Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Trump in Helsinki, Finland for Summit with Russia's Putin; France Defeat Croatia 4-2 in World Cup Final; Trump Slams May In The Sun Newspaper Interview U.S.-North Korea Talks On Troop Remains Set For Sunday; Republicans Slam FBI Agent Over Anti-Trump Texts; Guiliani Implies FBI Agent Tainted Probe. 1-2a ET

Aired July 16, 2018 - 01:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: All eyes are on Finland. Donald Trump faces massive pressure to confront his Russian counterparts about attacks on U.S. Democracy as the two men prepare to meet. Plus after talks between the U.S. and North Korea, the search may soon resume for some 5,000 Americans who never came home from the Korean War. And (INAUDIBLE) a thrilling finale to the world cup as the French blazed house Croatia. Live from the CNN center here in Atlanta, I'm Cyril Vanier, it's great to have you with us.

So in a matter of hours the U.S. President will sit down for a one-on- one meeting with his Russian counterpart and the world will be watching for what comes out of it. Heading into Monday summit, Mr. Trump called the European Union a foe in terms of trade but when Donald Trump arrived in Helsinki on Sunday it was after a European trip that was filled with criticism for U.S. allies and that raised concerns about NATO unity. Donald Trump also said he would ask Vladimir Putin about Russian meddling in the 2016 election but he added that he didn't expect much progress on that front. About 2,500 demonstrators including one American now living abroad protested in Helsinki.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we feel very passionate about what's happening in our country and so we want to share our voice with other to let people that we really do care about immigrants women's rights and families that belong together very important issues they're not getting due respect in the U.S. right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Nic Robertson is in Helsinki of course, who else. Nic, let's start by having you take us through the schedule today. What's actually going to happen?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the big meeting is going to take place in the presidential palace just over my shoulder there. You're getting a look at it now. There's additional security out here this morning. The streets are unusually quiet because they're getting ready for President Putin and President Trump's arrival here. But first up, President Trump is going to go from his government guest house where he spent the night. It'll have a working breakfast along with his wife with the Finnish President and the Finnish President's wife. That'll be about an hour and a half. That all wraps up in about three hours' time. Then in five hours, that's when he'll arrive at the presidential palace, expected to meet there with President Putin about twenty minutes later.

The (INAUDIBLE) will spend about an hour and a half together just before -- just before 3:00 this afternoon they will -- local time here -- they will bring in their other officials, this delegation broaden the meeting out and with another -- within another hour and a half, two hours after that we spin and to wrap it all up so that will be three to four hours of talking time total. Best we know this time they'll have a joint press conference and then expecting the President later on this afternoon to go wheels up back for Washington to get back into U.S. politics. So three or four hours talking time with President Putin in that building the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, that's what we're expecting here. Cyril?

VANIER: So reportedly, Donald Trump wants to be alone with Vladimir Putin in the room or at least limit the number of people in the room. Is that going to happen?

ROBERTSON: That's best we do at the moment. That's exactly what's going to happen. Look, he took this very secretive and strange style, diplomatic style at the G20 in Hamburg last year when he first met with President Putin. I mean, he met there only with his then- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and President Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in that meeting. It was supposed to be 45 minutes, it lasted two hours and 15 minutes because they got on exceptionally well. And then later at a heads of state dinner, President Trump left his seat and then had about an hour alone with President Putin then talking with just this translator. And it seems that that's what president from once again going into this meeting he wants this private time.

It's not clear why he wants to issue their experts that would be helping him and guiding him because let's not forget here President Putin has been in office for eighteen years, President Trump for about eighteen months. President Putin is a former spy, President Trump is a is a property developer from New York. So the sort of if you will, the expertise acts up more strongly it would seem on the Russian side for trying to extract from another head of state, things you might want to extract. So it's not entirely clear why President Trump wants to have the one-on-one part of the meeting but that's as we understand at the moment, that's how this would go down, Cyril.

VANIER: We know that Donald Trump relies heavily on his charm and his ability to establish a rapport, a relationship with whoever is in front of him. What do we know about a personal relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as things stand right now?

