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Quake and Tsunami Hit Indonesia; Indonesia Calls for Help; Trump on Kim Jong-un; Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 01, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:51] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The Indonesian government is calling for international help in the wake of that powerful earthquake and tsunami. The death toll now at 844 people. And that number is expected to rise as search crews reach remote areas.

CNN's Matt Rivers is live in Palu (ph), Indonesia, with more.

What's the situation, Matt?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, we're getting a firsthand look here at the human toll of this tragedy. We're right now in an outdoor clinic. People are being treated. I'm actually next to a hospital but people aren't being treated inside for fear of aftershocks. So you've got scenes like that there, people in hospital beds under makeshift tarps.

It just goes to show you that this place doesn't really have the kind of infrastructure, the level one trauma centers that you need to handle this kind of an event. And the worst of it is here. I mean, look at this. This tent behind me. There's people on the ground. There's people in beds. They are bunched in. Doctors are doing the best they can. But with hundreds and hundreds of casualties like this, really they're -- they're up against it because they don't have the facilities.

And as weird as it might seem, these people are the lucky ones. One hundred meters to my right, which we're not going to show you because it's just too grotesque, there are 130 bodies laying in the parking lot outside the emergency room because the morgue here was simply overwhelmed by the death that this place experienced. So this community, Alisyn, just absolutely rocked by the earthquake and then the tsunami.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, Matt.

And so what is next in the rescue efforts there?

RIVERS: Yes, so it's obviously nighttime here. Things are going to stop for now. Tomorrow, things pick up. But really the big question is access. Roads are still cut off. Landslides are an issue. We know that people are still buried. Whether they're alive or not, we're not sure. But, you know, they still have to find communities. They don't even

know the full scale of the impact here. The death count will continue to go up. And I know for a fact one body wasn't counted, because when we were driving around, there were three ordinary people that had pulled a body out of wreckage, put it in a bag, and tried to get four different ambulances to stop, pick up that body and take it away and none could stop because they already had bodies inside. Those bodies haven't been added to the death toll yet, so that's going to continue to go up as authorities really have a massive challenge ahead of them. That's why they're calling for that international aide that you mentioned right off the top.

[06:35:09] CAMEROTA: All right, Matt Rivers, we'll check back with you throughout the day. Thank you very much.

If you'd like to help the victims of the Indonesian earthquake, please go to cnn.com/impact.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I've got to say, this is just the beginning. We're just beginning to learn the scope of the devastation. I really do worry it's going to be much, much greater than we even imagine right now.

CAMEROTA: Sounds like that from Matt.

BERMAN: All right, President Trump made a shocking statement about a brutal dictator. Even more shocking, the sort of non-response this morning. We'll tell you what he said about whom and let you judge for yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new, shocking statements from President Trump about North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un, a man the president himself has

admitted jailed, repressed, even killed his own people. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And you know the interesting, when I did it, and I was really being tough, and so was he, and we were going back and forth, and then we fell in love, OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters. We fell in love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:40:07] BERMAN: We fell in love.

Joining us now, "Daily Beast" columnist and author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World," Gordon Chang.

Gordon, we fell in love. And I know -- and you have a little smile on your face -- that people just shake their heads and go, well, there he goes again. But he's talking about Kim Jong-un, a man who has repressed and brutalized his own people. That's what President Trump told us a year ago and now he's saying, we fell in love. GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST, "DAILY BEAST": Well, you know, this is

certainly inappropriate. It is humorous. But it's also dangerous. It undercuts American diplomacy on human rights, it certainly legitimizes the worst dictator in the world and, of course, it makes it much harder to disarm North Korea because what Kim is trying to do is play to Trump and stall this whole process. So from any different perspective, there are real-life consequences to this, which go just beyond the smile.

BERMAN: If President Trump -- sorry, if President Obama had ever said this about Raul Castro, Fidel Castro in Cuba, as he was warming relations there, what would have happen?

CHANG: Yes, certainly you would have real reaction to this. You know, it's sort of like Nixon can go to China and so Trump can say nice things about Kim Jong-un. But this is -- nonetheless, you know, regardless of the American political, you know, consequences, there're so many things real world outside of the U.S. that really matter to us.

BERMAN: And this could -- and you think will -- have an impact on security and progress in the region. Explain.

CHANG: Oh, certainly. What this does is it fuel the efforts of Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, to unify with North Korea. What Moon is doing is really serious. What he's undermining democratic institutions in South Korea, he's jailing opponents, he's allowing pro-North Korean elements the run of South Korea and he is with agreement and also unilaterally taking down barriers that would stop the North Koreans from invading the South.

So, there's all sorts of things here.

