know that better than anybody up there with a pen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Charles come on, we know that the immediate crisis of parents being separated from their kids wasn't a Democratic issue, it was a policy choice by Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions.
MORAN: I think a lot of this come as a frustration, we're coming from people like Chuck Schumer who unequivocally refused to deal with the issue of immigration reform, the Republicans are huddling now to deal with some of this. This has been a consistent issue. It is now at the forefront of the American people.
You know, President Obama had this problem in 2014 when he set up the first detention centers dealing with this -- some of this crisis we're seeing at the border right now. It is a problem that you know, neither left or right, Conservative or Democrat has been able to get their head around.
VAUSE: OK, because I guess you'd say because someone like Paul Ryan the Speaker -- the Republican Speaker of the House to Charles point because he actually called out the Democrats for failing to pass the Immigration Reform a decade ago when they had 60 senators and you know, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Listen to what he said?
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PAUL RYAN, SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: When Barack Obama was president, for a while he had 60 votes in the Senate and a huge majority in the House and he didn't do anything to fix the broken immigration system, nothing and they had total control of government.
So here we are with filibusters galore in the Senate trying to fix this problem when the Democrats have taken a walk on this thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, so Mo at the time Obama, he was focused on Obamacare; he spends a lot of political capital trying to get that through, did the Democrats miss an opportunity here?
O'KELLY: I would not say that because yes, I don't believe he should've gone for Healthcare first but he did do right by chasing the economy at that time some 10 years ago.
I mean Immigration Reform it was one of his policies that he promised and ran on but he had only two years to get all those things --
VAUSE: Yes.
O'Kelly: -- done. And I think it's a bit disingenuous when we want to say that the president can't rise above partisan politics. Let him be the president of the United States and lead as opposed to just being the president of the Republican Party.
VAUSE: Michael -- you know, is it -- it's not quite true that Obama has 60 loyal Democrats in the Senate for those first two years, he had a couple of waivers (ph) right?
GENOVESE: Oh, that's right but still he had a majority, the government was controlled by the Democrats, they had a responsibility and they didn't get it done and that led to the president using an executive order which I think he used improperly.
But that was then, this is now. The Republicans controlled every lever of power and to blame the Democrats is disingenuous, it's wrong, it's time for the president to man-up and take responsibility, you broke it, you fix it.
VAUSE: Well the reason why Paul Ryan was out there criticizing Democrats on Thursday, it appears two Republican bills on Immigration Reform, one was considered conservative, the other one compromise now looks to fail and the reason for that might just be a presidential tweet.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What is the purpose of the House doing good immigration bills when you need nine votes by Democrats in the Senate and the Dems are only looking to obstruct which they feel is good for them in the midterms. Republicans must get rid of the stupid filibuster rule, it is killing you."
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VAUSE: Charles almost on cue, Republican lawmakers started hitting the brakes on both those pieces of legislation and they were -- they're going nowhere.
MORAN: The problem is in this situation is in the Senate, the problem is in the House. This is a consistent problem that we have in -- within the Republican Caucus. You've got the House Freedom Caucus on the right insists on a very specific set of regulations that be included in the -- in the Immigration Reform. You've got more moderate Republicans who are looking to take a different approach.
They're not massively far away, it's kind of what comes first, chicken-or-the-egg, there's going to be some tweaks and especially around the issue of amnesty, what the process is when dealing with some of the DACA applicants so this is -- the -- trying to work out the policy challenges between the Freedom Caucus, the more moderate factions of leadership in the House of Representatives, this is a problem that has existed for -- well before President Trump was in office, this is something that helped -- to drive out Speaker Boehner, is something that Speaker Ryan has consistently fought for, they are not going to advance the bill until --
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MORAN: -- they've got the caucus behind it but they do not have consensus now, they're not going to advance.
VAUSE: But I -- but I think this bill is not possible for the Republicans votes mainly --
MORAN: Yes. And he used a perfect word.
O'KELLY: -- But I thought the president was supposed to be a molder of consensus, this is when the president is supposed to, excuse me, not lead from behind and allow the House and the Senate to develop their bills but actually put on the table what is needed, what he will sign in the specificity and then he can have those chambers come together and bring something that --
VAUSE: The president...
O'KELLY: -- he will sign.
VAUSE: -- the president does not enact legislation.
O'KELLY: Not enact but he can still --
MORAN: There --
O'KELLY: -- set the tone for what he wants. MORAN: -- there is a tone, it's very clear and on those issues the Republican Party is (INAUDIBLE), the problem is working out some of these minute details but they are substantial within the Republican caucus and this has been a multi-presidential battle over you know, what the priorities are going to be for comprehensive Immigration Reform.
