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Trump Answers Reporters' Questions on Tariffs; Immigration, Travel Ban; NY Governor Reacts to Immigration, Travel Ban; Israel to Prince William: "Tell Abbas It's Time for Peace"; Kushner in Middle East for Peace Plan. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 26, 2018 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we send cars to the European Union, they charge us a tremendous tax, five times greater than what we charge them. But more importantly, they don't want our cars. They have a barrier. We don't want your cars. But if you do get it in, you're going to pay a tax.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: With China, with China, if we send a car to China, they charge us a 25 percent tax. So we make a car, we send it to China, we want to compete. That's not free trade. That's stupid trade. So we send 25 percent tax. When they make a car in China and they send it here, we charge them 2.5 percent. OK. So we get 2.5 percent, China gets 25 percent. That's not fair, that's not free, that's just stupid.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, where are we at in terms of Chinese investment restrictions? I believe you have an announcement --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's not just Chinese. It's we don't want people coming in -- hey, look, we are a very smart country. We have the most incredible people in Silicon Valley. We don't want China and other countries -- it's not necessarily them in particular because they covered it incorrectly. They had either a leaker that didn't exist or a leaker that didn't know his business very well. They gave it to "Bloomberg" and they gave it to, I believe, the "Wall Street Journal," and it was either a bad leak by somebody that didn't know, but probably they just made up the story and there was no leak. In the long term, I'm not sure my political friends would agree, but I think leaks aren't leaks. They're made up by the writers. They don't exist, the leak. But this was a leak that was just off. We want to have our jewels, those are our great jewels. That's like the United States deal from 70 years ago, these companies. We have to protect these companies. We can't let people steal that technology. We have the greatest technology in the world. People copy it and they steal it. We have the great scientists, we have the great brains, and we have to protect that. And we're going to protect it. And that's what we were doing. And that can be done through Siphius (ph). We have a lot of things that can be do it through. We're working that out. But the bottom line is we have charged a very substantial tax to some

people. They are coming back to negotiate. And frankly, if they don't negotiate, I'm OK with that because I would rather get the tax. OK?

Any other questions?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What about the ban?

TRUMP: 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 REPORTER: Will we go ahead with it, though?

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

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It's also the idea of deporting people without due process as well. Do you think --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: We have to find a system where you don't need thousands of judges sitting at a border. Other countries look at us and they think we're crazy. They say, what kind of a thing is that? They have countries where they have no problem with people pouring in. And you have countries where people do want to go in. And if you look at the European Union, they're meeting right now to toughen up their immigration policies because they've been overrun. They have been overrun. And frankly, a lot of those countries are not the same places anymore. And I'm sad to say it. And I said that at the G-7. They are not the same places.

But we had a tremendous victory today, and we greatly appreciate it. We needed it as a country. That was a big victory for -- and I can tell you everyone at this table is very happy about it. But that was a big victory for our country, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have a final word, sir?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's pretty much a final word. It's Supreme Court. We went up and --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: -- we just waited for the Supreme Court. Yes, that's the final word. That's the Supreme Court. Now, do I want to go in with a different one and maybe a different variety? I don't think there's any reason. It's a strong victory, very strong.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How much do you want for the wall funding? You said you wanted an increase. Do you have a figure? TRUMP: We're spending $1.6 billion now. There's a plan for another $1.6 billion, but I'd like to ask this room if we can increase it. I think in light of what's happened with the drugs, with the human smuggling, with all of the problems, we have to have the wall. We have to have the wall. You know, in the walls you have ports of entry. You have ports of

entry. That's where people come through. And they can come through legally. And by the way, I want people to come into our country. Our country is doing so well. And we have companies moving into our country at numbers like nobody has seen in a long time. We need workers. So I want people to come in. They have to come in through the merit system, though. They have to come in so that they can help our country and these companies. In Wisconsin, you have Foxconn, one of the great companies of the world. They make the laptops for Apple and iPhone and a lot of -- they're building a tremendous plant right now in Wisconsin. They need workers. I have to let people come in. But they have to come in through merit. They have to be people that can love our country and help our country, OK?

Thank you all very much.

(CROSSTALK)

[13:35:08] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: All right, so the president, you heard him answering some questions from reporters. He's been meeting with Republican lawmakers over at the White House on three issues. Strongly defending the tariffs. He's now opposing against imports coming into the United States from various countries, including Canada, Mexico, the European Union, China. Also strongly defending his hardline views on immigration, including asking these members for a lot more money to build that border wall with Mexico. And saying that the U.S. Supreme Court decision supporting his travel ban, 5-4 decision earlier in the day, is a tremendous victory, he says, for the American people.

Let's bring in the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, and get his reaction to all of these issues.

Governor, thank you so much for joining us.

First, let's talk about the president's views on immigration. And specifically you have, what, about a thousand children who have been separated from their parents that are now being kept in your state, in New York State? How is that working out?