You know, people speculate about Moon's intentions, but nonetheless what he is doing undercuts security, not only for South Koreans, but for us and everybody else in the region.

BERMAN: What does this tell? What message does this send to other leaders around the world about how you can get in good with President Trump?

CHANG: Well certainly a number of dictators have been playing to Kim -- to President Trump's ego. But, you know, the thing here is that it undercuts American's human rights diplomacy. This is really a core of who we are as a country and it's very difficult to go to the guy in Kazakhstan or someplace else and talk about human rights when you legitimize Kim Jong-un in this way, because Kim Jong-un has not only killed people, he's killed -- he's killed about 160 or so senior officials. But there's so many people who have died in the camps. And also with his father and grandfather with the concentration camp system that they run, this is horrific.

BERMAN: Now, this could get into the whole take him literally not seriously, or seriously not literally argument we often hear about President Trump. I can hear his supporters in the White House telling us, look at the results, look at the results. North Korea hasn't tested any new long-range missiles. North Korea hasn't had any nuclear testing since they've been talking, so who cares about whether he says that they're having a love affair?

CHANG: Well, I think that we care for a number of reasons. You know, there have been long periods in the past when the North Korea haven't tested missiles or detonated nukes, but they were making fast progress on weaponizing. So, you know, it's good that they haven't tested for a year or so. But, nonetheless, they have been working in producing fissile material. They've been improving their facilities to build missiles and all the rest of it. Yes, they haven't tested, but, nonetheless, they've made progress.

BERMAN: And what are you thinking this morning if you are Kim Jong-un, for instance, who has been involved in this bilateral now negotiation for months. He must think it's going pretty well.

CHANG: Well, he thinks it's going very well.

You know, up through May, President Trump's diplomacy was regard to North Korea was extremely effective, unusually effective. You know, we haven't seen such progress with the North. And then all of a sudden President Trump squandered the advantage, because he said at the Ottawa G-7, just before going to Singapore and meeting Kim, you know, President Trump said, I'm going to give the North Koreans a one-shot opportunity to do the right thing. Well, that's fine. I wouldn't have done it. But the problem is, we've given them a two-shot opportunity, a three-shot opportunity. Kim is stalling and I think you heard from the North Korean foreign minister on Saturday at his U.N. speech, they're clearly made no decision to give up their weapons. And that really has become the basis of Trump policy that Kim has made this decision. So, you know, we heard on Saturday, they're not doing it, Trump should go back to the old policies that were effective.

BERMAN: And in terms of the sanctions, the world sanctions, the international sanctions that are in place, this doesn't exactly encourage China and Russia to continue to be tough on North Korea if President Trump's out there saying, we're having a love affair.

CHANG: Yes. Well, the Chinese and the Russians are saying, well, look, you know, Kim is making this progress. We should relieve sanctions. Beijing said that just a couple days ago.

[06:45:02] You now, sanction enforcement, you know, Secretary of State Pompeo says, look, we still have this maximum pressure campaign. Well, no, we don't, because, since about the end of May, we have not been sanctioning North Korea's new front companies and we've allowed the Chinese and the Russians and now the South Koreans to openly violate sanctions. So it's open season on sanctions around the rest of the world. Kim Jong-un loves this, and that's why I think he's trying to play to Trump and trying to separate Trump from his advisers and other American political figures. We heard that in the U.N. General Assembly speech on Saturday, a clear attempt to divide Trump from everybody else.

BERMAN: And just not to put too fine a point on this, but to go around to the beginning of this conversation again, of any dictator, of any repressive leader in the world, no matter what the real politic aspect of it is, should a U.S. president be saying we're having a love affair?

CHANG: No, he certainly shouldn't. You know, there are a lot of things that we're been doing with regard to dictators, Kim Jong-un and others, that ultimately undercut what we're trying to do and undercut good order in the world. So these types of comments, although I think they're really funny, of course, and so do a number of other people, but, nonetheless, they do undercut what we're trying to do, and that is bad for us in the long term and it's bad for everybody else in the world except for the North Koreans.

BERMAN: Gordon Chang, great to have you with us. Thanks very much.

CHANG: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, "Saturday Night Live" tackles the Brett Kavanaugh hearings with a surprised guest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT DAMON, ACTOR, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I am usually an optimist. I'm a keg is half full kind of guy. But what I've seen from the monsters on this committee makes me want to puke and not from beer!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, more of this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:38] CAMEROTA: All right, "Saturday Night Live" beginning its 44th season with another tour de force performance. Matt Damon as Brett Kavanaugh. Damon recreated Kavanaugh's testy and defiant testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Enjoy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Let me tell you this, I'm going to start at an 11. I'm going to take it to about a 15 real quick. Dr. Ford has no evidence. None. Meanwhile, I've got these. I've got these calendars. These beautiful, creepy calendars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Judge Kavanaugh, would you say in high school that you were a frequent drinker?