VAUSE: But Michael if there's not bipartisan support for an Immigration Reform bill it's never going to get through whether it's an old Democrat or old Republican regardless of who is in power right, it needs to be supported by both sides?
GENOVESE: That's -- that's true but it also reveals the -- I think the weakness of the strategy that President Trump has enacted from day one which is he's not going to be president of the country, he's not going to try to bring in independents or maybe some moderate conservative Democrats, he's going to just govern with his base and when he has to he'll bully things through with executive orders or however he can get it done and that really plays into this notion that you're not going to get legislation through because you do need some bipartisan support and you do need some Democrats.
You can't keep hitting them over the head and saying, "come vote for me, come vote for me," while I beat the living crap out of (INAUDIBLE).
VAUSE: So, you know, for the world's -- for the self-described world's greatest deal-maker the president isn't very good at winning over Democrats.
MORAN: This is a situation where I think Democrats are inlock-step with some of their constituencies, especially ones you know, in immigrant rights, social justice corridors, which is very -- which is strongly controlling the Democratic party right now, if you look at some of the candidates that had -- is been advancing through the primaries, this is -- this is a rail (ph) that Democrats can't necessarily touch I mean if you hear what's coming out of Chuck -- Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi is now -- they're not even going to even start negotiating, talking about border security and this is where it really comes down to, are we going to secure the borders first or deal with the population first.
This has -- this has been an age-old --
VAUSE: Right.
MORAN: -- conversation and you know, again there's -- there's factions within the Republican Party now that we're in the leadership that are willing to negotiate on some of these but I don't see a lot of negotiations from the Democrats on any of this to deal with the --
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) --
O'KELLY: No.
VAUSE: -- (INAUDIBLE) -- O'KELLY: -- I would just say sometimes you can get-more-flies-with-
honey --
VAUSE: Yes.
O'KELLY: -- sometimes you need to think about the carrot as opposed to always the stick and this president is not presenting himself in a way where he wants anyone to actually come together.
There's no reason for the Democrats to ever help him with anything.
VAUSE: OK, the secretary of --
Male: (INAUDIBLE) --
VAUSE: -- Homeland Security has been one of the few public faces of this zero-tolerance policy, except it's not a policy except what it is, apparently Kirstjen Nielsen was never a big fan of this but she went out there, she defended it nonetheless.
On Wednesday, as the president -- the president signed that executive order, it seemed like her soul left her body.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: (INAUDIBLE) Secretary Nielsen --
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I --
TRUMP: -- (INAUDIBLE).
NIELSEN: -- do thank you for your leadership sir (ph) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes. So, Mo is there a point where someone has to say "no" to this president and quits apart from Gary Cohen or (INAUDIBLE).
O'KELLY: It's not going to happen and it's not unusual for this president to undercut his own staff at any level. I mean you had Secretary Nielsen go out there with what she thought the policy was or was not for whatever reason, there was no communication as far as a unified message much less what is actually going to happen moving forward. This is par for the course, no pun intended with Donald Trump.
VAUSE: Yes, this is what the "Financial Times" wrote, "(INAUDIBLE) Ms. Nielsen has come under huge scrutiny. Some allies have argued that she is another example of officials being damaged by working for the current administration. She is the only good person tarnished by their administration with Trump, as well as either John Kelly, now the Chief of Staff compels her to soldier on."
VAUSE: -- said one ally of Ms. Nielsen.
So, Michael am I -- it doesn't do your CV a lot of good to work with this administration?
GENOVESE: A lot of people have huge legal bills or they fear that they soon will. A lot of peoples' reputations have been damaged and when you look at Secretary Nielsen, it was almost as if there was -- at the bottom a (INAUDIBLE) of work, said things like, "oh God, I don't want to be here. Please don't talk to me. Please don't call me. Don't ask me a question."
How uncomfortable is it possible for a person to look -- she looked like she wanted to run as far away as possible?
VAUSE: Absolutely. OK, let's face off with the first lady's fashion statement, wearing a jacket which read on the back, "I don't care. Do U?" This was as she (INAUDIBLE) the detention center to see children who had been taken away from their parents.
Her spokesperson says there was no intended statement by this fashion choice but the good folks over in "Fox News" they came up with a reason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you make?
DENEEN BORELLI: Yes. She does. And you know, what? I think she's going after the mainstream media because --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh.
BORELLI: -- (INAUDIBLE) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
BORELLI: -- again, Donald Trump can do anything right no matter what the situation is so if anything, and I can't speak for her but this is just my first thought, I just read about this -- what happened, if anything she's pushing back on the media --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, that was around 4:06 Eastern Time, by 5:51 by pure coincidence the president confirmed the theory, tweeting, "I really don't care. Do you, written on the back of Melania's jacket refers to the fake news media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are and she truly no longer cares."