ANDREW CUOMO, (D), NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Well, Wolf, we have here -- thanks for having me. We have about 1200 unaccompanied alien children, as they refer to it, UAC. We don't know the number that has actually been separated. We've been trying to get it from HHS. But I think part of the chaos is they don't know, either.

Look, when you put it all together, the president has been remarkably consistent. He started this in the campaign, he started a, frankly, tone of divisiveness in this country. Immigration is bad, whether it's the Muslim travel ban or it's stopping people at the border and separating them from their families. This was his campaign theme. He tried three times with the Muslim travel ban. The Supreme Court, which is his court, made a political decision, a bad decision, I think a really shameful decision, but it was a political decision, enabled, by the way, by a Republican Senate that made a political decision by not giving president Barack Obama an appointee.

The president just said in that clip, well, I support the Constitution. What he is doing with families on the border, separating children, violates the Constitution. You can't support the Constitution when it serves you and not when it gets in your way. Our position is it violates the Constitution, it violates due process, violates equal protection, and violates the Administrative Procedures Act. New York and 15 other states are suing the federal government today on that basis, separating children --

BLITZER: Talk about that.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: -- violates the due process.

BLITZER: What is that lawsuit that you are now putting forward? Give us some specific details.

CUOMO: Yes. The president announced the zero-tolerance policy April 7th with the Department of Justice. What that says is we're arresting everyone, we're detaining the parents. By law, they can't put children in detention facilities, therefore, they had to separate the children. That started this whole chaos. It was the president's political desire to do this. But the policy and the program didn't follow. So now you have the issue of separation of children. HHS has to scramble and send them all over the country. That is a violation of the current law. Non-citizens, undocumented people, still have rights in this country. One of the fundamental due process rights is the care, custody and control of their children. That was violated by the family separation policy. Equal protection violation, because it's primarily on the southern border. And third, an Administrative Procedures Act violation because they just announced it in an arbitrary and capricious way.

And today, Wolf, you can't even tell what the policy is. The Custom and Border Patrol say that they're suspending arrests of families with children. The Department of Justice says they're not. The White House says they are, but only temporarily. So it's total chaos, but it is illegal.

(CROSSTAKL)

BLITZER: So tell us what you're going to specifically?

CUOMO: And that's what the lawsuit today says.

BLITZER: What are you going to do about it? Explain this lawsuit. Where is it being filed?

[13:39:43] CUOMO: It's being filed in Washington State, in New York and 15 other states. And we're asking a federal district court to stop the federal government from this policy of separating families. Separately, what we're asking the federal government is, to the extent you have children in states, tell the states and let the states help provide services. I mean, put the politics aside, Wolf, on a human level. You have children who have been taken from their parents. They're in a country they never heard of. They're sent to a state that they can't find on a map. Some of these children are in foster care homes. Some of them are discharged to family members, extended family members. Some of them are put in private foster homes. They have no services, no follow-up care, no help with language, no help getting into schools. Let the states help. Instead, the federal government has put a gag order on the facilities that are receiving these children. I mean, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. So we're filing a lawsuit to stop the federal government from separating families, children from families. And, second, we're asking the federal government in the interim, with the mess you created, at least let the states help rather than having these foster care agencies with a gag order.

BLITZER: All right. I want you to stand by, Governor. There's more I need to discuss with you.

Including the breaking news on the U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that the president's travel ban involving seven countries is constitutional. We'll discuss that and more right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:41] BLITZER: We're following our breaking news. A major victory for President Trump. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld, in a 5-4 decision, the president's travel ban restricting entry into the United States from seven countries. Those countries are Iran, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Venezuela.

The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is still with us.

What's your reaction, Governor?

CUOMO: Wolf, it's a bad decision on the law. It's a stain on this country's history. This was clearly, in my opinion, a religious bias. It was camouflaged as national security, but it was Islamophobia. The court said we should look behind this act and look at the words. If you look at the three travel bans and what the president said, it was clearly a religious bias.

Second, it was a political decision, and at this time of instability and gridlock where people don't trust institutions, the Supreme Court, you would have liked to think, was one institution that could be trusted. This was purely political, ideological, 5-4 decision.

And, third, it's more of the same. It is stopping Muslims at airports, stopping Latinos at borders. It's divisiveness. It is a cancer in the body politic. America is about diversity. When you make diversity an enemy, Wolf, you turn one cell in the body politic against another cell in the body politic. And that's why it's a cancer, and it has to stop. BLITZER: Well, what, if anything, are you going to be able to do

about this?

CUOMO: Well, we're bringing the lawsuit on the handling at the border. That lawsuit is going to be filed today on the separation of families. We want to stop that because that's not just illegal, that really violates our basic principles of humanity and compassion to be pulling children from their families.

BLITZER: What about the travel ban?

CUOMO: We want to stop that policy. The travel ban, we're going to, on an individual basis, offer legal services for people who want to contest it or who might be stuck in this country or get caught in between with family members, so we'll offer individual services. But, look, this is a Republican president and a Republican Congress, and if you want to change it, change is going to come in November.