[01:05:15] ROBERTSON: I think the best readout we have of that at the moment and you know, when you look at what President Trump has said over the years, you know, his describing this investigation into whether there was collusion between this election campaign and the Russians who were meddling in that election campaign, he describes that as a witch-hunt and keeps repeating. I don't know President Putin, I don't know him. I haven't -- I haven't met him before, I mean prior obviously to meeting him for the first time face to face as far as we know in Hamburg at the G20 summit last summer.

But was Secretary of Tillerson, Rex Tillerson -- former Secretary of States Rex Tillerson said when they came out of that meeting was that they got on really well. So the best guidance we have at the moment is that President Trump by his estimation believes he gets on very well with President Putin. Again, last year was a 45-minute meeting expected to be and it ran for two hours and 15 minutes. The President's wife, the First Lady went into that meeting at the G20 to remind President Trump that he had other engagements coming up and then she got stuck in there for another hour. So, you know at a personal level it seems the two men do hit it off, Cyril.

VANIER: Nic Robertson, thank you so much for filling in all these details for us just a few hours to go before that meeting as Nic was telling us and Nic will be there to walk us through it during the whole thing. Thank you. And for more on what we can expect from the Russian end of things, we're joined by CNN's Moscow Bureau Chief Nathan Hodge. Nathan, how is Russia approaching this? What do they want to get out of this meeting?

NATHAN HODGE, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: The most important thing to Russia is that Vladimir Putin gets to meet his counterpart and look presidential. Remember this is coming off of the end of a month-long celebration for Russia with the World Cup which has brought all of Russia to all of the world to Russia and it's been a massive public relations triumph already for Vladimir Putin who previously had been someone isolated on the world stage after the annexation of Crimea, after the Ukrainian crisis was snubs you will remember by other world leaders at the summit in Australia in 2014 and left early. And now he is the man at the centre of the stage so it's very important for him just to show up and be in Helsinki and be seen on Russian state television and as well as internationally as being on an equal footing with his American counterpart and that's all about being presidential and looking like a geopolitical player.

VANIER: Does, Russia have any interest in making a deal? I mean, the big -- the big sticking points like Ukraine like Syria have been brought up on the American side. Is that of interest to Russia?

HODGE: I think the most important thing to Russia is some kind of sanctions relief in the long term. Russia was slapped with the pretty powerful economic sanctions over Crimea, with the Ukraine crisis and there really hasn't been a way out. There has not been a way forward. I think there's a lot of hope -- there was hope when Donald Trump was elected that he might take a different line. And of course, the Russians have reached out bilaterally to other countries as well as in Europe trying to seek some kind of relief. There was -- what kind of deal-making could happen that it happened on Syria, could it happen in Ukraine, that's difficult to say but we do know that after 18 years on the world stage is a fairly shrewd interlocutor. He's a very well briefed person, he's very meticulous and he's -- that's going to be an interesting contrast, the very brash improvisational style of Donald Trump. VANIER: Of course the elephant in the room here is the Russian

investigation and the Trump campaign has been under investigation from the special counsel for well over a year now. There wasn't another indictment three days ago which indicted 12 Russian military officers for hacking into Democrats computer systems. How is all of that being perceived in Russia?

HODGE: Well, the Russians have always denied that there was any state involvement in hacking the 2016 election and interestingly enough Putin has said similar sorts of things to then-Candidate Trump. He had said, well, you know, anyone could have done this. Anyone knows how to hack, anyone knows how to mask an I.P. address. It really could have been anyone and anyone could have done this. So they've always maintained this deniability. They've always said that this -- the hacking did not happen. It wasn't state-organized. I think the most that Putin ever alluded to the possibility that it could have been Russian is he had said something about it could have been patriotic hackers but it certainly wasn't us. It wasn't the Russian state. So it's basically you're talking about out a very interesting moment here. How would Donald Trump bring this up there -- he's also had his moments where he suggested that could have just been foreign pound person sitting in their bedroom is the one hacking. So again --

[01:10:10] VANIER: Somebody in New Jersey if I -- if I recall the exact quote. Look, I want to ask you a question that I asked in the earlier hour which was what leverage does Donald Trump have going into this meeting. So from the Russian best perspective and you touched on this, what leverage does Vladimir Putin have going into this meeting?

