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Report: Trump Calls for Deportations Without Due Process; New Video Inside Detention Center for Separated Children; NYT Says Trump Privately Regrets Signing Order on Separations; Trump Threatens Maxine Waters; President Hosts King and Queen of Jordan. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 25, 2018 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi, you're watching CNN on this Monday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me. Just into us here at CNN, we have new video from inside and unaccompanied minor's shelter. This is from Tornillo, Texas. This is video just released by the government. Being released as hundreds of parents are still waiting to be reunited with their children.

And just as the Pentagon is preparing not just one but two military bases to temporarily house those crossing the border illegally. The president is suggesting those same people should be denied the right to due process. Part of what the president tweeted: "We cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. When someone comes in we must immediately with no judges or court cases, bring them back from where they came.

"The New York Times" is adding to that, they are saying behind closed doors the president has actually expressed regret for signing his executive order which ended family separation by detaining parents and kids together. Let's start this hour with Diane Gallagher because she was actually touring that facility that we just saw some pictures of in Texas. Diane, I know the kids in the facility, between the ages of 13 and 17. By the way were looking at pictures from the White House. The president welcoming the king and queen of Jordan, so will wait for a little bit from them.

Diane, to you. Tell me what you saw.

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is my third tour now. I've done a centralized processing center in McAllen. I did the emergency shelter at the old job corps site in Homestead. And now this I know people have been referring to it as a tent city. They would prefer, many of them don't like these names that we are giving them, it to be called an emergency shelter that they had to create.

It kind of looks like and your probably seeing pictures now that were given to us by the government, they wouldn't let us bring our cameras or recording devices or our phones inside for privacy reasons they said. I want to give you stats of who is in this facility. We have 326 total children there right now.

Of those 326, 23 as of today are separations, kids who are separated from their parents at the border because of that zero-tolerance policy. 14 of them are girls. This is overwhelmingly a male facility, as most of them have been that we've seen. It's only been open for 11 or 12 days. In that amount of time, they claim to have reunified 70 children, three of which are kids who were separated at the border, being reunified with their parents.

It gives you an idea of what we're looking at here and operating. We did get the unvarnished view that I've received so far from anybody working this facility. The contractor that operates it, BCFS health and human services. The incident commander was frank about his feelings on the separation and zero tolerance policy. He called it -- I want to make sure I get it right here, he says it was a dumb stupid decision that leadership made that should have never happened.

He said that his emergency facility was a direct result of the decision to separate family members at the border under this policy. Let me explain why that is. Most of the kids here are unaccompanied minors. They were already at shelters somewhere else under HHS or ORR, their ability to take care of them there. Those kids had to be moved to this shelter to make room for the younger kids. That's what he means by that. You can see the tents, they have the bathroom facility, it looks similar to the facility in Homestead. With the exception that they are in tents. The kids were playing soccer and having a good time while we were there. But again, we see what they want us to see.

BALDWIN: Right. And again, these are pictures issued by the government, but at least as you're saying, they're saying, 70 kids reunited is a step in the right direction. Diane, thank you so much, on her third tour of one of these facilities, to talk about one of the legalities, we just ran through on the lead. Sarah Coyne is with me, a former federal prosecutor, Paul Callan is here, a CNN legal analyst.

Let's take a deep dive into what the president was saying. His whole suggestion that anyone who came across the U.S./Mexico border immediately illegally should be sent back immediately without due process or an appearance before judge, and that includes everyone, including asylum-seekers who by the way are covered by the law,

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, they are. We only seen even a temporary suspension of due process rights in the United States during times of war. And President Trump is not Abraham Lincoln, and this is not the Civil War.

[14:05:00] people who step on American soil are granted due process rights. They don't have to be U.S. citizens and due process just means that they'll be a fair process to decide whether you're a legitimate refugee, political refugee seeking asylum or not. And that's what it means in this case.

BALDWIN: It's important the phrase due process. He used this back in February, just to point out a tweet on something else: "People's lives are being shattered and destroyed by mere allegations. Some are true, some are false, some are old, some are new. There's no recovery from someone falsely accused, life and career are gone, is there no such thing any longer as due process."

Separate issue, but same point of law, it's sort of cherry picking where due process works for you in some cases and shouldn't be used in others.

SARAH COYNE, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: The courts have made clear that even conduct by someone who is not here legally, that person is covered by due process rights, and that's how people in the Department of Justice interact with those people and treat them as though all of the protections of due process apply. I think the Department of Justice, that's a founding principle for them.