OK. I'm looking around (ph) at Mo, do you buy into the -- it was circulated in the same news media or was -- is there else going on?
O'KELLY: No. It's counterintuitive. Why should want to knee-cap the media as she needs the media to document her trip to these detention centers and also highlight what is going on, if anything she has been warmly (ph) embraced around this issue. There's no point to make an enemy out of the media before you even get there.
VAUSE: Charles. MORAN: I want to highlight the fact that the most recent cover of "Time Magazine" had a picture of a girl crying, staring at the picture of President Trump. It has now been discovered that that picture of that girl crying is actually -- has nothing to do whatsoever with a family been detained, it was a woman who has -- her child was never been separated from her mother, it was a picture that has nothing to do with the stories of families being ripped apart whatsoever. It's been confirmed by that child's father and the -- and the mother -- the daughter and mother whose --
(CROSSTALK)
MORAN: -- once again, it was reported by the "Daily Mail" out of the UK and they've got --
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE) --
MORAN: -- interviews -- and they've got interviews with (INAUDIBLE) this is -- this is -- it's just (INAUDIBLE) --
VAUSE: I have no say --
MORAN: -- the situation -
(CROSSTALK)
MORAN: -- of the media is going to do everything possible to try to smear President Trump, from the news stories that we see on TV, where's the front cover of a (INAUDIBLE) "Time Magazine" the president -- the first lady I think is sending that message you know, regardless of what the press secretary says --
VAUSE: I --
MORAN: -- or not.
VAUSE: -- because actually we heard from the father who spoke about the child being abandoned but (INAUDIBLE) I have to check that but Michael over to you?
GENOVESE: The jacket --
VAUSE: Melania --
GENOVESE: -- the jacket was intentional. It was provocative and it was mysterious. It was meant to sent a -- send a message, what was the message? The problem is it's distracting us from these horrible --
VAUSE: Yes.
GENOVESE: -- pictures of children at the border, separated from their parents in what some people call "cages."
This is not who we are as a nation. The image to the world and world opinion has just turned against the United States. This is a horrible situation. We've got to correct it and we've got to turn it around fast.
VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE). Michael Genovese (INAUDIBLE). Thank you so much.
Michael GENOVESE: Thank you.
VAUSE: Some of these immigrant protection (ph) centers are accused of beating and abusing these vulnerable children who they might be caring for.
CNN's Brian Todd visited one facility in Virginia which is the target of a lawsuit.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT, BASED IN THE NETWORK'S WASHINGTON BUREAU: A lawsuit filed in federal court claims that immigrant children as young as 15, housed in this rural Virginia facility, were abused, beaten, and handcuffed.
The lawsuit describes prison-like conditions, multiple children say there were handcuffed, strapped to chairs and restrained with hoods over their faces. One child said he was left strapped to a chair naked for more than two days. Others described being stabbed and poked with pens.
We asked to speak on camera to administrators at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center and we asked to interview detainees being held there. The facility declined our requests.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at this time. No comment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: But they later issued a statement saying the allegations and the complaints are without merit and that the facility, quote, "looks forward to the opportunity to present evidence that will allow a jury to reach the same conclusion."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"looks forward to the opportunity to present evidence that will allow a jury to reach the same conclusion."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: In court documents, the administrators at Shenandoah acknowledge the use of a restraining chair as a last resort for aggressive behavior, quote, "When the emergency chair is utilized residents are restrained by their arms, legs, and torso, and a spit mask is placed on the resident to prevent staff from being spit upon or bitten." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"WHEN THE EMERGENCY CHAIR IS UTILIZED RESIDENTS ARE RESTRAINED BY THEIR ARMS, LEGS, AND TORSO, AND A SPIT MASK IS PLACED ON THE RESIDENT TO PREVENT STAFF FROM BEING SPIT UPON HER BITTEN."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: The government says these kinds of facilities are a last resort intended to meet the specialized needs of the children many of whom have behavioral problems.
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KELSEY WONG, PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT SHENANDOAH VALLEY JUVENILE CENTER: Thank you for your invitation --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Kelsey Wong is a Program Director at the Shenandoah facility. In recent congressional testimony she said some of the children brought to the facility may have been incorrect declassified as gang members.
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KELSEY WONG, PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT SHENANDOAH VALLEY JUVENILE CENTER: And then when they came into our care and they were assessed by our Clinical and Case Management staff they didn't necessarily meet those -- they weren't necessarily identified as gang-involved individuals (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: The facility faces charges including verbal and physical abuse, substandard care, excessive use of solitary confinement, conditions that result in suffering.