HODGE: Well the most important thing I think that Vladimir Putin has going into this meeting is I think that he has after all of his years of experience meeting with world leaders, he -- I think he's a fairly confident person. He's very good at cultivating person-to-person ties. It doesn't always work. When he started out as President of Russia, he was still fairly unpracticed, but after as I said 18 years of pretty much-unquestioned rule in Russia, he carries himself with a certain confidence. You'll remember that when he met George W Bush, he made a gesture he shouldn't cross the (INAUDIBLE) and that Bush found a very touching.

He said he had a sense of Mr. Putin's soul. I think Putin also -- he's already met Donald Trump and then I think that they've studied very well who the American President is and what they think might appeal to him. And I think that a lot of the things that they've been saying in the run-up to the summit have been fairly soft-pedaling. They've not been really strong with criticizing U.S. Administration and this gives them an opportunity to basically sort of warm them up to make sure that they go in there without taking any kind of really confrontation approach and then go into the room and be able to just work it.

VANIER: All right, Nathan Hodge, thank you very much. It's going to be really hard to judge the outcome of this meeting since the expectations going into it have been so fuzzy from both sides. Nathan, thanks a lot. Over the Trump Putin summit upon us now we'll be getting perspective from one of the CIA's top experts on Russia. What compromises if any will each leader make? And a bit of progress after the U.S.-North Korea summit. We'll have details on the next step towards the return of U.S. soldiers remains. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi there! I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN "WORLD SPORTS" headlines. We stopped in Russia for the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup after 64 matches and 169 goals this thrilling world cup now has a winner.

[01:14:57] For the second time in 20 years, it's France's national team once again win their own very special piece of history after beating Croatian a pulsating final on Sunday in Moscow. The French were in control the entire match cruising to the 4-2 victory. Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and the teenager Kylian Mbappe, all getting on the score sheet.

Though it's heartbreak for Croatia, at least, their midfielder Luka Modric, can say he was officially the tournament's best player. Modric was awarded the Golden Ball accolade, while it was a Golden Boot for England striker Harry Kane.

The three lines may have lost the semi to Croatia but the forwards still ended up at the tournament's top goal scorer with 6.

And finally, Novak Djokovic is two-year-plus Grand Slam major title drought is over. On Sunday, the Serbian producing a straight sets winner over Kevin Anderson, ensuring a fourth Wimbledon title. And 13th slam overall.

This victory was special for the Serb as you can see. Djokovic, have previously spoke at private issues. Matters he wouldn't or couldn't elaborate upon. There was the perceived loss of motivation, the changes to his back routine, and the elbow surgery as well. Novak Djokovic, 2018 Wimbledon men's champion. That's a look at your sports headlines, I'm Patrick Snell.

VANIER: The special counsel's indictment of a dozen Russian military intelligence agents looms over this Helsinki summit. The agents are accused of hacking into the Democrats computer networks during the 2016, U.S. presidential election.

President Trump's refusal to forcefully condemned the meddling, coupled with his harsh criticisms of U.S. allies has raised the international concerns about what could happen during his one-on-one meeting.

On many key issues, the U.S. and Russia are at odds. Syria, Ukraine, and of course, Russia's meddling. But in spite of that, Mr. Trump is hoping that he can build a "great relationship" with Russia. As Jake Tapper reports, he is not the first.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump will be the fourth U.S. president to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Putin's fine, he's fine, we're all fine with people. Well, I'd be prepared, totally prepared.

TAPPER: So, as President Trump prepares or doesn't to meet the Russian leader, he should remember that others have been there before him with very mixed success. Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama all tried kicking things off with flattered.

GEORGE BUSH, 43rd PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Man deeply committed to his country.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think he's fully capable of doing it.

BARACK OBAMA, 44th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The extraordinary work that you've done on behalf of the Russian people.

TAPPER: In 2001, President George W. Bush took a soulful approach.

BUSH: I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul.

TAPPER: Presidents Bush and Obama both tried to soften the Russian leader by attempting to find common interests.

