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Trump Claims Detention Facilities Better Now Than Under Obama; Sanders Restaurant Treatment Violation of Civil Rights?; Rep. Waters' Remarks Discussed; Youth Soccer Team Trapped in Flooded Cave in Thailand; Korean War U.S. Casualties; 2,053 Children Still in U.S. Custody; Harley Davidson Shifts Some Production Out of the U.S.; Do or Die for Argentina. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 26, 2018 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, President Donald Trump standing firm on his immigration plan. If you're undocumented, you're out and there's no need for a judge to decide.
New tariff for the E.U. creating a road block for one of America's iconic brands. And win or go home. Soccer great, Lionel Messi, in Argentina facing elimination. A look at today's matchup with Nigeria at the head.
Hello everybody. Great to have you with us, I'm John Vause. This is Newsroom L.A.
Donald Trump says, if he's learned one thing from the recent immigration crisis, it's that detention centers for undocumented for immigrants are, in his words, nicer now than they were under his predecessor, Barak Obama. The tone deaf comment came at a campaign rally Monday night in South Carolina. The president also said the uproar over immigration is just good politics.
CNN's Jim Acosta begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As his age tried to drown out questions from reporters, President Trump pushed back on any notion that he regrets signing an executive order that was supposed to halt child separations at the border.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The executive order was great. It was something that I felt we had to do. We want children staying together, the law's been this law for a long period of time.
ACOSTA: But the president doubled down on his hard line stance, declaring he wants to set up a system that send migrants back to their home countries no matter their circumstances.
TRUMP: We want a system where when people come in illegally, they have to go out. And a nice simple system that works. 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.
ACOSTA: Describing migrants as invaders, the president said he wants to deny due process rights to border crossers, tweeting, we cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no judges or court cases, bring the back from where they came.
The tough talk was echoed by Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who didn't close the door on the possibility that more children could be separated from their migrant parents.
JEFF SESSIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The president has made this clear. We are going to continue to prosecute those adults who enter here illegally. We are going to do everything in our power, however, to avoid separating families.
ACOSTA: The president revealed part of the reason for his crackdown at the border that's led to the separations of more than 2,000 children. He thinks it's good politics.
TRUMP: Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, they just want -- they want to use the issue and I like the issue for election too. Our issue is strong borders, no crime.
ACOSTA: A few of Mr. Trump's fellow Republicans wonder how the president will solve the immigration issue while he's using it to beat up on top Democrats.
JEFF FLAKE, UNITED STATES SENATOR: When the president says that and calls them clowns and losers, how does he suspect -- or expect the Democrats to sit down and work with Republicans on these issues. And so, words matter, what the president says matters and he ought to knock that off.
(SHOUTING)
ACOSTA: Democrats are punching back, booing administration officials as they dine out in Washington. One restaurant in Virginia refused to serve Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, drawing praise from Democratic law maker, Maxine Waters.
MAXINE WATERS, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere.
ACOSTA: The president seemed to relish the fight, tweeting Congresswoman Maxine Waters, an extraordinarily low I.Q. person, has become together with Nancy Pelosi, the face of the Democrat party. Be careful what you wish for Max.
SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important, but the calls for harassment and push for any Trump supporter to avoid the public is unacceptable. America is a great country and our ability to find solutions despite
those disagreements is what makes us unique.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, ending that report there from Jim Acosta. Joining me now here former Los Angeles City Councilwoman, Wendy Greuel. CNN Political Commentator and Republican Strategist, John Thomas, also with us, CNN Legal Analyst and Civil Rights Attorney, Areva Martin.
And Areva, I'd like to start with you. What was your first reaction when you heard the president suggesting simply due away with due process for undocumented immigrants?
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. I -- shocked, I guess, is the honest answer. I can't image how a United States president would basically say, let's annihilate the rule of laws. It's a Democratic country, we're built on laws and there is a due process that's afforded to everyone that enters this country.
[01:05:00]
These migrant families are coming to the border, seeking asylum. They're not criminals, in the sense as Donald Trump would like to paint them and once the make it clear that they are seeking asylum, they are entitled to due process.
And for him to suggest that we do away with courts and we do away with judges, what stops him from saying that with respect to other immigrants that are in this country, with respect to people who were born in this country.
If he doesn't like someone who's creating a crime, why not say, let's do away with courts and judges and just start convicting people without affording the due process that they're entitled to ...
VAUSE: And (inaudible) style (ph). Yes.
MARTIN: ... under the Constitution. So, I wish more law makers, particularly since so many members of Congress are lawyers, I wish we would have seen more a pushback and an outcry from those lawyers that are sitting in Congress. But, we didn't.
VAUSE: Okay. Well, according to the White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, not getting a day in court does not mean that you're being -- you'd be denied your rights. This is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Thousands of illegal aliens are removed every month without seeing an immigration judge, as a result of procedures and current law, including voluntary removal and an expedited removal. Just because you don't see a judge, doesn't mean you aren't receiving
due process. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: Well, I'm not certain ...
VAUSE: Yes.
MARTIN: ... she's -- I think she's conflating the issues here. If you're seeking asylum, who are the people that are making the determinations about whether you're entitled to asylum. I'm not certain who she is referring to in that comment.
