Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Report: Trump Calls Travel Ban Ruling A Tremendous Victory; Trump Slams Harley Move to Overseas; Fallon on Trump's Insults, Melania's Anti Bullying Effort Failing. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 26, 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: Here we go. You are watching CNN on as Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me. Here's the breaking news, the president says today's Supreme Court decision is, quote, "a tremendous victory." The ruling effectively makes the president's controversial travel ban a part of U.S. immigration law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, the Supreme Court ruling was a tremendous victory for this country and for the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruling was a tremendous victory for our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you go ahead with it, sir?

TRUMP: Of course. What do you think, I wouldn't go ahead with it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it embolden you to the idea of deporting people without due process as well? Do you think --

TRUMP: We have to find a system where you don't need thousands of judges sitting at a border. We had a tremendous victory today and we greatly appreciate it. We needed it as a country. That was a big victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: In a 5-4 decision the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling of a lower court and most citizens from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen will be barred from entering the United States. This version of the travel ban, this sort of third iteration is much narrower, but one of the key issues for the justices to decide, whether or not the president's initial calls for a Muslim ban was still at the heart of the legislation which would make it discriminatory. A look back to December 2015.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. We have no choice. We have no choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now attorneys for the administration argued because he didn't make that statement as president, it shouldn't count against him. So, let's talk all about this. Jennifer Taub is with me, a professor of Vermont Law School, CNN legal analyst, Paul Callan, is here and chief political analyst, Gloria Borger is joining on the politics of all of this.

Let's just dive right in. This is part of the majority of the decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts. Quote: "But the issue before us is not whether to denounce the statements, in reference to the president's words, it is instead the significance of those statements in reviewing a presidential directive neutral on its face addressing a matter within the core of executive responsibility. In doing so we must consider not only the statements of a particular president but also the authority of the presidency itself."

So, Paul Callan, in the end, did Trump's words just not matter?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: In the end I think they did not matter, and what Roberts did not say in the decision, but you can read it from the way he wrote it, was that most of those words were said by Trump during his presidential campaign, not while he was president of the United States. And I suppose it's a dangerous precedent if you hold political candidates to what they say in their political campaigns, since so many crazy things get said in political campaigns.

But putting that on the side, then Roberts proceeds to a meticulous analysis of the statute itself and he says this lays out clear criteria, it's focused on national security, it is not focused on discriminating against Muslims, and I came away from it in the end, brook, thinking that opponents of the travel ban and those who will disagree with this decision by the supreme court, are still litigating travel ban one. This is the very rewritten travel ban three written to deal with objections to the original.

BALDWIN: Which to that point, the president himself called it, you know, once upon a time Muslim ban and tweeted the justice department watered down the Muslim ban to get it through the Supreme Court, is this, to use the president's word, a watered down Muslim ban?

JENNIFER TAUB, PROFESSOR, VERMONT LAW SCHOOL: You know, I have to say, Paul, I disagree with you on this point and even in the majority decision, the court was clear that some of the statements that were made during the campaign stayed on the campaign website into the presidency and Brooke, as you noted, even after he was elected and then after he was president, he made clear that he had an anti-Muslim animus. I think this is travel ban 2.0 the same Muslim travel ban, same intent that they had initially. And I really think that there really are only five people in the United States right now who actually believe this is simply about national security or vetting people to come into the United States and on that vetting point, that's a central justification that Roberts in his majority opinion.

I was astonished at the sad irony here. This is a president who has a great deal of trouble vetting people for his campaign and White House. [14:05:00] We already have so many criminals in his campaign and

administration. You have three who pleaded guilty to felony offenses and his former campaign manager right now in jail for -- his bail was revoked. I'm not convinced that vetting people to ensure that they're not criminals was at the top of his list. He was trying to fulfill a campaign promise and his base is thrilled and they understand this is, you know, anti-Muslim hatred that motivated is.