BUSH: At first, I'd like to congratulate President Putin for being the only person that caught a fish today.

OBAMA: President Putin's expertise of Judo and like the client skills master.

TAPPER: The relationship between U.S. leaders and their Russian counterparts has been warm in the past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, now, for the first time, I can tell you that you're a disaster.

TAPPER: Still, American presidents have taken note of the former KGB agent somewhat unique negotiating technique.

BUSH: Putin says, "Would you like to meet my dog?" And how comes a giant hound kind of loping across the first line yard? And Putin looks at me and said, bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney.

TAPPER: And with some Putin officials, the language barrier has led to some awkward diplomacy.

HILLARY CLINTON: We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get it wrong.

H. CLINTON: I got it wrong.

TAPPER: Still, if there's one thing we know about President Trump, he'll do it his own way.

TRUMP: Putin, maybe the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: All right. We'll have more on the summit ahead. But first, I want to get to some other news. A new chapter in U.S.-North Korean relations is opening by closing an old chapter.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, says North Korea has agreed to restart the search for thousands of American service members missing since the Korean War.

According to U.S. official, the two countries are working on transferring up to 200 sets of known war remains. It is part of the plan both countries agreed on during last month's summit in Singapore.

Let's bring in Andrew Stevens, he's covering a story from Seoul South Korea. Andrew, it's been a little difficult to get to this point that meeting was postponed on Thursday. Yesterday, when you and I talked, you weren't too sure how much progress there was going to be, but in the end, there is progress.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Absolutely, there is progress. Mike Pompeo, saying that there will be a -- the search for the remains of some 5,300 missing U.S. servicemen believed to be missing on the northern side of the Korean border. The border between the two Koreas is to restart that was closed back in 2005, Cyril.

And also, we have the U.S. official saying that the remains of what they believe is maybe 200 U.S. servicemen which North Koreans currently hold could be returning to the U.S. in 14 to 21 days from now.

Mike Pompeo, is saying that the North Koreans gave firm commitments. He said that were productive talks. So, indeed there has been progress. It's interesting though, that the -- that there was a caveat on the returns of the -- return of the remains was that it could be subject to change without notification.

Which appears to be sort of shorthand really for saying that the North Koreans could change their minds. They could -- they could perhaps, use the remains for -- as a different type of bargaining chip to get further concessions from the U.S.

So, at this stage, it is positive after as you point out a very rocky start. The first meeting actually, the North Koreans didn't show up, and then, yesterday, we were getting very, very few details on what was going ahead.

It was interestingly a meeting between senior military leaders rather than the working group, Cyril. Which does suggest that decisions could have been made then and there? That is being followed up today by the working group which is all about logistics really particularly aimed at the return of the -- of the missing servicemen. [01:21:22] VANIER: OK. So, some goodwill being shown by North Korea at the moment. What does that tell us about their mindset, about the bigger issue of negotiating denuclearization?

STEVENS: Was very difficult to read too much into the North Korean mindset as we go along. If you look at to the willingness of Kim Jong-un to sign off on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with Donald Trump on June 12th of their summit, he was positive, although, he didn't give much away in terms of details or specific steps that North was going to take.

That was followed by what really is being seen as the disastrous first meeting between the U.S. and North Korea in Pyongyang led by the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It followed then, by the fact, that there was this no-show, and now we have progress.

So, it is going to be -- you know, it most likely, a pretty tortured process as we move towards denuclearization. And the underlying key issue is what does the North think nuclear -- denuclearization is? And how does that compare with what the U.S. thinks the denuclearization is.

Because remember going right back to the very fundamental issue here, a credible nuclear deterrent has been seen by North Korea as their key lifeline their survival. So turning their back on that just how serious are they about completely denuclearizing. And again, when and how are the U.S. going to match the concessions, the North says they will make at some stage at some predetermined stage -- undetermined stage. And what will the U.S. do in response?

So these are all massive questions, we've got an incremental step, step nonetheless on the return of U.S. service people. But still, massive issues and massive questions still light the very heart of this whole process. Cyril.

VANIER: Baby steps. We'll see where they lead. Andrew Stevens reporting from Seoul, thank you very much.