VAUSE: Can you explain exactly what Sarah Sanders means, when she says, just because you don't go in court doesn't mean your not getting due process?
JOHN THOMAS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENATOR: Well, we're assuming that 100 percent of the illegal immigrants are seeking ...
VAUSE: No, no, no. She's saying that you don't go into court to get your rights.
MARTIN: No, we're not making that assumption at all.
VAUSE: You don't to get due process. You -- I mean, due process is about keeping your day in court.
THOMAS: Right. I think what you're going to see them clarify their argument, which is, we need to do something like we have the drug court system, which are speedy. Some of these immigration courts could take up as much as three to five years.
MARTIN: But, the operative word is courts. She just said, you don't need to have your day in court.
THOMAS: That's right and I said -- I said, she's going to clarify that comment, because that's going to happen. But, redoing how we have our court system ...
MARTIN: But why does the ...
THOMAS: ... and it is a fair thing to do. Because it's not a fair ...
MARTIN: Why does she need to clarify that? She should know what -- she knows -- she should know the law before she goes out and speaks before ...
THOMAS: She's just a spokesperson.
MARTIN: She's not just a spokesperson.
THOMAS: She's not an attorney.
MARTIN: She's not just an -- she doesn't have to be an attorney.
THOMAS: Well, she's just a spokesperson. MARTIN: She should be briefed by attorneys before she goes out and
makes ...
THOMAS: I state the record all the time ...
MARTIN: ... those kinds of statements.
THOMAS: ... but the point is, to have this process strung out between three to five years is not fair to the American tax payer, who foots the bill, and it's not fair to the families either.
VAUSE: Okay, so is what Sarah Sanders said is law? You can't have due process without going to court.
THOMAS: Correct.
VAUSE: Wendy?
WENDY GREUEL, LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILWOMAN: Well, I think we've seen this administration during this last couple of weeks on many other issues have to backtrack and change their mind.
Well, really he can do it under an executive order. Oh no, it takes Congress whatever it may be. So, I think that is same in sense here, she's going to have to clarify because she was wrong again.
VAUSE: This (inaudible) patent from the president of someone who sees himself as a leader, doesn't like being constrained by the rule of law. He essentially doesn't like what's in the Constitution of the United States.
GREUEL: He does not. And I think the scary part about it is, again, he's doing this with immigrants now, but what stops him from doing it other areas. And I think he has not been presidential in how he's handled this. He has not been someone who cares about these kids when he's talking about, this is good for politics.
I don't think anyone should suggest that's it good for politics. You have separated kids from their families, other states, other places and not even know when they're get back together.
THOMAS: Well, that's not true. Democrats think it's good for politics too, that's the reason they'll never ...
VAUSE: I was actually going (inaudible) to go out and ...
THOMAS: ... well, there's a reason why Chuck Schumer will say, we have to oppose Donald Trump or we can't play ball into any immigration packages, because they don't want Trump to have a win on this. They like this -- the optics of what Trump got into last week.
GREUEL: Well, no one should say that -- and the Democrats are not saying that we use these kids as political puns.
VAUSE: Right. But, you don't like the military and you want to have crime and open borders, right? GREUEL: Absolutely. I mean that's what -- yes, and that would just
(inaudible) me, is that oh yes, the Democrats want to have more crime. We're going to do that for them.
THOMAS: Part of the problem is, the can has been kicked down the road. Trump is here trying to clean up our borders and make sure they're secure, but we don't have proper detention facilities built that the prior administrations could have done, but the didn't enforce the law, Wendy. They did catch and release and let these people out and Trumps saying, I'm not going to do that.
MARTIN: Well first of all -- and you're wrong John.
GREUEL: I think the other point is, last week the president said, forget immigration reform. Oh, I really want it. The Democrats aren't doing -- now he's saying ...
THOMAS: Because we couldn't get any Democrat votes in confirm to the Senate. There was not path.
VAUSE: There's also the tweet from the president about judges, essentially dismissing the need for more immigration judges. Hiring many thousands of judges and going through a long and couple day legal process is not the way to go.
We'll always be dysfunctional. People will simply be stopped at the border and told they cannot come into the U.S. legally. So Areva, this is to your point, I don't know if anybody is saying thousands of judges are needed, but Ted Cruise, the Republican Senator from Texas said, up to 400 judges are needed to make this system work legal process is not the way to go.
[01:10:00]
We'll always be dysfunctional. People will simply be stopped at the border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally. So Areva, this is to your point. I don't know if anybody is saying thousands of judges are needed, but Ted Cruz, the Republican Senator from Texas, said up to 400 --
MARTIN: This is what's so idiotic about Trump's position. The numbers came out today. It costs $2,000 a day to keep an individual in one of these detention centers. So the cost of the couple of hundred, even if its, and we can't trust any number decided by this President; let's just assume it's a lie. But, whatever that number is, we know it's not 5,000 and the cost of keeping individuals in these detention camps far outweighs and outstrips the cost of having judges and providing due process which is afforded under the Constitution and under international law. So when Trump calls immigrants criminals, he's the one that's breaking both federal law and international law.
THOMAS: Well they are breaking the law by coming across...
MARTIN: You're not breaking the law if you come to the proper entry point... THOMAS: They're not.