The juvenile residents here are among thousands of undocumented minors trapped in a secretive web of shelters, treatment centers and detention facilities some of whom entered when Barack Obama was president. It's unlikely that any entered pins President Trump instituted a zero-tolerance policy. Many of them are unaccompanied but others were taken from their parents while crossing the border or later.
A psychologist who reviewed the accounts of several minors held at this facility said it's likely that many of them will never fully recover from the traumatic they had while being detained here.
[01:20:00]
Again, this facility is denying all allegations of abuse and assault but Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has nonetheless ordered a state investigation into the allegations here.
Brian Todd, CNN, Stanton, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: still to come here on "NEWSROOM L.A." the wife of Israel's prime minister charged in a corruption scandal and could be facing jail time.
Also, ahead Donald Trump says it's easy to win a trade war, history disagrees.
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VAUSE: In Israel they're calling it the "meals-ordering affair" and the Prime Minister's wife has been charged with misusing state funds. Sara Netanyahu could face years in prison but her legal team says that charges are absurd and delusional.
CNN's Oren Lieberman has more now from Jerusalem.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT BASED IN JERUSALEM: Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was charged with fraud and breach of trust in an ongoing corruption investigation.
According to an indictment filed in Jerusalem's Magistrate Court on Thursday afternoon, prosecutors say Sara Netanyahu spent about a hundred thousand dollars in state money on ordering expensive meals and high-end waiters to the Prime Minister's residence repeatedly between 2010 and 2013. Prosecutors say Netanyahu ordered the meals and then concealed the expenses, working with the deputy director general of the Prime Minister's Office who faces the same charges. A lawyer for Sara Netanyahu denounced the charges as false and hallucinatory saying that she will be found innocent and that truth and logic will prevail.
This indictment increases the pressure on the Netanyahu family, the Israeli leader is facing a series of corruption investigations of his own. Police have already said they have enough evidence to charge him with fraud, bribery, and breach of trust in two separate investigations. He's been question is a suspect in the third investigation. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing insisting there will be nothing because there is nothing.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
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VAUSE: The European Union starts taxing more than 3 billion dollars- worth of US products on Friday as retaliation for the Trump administration's tariffs and steel and aluminum. These measures largely are tied to goods produced in places which voted for President Trump, including motorcycles, orange juice, bourbon, peanut butter. EU officials say if the trade dispute continues they will expand the tariffs to include more US exports. There's always a risk whenever a country hikes tariffs now Clare Sebastian looks at the implications from past US trade disputes (ph).
[01:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNNMONEY & CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: in 1930 prohibition was still in force, Herbert Hoover was in the White House and the global economy was in the grips of a catastrophic depression.
Two US senators, Reed Smoot and Willis Hawley set out to stem the tide using tariffs (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON LESTER, CATO INSTITUTE: Smooth and Hawley were people who -- whose districts where you know, producing industrial products and competing with foreign industrial products and looking for protection in order to help their districts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Smoot-Hawley or the Tariff Act of 1930 ballooned into hundreds of tariffs affecting all countries that exported to the US.
Over a thousand economists had urged the president to veto the bill warning off reprisals. They were right. Countries from Europe to Canada retaliated, overall US exports fell by 40 percent in two years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESTER: What we had was just an escalation around the world of tariffs going higher, most economists would say this didn't cause the Great Depression, the Great Depression had already started but this made the recovery longer, made the Great Depression worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: Though Smoot-Hawley was repealed in 1934 these two figures have haunted US administrations ever since.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well now some of us remember the 1930s.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: This was 1985.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If the ghost of Smoot-Hawley rears its ugly head in Congress, if Congress crafts a depression-making bill, I will fight it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: While Reagan's rhetoric touted free-trade some of his actions told a different story. Over the course of the 1980s, he put restrictions on tariffs on Japanese cars, electronics, and motorcycles to protect domestic companies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: America (ph) clearly is back and standing tall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESTER: Did that help certain US producers?
"Yes." But it was probably you know, harmful to the economy as a whole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: And that refrain rang true again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If this administration doesn't give us the kind of remedy (INAUDIBLE) --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: In 2002, the US steel industry was struggling under surging imports and falling prices. The Bush administration stepped in with tariffs of up to 30 percent on foreign steel imports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Steel needs time for a breeding room so they can restructure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: After about a year the World Trade Organization ruled them a trade violation and they were repealed. One study estimated 200,000 American jobs were lost due to higher steel prices.
The all-out trade war or trade disputes, history shows protectionism in all forms is fraught with risk.