Now, we head to the Middle East where Israel says that if Gaza militants group -- militant groups continue to launch arson attacks, there will be no ceasefire. Hamas and Islamic Jihad, say they had reached a ceasefire deal with Israel on Saturday after a day of heavy fighting. Here is our Ian Lee with the latest on this.

IAN LEE, CNN FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Today is definitely a lot quieter than yesterday when over 200 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza, by Gaza militants into Israel. That according to the Israeli military. Israel responded with the largest bombing campaign in Gaza since the 2014 War.

But today, the Israeli Air Force did target what they say were Hamas units trying to send fire balloons from Gaza into Israel where they create brush fires. And earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that these fire kites, fire balloons are going to be treated just as if they were mortars and rockets. They said there won't be a ceasefire until these sorts of tactics stop. And so, Egypt and the U.N. have their work cut out for them to bring about a complete cessation of hostilities that seems to be unlikely at this time. And just to give you an idea of where, at least, the Israeli military thinks this is heading today, they deployed additional Iron Dome anti-missile systems around Gaza and the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv. Ian Lee, CNN, Jerusalem.

[01:25:04] VANIER: France, were the heavy favorites going into Sunday's World Cup final, and they showed why. France emerged victorious Sunday, best in Croatia, 4-2 in Moscow. It was a thrilling shootout but France never trailed.

Do you think the French are happy? Maybe. They erupted with joy after each team goal in Paris. It is the country's 2nd World Cup championship. And back in Moscow, meanwhile, will also have protests and politics on the pitch during the game.

The punk rock group Pussy Riot claims it is responsible members rushed the field at dressed like police officers. You see them there, screen left.

The group says it was meant to highlight political injustice in Russia. And we'll have all the highlights from that game, the final, that's coming up on "WORLD SPORT", it is in about 20 minute's right here on CNN. As the clock ticks down toward the Trump-Putin meeting, we are trying to answer one critical question, how does President Trump feel about Russia and his relationship with President Putin? We'll explore that and more, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Welcome back to the show. I'm Cyril Vanier. Let's look at those headlines. After a thrilling shootout, France are once again World Cup champion. Les Bleus, top Croatia, 4-2 in the Sunday final. It took the lead early with an own goal actually by Croatia, you just saw it. And then goals by Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba, and Kylian Mbappe, sealed the victory.

The top U.S. diplomat says North Korea has agreed to restart the search for thousands of American service members missing since the Korean War. A U.S. official tells CNN the two countries are also working on transferring up to 200 sets of known war remains back to the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump is in Helsinki, Finland hours away from the summit with his Russian counterpart. Mr. Trump says he will ask Vladimir Putin about meddling in the 2016 election but he isn't expecting any admission of guilt. Twelve Russian military intelligence officers were indicted Friday accused of hacking the Democrats' computers during the campaign.

Let's talk more about President Trump's views on Russia and whether he considers President Putin a friend or a foe. Jan Halper-Hayes is a Republican commentator and former worldwide vice president of Republican Overseas. That's a political organization for U.S. citizens who live outside the country.

She is joining us right now from Las Vegas. Before I get to that topic, Jan -- since you were part of the advanced team on this, can you shed some light on what Donald Trump wants to get out of this meeting.

JAN HALPER-HAYES, REPUBLICAN COMMENTATOR: Well, what he wants to get out of the meeting, he doesn't tell anyone. And that is typical of it. But let's look at the issue.

VANIER: And why -- why not?

HALPER-HAYES: Well, he said throughout the primary, he consistently says it. He is never going to tell anyone ahead of time or as I say, he is consistently inconsistent and predictably unpredictable and he likes being that way.

VANIER: Do you think it is for him, about policy? Making perhaps some kind of deal with Russia? Or is this more about building a personal rapport with Vladimir Putin?

HALPER-HAYES: I think initially why he wants the one-on-one is that rapport is always very important for Trump. But I think we need to consider the two people in the room because Putin is going to come in and want the same thing but he is going to be coming in limping because of the far reaching sanctions that we have placed on him.