MARTIN: ...you're making a blanket statement. No, that's not accurate. That is not accurate.
THOMAS: Most are, but most are repeatedly...
MARTIN: John, it's not...
THOMAS: It's not a misdemeanor, it's a felony.
MARTIN: It is not accurate that most are not. Most of these migrants or immigrants from Central America are seeking asylum. Let's talk about Trump...
THOMAS: Are they going in the proper ports of entry? They are not.
MARTIN: They would go to the proper points of entry if they were allowed to. Let's talk about Trump using kids to say if you will agree to be deported, then we will reunite you with your child.
VAUSE: So let me, seeking asylum, seeking asylum, you have to go to an internationally recognized port of entry and what we are being told or what we're hearing is that we made incredibly difficult for many of these immigrants to actually reach those properly authorized international ports of entry which is why they then cross illegally. They hope to get arrested and then they can apply for asylum. And what the reports are is that it's being made difficult, specifically difficult for immigrants to make those asylum claims.
MARTIN: In Mexico and all these places, the Trump Administration has a policy to make it difficult. I have yet to see that.
THOMAS: There's an actual policy but that is the ...
MARTIN: That's the reality of what is happening on the ground.
THOMAS: Yes, they might have a ban with issue and then they stay in their country of origin until it's time, until the bandwidth (ph) can be dealt with.
MARTIN: They're turning people away who are trying to get through that port of entry.
VAUSE: OK, at this campaign rally a few hours ago, Trump once again cast doubt on the credibility of some of the images and the reporting we've seen from the Southern border.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I heard them talking about the children, first of all they were using pictures taken in 2014 when Barak Obama was President. I wasn't President. And what I learned is one thing, our facilities are cleaner, better kept, and better run. That's the one thing I learned, OK? I saw that. (END VIDEO)
VAUSE: So Wendy?
GREUEL: So when he said that, I don't think he's been in those facilities.
VAUSE: Right.
GREUEL: And I think we've had elected officials over this past weekend and past week who have gone into those facilities and have seen and in fact, they're not at the level they should be and again, separating children from their parents to me is cruel and unusual punishment and unconscionable. And he seems to not care about that. He seems to continue to say it doesn't matter.
VAUSE: John?
THOMAS: He's not wrong. If you look at the media, it was using pictures from 2014 saying that was what was going on today. The cover of "Time Magazine" of course used the little girl saying she was separated from her mother when in fact, she wasn't separated from her mother. When they were called on it, instead of retracting it, they said well it stands symbolically what we meant to project.
MARTIN: That's kind of like Sarah Sanders, right, her having to clarify her statement.
THOMAS: The point is there are so many instances of this. Trump's not wrong in his statement.
MARTIN: He's absolutely wrong.
VAUSE: To notable instances of the media getting it wrong. The "Time Magazine" cover was one. There was an AP report that detailed abuse in some of these detention centers and it was until 20 paragraphs down you realize the abuse had been mostly during the Obama Administration era -- time. So Wendy, with that in mind, this is what happens, this has a huge impact I would say because this is something which is seized upon by the Administration as a blanket statement of bias in the media.
[01:15:00] GREUEL: Absolutely, and again that little girl crying is because they were arresting her mother at the time she was standing with her mother. Whether it is those pictures or any instance. One child -- one child that is separated, not even the 22,000 that we have is to me dehumanizing and a crisis, a humanitarian crisis. There are enough people who've said, who've been in there because they won't let the press into those facilities and take any pictures to be able to show this but we have firsthand accounts of people who have been in those facilities who have said those kids are sleeping on cement with mylar blankets and that is not humane. That is no way for America to act.
VAUSE: OK, I want to move on to the Sarah Sanders diversion of the day. Basically she went to a restaurant over the weekend in Virginia. The owner asked her to leave saying he did not want her or she did not want her in the restaurant --
[01:15:00]
-- because she accused her of lying everyday and defending the President. Areva, there are some out there who basically said this is a tactic which should be used to confront all members of Trump's cabinet, but the 1964 Civil Rights Act in particular the Public Accommodations Section reads that everyone is entitled to enjoy the goods and services of the public accommodation on an equal basis. Now of the minority groups, which it interestingly doesn't talk about those who work at the White House or political workers, but at least in the spirit of the Civil Rights Act, was Sarah Sanders' civil rights, were they violated there?
MARTIN: Absolutely not. And let's not create a new class under the Civil Rights Act because it doesn't exist. Sarah Sanders is not -- was not being denied her civil rights. And look, I don't personally agree that because you work with the Trump Administration that you should be harassed but I think we're losing focus on the real issue here.
Donald Trump started this era of incivility in which we find ourselves -- incivility or being, you know, rude or caustic toward each other. We can go back, and someone did it brilliantly today, every time he made a comment about , you know, get them or get them out of here, or some really atrocious statement, encouraging someone to be attacked, and his comments, his name calling, his bullying that's constant even when he commented about Maxine Waters' statement he called her low I.Q. He said watch out some veil threat at the end of that tweet.
So we're not in high school; this isn't tit for tat but we can't talk about Maxine Waters' statement without also talking about the climate that has been set at the top of our Administration by the United States President who constantly name calls and bullies pretty much any individual that he comes in contact with.