DAMON: Look, I like beer, OK. I like beer. Boys like beer. Girls like beer. I like beer. I like beer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, so I asked if you drank in high school and you said I like beer ten times. That leads me to the next question, did you ever drink too many beers?

DAMON: You mean, was I cool? Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will not shut up because this is about c-r-a-p,

crap. This ain't no trial. This ain't no due process. You know what this is, Judge Kavanaugh? You know what this is?

DAMON: Is this a real question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is hell, that's what it is. It's hell.

DAMON: So am I angry? You're damn right. But if you think I'm angry now, you just wait until I get on that Supreme Court because then you're all going to pay.

Give me a can of water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: It was so good.

BERMAN: It was great. I -- we all laughed. You were laughing.

CAMEROTA: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: You were telling me about each and every performance. But I submit that this is something that's important, because you see what cuts through. You see what these comedy writers think cuts through to the American people.

CAMEROTA: Are you giving me a spoon full of castor oil right now with my hilarity?

BERMAN: I know. I'm sorry.

CAMEROTA: I understand. You're seeing it for the political implications.

BERMAN: Yes, I think it matters.

CAMEROTA: OK, but we need to talk more about it. First of all the -- was I cool? Yes, I was cool. That was the funniest line to me. And I thought (INAUDIBLE) Bryant (ph) was great as the prosecutor, the female prosecutor.

And how does Kate McKinnon get her neck to do that?

BERMAN: She worked for weeks just to duplicate the neck there. No, she's a -- she's a great performer, particularly around the neck.

But I think, again, for the castor oil figure (ph), because I'm not going to let you go through this without noticing, you know, the beer thing, for instance, the yelling.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Everyone over the weekend was talking about, you know, Kavanaugh, how much he was yelling. And you saw it there on "Saturday Night Live." CAMEROTA: Right, but what else could they have done? That was --

that's where the juice was in the beer.

BERMAN: And then one of the lines that were didn't show that I think was also really, really bighting was, Brett Kavanaugh saying, I don't know the meaning of the world stop.

CAMEROTA: I know.

BERMAN: And that just hung out there. That was not all from "Saturday Night Live." I guess the artist formerly known as Kanye West --

CAMEROTA: I don't know.

BERMAN: He now goes by Ye. He was the musical guest. It was not his performance dressed as a bottle of Perrier that has people talking, though everyone does love sparkling water. It was what he said and the hat he was wearing, the make America great again hat, and the comments about Donald Trump that he made at the end of the show. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YE: You know, it's like the plan -- to take the fathers out of the home and promote welfare. Does anybody know about that? That's the Democratic plan. So many times I've talked to like a white person about this, and they say, how could you like Trump, he's racist? Well, if I was concerned about racism, I would have moved out of America a long time ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So most of his comments did not actually make air, but they were captured by former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Chris Rock, who was in the audience.

CAMEROTA: You can see the body language of some of the cast members behind him, where they --

BERMAN: Yes, I would say it's warm. I wouldn't say it's warm.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, I think that they're uncomfortable. But I think it is a little bit uncomfortable. And I just am wondering if it's time to start worrying about Kanye, because he does go on sometimes nonsensical rants. I don't know -- I haven't heard this whole one, so I don't know if it's nonsensical. But I -- he -- and, look, he has taken a break, I think, for some sort of stress-related issues. So I'm concerned.

[06:55:07] BERMAN: The president, obviously, loved it. But I will ask you, what's different than Rob de Niro dropping the f-bomb at the Tonys?

CAMEROTA: Well, this went on longer and had more sort of off shoots and different rabbit holes that he went down that were concerning.

BERMAN: You know, I look at it as yet another entertainer deciding to get political on company time, as it were.

CAMEROTA: Let John Berman know what you think on Twitter.

BERMAN: All right.

CAMEROTA: He will relay it to me.

BERMAN: The president says the FBI has free reign in the Kavanaugh investigation, but this morning there are new questions about how free it really is. Stories about witnesses not being able to reach the FBI with stories they want to tell about Brett Kavanaugh. We have new developments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have free reign. They're going to do whatever they have to do. Hopefully at the conclusion, everything will be fine.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: To limit the FBI as to the scope, that's not the kind of investigation all of us are expecting.

[07:00:02] SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The White House isn't intervening. We're not micromanaging this process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American public needs to see the investigation and believe that it's true and legitimate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats are already trashing what they demanded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was clearly belligerent, aggressive, angry.