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Markets In Turmoil After Trump Tweets Threat To Tax All Chinese Imports; Owner Of Disqualified Kentucky Derby Horse Plans Appeal Amid Uproar; Trump To Award Tiger Woods With Medal Of Freedom Tonight; Red Sox Manager To Snub White House Visit Citing Puerto Rico Response; U.K.'s Duchess Of Sussex Gives Birth To Healthy Boy; Hundreds Of Ex- Prosecutors Say Trump Would Have Been Charged With Obstruction Were He Not President. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 06, 2019 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] WENDY CUTLER, VICE PRESIDENT, ASIA SOCIETY POLICY INSTITUTE: But clearly, China has an interest in solving this issue. The U.S. has an interest in solving this issue. Both sides have made a lot of progress on many issues. And a lot of this, frankly, is just endgame drama in the negotiations.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's hope so and this whole thing gets settled. But if it does not, Wendy, and they don't reach an agreement by this Thursday, how might China react, retaliate?

CUTLER: Remember, China's put a lot of market opening on the table already. It might just pull it back and get that market access to a lot of our competitors around the world. And that would hurt U.S. businesses, U.S. farmers, U.S. consumers. Also, we can expect China to counter retaliate and even hurt our farmers and others even more. So as I say, a lot of drama this week. Thursday and Friday are a long way off. And I suspect, when the Chinese team comes here, they're going to be working around the clock to try and reach a deal.

BALDWIN: We know the U.S. economy is humming. Right? We were just talking about the jobs numbers on Friday. We saw how rattled Wall Street was this morning. China doesn't want to hurt its economy. Trump wants to be reelected president. Is this a total no-brainer for both sides?

CUTLER: It is. But unfortunately, based on the economic data in the U.S. and even in China, where its last quarter GDP numbers were up to 6.4 percent growth, both sides feel they have negotiating leverage and their economies are doing well. So this is high stakes.

BALDWIN: OK. Wendy Cutler, thank you. We'll talk again Thursday. Appreciate it.

CUTLER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I'm sure we will.

Thank you.

The Boston Red Sox will be celebrating its World Series win with President Trump this week, but the team manager will not be with them. Alex Cora is the latest sports figure to boycott a White House visit. We'll talk about whether these kinds of protests still have any kind of impact.

And more on our breaking news. Today, the extraordinary letter from more than 370 former federal prosecutors saying that President Trump had been commander-in-chief -- had he been charged with obstruction. We'll talk to one of the people who signed that letter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:36:23] BALDWIN: It's the most exciting two minutes in sports. It's also now the most controversial after the historic disqualification at the Kentucky Derby.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: They disqualified him.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: They did. For the first time in the history of the Kentucky Derby, the horse that crossed the line first has been disqualified. After the objection, "Country House" wins the Kentucky Derby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, my gosh. Moments after, this horse, "Maximum Security," crosses the finish line as the apparent winner, the jockey on the second-place horse filed an objection. After this 20-minute review, it was decided that "Maximum Security" interfered with other horses and "Country House" was crowned the winner.

Let's get straight to Sports Journalist, Mike Wise.

Mike, good to have you back.

MIKE WISE, SPORTS JOURNALIST: Thank you, Brooke.

BOLDUAN: Listen, President Trump also added to this whole thing, saying the decision was, quote, "not a good one."

We know that "Maximum Security's" owner is filing an appeal. Is this not over?

WISE: I don't think it is. I think there will be some wrangling. I can't decide if it's good or bad for horse racing.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We're talking about it.

WISE: You're right. Exactly. And sadly enough, horse racing, boxing and baseball used to be the three things that if you were a big time sports writer, you always went to those events. Horse racing is on life support. Boxing has so much competition, it isn't what it was. And baseball

has its own problems. The bottom line is -- I mean, I thought it was an awful decision. It's kind of -- it's odd to me when we get mad at animals for not doing things humans wanted them to do.

That's the basis of essentially what you're doing to "Maximum Security." Did "Maximum Security," by the way, go back to the barn knowing he had been disqualified? No.

BALDWIN: Like we're all feeling so bad for this horse. I hear you.

(CROSSTALK)

WISE: Did he get less hay and oats?

BOLDUAN: Did you work on that for a while?

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Here's what I'm wondering, though. People are betting gazillions of dollars on this Derby and on these horses. Does that screw things up?

WISE: I think so. The bottom line is not just the gambling degenerate, but the amount of betting on this was incredible. "Country House" was the second longest shot to ever win the Derby. The payoff was incredible.

