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Unemployment Rate Falls; Trump Fails to Address Election Meddling With Putin; Kamala Harris Calls Out Trump Comments. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired May 03, 2019 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:50]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Here's the breaking news. President Trump says he did not discuss Russia's election meddling during his hour-long phone call this morning with Vladimir Putin. This is the first time these two leaders have spoken since special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russia did, in fact, interfere in the 2016 election.

Listen to what the president said just a moment ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Mr. President, did you address the election meddling issues that came up in the Mueller report with Mr. Putin today?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We discussed it. He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that it started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse.

But he knew that, because he knew there was no collusion whatsoever. So, pretty much, that is what it was. It started of...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, did you tell him not to meddle in the next election?

TRUMP: Excuse me. I'm talking. I'm answering this question.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You are very rude.

So, we had a good conversation about many different things, OK?

QUESTION: Did you tell him not to meddle in the next election?

TRUMP: We didn't discuss that. Really, we didn't discuss it. We discussed five or six things.

We also -- we went into great detail on various things, especially, I would say, the nuclear, especially maybe Venezuela. We talked about North Korea at great length. And pretty much that's it.

Also discussed trade. We intend to do a lot of trade with Russia. We do some right now. It is up a little bit, but he'd like to do trade and we'd like to do trade. And getting along with Russia and China, getting along with all of them is a very good thing, not a bad thing. It is a good thing. It is a positive thing.

Getting along with other countries, including your country, by the way, but getting along with countries is a good thing. And we want to have good relationships with every country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Michelle Kosinski is our CNN senior diplomatic correspondent. And Bob Baer is a former CIA operative and CNN intelligence and security analyst.

And so, Michelle, first to you.

You know, you look at that Mueller report, clearly, it lays out Russia's tactics to meddle in our elections. He uses the words the sweeping and systematic way in which Russia did it and continues to do.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BALDWIN: So, to hear the president of United States say that, yes, he talked to Putin for an entire hour and not once brought this up, what do you make of that?

KOSINSKI: Yes.

And the call was supposed to be primarily, from what the White House is saying, about Venezuela. So you might think, OK, well, that wouldn't necessarily be a pressing topic right now.

But the fact that they did discuss the Mueller report, you would think that that would be an opportunity for the president to bring that up. But here we see President Trump again finding a way to merely agree with Vladimir Putin, to say that, oh, hah-hah, you know, he seems to be smiling -- even though this was a phone call -- and we both agreed -- quote -- "no collusion."

That's as far as it would go. I would say, imagine the headlines that there would be if the president came out and said, I took this opportunity to definitively say to Vladimir Putin, you cannot meddle in our elections.

Oh, by the way, the intelligence community here in the U.S. only months ago concluded that Russia tried to meddle in the midterm elections as well. Here, we have an election coming up. I told him there will be consequences if you meddle again.

Imagine the headline that would be, if President Trump actually did take an opportunity to say that directly to Vladimir Putin. I think that's very telling that we have yet to hear those words coming from Trump's mouth.

BALDWIN: Bob, what do you think?

BOB BAER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it's an open invitation for the Russians to meddle in 2020, the fact that he didn't bring it up, the fact that he didn't warn Putin. Absolutely right.

I mean, this was the most damaging act of political sabotage which, frankly, has ever happened to this country. And to talk about it as if it's still a hoax and frame it as no collusion is completely ignoring what the Russians did.

And if I were Vladimir Putin and intended to disrupt the politics of this country, I would meddle in 2020, and he probably will.

[15:05:00]

BALDWIN: It's a frightening thought.

This is all, initially, you know, about Venezuela. And when we were listening to the present earlier, you know, he moved on and talked -- said yes, of course, he talked Venezuela with Putin, said that, you know, Putin told him that he's not looking to get involved in the situation down there.

But that completely contradicts what the secretary of state told Wolf Blitzer 48 hours ago. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay.

We think the situation remains incredibly fluid. We know that there were senior leaders inside the Maduro government that were prepared to leave. They told us as much over the past few weeks, and we're convinced that the Venezuelan people are going to get their democracy back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So Michelle, again, total, total contradiction.

KOSINSKI: I find this troubling that -- that President Trump flat out said, after speaking an hour to Putin, that he's not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela.

