Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Moment of Silence for "Capital Gazette" Victims; Pompeo Heads to North Korea Again for Denuclearization Talks; Last Day of Rest Before World Cup Kickoff; Sexism on Display at World Cup; Tuberculosis Scare at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 05, 2018 - 14:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:33:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Moments from now, newsrooms across the country will join together in a moment of silence, including ours. Live pictures from inside that Maryland newspaper where five people were killed last week. Let's now pause with them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Today's front page of the "Capital Gazette" underscores the outpouring of support and solidarity they have received since the shooting. One headline reads, "We know this is not just our tragedy."

CNN senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter, is with me now.

It's so incredibly moving knowing that these people have continued working out putting out a paper. And just seeing them lead that Indianapolis Fourth of July parade. It's a beautiful thing.

[14:34:50] BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": The surviving staffers were invited to lead the parade. Both reporters and staff members participated. Some have gone back to work at a temporary office space nearby. Others are taking time off. They're trying to focus on remembering their friends. There are two more memorial services this weekend.

Today was important, Brooke, because newsrooms across the country wanted to pause for this moment of silence and remember the victims. This was the deadliest day for journalism in the history of the United States. There's been a lot of reporting about the grudge the suspect had against the newspaper. But as that core process continues, we saw big newsrooms like NPR and CNN and now small newsrooms and global online sites pausing for this moment of silence.

BALDWIN: Some people back to work, others not yet.

STELTER: Right. Wanted to take time. I spoke to Philadelphia Davis, one of the reporters inside the office. He said it was so surreal to be walking in the parade. He would have much rather been covering the parade. But they recognize they've become a symbol for their community. And they need to help the community heal. So they continue to put out a paper every single day.

A couple of people have physical scars, but there are a lot of mental and emotional scars. So inside this newsroom, usually a place of calm and quiet when the gun fire took place.

BALDWIN: Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is on his way back to North Korea at this hour. Secretary Pompeo under pressure to produce tangible signs that Kim Jong-Un will give up his nuclear arsenal. And the top U.S. diplomat has offered few details about the state of negotiations. But the State Department says it will not back off its maximum pressure policy to get Pyongyang to give its nukes. Pompeo tweeter a short time ago, "Looking forward to continuing our work towards the final fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK as agreed to by Chairman Kim. Good to have the press along for the trip."

"Daily Beast" columnist, Gordon Chang, is with me now. He's the author of "Nuclear Showdown, North Korea Takes on the World."

Gordon, good to see you again.

Let me ask you again, when you look at the overarching threats in the past eight months, the threats of "fire and fury" now to the tweet as recent as yesterday, "Many good conversations with North Korea. It is going well."

Has President Trump been played?

GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST, DAILY BEAST & AUTHOR: Yes, I think so, but we really won't know until after the Pompeo trip. This is really make or break for Trump's policy. Because that policy is based on the assumption that Kim has made a strategic decision to give up his nukes. If he has our policy makes sense, if he doesn't, our policy makes no sense whatever. We're no you heard President Trump say he's not backing off on maximum pressure, well, he has. Kim changes his front companies all the time. If you don't designate the front companies, you allow North Korea to hollow out the sanctions. We have not been imposing costs on the Chinese and Russians for violating those sanctions. So Pompeo is not exactly telling us really what's going on. They are relieving the pressure.

[14:40:09] BALDWIN: I want to get back to Pompeo in a second. But I was reading David Sanger's column in the "New York Times." He gives this parallel. He's talking about the president. He called it "a tendency to complete a good meeting with a good outcome." So David Sanders writes, "It is as if John F. Kennedy were meeting with the Soviet Union's Khrushchev for the first time in Vienna in 1961 had declared the Cold War solves. The Cuban Missile Crisis took place six months later."

CHANG: This is a particular American disease. We think good relations are friendly relations. That's not the way Xi Jinping, of China, or Vladimir Putin, of Russia, or Kim Jong-Un, of North Korea, look at it. If they get what they want, that's a good meeting. Doesn't matter if there's a lot of tension or not, as long as they get all the benefits. We should start looking at it the same way. Because, you know, having a nice summit, being friends is great, but it really doesn't advance the ball.

BALDWIN: But doesn't Kim now have the leverage? He's now been raised on the world stage?

CHANG: Yes. Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: What does Pompeo need to go do?

CHANG: Either he gets the commitments that we need to get the agreement from North Korea, give up nuclear, give up missiles, dismantle the infrastructure, have verification. We don't get that, then we need to go back to maximum pressure. Trump was getting all the concessions through the end of May because they did have maximum pressure. And then in advance of that summit, you have the president sort of relax everything, and especially this idea of suspending the drills. That gives incentive to North Korea to delay this. They don't like drills. Also, because we're not sanctioning anybody right now, it also gives Kim incentive to drag things out. So we have given Kim the incentive to undermine our own policy. This is nuts.

I hope they make it right because if he has given up this whole notion of having his arsenal, yes, maybe that's the right thing to do. But we'll know in a couple of days. I really don't think this is going to go in a way we want.

BALDWIN: Let's have a conversation in a couple of days when we find out how this trip went in Pyongyang.

Gordon, thank you so much. Good to see you.

CHANG: Thanks, Brooke.

Just ahead here, female reporters being kissed live on air. Controversial ads? This is something that's not being talked about enough over at the World Cup, the overwhelming amount of sexism that has been on display this year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:20] BALDWIN: It is the last day of rest before the quarter finals kickoff in the World Cup. Hosting Russia is hoping to pull off what no one thought was possible, taking it all the way to the finals.

CNN's Amanda Davis has a preview of all the action from Moscow.