And there are a couple of issues on the table which have to do with the new SALT agreement expiring in 2021 and the fact that the Obama administration accused Russia of violating the INF -- the intermediate ballistic missiles.

VANIER: I think Donald Trump gave us some clear insight into how he approaches diplomacy. For Mr. Trump, everybody is trying to take advantage of the U.S. in one way or another. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn't think of the European Union but they are a foe.

Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe -- economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn't mean they are bad. It doesn't mean anything. It means that they are competitors. They want to do well and we want to do well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So Jan -- does that explain why Donald Trump was so harsh, so aggressive with allies?

HALPER-HAYES: Well, there are a couple of things. One that is really important to Trump is trust; and the other thing is fairness. And he doesn't feel that our allies have been fair with us. So you could say he was harsh, but then what we have to do is we have to look back at Biden in 2015 said that paying 72 percent of the NATO budget, $650 billion of the $900 billion wasn't exactly fair and even had a thin veil of should we pull out of NATO. We have Defense Secretary Cohen who said it was a relic of history.

I think what the issue is that because Trump is firm and because people want to find fault with Trump, then we end up using judgmental adjectives which I don't think give him a fair shake.

VANIER: I want you to listen to one more thing which is how Donald Trump thinks of Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Ultimately he is a competitor. He is representing Russia. I am representing the United States. So in a sense we're competitors. Not a question of friend or enemy -- he is not my enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So this sets Trump apart from his predecessors. He doesn't consider Vladimir Putin an enemy.

HALPER-HAYES: No, he doesn't. And I think that there is incredible demonization of Putin. There are people that don't want detente on both sides. And they are doing everything to not support Trump in that.

[01:35:07] But Trump understands that actually the issues are really serious. And the Cold War, the now post-Cold War issues with the Baltic and Georgia and Ukraine, we really need to go in there and find a way to have some kind of pragmatic cooperation with Russia.

VANIER: Jan Halper-Hayes -- thank you very much for joining us on the show once again. Always a pleasure to talk to you -- thanks.

HALPER-HAYES: Thank you.

VANIER: On the eve of the U.S.-Russia summit Donald Trump took aim at one of his favorite targets, the media. In a tweet Mr. Trump wrote, "Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people." To add a little perspective to a U.S. President slamming the free press, we spoke with CNN global affairs analyst Jason Rezaian. While covering Iran for "The Washington Post" he spent 544 days unjustly imprisoned there until his release in January of 2016.

He talked to CNN's Ana Cabrera about the impact of Mr. Trump's tweet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON REZAIAN, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: How dangerous it is for my colleagues and everybody working in the news media to have the President of the United States who should be the biggest defender of press freedoms in the world pointing us out as possible enemies of the people of this country. There was a time and a people where had as the United States of America a moral authority to say to leaders of authoritarian countries who might be allied or partners of the U.S. to say, hey, you know, take a step back, you have to let your press thrive. You have to be able to handle some dissent and some criticism.

But these days they look to Washington and see that is not the case here. So why should they put up with criticism there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: That was CNN global affairs analyst, Jason Rezaian talking with my colleague Ana Cabrera earlier.

We take a short break. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:40:12] VANIER: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are wearing their proudest smiles in their newest family portrait. So let's take a look. Prince William and Duchess Katherine just released these official photos of the family after their youngest son's christening last week.

Prince Louis is just shy of three months old and is the fifth in line to the throne behind older brother Prince George and older sister Princess Charlotte.

Thank you very much for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Cyril Vanier.

You've got World Sport, as promised, up next with Patrick Snell and with all the breakdown of the World Cup final.

We'll also have special coverage of the Trump-Putin summit live from Helsinki starting at the top of the hour. And that is with Jake Tapper and Christiane Amanpour. Do not miss it. It is only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Thank you for setting aside a few minutes here for CNN Weather Watch. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

And we're watching somewhat of an unusual setup here for the middle of July, a little bit of a dip in the jet stream. As a result the next couple of days we'll see not only a few active areas of weather across portions of the Great Lakes to the northeastern U.S. But also some cooler temps in store for the heart of the summer season.