BALDWIN: On that note, this what is Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her dissent, and Gloria I'm coming to you on the politics, she wrote," The majority here completely sets aside the president's charged statements about Muslims as irrelevant, that holding erodes the foundational principles of religious tolerance that the court elsewhere has so emphatically protected and tells members of minority religions outside this country they are outsiders not full members of the political community. Gloria, to Jennifer's point on the big picture and Justice Sonia Sotomayor's words, do words matter less? Do incendiary statements, depending on who is on the receiving end, does that matter less in the era of Donald J. Trump?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: We've been debating this point since Donald Trump was elected president. During the campaign remember there was that famous phrase that the press takes him -- that his fans take him seriously, but not literally, and the press takes him literally, but not seriously. And I think that, you know, that kind of applies here in this ruling. Sonia Sotomayor is saying, you need to take the president literally here. She said also in one of her statements she said, let the gravity of those statements sink in. Most of these words were written or spoken by the current president of the United States. So, she is saying, you need to take him literally and that is -- and that is how you need to understand even the third iteration of this ban. And Justice Roberts is saying just the opposite. He said look, you got to take seriously what the president is saying, but you've got to consider the presidency itself.

BALDWIN: What about also, Gloria, so it's the words piece, the Neil Gorsuch piece, president Trump got his conservative justice and that happened because speaker McConnell was successful in the Obama era of keeping Merrick Garland at bay, do you think this is every much a win for speaker McConnell as for president Trump?

GLORIA: I do. I actually do. You know, the president and Mitch McConnell have an on again/off again relationship. I don't think they're particularly personally close, but I do think that McConnell was the earn who gave the president his first big victory, which was Neil Gorsuch. A lot of people during the campaign told us they were voting for Donald Trump because of the supreme court and you can see that in action here today. Of course, Democrats will be upset because Merrick Garland was even denied a vote in the United States senate. But yes, this is a, you know, this is a direct result of Mitch McConnell making sure that Neil Gorsuch got through.

BALDWIN: You were nodding. Quickly, that was a big you agree a huge McConnell win as well.

TAUB: It is. I think on his re-election campaign Twitter feed there's a photo with him reaching out to shake Gorsuch's hands.

BALDWIN: To show that.

TAUB: It's a win.

CALLAN: I think it was a win for the court as an institution and the presidency as an institution. And just harkening back to what Gloria said about the Roberts focusing on the presidency itself as opposed to the individual holding the job. The truth of the matter is, the president is one who controls our borders and controls national security issues. If you don't like the current president or the current president says crazy things, we still have to protect this nation from security threats and I think what Roberts was saying in the end, notwithstanding the things that he said that were improper, what is articulated in the current travel ban three sensibly delineates countries we have to look carefully at, Venezuela and North Korea have been added to the list, although maybe North Korea will be getting off soon, but it doesn't look like a list now that's just aimed at the Muslim --

BALDWIN: Muslim majority.

CALLAN: It's aimed to the extent that it's aimed at Muslims, it's at Muslim terrorism and vetting that to prevent its arrival on the shores of the United States.

BALDWIN: All right. We're going to leave it. Paul, Jennifer, Gloria, thanks very much for that. Coming up next, president Trump escalating his feud with Harley Davidson, saying it will be, quote, "the beginning of the end if they start building bikes overseas."

We'll talk to the founder of Bikers for Trump; how does he feel? Also, President Trump telling late night host Jimmy Fallon to, quote, "be a man". Fallon's response, don't you have more important things to do? Why the president is taking on late night TV hosts.

Plus, Mitt Romney learns his political fate today, and he tells CNN whether he will be a friend or foe to the president in the Senate. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

[14:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The president's love affair with Harley Davidson is it over? Today the president unloading on this iconic American motorcycle company and its plans to move some of its production overseas. Harley says it has no choice but to relocate to avoid paying those sharply higher tariffs slapped on their bikes in Europe. Those tariffs retaliation for Trump raising tariffs on European steel and aluminum. In a tweet, President Trump accused Harley of surrendering and he continued his attacks on the company just a moment ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Harley Davidson was going to do that, they announced it earlier this year. Harley Davidson is using that as an excuse and I don't like that because I've been very good to Harley Davidson. They used it as an excuse. I think the people that ride Harleys are not happy with Harley Davidson and I wouldn't be either. Mostly companies are coming back to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Critics accuse the president of being a bit hypocritical given many Trump brand products are made overseas, everything from Trump ties to vodka. Not made in America, a map of countries that manufacture Trump products, show Trump made goods very much a global business.