It's just not clear what he meant by that, especially since the U.S. repeatedly, other members of the administration repeatedly come out, especially over the last few days, to say that Russia is propping up Maduro, that this is a real risk down there, a threat, and that it was Putin himself that prevented Maduro from leaving the country only days ago.

I'm just confused as to what President Trump was trying to convey there. It's a complete contradiction of what his own administration is saying. And how is Putin not involved in Venezuela, since he has been for so many years?

BALDWIN: Doesn't it, Bob, seem like this is just another example of President Trump believing Vladimir Putin over his own people?

BAER: Well, Michelle's right. He's living in an alternate universe. That's what scares me.

Even somebody, Pompeo, is a loyalist, understands what the Russians are doing in Venezuela. They have propped that government up for years with billions and billions of dollars of investment. There's advisers. And if in fact they got involved in this change of government attempt, this is -- it hasn't happened since the Cuban Missile Crisis, where it's been so egregious.

And for the president to go on, we got to get along with Russia. yes, well, that's fine. We do. But they have to get out of our backyard, like, now. And he doesn't seem to care. And he's more concerned about going into 2020. And if Putin helps him, so be it.

BALDWIN: But you would think -- this is Fareed Zakaria, just quickly, who was on with me last hour -- and he was saying you would think, actually, of course, the president doesn't want to go back and relitigate 2016 and feel delegitimized by these things coming up, but when you look ahead to 2020, you would think he would say, no, they won't be helping us, as in, like, I don't need help, I'm going to win.

Does that surprise you?

BAER: It totally surprises me that he's just impervious to this criticism on Russia, which is -- even comes from Republicans.

I mean, everybody understands that Russia's an adversary and they mean to do as harm, whether it's in South America or inside this country. And to completely be oblivious to this, it's -- it worries me.

BALDWIN: Bob Baer, Michelle Kosinski, thanks to you two very much.

After making it clear that he will not call Robert Mueller to testify, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham just sent the special counsel a letter asking if he wants to do just that. It is specifically regarding this comment from Attorney General Bill Barr when he was before the committee.

Barr was asked about his phone conversation with Mueller just after Barr released a letter in March on the main conclusions from this Mueller report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: He said that they were concerned about the way the media was playing this and felt that it was important to get out the summaries, which they felt would put their work in proper context and avoid some of the confusion that was emerging. And I asked him if he felt that my letter was misleading or

inaccurate. And he said, no, that the press -- he felt that the press coverage was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now Senator Graham is asking Mueller this -- quote -- "Please inform the committee if you would like to provide testimony regarding any misrepresentation by the attorney general of the substance of that phone call."

This is happening on the same day that a new ultimatum and final deadline has been set in this whole back and forth over the Mueller report. Barr now has until 9:00 Monday morning to release redacted sections which would be seen by all members of Congress and key staff.

Here's some of the demands outlined in this letter from the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, sent out today. And so now Nadler threatens Barr with contempt if he doesn't comply.

CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti is a former federal prosecutor. And he's with me now.

Nice to see you.

[15:10:00]

Let's just jog back a second to Senator Graham. Do you think that what we have learned now, that opens the door to having Bob Mueller testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary?

RENATO MARIOTTI, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It certainly opens the door, but Lindsey Graham is trying to do whatever he can to keep that door as thinly open as possible.

He said, he's not inviting him to testify in general. He's only inviting him to testify if he wants to testify about mischaracterizations in a specific phone call. And so he's really putting Bob Mueller in a position that I don't think he wants to be in, where he's having a sort of dispute about words back and forth with the attorney general.

I don't think that's what Bob Mueller wants to come to Capitol Hill to talk about.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MARIOTTI: And Graham is trying to get a situation where potentially Mueller is going to say no, and give Graham an excuse not to have Mueller come...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: If Mueller -- play this forward with me. If Mueller were to say yes, knowing that would get him in front of the committee, knowing that other senators would ask other questions, would that be fair game? And could he answer them?

MARIOTTI: Sure. I mean, he would answer any question before him, I'm sure that he thought he was able to.

BALDWIN: Yes, yes. OK.

On -- back on Chairman Nadler. If Barr is held in contempt, what would that mean for him?

MARIOTTI: I think what it would mean, as a practical matter, is that then the Democrats would go to court and try to get enforcement of their subpoena. Don't expect the sergeant in arms to march into the Justice Department building and take out Bill Barr in handcuffs or anything like that.