But notice we like to call here popcorn showers as they're storms that pop up randomly in nature here, scattered about the region. A lot of them really will favor the Gulf Coast region around portions of New Orleans get some strong wet weather out of this and certainly on the Atlantic side around Savannah, Georgia as well looking at some heavy rains over the next several days here.

Chicago 27 -- not bad for the middle of July; 29 in Montreal, maybe a few morning storms possible across that region but notice the trend here for a lot of folks especially across the Midwest initially going from 29 down to 22 in Minneapolis; similar sort of a set up down to as cool as 26 for Chicago so a least a little bit of a break there for the heart of the summer season.

The lower 30s are what we're looking at for the tropics -- Mexico City, as always thanks for tuning in. Expect a few storms to pop up. Middle 20s is what we're looking at across that region. Bogota around 18, 32 La Paz -- we will go with dry conditions, crisp air across the higher elevations into the teens and work your way towards the cool season. How about that? Rio Gallegos, highs around 2.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi there. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to CNN WORLD SPORT.

After 64 matches and 169 goals, the thrilling 2018 Russian World Cup now has a winner. For the second time in 20 years, it's France who've once again written their own very special piece of history after beating Croatia in a pulsating final on Sunday in Moscow.

This match was absolutely captivating from start to finish. After 18 minutes, the first of six goals Mario Madzukic heading into his own net from the Antoine Griezmann free kick, 1-0 France.

Croatia never simply give up, do they. It was no surprise when Ivan Perisic superbly leveled 10 minutes later. VAR though making one last crucial intervention, it's one of the most controversially determining a penalty for France after Perisic (INAUDIBLE) Griezmann, no mistake to be called.

The French made it 3-1 just shy of the hour mark. And to Paul Pogba's pinnacle (ph) strike, the fall Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager since Pele in 1958 to score in a World Cup final. What a moment for him.

Then came Hugo (INAUDIBLE) French keeper Lloris -- who knows what he was doing there. Mandzukic didn't pale (ph) as he became the first man in history to score a goal at an own goal in a World Cup final. France though and their all-conquering players would not be denied -- worthy winners. And as their French head coach Didier Deschamps telling you why this is so, so special for him too.

This youthful French squad becoming the first team to score four goals in a final since 1970. And here's what's really ominous for all their rivals out there for the years ahead. They've reached three of the last six World Cup finals and they've now won two of them.

As you can imagine scenes of joy and ecstasy in the heart of Paris -- a case of deja vu, you might argue. Remember it was 20 years ago, Les Bleus won the tournament for the first time on home terrain triggering scenes of similar delirium. And these fans will be well aware to the talent of this current French squad. It's just frightening after Nigeria, France the youngest team at the Russian World Cup. CNN's Melissa Bell now from one very happy French capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many hours before the start of the match French fans were already queuing for the fan zone. The blazing sun did nothing to detract from the sense of excitement as France went into the finals the favorite.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are excited. Come on, France.

BELL: Waving flags and chanting -- 100,000 gathered at the foot of the Eiffel Tower to watch, pray and cheer. One of the most promising and popular squads, France (INAUDIBLE) but faced with the Croatians side remarkable for its strength, the mood was tense and then explodes with each of France's four goals.

By the final whistle, the fans knew that 20 years on, the World Cup would finally be coming back to Paris carried by a side as youthful as it is diverse.

And it is here to the Champs Elysees that the cup will be brought and where the celebrations are already well under way. For those old enough to remember 1998 or for those too young to care, France is once again a country united around a victory of a side (ph) that represents the very best of it.

Melissa Bell, CNN -- Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNELL: Let's take you back to 1998 -- that's the year that France were crowned world champs for the first time. Two years later they became European champions but what a heartbreak of losing the 2006 World Cup final on penalties to the Italian. Ten years later there was more pain for Les Bleus when they were beaten on home soil by Portugal in the Euro '16 final in Paris. But tow they are world champions much more.

The Croatians, by the way, representing the second smallest nation in history after Uruguay to make the final and if they reflect back on their campaign, they really do have so much to be proud of. Croatian fans that made the trip to Moscow, even braving the stormy weather and surely they will never ever forget their experiences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is something special today. We -- now we are in second place but we are a country with 4.5 million people. So that's also a big thing for us. Yes, today it's hard. It's hard. It's hard.