With me now, Chris Cox, the founder of Bikers for Trump. I have not laid eyes on you in person since I hopped on the back of your Harley shooting that story at the RNC in Cleveland. Nice to see you again. Welcome back.

CHRIS COX, FOUNDER, BIKERS FOR TRUMP: Thank you, Brooke. Nice to be back.

BALDWIN: So, when you hear the president just there saying he feels like Harley is using tariffs as an excuse, he feels like they're surrendering, are they?

COX: Well, you know, Harley has had some problems for some time now. They were slipping and sliding back in 2007, well before the last recession. They were talking about moving some of their factories out of the country even before Donald Trump was elected. I think this is an excuse. We're not very happy. Harley Davidson needs to remember that people that put them in business and the people that kept them in business, it was the veterans and the blue-collar Americans. And it would serve them wise to remember that.

BALDWIN: So, you stand with the president? You stand with the president on this?

COX: By all means. Our president is trying to give us an equitable, just a resource here so that we can get an even playing field here, and for Harley Davidson to suggest that this is the reason they're going to move over, I myself ride a Harley Davidson but I'm not married to my Harley Davidson. It would serve Harley well to realize the biker communities, veterans and blue collar, they are one of the most patriotic group of people in the world and that they're going to stick by our president. We know he's doing what's best, going to shake things up before he can give us an even playing field and we couldn't be more proud of him. That being said, Harley Davidson was formed in 1903. The Indian motorcycle brand came on in 1901. They're not the only players in America. The Harley and --

BALDWIN: But let me jump in, and I understand this Coke, Pepsi, few other, the two biggies. Your point is important about how, you know, the folks who love Harleys, blue collar Americans, lot of veterans, and what I'm wondering is, you said you ride a Harley, but if the price of a bike goes up, if, would they, you mind paying more if that means buying American?

COX: Well, we would certainly like to save our money, so we can take our families on vacations or make our quality of life better.

BALDWIN: Is that a no?

COX: At the end of the day, the biker is a patriotic and they would like to see the jobs stay in America and we like to spend a little more money to know it's American made. The president is right on here just as he usually is. And we're going to support him 100 percent.

BALDWIN: Here's the other piece when you look at just the financials, Chris, you know, last quarter, this what is Harley was saying, their sales have been down already in the U.S., 12 percent. They've been up in Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Africa, isn't the heart of this -- then add the tariffs, Harley is saying sorry, whatever this tariff war is, it's impacting our bottom line, and that's the part that counts so they're just acting on that?

[14:20:00] COX: Yes, but by the same token, they're not really thinking outside the box. For instance, the Indian brand is embraced to flat track racing, they're trying to figure out ways to entice the millennials to get on their motorcycles. Harley Davidson is slipping and sliding to some degree because their demographic is like 53 to 65, OK, and so as those guys are starting to retire, they're not attracting that younger market. The only way to attract that younger market is to put a smaller engine in there, make it a little lighter and make some of those bikes a little different. You know, when I was a young man, I rode on some Hondas and Suzukis myself and as I got older I enjoyed the luxury of the heavier, faster and just mort maneuverable Harley Davidson according to the age and so forth.

BALDWIN: Big picture, Chris, you know, because of the tariffs and we're talking about Harley Davidson today, and their need, they say it's their bottom line for moving production overseas, what if more companies go the way of Harley Davidson, you know, leave America, cost American jobs, and I know you're a Trump guy through and through, but how is that making America great again? Would you continue to support Trump?