VAUSE: But Wendy, what's to be gained by getting down and mixing it up one on one with the President because people have tried that in the past; they always come up second best.
GREUEL: Well I think and I agree with Areva, the point is we have to take the high road as much as possible but we also have to call people out on things that they do and I think there are appropriate places and there are some that may not be. In this instance, I think the owner of that restaurant did it respectfully and asked her to leave; didn't force her to leave but asked her to leave.
THOMAS: And then chased her family across the street...
GREUEL: No they didn't chase them.
THOMAS: Yes they did; they protested outside the next restaurant. But the reality of this is it's a tactic of the left when they don't like your ideas they call you a bad person. PETA has used this tactic for years where if I'm using a fir coat they will dump oil on you.
MARTIN: John, your President calls everyone a name.
THOMAS: But the reality is Maxine Waters is a senior, senior member of Congress inciting violence. A member of Congress...
MARTIN: She did not incite violence.
VAUSE: She did push back...
MARTIN: She made it very clear today, she went on MSNBC and made it very clear that she is not inciting violence.
VAUSE: She did not say punch him in the face which is what the President has said.
THOMAS: She didn't say that, that's right.
MARTIN: The President has said punch him in the face.
VAUSE: So naturally Donald Trump is the high ground in all of this by tweeting out the Red Hen restaurant where Sanders was turned away from should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors, and windows badly need a paint job rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, that if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it's dirty on the inside. Well here's a recent report from the health department. Among the high- priority problems described as potentially hazardous were faulty fridges with meat stored well above the 41 degrees Fahrenheit. For example, the restaurant's walk in cooler, the duck and beef were mentioned at 50 degrees while the ham was at 57. Other issues included smoked salmon being served without undergoing proper parasite destruction. A hand-washing sink for employees ran water that was not hot enough. But you know, this actual violation code, it actually was from Mar-a-Lago John.
THOMAS: Yes.
VAUSE: So is the President right when he said, dirty on the outside, dirty on the inside?
THOMAS: That's funny. That's funny.
VAUSE: Does it apply?
THOMAS: Look, it was a restaurant's right, of course, as they are private property, they can kick whoever they want out. It's a sad state that Areva, and I'm sure you'll agree with this, that if you represent a scumbag client...
MARTIN: I agree that I don't want my President calling Maxine Waters low I.Q.
THOMAS: If I think your client is not a good human being, should I ban you from my restaurant because you represent that client?
MARTIN: Can agree first that the President is the biggest bully and the name calling is a problem? Can we agree with that? THOMAS: Of course it is.
VAUSE: OK, we are in agreement.
THOMAS: All right. Deal.
VAUSE: And don't eat the duck at Mar-a-Lago. Thanks guys. Coming up here, Recep Tayyip Erdogan he's the most powerful, longest serving ruler since the founder of modern Turkey, striking fears the country is heading to authoritarian rule.
Also, rescue efforts continue for 13 members of a youth football team trapped in a partly-flooded cave in Thailand.
[01:19:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:22:30]
VAUSE: As anxious families wait, search and rescue efforts have resumed for a group of teenage soccer players and their coach. It's believe they're trapped in a partly-flooded cave in Northern Thailand. Heavy rains put a stop to the search on Monday. 12 teenagers and one adult have been missing since Saturday. Investigators believe they crawled in through a narrow channel and getting them out might not be easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUTCH HENDRICK, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, LIFEGUARD SYSTEMS: They're going to be doing the majority of this project by feel. They're not able to look at compasses, they're not able to get reasonable landmarks visually. Everything's going to have to be done by feel and reported again on the way out as they start to do that, to be able to get from point A to point B to point C and understand they've covered the area, it's going to take a fair amount of time.
They're looking at -- hoping that these young children, these young people are not on the bottom but found themselves a space where they can be up and be able to breathe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Flooding is another concern which could hamper these search efforts.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is defiant and he's also emboldened after a victory in Sunday's election. After already serving 15 years in office, he's now tightening his grip on power and critics fear Turkey now faces one man rule.
CNN's Sam Kiley reports from Istanbul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SAM KILEY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Political ecstasy at the reelection of
Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In their moment of glory, his supporters reveling in an outright victory for the man who's led his country for the last 15 years by claiming to have won almost 53 percent of the vote.
He announced his victory, that avoided a presidential runoff, before any official results had been published.
After jailing tens of thousands of his political opponents, forcing through a change for the constitution, which concentrates power in the hands of the presidency and stifling the free press, this is what victory looks like for President Erdogan. Erdogan survived a coup two years ago. His followers hope he'll stay in office long enough to lead the next generation.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT, TURKEY (through translator): Our nation has given me the mandate for the presidency along with the people's alliance. A great responsibility has been placed on our shoulders by our nation by these results.
KILEY: Some of the president's voters were almost incoherent with joy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Foreign Language).
KILEY: A different scene at the headquarters of the opposition's main candidate, Muharrem Ince. Its leadership initially convinced that they had been robbed of a Presidential run off. But their own count later confirmed the Erdogan win which was greeted by jubilant crowds in Ankara, and pretty soon Mr. Ince conceded defeat.