Clare Sebastian, CNNMoney, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Next here on "NEWSROOM L.A." making the most of denuclearization, the leaders of South Korea and Russia meet in Moscow to talk risk and reward.
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[01:30:26] VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.
The Trump administration's zero tolerance policy for undocumented immigrants appears to be in curtail (ph), at least for now. E-mails obtained by CNN show U.S. Customs and Border Protection directing field officers to stop referring parents for prosecution if they cross the border with children.
The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged with fraud and breach of trust. Sara Netanyahu was indicted Thursday over what's being called the meals ordering affair. Prosecutors alleged she misused state funds, spending more than $100,000 on meals and private chefs.
A pro-ISIS cleric has been sentenced to death in Indonesia. Aman Abdurrahman is said to have incited five terror attacks, including a deadly 2016 bombing in Jakarta. Police say his group was also behind the string of suicide bombings earlier this year which left 13 people dead.
North and South Korea met with the Red Cross on Friday to discuss reuniting families split up by years of war. The move was agreed to at a summit between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un back in April.
The tens of thousands of Koreans, the reunions planned for August represent a long awaited chance to see loved ones they have not seen in decades.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is in Moscow and soon he will meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin. He addressed the lower house of parliament Thursday promising that both Koreas will work towards world peace and prosperity. And he says that's already under way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOON JAE-IN, PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA (through translator): Historic changes are happening in the Korean Peninsula now. In April, I met chairman of the state council of North Korea Kim Jong-un, and in the Panmunjom Declaration, we promised the whole world complete denuclearization and that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Alexandra Field joins us now live from Seoul, South Korea with more now on that visit.
Moon Jae-in making it very clear that he sees that Russia is one of the big players here when it comes to keeping the peace on the Korean peninsula. ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly nodding to
Russia's support as he calls it in what he also describes as a transformation of the peninsula. It's certainly no surprise to hear South Korean President Moon Jae-in sounding a rather optimistic note about what is happening on the peninsula, about the possibility of denuclearization.
And yes, again we said it before there to thank Russia in part for their support of this. He was honored with this opportunity to speak in front of the Lower House of the Parliament. But this is the third face-to-face meeting in the space of a year since Moon Jae-in has taken office with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. That will happen later today.
But President Moon also had the opportunity to speak with the Russian prime minister. Not only is he out there talking about issues of security on the Korean peninsula and denuclearization but he's also trying to paint a picture of what the future could look like after North Korea does denuclearize, saying that Russia and South Korea are already doing research into joint economic initiatives, or doing research on railways, on gas pipelines and on electric grids, saying that all of this could be possible. Greater economic participation and cooperation between North and South Korea, and eventually Russia once North Korea takes these verifiable steps towards denuclearization that have, of course, been the goal of the flurry of summits that we have recently seen.
While President Moon is now in Russia, we know of course that there is an invitation for the North Korean dictator, also to travel to Russia. That could happen potentially as early as September for the eastern economic conference. That was something that the South Korean president attended last year.
So John -- we'll have to see if both Kim and Moon make it back to Russia at the same time this year. That would be yet another face-to- face meeting between those leaders. So, a flurry of -- diplomacy for the formerly reclusive North Korea dictator.
VAUSE: Yes. I was going to say all these world leaders -- they're clocking up the frequent flier points this year it seems. Alex -- thank you. Good to see you. >
If Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet next month, and it now appears they will, it won't be for the first time but it could be the most critical face-to-face yet. The two leaders have met twice before on the sidelines of other summits. They've also spoken by phone at least eight times.
No date or location for their meeting has been set, but it's likely to come either before or after Mr. Trump attends next month's NATO summit in Brussels.
And allies are nervous over the timing. It's just when NATO wants to present a unified front in opposition to Russian aggression. This concerned the alliance will be left weakened should the U.S. president attack NATO members just like he did to allies at the G-7 summit earlier this month.
And the head of NATO has acknowledged the 69-year-old alliance is being tested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:35:04] JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Our bond is strong, but today some are doubting the strength of that bond. And yes, we see differences between the United States and other allies over issues such as trade, climate, and the Iran nuclear deal.
These disagreements are real. It is not written in stone that the transatlantic bond will survive forever. But I believe we will preserve it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Markos Kounalakis is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and he joins me now from San Francisco. Markos -- good to see you.
I guess the immediate concern which we're looking at here is a head of the NATO summit that it could essentially go the same way as the G-7 disaster. But that's speaking to a much larger trend of how much damage is being done to the world order by Donald Trump. This is the world order which was created and defended by the U.S. after World War II.
So assuming the next president, whether that's 2020 or 2024, takes a more traditional approach to foreign policy will that president be able to undo the damage? Will they be able to return to business as usual?