COX: Well, we certainly would all agree that the -- under the leadership of Donald Trump the trend has been bringing jobs back to America and keeping jobs from fleeting from America. I think this is an exception here. It happens to be -- to affect a biker for Trump movement and bikers across the country, but I don't see this as -- I see this as really kind of helping even the playing field here where it will maybe give Indian a little more opportunity to get their brand out there and show America what they're made of. An American based company. That being said, Indian has been farming out their parts and labor to foreign countries for some time now. This is nothing new. They were talking about leaving America way before Donald Trump was elected president and to put this on him right now, is really just unfair. Harley Davidson was one of the first companies that Donald Trump brought to the White House.

BALDWIN: I think they've been there twice. I know. And again, he is saying for now that they're using the tariffs as an excuse and surrendering, and I hear you are siding with the president of the United States. Chris Cox, Bikers for Trump, thank you for coming on and sharing your opinion on that. It matters. Thank you.

Coming up next, as the White House pushes for more civility in politics, president Trump's rally in South Carolina took a different approach. Battling with everyone from Jimmy Fallon to mosquitos. We'll talk about that. Also, what we're learning about a Trump associate who handed over his phones and computers to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team. Details on the Russia probe ahead.

[14:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: President Trump was just in South Carolina to get out the vote for today's primary there and the president did manage to say to go vote, but only after he went off on his hair, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, North Korea, the super elites, Arnold Schwarzenegger, "The Apprentice," Hillary Clinton, just watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She blamed everybody for losing the election except for one person, herself. Everybody used to say, my hair is phony, it's not my hair. The one thing, they never say that anymore. Jimmy Fallon calls me up, and he's like a nice guy. He's lost. Looks like a lost soul. The guy on CBS, is -- what a low life. I mean, honestly are these people funny? Jimmy Kimmel, no talent, we had a great success, North Korea. Jimmy Kimmel. We're not looking up in the air, any rockets up there? The Olympics would have been a massive failure. People did not want to be nuked in a stadium as they watched the opening ceremonies. There's David, enjoy it because his career in Hollywood is officially over. You know what you are? The super elites. I'm changing titles.

I made a fortune for NBC and "The Apprentice" and they treat me horribly. Arnold Schwarzenegger took my place, it bombed in about two shows. It's over. My wife had an operation a few weeks ago. They said she got a face lift. No. I would let you know. We've never had higher polls than we have now. You know, polls are fake news also. What they do it's called suppression. They're saying I have good political instincts.

Some people have said I have the greatest political instinct in 50 years. The Democrats want Olympic borders and they don't mind crime. Mosquitos, cost many, many lives. Canada, you know Canada, nice guy, nice guy, prime minister, Justin, I said Justin, what's your problem, Justin? By the way, I have these stupid teleprompters. You don't mind that I haven't used them all night. We're going to create a space force and it's going to be great. Get your asses out tomorrow and vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:30:00] BALDWIN: Speaking of this whole whatever this -- stop laughing, Jay -- stop laughing, I'm watching you. Speaking of this whole feud between Jimmy Fallon and the president, the president took to Twitter beginning this tweet claiming Fallon is whimpering and ending with, quote, "be a man, Jimmy." Fallon responded last night in his opening monologue. Watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT COMIC: The president of the United States went after me on Twitter. So, Melania if you're watching, I don't think your anti-bullying campaign is working. It's not working.

When I saw that Trump insulted on Twitter I was going to tweet back immediately, but I thought I have more important things to do. But then I thought, wait, shouldn't he have more important things to do? He's the president of the -- what are you doing!?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, we go to media critic, David Zurawik. David, let's just hone in on this one piece, this back and forth between Trump and Fallon and the president's seeming obsession with these late-night hosts, right. He doesn't say Stephen Colbert, the guy at CBS, name- checks Kimmel, what's going on here?

DAVID ZURAWIK, MEDIA CRITIC, "BALTIMORE SUN": You know, I'll tell you, I watched this earlier today, especially the Fallon thing, and I thought, he's in dangerous territory. These guys are really smart, and Fallon made two very savvy political points --