MUHARREM INCE, TURKISH OPPOSITION PARTY CANDIDATE: (Through interpreter) The new regime that takes effect from today onwards is a major danger for Turkey. A single party or a single person becoming the state and at the same time the executive, legislature, and the judiciary is a problem of existence in itself and will continue to be a major danger for Turkey.
KILEY: Close to 60 million Turks were registered to vote, Erdogan's said turnout was nearly 90 percent and his coalition had also won control of the 600 seat parliament. He now has complete executive control of Turkey, the right to rule by decree, and to pick his own cabinet.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT: (through interpreter) Turkey did not only choose one President and 600 MPs, it changed the whole system of government. We will get this working fast and perfectly.
KILEY: For his opponents, this is a moment of political agony that holds little prospect that Erdogan can heal a nation that remains basically divided.
Sam Kiley, CNN, Istanbul.
VAUSE: Well, Prince William is in Israel; the first British Royal to make an official visit to the country. In the coming hours he will lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. He'll also meet with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. There is a football match planned with Israeli and Palestinian children as well. On Wednesday, he'll head to Ramallah in the West Bank for talks with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Well, the anniversary of the start of the Korean War, the prospects for closure. When we come back, the U.S. prepares to receive the remains of some of its dead soldiers.
Also ahead, we'll head back to the U.S. Southern border where mothers separated from their children tell their story. This is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. You're watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
The headlines this hour, Donald Trump defended his Administration's response to the immigration crisis. Speaking before a very friendly crowd at a campaign rally in South Carolina, the President says the detention facilities for undocumented immigrants are better now than they were under Barak Obama and that the recent uproar over immigration is good -- it's good politics for Republicans.
[01:30:05] Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters says Donald Trump is lying about her call for protests against his administration. The President says Waters called for his supporters to be harmed. Waters says she wants to see peaceful protests.
London's Heathrow Airport has moved to step closer to a controversial third runway. On Monday, U.K. lawmakers approved its construction in West London. Decades of resistance and debate have stopped efforts to expand but the new runway could still face legal challenges from local counselors.
The U.S. Secretary of State says there will be no demand for a time line on negotiations with North Korea. In a CNN exclusive Mike Pompeo contradicted a senior Defense official who said there would be a time line and specific asks of Pyongyang on denuclearization.
Pompeo says the administration will regularly assess the North's seriousness about ending its nuclear program as promised during the Singapore summit two weeks ago.
Meantime, for the 68th anniversary of the Korean War preparations are underway to transfer the remains of at least some U.S. troops. The U.S. Department of Defense says nearly 7,700 personnel are still unaccounted for, more than 5,000 are believed to be in North Korea. The remains of 340 soldiers were returned to the U.S. when repatriations began in the 1990s.
Well, for more on this we're joined by Paula Hancocks in Seoul, South Korea.
And Paula -- obviously, you know, there are a lot of people who are hoping this process gets underway. But right now there doesn't actually seem to be any sort of clear indication of when or how it will all happen.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right -- John, certainly the when is an open question.
The U.S. military at this point seems to be in somewhat of a holding pattern. They are ready, they say, to receive these remains up at the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea when North Korea is ready to hand them over. But of course we don't have a clear timetable from Pyongyang itself.
Now what we would expect to happen, certainly judging from previous repatriations of remains as well, is that they would be transported to an air base within South Korea and then probably flown to Hawaii where they have a forensic laboratory. They can do the analysis. They can find out exactly whose remains they are.
The U.S. military has also pointed out that there could well be many nationalities represented within those remains as there were so many countries that fought for United Nations Command in the Korean War.
Now, we could hear a little more in the coming days though. We know that Secretary of Defense James Mattis is in the region. He has just touched down in Beijing, in China. He will be heading to Seoul on Thursday and he will be meeting with his counter part and President Moon Jae in.
So we are hoping to get a little more indication of when exactly this could happen -- John.
VAUSE: Paula -- thank you. Paula Hancocks there live in Seoul with an update on the remains of those U.S. soldiers. Thank you.
Well, the U.S. President defends his hard line immigration policy at the same time 2,000 children remain in detention centers separated from their families.
And as CNN's Ed Lavandera reports it's an agonizing wait with no clear end in sight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight more protests over the separation of children at the border. There is still no clear reunification process for divided immigrant families.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.
LAVANDERA: Since President Trump's executive order last week, the federal government says over 500 children have been reunited with their families. But that leaves more than 2,000 others still in limbo, scattered around the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no plan in place. there's a lot of confusion. There is a lot of contradiction.
LAVANDERA: Under the Trump administration's plan, those children will keep waiting in Health and Human Services custody with unifications only happening once the parents' deportation proceedings are complete. The families will either be reunited before deportation or if the parent is released from detention and after the parent applies to serve as the child's sponsor.
"The Washington Post" spoke with a father who was just deported to El Salvador without his daughter. He finally spoke with his six-year-old daughter Maybelline.
We spoke to a mother held in the Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas on Friday. Today she is still separated from her nine-year-old son.
"It is a trauma we will never forget," she says, "Everyone of us -- all of the mothers who are here as well as all of the kids."
She hasn't been able to speak to her son or find out in which facility he is being held.
EILEEN BLESSINGER (PH), IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: One woman told me about here seven-year-old child by only being able to call and she couldn't actually hear anything because the child was crying so hard. And the only thing the child could say that she could hear was "Mom, you don't love me. Why did you leave me?"