I got to think there's one person that was so frustrated that "Country House" came so close, he ripped up his ticket right after and was probably scrambling to find it. Either way, I think the money is huge. Already, "Maximum Security," because it has not shot at the Triple Crown, his owner will not run him in the Preakness stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. That's kind of sad.

BALDWIN: That's a bummer.

Tiger Woods.

WISE: Yes.

BALDWIN: Tonight, the president is honoring Tiger Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in honor of his Masters victory last month, which Trump called a comeback in sports and life. This is the highest award any civilian can be given.

We know these two are known golf partners and business partners. And I was reading something you wrote. You use the word "troubling," Mike. Why do you say it's troubling that Tiger is getting this award?

WISE: Well, one, Brooke, the president of the United States has no idea whether this is a personal triumph. We don't know about Tiger's personal life. We hope he's doing better. Just because you win doesn't mean you're suddenly a redemption story. You're a redemption story in sports. But --

BALDWIN: But America loves a good redemption story, Mike, I mean --

[14:39:59] WISE: Well, we do and it's great. But I said, in the column, there was a woman at the "Capital Gazette" shooting. Her name was Wendy Winters (ph). This woman saved her co-workers by going at the shooter and lost her life.

The "Capital Gazette" survivors, including a woman shamed Andrea Shambly (ph), who I did a story on for WSA9 -- appearing tonight at 11:00, set your DVR, Brooke -- I guess what I'm saying is, the White House has not even paid any mind to them. They haven't let them know about it. And the fact that Tiger is getting an award before someone who saved six people's lives, it's not criminal, but it's pretty bad.

BALDWIN: And your line in your piece, "Winning really does cover up so much of the smell from everything else." What's the point you were making? I mean, because we know Trump and Tiger intertwine business- wise. Is that part of that for you?

WISE: Well, the president's not the only person to use an athlete as a pawn for political gain. I don't think that's new. The problem I have with it is just society. We find ways to make good guys out of bad guys when they win for our teams.

And character and integrity and those things have nothing to do with what you do on the field versus in your personal life. I think the fact that the president couldn't make that distinction with Tiger Woods, that bothered me.

BALDWIN: Speaking of integrity and what he's done for his friends and family back home, Alex Cora, the manager of the Boston Red Sox, he's actually skipping the celebration at the White House for the Red Sox. When he disapproves of President Trump's recovery efforts in his native Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, this is personal for him.

He's been home a bunch to help family and friends. He even negotiated Puerto Rican aid into his contract with the team, with the Red Sox. You and I have talked on TV about other people skipping out on going to the White House but, in doing that, do you think the message is resonating?

WISE: I don't know if it is or not. And bigger than Alex Cora, Brooke, I believe what's happening with the Red Sox, where all the players that have decided to go are Caucasian., all the players who have not decided to go are either Hispanic or black. So the whole White House visit is now is a microcosm of the racial polarization in this country.

I'll tell you what, I'm not saying that the president and whether people go or not is splitting clubhouses and locker rooms, but I can guarantee you, when Braden Holtby, the goalie for the Washington Capitals, wouldn't go because of his wife and his strong believe in LBGTQ rights, and also Joe Ward, the one black player who won the Stanley Cup, wouldn't go, and everybody else went, I've got to think those guys felt something inside that probably gave them an ill feeling about their teammates.

BALDWIN: Do you think that's -- do you that's more -- that's not on President Trump. That's on their teammates.

(CROSSTALK)

WISE: Well, you're right. And I think, if I was a teammate, I would say I'm not going to visit the president as much as I'm going to visit the office, the greatest office in the land --

BOLDUAN: Yes. Yes.

WISE: -- and the history of it. But I still think that -- I still think, when all the Red Sox who are going are white and all of the ones who aren't going are people of color, I think it tells you so much about our country, more than it does the Red Sox or sports or Alex Cora.

BALDWIN: Mike Wise, thank you.

WISE: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Now to what I know so many of you are talking about and tweeting about. The royal baby is here. Hear what Prince Harry had to say after the birth. And why he and Meghan Markle are breaking with tradition.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:48:05] BALDWIN: OK. The royal baby is here. No pictures yet. We don't know the name. We got a palace tweet: "Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex, was safely delivered of a son. The baby weighs seven pounds and three ounces. And the Duke of Sussex was present for the birth."

Moments after the birth, the Duke of Sussex, AKA, Prince Harry, stepped in front of the cameras to tell the world that he's over the moon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY: This is definitely my first birth. It was amazing. Absolutely incredible. I'm so incredibly proud of my wife. And as every father and parent would ever say, you know, your baby is absolutely amazing, but this little thing is absolutely to die for, so I'm just over the moon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN Royal Commentator, Victoria Arbiter, is with me.