MARKOS KOUNALAKIS, VISITING FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Well John -- that's a good question because what we've seen is really that Donald Trump has up ended the world order. It's not the same world order that the United States put together carefully, thoughtfully in the post World War II era. And we see it on a daily basis. It's not hidden.
The President has delivered what in many cases, what in many ways was what Bernie Sanders also promised to do, which was a political revolution. And that political revolution has incredible ramifications around the world.
It stresses our relationships with our allies. It creates tensions in the trade regime that exists, and the rules based system that we followed. So there's no question, it is being tested and President Trump is the one who is testing it.
Now, is it resilient enough to survive a one-term presidency? I think so. I think we have to look to what happens in November 2018, whether or not that is seen as a referendum for President Trump's actions and policies -- meaning will the American people vote for a Democratic congress to enter into Washington, D.C. and check the President or not? And if not, then I think you're seeing -- you will see that there will be a validation of the President and his policies.
The same is true for 2020, when he goes up for re-election. So really it's up to what happens then.
VAUSE: Ok. Well, two photographs taken on the same day earlier this month, seemed to illustrate the state of international relations right now. The first, from the G-7 in Canada, the U.S. president arms folded, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaning in -- the tension clearly visible; while on the same day, the Presidents of China and Russia looking like the lead roles out of a buddy-buddy movie.
Reuter's reported Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin China's first friendship medal, calling him his best friend underscoring the close ties between the two. And then during an interview on state television, Putin said he never had such a relationship with another foreign leader.
You know, much of that could all be for show but, you know, insincere niceness seems a lot more positive than genuine tension and disagreement.
KOUNALAKIS: Yes, these images are so powerful, you know, that the President of the United States would be confronted by his own allies and friends in that visual representation.
And we do have to worry about what the Russian and Chinese relationship is. We always have. We did during the Cold War, we worried significantly about that. It's why the United States built its relationship to China, in part to actually try and wedge out the Soviet Union.
And so the question right now, if you think of the world the way that I believe that Donald Trump sees the world, which is as a G-3, not a G-7, but a G-3 -- the United States, China, and Russia. What matters then is who is allied with whom, who is working against whose interests? Or is it just three individual power houses competing on the world stage for resources and power?
VAUSE: Yes.
You know, there's also what happens domestically -- this latest outrage over the Trump administration's policy of taking children away from their parents if they're caught crossing the border illegally.
The front cover of "Time Magazine" had a very powerful image of Donald Trump looming over a crying child. And here's part of the cover story. "Just and democratic have disappeared as qualities the U.S. once sought to promote beyond its borders and has now been replaced with a new twist on the slogan America First -- a slogan that first surfaced to keep America out of World War II."
[01:40:02] So whether it's the outrage over, you know, the travel ban in the first year, or the President calling neo-Nazis good people or whether disputing with professional football players who are protesting for social justice what happens within American borders doesn't stay here. It's very much seen around the world.
KOUNALAKIS: Yes. And it's not just America First, it's America alone in the world. You know, it's applying (ph) and impressing upon the world the self -- sort of reflection on the nation that is no longer seeing itself as the world's policeman.
In fact, the image it's presenting is as a border cop and this is dangerous. It's dangerous because we rely on what's called soft power to attract other nations to the United States and to look at the United States as a beacon of hope, democracy, and a future that other nations can aspire to.
The good news though, John, is that I believe the United States is resilient. I believe that the democratic values are really there and underpin the society, and that even though this may be an aberration, that we can return to those, at least some of those principles, albeit with very different leadership with very different approach. And it's really going to be a question of what happens this November and then again in 2020.
VAUSE: I guess we'll just finish on this point though. While President Trump seems to, you know, be taking a particular life-sized wrecking ball to this world order, I actually said that other presidents before him were also looking to withdraw from U.S. leadership roles.
Obama in particular when you look at the Middle East; George W. Bush campaigned on a humble foreign policy not an arrogant one. So you know, this trend has been going on for some time. It accelerated massively under Donald Trump. But it's been there, you know, leading up to Donald Trump.
KOUNALAKIS: Yes, you're right. I mean it has been a questioning of the American role in the world. And, you know, we have been able to actually see what happened with George W. Bush, which was the Iraq war debacle I think we can safely say at this point and then the reversal of that from -- with President Obama.
I was able to see that, in fact, the instructions to the State Department envoys, to those who were ambassadors around the world, including my wife, by the way, who was the ambassador to Hungary -- that the direction was to repair those damaged relationships.
At the end of the George Bush presidency, many of those relationships were damaged and American -- anti-Americanism was growing. America's standing in the world was low. But it was repaired to some degree.