LAVANDERA: ICE officials are working to set up phone calls between parents and their children today according to an attorney working with clients inside Port Isabel.
[01:35:07] BLESSINGER: They're telling us it was just due (ph) process but in reality, I mean the vast majority of the people we spoke have not spoken with their children at all. No contact. They're not even told where their child is.
LAVANDERA: But Senator James Lankford of the Senate Homeland Security Committee insists the Trump administration does know where every single child is located.
SENATOR JAMES LANKFORD (R), OKLAHOMA: These are not political appointees. These are career folks. They know where every child is to be able to connect them to their parent or the relative that came.
LAVANDERA: And today at the Tornillo Tent Facility near El Paso Texas, one of the temporary facilities where children are being held, separated from their parents CNN and other journalists were given a tour off camera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No cameras, no recording devices of any kind on the tour.
LAVANDERA: Once again only allowing these images provided by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Attorneys with the Texas Civil Rights Project, an activist group that has been working closely with these undocumented immigrants say they have confirmed cases of two children who have been deported back to Central America without their parents.
This also comes at a time when the Secretary of Defense here in the United States says that there are two military installations here in the state of Texas which will be opened up in the coming weeks to house even more immigrants.
Ed Lavandera, CNN -- McAllen, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Juliette Kayyem is a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. She's now a CNN national security analyst and she joins us from West Newtown in Massachusetts.
Juliette -- ok, we're going to get to all the politics of what Donald Trump was saying a little later. But I want to know about the system which now appears to be in place to try and reunite these families which have been separated under this Trump/Sessions policy.
The guidelines came out over the weekend. And what they say is that they're only to ensure that those adults who are subject to removal are reunited with their children -- this is the important part -- for the purposes of removal.
So in other words, if a parent is fighting deportation, maybe claiming asylum, the quickest and easiest way to get their kids back is basically to give up their legal action and agree to be deported.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. And that is exactly what the administration is doing. In other words, even though these people may have a lawful claim to seek some sort of legal status within the United States asylum seekers being the most obvious, they will not be able to see their children unless they waive that legal claim.
There's a lot of names for this, possibly hostage taking. But that is what the administration is doing. What it is also doing is it is slow rolling the unification or reunification of the 2,000 plus kids that still are not with their parents and in many cases it seems have not even been able to communicate with them. That is sort of shocking at this stage.
The executive order that President Trump signed is almost six days old now. It should not be taking as long to unify these kids. And I think that's just a sign of the White House's, both inability to actually sort of, you know, effectuate policy but also its unwillingness to focus on this tragedy of epic proportions. These kids should have been unified by now.
VAUSE: And just talking about process here because if a parent pushes on with their legal case to try and stay in the United States, that can take years. Even if they win, they are the ones who then had to track down their child and then they have to apply to be that child's sponsor which is another lengthy legal process. KAYYEM: It would be. And I wish we had precedent for it. I mean no
other administration has attempted to do that -- to take child away from the adults or the parents seeking lawful status during the course of whether that parent would get lawful status.
No one went down this path again. There have been instances in previous administration in which a child was taken away but that was in instances where the child may have been at risk. The parent was a drug dealer or an abuser or something like that and you're talking about five, maybe ten over the course of one administration.
This was policy. And so there's actually no -- I can't give you a definitive answer. You know, there will be court cases to determine what happens to the kids during these legal processes. But I suspect that most parents will take -- will leave because they want to see their child. It would be the most natural thing to do.
VAUSE: Ok. And right now, according the CNN's reporting, it is still unclear who actually takes responsibility, which department, for linking parents with children. We're putting the policies today, put the onus on the parents to track down their children using the Health and Human Services hotline.
Here's how Eric Kershaw (ph) a public defender from Texas detailed the process from some of his investigators using their hotline number and Health and Human Services. Their inquiries are met with vague statements that the child is in the United States.
The Office for Refugee Resettlement, which is part of HHS, demands to speak directly to the parent of the child. We explained that the parent is in federal custody at local detention facilities -- to no avail.
[01:40:01] We asked the local jail to facilitate the calls with the Office of Refugee Resettlement. It took more than an hour for one call to be set up so the jails stopped doing it.
You know, it just seems so incredibly complex and it's being made just so incredibly difficult for these parents to get hold of their kids.
KAYYEM: And it's not that difficult -- this is the thing that is so outrageous for those of us who've been in Homeland Security. Family unification is what we do. I mean it is -- but most of the time the crisis is an earthquake or a tsunami.
But even assuming that this was not a crisis of the Trump administration's own making, this is a situation that could have been easily solved. Look, you have -- you know you have a pool of kids and a pool of parents. We have a certain number. They're only in a couple of locations.
We have a working infrastructure in America. We have computers and we have translators and we have pictures. There's no reason this should be taking this long except there was no plan and there is no plan. And that continues to be the tragedy that the Trump administration just exacerbates. What and so what you have is you have these lawyers and these volunteers trying to put the pieces together where if the White House took ownership of it I promise you we'd be done by now.
I've seen -- family unification is relatively easy if you have all the, if you have a focus to do it because everyone wants it to happen.