And so what do we know, what do we know, what do we know?

VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, as you mentioned, Brooke, there's still a few details missing such as the name. We know this baby was born at 5:26 a.m. That was the exact time the sun rose over the U.K. this morning.

We don't know, we have not had confirmation as to where the baby was born. The palace announcement looks like Meghan was able to deliver at home as she hoped. It said in the announcement that Meghan's mother is at home with the happy couple.

That does lead to a belief that they were able to have the home birth that Meghan was really hoping for. As we're seeing in the pictures now, the announcement was placed in the forecourt at Buckingham Palace, where some traditions have perhaps been broken, this is an old tradition that has been faithfully kept.

BALDWIN: So Prince Harry, he was the prince who could misbehave on occasion, and he did that for all the world to see. And now, here he is, this proud dad, over the moon. Normally, we're used to seeing, per tradition, seeing the mothers, post baby, with baby in front of the hospital. And to see that -- almost gender reversal. What do you make of that?

[14:50:07] ARBITER: Well, really, what I make of this, for me, I saw this as a very personal move from Prince Harry. He came out spontaneously. We had no idea he was going to address the media. This is a proud daddy on cloud nine.

For anyone around when Prince Harry's mother, Princes Diana, was killed, they're not going to easily forget the images of Harry walking along behind his mother's funeral procession. He was only 12 years old. This feels like the happy ending that we've all wished for Prince Harry.

He's made no secret of the fact he wants a family. He's coming up on his first wedding anniversary. We're just outside two weeks from his first wedding anniversary. So to have the baby now, we can see he's bursting with joy. And that joy is infectious. It was really a delight to hear from him personally.

BALDWIN: You mentioned Diana. I think she was trying to outrace the paparazzi. Here you have her son not wanting to give up a lot of information, not giving them the paparazzi the photo they want. How do they navigate that going forward?

ARBITER: They've been very smart to date, Brooke. I think where they've been particularly clever is they've laid the foundation already. They're making it clear this baby's life is private. And they plan to have as private a life as possible.

But you raise a good question. How do they proceed going forward? Because Harry and Meghan are globally incredibly popular. That popularity sees no signs of dipping. How do you navigate that public interest in the child while also maintaining the privacy?

So I think we're going to see a similar pattern to what we've seen with the Cambridge family. We'll see the photograph. Hopefully, on Wednesday, there will be official pictures of the baby. We then won't see the baby until the Christening.

After that, the Christening probably in the summer before the queen goes to Scotland. It could be Christmas before we see the baby on a Christmas card. I think we, the public, are going to have to get used to the fact that this is how this generation is proceeding.

BALDWIN: Oh, my gosh. Waiting that long? Victoria Arbiter, that's a long time.

Thank you so much for the update.

ARBITER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: We'll wait for more later in the week.

A dramatic escalation today in the tensions between House Democrats and the White House. And a House panel is set to vote on whether to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt.

Plus, an extraordinary suggestion. The speaker of the House fears the president won't give up power if he loses the next election. And the president himself suggesting he's owed more time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:58:21] BALDWIN: A promising future, a young life cut short. A teenage football phenom was killed in a shooting hours after attending his eighth-grade dance in Illinois. And 14-year-old Jaylon McKenzie already had college offers from at least two schools and was featured in "Sports Illustrated." A stray bullet killed him Saturday night as he was leaving an after-prom party where a fight had broken out. A teenage girl was also critically injured.

Jaylon's mother spoke but did not want to be seen on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUKEENA GUNNER, MOTHER OF JAYLON MCKENZIE (voice-over): He wasn't a violent kid. He was a humble kid with a beautiful smile and a bright future that's gone too soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We are told Jaylon wanted to be a pro star in California playing for the Rams or the Chargers. No word on the gunman.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

A major breaking development involving the Mueller report from people who read the report with their own expert eyes. Nearly 400 former federal prosecutors, they have all signed this letter saying, were it not for Department of Justice policy not to indict a sitting president, President Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice.

Their letter outlines three specific categories of behavior the president committed as detailed in the special counsel's report: The president's efforts to fire Mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort. The president's efforts to limit the scope of Mueller's investigation to exclude his conduct. And the president's efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators.

Joining me now, one of the people who signed the statement, CNN Legal Analyst, Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor, now a lecturer at Columbia Law School.

[15:00:08] Jennifer, why did you sign the letter?