You're talking about the longer trend about America's retreat. And I think what we have to realize in the United States is that there are other powers that are rising right now. And that they are becoming great powers and that they want a piece of the pie.
They're certainly getting a piece of the economic pie today, but they want more regional leadership. And I'm speaking specifically about China right now. And they're trying to assert that leadership. And the question is, do we confront it, deal with it, manage it? How does the leadership of this country actually deal with this changing, ever-changing relationship and power structure that we call the world order?
VAUSE: Markos -- thank you so much. It's such a big picture topic. I'm not quite sure we did it justice, but we did as best as we could. I really appreciate you being with us. Thanks so much.
KOUNALAKIS: Thanks -- John.
VAUSE: Still to come here -- why Lionel Messi and Argentina are not having a very good time at this year's World Cup, actually in danger of elimination.
[01:43:50] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Hey. Ok, World Cup action.
Argentina star Lionel Messi was under pressure to deliver after a lackluster opener and he very decisively did not.
World Sports' Kate Riley is here to tell us what happened. Also Kate has details of other big matches. Kate -- that's a lively open (ph), it's got rhythm.
KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORTS: Yes. Yes, look at you. You're liking that.
VAUSE: Yes.
RILEY: Yes. All right. Well, picking up from there. Don't expect me to replicate those dance moves for you -- John.
Lionel Messi and Argentina are having an absolute nightmare at this World Cup and after Thursday's stunning defeat against Croatia their future in this tournament is seriously in doubt as you alluded to.
Argentina's front line was looking woeful. They had major problems at the back. Just look at this awful moment which teed (ph) up Rebic for Croatia's opening goal. That was served up on a plate.
He's picking it well, Luka Modric for that second goal and that's a brilliant strike that he bends just inside the post. Argentina now on the ropes when Croatia finished them off (INAUDIBLE) quit the stands (ph) once again. They were lining up to score, but it was Ivan Rakitic who twisted the knife for a 3-0 win.
This was an excruciating experience for those Argentina fans; and the great Diego Maradona in the stadium as well. You can see how they reacted to Argentina's players, lost their cool (ph). The performance was embarrassing and the result simply humiliating.
And the emotions were pretty similar back home in the capital of Buenos Aires. The watching fans had to endure a series of bad misses before their team totally capitulated by the end (INAUDIBLE) it seems almost resigned to the score.
Argentina aren't out of it, but a lot will now depend on the game for Iceland, as well as Nigeria on Friday. In fact, Argentina must beat Nigeria in their final game and they might need favors on top of that. And their minus three goal difference could prove to be a real handicap.
Now France are one of the favorites, John, for this tournament, and they have qualified for this knockout stage. But they did so at the expense of Peru who have now lost both their games by the same score line of 1-0. So they are out.
Peru have been very well supported in Russia. It's their first World Cup since 1982, and they were very unlucky to lose to this goal. Olivier Giroud's shot took a wicked deflection, evading the goalie and into the path of Kylian Mbappe who didn't miss. France have scored three times so far in Russia, but all three goals have been lucky ones.
It's so hard when you go to a World Cup with these high expectations, and it's all over before you have played all three of your games. These Peruvian fans have given a very good account of themselves and the World Cup has been better for their involvement.
Now, elsewhere in Group C, a 1-1 draw between Denmark and Australia means that they -- that both of those sides can still have a chance to go through. This game in Samara was lit up by a fantastic Danish goal after only seven minutes.
It really was a brilliant strike from Christian Eriksen but check out the assist. It was deadly, and it sent Denmark their way.
Australia got back into it with a penalty seven minutes before halftime. It was another use of this video assisted referee highlighting a hand ball that would have been very difficult to see in real time. It was a good call. Mile Jedinak buried the penalty to secure a 1-1 draw.
Never in doubt -- he's never actually missed a penalty in his career. So the Socceroos are alive and kicking in this World Cup.
Here is what is on tap on Friday. Huge matchup in Group D between Nigeria and Iceland. If Iceland win, that makes things very interesting for Argentina after their loss today. Group E in action, as well. Neymar is expected to play for Brazil against Costa Rica while current group leader Serbia face Switzerland.
Well, one of the biggest surprises in this World Cup has been the host nation Russia. They came in as the lowest ranked team of this tournament, but after a pair of dominant wins, they're on fire.
[01:50:05] CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on Russia's sensation squad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: it's not often that you see Russians this emotional. But the country's been in a football frenzy ever since the World Cup started.
Thanks to Russia's Cinderella squad -- a team most experts thought would fail miserably but that's outscored its opponents 8-1 so far.
Defender Andrei Semyonov told me the team always believed in itself.