I think the White House doesn't want it to happen. They want these people gone and they're using their kids as sort of collateral.
VAUSE: We know that there is a plan to house more undocumented immigrants. Defense Secretary James Mattis have preparations under way for the military to house thousands of undocumented immigrants, possibly as many as 20,000 unaccompanied children. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MATTIS, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: They have come to us, asking us to build out temporary camps on two of our bases. That is what we've been asked to do.
The details are being worked out between our staff as to exactly how much capacity they need at the two bases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So add to that 20,000 or so, reporting we have from "Time" about the U.S. Navy drawing up plans as well. "The Navy memo outlines plans to build temporary and austere tent cities to house 25,000 migrants at abandoned air fields. The memo also proposes a camp for many as 47,000 people at former Naval Weapons Stations Concord, near San Francisco. Another facility that could house as may as 47,000 people at Camp Pendleton, the Marines' largest training facility located along the Southern California coast."
I mean if you do the numbers here -- all up that's temporary accommodation just by the military for about 140,000 people.
KAYYEM: Yes. I mean -- and I don't think they're going to get to those numbers. I think this was a typical sort of White House response. They have a problem, they turn to the military.
The truth is that the White House lost big time in the last week. It first had to, you know, stop the tearing apart of these families. But as recently as today, Customs and Border Protection did announce that it would no longer seek prosecution of these unlawful migrants at 100 percent.
In other words, they are realizing that the detention of this many people is just not feasible. It means that you actually can't do the things that one ought to do which is go after the drug dealers and the smugglers and the child abusers.
So I think that this was something that was not thought through. It was announced. And I would be very surprised if the military had to accommodate that many people because the truth is there wasn't a border crisis before this. We know this. Over the last two decades, the numbers had been doing down. Trump administration created the crisis but I think the courts and of course politics stepped in to make them stop doing it.
VAUSE: Yes. Well, I wonder, in fact lawmakers said we haven't seen anything like these sort of numbers since World War II and the Japanese internment.
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: Juliette -- good to see you. Thanks so much.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Coming next here on NEWSROOM L.A., the road ahead for Harley Davidson takes the iconic American motorbike to Europe -- what looks like the first real-world consequence of Donald Trump's Trade war.
[01:44:05] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back.
An iconic American brand is hitting the road out of the U.S. Harley Davidson is shifting some production of motorcycles for European customers out of the United States to avoid the E.U.'s tariffs. Those new taxes are retaliation for the Trump administration's tariffs on imported European goods.
President Trump responded on Twitter. "Surprised that Harley Davidson, of all companies, would be the first to wave the white flag." Adding, "Taxes are just a Harley excuse. Be patient."
Wall Street though is worried that a trade war might be imminent. Take a look at the closing numbers. The Dow fell more than 325 points. The tariffs mean uncertainty and as we know, the markets do not like uncertainty.
Ok. Let's take a closer look at the impact to Donald Trump's economic policy. I'm joined by Alex Cherin, senior vice president of EK Public Relations. His specialty is international trade and global logistics. Did your title just get a lot longer?
ALEX CHERIN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EK PUBLIC RELATIONS: Yes.
VAUSE: I mean when you look at the situation with Harley Davidson, oh the department of irony seems to be working, you know, overtime here. According to the company's SEC filings, the E.U. tariff would add more than $2,000 to the average cost of a Harley exported from the U.S. to the E.U. eventually costing the company up to $100 million a year.
But we did hear from the union representing the workers at Harley Davidson saying this is all just an excuse. Many are pointing to the fact that company sales in the U.S. have been falling.
So is this move being driven, you know, primarily by Trump's trade war on the tariffs? Or is there more to this?
CHERIN: Look, John -- real trade wars in the real world have real consequences. And this is the first real high profile consequence we've seen as a result of the Trump administration policy.
So look, the consensus in the international trading community oversees, to a person, is that this administration is kind of winging it; kind of making it up as they go along. There's no consistency in the application of tariff structures and these policies have consequences. It is ironic. This is a really high profile iconic company to be the first real public victim of this administration.
VAUSE: Ok. The Republican Senator Ben Sasse releases a statement saying in part this will go over like a Vespa at Sturgis. The problem isn't that Harley is unpatriotic; it's that tariffs are stupid. The tax increases on Americans, they don't work and apparently we're going to see more of this."
So what you and I guess a whole lot of others including Ben Sasses is saying that if this trade policy continues as is, there are going to be a whole lot of other companies pulling up stump and heading overseas?
CHERIN: No doubt. No doubt.
I mean just take Harley Davidson, right -- the company that's in the news today. Three times -- three times they've been to the well and they've been burned by this administration. Within the first weeks of Trump taking office, they went to the White House and urged the administration, begged Trump please do not pull out of Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement --
VAUSE: The TPP agreement.
CHERIN: -- he did. Number two, please, as they urged the administration, do not impose this 25 percent tariff on steel imports. It will kill our manufacturing. He did that.
And then just today obviously you saw the reciprocation from the E.U. in terms of the $2,200 tariff.