Hey, Amanda. AMANDA DAVIS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Brooke, on paper, the best

quarterfinals in terms of footballing pedigree take place tomorrow, the five-time world champions, Brazil taking on Belgium. And France taking on you Uruguay. As far as Russians are concerned, the last quarterfinals in a post-Soviet era, a place nobody gave them any chance of being before the tournament began. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen the favorite ripped apart. They have gone from zeros to Russian heroes. They will be backed all the way against Croatia on Saturday night. And Russia has some secrets in their corner, Russian Alex Ovechkin is coming to town, bringing the Stanley Cup with him. There is facial hair, mustaches that Russians have been growing in tribute to their coach. They will be hoping those mustaches will be joined by smiles and a place in the semifinal -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Amanda, in Moscow, thank you so much. And certainly, all eyes will be on the quarterfinals.

Can we talk about something that has not been discussed enough at the World Cup? This overwhelming amount of sexism that has been on display this year. Multiple incidents involving female reporters. Look at this. Just doing their jobs, getting kissed, harassed while live on television.

I want you to watch the lower right-hand side of the screen, a man grabs her breast and kisses her cheek.

Another video shows a Brazilian reporter getting accosted while on air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Don't do that. I don't allow you to do that, never. Never do that. OK? Respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:49:54] BALDWIN: Respect, she says. Where is the respect?

Although, there are more female reporters than ever covering this year's World Cup, just 14 percent of the 16,000 journalists are women. And it doesn't stop there. Listen to this. Burger King, Russia, is now apologizing after one of its ads offered Russian women the chance to win $47,000 and free Whoppers for life -- wait for it -- if one of the World Cup players got them pregnant. Just think about that for a second. This wasn't a spontaneous moment. An entire company approved that ad campaign. It is 2018. What's going on?

CNN sports analyst, Christine Brennan, is with me now.

And it's like -- what part of this is OK?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: None, Brooke. Absolutely none. It is 2018 as you said. I think what this shows us loud and clear is that soccer is seen as a men's game, the sexism in soccer is extraordinary, it's been there for decades, it's still on display. It's like the guys, this is our turf and get out, and it's horrendous and unacceptable. Where are the sponsors of these people? In the United States, kudos to the U.S. Soccer Federation, the men's national team, is called the men's national team. That pesky adjective is used to differentiate from the incredibly sensitive women's team. But most countries around the world would laugh at the country for doing that.

BALDWIN: It's the national team.

BRENNAN: Because the soccer team, you don't even need it because of course it is a men's team. That has been going on for generations. And obviously we're trying to pull them into the 21st century, but they're obviously resisting at this point.

BALDWIN: I want to be fair to men, too. This whole getting kissed while on the air, sadly, has happened many times to our Matthew Chance. He's actually been tweeting about it. Men are targets as well?

BRENNAN: Absolutely. It is also unacceptable. The difference is, of course, that women have been with me too and everything, we don't have to go any further, we know what's going on there. But it should be unacceptable. And I think what we're talking about here is a lot of drunk people. A lot of fans who are drinking and --

(CROSSTAKL)

BALDWIN: Just cut to the chase, they're drunk.

BRENNAN: Right. So their behavior is abominable both ways. And I would speak out on both equally, for sure.

BALDWIN: Before I let you go, there was a point you wanted to make. Wimbledon has been going on. Wimbledon and women and their names on the big board. Go for it.

BRENNAN: Same thing here, Brooke, Wimbledon. The "New York Times" piece is, Serena Williams has not taken her husband's name but they're calling her Mrs. Williams. And on the scoreboard is Bill-- they were the last of four grand slams to pay the women the same as men. The U.S. Open, in 1973, to Wimbledon, clearly is a little behind the times on this. And they don't say that to the men. They don't say Roger Federer is married, but that Serena Williams is married. I think it's time they get into the 21st century.

BALDWIN: 2018, baby. Let's go.

Christine Brennan, thank you.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We do now have some breaking news out of Baltimore we want to get to. Hazmat teams at the scene at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a possible release of tuberculosis during a transport. Stand by. Jason Carroll has that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:58:13] BALDWIN: Breaking news now on a tuberculosis scare in Baltimore. This after a small amount of the infectious disease may have been released inside a Johns Hopkins Hospital building.

Our national correspondent, Jason Carroll, is on this.

What's going on?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're just looking at some of the aerials here as we watch what happened. This is according to Johns Hopkins. Apparently, this was some medical professionals there who were transporting some of this material and what they're talking about now is the possible, keyword possible release of a small amount of tuberculosis. According to Johns Hopkins Hospital, this sample was being taken from cancer research building number with and cancer research building number two. An internal bridge between these two buildings. As a precaution, they have isolated those employees that were handling this material, as a precaution, as they are being evaluated. The Hazmat team, hazardous materials team, they are out there obviously evaluating what's going on there.

Obviously, concern here. Tuberculosis is an airborne illness. There's concern whether or not go into the air ducts, things like that. That's why you have hazmat out there. They haven't indicated how many of these employees have been isolated as a precaution while they're being evaluated. But we should also note that while tuberculosis is an airborne illness, you can catch from someone coughing, sneezing, things like that, it is treated with antibiotics.

But this is the situation there at Johns Hopkins. Two buildings there have been evacuated as a precaution. Some of the employees are isolated, again, as a precaution because of the possible release of a small amount of tuberculosis.

[15:00:00] BALDWIN: Let's hope it stays at a scare and this is not tuberculosis in the end.

Keep up posted, Jason Carroll. Thank you so much.

Let's continue on. Hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me here.

We begin with this, the Trump administration's race to reunite migrant children --