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New Day

CNN Original Series on the Bush Family; Butterfly Sanctuary Fights Border Wall; Differing Accounts of Failed Summit; CNN's Special on Saudi Arabia. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 01, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, you know, you know that they called each other 41 and 43. There was also the phrase Quincy passed around. George W. Bush was called Quincy after John Quincy Adams, who was obviously the son of John Adams.

Yet -- yet the word "dynasty" was a word -- and I know from covering George W. Bush for such a long time, the word "dynasty" was not a word they liked to hear very much. Politically, they thought that word -- they think that word is risky. Why?

TIM MCBRIDE, FORMER PERSONAL AIDE AND ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: I'm not sure I know why they thought it was risky. But, you're right, they ignored, they rejected that word. The notion of legacy. The notion of dynasty.

Their were -- their family commitment was one of service. And if that suggests dynasty, then so be it. But that was not the driving force. The driving force behind the family's engagement in public life was service to others, in all things, at early ages and throughout their careers. And this is true of all the Bushs, not just the two presidents.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: When George H.W. Bush died, we got to talk to some of his grandchildren and we got to hear about, you know, the -- all of the nice kind of touches that he did as a father and as a grandfather. He wrote personal letters -- you know, handwritten letters that they cherish. I mean he really -- I don't know how he did it, because I don't know how he was able to accomplish what he was able to accomplish. Obviously it was a different time. Obviously he had a devoted wife who was helping him on every level. But he seemed to be able to focus on family and his high profile career.

And what was the secret? What was their secret of success?

MCBRIDE: Well, I think he -- he valued his role as a father and grandfather and took pride in that just as much as any professional or political accomplishment he might have achieved. That was something he relished, right, this love of his family and the devotion to that family. And so there was great pride, great joy in all of that.

BERMAN: Jeb Bush ran for president, didn't work out so well, after a two-term career as Florida governor. George P. Bush holds a statewide office in Texas right now. Do you see a political future for the Bush family?

MCBRIDE: Well, George P. is a talented young man. And if that's the path he chooses, I expect he'll continue to enjoy great success.

But, again, I believe if he follows that path and continues in political life, it will be because he can make a contribution in the lives of others, not as -- not the objective being carrying on some political dynasty or some legacy of the family. It's really driven by service.

CAMEROTA: Tim McBride, thank you very much for previewing all of this and sharing your own, close personal relationship with them.

MCBRIDE: Thanks. It's a great series.

BERMAN: All right, and you can watch "The Bush Years." It premiering this Sunday at 9:00 p.m., only on CNN.

CAMEROTA: All right, could these butterflies keep the border wall from being built? Those right there. We are going to show you this interesting legal fight, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:10] BERMAN: A butterfly sanctuary's fight against the president's border wall has been dealt a legal blow, but its executive director says she's not giving up.

CNN's chief climate change correspondent Bill Weir --

CAMEROTA: Is that your title?

BERMAN: It is now.

BILL WEIR, CNN CLIMATE CHANGE CORRESPONDENT: Apparently it is.

BERMAN: It is now.

CAMEROTA: Well, congratulations.

WEIR: Hey, if I have to pick a beat (ph), I'll take that story.

BERMAN: You went to this -- this sanctuary. This butterfly sanctuary.

WEIR: I did.

BERMAN: This is a really interesting, legal debate.

WEIR: It is. Plaintiff number one in Texas to try to stop the border wall construction are a bunch of butterflies and the people who love them. It's an incredible metaphor about how a little slice of natural heaven is standing in between this proposed plan. But it's just -- not just butterflies. Elon Musk's SpaceX launch pad at Boca Chica Beach, where he wants to send rockets to Mars. That could be impacted by this. So Congress is deciding whether that emergency order to build this wall will hold. So it's rockets and butterflies.

And here's the trip to see those fluttering little guys.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (voice over): On the banks of the Rio Grande sits a hundred acre pocket of life, unlike any in North America.

MARIANNA TREVINO-WRIGHT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL BUTTERFLY CENTER: For butterflies, it's like that movie "Fantasia." Everything's in bloom in the fall. And you have to walk and talk with your hand covering your mouth so you don't suck in a butterfly.