BALDWIN: Doesn't this speak to -- let me add to this, "The New York Times" as we mentioned had gone a step further and said Trump had complained to aides about why can't he just create this whole overarching executive order to solve the problem according to two people familiar with those deliberations. And this is the quote from "The Times" I just wanted to read for everyone: "Aides have had to explain to the president why a comprehensive immigration overhaul is beyond the reach of his executive powers." Had to explain to him.

CALLAN: The president has had problems with executive orders in the past. The travel ban being one of the big ones. And were waiting to hear from the Supreme Court held that. He doesn't have the right to override the constitution. Even by the use of an executive order many and I think the president in private practice, as a real estate developer, he was a gut player, he would go with his gut as to how to solve a problem. Now he has to deal with a little thing called the U.S. Constitution.

BALDWIN: Does he not realize that he can't do that, is it a total lack of disregard and disrespect? Ignorance?

COYNE: This is a problem that has vexed many administrations. Most people understand this is going to be a quite difficult area to wade into and solve quickly with an executive order or new laws. One would expect that you would handle this with understanding that other people are going to have strong views about it, is going to be handled step by step.

CALLAN: And he doesn't. When you look historically, over the last 16 years. Bush had trouble in this area, Obama had trouble in this area. Which is why nobody was issuing an executive order that would blow up the whole system. Because what we're seeing today is what happens when you blow up a system that has been used for the last 16 years. You have to make changes slowly in this area for it to work.

BALDWIN: Paul and Sarah, thank you so much on all of that.

More than 500 immigrant children have been reunited with their families, since being separated from their parents at our southern border. That means more than 2,000 kids are being held away from their moms and dads. In some cases, thousands of miles away. Take this case of an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador profiled in "The Washington Post."

He was taken into custody in Texas about a month ago and separated from his 6-year-old daughter the next day. He hasn't seen his little girl since they were pulled apart. This 26-year-old man has been deported back to El Salvador and he has no idea where his daughter is being held or when they will be reunited. Here's a portion of this gut-wrenching moment. When he gets this call from his scared and confused and lonely 6-year-old little girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO, FATHER OF CHILD HELD IN U.S. DETENTION: what did the woman tell you who's taking care of you?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO, CHILD HELD IN DETENTION FACILITY: I don't know.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: Have they taken you to church?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: No.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: They haven't taken you to you to church? And do you have choice there, my love?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: No.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: You don't have toys?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: No.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: The woman with you Hassan let you borrow any? Huh?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: No.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: And what you have there to play with? Meybelin? What do you have to play with?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: Only dolls. Papa? When are you going to take me out of here?

[14:10:00] ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: [crying]

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: When are you going to take me out of here?

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: They are going to bring you soon, my love.

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: When?

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: Soon, they have to fix the airplane.

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: When are you going take me out of here?

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: They're going to bring you back soon, my love.

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: When?

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: Soon. They have to fix the plane. Meybelin. Do you have friends there?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: No.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: Why don't you have friends?

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: No.

ARNOVIS GUIDOS PORTILLO: Meybelin. I love you, my love.

MEYBELIN PORTILLO: Me too, papa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We're going to talk to the writer from "The Washington Post" who profiled that man next hour. But first, this weekend a new low for political discourse in America, Sarah Sanders was kicked out of a restaurant in Virginia as this Democratic lawmaker calls on supporters to harass Trump officials. Now, President Trump just escalated it by attacking her. Also, ahead, Harley-Davidson a company the president once touted is moving jobs overseas because of President Trump's trade war. Is this the first domino?

And Roseanne in a new interview starts to cry, saying she's lost everything since her racist rant that cost her a job. And she didn't stop there. Stay with me. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

[14:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are back, you're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. The division over what's happening at the U.S./Mexico border seems to be igniting a new phenomenon. People are confronting members of the Trump administration out in public why we are going about their private business. Just in the past week, Florida attorney general and Trump supporter, Pam Bondi, was heckled outside of a movie theater.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Bondi, says she was first approached before the movie in the ticket line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, FLORIDA AG: The woman approaches me in the ticket line and starts screaming that I was personally ripping babies out of the arms of mothers. Three huge guys came up and started probably an inch from my face screaming at me every word in the book, cursing as loud as they could. A trooper, my trooper came up and my boyfriend and I got our tickets, were headed in, they ran in and encircled me, where I could not get in the theater, they stopped me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Also, over the weekend, Sarah Sanders was kicked out of a restaurant in Virginia, tweeting about the whole thing. And that restaurant owner. She said her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with respectfully and will continuing to do so. The restaurant owner told "The Washington Post" she explained to Sanders, the restaurant has certain standards she has to uphold.