None of -- none of that's actually going to happen.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MARIOTTI: But we're going to have a court battle with the highest stakes you can imagine, where the -- literally, the court will decide whether the executive branch can withhold conclusions and evidence from a criminal investigation of the president from the House of Representatives.

BALDWIN: But, ultimately, who has power over that? Isn't it DOJ? Isn't it the A.G.?

MARIOTTI: The DOJ has the power in determining whether or not they can, like, enforce a contempt proceeding.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MARIOTTI: But a court could order the Justice Department to comply.

And then, instead of being -- dealing with the sergeant in arms, you're dealing with a court order you have to enforce.

BALDWIN: Got you.

And then, lastly, just seems like there is a little bit of give on the Democratic side with regard to some of the demands from Chairman Nadler. That said, do you think he's going to get what he wants?

MARIOTTI: I think your Chairman Nadler is going to get what he wants, but he's not going to get it as fast as he would like, which is why he's trying to be accommodating to get a court order as quickly as he possibly can or an accommodation.

BALDWIN: OK, Renato Mariotti, thank you very much.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

BALDWIN: The U.S. economy is roaring today. Look at that, unemployment hitting 3.6 percent, the lowest since 1969. We will talk wages and where the jobs are. Plus, in the wake of that firing -- fiery hearing with the attorney

general this week, one 2020 candidate is using the president's remarks about her to her advantage. We will show you how coming up.

And Otto Warmbier's mother breaking her silence today, what she says but the $2 million bill from North Korea and the chilling looks she saw in her son's eyes when he was returned home to the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:15]

BALDWIN: In the words of President Trump, jobs, jobs, jobs.

Blockbuster new report is out. And it's great news for the economy, with 263,000 jobs added in April. That number shattered expectations, the unemployment rate also falling to 3.6 percent. That's the lowest since 1969.

And just for a little perspective for you, 1969 was the year of the moonwalk, the Beatles' "Abbey Road." Richard Nixon became president, a new era of aviation ushered in with Boeing 747 and Stonewall riots kicking off the gay rights movement.

So, not since then. The strong job report comes on the heels of impressive GDP growth.

Mark Hamrick is senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com. And Terry Savage is a personal finance columnist.

So, welcome to both of you.

And, Mark, what's behind such a strong showing? And where are these jobs?

MARK HAMRICK, SENIOR ECONOMIC ANALYST, BANKRATE.COM: Well, the U.S. economy has been on a roll for some time now.

Think about the fact, Brooke, that, this summer, the expansion is set to become 10 years' old. That will be a record-breaker. And so we have come a long way from the dark days of the recession and financial crisis.

It is true that we are enjoying the benefits of fiscal stimulus. Americans in the future will pay for that through the debt and the deficits. So the tax cut is paying dividends, keeping this expansion going.

We hope it's not taking too much energy away from the future. In terms of where the jobs are, for the most part, these are the tried- and-true old reliable sectors, business and professional services, health care.

We're seeing some weakness in manufacturing, and we're seeing job declines in the retail sector.

BALDWIN: Who's loving this today is, of course, the president of the United States.

Terry, a recent CNN poll shows 56 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. So this is just obviously more good news to add on to that. Trump says he will be running on the economy again.

What do you think this could mean for him, Terry, for 2020?

TERRY SAVAGE, PERSONAL FINANCE COLUMNIST: Look, if you leave politics aside and your own opinions about whether that's who you want to have as president, the undeniable facts are that this has been good for workers, for workers' paychecks.

Their wages are rising, real wages, not inflation wages, but real wages. People who are marginally employed, underemployed, they are called, get jobs. Boomers who can't really afford to retire and really don't want to retire are getting to keep their jobs. There is just a demand in the economy for highly skilled workers.

And consumer confidence is back near its highs. So, productivity is up. Every single economic report we have had in recent days, not to mention the stock market, has been a very positive thing.

And how can you complain about that? That's really good news for all of America.

BALDWIN: What about the wage gap, Terry? I'm just curious. Is it closing?

[15:20:02]

SAVAGE: Well, there's two ways to close the wage gap.

You can have unemployment and economic slowdown, for example, and pull everybody down. Or you can have a growing economy and give people a chance to have good jobs, better jobs, as the economy expands, more jobs.

And that's probably the most efficient way to narrow the wage gap. If you create incentives for people to make money, they're going to go take those incentives. And those incentives come in the form of things like lower taxes.