WEIR: The National Butterfly Center is the tip of the funnel for these beautiful little migrants, like the monarch, which flies thousands of miles back and forth from Mexico to as far as Montana and Wisconsin.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: We've got the little skipper right there.

WEIR: As director, the only thing Marianna Trevino-Wright used to worry about was pointing them out to school kids. But these days she gets hate mail.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: We get a whole lot of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) your butterflies. I hope MS-13 rapes you. A lot of ignorant, awful, hateful stuff.

WEIR (on camera): For the butterfly people?

TREVINO-WRIGHT: For the butterfly people.

WEIR (voice over): Living here, she's quite used to border security.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: So this, I'm sure, is somebody from the Department of Defense or somewhere else coming to check out this area.

WEIR: But the summer after President Trump took office, things changed.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: They were cutting down our trees, and mowing down vegetation, and widening the road. I said, who are you and what are you doing? And they said, the government sent us to clear this land from here to the river for the border wall.

WEIR: The plan calls for 18 feet of solid concrete, topped by 18 feet of steel bollards, right through the middle of their property. Then they saw what this machine was doing to a neighboring wildlife preserve.

WEIR (on camera): And that's what they're using just west of you?

TREVINO-WRIGHT: On the forest. On the National Wildlife Refuge.

WEIR (voice over): When they realized how devastating the so-called enforcement zone would be to their habitat, they sued. And, last week, they lost. [08:40:07] WEIR (on camera): So what are you going to do now?

TREVINO-WRIGHT: I understand from the lawyers we'll be appealing or refiling.

WEIR: We asked, but the Border Patrol does not comment on ongoing litigation. But, in this letter sent to local stakeholders, they're arguing for 30 new miles of wall around this area because the Rio Grande Valley typically leads the nation in arrests of illegal immigrants. What it doesn't mention is that those numbers nationwide are way down since 2000. And Marianna says she has witnessed three illegal crossings in the last six years.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: We absolutely are in favor of border security. If there were a national emergency, why would I drive to work here every day? We have six children. Why would they allow mom to report for duty on the banks of the Rio Grande River every day unarmed to receive school children and birders and butterflies from around the world?

WEIR (voice over): Congressionally approved plans would have spared this place, but the president's emergency order trumps all that.

TREVINO-WRIGHT: So we're -- we're just watching and waiting every day to see if that machinery shows up here.

WEIR: And all the while, these little guys flutter, oblivious to borders and politics with no idea how fragile their future might be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR: Now, a lot of people say, hey, the butterflies can go over the wall. But this is a species that's tied to one plant. And if you wipe out that plant, they go away. And these little insects pollinate natural grasses. I mean they're so vital to the eco-system.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

WEIR: Not to mention that the Rio Grande floods, so endangered species on the south side of the wall, like the Texas tortoise, would be drowned as that -- as the flooding river crests right up against a concrete wall.

But it's just an interesting microcosm on how this debate has torn apart communities.

CAMEROTA: Well, there you go. I mean the butterflies are beautiful, but the people are fascinating here because she works there every day. She -- you said she has seen three illegal border crossings. This is supposed to be ground zero --

WEIR: Right.

CAMEROTA: Of where the national emergency is, the so-called national emergency. She's seen three in six years?

WEIR: Yes. And you've got people -- they're called the winter Texans. They come down in their RVs. They live right there on the Rio Grande River. And it's been this way for generations. Nothing has changed in terms of surges of people. Most people who are seeking asylums are going to the crossings. And if they can't get through, they're frustrated. They'll go into the desert and those sorts of things. So the people like Marianna but -- it's never been an issue until this president's campaign, until he started this, and now she goes -- takes her kids to a swim meet and families will get up and move to other bleachers because it's divided --

BERMAN: Well, that's the vitriol here.

WEIR: The vitriol, yes.

BERMAN: The vitriol was extraordinary. She said she was getting notes saying I hope someone from MS-13 rapes you?

WEIR: Yes. She says she gets letters that say, you know, you're a liberal c-word. You probably aborted your kids because you care more about butterflies than human beings.

CAMEROTA: What's wrong with people?