Days before that, both Trump adviser Steven Miller and Kirstjen Nielson were heckled and booed on separate occasions while dining at Mexican restaurants in Washington. While some of these instances seem spur of the moment. Maxine Waters is encouraging this public shaming to continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D), CALIFORNIA: If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station. You get out and you tell them they're not welcome any more, anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And just in the last couple minutes, the president responded to those comments tweeting, "Maxine Waters an extraordinarily low IQ person has become together with Nancy Pelosi the face of the Democratic party, she has just called for harm to supporters of which there are many of the Make America Great Again movement. Be careful what you wish for, Max."

Let's start there. Michael Smerconish is with me host of CNN's "SMERCONISH." Author of "Clowns still left to me, jokers to the right," also with me, CNN chief legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. Michael, I want to start with the president's tweet and we'll work backwards. Be careful what you wish for, Max, is that a threat?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: I didn't know of the president's tweet until you brought it to my attention. Let me tell you about a tweet of my own which was a few hours ago. I'm concerned somebody's going to get hurt. I find what Maxine Waters said to be appalling. You might disagree with these individuals, I certainly do, but they are public servants, and if the shoe were on the other foot, and if someone high ranking in the Obama administration had been rejected from a restaurant under similar circumstances, I think many of the people today calling for those actions would have been appalled.

[14:20:00] And rightfully so. I'm for consistency. Also, I want to say what a great hand the president has just been dealt politically. On top of that horrible tweet last week from Peter Fonda, Robert De Niro dropping the "f" bomb at the Tonys, Samantha Bee with the "c" word, all it does is create a perception of piling on by elites. That will fire up the red states when it's time for them to vote.

BALDWIN: No, sure, it's working. We will get into the numbers and how this is great for the president. But Jeffrey Toobin, back on the president's tweet. When we talk about the breakdown of civility and threats of violence on both sides? Did he just light a match?

JEFF TOOBIN, CNN, CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: He's been inflammatory on Twitter since before he ran for president. This is how he interacts with people. This is how he engages with his opponents. What we have learned is that when you try to match him, it doesn't work very well. Taking the low road, whether it's Marco Rubio talking about the size of his hands or Maxine Waters encouraging people to be rude to people in restaurants. That has historically has not been a political winning hand for president or candidate Trump's opponents. And I expect that will continue as well.

BALDWIN: Let's go back to the weekend, the whole story of Sarah Sanders getting kicked out of this restaurant in Virginia. David Axelrod speaks, and he tweeted saying he was amazed and appalled by the folks on the left. As I'm talking I'm being told that Trump is speaking, let's go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're friends. We've known each other for quite a while. You've done an incredible job on the refugees and camps, and taking care of people. I just want to say, while our nations have a very good relationship, we now have a great relationship, the job you do on a humanitarian basis is fantastic, I would like to thank you very much, sir.

ABDULLAH II BIN AL-HUSSEIN, KING OF JORDAN: Sir, thank you. If I could thank you and the United States for all the support you've given our country. If the rest of the world took a little bit of your humility and grace, we would be in a lot better position. But if it wasn't for the United States just on behalf of myself and my people, thank you so much for all that you've done.

TRUMP: Remember he used the word humility with respect to me. I'm happy with that word. It's probably the nicest compliment I've received in a long time. The job you do is fantastic. And yes, we do, we spend a lot of money in a lot of places, people don't do the job you do, so I want to thank you.

ABDULLAH II: Thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you very much, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go, we're leaving.

TRUMP: No, no. The executive order was great, it was something that I felt we had to do. We want children staying together. The law has been this law for a long period of time. You would understand this better than most, because of the great job you do in your country. There was a false story, fake news in "The New York Times." I wanted to sign that, in fact, I was staying yesterday, before I read this phony story in the New York times that I was very, very happy that I signed that. And it also -- it shows -- you know, we're all talking about humanity, whether it's what you're doing in Jordan or what we're doing here, the laws are obsolete, the laws are horrible, having to do with the border, both in terms of security and in terms of taking care of people.

President Obama had a big problem, in fact a lot of the pictures used they thought would be -- I don't know what you folks did, you used pictures from 2014, they were all taken during the Obama administration. The Bush administration had the same -- they're the same laws, they're a disaster, the laws have to be changed. Whether it's North Korea or so many different things like trade, we're taking care of a lot of problems that should have been taken care of over the years. One of the highest on the list is immigration. We have to change our laws. We have to make them sensible, they came in to see me last week, they said, we'd like to hire 5,000 more judges. 5,000. You ever hear of a thing like that?