So, when that happens, they're investing. We have got all these unicorns in the tech industry. That's just wonderful that our entrepreneurs are working hard and building businesses, because it really gives everybody a chance, instead of being all dragged down to the same lower level.

BALDWIN: Yes.

When you look at -- though, at the worldwide factors, Mark, that, you know, we know economists have been worried about, China trade, Brexit, what's the impact of those?

HAMRICK: Well, a couple of years ago, the global economy was providing the U.S. economy essentially a push forward.

And, more recently, the global economy has been more of a headwind. Just this week, when we saw Chairman Powell address the Federal Reserve news conference, he was talking about the fact that at least we have essentially punted on the Brexit question. It's not resolved. It's just delayed.

And I think that he wants to believe that there are reasons for optimism on the U.S.-China trade front. The fact of the matter is that the Fed has been joined by other central banks around the world in trying to apply some accommodation or essentially some monetary policy medicine to economies.

And, obviously, if you look at what the stock market's done since those Christmas Eve lows with, let's say, the S&P 500 up 17 percent year to date, it's worked. And so maybe the president shouldn't be quite so critical of the chairman that he nominated.

BALDWIN: Terry, I want to go back to your tech unicorns. What are the big bubbles to watch? Because we have been watching college tuition for years.

SAVAGE: Well, that's a big problem to watch, because that's unsustainable.

Every generation has its idea of how it's going to get ahead easily. And so we had dot-com bubble. We had the real estate bubble. People thought they could buy mortgages -- houses with no-money-down mortgages.

And what we have had in the last six or seven years, boy, I have been preaching against it for a long time, is students taking these loans. Think about this. The schools that are the federal loans mostly, but a lot of private loans.

Those loans are passed out through the schools, who have really no accountability for the product they turn out. I mean, do these kids graduate and get jobs? There's, no, if they don't, we -- the school should eat some of the student loans.

So we have left an entire generation burdened with insurmountable debt. It's impacting the economy. They aren't buying homes. They aren't forming families and having kids because of this student loan burden.

Now, you can't wipe it out. Think of all the people that worked and paid back their student loans.

BALDWIN: Right.

SAVAGE: But, this, you're right, Brooke, is one of the big clouds on the horizon for the economy. Debt is in general. You can grow out of debt, but we can only hope that the students who get these new jobs will get better-paying jobs and be able to pay down those loans.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Yes. We will leave it.

Terry and Mark, thank you both so much on the economy.

HAMRICK: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Senator Kamala Harris is calling one of the president's remarks about her gross, weird and sexist. We will talk about that and hear why her campaign may have taken a big step forward this week.

Plus, Otto Warmbier's mother breaks her silence today. Hear what she has to say about the attempts at diplomacy by the president and the chilling description of the look in her son's eyes when he returned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY WARMBIER, MOTHER OF OTTO WARMBIER: The look in his eyes, which I didn't know he was blind at the time, was absolute horror, horror, like he had seen the devil. And he had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:36]

BALDWIN: With the 2020 Democratic field growing more crowded by the day, candidates are trying to find a way to stand out.

Senator Kamala Harris is using President Trump's negative remarks about her to her advantage. He said she has -- quote -- "a nasty wit."

So, Senator Harris decided to send out a fund-raising e-mail that says: "Any time Donald Trump feels threatened by a strong woman, he lashes out with this gross, weird attack." And then she's asking for donations.

CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston is with me now.

And, I mean, this is certainly one way to get creative and get a little money along the way.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Brooke.

I mean, in this moment, Donald Trump basically played right into Kamala Harris's hands. As you and I have talked about many times, her path to the nomination hinges on three things, galvanizing women voters who came out in such force in 2018, consolidating the black vote, and turning out all of those young voters who did not turn out for Hillary Clinton.

And I think that so many of those female voters, Democrats and some independents, when they hear that kind of gendered, kind of sexist language from Donald Trump, there's a gut reaction there. And Kamala Harris is trying to connect with women in that way, saying,

look, he's coming after me, and I have shown you this week that I'm tough enough to take him on in the debates. And so you should contribute to my campaign.

That's the argument that she's making.

BALDWIN: Also...

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Also, as a result of this week, you know, she's getting this jolt of new attention because of...

RESTON: Totally.

BALDWIN: ... her tough questions to Bill Barr. Take a look.

[15:30:00]