The feeling is very hard. But tomorrow we are going to be happy and proud of these guys for what they did. And we are all expecting them tomorrow in Zagreb and they will have a big, big party. So thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: Did somebody say party in Zagreb? Well, these are the scenes in the nation's capital on Sunday after Croatia scored that fantastic level from Perisic in the first half; thousands of fans turning out to watch the match on the big screens. Despite the defeat though to the French, Croatia certainly will feel a huge sense of pride.

The Watsonias (ph) they're called, keeping the country of just over 4 million people more than entertained for a whole month in Russia winning a record three extra time matches as well en rout to the finals.

[01:49:54] As mentioned, heartbreak for the Croatians but at least Luca Modric can say he was officially the tournament's best player. The Real Madrid man was awarded the Golden Ball accolade.

While it was a golden boot for England's striker Harry Kane -- the Three Lions may have been dispatched in the semis but the Tottenham forward still ended up as the tournament's top goal scorer with six.

The 2018 Wimbledon tennis championships are in the book. We'll tell you why it was certainly not unlucky number 13 for Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic on Sunday at the all-England club (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

One name reigns supreme.

SNELL: Hi there. Welcome back.

Novak Djokovic's two-year plus grand slam major drought is over. On Sunday the Serbian producing a resounding onslaught to all those doubters, perhaps even including himself, too.

A straight set win over South Africa's Kevin Anderson ensuring a fourth Wimbledon crown and 13 slam title over all. This is the moment that clinched it for him.

And this is why this victory is going to mean so much to the former world number one. Djokovic had previously spoken of private issue matters. He couldn't or simply felt he wouldn't be able to elaborate on the perceive loss of motivation, the changes to his passion (INAUDIBLE). Not to mention the elbow surgery he had to undergo as well.

Really special moment especially when your three-year-old son is looking on, really lovely moment, that Stefan watching from the players' box there by the end of the match and then when it was all over, the face to face between father and son and the long tender hug that really does tell its own very powerful and very meaningful story.

Absolutely a wonderful story to see.

All right more on our top story now this Sunday as France celebrates the coming football's world champions for a second time after the win over Croatia. And what a story too for their head coach, Didier Deschamps. Deschamps becoming the first man to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager emulating Brazil's Mario Zagallo and the legendary Franz Beckenbauer.

[01:54:53] Well, the 2018 tournament in the book's end (ph) and is one that is sure to live long in the memory. Goals galore, plots, twists and plenty of shocks too especially remember when the host nation Russia, the lowest ranked country in the competition, shocked 2010 world champion Spain in just the last 16.

And by the way, the six goals in Sunday's final matching the highest tally in a final since 1958. And how about all that late drama -- 20 goals scored in the 90th minute or later. That's a record for the 32- team era. There was only one goalless draw -- also a record in this format. We even have four penalty shootouts -- that's a tie for the record.

And we shouldn't also forget the number 12, either -- the tally for the most own goals in a single World Cup.

It's congrats once again to Les Bleus on a weekend that also saw Novak Djokovic winning his 13th grand slam title at Wimbledon on Sunday.

Not only his victory meaning he's now just one shy of Bjorn Borg's tally of five at the all-England club, part of a remarkable career for the legendary Swede.

Here is our latest Rolex minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Agassi's done it once, Rafa has done it twice but from 1978 to '80, Bjorn Borg achieved one of tennis' most testing feats three times -- winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back.

BJORN BORG, PRO TENNIS PLAYER: The grass was (INAUDIBLE) so much faster in my time. To adjust from the clay it was a major problem.

I started to practice right after Paris like five or six hours a day just to get used to the grass. It is not easy to win Paris and Wimbledon at the same year. It's two different surfaces, completely different tennis. So it is a very difficult task to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the five-time Wimbledon champion was looking on as Novak Djokovic announced his return to tennis' top ten. The 12th seeded Serbian taking his first grand slam success for over two years with a straight set victory over South Africa's Kevin Anderson for a fourth Wimbledon title.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:57:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)