WEIR: It's just -- the whole -- the conversation has poisoned the discourse on a community that's used to living in this ebb and flow across the southern border.

CAMEROTA: Bill, thank you for bringing us this story. This is a really, as you say, an important microcosm that illustrates what's happening down there.

WEIR: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you, as always.

WEIR: My pleasure. My pleasure. Yes.

CAMEROTA: A CNN special report Fareed Zakaria's going to bring us inside Saudi Arabia. What he learned about the kingdom of secrets, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:47:33] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the North Korean demand for lifting of some sanctions the real sticking point here in that --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did not want to do that and they did? And will there be a --

TRUMP: It -- it was about the sanctions. We may --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will there be a third summit, Mr. President?

TRUMP: Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety. And we couldn't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, President Trump and North Korean leaders are giving different accounts of why the latest summit ended with no deal. President Trump says it is because Kim Jong-un wanted all sanctions -- U.S. sanctions lifted, but North Korean officials say they only wanted some lifted.

Let's discuss this and more with Fareed Zakaria. He's host of CNN's "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."

Fareed, I mean, as we learned this week from the president, he believed Kim Jong-un in terms of the Otto Warmbier story over U.S. officials. So I guess we should take Kim Jong-un's story of what went wrong with the summit over Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's?

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": That's a good -- nice way -- that's a nice way of putting it.

BERMAN: That's a good way of putting it. I hadn't thought of that.

CAMEROTA: Just curious.

ZAKARIA: I think that the more important question should be, clearly the two sides couldn't agree. I frankly think President Trump probably did the right thing in, you know, advised, I think by Mike Pompeo and John Bolton that this was a bad deal and no deal was better than a bad deal.

But why did it get to that? I would argue it's because President Trump has for months been signaling that he desperately wants a deal, that he loves Kim, that he trusts Kim. They had scheduled a signing ceremony before the negotiations even began just to codify the deal.

This probably raised Kim's ask. In other words, it emboldened Kim to ask for their maximalist demands because they thought the Americans were going to give in because the Americans seemed so desperate for a deal.

I think, you know -- I recall reading in "The Art of the Deal" somewhere that this is a very bad way to negotiate. So I think one of the things Donald Trump needs to do is to finally read his own book. That's the -- you know, that -- the overreliance on personality, the (INAUDIBLE) signaling this kind of desire to get the deal, that's terrible negotiating tactic. And, at the end of the day, again, I would -- I would credit him because he did the right thing, which is to walk.

BERMAN: Right, but he shouldn't have been surprised by this when he was sitting across the table from him in Hanoi. Usually this stuff is worked out beforehand with the staffs at the staff level. So to not realize how far Kim would be willing to go, was that naive going in? Was it a sense of hubris? Did he put too much credit in his own negotiating ability? ZAKARIA: Yes, yes, yes. I think that Trump -- you know, the one way to

understand Donald Trump is clearly the personality and whether you call it, you know, big ego, or narcissistic personality, that he believes in himself to such an extent that he doesn't read briefing books. He doesn't get -- every previous negotiation with North Korea has shown they mean something very different from -- when they talk about denuclearization. What they mean is the U.S. has a guarantee to South Korea. The U.S. has nuclear weapons. So, in effect, we are providing a nuclear umbrella to South Korea. When that goes away, when that U.S. denuclearization takes place, the south -- the North Koreans might denuclearize there.

[08:50:40] So it's a very different thing when we mean, you get rid of your nukes. I don't think Donald Trump spent a lot of time understanding the intricacies of that. And, look, he put himself out there and he got publicly humiliated. That's the danger of not going through the normal process, which is months of negotiations at a lower level, capped by a ceremonial meeting between the two leaders.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about your special about Saudi Arabia. As this past week, Jared Kushner, one of the president's top advisers and son- in-law, who we learned has a security clearance because the president granted it over the FBI, the CIA, the White House Counsel and the chief of staff's objections, he was in Saudi Arabia. As you know, there's all sorts of controversy about MBS. So we want to get your take.

Well, let's play a clip of this and then we want to know what's really going on inside Saudi Arabia. So watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAKARIA (voice over): Donald Trump, a president with no previous foreign policy experience, saw Saudi Arabia as the lynchpin of his Middle East plan.