"Nobody believed in us," he says. "Now everyone does, and they're starting to put medals on us. But we don't look at it. We studied our opponents really well and predicted everything."
But few observers could have predicted their success. Russia is the lowest ranked team at the World Cup, wouldn't have even qualified if they weren't the host nation. And many feared the mood at the World Cup would sour if the home team performed poorly. Now the squad, led by striker Artem Dzyuba, is on a role.
Team Russia has already proved all of its critics wrong, winning all of its matches and already qualifying for the next round. And now both this nation and this team believe they can do great things at the FIFA 2018 World Cup.
And with a successful squad, Russians are embracing their nation's role as host of the tournament. Striker Fyodor Kudryashov telling me, home field advantage has also helped elevate the team's performance.
"The fans are the 12th player on the field for us," he says. "We feel their overwhelming support and our team goes forward."
If there is a knock on the Russians, it's that they haven't played any of the really strong teams so far. But for now, Russia is enjoying the winning streak, hoping their World Cup fairy tale doesn't end any time soon.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN -- Novogorsk, Russia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RILEY: Yes. Great stuff from Fred there.
Well, Russia's next opponent is set to be Uruguay on Monday. That team is also undefeated.
So John -- with that, we're going to hand it back to you. Great day for Australia.
VAUSE: Yes. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.
RILEY: Yes, your beloved Socceroos.
VAUSE: Yes. Well, they're doing much better than we thought they would.
RILEY: Yes. Long may that continue.
VAUSE: Yes. Still to come here -- it's been almost two years since U.K. voters opted to leave the E.U. but since then it seems regrets have been growing over Brexit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Time does pass quickly. Saturday marks two years since British voters decided to leave the E.U. Progress has been slow in negotiating the divorce which will impact millions of people affecting everything from big business to defense to personal relationships. And there's still so much which has yet to be agreed to before next year's deadline.
And with that looming deadline now on the horizon, are the good folks of the U.K. having second thoughts?
CNN's Anna Stewart hit the streets of London to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Accepting Brexit was never going to be easy. For some remainers -- the fight is still on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not politics. This is country. It's bigger, it's much bigger.
STEWART: They're pushing for another vote on the final deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a hope for so many things that people thought they were going to get that they now can see they're not.
STEWART: Some people would say that makes a mockery of democracy. We had the vote, we knew the consequences. What do you say to them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, let's live in a one-party state. Let's never ever have a general election. Let's just elect one government and have them forever because that's what democracy said at a particular point in time. That would obviously be ludicrous.
[01:55:11] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So do you think Brexit will be good for jobs?
STEWART: Campaigners are taking the temperature of locals here in Reading, a city west of London with this makeshift Brexit-o-meter.
So you can see that some people do think Brexit will be good for jobs. Some people say it could be good for the NHS, the health service here in the U.K. However, what really unifies everybody is nobody seems to think that Brexit is going well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello there. Are you in a rush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'm going to miss my bus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you have a --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry.
STEWART: Mostly it's an uphill battle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're fed up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're campaigning for a people's vote on the Brexit deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm fatigued (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's (INAUDIBLE) to cast our vote now because we've already voted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. This is the vote on the final bill.
STEWART: Up and down the country, the British people are worn out. London's famously chatty cabbies are sick of talking about it.
How do you think Brexit is going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too slowly. The government needs to push on and do what the people voted for.
STEWART: It's a struggle to keep up with the twists and turns of the Brexit process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are a lot of people out there that are a bit confused about what the government are going to be doing.
THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We are working to ensure that we can have our future customs arrangements.
STEWART: Political posturing, parliamentary rebellion, and endless procedural votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not really sure whether it's a backstop or a backslide that she's talking about here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leading Britain's conversation with Nick --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Four minutes after 7:00 in this hour -- another vote, another defeat.
STEWART: Too dizzying even for a radio pundit like Nick Ferrari.
NICK FERRARI, RADIO HOST: Probably the best way to put it in English terms, it's a brother's muddle (ph). It's just endless jumping on trains from London to Brussels.
STEWART: Ferrari, a leaver, says the country doesn't have the stomach for another vote.
FERRARI: It's not a best of three. Where does that end?
STEWART: Two years on with these negotiations, have any of these rifts been healed?
FERRARI: Tell me any divorce and couple you've ever known who said "I'm so glad that divorce took so long." So this inactivity has made far worse because people get angrier with each other.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I still want to get out. I want to hurry up and I don't want to be bullied by the E.U. commissioner.
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: Tempers flaring, with no settlement in sight.
Anna Stewart, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Be careful what you vote for.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
The news continues on CNN after a very short break.
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