VAUSE: Ok. It was a year ago to the day at a campaign rally in Ohio. The President warned the days of taxing exported U.S. motorcycles are coming to an end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:49:52] TRUMP: We're doing great in the United States but when we sell a motorcycle to certain countries, we have as much as a 100 percent tax to pay. And I said tell me, when they sell back to us, meaning reciprocal -- so when they sell back to us, what tax do we charge them? The answer is zero. Those days are going to be over very soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Again, good for politics. But the country was at 100 percent tax in India. The next highest tax on U.S. exports of motorcycles, Thailand and China all the way down, Russia, number 11 with 14 percent.
E.U. was never mentioned in this. This is a whole new tax.
CHERIN: Right.
VAUSE: And to your point, this goes to the whole inconsistency of what is being taxed and what isn't being taxed and that this is essentially a direct result of this trade war. There's no other cause and effect here. This is Europeans responding directly to Donald Trump.
CHERIN: Absolutely. And the rhetoric sounds great and it's red meat for his base. But there is absolutely no consistency in either the development or the implementation of the trade policy. And you're seeing that play out today.
The irony here, too -- John is that where this is really going to have an impact is in the heartland. Those states that the Republicans are counting on for the midterm elections and that Trump is going to count on in the next presidential cycle whether it is Harley Davidson today or the soybean manufacturers in Minnesota and Iowa who are also impacted by this; whiskey producers in Tennessee in the south. He, whether by default or design, is hurting the constituency that he and other Republicans desperately need.
VAUSE: Yes. Ok.
Alex -- you know, we're seeing all this play out now in the stock market, too. So some rough days ahead.
CHERIN: No doubt.
VAUSE: Alex -- thank you.
Well, it's do or die, make or break, go hard or go home for Lionel Messi at the World Cup. We've got a preview of Argentina's marquee matchup with Nigeria and a whole lot more sporting cliches, I hope, in just a moment. >
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Lionel Messi and Argentina take the pitch in a win-or-go-home World Cup match against Nigeria. World Sport anchor Patrick Snell is live at the intergalactic headquarters of CNN in Atlanta with all the details -- Patrick.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Thank you so much -- John.
Yes. Look, it is absolutely a fixture that Argentina simply dare not lose later on today against Nigeria. And I'll tell you why. I just want to show you one big reason for optimists. At least as far as the fans are concerned. Look at this. Fans of the Albiceleste, this is in St. Petersburg ahead of the big game right outside the team's official hotel. That is one very vocal statement of support, trying to rally the troops, get behind them and inject some really desperately needed confidence into the Argentine national team.
They lost heavily, 3-0 to Croatio. They got absolutely a whole mound of criticism after that. And they failed to beat Iceland, remember, earlier in the tournament as well.
Much has been made of their head coach; speculation over his future, whether he retains the faith of his court (ph). Let's hear though from the man himself, Jorge Sampaoli.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORGE SAMPAOLI, ARGENTINA FOOTBALL TEAM HEAD COACH (through translator): I can't clarify situations that don't exist. When we finished the last match, I took responsibility for the loss. I'm the coach.
[01:55:04] So the next day I started to think about how we can win tomorrow as a team. I am confident that tomorrow, the team will go on the pitch with a lot of energy to win the match. So I don't have time to analyze situations. I only have time to strategize the team, thinking about Nigeria.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Here's why the Argentines though mustn't give up hope because they know that a win probably gives them a good chance of advancing. They must beat Nigeria though and they have to hope that Iceland don't beat Croatia in the group's other game as well. It really is all to play for.
And they were thrown a life line really when you reflect on this. They were thrown a big life line by the Nigerians and that win over Iceland. Will they take full advantage? That is the big question.
I do have to say though this is a far cry from the Argentine side that went all the way to the 2014 final in Brazil four years ago, only to lose narrowly 1-0 in that final against Germany.
And you do wonder, is this, if it all goes badly run for the Argentines, is it Lionel Messi's World Cup swan song? A very good chance so the answer to that would be yes.
All right. We speak Messi, you kind of have to speak about Cristiano Ronaldo as well almost in the same breath. Portugal against Iran but before that game actually took place, talk about trying to get a good night's sleep.
Just look at this. This is ahead of the game. And this is Iranian fans outside the Portuguese team hotel in Saransk. And Cristiano Ronaldo himself even coming to the window, basically imploring -- there we go -- imploring for a bit of peace and quiet. Look, I'm trying to get some shut eye ahead of the big game.
I'll tell you what, there was so much activity on the field of play when this one actually got going. It was a thrilling game. You beat the Portuguese; you take the lead -- Ricardo Quaresma with an absolute beauty of a goal.
And then the unthinkable happened. What is this? Was it a lack of sleep? Cristiano Ronaldo missing a penalty or rather brilliantly saved? Iran with a penalty of their own from Karin Ansarifard. That would have been stoppage time for 1-1.
And how about this to win it? (INAUDIBLE) with a really, really bad miss, a really bad miss from him. That was a great chance for the Iranians to win. That would have put Portugal out of the tournament, would you believe?
You can see just emotions involved. Heart break for the Iranian national team.
All right. Back to you there, John, watching in L.A.
VAUSE: It's hard to watch. Thank you -- Patrick.
Ok. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
Please, join us on Twitter CNNNEWSROOMLA. There you'll find highlights and clips of the show. In the meantime the news continues now at CNN with Rosemary Church after the break.
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