TOM FRIEDMAN, COLUMNIST, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Donald Trump had no ambassador in Saudi Arabia. He didn't understand the religious dynamics. He did not understand, I don't think, the regional dynamics.

ZAKARIA: He put his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in charge of it all.

FRIEDMAN: This policy was being run on Jared Kushner's WhatsApp directly with Mohammed bin Salman. And Jared Kushner had no clue about the internal dynamics of Saudi Arabia, let alone how to manage such a young man. It was flat out crazy, stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Wow, framing it that way, it was being run on Jared Kushner's WhatsApp device, I mean that's how we're doing diplomacy?

ZAKARIA: Well, we're back to the same thing, in a way. It's an overreliance on personalities, an overreliance on the idea that the force of your relationship with this one person will be able to change everything. The nature of this relationship is very complicated. And Saudi Arabia is very complicated.

I mean, think about it, this is a country still run essentially like a medieval, absolute monarchy, where not only does the king rule everything, but there is no distinction really between the country's wealth and the king's personal wealth. That's the kind of place you're talking about.

And dealing with this very complicated situation, a new succession, a young prince, a real reformer, a real autocrat, how do -- how to weave all that and encourage the good side and discourage the bad side. We did a very bad job of that. Part of it was we weren't trying. We gave him a carte blanche. We said, whatever you want to do in foreign policy, to Mohammed bin Salman, it's OK. Whatever you want to do at home, it's OK. When he arrested those people in the Ritz Carlton, Trump said I think this is a good thing.

I don't think Donald Trump understands the historical force that the United States has played in the Middle East, which is to rein in the worst tendencies of these autocrats and encourage reform. He's almost doing the opposite.

BERMAN: I have to say, there's also a parallel between Saudi Arabia and North Korea when it comes to these ideas of gross human rights violations. Obviously the president refuses to criticize MBS, the crown prince, for the death of Jamal Khashoggi. And now we see him standing in -- you know, in Hanoi providing cover for Kim Jong-un over the death of Otto Warmbier. It was really surprising to hear that.

ZAKARIA: It was stunning, frankly. I mean he talked about how it's a big country, North Korea. He can -- and it has many hundreds of thousands of prisoners in prison camps. He can't possibly know what's going on everywhere.

It's actually a very small policed state. And Kim does know what's going on. Nobody would dare torture an American without him knowing.

But, you're right, there is this common element. North Korea, much, much worse. And it misses the historical role the United States has played where the president has stood up for human rights and stood up for, you know, kind of open societies. It does not detract from your foreign policy.

The reason they all come to the United States is because we are the emblem of modernity. The United States is a symbol of progress. That's because the president talks about these issues. And so it, in a way, it erodes America's soft power with the world.

CAMEROTA: Fareed, we can't wait to see the inside story. Thank you very much for previewing it with us.

[08:55:00] You can watch Fareed's CNN special report, "Saudi Arabia: Kingdom of Secrets" this Sunday, 8:00 p.m.

And you can catch his show, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" Sundays at 10:00 a.m. only on CNN. BERMAN: All right, next week we'll reveal our first CNN hero of 2019.

But before we do, an update on last year's Hero of the Year, Dr. Ricardo Pun-Chong of Lima, Peru. He was recognized for his work helping needy families with sick children get access to medical care.

CAMEROTA: His non-profit provides them with a home and support services so they can comfortably stay there and receive treatment. Here's a quick update from Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Ladies and gentlemen, the 2018 CNN Hero of the Year is --

KELLY RIPA AND ANDERSON COOPER: Dr. Ricardo Pun-Chong.

COOPER (voice over): An incredible night. And when he returned to Peru, crowds gathered to greet Ricardo at the airport. He's been hailed a national hero. Ricardo plans to use his CNN prize money and viewer donations to build a new shelter.

DR. RICHARDO PUN-CHONG, CNN HERO OF THE YEAR 2018: The kids inspire me every day. Really they are heroes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, you can nominate someone you think should be a CNN Hero now at cnnheroes.com.

BERMAN: OK, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, just moments ago came out with new statements on North Korea and Michael Cohen. A fascinating new take on how he sees Cohen's testimony. All that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END