BLITZER: Governor Cuomo, thanks as usual for joining us.

CUOMO: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Also new today, Trump associate, Blackwater founder, Erik Prince, has provided the Special Counsel Robert Mueller access to his phones and computers. We have new information. That's coming up.

And Israel asked Britain's Prince William to convey a message to the Palestinians. We have details on that as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:57] BLITZER: Prince William has unexpectedly landed right in the middle of Middle East politics. During the first official visit to Israel by a member of the British royal family, the president of Israel asked the prince to pass on a message when he meets with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The message being, it's about time for peace. The duke of Cambridge is on a five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. Today, he also met with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Let's bring in Yair Lapid, the leader of one of the Israeli opposition parties, Yesh Atid.

Mr. Lapid, thanks very much for joining us.

YAIR LAPID, LEADER, ISRAEL YESH ATID PARTY: Thanks, Wolf. Good to be here.

BLITZER: Is there any prospect that this peace process could get back off the ground, because as you know, Jared Kushner, the president's special envoy, his son-in-law, he was there, but the Palestinians didn't want to meet with him?

LAPID: Well, they're going to put up a paper and we're going to see what's in the paper. Nobody knows. The Palestinians, the problem with the Palestinians, they refused every paper since the year of 2000 when the Barak was prime minister and met with Clinton at Camp David. Somebody has to explain to them, this is not a zero-sum game. It's not that they're going to get everything they want, otherwise they won't talk to nobody. We need to go into negotiation and we need to talk to them about the prospect of peace.

BLITZER: Does the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu -- you're the opposition leader. You would like to be prime minister. If there's new elections, you might have a chance at that. Does he support what's called a two-state solution, Israel living alongside a new state of Palestine.

LAPID: Formerly, he does. And --

BLITZER: Do you believe he does, in reality?

LAPID: As I was saying, formerly he does. I think everybody in his right mind understand there's a big campaign in Israel for people saying, OK, we are beyond the point of no return, there will be no two-state solution, but the majority of Israelis still support --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: What do you --

(CROSSTALK)

LAPID: I support the separation of the Palestinians under the two- state solution. I think it's due, I think it's necessary, and I think it's the right thing for our country and for our children.

BLITZER: Because the Middle East peace plan that Jared Kushner and the president supposedly are going to be putting forward in the coming weeks calls for a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, and may even call for east Jerusalem to be the capital of the Palestinian state. Would you support that?

[13:55:09] LAPID: Well, I will never support anything which has to do with the division of Jerusalem in two. But we don't know what's in this paper, the ultimate deal, as they call it. But we think, you know what, it's about time somebody will do something different. Because right now, the peace process is totally answering to Einstein's famous definition of madness, doing over and over the same thing and expecting different results. Since there have been 11 rounds of bilateral talks, it's time for somebody to put something different on paper.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: That's what the Trump administration is about to do, supposedly.

LAPID: Yes. It's going to be very difficult to the Netanyahu's government to say no to President Trump after the move of the embassy, after the cancellation of the nuclear agreement with Iran, after the way the Trump administration has helped this government. BLITZER: How much trouble is he in now, Prime Minister Netanyahu.

He's being investigated by the police and it's been going on a few years and his wife was just charged?

LAPID: Wolf, you know better than that. You know I'm not going to comment on this on American television. I wish the prime minister will be off everything. I want to fight him in the poll booth, not in court.

BLITZER: But you suspect there will be early elections? It's not scheduled for, what, next year or something.

LAPID: Next year.

BLITZER: You think there could be earlier elections?

LAPID: There's a strong possibility for earlier elections, to be earlier, maybe the beginning of next year.

BLITZER: What is the image of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, in Israel right now?

LAPID: Well, he's very -- I guess he would be more popular in Israel than here because --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He's been elected president of the United States here.

LAPID: That's true. That's true. I'm saying, in Israel it's bipartisan, the support. Because of, as I was saying, the move the embassy, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, because of the cancellation of the nuclear agreement. And you know what, because when he was in Jerusalem, he did everything right, emotionally right, going to the court (ph), going to the Wailing Wall, putting the (INAUDIBLE). Being emotional about this relation.

I'm a bit worried now that Israel won't become a partisan issue. It's important for Israel to stay a bipartisan issue, to keep good contact with the Democrats. This is part of the reason now, I'm in Washington. It is extremely important for Israel not to be identified with one side of the American political arena.

BLITZER: Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid, one of the opposition parties in the Knesset. Thank you so much for joining us.

LAPID: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Welcome to Washington.

LAPID: Thank you.

BLITZER: More on the breaking news out of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Plus, the president hurling insults at a wild rally as the White House preaches civility. We'll discuss that. The president's new trade target isn't a foreign country, but an all-

American brand, Harley-Davidson. Why the president says the motorcycle maker is surrendering. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:02] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. You are watching CNN on as Tuesday. I'm Brook Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

Here's the breaking news. The president says today's Supreme Court decision is --