[14:25:00] Judges. Well, we're appointing 145 judges here, and every one goes through this extreme vetting process, talk about 5,000. Where do you find 5,000 people to be judges? You know what it leads to, it leads to graft, it leads to a lot of other things. We want a system, where when people come in illegally, they have to go out. And a nice simple system that works. You know, Mexico holds people for four hours, for five hours, for two hours and they're gone. We have people for four or five, six years and they never leave. So, we want to have a great immigration -- what we have is very simple. We want strong borders, and we want no crime. Strong borders, we want no crime. The Democrats want open borders and they don't care about crime. And they don't care about our military. I care about our military. That's what we want. And that's what we're going to get. We're going to get it sooner than people think, thank you very much. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, everyone make their way out. Let's go. Let's go.

TRUMP: Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Press -- leave the room. We're going out, thank you. Thank you.

TRUMP: We're doing very well in the Middle East. We're doing very well in the Middle East.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do you want to release the Middle East plan?

TRUMP: I can only say this, his majesty knows we're doing well in the Middle East. A lot of progress has been made in the Middle East, a lot. It really started with the end of the horrible Iran deal, that deal was a disaster, and things are a lot different since we ended that, a lot different. Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, everyone, thank you. We're leaving now. Thank you. Let's leave the room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK, so let's continue where we were but let's dip into the point that really the headline that we heard from the president sitting there with the first family of Jordan, the headline was, the president doesn't regret signing that order to stop separation of parents and kids. He kept referring to the phony story in "The New York Times." And that story was that, again, according to "The Times" that Trump has complained to aides about why can't he create this over arching executive order to solve the problem? They cite two sources familiar with those deliberations. Jeff Toobin, let me go to you on that, but also, you hit on this a second ago, and the conversation about disrespect and discourse. What's interesting about all of this, despite all the criticism he's been getting, 90 percent of Republicans approve of what the president is doing.

TOOBIN: This is the tribal moment in which we live. I believe that poll is largely taken before this border crisis has fully been absorbed, I'm not sure it's still at 90 percent, it's got to be very close. And 90 percent of the 38 percent who are Republicans give or take. That's a lot of people, but it's not everyone. And the president has geared his presidency almost entirely to his base. To the Republican base. And that may succeed in the midterms, that may succeed in getting him re-elected. I was wrong in 2016, but I think to assume that the president is handling this whole thing masterfully because his base is sticking with him, I think that's a questionable assumption and we'll see how that plays out.

BALDWIN: I think to your point on tribalism, what I wanted to get to with -- Sarah Sanders getting kicked out of that restaurant and liberals all across the board cheering over the weekend. They've laid flowers at this restaurant in Virginia, and you have David Axelrod's point over the weekend. He was appalled by all of the folks on the left who applauded Sanders for getting kicked out of the restaurant. Do you share that same sense of being appalled with how the left was behaving?

SMERCONISH: Absolutely. Absolutely I do. I'm going to tell you, Brooke, I travel a fair amount, doing speaking to groups around the country. Just came back last night from California. And this may surprise you. The number one comment that I hear from people who engage me is to say, I'm really not a fan of the president, often times they'll say, I didn't vote for the president much I don't agree with his behavior. But the way in which he's been treated in the media or by the celebrities pushes me to a point where I'm almost sympathetic with him. I cannot tell you how many times I heard that, if was the first thing I thought of when Sarah Sanders got punted or Peter Fonda sent out that tweet or De Niro or Samantha Bee's comment about Ivanka. I'm not defending the president's tweets and the way he treats people. To go to his level has blow back.

[14:30:00] TOOBIN: Let me respond to that in part. We don't go to the president's level in responding in the news media. We cover the news. That is entirely appropriate. Peter Fonda, who cares. I mean, it's so ridiculous, some has been celebrity -- let me finish. Some has been celebrity sends a tweet, and we treat it as its news. We cover the Trump administration like journalists, that's entirely appropriate. If some people aren't happy about that, that's too bad, I don't think we should worry that they feel sympathy for the president because we're doing our jobs as journalists.

SMERCONISH: There's perception in the -- there's a perception in the country that it has gone too far. I'm not defending it, Jeffrey, I'm telling you that it's real and it's out there, and I hear it from telephone callers on my radio program, on a day to day business. They don't defend what he does. But they don't like the way in which it's been interpreted and covered. It's just an observation.

BALDWIN: Glad we're having the conversation, I know, I know, I can see your face. Thank you both so much for that. Do not "SMERCONISH" Saturday mornings 9:00 a.m. eastern here on CNN. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

Next, an iconic American brand, Harley-Davidson now moving some of its production overseas, this is all connected to President Trump's tariff policy --